Welcome to my new Thomas and Friends story. This story will be a whole remake of the Island of Sodor and will be mostly all made up characters. I hope you enjoy it.
The Island of Sodor Remake
Chapter 1
5:30 in the morning seems to be early but on the Island of Sodor it is the start of a new day, and for the engines on the North Western Railway it is the start of their work day. The engines are just warming up in their home at Knapford Sheds, a huge eight berth shed that is located on the edge of Knapford Yard. The six engines are learning about what jobs they will be doing that day and are ready to get started.
There is Guapo, a PLM engine with four leading wheels and eight driving wheels and is painted a dark blue color. He is a flexible engine, able to do pretty much any job he is given whether it deals with passengers or goods.
Next is Atul, a SAR Class 6Z with two leading wheels, six driving wheels and four trailing wheels and has a six wheel tender. Atul is painted a cool grey color. He is one of the few engines on the railway that can pull distance based trains, like the main line passenger run, due to having a tender
After that is Ellkan, a LNWR 1185 Class with eight driving wheels and two trailing wheels and is painted a light green color. While Ellkan is good at pulling passenger trains, he doesn't have the people skills that comes with either talking to passengers or dealing with workmen and can be difficult at times but is a great worker.
Those three engines were the first three engines that came to the Island of Sodor and did all the passenger and goods runs for six months until the railway brought in another three engines.
There is Claudimir, a LSWR O2 Class with four driving wheels and four trailing wheels and is painted blue. He is one of the engines that was brought in to deal more with branch line passenger duties rather than goods duties but still occasionally pulls goods trains.
Next is Lynge, a H1b class 2816 with four leading wheels, six driving wheels, four trailing wheels and has a six wheel tender and is painted red. He was brought in to be able to allow Atul to have days off from the main line passenger run. Lynge is quite people oriented and has no problem with passengers.
Finally there is Nadir, a LSWR 0298 class with two leading wheels and four driving wheels and is painted blue like Claudimir. He is a small engine and does a lot of goods work. He can be quite particular and organized and thus he is assigned a lot of shunting work for that reason.
On this morning the engines were given the work they will be doing. Atul will be pulling the main line train, Guapo will be doing the eastern branch line runs and Lynge will be doing the western branch line runs. That left Ellkan and Claudimir with the goods duties and Nadir to do the shunting work at Knapford.
"We better get going Nadir so we can get the coaches into place for the trains." Nadir's driver said.
"Of course." Nadir said excitingly. He moves out from the sheds towards the turntable and heads to Knapford Yard.
In the yard Nadir becomes all business. He has been working as a shunter in the yard for a few weeks now and has gotten a system for where he puts things and when he does his work. He only spent about five minutes before he successfully got four green express coaches together and put them in front of platform one at Knapford station. The coaches had just been recently washed so they gleamed in the early morning sun. He then puts together five yellow branch line coaches when he saw Lynge pull up into one of the yard sidings near him.
"What are you doing out and about so early? You still have another twenty minutes before your train needs to leave." Nadir questioned the big engine.
"I know, but Ellkan was getting into a fight with the stationmaster about having to pull coal cars to Crovan's Gate. He wants to deal with the load of steel coming into Brendam first before having to deal with anything first. Of course he doesn't seem to understand that the schedule of things happening doesn't always work for him." Nadir sighs. The other five engines always have to deal with Ellkan not understanding that sometimes his way wasn't always the way things went. It was one of the reasons why Ellkan wasn't pulling as many passenger trains lately.
"Well, I know you only came out here to get away but it would mean a lot if you took your coaches to platform three for me, that way I'll be a bit ahead for my duties for the day." Nadir just pulls the five coaches from the big carriage shed and brought them next to the siding Lynge is on. Lynge just smiles at him.
"I'll be glad to. Nothing else to do except pull my train so I might as well get to the station." He pulls out of his siding and reverses up behind his coaches and gets coupled up.
"You are all good." Nadir says and backs away as Lynge pulls away towards Knapford. Nadir went back to the carriage shed to get four red branch line coaches for Guapo's train. He soon got the four coaches together and pulls them towards platform four at Knapford, right next to Lynge's train.
He realizes that not only is Atul coupled up to his train but Guapo is waiting on a siding nearby for his train. All the engines still had roughly fifteen minutes before they have to leave which helps speed things along. He moves out of the way so Guapo can couple up to his train and decides to wait at platform two till the trains left.
Soon the clock turns to six and the morning trains take off, everyone giving each other a friendly whistle before making their own ways. Nadir takes another minute to watch everyone go off into the distance before getting back to Knapford Yard.
He is barely in the yard before he hears a lot of yelling. He quickly pulls towards where the yelling is happening to see Ellkan and his driver together.
"The steel train I have to take to Vicarstown will take me a lot longer to do than any of my other jobs. I might as well get it delivered this morning before it gets any busier." Ellkan is strongly saying to his driver. His driver though just sighs and rubs his face.
"Ellkan, we can't get the steel train out of the docks because the ship just arrived not even an hour ago."
"Well I should be ready to take it at a moment's notice, so we should go down there and wait." Ellkan says determinedly. At this point Nadir comes up next to Ellkan.
"Ellkan, it will take time for them to unload it from the boat. It won't be ready to go until at least ten this morning, might as well do a job or two before that." Nadir tries to reason with the stubborn engine, but more than that he really just wanted Ellkan out of the yard so he can go do his work.
"But why do we have to go all the way to Crovan's Gate? There must be a few jobs that need to go to Brendam or Suddery." Ellkan whines.
"Right now Crovan's Gate needs those four coal trucks so you might as well deliver them and then maybe you'll be able to make it to the docks." Nadir counters. Ellkan just grumbles but becomes quiet on the argument. His driver just climbs into his cab and he slowly puffs out of the yard. Nadir sighs and tries to get back to his work but before he can Claudimir pulls up next to him pulling six box cars.
"Good job at stamping out Ellkan's tantrum." Claudimir comments on with a little bit of a smirk.
"Mostly I just wanted him out of the yard so I could go about my work without him congesting up everything." Nadir states with Claudimir laughing.
"Then that means I should get out of your way as well. I need to get these cars to Arlesburgh. See you later." Claudimir says as he leaves the yard.
Nadir gets back to work as he puts cars and coaches into different spots based on if they are being used soon or if they are needed for a train. The hours fly by with Nadir shunting cars in place for Ellkan and Claudimir for their goods duties and when Lynge and Atul come back to Knapford for their passenger trains he decides to take breaks and talk to them for the few minutes they are around. Everything is going smoothly for him.
Nadir is just pulling out a line of five sooty coal cars from a siding in the northern part of the yard when three men come up beside him. While he isn't sure about the names of the names of the two men in blue suits he is sure about the one man in a black suit and top hat. Sir Topham Hatt, the controller of the railway.
"Hello Nadir. You are working hard today." Nadir smiles. Sir Topham Hatt always comes out and talks to him in the morning and personally he thinks it's so Nadir doesn't feel lonely but he enjoys the time with him.
"It's not easy since there seems to be a lot of goods trains lately. But thankfully the cars are behaving." He sends a look towards the five cars in front of him who just let out tiny chuckles amongst themselves.
"Well I'm glad you have everything in order." He seems to want to say something else and so Nadir quietly waits until he is ready. "I hear that Ellkan had another tantrum this morning about one of the goods trains he is supposed to take." Of course Ellkan's latest hissy fit was a topic of conversation.
"You are correct Sir. Apparently he really wanted to get a jump on the steel shipment from Brendam docks to Vicarstown, so much so that he wanted to do it all first in the first hour of the morning. It took me and his driver to basically convince him to actually do his other jobs as well but that was after he created a ruckus in the shed."
"Well thank you for that. I don't know what I am going to do with him. He really needs to start changing his attitude when it comes to his work. Too many complaints are coming in that I might have to situate him in a yard solely so work will get done." Nadir is surprised at that. "I'll need to think about it." Sir Topham Hatt turns, along with the other men, and start to walk away. "Have a good day Nadir and keep up the good work."
"Thank you Sir." With that Nadir pulls the coal cars out of their siding and takes them to a siding in the station yard.
As he is waiting to be uncoupled he thinks more about the conversation and sighs at how it feels like he is being punished more. The thing about engines is that they do enjoy doing work but sometimes they enjoy seeing new places and not the same thing day after day. Nadir did his work at Knapford well and the yard manger and Sir Topham Hatt thinks he does quite well and that's why he hasn't been out of the yard in a few weeks. Well he's left the yard but mostly to do short runs to close stations when work gets busy and it's easier to send him somewhere close. But he hasn't been anywhere further than Crosby in the weeks he's spent here and sometimes he wishes he could just take a long run somewhere. While it is a want he realizes just how much more gets done when he's in the yard as opposed to another engine. He must admit it is quite smooth now.
He pulls out of the siding when at that moment Ellkan pulls up with a load of stone trucks that must of just comes from the Ffarquhar quarry. The trucks seem quite tired and by the looks of Ellkan, must have been going quite fast to get here.
"Please put these trucks away for me. I am finally going to go to Brendam so I can collect that train of steel now." Nadir sighs knowing this was eventually going to happen today.
"Ellkan, it is only nine thirty you still have time. You could easily wait till eleven and be fine." Ellkan though doesn't seem to be listening to Nadir.
"No can do, I have to make sure the job gets done in a timely manner." Ellkan starts puffing away.
"But you still have other jobs that need to get done." But Ellkan is already beyond the Ffarquhar branch line junction by the time he finishes and thus doesn't hear him. "Oh well might as well not fight him anymore." He buffers up behind the cars and pulls them away.
Nadir got the cars, who are exhausted, back into their proper siding when the yard manger rushes towards him. "Where is Ellkan?" He is red in the face and is a mix between angry and tired from rushing.
"He just left to get the steel train from Brendam."
"Of course!" the yard manger yells. "He was supposed to take three tar wagons to Kirk Ronan this morning. They've been waiting for that delivery for two days now and I don't even know when I'll be able to make sure an engine can take it down." Suddenly Nadir saw a chance for himself.
"If you don't mind. I would be glad to take the train myself." The yard manager looks surprised as if he forgot that Nadir is an engine himself.
"But you still have more work to do in the yard here."
"I can still get it done later on. It's one journey, one deliver. Please you have no other options right now." Nadir really wants this for himself. The yard manger though removes his hat he's wearing and sighs.
"I guess I have no choice. You can take the train to Kirk Ronan." Nadir cheers happily. "But try and be back as soon as you can."
"I will." Before the yard manager can say anything else, Nadir finds the tar wagons and couples up to them. Soon enough he's ready for his journey and pulls out of the yard.
He's barely beyond the Ffarquhar Branch Line junction when the reality of the situation hits him. "I better get these to the yard quickly. The yard manager did say they've been waiting awhile for these."
"No need to go to quickly. They are on their way now so they will eventually get there. At least by the afternoon." His driver informs him but Nadir is to excited at being able to go on a long run. His excitement only increases when they get near Crosby and Nadir doesn't have to slow down at all.
Nadir is so happy to finally being able to see the sights past Crosby after a whole month of being stuck in Knapford. Before he even knows it they are at the big hill on the Main Line. Nadir suddenly feels the weight of the three tar wagons and the break van all at once here. He hasn't been on this hill for a good two months now and forgot just how difficult it can be to pull a train up it and this was without having to deal with the truck's attitude. Soon enough though he prevailed and makes it at the top and over the other side. The wind is flying past him as he races towards Maron station. He is on an outside line and will be heading through platform 3 when he realizes that Atul is also at the station, at platform 1. Atul looks shocked to see him.
"What are you doing here?" Atul asks as Nadir is racing towards the station.
"I'm heading to Kirk Ronan. I'll tell you later." He says as he passes the platform. By the time Atul would be able to response Nadir is past the station and out of listening range.
Soon enough he is coasting easily still on the main line. Nadir hasn't had this much fun in a long time and can't remember if he ever felt this much excitement while doing shunting duty at Knapford. He wishes he could feel this everyday. He wishes he could see the sights like all the other engines do. He passes town after town and before he knows it he is at the Kirk Rona Branch Line Junction.
"Only another 15 minutes Nadir." His driver says.
"And I'm still so excited over this. I wish it didn't have to end." Nadir responds. But his driver just chuckles.
"You're needed back at Knapford anyway. You still have more work to get done." But he really wishes he didn't.
Soon enough they arrive at the Kirk Ronan yard just before the Kirk Ronan station. Nadir pulls off the line into the small five siding yard which is quite plain. The track pulls off the main one and then it diverts once again towards five sidings. So all an engine had to do is pull past the switch and back your train into the siding. Nadir pulls through the yard and backs his train into one of the sidings. One of the yard workers uncouples him and then he puffs back onto the track he came off from.
"Let's get you a drink, you deserve it." His driver told him. Nadir pulls up to a water tower that's just in front of the station. While getting his drink though a train was backing into the station. It was Guapo with the eastern branch line train.
"Nadir, what are you doing at Kirk Ronan?" He asks surprised.
"Ellkan went to the docks to early and thus left behind a train of tar tankers that needed to be brought here. The yard manager said it would be ok if I took them here as long as I got back quickly." Nadir replies. Guapo though looks pleased.
"Well I'm glad you were able to get out of the yard today. I know how much it's been boring for you not to see much outside of Knapford."
"It was nice to be able to get out of the yard and see what else Sodor has to offer. It was also nice to be of help and do work that wasn't just pushing coaches and trucks around a yard."
"I bet but it's extremely nice to know that you were there when they needed you the most." Guapo's guard blew a whistle indicating that his train had to leave. As he pulls out he says one last thing. "Who knows maybe you'll stay at Knapford due to your diligence and importance in the yard." With that he was out from Kirk Ronan.
Nadir didn't like what Guapo said. He realized today that more than anything he didn't want to be trapped in a station yard just pushing and pulling trucks around for the other engines. He wants to travel. He wants to go around the island making deliveries or pulling passengers. He doesn't want to see the same station and yard day in and day out. As he pulls away from the water tower he's worried about what it was that was going to happen to him.
Thank you for reading and please review and tell me what you thought about it. Some differences between this series and the main series though will be clear
-The "main engines" will be sleeping in Knapford Sheds since Knapford is the main station and it seems weird to put them in Tidmouth Sheds.
-Until more engines come into the story the way the jobs are handled will be the same for a bit.
-Branch lines and stations will be assigned as time goes on to give the engines some more direction.
If you have any questions feel free to message me and ask any questions you have or tell me comments you have abot the story and I will surely respond to you.
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