Here is my first original chapter for this fic and after seeing TheUnluckyTug's timeline video of the model era of Thomas the idea for his chapter came to me instantly and knew I was going to have fun writing it.
I do not own Thomas the Tank/Thomas & Friends or I would have kept them in their models forms.
One cold night on Sodor the all the drivers had gotten back to the bunkhouse as they have finished their respective works for the day.
Henrietta, Annie and Clarabelle sat around on pillows on the floor talking about things and pranks they performed. Thomas, Toby and Percy sat a table near them talking about things that happened on Thomas's branchline.
Gordon, Henry and James sat at another table where Gordon was boasting about setting a personal record of how fast he managed to get from Knapford to Vicarstown. James and Henry both rolled their eyes as this was the 13th time he talked about it today.
Edward walked into the room and Thomas had noticed him taking off his watch. Normally this wouldn't be interesting, but he had noticed by the way Edward took special care of this watch that he knew it meant something to him.
"Hey Edward, can I ask you something?" He asked out loud to the older driver who looked at him with a smile as he cleaned his glasses. "Sure, Thomas what is it?"
"What is with that watch? I noticed how you take very special delicate care of it." He asked and both Toby and Percy had now looked over as they were interested seeing they were the newest drivers here so were interested in learning about the driver that was here before them.
Edward smiled and looked at the watch in his hand. "This was a gift from the controllers from older railways that were on Sodor before the North-Western Railway."
"Wait there was other railways on Sodor before the North-Western?" James asked as he had hard the chat and was now interested in it. Even both Gordon and Henry looked over at Edward with interest.
"Oh yes. Did you know that Standard-Gauge Engines weren't the first to operate on Sodor? Narrow-Gauge Engines were in fact." Edward said and now all heads were looking at him and he smiled as he could tell they will want the whole story now. "I guess you all want to know about the history of Sodor and the Railways now."
"Well, no duh. Spit it out already Edward." Gordon demanded and Edward chuckled at that before he sits down to begin retelling the history of the railways of Sodor.
"Years ago, when Sodor was first being constructed on the first Railway Company to arrive was a Narrow-Gauge one. They built their railway from The Wharf to the Ward Fell where a Slate Mine was constructed this railway became known as the Skarloey Railway. The same company than built a second railway that was joined with the Skarloey Railway and headed over to Peel Godred also to a Gold Mine near Fraquhar and another end at Valesbridge. This railway became known as the Mid-Sodor Railway."
"I think I saw some engines from there once when I made my first trip to Crovan's Gate." Thomas said as he starts remembering two Narrow-Gauge Engines pulling coaches with the passengers Thomas was picking up. He didn't get their names as he had to head off, but he remembered one of the drivers was a bit older than the other and must have played a trick on the other driver seeing the other driver looked annoyed about something.
Edward nods at that before continuing. "Not long after these railways were built the first Standard-Gauge railway was built going from The Wharf to the growing Great Waterton. This railway was operated by Tram Engines and was owned by Sodor Tramways." He said and Toby looked surprised at hearing that. "Sodor Tramways? That is my old employment, but I never worked there."
"That's because they built a second railway much later on and I will explain in a moment." Edward explained and Toby nods understanding now before Edward continued. "The Narrow-Gauge railways around this time extended their line to Vicarstown and thus creating a connection between Peel Godred, the Wharf and Vicarstown. This should have been a big success for them, but unfortunately for them around this time The Other Railway had constructed a bridge from the Mainland to Sodor." He shuddered when he mentioned The Other Railway and the other drivers did too making the three young girls confused. The Other Railway was infamous for their use of Diesel Engines and dislike of Steam Engines, they were all glad they got work here on Sodor and not on the mainland, they would have not been able to drive their beloved Steam Engines if they worked for The Other Railway.
"When The Other Railway came to Sodor they built a railway that went from Vicarstown to Norramby. This pretty much killed any business success for the Narrow-Gauge railways going from Bluebell Valley to Vicarstown forcing them close down that stretch of their line." He said and the girls looked sad at hearing how the Narrow-Gauge railway had been hurt hard from The Other Railway's involvement. "Seeing that The Other Railway had come to Sodor the Sodor Tramsway made a second a railway going from Arlesburgh Harbour to Arlesdale End."
"Thus, my old branchline was created." Toby finished for Edward as he understood the history of his old branchline now and Edward nods at the before continuing.
"A bit after that the mining network in Ulfstead and this would form the start of a new railway that went from there to the old Knapford Harbour." He said and Thomas's head shot up realising something. "Wait you mean?"
"Correct Thomas this railway would eventually become your branchline later on."
"Cool." Thomas said smiling as he never knew his branchline had history to it.
"Not long after a coastal track was built from the original Knapford Harbour to Tidmouth to connect the two."
"Oh yeah that is part of the Coastal Run Tracks." Henry said realising what was said. "Sometimes I used those tracks to avoid having to wait if Gordon or James at taking a early Express run."
"So that's why we don't see sometimes when you do your Flying Kipper runs." Gordon said now knowing why Henry was sometimes not seen when he had to take the Flying Kipper on the same morning Gordon had to do a early Express run.
"Then, around this same time another railway was build from Wellsworth to Brendam." Edward said and James grinned at that. "Thus, the birth of the Edward Branchline." James said and Edward smiles as he nods to that. "Yes indeed this was railway would become the branchline I would run later on."
"So how did the North-Western Rail came to be?" Percy asked curious on how their railway became to existence and how these railways all joined as one.
"Diesel Engines started becoming popular." Edward said grimly and that made his fellow drivers scowled as it was thanks to Diesels that Steam Engines were being scrapped left and right. "The Brendam Railway, Fraquhar Railway and the first Sodor Tramway Railway all knew that divided they would lose their railways to The Other Railway, so they decided to merge together into one huge Standard-Gauge Railway led by… a younger Sir Topham Hatt himself. Thus, the birth of the North-Western Railway."
"Wow Sir Topham Hatt had been in charge of the North-Western Railway since the start itself?" Annie asked amazed and Edward smiled as he nods that before continuing.
"Soon I was hired to help with the construction of the Mainline we know today." Edward said and the other drivers looked at him surprised. They knew Edward was here before the rest of them, but didn't expect he was here since the start of the North-Western Railway itself. "I was only 18 at the time and was fresh out of school. Eager to prove myself and had a love from Steam Engines so I gladly took the job to work here."
"You helped construct the entire mainline all on your own?" Henry asked with a raised brow and Edward shook his head. "Not on my own, there was a Tank Engine driver that helped me. Her name was Lady."
"Lady?" Gordon asked with a raise brow.
"She was helped greatly with getting the Goods Trains with supplies to the constructions. She was a very hard worker and was very kind too." Edward said smiling fondly of remembering her and Thomas had noticed the look making him curious, but decided to not ask as it seemed like a personal thing for Edward so best not to prod.
"She helped get the Mainline constructed all the to Vicarstown while I handled the new Express run that had become becoming demanding so I couldn't help with constructions as much before. We also had made extensions to the Fraquhar Railway so it terminated at the newly built Knapford Station and Docks, the old Knapford Harbour was left abandoned, but I hear Sir Topham Hatt might be planning something with it." He said and Thomas, Percy & Toby nod at that as they did hear something about reopening the old harbour again. "Eventually the Mainline was all finished though unfortunately it put more pressure on Narrow-Gauge line that went from Crovan's Gate to Bluebell Valley. Sir Topham Hatt gladly helps them out after that as he felt guilty for that." Edward said nodding and the others nodded too as it sounded like Sir Topham Hatt to do whatever he could to help out someone in need.
"The Norramby line didn't merge with us because it was built by The Other Railway, but it and The Other Railway line coming from the Mainland agreed to do business with us in Vicarstown so it was a win-win for everyone. Great Waterton around this time hit hard times something happened there that made people leave for the newer cities and towns popping up on Sodor, I think I recall had something to do with a Coal Mine network in the area drying up. The tracks there were lost and no one has been able to find them again, though the southern part of that old railway to The Wharf was maintain for use by us. Unfortunately, the Tram Engines there before Sir Topham Hatt could get full control of them were sold off and eventually leading to Sodor Tramways having a dislike for the North-Western."
"That's why my old boss refused for so long to have me work for Sir Topham Hatt." Toby said finally able to understand why his old boss didn't want him to work for the North-Western Railway for some time, all because of an old grudge against someone who was wrongfully accused.
Edward nods before finishing his story. "Soon the North-Western Railway became very popular and it was clear my old engine couldn't handle the demands of it as it needed maintenance done to it keep up with it all. So, Sir Topham Hatt decided to get some Express Engines and that is where you two come in." He looking to Henry and Gordon who both nod now seeing why they were hired at first, Gordon of course had a smug look on his face, but respectfully stayed quiet. "Than not long after you came into the picture Thomas and the rest is well…history as they say."
"Wow didn't expect the North-Western had quite a history to it." Percy said smiling as he was impressed by what he had learned about the railway they all worked on. Edward nods that smiling too feeling good about sharing the history of the North-Western Railway.
"But what happened to Lady?" Toby asked and they all looked at Edward who sighed sadly. "No one knows. Not long after the Mainline was built she…just simply disappeared."
"What you mean disappeared?" James asked with a raised brow and Edward shrugs. "Literally after the Mainline was built she was gone the next day. No one knows where she went. Sir Topham Hatt and I had searched for her in case she crashed somewhere and couldn't get back to us, but we found nothing. Eventually we called off the search…" He sighed sadly and they all looked at him with sad looks feeling sorry for him, though Gordon and James would never admit it, and wished they had the chance to meet her.
Not long after they all started heading to bed with the girls all thanking Edward for the story and wished for him to tell them more in the future. He smiled at them and told them he might have some more to tell before heads into his room.
Once inside he looked at his watch…than to a ring on his finger and both things made him look on sadly. He remembered the day the controllers of the old railways along with Sir Topham Hatt gave Edward this watch as present for his hard work with the mainline and the ring…was the one he put on Lady's finger that same day.
He kissed the ring before looking out the window as he puts the watch on his nightstand. "Lady…where did you go…I miss you so much…"
He went to sleep not long after in his bed dreaming about the woman he loved and wondered where she had gone to.
This was my first original chapter for this fic and I am proud of it.
I took what TheUnluckyTug said in his The ENTIRE Model Series Timeline of Thomas & Friends – Every Major Event from Seasons 1-12 in Order video and used it as a base for my lore here for Sodor.
Now after this chapter I am going to start putting episodes/chapters out in whatever order now while mostly following TheUnluckyTug's models' timeline and Darkknight55's setup to try to make my fic stand out and hopefully not be seen as a copy and paste of someone else's work.
Let me know what you all thought of this chapter and the lore stated for my fic.
Hope you all enjoyed.
