THE PEEL GODRED CHRONICLES
Written by Zack Wanzer and Rachel Ravens
Out of all the branch lines on the North Western Railway, the one that has received the least amount of attention starts at Killdane before traveling north to Abbey, then Kirk Machan, where it meets with the Culdee Fell Railway, and finally terminates at Peel Godred. This branch line is unique in that it is run exclusively by electric locomotives. The original batch of engines, numbered E1 to E4, are no longer operational on the line, and tragically, there is only one surviving member of the original fleet, but she does have plenty of stories to tell about when she and her two closest friends first arrived on Sodor all those years ago…
VOLUME I: THE EARLY DAYS
The start of a new decade brought about a great change to Sodor. Back when the Tidmouth, Wellsworth and Suddery Railway was still in operation, they were planning on finishing up some expansions that their former rival company, the Sodor and Mainland, had left behind.
"What exactly happened to the Sodor and Mainland?" asked Edward, the newest member of the fleet at the time.
"That railway blew through its budget much too quickly," sighed Mildred. "It's a real shame; there were some good engines there."
"You should have seen Skarloey during those tight times," chuckled Albert. "He was on a haulage wagon of all things."
Edward blinked in confusion. "A what?"
"A type of rolling stock that allows narrow gauge engines to operate on standard gauge track," explained Tasha. "Rheneas was unable to use it due to his long wheelbase."
"Oh, that does sound unusual," Edward said quietly. Before he could say anymore, Mr. Dry approached the engines.
"Good morning, everyone," he said with a smile. "I'm pleased to announce that the construction to Killdane is running quicker than we anticipated."
"That is good news, sir," said Mildred. "Will there be a connection to Kellsthorpe Road with the Sodor and Mainland?"
"Eventually, yes," said Mr. Dry. "Bertram and I have planned out the route for the near future. The branch line construction from Killdane to Peel Godred will start in a few days."
"Will any of us be running that line when it's finished?" asked Edward. "There's already three branch lines and I don't think there's enough engines to operate a fourth."
"Ah, about that," grinned Mr. Dry. "This branch line shall be run by what's called electric locomotives."
"Electric locomotives?" grunted Billy. "Now what kind of nonsense is that? You can't exactly operate an engine by catching lightning with a key attached to a kite."
The other engines couldn't help but chuckle, even if they didn't quite understand it either.
"I'm pretty sure that that's not how the story goes," remarked Glynn.
"Quite right," said Mr. Dry. "These engines will run on a cable that starts at Killdane all the way north to Peel Godred."
"So, they won't be able to see the rest of the island?" asked Phyllis. "Aww, that's so sad."
"That's not going to happen to the island many years from now, will it?" asked Leslie anxiously. They winced as they thought back to their deceased brother, Maurice.
"Not as long as I'm in control, Leslie," Mr. Dry assured. "You are my engines, and I never want any ill will to happen to you…" Again… He bit his lip as Maurice's look of defeat in the scrapyards haunted his mind.
Construction soon began on the new branch line; the track layout of Killdane was nearly complete, although it would be a while yet before the station would be finished.
"This station is already making progress," Edward commented to Annie and Clarabel. Along with the two coaches, he had also brought some construction supplies for Mr. Packard and his crew.
"Ah, thanks fer this lot, Edward, Annie an' Clarabel," smiled Mr. Packard.
"A pleasure, Mr… Packard, was it?" said Edward.
"That's correct," said a blue mobile crane with the number seventeen on his cabin. "Ah, welcome to the island, Edward. Name's Kelly."
"It's nice to meet you too, Kelly," said the red tender engine. "Goodness, I hope I can keep up with so many names."
"You'll get used ta it, lad," chuckled Patrick, a cement mixer numbered twenty-three.
"Stick with us, Edward," smiled Isobella, a bright yellow lorry numbered twenty-two. "You'll fit right onto the island nicely."
"Thank you, all of you," said Edward. "You've really made me feel at home in my new environment."
Thanks to the Pack, construction of the station was going very well, and the track was soon being laid out down the branch line. It was at Abbey station where Mildred, Annie and Clarabel noticed another figure with Mr. Packard.
"Oh, hello," Mildred said in surprise. "I don't think I've seen you around a building site before."
"Ah, I see ye've met me daughter Jennifer," smiled Mr. Packard. "Most of us call her Jenny fer short."
"I think I've seen ye a lot when I was a kid," said Jenny. "On me way to an' from school. Mildred, right? And these are yer coaches, Annie an' Clarabel?"
"Oh, yes," gasped Mildred. "I'm Mildred."
"And though we are Annie and Clarabel," said Annie, "we're not exactly Mildred's coaches."
"We usually work with whoever takes us out on a run," added Clarabel.
"Aye, that does make sense," said Jenny. "I think I may have seen ye with that new engine the other day."
"That'll be Edward then," said Mildred. "He's become our new number two following Maurice's accident."
"Maurice?" gasped Jenny. "Oh no. Whatever happened to him? I used to ride wit' him ta where I could get on the bus the rest o' the way to school."
"That's just it," sighed Clarabel. "We don't know the specifics, Jenny. He just ended up in Crock's Scrap Yard looking quite damaged on his front."
"It's a fate no engine, coach or truck should have to endure," agreed Mildred. "Edward's been wonderful, don't get me wrong, but… it hasn't been the same without Maurice."
"Elizabeth went missing around the same time," sighed Annie.
"That lorry Mr. Hatt used to drive?" gasped Jenny. "Yes, Isobella's been missin' her sister like crazy."
"Goodness knows where she's ended up," agreed her father.
Eventually, construction of the branch line reached a place called Kirk Machan. Edward's eyes widened in surprise as he glanced at the track next to it; Annie and Clarabel were with him.
"What is that?" he asked his driver curiously. "I've never seen track like this before."
"It's certainly narrower than what you ride on, old boy," agreed the driver.
"It doesn't look like the same track that those on the Skarloey and Mid Sodor lines run on either," Edward said in confusion. "I'd say it looks slightly bigger than theirs. And what's that down the middle?"
"Hmm…" said Annie. "I think one of our passengers has been somewhere with this kind of track."
"Yes," added Clarabel. "Up in the mountains in Switzerland, I think. They said it was a 'rack railway'."
"A rack railway?" Edward repeated. "I never knew there was such a thing."
"We're not too sure of the specifics ourselves," said Annie. "But I believe these engines are designed specially to climb mountains."
"That's correct," chuckled a voice. Clarabel saw an engine coming up with a coach in tow; much to hers, Annie's and Edward's surprise, the coach was coupled in front of the engine instead of behind.
"Good day to you," he said formally. "My name is Ernest."
"And I'm Edward. These two are Annie and Clarabel. Is it true that you climb mountains?"
"I've been doing it for a while now," said Ernest.
"Though he can't do it without my help," chuckled the coach in front.
"And you are?" asked Clarabel.
"Elaine," she greeted. "Welcome to our humble part of the island. I must say, this is the first time in years that we've seen engines bigger than us."
"Really?" asked Edward. "When did you last see engines bigger than you?"
"Back when we first arrived on Sodor after being shipped to Kirk Ronan," explained Ernest. "One of the Sodor and Mainland engines, I think her name was Mary, took us to Kellsthorpe Road where we sent the rest of the way here by road."
"Mary was the only girl of the Sodor and Mainland engines," said Clarabel. "If it was a girl, then it must have been her." Annie and Clarabel glanced sadly up to the sky.
"Oh, don't tell us…" gasped Elaine.
"Yes," sighed Clarabel. "She and Richard are gone now."
"Oh dear," sighed Ernest. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that."
"I'm sure they'll be missed," Edward said quietly. He tried to think of something for the group to focus their attention on. "Oh, if you don't mind my saying, Ernest, why are you pushing Elaine instead of pulling her? You can't see ahead."
Ernest couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, that is very true, Edward. There's two reasons why we do this. First of all, do you know how steep our line is?"
"Very steep, I imagine."
"Indeed so," said Ernest. "Now, imagine me and my siblings traveling up that steep line with our coaches behind us. Have you ever seen a train break away on an incline before?"
"Unfortunately, yes, on my old railway," said Edward. "They are quite dangerous as it is."
"Indeed so," said Ernest. "But put all that together, and then add in a much higher drop from the top of the mountain."
Edward, Annie and Clarabel looked up; Culdee Fell did look extremely tall from where they were standing. None of them could imagine climbing or going down a slope this steep.
"I wouldn't want to do that," gulped Annie. "But this brings back Edward's question; how do you see while going up?"
"All coaches are sentient on this railway," Elaine giggled. "We act as our engines' eyes as we climb."
"Now that's clever," smiled Edward. The guard's whistle blew a moment later. "Oh, we'd better get moving. Thanks, Ernest and Elaine; it was nice to meet you."
"Likewise," smiled Ernest.
Eventually, the last station was reached; Peel Godred. It was Mildred's turn with Annie and Clarabel by this point, and they saw some narrow gauge tracks running by the new station.
"Girls, look at that!" cried Mildred. "There's more little engines around here."
"Well, it looks like the electric engines will have a lot of company along their line," remarked Annie.
"I wonder who lives over here," added Clarabel.
The trio heard a whistle as a light gray tank engine puffed in with some trucks, panting as he braked to a stop.
"You look as though you're in a hurry," remarked Mildred.
"Oh, you know how it is," chuckled the tank engine. "Trying to set a new personal best, that's all."
"Well, that does look like fun," giggled Annie.
"Indeed," agreed Clarabel. "I wouldn't mind going at a fast pace like that."
"I don't know," said Mildred suspiciously. "You have to be careful with your cargo… er… Oh, I'm sorry, I don't think I got your name."
"Fearless Freddie's the name, and speed is my game," the gray tank engine grinned.
"Nice to meet you, Freddie," smiled Mildred. "I'm Mildred, and these two are Annie and Clarabel."
"Welcome to my neck of the woods, ladies," said Freddie. "Bertram and Colin will be glad for the company too."
"Bertram?" asked Mildred. "Mr. Hatt works here too?"
"No, I mean a tank engine with the name Bertram," chuckled Freddie.
"So it's just the three of you then?" asked Annie. "Do you have any sentient coaches on your railway?"
"Coaches?" asked Freddie. "No, we have very limited coaches, I'm afraid. Just to take the workmen to and from work. None of them are sentient, unfortunately."
"Oh," said Clarabel. "Do you get passengers besides the workmen?"
"It's more of an industrial line," Freddie explained. "Bertram and I can get by, but we do need help."
"Then… doesn't Colin help?"
Another voice from further down chuckled. "Of course I do."
"Oh!" gasped Mildred. "You're not an engine."
"Nope, I'm a crane, as you can tell," he replied. "It looks as though I'll soon be helping to load the trucks between the standard and narrow gauge railways."
"Well, you'll need to do a fair bit of that here, Colin," said Mildred. "Billy will be down with supplies from the mine later on."
"Just a warning though," said Clarabel. "He's not exactly… an engine you can get along with."
"Right, I'll keep that in mind," the green crane affirmed.
Eventually, the final details were being put in place such as the electric cables that would stretch from one end of the branch line to the other.
"What do ye think these new engines will be like?" asked Jenny to her father.
"Well, I do know that they'll be unlike any other engines we've seen before," said Mr. Packard.
"I hope that they can feel as at home as Edward does now," smiled Jenny. "At the rate we're goin', this an' the Kellsthorpe Road extension will be done within a month or so."
"Provided, of course, that nothin' goes wrong," added Mr. Packard.
"Relax, dad," smiled Jenny. "Things will be perfectly fine."
Within that month, the Peel Godred branch line was finally ready to go, and the extension to the Sodor and Mainland Railway at Kellsthorpe Road was complete. However, the railway had suffered a loss the day before completion of the latter…
Author's Comments
Zack: Lo and behold, we start off the first volume to a new entry in the Seventyverse, The Peel Godred Chronicles! Out of the branch lines, the Peel Godred line was the only one not fully explored in detail, and I wanted to rectify that by establishing who the original fleet was prior to who we see in Thomas and the Mountain Engines. Much of this first volume is set during North Western Origins, which can be seen on Rachel's page, by which Edward was the newest steam engine for the Tidmouth, Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, eventually becoming the North Western Railway.
Rachel: Initially, I was a bit nervous about putting the story together, but it turned out great. Not much to say about this one, except we get to see some foreshadowing for not only stories we've seen already, but some stories we're eventually going to get to, like with Elizabeth's disappearance.
Next time, we meet the original electric trio for their Trial Runs!
