Year: 1889

Great Waterton Sheds

The Great Waterton Sheds were packed with steam engines, including one LNWR Bloomer Class, two GNR Stirling 4-2-2, and two box engines. The names of the two GNR Stirling 4-2-2 are William and Asher; Ebenezer Waterton II is the name of the LNWR Bloomer Class; and Neil and Bonnie are the names of the two Neilson 0-4-0 box tanks. The Mainland and Sodar Railways. They were dozing off when their Controller roused them.

William is cleverer than Nia, who is also nice, caring, helpful, mature, sympathetic, quiet, and shy. He played the hide and sought game with the trucks. Asher is more mature, sympathetic, helpful, friendly, and cheeky. While Ebenezer Waterton II is very pleased of his beautiful paintings of the forest. He detests towing trucks.

Hello William," Asher said. William turns to face his sibling and says, "Yes, brother."

"Let's go, I'm going to beat you there Lazy wheels," Asher remarked. William simply snorts at his brothers before steaming off. He always puffs though. He enjoys his work every day, and Asher does what they are supposed to for the Express train. He may take the Express train to Bluebell Valley with his brother. They work for Sodar & Mainland Railway. There are just two males Stirlings. Before Gordon, there were only William, Asher, and Ebenezer Waterton II Express Engines.

William is known as Iron Will or Willy, the nickname given to the two Stirlings. Asher is known as Ash or cheeky Ash. They are employed by Sodor & Mainland Railway. The twins were usually content, until then Asher vanished. William was working hard that night, but his piston snapped off. up until the Controller spoke to William, "I need you to go to your shed to get Repair."

But Sir, who is going to take my work?" William said as Controller pondered the question till Asher approached. Controller asked Asher, "Asher, do you mind expressing to tonight," and Asher replied, "Sure, thing Controller."

Asher departed, and William went to the Sheds to relax while his piston was being repaired. William awoke the following morning to find Asher gone. Asher getting up and going ahead of him to the coaches doesn't bother William. In order to see Asher, he walked to the yard. but only to locate his coaches—no Asher or Asher's coaches—instead. He was puff back up to his train when he thought, "Maybe he at the Bluebell Valley."

He couldn't see Asher when he was moving along the railway. He arrives at the Bluebell Valley Station. He searches the area for him but is unable to locate him. however he was unable to locate his sibling. But William was sad and but he work hard.

The Sodor & Mainland was first promoted in 1850 and was projected to link Barrow-in-Furness with Suddery, the ancient capital of Sodor. There was plenty of local enthusiasm, but little intrest in the service on the Mainland. The railway canvassed support from local investors, promising those from Peel Godred that they'd build a branch line north from Cronk to the town. The railway received its Act of Parliament in 1853, which included powers to build the proposed Peel Godred branch. construction started in 1861 with a single line track being laid between Ballahoo and Rolf's Castle.

Many of the S&M's staff originally came from Ireland or Scotland. The railway had three locomotives, which were typical contractors' engines of the period. The S&M was a company whose attitude to records could be described as casual, and many details about these locomotives, such as their acquisition, have been lost. In 1865, the S&M extended from Rolf's Castle to the fishing port of Kirk Ronan. They hoped to start a steamer service from Kirk Ronan to Dublin. This project failed, but the Skarloey Railway started operating in May the same year. The two railways connected at Crovan's Gate, and the S&M was responsible for delivering its two original locomotives. The Crovan's Gate Mining Company used Kirk Ronan extensively for the shipment of ore, which would be delivered to the harbour by the S&M.

Then Five more engines were added to aid with the passengers and freight, when the Sodor & Mainland Railway purchased its first two male GNR Stirling 4-2-2 and LNWR Bloomer Class 2-2-2 in 1880 for Great Waterton to expand their route to Great Waterton. Asher and William are two of them. With their own deluxe coaches, they launched the express service between Great Waterton and Kirk Ronan. Then, in 1874, came two double-framed 0-6-0 freight steam engines.

The railway, ultimately, proved to be ambitious, but ill-fated and the Company's high hopes were disappointed. Their tunnel through the Ballahoo Ridge collapsed, preventing the railway from connecting with Vicarstown, and their attempts to erect a bridge across the Walney Channel faired no better. The Admiralty was obstructive about the proposed low-level bridge across the straits from the start. When permission was finally obtained, attempts at construction was dogged with difficulties. First, foundations were washed away by the tide, then part of one of the spans was lost when cranes broke while hoisting it into position, and eventually the almost completed bridge was wrecked by a gale. Following the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, further bridge-building attempts were indefinitely shelved, and all subsequent proposals were baulked by the Admiralty. Then Asher disappear along with his coaches.

Due to these severe setbacks, trains only ended up running between Kirk Ronan and Ballahoo, and by 1870, the company was already teetering on the verge bankruptcy. By this point, the people of Peel Godred had realised that their promised branch line would never be built by the S&M, and came to conclusion that they must build it themselves. They initially favoured a line built on the route proposed by the S&M, but as it would have involved a junction somewhere with the S&M, most felt that to embark on such a project would be the height of imprudence. They opted to look elsewhere, which led to the formation of the Mid Sodor Railway in 1872.

The decision to hide William and his coaches is made in 1899 by Controller and his staff. They concealed his whistle in an ancient, abandoned mineshaft owned by The Crovan's Gate Mining Company. They detest the idea of having one of their locomotives destroyed. So they concealed a GNR Stirling 4-2-2, also known as the Lost Stirling.

Bankruptcy finally came in 1901, and the last of its locomotion were scrapped that year, bringing services to an end, but the company remained in being, simply dormant. In 1914, the railway was merged with the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway and the Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway to form the North Western Railway in a Government sponsored amalgamation of the standard gauge railways in the Island to create a strategic railway for coastal defence against possible danger from Ireland. The S&M line between Kellsthorpe and Crovan's Gate became part of the Main Line, while the section between Kirk Ronan and Kellsthorpe became the Kirk Ronan Branch Line, and the section between Crovan's Gate and Ballahoo became part of the Norramby Branch Line.

The North Western Railway ended up completing many of the goals of the Sodor & Mainland. In 1915, it cut a tunnel through the Ballahoo Ridge to Vicarstown and erected a bridge across the Channel (ironically, the Admiralty, which had caused the S&M much strife during its bridge building efforts, was the main backer of the formation of the NWR), finally connecting Sodor and the Mainland. In 1920, it launched a successful steamer service from Kirk Ronan, though was forced to curtail the service as part of a deal with the LMS in 1925, and in 1923, using powers it had inherited from the S&M, constructed the long awaited branch line to Peel Godred.

However, a explorer discovered an unique whistle known as William's whistle years later.