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feigeroman · 2 months

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The Vicarstown Car Ferry

Above: This is not the Vicarstown car ferry train. I just needed a screenshot of a car on a train, and this was the closest I had to hand.

Every year, the Island of Sodor receives thousands of visitors from the Mainland, and obviously, the vast majority come by rail. A significant number, however, choose to arrive by car. Nowadays, this is no trouble, as they can simply drive across the Jubilee Bridge, which carries the main A950 road over the Walney Channel.

The bridge only opened in 1977, though, and any motorists arriving before then had to rely on the NWR's services to get themselves and their cars on and off of Sodor. And thereby hangs a fascinating tale about a little-known aspect of the NWR's history.

EARLY NWR EFFORTS

Above: The Vicarstown Bridge, in an undated view (obviously post-1975, given the presence of Spencer).

It all started with the construction of the NWR's own bridge over the Channel in 1915. In those days, there was no other link between Sodor and the Mainland, and thus no other way for goods and passengers to arrive. Some of those passengers wanted to bring their own horse-drawn carriages with them, and so was born one of the earliest vehicle-and-owner trains to run on Sodor. To begin with, it was simply a case of strapping the vehicle to a special carriage truck, and coupling it up to whatever passenger train its owner was travelling in. The truck then travelled as far as the nearest station to wherever the owner was going, where it was detached and the vehicle rolled off.

Above: For a time, the NWR also offered the use of a horsebox in conjunction with a carriage truck, so that the carriage’s owner could take his own horse with him, and avoid having to search for one at the other end of his journey. This cost extra, though, so there were few takers.

THE VICARSTOWN CAR FERRY

With the boom of private motoring in the early-1920s, there came a similar explosion in demand for the carriage of road vehicles by rail. This in turn resulted in the NWR running its first dedicated car-carrying trains - albeit only on an as-and-when basis, and with cars and drivers travelling in separate trains. The NWR did not return to vehicle-and-owner trains until 1927, when it launched a regular car ferry service between Vicarstown and Barrow-in-Furness - probably the best-known of all its car-carrying trains.

This new service had been made possible by the 1925 LMS Agreement, which gave the NWR running powers into Barrow, and in turn required Vicarstown to be converted for through running. Among the changes which resulted was the conversion of the adjoining goods depot to handle parcels and mail (goods facilities moving to a new depot elsewhere), and the closure of the existing parcels platform. This platform was thus free for conversion into a loading dock for the new car ferry service.

OPERATIONS

Throughout the fifty years the car ferry service ran, the basic pattern of its operation remained much the same, with only details like the motive power, rolling stock and timings seeing much change. It is thus worth looking at a typical journey for the service, starting at Vicarstown and ending at Barrow.

Below: A vague representation of how the loading process would have looked. I've employed a bit of artistic license with this photo: while the NWR did have some enclosed double-decker car carriers, these were never used on the car ferry services.

To begin with, the consist for that particular crossing was shunted into the station - the carriage trucks going to the loading dock, and the passenger coaches to one of the through platforms. Drivers and passengers boarded their coaches, leaving their cars to be loaded by the station staff. Once loading was completed, the carriage trucks were marshalled and coupled to the coaches. All shunting was done by the train engine, who then ran round to the front and hauled the train to Barrow. On arrival, the whole train was shunted to the loading dock there, where passengers and cars were unloaded together. The stock was then taken away for servicing. Of course, it goes without saying that in the opposite direction, the whole procedure was repeated, only in reverse.

In all, ten car ferry trains ran daily (five in each direction), with provisions in the working timetable for an extra four (two in each direction) if they were needed - say, during the busier summer months. To avoid overcrowding, a maximum of 20 cars were allowed on each crossing, and motorists had to book in advance. This enabled staff to work out how many carriage trucks were required, and what types, well ahead of time. It also allowed them to work out how many passenger coaches were needed - the rule here was that there should be at least one compartment for every car carried.

In the early 1930s, the NWR began allowing larger commercial vehicles to make use of the car ferry trains, and this required a slight amendment to the 20 cars rule. This amendment counted the size of a vehicle in car lengths - if, for example, a lorry turned up which was as long as three cars, then it took up three slots on that particular crossing. Any number of vehicles could thus travel on a single train, so long as their total length did not exceed 20 car lengths.

STOCK

The car ferry trains never had a specific engine allocated to run them - generally, any engine could do the job if they happened to be at Vicarstown or Barrow at the right time. As the NWR’s locomotive roster expanded, the car ferry became the exclusive preserve of the engines based at either of those sheds - the job generally being allocated to any engine who wasn't busy anywhere else that day.

The car ferry was also a neat way of getting an engine from one station to the other, without having to find an extra path for a light engine movement. For similar reasons, it was not uncommon for visiting LMS (later BR) engines to take charge of a Barrow-bound car ferry on their way home.

Below: An example of a long-wheelbase covered carriage truck. Many were later converted for parcels, newspapers or general goods traffic. This particular example went into departmental service, and in this view is carrying engine parts.

As far as rolling stock was concerned, this mainly consisted of both open and covered carriage trucks (henceforth referred to as OCTs and CCTs respectively). When the service first started, cars were carried on short-wheelbase OCTs, but these proved unpopular with motorists, as the cars often had their paintwork spoiled by smoke and soot spewing from passing engines - and sometimes from the engine pulling the train! The NWR tried to remedy this by offering the use of protective tarpaulins, but eventually they decided it would be more prudent to switch to CCTs instead.

Single cars were carried in short-wheelbase vans, similar in design to the GWR’s Mogo vans.

For pairs of cars, longer wheelbase CCTs could be used.

For trios or quartets, bogie CCTs were employed.

When larger commercial vehicles began to be carried, bogie OCTs were used - converted from the underframes of the fabled Dublin Stock.

Because of the aforementioned one compartment for every vehicle rule, the passenger coaches were at first quite a motley collection, with the numbers being made up by any old stock just lying around. It was only from the 1930s onwards that more consistent rakes of coaches began to be used - starting with Ironclad-pattern stock, moving on to Maunsell-pattern just after the War, and finishing up with Bulleid-pattern in the BR era.

MOTORAIL

Above: A display of Scottish country dancing at...I think it's Kensington Olympia? No, I don't know why either.

In the 1960s, British Rail officially launched its Motorail service, offering fast travel for passengers and their cars to all parts of the country. To serve Sodor, one of the new services ran twice daily between Kensington Olympia and Vicarstown, and the latter’s existing loading dock was upgraded into a terminal. Two of the car ferry's ten daily crossings clashed with the proposed timings of the new Motorail services, and so were slashed from the timetable. Other than that, the car ferry was able to carry on as normal.

By then, the rolling stock used for the car ferry was beginning to show its age, and a programme of gradual replacement was implemented from about 1966 onwards:

For cars, General Utility Vans replaced the old bogie CCTs, which were retained for parcels traffic.

For commercial vehicles, Carflats replaced the OCTs, which were either scrapped or placed into departmental service.

Finally, for passengers, some of the NWR’s own allocation of BR Mk1s replaced the Bulleid-pattern stock.

The car ferry trains continued unabated into the 1970s, but it was clear they were running on borrowed time - for the first time, demand was beginning to outstrip capacity, and there was no room in the timetable to run extra trains. Then, exactly fifty years after the car ferries had first began, came a blow from which they were never to recover.

THE JUBILEE BRIDGE

That year saw the opening of the Walney Road Bridge, to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Needless to say, this snuffed out the NWR's car ferry monopoly in an instant. Nobody was more incensed at this development than Sir Topham Hatt, and he saw to it that the NWR was substantially compensated for the extinguishment of their ferry rights.

Above: The Jubilee Bridge. Visitors to Barrow (and native Barrovians, too) may think that this is the only bridge here. This is an illusion!

All was not totally lost, however, for 1977 also saw the extension of BR's existing London-Vicarstown Motorail service to a brand new terminal at Killdane - a more convenient base for the visiting motorist to explore Sodor. Such was the success of this new service that further others were introduced, linking Sodor with other provincial centres. Some of these services employed the stock which had previously worked the car ferry trains.

MODERN DAY MOTORAIL

The expansion of Sodor's Motorail services came during a period of gradual decline for the brand across the rest of BR. The expansion of Britain's motorways, the improvement of car technology, and the chaos of privatisation all ultimately conspired to kill off Motorail by the early-1990s.

Above: First Great Western briefly revived the Motorail concept in the early-2000s, using a fleet of converted GUVs.

Despite this, Motorail on Sodor has continued to flourish into the present day. Not only are its existing terminals at Vicarstown and Killdane still in operation, but there is now a third terminal at Tidmouth. These form the basis for the NWR's current Motorail services, which all serve to help solve a very basic problem.

The thing is, many visitors to Sodor now arrive in their own cars, but the island's road transport infrastructure isn't really suited to the needs of the long-distance motorist. Fortunately, the NWR has them covered. Special car-carrying trains now run regularly between the Motorail terminals at Vicarstown, Killdane and Tidmouth. While you still have to book in advance, it's a small price to pay for having the convenience of a car at your disposal, without the insanity that comes from having to drive it all the way across Sodor.

Of course, while the NWR's Motorail trains are available to all motorists (local and foreign) the majority of their customers are Mainlanders - the typical Sudrian would just as soon leave his car at home altogether!

#thomas the tank engine #the railway series #sodor #island of sodor #ttte headcanon #ttte analysis #north western railway #vicarstown #vicarstown bridge #barrow in furness #car ferry

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sitting-on-me-bum · 3 months

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An emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator) perches on a leaf on the Grand Canal in Vicarstown, County Laois, Ireland

Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

#niall carson #photographer #ap #emperor dragonfly #dragonfly #insect #anax imperator #leaf #grand canal #vicarstown #county laois #ireland #nature

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pistonsandgearsinc · 7 months

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Traintober: Day 3 "Twins"

"Oh hell, more twins!"

[Vicarstown Goods Yard]

Algernoon surveyed the new arrivals with distain.

“Oh hell, more twins!” Algernoon grumbled.

The two diesel shunters stared at him, then looked at eachother.

“Dodge when were you gonna tell me we were twins?” One said. “Its news to me I thought we were cousins-” Dodge replied. “Isn’t there a song associated with that?” The other one ventured.

Algernoon's face fell, and whatever he had for blood began to boil.

“Oh my god they’re as stupid as they are ugly.” He groaned.

The purple one, known as Splatter, looked over at Algernoon, “You wanna talk about ugliness-look at those bags under your eyes!” he guffawed.

Dodge joined his laughter, albeit more shortly, and finished with “Looks like you could use some sleep, big guy!”

"I sleep just fine. . . “ Algernoon muttered.

Sprites and Backgrounds by Princess Muffins.

I took the first day to plan and work on some stuff.

#ttte au #TTTE Splatter #TTTE Dodge #TTTE Splodge #TTTE OC: Algernoon #TTTE James #Welcome to Crosby #where the milk isn't milk #Vicarstown #Traintober #traintober 2023 #Sprites

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mean-scarlet-deceiver · 3 months

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Here's my hot take

The sad story of Henry is an odd one because originally He stopped in the tunnel to keep his paint from being ruined in the rain. It sounded something more that James would do than Henry.

It's both Early Installment Weirdness and Henry's strong vanity here helps round out his character (it's also not entirely divorced from the rest of his RWS characterisation — "six lovely tenders! what a splendid sight i'll be" is another shining example of vanity and overcompensation). Personally, I like any scene in RWS that reminds us that Henry is not merely a soft nature boi. (Mind, I think he's also a bit of that. Britt did good with that notion. But he craves the splendiferousness and respect in a big way, too.)

Anyway James — and Gordon — are Henry's besties because they hear about his tunnel showdown and instead of judging him (or roasting him, which you might expect from them in any other circumstance) they just nod sympathetically and when others try to convince them that Henry was soooooo stupid they're like, they can't defend him exactly, but they're like, 'leave him alone, it's understandable. keep your chin up king 👑'

#chatter #the sad story of henry #ttte henry #ttte the big three #james: i mean yeah. doesn't every engine do that in their first rainfall?#the entire vicarstown shed despite all its divisions in resounding chorus: no...

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lord-of-snack-falcons · 4 months

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[1924]

“I’m tired of pushing coaches! I want to see the world!”

A chorus of groans met the tank engine’s exclamation.

“This again?” Gordon huffed.

“You're one of the station pilots.” Henry sighed, in a strained tone. “You can’t-”

“One of!” Thomas argued. “Melanie can handle things herself for one day. It’s not like I’m asking to be one of you big fat main line engines!”

“All right, settle down everyone.” Edward came backing into the shed.

“I’ve got some trucks to take to Wellsworth tomorrow.” He said, softly, to Thomas. “If you take them instead of me, I’ll push coaches in the yard.”

“Would you do that, Edward, for me?” Thomas’s eyes shone.

The blue engine chuckled. “Yes, Thomas, I would.”

“Is that a good idea, Edward?” Henry raised a discontented eyebrow. “Has he ever pulled a goods train before?”

“No, but this could provide good experience for him.”

“Or it could lead to disaster. There is Gordon’s Hill to contend with.”

“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to call it that!” Gordon snapped from across the shed.

Thomas tuned the spiraling argument out.

“Oh, Edward,” he whispered, “I wish it was morning…”

#ttte #thomas and friends #thomas the tank engine and friends #railway series #rws #the adventure begins #ttte thomas #ttte edward #ttte henry #ttte gordon #ttte oc saint #vicarstown sheds #kinda prefer the payne/dalby variant of vicarstown sheds tbh #gotta love edward being kind of an idiot in the most wholesome way

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sparkarrestor · 5 months

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Edward turned Sodor-Native almost immediately and accepted their ways as soon as he went blue.

Except for Vicarstown. In his mind Vickerstown will always be the correct spelling and you cannot convince him otherwise.

#ttte #ttte edward #he secretly changes the station sign at Vicarstown when no one looks #lol #Spark's Headcanon

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putuponpercy · 1 year

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I talked about Henry dealing with money/housing issues which eventually led to him becoming flat mates with Gordon, but in the tags of that post I mentioned James also moved in due to a pretty dire situation. During his early days on Sodor he's in the midst of a rather nasty divorce with his ex-partner from the Mainland which he unfortunately gets completely fucked over by.

On one night Henry arrives at Tidmouth sheds to get ready for the fish train when he actually spots James curled up in a blanket in the cab of his own engine. James is embarrassed to have been discovered in such an undignified way to say the least, and he initially refuses to explain just what he's doing there.

There's still another spare room at the flat. Sure it's full of clutter but it can easily be converted into another bedroom. The only challenge was convincing Gordon.

H: So, uh, you know that spare room on the right?

G: Yes, what of it?

H: See, the thing is, James kind of needs somewhere to stay-

G: Absolutely not.

He does come around in the end with Henry pulling on his heart strings all like "You gave me a roof over my head when I was struggling."

Both Henry and James were only originally meant to stay until they got back on their feet. Instead the trio were flatmates for a good 15-20 years.

#ttte #ttte humanized #ttte james #ttte henry #ttte Gordon #tjp au #then Henry unexpectedly moved to vicarstown

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imitation-steamroller · 1 year

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Ulfstead Railway Museum

Sir Robert’s railway museum is a concept that was set up in S20 but never went anywhere, presumably because Big World Big Adventures happened. So as I rewatched the series, I worked on my idea of what the Ulfstead Railway Museum would be like. I also did one for the Vicarstown Railway Museum if you want to check that out.

The way I see it, Sir Robert just suddenly decided he wanted to build a museum, kinda like the dinosaur park. It’s a fair bit bigger than the Vicarstown museum and has a roundhouse for its engines. But unlike the VRM, most of Ulfstead’s stock has little to do with Sodor’s railways. All but one of them are from the mainland or further beyond.

Everyday, two of the museum’s engines bring visitors from the mainland, while Sudrian visitors are usually brought by Thomas, James, and whoever else is a available.

On the subject of engines, the museum currently doesn’t have many yet. Even if you were to count Millie, Stephen, and Glynn, the museum’s roster doesn’t hit double digits. Among them are:

Kana - Ooh, an All Engines Go character, how scandalous! Kana was the first engine brought to the museum, and very quickly made friends with several of the island’s tank engines. While Kana truly means well, she can sometimes become too big for her wheels and get into scrapes. Lucky for her, Rosie and Percy always ready to bring her back down to earth.

Bruno - I promise they’re not all AEG characters. Bruno is a young and sturdy caboose who usually gives rides around the castle with Glynn, but he is often borrowed by the NWR to help keep the troublesome trucks and more easily distracted engines in line. Bruno generally prefers things slow and steady, but he can keep up with whatever shenanigans of Thomas and his friends if need be.

Gator - Didn’t expect to see him, did you? Before he left Sodor again, Gator and Percy became pen pals. So when Gator was being withdrawn some years later, he told Percy, who told the Earl, who bought Gator. Nowadays, he spends his time talking to visitors or collecting stone for the castle.

Smudger - The VRM are seething because they didn’t get to him first. Smudger was dug up from the ruins of the sheds around the time Duke was found and as you could probably expect, he was in pretty rough shape. Luckily, the Earl wouldn’t stop until Smudger had been completely repaired. Unluckily, at least for Smudger, Duke is a stone’s throw away from him now, and Smudger isn’t too keen on seeing him again.

Duchess - Duchess is the newest engine in the museum’s fleet and is very eager to please. After she was withdrawn from service, the Earl snatched her up for the museum. Like Kana, Duchess usually brings visitors to and from the castle, but tourists wanting to see the former royal engine have made her job a little harder than it needs to be.

#ttte #thomas and friends #ttte headcanons #ttte headcanon #ttte kana #ttte bruno #ttte gator #ttte smudger #ttte duchess #i considered adding hugo to the group but i honest to god couldn't think of anything to say about him #he just kind of...exists?#i can ramble ad nauseum about almost any character from the tvs but i'm drawing blanks for propellor boy #lowkey the museum was just an excuse to add kana and bruno to the og series #aeg's not amazing but i like them <3 #i wanted to do sandy too but it feels weird not to have her with carly #idk i'll figure something out #lowkey i'm tempted to take the bwba characters i like and throw them in here too #like hong mei or gina #if anyone needs/wants me to go more in depth on the museum engines i totally can #that includes the vicarstown engines too

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sudriantraveler · 1 year

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I know I’m a couple days late but I’d like to hear about “Trams and Trouble”!

That one's actually been on the back-burner for a little while now, but Its basically meant to be a series of stories for my take on the Vicarstown Tramway.

At the moment I have a series of ideas and concepts planned out, and one story half-written.

The tramway is run by three electric trams. Borrowing from the TV series character Flora, they have a similar livery, and are each named after different plants: Speedwell, Sage, and Delphinium.

I keep going back and fourth of if I want to change these names however, and that's actually part of why this project stalled (I need to stop overthinking the details). In any case, I have written some basic character descriptions for each of them:

Speedwell - A kind and friendly tram, Speedwell has great respect for the people along their line. They are always on the lookout for someone in need, although they can be very anxious, and often have a tendency to get in over their head and overwhelm themself.

Sage - A quiet tram, known for his kind heart and observant nature. In fact he often seems to notice things which no one else does. He can however get easily distracted, and has on numerous occasions held up traffic while listening to street performers or watching the activities of the local alley cats.

Delphinium - Delphinium, or Delphi for short, is an energetic tram. She loves straight empty roads, because she can go as fast as her driver will let her. Bumpy track is all the better as she thinks it's great fun to bounce along swaying from side to side, though her passengers usually aren’t happy about the rough ride. While usually very cheerful, she is quick tempered and can act impulsively at times.

The stories take place around 1950-1951ish, and are about the trams as they go about their lives, while trying to deal with a new bus company which threatens their line.

The first story is more of an introduction to the tramway, and is about Bridgett Hatt, when she gets lost in Vicarstown and happens upon the tramway.

Here is a brief passage from what I have written so far:

*****

At that moment, there was a strange rattling sound punctuated by a short but loud clang of a bell, and around the corner came a very odd looking engine.

It was a tall boxy shape, with two levels, the lower of which sat directly atop a set of 4 small wheels packed oddly close together. A long pole jutted out from its top and connected with a wire running above the roadway. With a squealing of brakes the strange engine came to a gentle stop just in front of Bridget.

“Ogmund’s Park everyone, Ogmund’s Park. Next stop will be Baker’s Lane… Oh, hello… You don’t look all that happy, what’s wrong?”

Bridget looked up. The engine was talking to her. “I’m… lost”, she said slowly.

“Lost?” Said the engine, “Well that will never do, especially on a cold day like this. Do you know where you’re trying to get to, or where have you come from?”

“The Big Station” replied Bridget, “Do you know how to get there?”

“I know the place” said the engine, “and you’re in luck, it’s just along my route. Why don’t you climb aboard and I’ll let you know when we get there”.

“Thank you” said Bridget, and stepped aboard.

“I would recommend finding a seat on the top floor,” said the engine, “you'll have a nice view of the city streets”.

As Bridget took her seat, the strange engine rattled away from the park. It wasn’t like the shaking and rattling of the bus; that had been an angry, terrifying sound as the bus had hurled itself along, seemingly ignorant of the fact that it sounded as though something might break or give way at any moment.

This on the other hand was gentle, calming and rhythmic; a familiar “clickety-clack, clickety-clack'' of train wheels on sturdy metal rails.

“What’s your name?” asked Bridget.

“Oh, I’m sorry” said the engine “I haven’t introduced myself. My name's Speedwell”.

“Well, my name’s Bridget”. She paused, then said “I’ve never seen an engine like you before. You don’t make any smoke or steam”.

“That’s because I’m a tram engine. I’m electric!”

“Electric?”

“Yes. Unlike the mainline railway, all of us trams are electric… or at least, all the ones I know are… That’s what the pole on my roof is for, it draws power from the overhead wire”.

Bridget looked, and sure enough there was a long set of wires trailing above and ahead of them, snaking off into the distance.

*****

Yes, this is why Bridget asked "Is it electric?" when she first met Toby not to long after the events of this story.

#WIP ask game #ttte #ttte bridget hatt #ttte vicarstown tramway

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just-someone-online · 2 years

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Mavis: Hey, I’m back from the works! What did I miss?

Thomas: *begins spouting the biggest load of bull about magic engines and evil diesels*

#ttte #thomas and friends #ttte thomas #ttte mavis #i like to think that any big event in a special or movie originated from thomas being full of it #cranky trying to stop the ship in totb? the dock manager told the ship to turn back #thomas jumping over the vicarstown bridge? he got off the bridge just before the gates lowered

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edwardthomasnw · 6 months

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Saw this the other day and Have Been Thinking.

Originally just kinda had it as the site being massively downsized and then running a line through it, which thinking about it sounds kinda stupid now (think it was an idea a few others had at the time so I went with it and just didn't really think about it?), but yeah having two is lodging itself in my head now.

Though it doesn't help moving the turntable to Barrow seeming stupid, as 'Off the Rails' later occurs here an' all which means a new one was put in at some point. Hope there's more notes somewhere that explain that cause it's just one of those odd things really.

#ttte #rws #the railway series #rws theory #rws vicarstown #ttte headcanon #how do i tag this help #very old draft #which you may be able to tell

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808airsoftbros · 1 month

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The Half Engine (Blackpink)

Author: Just a teaser hint for my upcoming Halloween oneshot. If you want to see more of my stories check out my Masterlist

The Original Half Engine story was by: [thebogieboy] (His Youtube) Genre: Crossover/Horror

Author's POV

It was a ordinary day on the island of Sodor, the engines had been working hard all day on their branch lines delivering passengers and goods across the island.

They were all looking forward to a goodnights long rest at the sheds, everyone that was except for James.

"How long are we going to be kept waiting? At this rate, will be home by nightfall," James sighed as he was waiting at the station.

"Have no fear, James, I'm confident will be back home in no time!" His driver assured but that didn't help ease his mind one bit as he had already seen the sun about to set down soon.

But it didn't help the fact that the weather forecast that there will fog this evening meaning their visibility is limited and travelling down the tracks will be dangerous.

Thankfully for James, he didn't have to wait much longer as his last passengers boarded the coaches.

James blew his whistle as he puffed out of the station to the next, the trip lasted about a couple hours and by the time he shunted the coaches into the yard, it was dark and foggy as predicted.

Despite Jame's headlamp shining brightly, he could hardly see a thing ahead of him so he had to travel down the line cautiously to prevent him from hitting anything.

Despite the Driver and Fireman being experienced navigators, they were eventually lost in the fog, and they didn't know they travelled down into a abandoned siding on the line.

"Stupid fog... I can't see a thing..." James muttered as he puffed down the line.

"Yeah, can't see anything in the distance either, no signs, nothing I'm afraid..." His driver replied and sighed.

"In that case, why don't we just get rid of these unused..." James paused as he saw something that caused his boiler and firebox to freeze.

James applied the brakes slowly putting him into a halt, the fireman and driver were confused and asked what he had stopped for.

However, James couldn't mutter a word out of his mouth as he shook nervously and the Driver got out of the cab to see what was wrong and they gasped as they caught the sight of a scrap engine.

"W-what the bloody hell?! What kind of sick person would scrap an engine like that?!" The driver exclaimed as they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

It was indeed a sorrowful sight to see the empty soul of an engine lying on the side but this was different... The engine was cut perfectly in half without error.

Half of the boiler, cab, funnel, and whistle can be seen, and they wonder how this would be possible as no skilled scrapper is capable of such a thing.

"I don't wanna know! Get me out of here! Get me out of here!" James demanded as he was too terrified to linger any longer.

The crew were quick to agree, they boarded into his cab and James reversed out of the abandon line as fast as his pistons and wheels can take him.

Back at the sheds, the engines were finally able to rest after a long day of work, Sir Topham Hatt arrived to deliver some news to the engine but they had to wait as James was absent.

Finally, James arrived back at Tidmouth sheds and the others were a bit worried and curious as to where James has been all this time as it was late in the night.

"Ah, James, so glad you can join us," Sir Topham Hatt greeted but James didn't reply as he was still too shaken from what he had seen earlier.

"Anyway, onto the point, I've come here to inform you all that we will be visited by celebrities from Korea, so I expect all of you to be on your best behavior, we do not want to give a bad impression, do we? Gordon, I'd like you to transport them from Vicarstown to Tidmouth Station, there we will begin the tour," He explained to the engines and they were quite intrigued and excited as they never had celebrities coming from across the world.

After that, Sir Topham Hatt got into his personal car and drove away from the sheds.

The engines chatted a bit about tomorrow until they eventually fell asleep except for James who could hardly sleep as he had a dreadful feeling that something or someone was watching them from the distance.

The night went on without any incident, James hardly got any sleep but still carried on with his duties as Gordon coupled to the express coaches and made his way to Vicarstown to pick up the guests along with Sir Topham Hatt.

When they arrived, Gordon saw a group of four young women, they stared at him with such curiosity and fascination that it almost made Gordon nervous.

"Ah, good morning, girls, I hope you all had a safe and pleasant trip! It's such a pleasure to have you all come to my railway, my name is Sir Topham Hatt II, and I'm the second generation running this fine railway. This is one of my prestige and trustworthy engines, Gordon, he will be taking you all to Tidmouth station, and we will begin our tour from there!" Sir Topham Hatt greeted to the four girls and they all smiled.

"Thank you for having us, sir, my name is Jisoo, I'm the eldest, and this man here is my manager," Jisoo introduced herself.

"I'm Jennie, I'm the second oldest, surely, you've once watched our music videos?" Jennie introduced herself with a hint of pride.

"My name is, Chaeyoung but everyone calls me Rosé, it's a pleasure to meet you~," Rosé introduced herself with such elegance in her voice.

"Hello, I'm Lisa, the Maknae of the group! This railway is such a nice place!" Lisa introduced herself as she admired the scenery and countryside.

After the introductions, the girls and the Controller boarded onto the express coach and Gordon puffed out of Vicarstown and began the journey to Tidmouth station.

Y/N's POV

As I finished doing my morning routine, I put on my work uniform, put on my coat, I put on my shoes, and walked out of the dormitory to Tidmouth sheds.

It was early in the morning at five am, I yawned a bit as I greeted Thomas as I was his driver.

"Good morning, Y/N, I heard we're getting visitors all the way from Korea!" Thomas greeted and I nodded.

"Yeah, I heard about it, they're a Kpop group called Blackpink, I doubt you heard of them... Ya know, since you're an engine," I replied.

"Oh, you'd be right, who is Blackpink and what is Kpop?" Thomas asked as he was slowly generating steam in his boiler.

"Kpop is a music genre, it's quite popular nowadays, can't go one day without hearing one of their songs, and they are talented singers and dancers, I watch them some time," I answered as I was shoveling coal in his firebox getting ready to start the day.

Then we heard a loud whistle and I recognized it to be Gordon as he rolled onto the rolling platform and joined the rest of us in the sheds.

I was wondering what was going on as Gordon should be heading out to take the express coaches by now but I was shocked to see Blackpink themselves.

They were walking with my boss Sir Topham Hatt, and they all stared at the engines with wonder and fascination.

"Good morning, everyone! I'd like to introduce you all to Blackpink, and they have come here for a tour around the island as I announced last night! To start things off, I'd like you all to introduce yourselves!" He instructed.

Henry, Emily, Thomas, Percy, and Edward all introduced themselves to the girls and letting out loud whistles as they generated enough steam in their boilers.

All except for James who still looked uneasy but he snapped out of his trance and introduced himself giving a fake smile trying to hide something.

"Wah, it's such a pleasure to meet you all! I heard so much about this place and it's amazing to be here in person!" Lisa replied as she walked up to the engines.

"Now, Thomas, Y/N, and Elliot, I'd like you to give them the tour around Sodor. Toby will be taking over your branch line for the day, that will be all!" The boss ordered us and we nodded.

"Yes, sir!' Thomas acknowledged and the controller got into his car and drove away leaving us alone.

I showed the girls inside of Thomas's cab, I let them blew the whistle a few times, but while I showed them around, I noticed James looked uneasy and so does the others.

"James, is everything okay?" Edward asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Oh, it's nothing..." James tried to play it off but it wasn't going to deter Edward one bit.

"Well, if I don't know any better but is quite rare... Poor little James has seen a ghost," Gordon teased.

Henry and Gordon laughed but the others remained silent including Y/N and the Blackpink members.

"I-I did see something..." James softly spoke up and the two stopped laughing.

"And what is that?" Henry asked in an amusing tone.

"I saw a scrap engine..." He answered and their smiles dropped to a confused to look.

"A scrap engine? That's it? I understand it's rather distressing to see those poor souls but we've all seen them plenty of times yet you never once looked this disturbed," Gordon pointed out but James sighed.

"T-this one was different, the engine was cut in half without a fault... Never seen anything like that before," James mentioned and the others were deeply disturbed.

Myself, Jisoo, Lisa, and Rosé, we're also disturbed about this, except for Jennie was very skeptical about the whole thing and wondered if they were just hallucinating the whole thing.

"James, you must've seen a victim of... 'The Half Engine'..." Thomas replied to him with a nervous look on his face.

"Thomas! This is no time for teasing!" James angrily growled.

"I'm not teasing you! I know exactly what happened!" He assured and Edward insisted on telling us.

Looking at Jennie's skeptical expression, I thought she wouldn't bother listening but she stayed and paid attention to Thomas anyway.

"A long time ago, when Sir Topham Hatt I was running the railway, it was the time when the North Western Railway was founded, many engines had been brought here to help including myself and others. However... there was one engine that was different," Thomas paused as he recalled the tale.

"Something horrible went wrong with her construction, she only had half a face, and the other half being her smokebox door, we could hardly understand what she was trying to say, maintenance on her was a nightmare to watch or listen to, and through all of this... She was in immense excruciating pain, every night we heard her crying and pleading for the pain to go away, it was so horrid that many of us could hardly stomach it," Thomas explains the whole story and the girls were in deep shock about this and again deeply disturbed.

Lisa and Rosé looked at each other with fear written all over their faces and Jisoo didn't say a word but Jennie was skeptical as ever.

"But the nastiest of us and even some of the crews saw it as nothing but a joke, this would all boil up inside of her and one day, her behavior changed for the worst... She became more violent, snapping at everyone she came across, even those who pitied her, and to make things worse, at night, she traveled down the sheds and down a heavily forested line, and when she returned, she swore that we would all perish on this railway, in her gargled barely identical speech, and we began to believe she was possessed and deranged in all her suffering, seeking any ways to get rid of her deformity,"

"Eventually, the Director of the Railway had enough, and he ordered another engine to take her down the smelter yard to be cut up for scrap, at the same time, myself and another engine were heading home from work, but as we made our way down the line, we saw smoke and multiple sounds of fire engines, we rushed to see what happened, and there was a sight I'll never forgot..." Thomas again paused.

"We never saw her again after that day... But rumors spread from workmen about noises on foggy nights, they all told us the same thing, it sounded like someone screaming in pain, and now it seems like her spirit still roams around the railway to this day..." Thomas finished his tale.

Again, the others were silent as the grave, deeply disturbed and terrified of this, the girls were shivering as they looked down the line wondering if perhaps the Half Engine was watching them.

"Pft. What a load of rubbish! Come on guys, you can't be seriously believing this is all real?! It's fake! Just like every other folklore tale! James, what you say may have been a hallucination!" Jennie exclaimed but the others didn't seem to agree with her.

"Jennie, I'm being serious here! It's all real and I was there!" Thomas warned her but she scoffed.

"Yeah, sure... Almost as real as any other scary ghost engine story!" Jennie sarcastically replied and Thomas sighed in defeat.

But little did Jennie know was that something was lurking in the shadows of the yard, watching the others before disappearing in the wind.

I swore I caught a glimpse of an engine down near the shunting yards but it vanished before I got a good look but I have a bad feeling about the whole situation especially for Jennie's safety.

We continued on the tour as scheduled, the camera crew and the girls were vlogging around the island as Thomas, Eliiot and I, were travelling down the main lines.

When it was getting dark, we head down back to the main line and concluded the day as we got good footage for their Youtube channel, and we arrived back to Tidmouth sheds.

After I finished putting Thomas into his designated shed, I guided the girls to the dormitory where they'll be sleeping for the rest of their stay.

"For a railway dormitory, it sure is nice..." Jisoo complimented.

"Yeah, not bad, right? Provided a place to stay and get paid, can't really beat that," I replied and chuckled.

"By the way, Y/N, is the Half Engine, real?" Rosé nervously asked and I sighed.

"If I'm being honest... That is up to you to believe what is real and what is not," I spoke to her with a solemn tone and she gulped.

Not wanting to intrude any further, I bid them goodnight and I went back into my own dorm to get some rest for the night.

Jennie's POV

As we settled into our dorm, the girls were getting ready for bed and go to sleep but I wasn't tired yet as I wanted to find out myself if the story of the Half Engine is real or just made up to scare us.

Regardless, I don't believe in the thing but I'm willing to give it a shot, I grabbed my phone and flashlight.

I snuck out of the bedroom without waking up the girls as I quietly exited the dormitory, the night was foggy and quiet giving an uneasy ambience.

Despite all of that, I pressed on as I made my way into the heavily forested line where the Half Engine is said to reside.

I pop up my camera app on my phone beginning to record my investigation.

"Alright, Blinks, this is the investigation of the legend of the Half Engine, where it says is a ghostly engine with half a face and the other half being her smokebox door. To be honest, guys, I'm not too sure about the whole thing, so let us find out!" I started the recording as I ventured down the foggy line.

Ten minutes into my mischief yet dangerous investigation there was nothing out of the ordinary that appeared other than some owls and occasionally deer.

Eventually I was starting to grow bored and figured this whole thing was a waste of time and began pondering if I should just head back to the dormitory.

"Aish, you know what Blinks, I'm tired so this concludes-" She was cut off when she heard a loud banshee like scream causing her to freeze.

"U-uhhh... D-did you hear that...?" She nervously asked the camera and again the scream was heard but this time it was louder.

Then I heard a faint sound of puffing of a steam engine heading my way along with the banshee-like scream.

"W-whos there?! This isn't funny?! Thomas is that you?!" Jennie called out but there was no response.

But at the corner of my eye, I looked into the fog and my stomach dropped as I saw a rusted engine charging at me. But her face was skeletal and the other half being her smokebox... IT CANNOT BE!!!

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" I screamed in terror as the deranged engine was charging torwards me and was about to run me over.

I closed my eyes standing still then I heard someone shouting out my name as I was trembling and frozen in terror.

"Jennie?"

"Jennie!"

I opened my eyes fearing to see that ungodly engine but it was long gone and I sighed in relief when I saw Y/N with Thomas with worried looks on their faces.

"Are you okay, Jennie?" Y/N asked as he shined his lantern in his hand.

"I-I guess..." I answered as I was shaken.

"You really shouldn't have gone out this late, do you know what could be out here? Bears, wolfs, and maybe even dangerous people," Y/N scolded me and I looked down in shame.

I pulled out my phone to call my members as they are probably worried sick about me but I gasped when I saw my phone cut clean in half without error...

"N-no way... How is this possible...?" I trembled as I tried to figure out what the fuck happened to my phone.

"You should consider yourself luckty it was your phone... Instead of you," Thomas spoke and I looked up to him.

"What do you mean...? The Half Engine did this to my phone...?" I nervously asked and Y/N nodded.

"Not many people live to tell their tale... Instead, they are found with their corpses cut in half... Just like the engines. I saw her once myself and that's why I consider myself the luckiest man on the island," Y/N explained and shivers ran down my spine as I felt thankful that it took my phone instead of me.

Thomas and Y/N gave me a ride back to the sheds and he guided me back to the dormitory and I was in for a lecture from Jisoo that night but that was the least of my concerns.

Whatever I saw... Whether it be the Half Engine or not, I will never forget it and I feel like this will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I feel sorry and regret that I didn't believe Thomas and instead risked my own life to prove that the Half Engine is nothing but a made-up folklore tale.

Throughout the rest of the trip, nothing happened and I never saw the Half Engine again, but the thought of it lingered in my mind, and sometimes... At night, when I sleep... I feel being watched by something or someone.

#kpop #kpop idol #kpop gg #bxg #x male reader #blackpink #blackpink rose #blackpink jisoo #blackpink lisa #blackpink jennie #kim jisoo #jisoo kim #jennierubyjane #kim jennie #rose #park chaeyoung #lalisa manoban #thomas and friends #thomas the tank engine

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hazel-of-sodor · 7 months

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Day 1-A Day OFF

Traintober 2023