Chronology of the series.
The Cumbrian Engines were begun in September 2004, when I decided to write about my home county. The Ravenglass and Eskdale narrow gauge railway is located around 15 miles from where I live, and I spent many hours as a small child going to "Friends of Thomas" events there and seeing all the engines. The Cumbrian Coast Line from Carlisle to Lancaster runs through Whitehaven, my hometown, and the Carlisle Citadel Station was once a very busy terminus and through station in the heyday of steam engines, when seven lines would terminate here.
City of Carlisle, the main character, was originally going to be "Carlisle Castle", a Great Western Railway engine who would become a character of the "Extended Railway Series", on the Sodor Island Forums. After seeing that there was already a character of the GWR Castle Class in the ERS, I researched London Midland and Scottish express engines, and found the Duchess/Princess Coronation Class, the 8P. I found "City of Glasgow", and decided that a "City of Carlisle" would be a good character. It was not until several months later that I realised that there actually had been a steam engine called "City of Carlisle"! The Castle Class legacy then gave way to the Eln Valley Railway’s Eln Castle, based off a model locomotive that I own.
The next characters created with Fred and George. They were originally going to be a Class 155 sprinter, instead of a Class 142 pacer, which is common on the Cumbrian Coast. They were then changed, and work was then underway on a diesel. This was a Class 25 named Arthur. He was originally going to be a friend of BoCo, but then the series became independent. Then I found a Class 31 diesel named "Calder Hall Power Station", named after a nearby power plant at Sellafield. Roger completed the original crew, and Volume 1, The Coastal Engines was written involving all six characters.
With the first volume being rather a success, I decided to write a second volume, one that would focus on my home of Whitehaven during the 1920s. The stories needed lots of accuracy, to ensure that if read by West Cumbrian historians would stand up. The incline, the goods yard, the dock; they were all just some of the locations in and around the town.
The inspiration behind the narrow gauge line from the mine to the alabaster works was partly taken from a map of turn-of-the-century Whitehaven, and the discovery that Numbers 1 and 2 on the Talyllyn railway were built at Fletcher Jennings & Co. at Lowca, close to the town. It was only in 2007 that I learned that the line was actually 2'3" gauge, quite coincidental considering that is the same gauge as what I just guessed as it being.
The standard gauge engines in the town all had new names, except Askham Hall and Vanguard. Robert the little engine was named after my grandfather, who has proved invaluable for ideas.
Soon, along came the first La’al Ratty volume. This introduced some of the engines of the Eskdale railway, giving them each a bit of limelight. Perkins had a cameo in book 1, where he would talk to Arthur at Ravenglass. River Irt is the old and wise one, River Esk being the one with the sense of humour, River Mite being a bit loud and a moaner, Northern Rock being the youthful brave one, Perkins being a helpful and resourceful diesel and Shelagh of Eskdale as a charming diesel who is a friend to all.
Volume 4 had a host of new diesels introduced into the series, these being the common EWS diesels that do freight work on the West Coast Main Line. The rarity of mainline Class 37s was shown when Ewan has problems. The climax of the book was the first real chaotic storyline, in which the lives of several hundred people onboard a Pendolino are at the wheels of Ewan, who must move a heavy train of coal trucks out of the way and onto the other line. This marked the transition from harmless simple stories to exciting, action-filled thrillers.
Now onto one of my personal favourite volumes, Volume 5 had a dark side to it, in that the diesels were taking over, and City of Glasgow was scrapped. It also highlighted the power of friendship, when Jack and the other engines endeavour to rescue City of Carlisle from meeting the same fate as his brother. Of course, this completely contradicts real life, and City of Carlisle was scrapped, but where would the story be without our main character? Volume 5 introduced more LMS characters, and Scafell Pike, the diesel who abandons his nasty brothers and befriends the steam engines.
Ah, the 2004 Christmas special! A really charming story. Did you know that the seasonal special was written before Volume 5, and I needed to go back and add in the Volume 5 characters! This story was written in anticipation of the supposed heavy snow that would hit the region over Christmas, and of course, hit everywhere else except the West Coast of Cumbria. Ah well, always next year, eh?
Volume 6 was thought of as a sequel to the Christmas special. It introduced our first standard gauge female engine – Hermione. As you might have guessed, her name is inspired from the Harry Potter character. One may think that she was thought up as a “politically correct” character, but I especially gave her special characteristics to make her far from a character such as “Emily” from Thomas and Friends.
Volume 7 was a volume that I thought of when I saw some LNER models on a model train website. Although I knew that the LNER never worked on the WCML, they could be preserved and go on rail tours to the region. The majority of the book is not actually about the visiting engines, but was a chance to expand on the main character, and then to introduce some DRS Class 20 triplets under the names of Tom, Dick and Harry. The story that ensues is a very exciting one, and finds Arthur heading down the line, out of control, propelled by lots of uranium flask wagons.
Volume 8 was a revisit to the engines first encountered in Volume 2. There are more engines added to the storylines, and lots of care was taken to ensure perfect accuracy in the engines. More Whitehaven area locations were added, and this is definitely a favourite volume of mine.
With Volume 9, Fred and George, two of the main characters finally get some well-deserved stories. They fall out, but learn that they really need each other at all times. The final story features the twins helping Jack, who is stuck in a flood, which occurred up in Carlisle at the time of the writing of this volume.
Volume 10 marked the tenth volume of the series being written, and I included myself in the stories. The first three stories focused on three different engines: Rory, Hermione and Craig, respectively. The final story had all three engines pulling a special train up the coast line.
The La’al Ratty was revisited in Volume 11, and the engines who had little adventures in their first book featured more. Some stories that were originally going to be for the Island of Sodor’s Arlesdale railway found their way into this volume. Stories 1, 3 and 4 were based around true events, although Perkins and River Esk did not have a race, but Perkins’ axle was damaged on some points, as in this volume.
A new railway was introduced for Volume 12, and this meant plenty of new characters to cover in stories. The Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway has a wide variety of engine classes and adventures of its own; so new material is easy to think of and get inspiration for. The first story was based on a true event in November 2004, when 42085 was turned on a crane for enthusiasts to get more photographs of it from different angles.
We went back to the good old days of the La’al Ratty in Volume 13, with cameos by the current engines in current and past forms, and new characters too. A lot of historical (and quite hysterical, too!) research went into this volume to make sure that there was a fair amount of accuracy in the stories.
Volume 14 is about the backbone of the characters on the Cumbrian Coast Line - the Cumbrian Diesels. Arthur, Calder, the triplets and Ewan all featured, with a story about the problem of vandalism on railways, poor old Calder sinking in sand, Ewan being transferred to DRS and Calder having fun with the gullible triplets.
The Eskdale railway comes back for even more with Volume 15. An insight into Days out with Thomas events was shown, two new characters to the series pull a special train, Shelagh has some problems and Douglas Ferreira is unveiled. Shelagh’s fuel problem is heavily adapted from real-life events. Oil leaks into her air reservoir, and is cleared through a side exhaust onto the coupling rods. The rest is poetic licence.
REAL LIFE INSPIRATIONS FOR STORIES
Among the route of creating stories, I have found railway incidents that could be moulded into good stories that have that extra bit more depth than your average story, coming 100% from imagination. Here are some notable ones:
ELN VALLEY RAILWAY SERIES 1; STORY 2 - Eln Valley crashing and subsequently being trapped in the ditch comes from an incident on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway. The real incident occured in 1949 near Ashcott. A narrow gauge peat company line crossed the railway here and a small petrol locomotive stalled on the crossing. A train soon came along and it's crew jumped clear. It was a 4F 0-6-0 tender engine. It collided with the petrol loco and plunged into a ditch by the lineside. The coach and trucks it was hauling stayed safe on the rails, but when the crane from Bath arrived the engine could not be retrieved because of the unstable ground. It had to be pulled to pieces so they could be lifted out and to safety.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 14; STORY 3 - Ewan is rehomed from EWS at Carlisle to DRS at Sellafield. Currently, EWS are cutting down on their stock of older locomotives, such as Class 37s, of which Ewan is. At the same time, DRS is purchasing Class 37s to expand their own fleet. It only makes sense that a good character gets a good fate.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 15; STORY 3 - In May 2005 I did a day out volunteering on the Ratty. What happens to Shelagh when she is prepared in the morning is what I saw first hand. The same locomotive and the same way. She didn't take the trains that day, however, so the incidents further up the line are fictional.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 9; STORY 4 - In January 2005 there were fierce storms that hit Cumbria. The River Eden burst its banks and flooded the city centre of Carlisle. To reflect this, I let Jack experience an encounter with flood water himself, albeit further down the line than Carlisle.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 11; STORY 3 - Perkins' axle was damaged on the Platform 3 points at Ravenglass, but not while having a race with River Esk. The drinks cup incident is fictional, too.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 11; STORY 4 - One day in 2004, River Mite did have to stop at Murthwaite for a large party of hikers, and on that same journey Perkins did act as a banker and failed.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 12; STORY 1 - 42085 was turned to face south in Autumn 2004.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 13; STORY 2 - The Ratty's Scooters were prone to malfunction and one of them "escaping" wasn't uncommon...
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 13; STORY 3 - ICLs 1 & 2 collided in 1928, damaging both engines severely.
City of Carlisle, the main character, was originally going to be "Carlisle Castle", a Great Western Railway engine who would become a character of the "Extended Railway Series", on the Sodor Island Forums. After seeing that there was already a character of the GWR Castle Class in the ERS, I researched London Midland and Scottish express engines, and found the Duchess/Princess Coronation Class, the 8P. I found "City of Glasgow", and decided that a "City of Carlisle" would be a good character. It was not until several months later that I realised that there actually had been a steam engine called "City of Carlisle"! The Castle Class legacy then gave way to the Eln Valley Railway’s Eln Castle, based off a model locomotive that I own.
The next characters created with Fred and George. They were originally going to be a Class 155 sprinter, instead of a Class 142 pacer, which is common on the Cumbrian Coast. They were then changed, and work was then underway on a diesel. This was a Class 25 named Arthur. He was originally going to be a friend of BoCo, but then the series became independent. Then I found a Class 31 diesel named "Calder Hall Power Station", named after a nearby power plant at Sellafield. Roger completed the original crew, and Volume 1, The Coastal Engines was written involving all six characters.
With the first volume being rather a success, I decided to write a second volume, one that would focus on my home of Whitehaven during the 1920s. The stories needed lots of accuracy, to ensure that if read by West Cumbrian historians would stand up. The incline, the goods yard, the dock; they were all just some of the locations in and around the town.
The inspiration behind the narrow gauge line from the mine to the alabaster works was partly taken from a map of turn-of-the-century Whitehaven, and the discovery that Numbers 1 and 2 on the Talyllyn railway were built at Fletcher Jennings & Co. at Lowca, close to the town. It was only in 2007 that I learned that the line was actually 2'3" gauge, quite coincidental considering that is the same gauge as what I just guessed as it being.
The standard gauge engines in the town all had new names, except Askham Hall and Vanguard. Robert the little engine was named after my grandfather, who has proved invaluable for ideas.
Soon, along came the first La’al Ratty volume. This introduced some of the engines of the Eskdale railway, giving them each a bit of limelight. Perkins had a cameo in book 1, where he would talk to Arthur at Ravenglass. River Irt is the old and wise one, River Esk being the one with the sense of humour, River Mite being a bit loud and a moaner, Northern Rock being the youthful brave one, Perkins being a helpful and resourceful diesel and Shelagh of Eskdale as a charming diesel who is a friend to all.
Volume 4 had a host of new diesels introduced into the series, these being the common EWS diesels that do freight work on the West Coast Main Line. The rarity of mainline Class 37s was shown when Ewan has problems. The climax of the book was the first real chaotic storyline, in which the lives of several hundred people onboard a Pendolino are at the wheels of Ewan, who must move a heavy train of coal trucks out of the way and onto the other line. This marked the transition from harmless simple stories to exciting, action-filled thrillers.
Now onto one of my personal favourite volumes, Volume 5 had a dark side to it, in that the diesels were taking over, and City of Glasgow was scrapped. It also highlighted the power of friendship, when Jack and the other engines endeavour to rescue City of Carlisle from meeting the same fate as his brother. Of course, this completely contradicts real life, and City of Carlisle was scrapped, but where would the story be without our main character? Volume 5 introduced more LMS characters, and Scafell Pike, the diesel who abandons his nasty brothers and befriends the steam engines.
Ah, the 2004 Christmas special! A really charming story. Did you know that the seasonal special was written before Volume 5, and I needed to go back and add in the Volume 5 characters! This story was written in anticipation of the supposed heavy snow that would hit the region over Christmas, and of course, hit everywhere else except the West Coast of Cumbria. Ah well, always next year, eh?
Volume 6 was thought of as a sequel to the Christmas special. It introduced our first standard gauge female engine – Hermione. As you might have guessed, her name is inspired from the Harry Potter character. One may think that she was thought up as a “politically correct” character, but I especially gave her special characteristics to make her far from a character such as “Emily” from Thomas and Friends.
Volume 7 was a volume that I thought of when I saw some LNER models on a model train website. Although I knew that the LNER never worked on the WCML, they could be preserved and go on rail tours to the region. The majority of the book is not actually about the visiting engines, but was a chance to expand on the main character, and then to introduce some DRS Class 20 triplets under the names of Tom, Dick and Harry. The story that ensues is a very exciting one, and finds Arthur heading down the line, out of control, propelled by lots of uranium flask wagons.
Volume 8 was a revisit to the engines first encountered in Volume 2. There are more engines added to the storylines, and lots of care was taken to ensure perfect accuracy in the engines. More Whitehaven area locations were added, and this is definitely a favourite volume of mine.
With Volume 9, Fred and George, two of the main characters finally get some well-deserved stories. They fall out, but learn that they really need each other at all times. The final story features the twins helping Jack, who is stuck in a flood, which occurred up in Carlisle at the time of the writing of this volume.
Volume 10 marked the tenth volume of the series being written, and I included myself in the stories. The first three stories focused on three different engines: Rory, Hermione and Craig, respectively. The final story had all three engines pulling a special train up the coast line.
The La’al Ratty was revisited in Volume 11, and the engines who had little adventures in their first book featured more. Some stories that were originally going to be for the Island of Sodor’s Arlesdale railway found their way into this volume. Stories 1, 3 and 4 were based around true events, although Perkins and River Esk did not have a race, but Perkins’ axle was damaged on some points, as in this volume.
A new railway was introduced for Volume 12, and this meant plenty of new characters to cover in stories. The Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway has a wide variety of engine classes and adventures of its own; so new material is easy to think of and get inspiration for. The first story was based on a true event in November 2004, when 42085 was turned on a crane for enthusiasts to get more photographs of it from different angles.
We went back to the good old days of the La’al Ratty in Volume 13, with cameos by the current engines in current and past forms, and new characters too. A lot of historical (and quite hysterical, too!) research went into this volume to make sure that there was a fair amount of accuracy in the stories.
Volume 14 is about the backbone of the characters on the Cumbrian Coast Line - the Cumbrian Diesels. Arthur, Calder, the triplets and Ewan all featured, with a story about the problem of vandalism on railways, poor old Calder sinking in sand, Ewan being transferred to DRS and Calder having fun with the gullible triplets.
The Eskdale railway comes back for even more with Volume 15. An insight into Days out with Thomas events was shown, two new characters to the series pull a special train, Shelagh has some problems and Douglas Ferreira is unveiled. Shelagh’s fuel problem is heavily adapted from real-life events. Oil leaks into her air reservoir, and is cleared through a side exhaust onto the coupling rods. The rest is poetic licence.
REAL LIFE INSPIRATIONS FOR STORIES
Among the route of creating stories, I have found railway incidents that could be moulded into good stories that have that extra bit more depth than your average story, coming 100% from imagination. Here are some notable ones:
ELN VALLEY RAILWAY SERIES 1; STORY 2 - Eln Valley crashing and subsequently being trapped in the ditch comes from an incident on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway. The real incident occured in 1949 near Ashcott. A narrow gauge peat company line crossed the railway here and a small petrol locomotive stalled on the crossing. A train soon came along and it's crew jumped clear. It was a 4F 0-6-0 tender engine. It collided with the petrol loco and plunged into a ditch by the lineside. The coach and trucks it was hauling stayed safe on the rails, but when the crane from Bath arrived the engine could not be retrieved because of the unstable ground. It had to be pulled to pieces so they could be lifted out and to safety.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 14; STORY 3 - Ewan is rehomed from EWS at Carlisle to DRS at Sellafield. Currently, EWS are cutting down on their stock of older locomotives, such as Class 37s, of which Ewan is. At the same time, DRS is purchasing Class 37s to expand their own fleet. It only makes sense that a good character gets a good fate.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 15; STORY 3 - In May 2005 I did a day out volunteering on the Ratty. What happens to Shelagh when she is prepared in the morning is what I saw first hand. The same locomotive and the same way. She didn't take the trains that day, however, so the incidents further up the line are fictional.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 9; STORY 4 - In January 2005 there were fierce storms that hit Cumbria. The River Eden burst its banks and flooded the city centre of Carlisle. To reflect this, I let Jack experience an encounter with flood water himself, albeit further down the line than Carlisle.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 11; STORY 3 - Perkins' axle was damaged on the Platform 3 points at Ravenglass, but not while having a race with River Esk. The drinks cup incident is fictional, too.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 11; STORY 4 - One day in 2004, River Mite did have to stop at Murthwaite for a large party of hikers, and on that same journey Perkins did act as a banker and failed.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 12; STORY 1 - 42085 was turned to face south in Autumn 2004.
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 13; STORY 2 - The Ratty's Scooters were prone to malfunction and one of them "escaping" wasn't uncommon...
THE CUMBRIAN ENGINES VOLUME 13; STORY 3 - ICLs 1 & 2 collided in 1928, damaging both engines severely.