The Island of Sodor: The New Stories.

Isabella the Steam Rail Motor (Ex. SKR No. 3, Pres. SKR No. 17):

Isabella was built in 1924 and was one of the first engines to be built by Crovan's Gate. She was built to help Skarloey and Rheneas with the passenger work. Even back then they still needed help, though it wasn't as bad as it was in the 40s. Since she was a rail motor, Isabella's boiler was much smaller than a conventional engine. Other than that, her wheels, motion and cylinders were similar to Rheneas'. She could have carried more coal, but the enclosed cab wouldn't be very pleasant for the crew. To try to get around this, she was built to burn oil. This solved the fuel issue for the most part but was incredibly expensive. Despite this, Isabelle filled a critical gap in motive power. While Skarloey was covering duties down a Kirk Ronan and Rheneas was busy at the mines, she covered the passenger trains. Since this was all she ever did, she thought she was the only engine keeping the line afloat. Unfortunately, they couldn't always run her because of how expensive oil was in the 1920s. During the Depression, they almost had to stop running Isabella entirely. This hurt her pride severely. She was relegated to specials only, but these trains were few and far between. Things just got worse during the Second World War. It was decided that Isabella would be withdrawn, and her steam components would be used to overhaul Rheneas. Her passenger area was also cannibalized to repair the coaches. At one point, she was just a cab sitting in the back of the carriage shed. She was shuffled around to different locations on the railway. At some point she was moved to the slate quarry near Skarloey. This meant she was in the perfect place to see Freddie. She claims to have seen him leaving before he disappeared. She was one of the first to hear about it. After so many years being overlooked, Isabella began to consider her position on the railway. She realized that at the end of the day, her pride was undeserved. No matter how highly she thought of herself, she was just another engine, no more important than the rest of them. This humility allowed her to finally ask Rheneas to put in a good word for her with Mr. Sam. With all of the new extensions, he needed all the engines he could get. Isabella's overhaul had been a pipe dream for the SKR's management for decades. There was always another project that took priority whenever it came up. Once tourism took a dive in late 2020, there was finally space in the schedule to restore her. Since the pandemic greatly reduced the staff at Crovan's Gate, it was decided to overhaul her at the workshops up at Skarloey. The remaining SKR staff, as well as a few volunteers worked on her diligently. Her restoration received moderate fanfare once it was completed in mid-2022. Isabella was grateful to be running again, but she was a little disoriented. The little railway she knew had changed so drastically since she was in steam. There were so many new places and faces she had to get used to. There were still times when her mind wandered back to her time in disrepair. However, she's a different engine now and works to be as indispensable as she thought she was.