The Island of Sodor: The New Stories.

The Sodor & Mainland Railway (1850-1901)

The Sodor & Mainland Railway was the first railway on Sodor, opening in the 1850s. It ran from Kirk Ronan to Balahoo. Despite the name, the railway never reached the mainland. Most of everything they tried fell apart. When they tried to build a bridge over the Walney Channel, it was swept away. When they built a tunnel to Vicarstown, it collapsed. And their plans to reach Peel Godred had fallen through. The Neilson tanks were the only engines running all of the trains. They helped build another line up to Valesbridge in the 1890s. This company had their own engine. The S&MR mainly got their coal from them. In the late months of 1898, the company sold two of its engines. They sold Neil to the slate company and their No. 3 somewhere abroad. That only left No. 1 to work the line alone. The engine was completely worn out by 1901 and had to be scrapped. The railway closed and the company stayed inactive until the NWR was formed in 1914. Neil helped with connecting the old line to the new main line. After that was done, he returned to working at Kirk Ronan. He would venture up the line sometimes, but that became less frequent as he got older. While not in regular service, the stations on the line were still preserved. In the 1930s the NWR offered to run excursion services from Kellsthorpe Road down to Kirk Ronan. Some of these trains were pulled by Neil. Another engine named Sally took over the excursions and most of the slate trains up to Kellsthorpe, while Neil shunts and handles smaller trains. While it may have been closed, the legacy of the S&MR lives on.