The History Of Sodor

Chapter 1: Edward's backstory

I guess I should start the story I am going to tell you by telling my origin story.

I am also going to talk about the history of the island of sodor as a side note.

So that is just what I am going to do.

I am first going to tell you my backstory.

I was built and fired up during the year of 1896.

Before I worked on the railways of the island of sodor, I was a mixed engine for the FR.

The FR, or the Furness Railway was a railway in Britain I had worked on with two other sentient engines, Fredrick and Clint.

The rest of the engines were non-sentient, and I tell you, we were a powerhouse of a team.

But, however, in 1912, that all changed when the Furness Railway was basically on it's legs, and WW1 was going on.

Fredrick and Clint were sent to the great western railway, while I was sent to the North Western Railway of Sodor.

The reason for us being sold off was to keep us safe in case Furness was attacked.

I went down the track I was directed down, eventually, I found the line that lead to Knapford station on Sodor.

At the station, I met the fat controller, Sir Topham Hatt.

Sir Topham Hatt greeted me, he knew from my markings that I was from the BNR.

There were four other engines, known as coffee pot engines, them I shall touch upon later.

I met a brown coffee pot with the number 3, he was pulling out of Knapford with a short slow goods train.

That day was also my first day dealing with a train that was comprised entirely of trucks.

I thought I knew what there was to know about hills on railways, but I was wrong, as I had only ever gone up a small incline, and the track that went down the small incline was completely straight.

The trucks were hard to pull because of how heavy they were, but I was soon able to pull out of Knapford with them, and I soon made it to a steep incline.

I got up to the top of the hill that is now known as Gordon's hill, when I started to increase my speed for the corner, the trucks told me to be careful, but I didn't listen, I kept speeding down until I got to the corner, where I, the trucks, and the guard in the brakevan all applied our breaks, but it wasn't enough to stop from almost derailing, we fell back onto the track, but we still couldn't stop because of how heavy the trucks were.

I went past Maron, luckily for me, a signalman saw and diverted us onto a siding.

We were stopped by the buffers.

Then, Sir Topham Hatt came when he was called and told about the incident, and he was not happy.

He asked me why I came in so fast, and when I told him, he talked to me severely about my carelessness.

He assigned me to shunt trucks in the yard until he determined that I could demonstrate how careful I could be on the steep hills.

After a few weeks of shunting in the yard, I finally proved that I could be careful on the steep hills with heavy freight trains.

I was to take Farmer Mccoll's pigs to the slaughterhouse.

I went the route and showed how careful I could be with my speed.

From that day on, I pulled coaches and trucks, some in separate trains, some in mixed trains.

And Sir Topham Hatt also sent me to the steamworks to be repainted in livery I have today.

I was not always blue with red stripes and the number 2, I started out red with the letters F R on my tender, to signify that I worked for the Furness Railway.

I know what you are asking. "When do Thomas, James, Gordon, and Henry come?"

That, dear readers, is a story for another day.