British Railways

British Railways

Vital statistics
Type	Railway
Level	Tier three
Opened	Unknown
Closed	Unknown
Location	England Scotland
Inhabitants	Shane Mary Alfred Pip and Emma

British Railways (trading from 1965 onward as British Rail, more commonly known as BR) was the national railway that ruled over The United Kingdom running freight and passenger trains. The Big Four railways (GWR, SR, LMS, LNER) were nationalized under its banner in 1948. The North West Railway was absorbed into this and became the North West Region of British Railways but the railway was granted a large amount of its independence which allowed steam to remain on the railway.

Season 1

Patrick and Diesel were sent to be doing freight and shunting duties on the NWR as ordered from this railway. The Class 40 later got stuck on the hill by using two sets of freight cars before Donald who came to help had smashed the rear of the brake van with his front buffers. The Class 08 locomotive did well at shunting duties until he sparked a standoff with the engines at Knapford Sheds. Sir Charles Topham Hatt had no choice, but to send Diesel home afterwards as Patrick gets to go home the next morning after blasting at Diesel for starting the standoff with both Henry and James.

Season 2

Diesel was going to be sent back to the railway due to his old tricks as Sir Charles Topham Hatt had found out about them. He later saved Gordon from a runaway and made a success into it because the Class 08 locomotive escaped to the Island of Sodor as all of his brothers were scrapped such as the one who was killed in the Season 2 episode, Galloping Sausage.

Season 3

Gordon saved an old friend from his early years in London from being scrapped and Oliver escaped through Compton Magna to reach the Island of Sodor by passing his enemies such as the Diesel locomotives roaming the area with their goods trains.

Both Stepney and Alfred were from this railway as they work on the Bluebell Railway as this was mentioned in episode twenty-four, First Impressions.

Season 4

Both Donald and Douglas escaped from the Scottish Region to avoid Douglas being scrapped and left behind with Donald having to arrive on the NWR for goods work and dealing with the Troublesome Trucks. Also in Medivac, BR was mentioned in a conversation between both Sir Stephen Topham Hatt and Mark Stephens about building a new engine. An existing design would be perfect for the arrangement and not buying one from any designer working for BR. The Fat Controller hoped this would work and drove back home in his car from Crovan's Gate. An episode also takes place on the LMS, this time in May 1944 during World War II just a week out from D-Day. The episode is called Iron Hero. The feature-length special, Bad Apple takes place in 1958 with the beginning of it set on BR.

Around this time, the regions were abolished and replaced by sectors, in a process known as Sectorisation. Express trains ran under the InterCity brand, most other passenger services under Provincial (later Regional) Railways, London commuter services under London & South Eastern (later Network SouthEast), Scottish passenger trains under ScotRail, and goods trains under Railfreight, with multiple subsidiaries. The NWR was not visibly affected by Sectorisation, other coaches on the railway would have carried InterCity and Provincial branding.

Barry the Rescue Engine

Barry has his heritage railway held by BR and so in Testing Times, Patrick told him about any news going on within BR after Edward told his news about the NWR.

Season 5

Barry returned to his heritage railway and Sheffield came to the NWR for good. His story about an engine who tumbled over at a steelworks actually took place on British Railways as mentioned by Donald when Wilbert came to the NWR for work despite the Scottish twins being exhausted throughout their time and courage to haul trains around the branch lines of both Edward and Duck.

By this time, BR was in the midst of being Privatized, including the NWR. By 2000, BR ceased to exist.

Sodor: The Modern Years Season 1

The mainland network was part of Norman Spencer's plan to put steam engines on the NWR onto heritage railways, being scrapped, or just preserved in railway museums such as Gordon's one after his accident with a stalled lorry, intending to replace them with diesels. The NWR's acting controller knew nothing about steam engines and his lack of response during a signal crisis did nothing to improve his image. He resigned from his post and Sir Stephen Topham Hatt gave the position to Emily Helen Hatt, making her the first woman to be controller of the railway. The A1 Trust Fund later sent their preserved locomotive, Tornado to the NWR. He had a wonderful time on the railway and appeared in five episodes, one of them with a non-speaking role in the episode, Ode to George Carlin.

Sodor: The Modern Years Season 2

In Swan Song, TransPennine, the Train Operating Company (or TOC) the NWR connects with at Barrow, complained about the time it took to change locomotives. Therefore, they asked that the timetable be tightened up. Gordon found he was unable to meet this new timetable, and pushed himself too hard, damaging his valve gear in the process. Gordon later retired from the express, handing it over to Pip and Emma. Pip and Emma, being a multiple unit, are able to go onto London without a locomotive switch.

Notable Engines

Former Affiliates

Historical Engines

LNER A3 Pacific
LNER A4 Pacific
GWR Castle Class
The Foreign Engine
LNER 04 Tender Engine
LMS Black Five
SR Schools Class
GWR 45xx Class

And more