Culdee Fell Railway - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Culdee Fell Railway (CFR) is a fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

al narrow gauge

Narrow gauge

A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...

rack and pinion railway

Rack railway

A rack-and-pinion railway is a railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail...

appearing in the book Mountain Engines written by the Rev. W. Awdry

W.V. Awdry

Wilbert Vere Awdry, OBE , was an English clergyman, railway enthusiast and children's author, better known as the Reverend W. Awdry and creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, who starred in Awdry's acclaimed Railway Series.-Life:Awdry was born at Ampfield vicarage near Romsey, Hampshire in 1911...

. The stories are based on incidents in the history of the Snowdon Mountain Railway

Snowdon Mountain Railway

The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is a tourist railway that travels for from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak in England and Wales....

.

Awdry visited the Snowdon Mountain Railway (SMR) with his friend, the Rev. Teddy Boston, in early 1963. That summer he wrote a two-part article about it in his series "Remarkable Railways", for the Church of England Newspaper. The Director of the SMR at the time, A.O.E. Davis, suggested that Awdry might like to include a similar railway on Sodor. Fortunately, a suitable mountain was already marked on the first published maps of Sodor, the 2046 ft-high Culdee Fell.

In the book, the Culdee Fell Railway runs from Kirk Machan, where it meets the standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

line from Killdane to Peel Godred, to the summit of Culdee Fell. Devil's Back is a high exposed ridge which the railway runs along, corresponding to Clogwyn

Clogwyn Du'r Arddu

Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, on the north flank of Snowdon, is considered by many to be one of the best climbing cliffs in Britain. It is north-facing and comparatively remote . The name is Welsh and probably means "black cliff of the plough"...

of the real Snowdon Mountain Railway.

History

According to "research" by the Rev. W Awdry

W.V. Awdry

, the railway was the brainchild of the tourist-minded Mid Sodor Railway

Mid Sodor Railway

The Mid Sodor Railway is a fictional narrow gauge railway on the Island of Sodor in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev.W.Awdry and Christopher Awdry. The railway was closed in 1947, but three of its engines survive on the Skarloey Railway...

, who had hopes to extend their line beyond Peel Godred to Kirk Machan at the foot of Culdee Fell, where passengers could board a rack railway to the summit. Initial attempts to establish a company however were thwarted by Lord Peter Barrane, the local landowner – this gave the Skarloey Railway an opportunity to capitalize by running horse-and-trap services from their terminus to a point half-way up the mountain, allowing a shorter and quicker climb. When the situation began to drain tourist monies away from the central portion of the island, local opinion was able to force Lord Barrane's hand.

This resulted in the formation of the Culdee Fell Tramroad and Hotel Company Ltd. Lord Barrane was established as company chairman and was able to have the proposed route modified to skirt his properties on the lower slopes of the mountain, hence the large loop the route takes from Kirk Machan to Skarloey Road, when the original plan was to head straight up the hillside. The Snowdon Mountain Railway

Snowdon Mountain Railway

had opened only a little earlier, and they provided advice and construction expertise. It is therefore no surprise that the two lines are similar in many respects – for example, both use the Abt rack system and have a track gauge (common to other mountain railways) of . However, the CFR is twice the length, with shallower gradients at the base, and a much harder final climb to the summit.

Construction started in 1897; the line was inspected in March 1900 and opened to the public on Whit Monday

Whit Monday

Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a movable feast in the Christian calendar. It is movable because it is determined by the date of Easter....

, but after just a month one of the locomotives was destroyed when it derailed and fell down a cliff – the exact cause was never determined, but is believed to have been a stone lodged between the rack rails. The line remained closed until the following season (Easter Monday 1901) whilst improvements were made.

Locomotives

The locomotives of the Culdee Fell Railway are all 0-4-2

0-4-2

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-2 represents the wheel arrangement with no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle...

tank locomotives with angled boilers. They have pinion wheels on their driving axles that allow them to climb the steep mountain and prevent slipping. They are also fitted with automatic brakes. At the beginning of Mountain Engines, Awdry describes Culdee thus:

The boilers are inclined to ensure that the boiler tubes and the firebox are always covered by water when on the gradient. This is a standard practice on mountain railways as the locomotive always runs chimney-first up the mountain. The cylinders are mounted towards the cab end of the locomotive (rather than the chimney end, which is more conventional for a steam locomotive), hence Awdry's 'back-to-front' description. The drive to the wheels is through a series of levers that allow the pistons to have a longer stroke than the cranks. This is another common feature in mountain railways.

Engines 1 - 5 were built at the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works

Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works

Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works were a railway equipment manufacturer based in Winterthur in Switzerland...

in Winterthur

Winterthur

Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...

, Switzerland in 1900. Nos 6, 7 and 8 were built after the first batch of locomotives, to a more modern design, and were delivered at two-monthly intervals in 1962. They are fitted with superheating

Superheating

In physics, superheating is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its boiling point, without boiling...

to improve their efficiency. In Sodor: Reading between the lines, Christopher Awdry notes that the newer engines superseded Ernest (2) and Wilfred (3), but he does not elaborate on what may have happened to the two engines subsequently. Curiously, Christopher also states that nos. 2 and 3 do not appear in the stories, whereas, in fact, they do.

All the locomotives carry a purple livery, lined out in orange. Unusually for characters in the Railway Series, they carry faces on the back as well as the front.

The Rev. Awdry notes that since the stories in the book, the North Western Railway

North Western Railway (fictional)

The North Western Railway is the main railway company featured in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry. Although the company's name has never been specifically stated in the books, it was mentioned as such in tie-in books such as The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and...

's Crovan's Gate Works has taken over responsibility for major repairs on the Culdee Fell Railway's engines. Originally, locomotives requiring overhaul were sent to either their manufacturer in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

or an unnamed engineering works in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, both long and expensive journeys.

Although the engines bear a passing resemblance to the engines on the Snowdon Mountain Railway, Christopher Awdry notes that he doesn't believe his father intended any of the engines to correspond with particular SMR locomotives.

No.	Name	Notes
1	Godred	Arrived in 1900 - Ran away on opening day and received extensive damage after jumping the rails and tumbling down the mountain side. Was broken down for spare parts.
2	Ernest	Arrived in 1900, he played only a minor role in the third story of Mountain Engines. Has been superseded by Alaric and Eric.
3	Wilfred	Arrived in 1900, he played only a minor role in the third story of Mountain Engines. Has been superseded by Alaric and Eric.
4	Culdee	Arrived in 1900. Named after the mountain. He provides the role of narrator for the first two stories of Mountain Engines, and plays supporting roles in the third and fourth stories.
5	Shane Dooiney	Arrived in 1900. Away being overhauled in Switzerland during period covered by book.
6	Lord Harry	Arrived in March 1962 - built to a contemporary 'super-heat' design. A reformed troublemaker, now named Patrick after a gallant emergency rescue in high winds.
7	Alaric	Arrived in May 1962 - built to a contemporary 'super-heat' design. Plays only a minor part in the stories.
8	Eric	Arrived in July 1962 - built to a contemporary 'super-heat' design. Plays only a minor part in the stories.

Godred

The story of Godred (Number 1) is based on the real history of the Snowdon Mountain Railway

Snowdon Mountain Railway

's locomotive No. 1 "L.A.D.A.S" which was destroyed after it derailed on the line's opening day. Similarly, in the story "Bad Look-Out" the engine Culdee tells the tale of Godred, who derails on the opening day and is subsequently dismantled for spare parts. Although at the end of the story it is stated that Culdee had made the whole thing up.

According to Culdee, Godred was self-centered and held too much faith in his automatic brakes. Culdee, Godred's crew and the manager all tried to rectify this, but he never paid attention and paid the price.

The Rev. W Awdry wanted the story to be as close to what really happened as much as possible. But he did not want to distress the readers so he added that he had made up the story.

Ernest

Ernest (number 2) appears in the story "Danger Points" talking to Culdee and Wilfred.

Wilfred

Wilfred (number 3) first appears telling Culdee of the engines who arrived during his absence, and is later delayed after Lord Harry derails at the summit. He is also seen lecturing Lord Harry about the importance of goods work.

Culdee

Culdee (number 4) is named after Culdee Fell, the mountain his railway climbs. He is a friendly engine, and has plenty of advice to give to the other engines. He was one of the first engines on the line, being built in 1896, and was used in early test runs on the line. He was also one of the last mountain engines on Sodor to travel to Switzerland for an overhaul.

Shane Dooiney

Shane Dooiney (number 5) does not appear in the Railway Series. He is mentioned in "The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways", where he is described as being overhauled in Switzerland during the events of "Mountain Engines". He is the last engine to be overhauled away from Sodor, all subsequent locomotive maintenance taking place on the island, at the Crovan's Gate Works.

Lord Harry/Patrick

Lord Harry (number 6) (also called No. 6 and Patrick) was known as a rude and ignorant trouble-maker on the Culdee Fell Railway. The fact that he was named after Lord Harry Barrane (the chairman of the Mountain Railway Board) and his ultra-modern superheated design made him conceited and led to a habit of unnecessary risk-taking. He even went far as to call Culdee a "patched-up old ruins". After scaring his coach and derailing at the summit station, blocking both platforms, he was sent to the sheds in disgrace by the manager, Walter Richards. He was stripped of his name and was known only as "No. 6". Passengers refused to trust him and he was reduced to the level of goods engine, transporting hotel supplies and ferrying railway gangers to and from work. After rescuing an injured climber at the mountain summit by pushing the Truck up "Devil's Back" in a severe gale, he was regarded as a hero and renamed Patrick, the name of the injured climber.

Alaric

Alaric (number 7) is mentioned in a conversation between Culdee, Wilfred and Ernest in "Danger Points". He is built to a "super-heat" design.

Eric

Eric (number 8) is mentioned in a conversation between Culdee, Wilfred and Ernest in "Danger Points". He is built to a "super-heat" design.

Rolling stock

On the CFR, a train is formed from one coach and one locomotive. The coach is pushed up the mountain, not coupled to the engine, for safety reasons. The CFR has nine 56-seater 'saloon' passenger coaches, each of which normally works with a particular locomotive. Catherine is the only coach named in the stories: she operates with Culdee. She looks out for Culdee on the way up the mountain, as he cannot see ahead. She is safety-conscious, and Lord Harry upset her with his risk-taking when he worked with her while Culdee was away being overhauled.

The railway also has two maintenance wagons, although only one appears in the stories, known as "The Truck". They are used for goods and maintenance duties and for stores and rescue trains. The Truck is described as the only rolling stock capable of crossing Devil's Back ridge during a gale. For these trains, the Truck is loaded with sandbags and her tank is filled with water to increase her weight. Although she is not allocated to any specific engine, there was a period when she worked exclusively with Lord Harry when the Manager took that engine off passenger trains.

Human characters

Two people are named in the book: Lord Harry Barrane is the Chairman of the railway, and Mr. Walter Richards is its Manager.

Merchandising

Despite having never appeared in the Thomas & Friends television series, certain Culdee Fell Railway characters have nevertheless been included in commercial merchandising lines based on the series. The models have been made the same size as the standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

characters in the ranges, and hence are made to a completely different scale

Scale model

A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...

Commercial models of Culdee Fell Railway characters
Model range	Type	Characters
Ertl	die-cast metal	Culdee, Godred, Lord Harry, Catherine
Take Along Thomas	die-cast metal	Culdee
Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway	wood	Culdee, Catherine

External links

Clutterbuck, Martin, The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine – Culdee Fell Railway page

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

Locomotives

Godred

Ernest

Wilfred

Culdee

Shane Dooiney

Lord Harry/Patrick

Alaric

Eric

Rolling stock

Human characters

Merchandising

See also

External links