The Culdee Fell Railway is a mountain railway that travels up Sodor\u2019s tallest mountain, Culdee Fell. It is a rack-railway, meaning that there\u2019s a third line with teeth that allows the trains to climb the 8-mile trip to the summit with one or more cog wheels. The engines boilers are tilted down so the water would be level when climbing the mountain. There are no turntables, so the engines push their loads up and then carefully go backwards down the mountain. Because of the dangers, even the trucks that make up the goods trains don\u2019t dare play tricks on the engines. They\u2019re the only railway to not have a number one engine. The engines don\u2019t like to talk about it. Right now, it was a beautiful morning and the weatherman said it would be a calm day for the area. Irina and Sira were getting their engine, the railway\u2019s number four named Culdee after the railway and mountain, ready for the day\u2019s work. Culdee\u2019s fire was burning nicely and he had plenty of steam. It was time for his morning passenger run. Once he was ready, Culdee and his crew set off to collect their coach, Catherine. He buffered up to Catherine and pushed her to the platform. The passengers then boarded the coach and the guard blew his whistle. \u201cRight away!\u201d called Sira. The train then set off with Culdee pushing from behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been on a mountain railway,\u201d admitted Irina as she checked Culdee\u2019s fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have,\u201d said Sira. \u201cQuite a few exist in my universe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPerhaps you and Culdee can tell me why only one coach. Surely, we can do two.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly on a trial run. Even then, the coaches have to be empty. This line\u2019s pretty steep for two fully loaded coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s because it\u2019s so steep,\u201d continued Culdee, \u201cthat we\u2019re only allowed one. That\u2019s why the coaches look ahead to make sure everything\u2019s all right. Catherine here is so clever that I know at once if anything\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s got to be a load off your mind,\u201d mused Sira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNot his buffers!\u201d laughed Catherine. \u201cIt\u2019s hard work for-CULDEE, STOP!\u201d Culdee quickly put his brakes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an engine on the line ahead of us!\u201d Irina and Sira poked their heads out of the cab to see the engine. It was shaped like Culdee and had a blank face. The Guard then stepped out of Catherine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExcuse me!\u201d he barked. \u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to be on the line! Explain yourself!\u201d The engine didn\u2019t reply. \u201cI\u2019m talking to you!\u201d Still no response. \u201cRight! That\u2019s it! You\u2019re coming with us down the line! Where\u2019s your crew?!\u201d The engine stared silently. \u201cAll right! I\u2019ll be taking your controls! Culdee, you lead the-!\u201d As the Guard attempted to climb into the cab, his hand passed through the engine\u2019s outer metal! Once that happened, the engine vanished! The Guard was stammering at the whole thing. \u201cWh-wha-what\u2026? What just-?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it\u2019d be best,\u201d said Catherine, \u201cif we get to Shiloh at once and explain what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cG-Good idea!\u201d The Guard quickly got back into Catherine and the train set off again. As they reached the next station, Culdee was deep in thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt couldn\u2019t have been. \u2026Could it?\u201d he muttered to himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest of the day went without incident, but the story of the engine spread up and down the mountain. Patrick, the number six engine, scoffed at the idea. \u201cRubbish!\u201d he said when everyone was at the sheds at the foot of the mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not rubbish!\u201d argued Sira. \u201cIt was there! We all saw it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSira, did anyone see any number on it?\u201d asked Culdee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026I didn\u2019t see anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNeither did I,\u201d replied Irina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, come on, Culdee!\u201d remarked the number two engine, Ernest. \u201cIt can\u2019t be his ghost! We\u2019d have seen him during the beginning!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, around this time IS the anniversary of his accident,\u201d replied Culdee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho are you talking about?\u201d asked Endram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe former number one engine,\u201d said Culdee. \u201cHis name was Godred, named after King Godred of Sodor. I\u2019m sorry to say that the prestige that went with the name went into his smokebox. He never kept a good lookout. He\u2019d roll down the line and look anywhere but the track. I warned him to be careful, but he wouldn\u2019t listen. He\u2019d always depend on his automatic brakes and his driver\u2019s air brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s dangerous!\u201d shuddered Irina. \u201cHow could he obey his driver\u2019s controls if something goes wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I tried to tell him. So did his crew and the Manager at the time. They took him apart and put him back together to see if anything was wrong, but he still carried on in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Is that why there\u2019s no number one engine on your railway?\u201d asked Glanthel. \u201cThat attitude of his did him in?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes. In the deadliest way possible. It was a miracle his crew, passengers, and Guard didn\u2019t suffer any injury. I saw it happen. It was on the fourth of June in 1900, a month after the railway officially opened. He was coming back down the mountain when he derailed on Devil\u2019s Back and rolled down the mountain. The Guard braked the coach to a halt and Godred\u2019s crew jumped clear. Unfortunately, Godred was damaged beyond repair and it would have been too expensive to fix him, so he was scrapped and\u2026and cannibalized for parts so we could be mended until our overhauls in Switzerland. That was later in 1962, and Patrick, Alaric, and Eric were bought to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd Godred\u2019s accident,\u201d continued Patrick, \u201cwas used as a cautionary tale ever since. But his ghost?! Come on! You never mentioned that you believe in such things!\u201d Irina leaned against the shed wall and pondered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaybe we can get the Ghostbusters to help,\u201d she mused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGhostbusters? What are they?\u201d asked Endram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re like pest control, but they deal with ghosts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know, the ghosts of my home,\u201d remarked Yufantel, \u201cwould take offense to being compared to pests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is absurd!\u201d snapped Patrick. \u201cThere might be ghosts where you\u2019re from, but here on Sodor, there\u2019s no such thing! Now, I\u2019m going to sleep! Good night!\u201d He promptly fell asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile I don\u2019t agree with his tone,\u201d muttered the number three engine, Wilfred, \u201cI think Patrick\u2019s right. We need some sleep to puzzle this out. Good night.\u201d Everyone wished each other good night and the engines drifted off to sleep while their crews headed for home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Culdee Fell Railway is a mountain railway that travels up Sodor\u2019s tallest mountain, Culdee Fell. It is a rack-railway, meaning that there\u2019s a third line with teeth that allows the trains to climb the 8-mile trip to the summit with one or more cog wheels. The engines boilers are tilted down so the water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[754,880],"tags":[482,9,146,597,337],"class_list":["post-6437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journey-through-wonder","category-story-journey-through-wonder","tag-fantasy","tag-kamen-rider","tag-sonic","tag-thomas-and-friends","tag-transformers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6438,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437\/revisions\/6438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}