Scary Stories from the Railway Series

it's time for some scary tales from the rails the rails in question being those on the mythical island of sodor home to the engines of the railway series now the railway series was the creation of the Reverend Wilbur doggery originally they were just stories he told to his son Christopher but with the encouragement of his wife they became much more over the course of 75 years they've gone from published books to the basis of a well-loved children's show Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends you'd think that being the inspiration for a TV series aimed at young kids that the story is from these books would be friendly and innocent fun right wrong the story is from the original railway series were not always as cheerful as the most popular illustrations from them would indicate some of the tales from these books could be downright a cob in taking a look at the most terrifying ones you'll see what I mean before I get started I'd like to point out that this video isn't going to be about the show I may use episodes from it to better illustrate the action but this video doesn't focus on the show so without further ado time to see what chilling tales these books hold [Music] the Reverend W Audrey originally told his son Christopher stories about three engines to keep him amused while he was ill in bed with the measles the stories involved Edward Gordon and Henry Henry was first introduced in the aptly named tale the sad story of Henry which began with this limerick once an engine attached to a train was afraid of a few drops of rain it went into a tunnel and squeaked through its funnel and never came out again that word never foreshadows the outcome of the events and this story it's kind of important to remember anyhow we get introduced to Henry a stubborn engine who hides in the tunnel and won't come out because no matter how much the passengers and Henry's crew tried to prod him nothing will make him leave the tunnel even after he's told the rain is stopped he says after multiple attempts to get him out failed the decision is made to take the rails away and leave Henry in there for always and always and always they do just that rigging up the tunnel in the process so Henry is left - sadly watch the trains run through the tunnel next to him while he remains alone in prison because of his own conceit this harrowing story ends with the narrator saying what I think he did you that's quite a crushing blow right there poor Henry's petty concern for his paint job results in him getting a punishment straight out of an Edgar Allan Poe tale surely breaking him into a tunnel was a bit much and yeah if you think about it this is also a punishment for the railway itself I mean you're diverting traffic to one tunnel exclusively and letting a presumably expensive piece of machinery go to waste in the other but as with most children's stories the lesson is the most important thing to take away from this that lesson being don't put your paint work above your passengers to be fair Henry was eventually led out of the tunnel when Gordon bursts a safety valve and Edward can't pull his train on his own how much time elapsed between henry's imprisonment and released is never established though it was stated that Henry had cobwebs all over him so it was probably quite a while the story of Henry coming to Gordon's rescue was never originally one of the reverends tales he told to his son it was devised at the insistence of the publishers to bring the three engines together for a happy ending so if the railway series were never published Henry would still be in that tunnel that's one instance where I think a marketing decision proved to be for the best Henry would be useful for further stories in the railway series and most assuredly learned his lesson no need to keep him in the tunnel permanently but I think he deserved his punishment don't you he had potential some of the stories in the railway series focused on engines who work different railway lines to those serviced by Thomas and his friends the most frequently featured of these other railways was the narrow gauge line this line included characters like Skarloey Rheneas Peter Sam and these other guys in comparison to the engines on the standard gauge the Skarloey engines were puny but the stories they had were no less compelling I should probably point out that the TV series had all the narrow gauge engines colored differently whereas in the books almost all of them were red I can't say I blame the showrunners for making that decision in an illustration like this one it can be hard to tell who's who and they're pretty much all the same color one of the stories from the book the little old engine was the story little old twins in which Skarloey talks about his real-life twin in Wales well this tale ends on a happier note than the sad story of Henry not everything that takes place in it is so cheery when Peter Sam hears and sees men talking about taking things all over their line he worries that he and the other engines we'll be sold he has eventually talked out of his misery by his driver who tells him that the men are television producers who are going to document their railway this gets Peter Sam and all the other engines excited all of them except one named Sir Handel I don't know would it be grumbled ogre I could think about oh just wait until fine Instagram and other social media sites come along Sir Handel he plans to tell the Thin controller that he won't go along with it when the Thin controller says he wants full participation from every engine Sir Handel pretends to feel ill The Thin controller says that he can stay in the shed I'm your driver and father I'll take you to pieces we'll make a very interesting picture wow that's a way to deal with insubordination you can't just say tough beans Bob you're doing this whether you like it or not you're gonna have have him dismantled on camera the handles feelings will be on woods no kidding I mean imagine if something like this happened at your a job when your boss expected full participation from everyone okay well I don't think dismemberment of any kind would happen at very many jobs unless you worked at a hospital all right everyone we're going to have some students coming over from the Medical College to watch us perform an open-heart surgery no I expect everybody's full participation so aye sir I don't feel too good mind if I sit this one out okay Alex you can be excused from this Lia tell mr. Jacobson we'll have to reschedule his surgery so you're canceling the whole thing no Alex we're gonna perform the surgery on you wait what yeah I think if Sir Handel weren't a steam engine there'd be a lawsuit against the Thin controller from him despite how much of a Twitter handle can be sometimes this is one of those instances where you can't help but feel little sympathetic toward him unlike the other three stories from the little old engine this story was not adapted for the television show for reasons unknown as suppose it was probably for the best though I don't think kids would react well to hearing an engine be told that he'll be taken apart to be shown camera there are plenty of other hardcore events showcased in the TV series and in the railway series itself though which brings us to our next entry the freight cars are troublesome trucks to give them their proper UK terminology we're always the bane of the engines existences described as silly and noisy things that don't listen to their engine these guys were known for creating all kinds of distress from slowing the journey down for an engine or even causing huge accidents oh I will say the accidents were always some of the best moments in the TV series anyway it always took an engine with determination to know how to handle the trucks sometimes however the engines ended up getting more than they bargained for two instances of this were showcased in the original railway series the first game in break van a story from the twin engines this book dealt with two secondary characters the Scottish twins Donald and Douglas who want to prove their worth so that they can both stay on the fat controllers railway mishaps and confusion happen along the way making things difficult for both a brake van for example keeps making Douglas late with his trains and getting him into trouble taking concern for his brother Donald decides to give the van a piece of his mind yeah a muckle nuisance said Donald it's to leave you behind I'd be wanting you calm said the van I am essential Oh Kyah Don will burst out you're nothing but a screeching and a noise when all said and done spite Dougie would you take that ride the van does ma come in should you misbehave so Donald gets the van to behave and Douglas is able to keep better time with his trains one day however Donald has an accident this leaves James to help with the goods work while Donald is being mended and I guess the brake van either didn't think Donald's warning applied to engines beyond him and Douglas or it just stopped caring because now James has to deal with the Vans obnoxiousness when his whole train is made heavier for him James decides to ask Douglas for help up the hill beyond Edwards station Douglas willingly obliges but when James starts losing steam Douglas tries making up for it and he well this happens go steady the band is breaking the band was in pieces yeah he just gave a whole new meaning to the term break van I mean look at that he crushed it like an empty soda can beneath a grown man's foot of course Douglas gets into trouble with Sir Topham Hatt who though admiring of his determination and trying to help James doesn't know what to do with Douglas when the twins discussed the situation in the next story the other engines sympathize with them showing no concern for the brake van good riddance that's what I say being more popular with the engines than that vicious piece of rolling stock Donald and Douglas are eventually allowed to stay on the fat controllers railway we never hear about any kind of redemption for the brake van though I know it wasn't exactly popular with the engines but what a way to go another story featuring the demise of a piece of rolling stock wasn't owed stands by this story begins with the trucks teasing Oliver a Great Western Tank Engine whom they pushed into a turntable well a private owner wagon named scruffy leads the trucks in a song and all of his expense [Music] not quite as clever as pop goes the diesel from a previous story but what can you expect from trucks despite his friends telling them off and bumping them nothing can get the trucks to stop teasing Oliver for long this is when the brake van toad speaks up unlike the brake van mentioned previously toad is kind and respectful to the engines he talks to Oliver about a plan he has and they put it into action when Oliver has to take another goods train he arranges the trucks two by two in front of Toad leaving scruffy until last when Oliver is ready to start the trucks try to hold him back but Oliver has the upper half wheel though see he has sand beneath his wheels to give him traction and when the trucks try holding him back all of her pulls against them this proves to be too much for scruffy at the front with his fellow trucks and an engine pulling him in opposite directions he has trouble keeping it together [Music] see what I mean Oliver literally tore him a new one that expression Scruffy's face says it all when Sir Topham Hatt arrives and inspects the remains he figures that Scruffy's demise was inevitable due to his condition he then whispers to Oliver Joe the trucks Ned had to discipline before leaving he's not about to let them have any kind of vengeance after this Oliver is only tasked with taking Goods trains when the other engines are busy his struggle with scruffy has left its impact though as the trucks are now quick to warn each other about what happens to trucks who play tricks on Oliver now in the TV series adaptation scruffy was rebuilt but the original story from the book never shows that happening what I can conclude from that is that he was scrapped afterward such are the consequences for a nasty freight car as you can see these guys are no easy things to deal with and if an engine doesn't keep control of them it can be disastrous these two instances however show that there can be such a thing as too much control as troublesome as the trucks could be I don't think an engine would want to gain a reputation as a destroyer of rolling stock don't want to be any more troublesome than the goods you pole I'd say among the less remembered characters from the railway series are the mountain engines on the Culdee fell railway these odd-looking engines only ever appeared in one book and were never in the TV series either they had some captivating tales to tell and their long literary appearance to their name nonetheless including one which was pretty hardcore bad lookout the story begins with culty talking to the narrow gauge engines Skarloey and Rheneas while waiting to be taken back to his own railway Duncan suddenly comes up along with Sir Handel and complains about how he was nearly pushed off the rails by his coaches and that the thing controller didn't believe him when he told him about it he says I'd kept a bad lookout we've no money to mend you he said luck was again I'll leave you at the back of the shed why does he always pick on me there's no man yeah Duncan was quite the complainer in the books and I have the feeling that his speech would be more profanity-laced at the railway series been aimed at an older audience after answering a few questions from the other engines about his railway called he tells them about an engine named godred according to called II godred was quite a careless engine who never kept a good lookout something which was all too important on the mountain railway warnings from Culdee the manager and godred's crew did nothing even taking him apart to check for anything wrong resulted in no change in his ways although I think godred probably felt a little more violated than anything after that anyway one day when called II was waiting for him at a station Godwin was coming down too fast one moment he was on the track the next his driver and father jumped clear as he rolled over a plume of smoke at the bottom of the illustration is the last view we get of godred given that the railway is on a mountain it's not hard to tell where godred rolled when he's brought home the next day the manager tells godred the same thing within controller reprimanded Duncan with earlier we've no money to mend you so you'll go to the back of the shade no I'm out of welding or meth work or wd-40 is gonna repair the after-effects of crashing down a mountain tall D ends the story with saying as time went on for God read got smaller and smaller till nothing was left so what happened to this incredible shrinking engine only after Duncan insists in knowing does call D finally say drivers used godred spots commend us Duncan and Sir Handel clearly mortified by this have little to say as call D is taken back to his own railway yeah nothing like the tale about an engine being cannibalized for spare parts to teach other engines about the value of caution but there's one little thing Duncan and Sir Handel don't know neither Skarloey nor reneus ever mentioned that Calvi had made the story up so godred's demise didn't really happen then well wait a scare sense into too arrogant locomotives called D he quite possibly gave them a bit of psychological shock as well seriously do any of these guys need counselling after what they experienced I wonder there's a therapist F to come by the engine sheds and have counseling sessions with any of them what am I saying there's no way Sir Topham Hatt would pay for anything like that I guess you could say those instances were always in which they built character as for the mountain engines we can only wonder about the other adventures these guys had beyond the four stories and the one book according to the Reverend Audrey's son Christopher who took up his father's role as series author after his father's retirement the safety precautions and limited traffic on the Culdee fell railway basically preclude any further story opportunities for them since the television series is not likely to include these engines either I mean it wouldn't be very cost productive to make engines and an entire set that only show up in a few episodes and are never seen again afterwards the exploits of the mountain engines are likely to only ever be seen or heard literary form being a stickler for realism with regards to the stories in his books the Reverend Audrey took note of the changes and developments on British Railways as the series moved forward many times the events of the day were not so rosy for the steam locomotives he featured so frequently one such example is in the opening story of the book Stepney the Bluebell engine when talking with Douglas one day Percy mentions news he heard from the Fat Controller engines on the other right away I'm safe now their controllers are cruel I don't like engines anymore they put them on cold damp sidings and then Percy nearly sobbed right up as he is saying this we get treated to this gruesome illustration of two nameless steam engines about to meet their end at the cutters torch quite a depressing scene for a children's book sad as it was the sort of thing was becoming more commonplace on railways all over the world with the advent of diesel ization with the cost-effective operation and maintenance Diesel's would gradually superseded steam engines and regular use leading to many such engines being scrapped the first diesel introduced to the railway series turned out to be a rather nasty one that hurt the engines with his lies so Diesel's gained a rather negative reputation in the railway series this may have been part of what prompted Douglas to say this it's all because of young diesels and all devils he added fiercely Percy is quick to remind Douglas that not all Diesel's are like that pointing to Rusty and Daisy as some examples of nice diesels now that's a good thing to remember the railway series in Thomas the Tank Engine and friends as a whole has often been criticised for its supposed racist and authoritarian tone the treatment of diesels with a kind of disdain by the steam engines is one thing that's often brought up as an example of this however with Percy's statement we learned that not all steam engines have this prejudice and that not all Diesel's are nasty it's moments like this that show how there was more to the characters in the books than surface level observations in play Percy also talks about the Bluebell railway which is a real line in Sussex this Railway acts as a safe haven for steam engines by helping to preserve them the people who run it make sure the steam engines are well cared for and have everything they need with excitement Percy announces to Douglas that Stepney the first locomotive to escape to the Bluebell railway is coming to Sodor thus giving the book its title character the story ends with Douglas and Percy seeing Stepney pass through the junction to begin his visit in spite of the dark tones said at the beginning of this story it quickly turns happy showing that hope isn't all lost for steam engines and that good can come even in the saddest situations another admirable quality of the reverends books this story like a few others before it wasn't exactly adapted for the television series I assume it wasn't solely because of this but also because the whole story is basically just Douglas and Percy talking with each other even if flashbacks are cutaways were shown that would still be a pretty boring episode well Stepney did show up in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends series his introduction was completely changed none of the less Stephanies stories are some of the best examples of the reality of being a steam engine in changing times another engine who learned about the hardships of shifting railway practices in the books was Gordon the book enterprising engines began with Gordon complaining about not feeling happy the others don't take him seriously thinking either he has an issue with his firebox or that he has boiler ik due to taking on bad water unable to make them listen Gordon goes to the station to collect his train when he sees the Fat Controller there he explains his troubles to him I keep thinking about the grateful state of the world sir is it true sir what the diesels say what do they say they both they've abolished themes uh it's gone it is true he wasn't kidding in 1968 British Railways officially withdrew steam engines from active service now the struggle for steam engine survival was real this book captured the effect the eradication of steam had more on that later though Gordon then asked Sir Topham Hatt about all of his Doncaster brothers old gone except one with that devastating bit of news Gordon sadly steams away with his train for the record all the engines featured in the railway series were based on real locomotives that worked at some point or another on the railways in Britain but by this time many of those engines had their fate sealed by the scrapyard when Gordon learns that he is one of only two engines of his class left you feel more of an emotional connection with trains than ever and not just the ones in these books of course Sir Topham Hatt takes pity on Gordon knowing how hurt he is over losing all but one of his brothers he gets an idea one night Gordon gets a happy surprise when he sees an engine with two tenders backing into the shed berth next to him the engine with the two tenders is Flying Scotsman another real-life engine in Gordon's last surviving brother Gordon is overjoyed by what the Fat Controller has done for him and Flying Scotsman remained on Sodor until the beginning of the last story in enterprise the engines when he leaves the Fat Controller sees him off with these words please tell everyone now whatever happened was elsewhere steam will still be at work here we shall be glad to welcome all who want to see and travel behind real engines with that statement you can tell that the Fat Controller isn't one of those cruel controllers Percy mentioned though he is strict about the way his railway runs and does punish the engines when they do wrong they are never scrapped it's good to have a controller who cares enterprising engines also showed the valiance and determination steam engines had Henry's rescue of two failed diesels and Douglass's rescue of Oliver in on the run from the scrapyard showed the resourcefulness and bravery of the fat controllers engines in spite of their depressing beginnings these stories all resolved favorable and showed the usefulness of steam engines we can be sure that all the engines Sir Topham Hatt overseas are runnin happily to this day steam and diesel alike the second to last book at the original railway series gave us stories about an engine named Duke a little old engine who lived on a line with two younger engines Stuart and Falcon because Duke got his name from the Duke of Sodor he always tried keeping the other engines in order saying that what never sea which is great whenever they did anything wrong Stuart and Falcon gave him the nickname grand puff which also served as the title to the first story in this book one day when they teased Duke he tells them to mind how they behave or where they would end up like number two I know what you're thinking and I'm not making the joke now number two was a cocky American engine who often derailed by running too roughly even with a warning from Duke he still remain done concerned about his behavior Mellisa Lambada in the states we don't care a dime for a few spills then one day number two gets his just desserts after the manager tells him he was going to be made useful at last Stuart and Falcon learned that number two is now a pumping engine residing in an enclosed area behind the engine shed and there he is imprisoned by his own conceit not unlike Henry in the first railway series book however things weren't as fortunate for number two as they were for Henry now the reason this book is called Duke the lost engine is because after many years the line is closed down and while Stuart and Falcon are brought by some people Duke is left alone in the shed once Duke has been cheated snugly and shut in he goes to sleep and everything around him changes the shed becomes covered by bushes trees and vegetation of all kind becoming invisible to any hookers or passers-by Duke remains buried in there four years before a team of men set out to rescue him they eventually find him when one of them called the fat clergyman steps on the roof of Dukes shed and comes crashing through it landing right on top of Duke legs astride ouch never thought I'd see that kind of slapstick in the books so Duke gets rescued and is brought to the narrow gauge line where Stuart and Falcon now called Peter Salmon Sir Handel respectively reside nothing has ever said about the fate of number two on the other hand the book never mentioned him again after his appearance in the first story in a small cameo in an illustration for the second his fate remained a mystery until a railway series tie-in book called the island of sodor it's people history and railways was published according to this book number two had a real name and was apparently transferred to a mine sometime after his appearance in this book to be used as a pumping engine again he broke down one year causing the mine to flood as well as the railway itself to close he ended up being scrapped so what we have here is another case of the rude and careless being dealt a brutal and karmic punishment to be fair Stanley was kind of at fault for Dukes line closing down and he didn't do very much to garner sympathy careless and insensible don't fare very well in these books moral of story as long as you're obnoxious and inconsiderate you'll always be number two don't I just made the joke so now you've seen and heard some of the scariest stories the original railway series had to offer all made possible by the Reverend W Audrey after he retired following the final book in the series Christopher Audrey took up his father's pen and wrote a further 16 volumes of stories featuring many of these same engines in comparison to his father's work Christopher's books weren't as dramatic or exciting sure there were some occasional moments but by enlarge the works of the younger Audrey were relatively tame and pedestrian so I'm not including anything from those here nonetheless I hope you enjoyed hearing some dramatic railway series tales as popular as the TV series is we shouldn't forget about its literary source material it showcased more than a few exciting adventures from some lovable locomotives hopefully their stories will still endure and these engines will still be appreciated for years to come [Music] you

Channel: planetaryiam954

Views: 205,108

Rating: 4.8402982 out of 5

Keywords: Thomas the Tank Engine, Thomas and Friends, Railway Series, Rev. W. Awdry, Steam Engines, British Railways, Trains, Scary Stories

Id: sR-GmT1lV84

Length: 31min 4sec (1864 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 10 2020