Mountain Engines is Very, Very, Very Good
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- A quick video explaining why I think both the Railway Series book 'Mountain Engines', and the Culdee Fell Railway are great additions to the Island of Sodor.
Let me know any further suggestions for opinion videos (rather than research or edits) in the comments below.
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I can’t imagine why anyone would explicitly “hate” this book. I don’t think it should matter that it’s unrelated to the main goingson of the already established railways. The books are about Sodor, after all, not any one location or group of characters. On a similar note, I’d love to have heard about the Peel Godred line, even though it’s also somewhat insignificant.
Couldn't agree more :)
It shocks me how little is done with electric engines in Thomas as a whole. (Pun *absolutely* intended)
😁
Like they did anything at ALL with the electric engines! We barely even KNOW anything about them!
I also can’t imagine how anyone would hate it. If they think that’s a useless addition then I supposed the aresdale and skarleoy are pointless. The fact is Wilbert wanted to show all sorts of railways in heritage railways in England in his books. That’s one aspect I love of his books
There almost WAS a tram system. Look over the side of the elevated Vicarstown Station, there's tram tracks in the road. The plan had to be delayed so the resources could go to the miniature engines.
True, I was talking about RWS not TV Series though. Would have been cool to see
That’s not to say it doesn’t exist in The Railway Series.
There's no canon mention of it but sure
7:47 I love how, even when it's not his 'sentient' engines, Awdry describes the engine as an anthropomorphic, living thing.
I know what you mean 🙂
As always it's lovely to get some new perspective on the matter. Whilst I might not have much of an opinion on the Culdee Fell (other than my personal pet peeve of the railway paralleling the SMR extremely closely, which I've felt is a shame as Awdry's world building is always at it's best when we get something based in but different from our own reality) I do still think Mountain Engines is an apsolutely charming book. The illustrations had me obsessed when I was younger because of how much of a departure the stark and barren Culdee Fell is in comparison to the rest of what we see of Sodor, and in a way it is a shame we didn't see more and see it grow further. I feel that you've hit the nail on the head that, had he kept writing, Awdry would've likely continued to develop the CFR with more continental influences and transformed it into something even more spectacular than it's basis, and I think that loss is something we can all mourn deeply.
I would personally adore to see your take on a Sudrian tramway network, especially given your characterful photoshops. Other than that, perhaps the something from the pre-grouping days as they're always a favorite part of Awdry's expanded world.
Thanks, and very nice ideas :)
I honestly loved the bit where you talked about the opportunities of other railways. That’s what makes Thomas special for me. Trying to work out lore in unexpected places and more obscure areas.
Thank you!
Your 1st opinion video? Could of fooled me, this was a great opinion video and you made some really good points too. Great job. 👍
Ahh thanks man :)
Great video! Honestly, the fact that the Culdee Fell Railway only appeared once is what makes it so interesting to me. It makes it more… mysterious, if that’s the word? Like, there’s so many things that the books never touched upon. It’s a shame that it never got a follow-up. It would’ve been interesting to see the engines have to deal with new diesels.
Also, I can’t get enough of that viaduct remix.
Thank you very much! I think it's my favourite but I have to rotate Busy and Watermill in too for variety. Yeah I agree :)
@@sodorislandmodels6332 I think the watermill theme suits the BoCo video as it was used in Wrong Road in which BoCo appears...
When BoCo arrives at the harbour in Wrong Road is the only time we see him move in S2...
Yeah, I would have been interested to see the mountain diesels and railcars introduced in the books, although I’ve seen people try creating characters based on them.
Diesels would be good but the railcars and hybrid engines were something of a failure
This book is very underrated
Totally
i agree a love this and i also have twr Culdee and Catherine and the Truck,.
Nice! I have so many ertl engines because people kept buying them for me as a kid :D
You should make more opinion pieces like this! I’m a big fan of Mountain Engines and have been for a long time.
Thanks, I'll be glad to make some more
As a kids I had one of the Audrey collection books. When ever I read these stories I always wishes there was more.
I wish there were more!
Theres *one* lore important detail Mountain Engines provides...
The Peel Godred Branchline was not electrified in 1963, we know this because theres no 3rd rail or caternaries.
True, could be that the illustrations missed them though
I'm a Christian, and the 'journey upwards to the Heavens' part made me laugh. I did notice the Devil's back part too. Duh.
I like Mountain Engines a lot because of, well, Culdee's personality and Catherine. I like the stories of Godred and Lord Harry/Patrick. And I love the name Alaric. I wish he... uh... existed.
Personally, I think that even though some diesels were added to Snowdon, that might not have happened on the Culdee Fell. I'm not sure what's going on with the railway,but I like to think of it as the little forgotten line in the hills...
Lovely stuff :)
I’ve always wanted to see a Thomas styled underground character and an elevated rail character
Sodor is not big enough for Underground Rail and Elevated Rail sadly but it would be cool
@@TankEngine75 Maybe a spin-off based somewhere or an entirely new series based on underground railways?
@@scifiguy9000 like one similar to Underground Ernie.
@@joshuaW5621 Yeah except what I had in mind was something realistic yet not boring for kids and not some horrible animation that looks like ugly slugs with Botox face lifts.
@@scifiguy9000 I like Underground Ernie but I respect your opinion.
My favorite book growing up, nothing compared to going to a real life cog railway
Great 👍
The debate might've been sparked by The Unlucky Tug's video ranking the books.
It's just such an outlier in the series as they were never seen or mentioned again.
Christopher never did anything with them, but it's hard to write stories on a railway that's essentially just a back and forth, single track line.
Ahh, I've not seen it :)
Huh, you know i never really considered that last part of your statement until you’ve mentioned it. I guess that really is why we never got more stories with them.
Maybe he could have written about the electrical engines, and the mountain engines could pop up from time to time.
He could have also written some extra stories about the Mid-Sodor Railway, and the engines that Duke, Falcon, and Stuart worked with.
There is lots of story potential on the island for sure
Although the Peel Godred line is electrified, the transfer sidings at Kirk Machan couldn't be as this would preclude the use of the crane. I could imagine a through Peel Godred to Barrow service using diesel / electric hybrid Class 769 trains...
I imagine the eastern end of Sodor having more through trains and mainland locomotives working them. For example, in the early 1990s there was a Class 31 hauled commuter train between Barrow and Manchester; I could imagine this running through to Tidmouth with the diesel laying over. Since the events of Old Stuck-up the old engine shed has been used by the diesels since the roundhouse opened; Daisy must have been shown in the roundhouse due to CoBo's arrival (after 1989 due to the arrival of the Class 151s on the Norramby branch) and visiting diesels.
Could be, Killdane is sort of odd as the junction as it's right next to Cronk, one of the big three stations, so trains stopping there may not be as frequent as needed
Great Video! Personally I really Like this book. Looking Forward for more of These!
Thanks! :)
I agree. I feel that this book was always underrated. There's only one thing about it that bothers me. That being the fact that the engines had faces on both thier front side and back side. I never understood why they were illustrated like that and it always bothered me. Like I said though, I love everything else about this book. Great video dude
Thanks!
My favourite one tbh
🙂
Nice video mate, big fan of the Culdee Fell Railway. I do wonder if those light green wagons will be used in future stories about the Railway? Best wishes. 👍
They're based on the truck the Snowdon railway had, as well as the Culdee Fell, so I don't see why not :)
Speaking of International engines, i wonder if there's any engines from across the world 🌎 who could be featured in a future Culdee Fell stories?
The Snowdon Mountain Railway has had a visitor so no reason not to :)
@@sodorislandmodels6332can I ask who?
I’m glad there are some people explaining why this book is actually pretty good. Honestly, the entire debate about the Culdee Fell Railway having no story potential and being pointless were really stupid in my eyes, because they’re both contradicted by the lore presented in TIOS and the fact that just because something was introduced doesn’t make it pointless, because it adds a nice bit of worldbuilding. A lovely book that introduces a lovely railway.
Ahh thanks, I agree!
Wait, wait, wait, people don't like the Mountain Engines books? That's surprising.
I've seen a few lists and discussions where it fares quite poorly, yeah
i wonder what jbs, and the great little railway show would been like if the culdee fell railway appeared
I've not seen them
10:18 Would love that 👍🏻
😁
@@sodorislandmodels6332 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
@@sodorislandmodels6332 All these months later, still love your videos mate. Best wishes from the midlands as always, big fan. 🚂
Thanks so much! :)
I am surprised this book is hated. It’s like Some Froggy Evening, the ONLY Looney Tunes cartoon to star Michigan J Frog. Yes there’s one, but that’s all you need sometimes. I think the resentment is from Mattel refusal to adapt it.
Yeah, could be
Great analysis mate,
I think another reason some people aren’t too fond of this book is that the railway has 8 engines and only half of them get any focus. Shane Dooiney and Eric don’t appear on page, we never see Ernest’s face and Alaric is just seen on one page where he doesn’t say anything, and only his back face is seen. However, sometimes some characters don’t need to be focused on. In Shane Dooiney’s case, it’s understandable since he was away being overhauled. I do assume that had they appeared in another book, perhaps we would have seen more of them.
If the Culdee Fell Railway ever does appear in the show when it’s revived, I don’t reckon it will appear much following the adaptations of the book, but I would love to see characters based on the diesels 9-12.
Yeah I think those are all correct, I think Ernest's face can be seen above Alaric in the first story, looks like it's a 3 at least but can only really tell in the 2011 editions
I would love to know more about these engines if they do get televised in the revival era.
Same
I imagine the Culdee Fell Railway now running a couple of the new Clayton hybrid locomotives like the Snowdon engines. Culdee might have bought the ill-fated Snowdon railcars and had them fixed at Crovan's Gate.
Could be yeah. I'm not sure they'd need four diesels as they still have 7&8 running which the SMR does not, would probably have two though? Not sure the railcars could ever be set right, but if anywhere could do it... 🙂
@@sodorislandmodels6332 Maybe make them into observation cars; the power bogie end being next to the loco.
The Culdee Fell Railway will have ordered new coaches at the same time as the Snowdon railway did; some of the old ones being converted for static use or adapted for the Skarloey Railway as observation cars.
I can imagine the Skarloey Railway ordering another 2 bogie coaches like the Talyllyn Railway has, to the same design as the originals.
In my stories the Norramby branch is run by two diesel railcars named Derby and Matlock that were bought by Sodor Island Council after their 5 year trial service on British Rail came to an end.
As their names suggest, they ran on the Matlock line in Derbyshire and met BoCo's brother at Matlock when he was in storage there.
Find out about Derby & Matlock's basis here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_151
These 2 units were non standard and had gearbox troubles that I've imagined Crovan's Gate were able to fix or replace their troublesome and unreliable Twin Disc transmissions with the Voith units as fitted to the Class 150-159 units.
Derby is 151003 and Matlock is 151004.
I'm not sure how adaptable the railcars are but it's a fun idea. Yes the SR surely has more bogies than we know about :)
Very good video. *Mountain Engines* has always been one of my favourite books. I was disappointed when I first watched Series 5 of _Thomas,_ expecting to see the book's stories finally adapted into the television series. However, I'm glad that it wasn't, as it would have probably been subjected to the bad, goofy writing that the later series (from 8 up to the end of the Nitrogen era) were. The fact that it remained untouched by the television series is one of the reasons why this book is so special, even if some of the characters were written into the magazine stories.
Also, I'm not a big fan of Christopher's books, so I'm glad he didn't try to make a sequel to his father's *Mountain Engines* book.
You have a really good narrator's voice. You've earned another subscriber - looking forward to more of your videos 👍🏼
Thanks for the nice words!
To be fair, it would have been BEYOND difficult to make models of them.
That's true
@@sodorislandmodels6332 You're welcome. You've made some good content. I saw your 2024 video - remember to take time for yourself. 🙏
Thanks pal!
There's probably a reason why HiT never recorded the series past Stepney. I think it's because the format doesn't match the serious tone that books 19-26 have.
Maybe, we got stories from all of Wilbert's books by 19 and 20 though
@@sodorislandmodels6332 Well they are being re-released with new narration next week.
Oh nice one!
If only this book were televised, because I thought it was a very interesting volume ever since I was a little boy! 👦
Absolutely!
In personal opinion, I think it is a great book too. However, I think people 'hate' the book thanks to a similar flaw with the Brenner/Big World Big Adventures Eras: New location(s) with SWARMS of characters.
I think what saves Mountain Engines is the quality of the writing, the beautiful illustrations, and the fact that the stories - though limited in quantity to support 10 NEW CHARACTERS and not helped by being jugged with the Skarloey cast - are at least unique in what can only be told from a Mountain Railway.
Plus we can excuse it's limited use not only due to technical reasons, but also being visually a tough act to follow.
Also, while the Railway Series altogether introduces characters frequently (sometimes in groups and sharing similar archetypes), it is still written out of passion from a train enthusiast.
I couldn't agree more
A smart review of one of the later Railway Series volumes. Something else about "Mountain Engines" not brought up in this video that should be mentioned, is the naturalistic humanity embodied by the character of Culdee. The Rev. Awdry clearly emphasises for our benefit Culdee's respect for humility and the adverse mountain conditions he and his siblings entail, reflecting the significance of his naming, and using it perfectly to frame the seriousness of the messages being told to us and the recklessness of the dismissive newcomer Lord Harry. I regard Culdee as an effectively-introduced character of good morale for that reason. You could so easily side with the bad character because he is clearly flawed, but Culdee's position is not undermined. He may have, like the rest of the mountain railway, been only in one book, but as with the rest of it he holds up as a strong guidance figure.
I mentioned it elsewhere, but while I don't mind the Skarloey engines' role in this book, how they are framed in introducing Culdee and his railway is something I do question somewhat, mainly in terms of continuity. The first story establishes that Sir Handel has had trouble with the old coaches and calls them out as cattle trucks, which is what happened to him previously in the book "Four Little Engines" and the author claimed at the end of that book that he had learnt his lesson. It might have been more respectful if the author claimed something like Sir Handel claimed as a joke that he could handle a mountain line after having had a good track record recently, which would then have led seamlessly into the whole argument backdrop as Donald pulls up with Culdee.
Regards, Samuel Farris.
Thanks, and I think those are really good points. Culdee is certainly a 'good' character as well as a 'good character', kind of like the wise old mountain climber trying to keep his fellow climbers safe, as well as having an eye for a parable/fable.
I see what you mean about Sir Handel, but I think that the Mountain Engines needed to have their unusual relationship with coaches explained and Sir Handel having a bad experience was the most effective way to show it. Just my opinion :)
Too right it is even i myself love it 🇬🇧
🙂
the only reason people don’t like the book is simply because it’s the only mountain railway book which is stupid in my opinion because the miniature railway only got two books and no one had a problem with them.
just because something is short lived doesn’t mean it’s not good.
Yeah I think it's great
According to an interview with Robert Gauld-Galliers, this could be attributed to limited storylines, rack-and-pinion track, the engines' strange-angled body, and being not very merchandisable and in 2015 Sam Wilkinson stated the "Culdee Fell Railway have always been on the list to be created, ever since I joined, but these would always require a lot of time, resources, and money to create. Also there is no live-action reference so everything would have to be done from scratch". Sadly, this never came to fruition
I think it's fair the Small Railway got in before the Culdee Fell, but the fact the Ertl CFR engines were merchandise before the small engines :D
@@sodorislandmodels6332 jock and frank were the only small railway engines to to be released in ertl
Yep
Facts I don't know why this book gets hate it makes me really sad (sad face)
It's a very good book
2:20 is that because the ice risks engine slipping on the rails?
Yes I think the weather is too dangerous to go up the mountain
good quality content
well done
Thanks!
I wonder if Godred here would manage to secretly survive and eventually get restored decades later, either possibly being put on display in some railway museum on Sodor or getting another chance at working again where he’d get to go back in service on the Culdee Fell line. Same with MSR #2 Stanley, I think it’s possible after the Cas-ny-Hawin mine flooded when closing it they likely wouldn’t have bothered on having him sold or scrapped so he was likely just left abandoned. If he were to be found and restored I wonder if he’d go onto the Skarloey Railway or also some railway museum on Sodor. We don’t know what the fates of the likes of Albert Jim Tim and The Mine Engine were though, and we don’t even know if the engines from the original Mid Sodor layout are even canon or not.
I think it's unlikely Stanley got a better fate than Godred tbh
@@sodorislandmodels6332 How so? Stanley didn’t exactly fall off a mountain and just simply caused a mine to flood, he might not even have been caught up in it and there are plenty of steam powered machines that end up abandoned though still remain in tact.
I mean I think he was likely scrapped same as Godred
@@sodorislandmodels6332 Okay then
🙂
I agree
Cheers :)
for a person who has read the book countless times i agree
Niceee
I think Culdee helped young people understand how rack and pinion railways work...
True
The second faces on the mountain engines always freaked me out...
😁
I think they're linked with their reverser direction; same with the diesels such as Daisy and BoCo / Bear.
I thought those diesels just had one face.
Funnily enough that'll be part of a future video
In certain illustrations their faces are on different ends, Toby does this too
This is the track (by "Bardcore Guy") that I would use as my Culdee Fell theme:
ua-cam.com/video/aPofCjIQq3U/v-deo.html
I think it has an up-and-down sound and could imagine Culdee pushing Catherine up the mountain to this music!
Haha that's fun
What always scratched my head is what the hell are those heads on there rear ends, no one ever talks about them. Do those faces have personalities of there own?
I think one and the same but got to make a video about it get my whole point across hahah
The railway(s) in MLP. *Note: this is a joke since theofficial doesn't have evidence of lore*
Cool
what's the name of the song in the background it's so peaceful 😴💤🛌
I made it! Video is on my channel
I always felt the railway was for lack of a better term, a little Superfluous but I never disliked Mountain Engines, no I always thought it was actually one of the coolest books in the series tbh
It's certainly the most different book, I think that's fair to say
@@sodorislandmodels6332 Exactly.
What does superfluous mean?
@@ciarangleeson2880 Superfluous means "More than needed/Surplus to requirements"
Yep
mike was gonna be released ertl but he was cancelled
Yeah, sad
what was the arsdale tram road?
Before the Mid Sodor Railway there was a 2'3" tramway that ran along part of the same route
Also, Tim, one of the Mid Sodor engines, is thought to have originally worked there.
Yes, maybe
10:54 Why?
Sorry not sure what this refers to
@@sodorislandmodels6332 the reillustrated face on the coach.
That's an Edgar Hodges illustration
this fandom is hell
Maybe some of it, but there is still a lot of good I hope
The only legitimate gripe I've had with Mountain Engines is that it's not made clear why the engines have a face on both ends. They only got one cab after all, so shouldn't there be just one face?
I'm planning a video on it but I know what you mean :)
It’s so they can see where they are going when they are travelling downhill, but I’ll admit, I can’t help wondering if they switch back and forth between them, or if they are always facing two ways.
I think switch
@@ciarangleeson2880 I heard this in another comment recently, and I'm inclined to agree.
Mhmm
Live in Wales near the real Railway!
Nice!
A video of the new Snowdon hybrid locomotives: ua-cam.com/video/Co4jKBX5f2s/v-deo.html
Funny looking aren't they. Like the cab shape but the rest isn't very personable
@@sodorislandmodels6332 It's the empty flat space above the second bogie that gets me; they'd look better if the bonnet ran the full length of the locomotive chassis...
That's a huge part of it yeah
@@sodorislandmodels6332 In another photo they have a passenger compartment at the unpowered end that must be removable for maintenance and testing.
I guess so
Mountain Engines isn't bad it's just more weak
More weak than what?
@@sodorislandmodels6332 compared to the rest of Awdrys books. Its good on its own but as part of the RWS its weaker
Gotcha
@@sodorislandmodels6332 thanks
No problem :)
10:08 onwards, love all these suggestions. 😊 @sodorislandmodels6332
Thanks 😁