#NBR J36

[feigeroman]

Thomas OCs: Heather

Number: 47 (ex-BR 65327) Class: NBR Holmes C 0-6-0 Built: 1900 Arrived on Sodor: 1964 Service (Shed): NWR Main Line (Vicarstown) Livery: NWR Goods Black

Everyone knows that Scottish railwaymen are a whole other breed in themselves, and this extends to their engines. Formidable, rugged, but with a warmth and character to them, that many will tell you is sorely lacking in engines from doon South. They have a sense of independence and rebellion seemingly unmatched by engines on any other region of BR - except, of course, the NWR.

Indeed, the NWR now proudly boasts a significant number of engines who have called Scotland their home at some point. By far the most notable are Donald & Douglas, but there are others to be found if you know where to look for them. One of these is Heather, a headstrong, hardy soul, who lives at the far end of the Main Line. Like most Scottish engines, she’s very witty and skillful, and is able to use her talents to subdue trucks and engines alike. Although not as large or young as some of her colleagues, Heather’s still a vital asset to the NWR’s goods link, being just as capable of handling heavy goods as younger or larger engines doing the same work.

Heather was built at Cowlairs Works in Glasgow, in 1900, and after a brief initial stint at Bathgate, she was reallocated to St Margaret’s MPD, in Edinburgh - from here, she was put to work on the NBR’s main line north to Dundee. This ran through one of Scotland’s biggest and richest coalfields, so naturally much of Heather’s work was on the heavy coal trains, from the collieries to the cities, for either export or industrial use.

During the First World War, engines from the C class were among those requisitioned by the Royal Engineers for use in France (this was before a standard class of engine was agreed upon, as mentioned elsewhere). Heather was not one of the twenty-five Cs sent to France, but upon their return in 1919, their tales of action on the Western Front proved to be a great inspiration to her. They also served to instil in her a lifelong passion for horses, as one of the Cs - Heather remembers it being St Quentin - told a particularly gripping story about his experience with one of the horses in a cavalry regiment he served alongside.

Following the Grouping, the J36s (as they were reclassified by the LNER) were cascaded down to lesser duties, to fill the gaps left by the withdrawal of older engines. These duties included pilot and banking work, as well as light mineral workings. Heather in particular spent a fair few years on regular daily pick-up freights between Edinburgh and Dundee, with the occasional return to block coal traffic. This work only intensified during the Second World War, when it was a case of all hands on deck.

Although withdrawals of the J36s had begun before the War had started, it was not until BR took over that things really started to look grim for the class. Fortunately, there were still plenty of lines which only they were small and light enough to run on, and this ensured their survival just that little bit longer. In fact, two of them went on to become the final engines working for BR in the whole of Scotland, as late as 1967.

Heather, meanwhile, found herself finally leaving Edinburgh in 1963, as she was transferred to Thornton Junction, the hub of all the coal traffic in this part of Scotland. However, she would only see service here for a year, as she was withdrawn from BR service in 1964. Almost immediately, though, she was snapped up by the NWR, as part of Sir Topham Hatt’s bulk purchasing scheme around this time. She entered service on Sodor just a month or so later, and she was intended to be used on heavy goods trains out of Vicarstown...

As it happened, though, Heather’s initial duties proved to be a little different. Her arrival coincided with some serious trouble over at Tidmouth - the trucks had gotten way more out of hand than usual, and even the likes of Donald & Douglas couldn’t subdue them. As such, Heather was briefly transferred over to help sort things out - and the results were very much akin to one of those old Westerns, where the lone hero wanders into town, clears up some local trouble, and then disappears as quickly as they arrived. Nobody knows quite how Heather managed it, but by the time she went back to Vicarstown, all the trucks were too scared-stiff to cause trouble for ages afterwards!

Since then, Heather’s life has been largely uneventful, but like most engines on Sodor, she does have her moments. For instance, her passion for horses has lead to an interest in horse racing, and the associated mechanics of betting. As such, she’s developed a knack for keeping track of complicated numbers and statistics, and the others sometimes ask her to caculate certain odds - like what the chances are of someone having to come to the rescue of someone else who’s wronged them before. While Heather doesn’t have any powers of clairvoyance, her odds are usually accurate enough that most other engines choose to accept them as gospel truth.

Trivia

I know I’ve said in the past that I tend to avoid naming OCs after people I know personally, but in this case, that’s exactly what I’ve done. The real Heather is a family friend, who I’ve known for just over ten years. The idea to name an OC after her came about after I realized that both her husband and son share their names with Thomas characters (George and Arthur, respectively), but she herself doesn’t. So naturally, I just had to fill that gap myself.

Just for the record, I consulted her with this idea beforehand, and she was totally cool with it. It helped that Arthur (her son) is a massive Thomas nut, so she’s at least mostly aware of it.

Apart from the name, engine Heather’s love of horses is the other main inspiration I took from friend Heather - trust me, she’s obsessed with them!

The name was the easy part, but developing the character took a bit more time. For one thing, while the real Heather lives in Scotland - as do I - she’s originally from America. However, I rejected the idea of making Heather the engine an American prototype, partly because that seemed too obvious, but mainly because there was only a handful of prototypes which worked in Britain.

I decided instead to push the Scottish connection, and go for a prototype that worked mainly in Scotland. I went with a J36 primarily because it was a type that was common in the part of Scotland where I live. I know, I know, more geographical bias, but it’s my headcanon, and I can do what I like with it!

Some of the J36s were fitted with tender cabs, and small snowploughs beneath their front bufferbeams, for working in the arduous weather conditons famous on Scottish railways. I like to imagine Heather has these fittings as well, but I wasn’t sure where to mentioned this in the main text.