#spiteful brakevan

[kahran042]

Has anyone else noticed that the Spiteful Brakevan from The Railway Series is unlucky number 13? Because I hadn't until recently.

[duskstargazer]

[1959]

"So, what's this old wreck?"

'Arry and Bert gazed at a pile of stained grey timber and warped metal, resting on a flatbed.

"Looks like some poor old brake van. Long past its-"

"I can see that, ya bellend."

"Good, you're not completely useless."

"Alright you two, stow it." The foreman strode up between the two diesels.

He then looked down at the mess of old parts, vaguely resembling a brake van from the pre grouping era.

"What'cha think, Boss? Fuel for the furnaces?"

"I think we can do something a little better." The foreman slowly lifted his head from the broken van before him to the depths of the Smelting shed, as a malignant grin worked its way across his lips in a way that even sent chills into the frames of his diesels.

"Not quite gone, is it? Unable to speak, unable to listen. …Yes, you'll be perfect."

[ / ]

Oliver looked up. Above him was a huge grabber.

“This engine’s NOT for scrapping!!”

The grabber wasn’t listening…

[number1spongebobfan]

I wanted to make S.C Ruffey look as if he is torn apart. I gave the brakevan a spiteful look. that's why he's doing a thumbs down.

[greatwesternway]

Traintober Day 12: Something Borrowed - Toad

This was originally supposed to be, like, three different essays ("Brakevan Decorum", "Top 3 Smartest Guys on the NWR - #2 Will Surprise You!", and "The Great Western Mafia") but @littlewestern and I decided Day 12: Something Borrowed was a great day to talk about Toad.

Why "Something Borrowed"? Because on the NWR, Toad so often is.

While we most often see Toad working with Oliver, upon his arrival in Sodor, he declared that he'd like to be Douglas' brakevan. Sir Topham Hatt does seem to approve of this and I think that suggests something about how he'd like his railway to run. However, in practice, the NWR seems not to have enough brakevans that Douglas could have one all to himself.

I think that Toad assuming he could just be one engine's brakevan is because that was a more common arrangement on the GWR and perhaps to an extent on British Rail. We do see an example of a mainland engine having a dedicated brakevan in Samson and Bradford. If they have the stock, it's probably a very good idea to pair engines with brakevans for the same reasons one might assign an dedicated crew to an engine. Having established rapport between an engine and his brakevan can only make them work together better. Particularly when it comes to engines who need more guidance and insight into their work like Samson, pairing them with a brakevan who has a compatible personality can really make things run more smoothly.

Unfortunately - no matter how much Hatt may admire the Great Western Way of doing things - the NWR does not have enough stock to allocate Toad to Douglas only. Still, Toad can be Douglas' brakevan in spirit... and given that Douglas has been known to smash less mannerly brakevans to bits, I doubt Toad has much trouble finding himself available when Douglas needs him.

Toad's manners are also, I think, a relic of Great Western sensibility. It's really quite fascinating though because if Toad's decorum is typical of GW brakevans, it would seem to indicate a delicate balance in priorities that other railways seemed unable to hit.

That is to say, Toad always refers to his engines with an honorific (always Mr. Oliver or Mr. James or the rare Miss Marion) and is mostly soft-spoken and deferential to their leadership when back-ending their trains. He treats them in a way akin to a butler, as though his presence is a service he's providing them. That Duck and Oliver are both seen to be somewhat dismissive of him would point to their being an observed hierarchy of command on the GWR that places brakevans beneath engines.

However, Toad has also quite often put his brakes down when his engines are trying to do some foolhardy shit. He resisted both Gator and James' attempts to flout regulation citing safety, which is the precise point of a brakevan. I think this too is part of brakevan decorum on the GWR, although I also think it rarely had to be employed there. GW engines are generally quite safety conscious on their own, but part of good safety procedure is redundancy. Having your brakevans prepared to intercede in the unlikely event your engines want to trade safety for expediency is good preventative measures.

This is a hard line to toe though and the NWR up to that point hadn't done a very good job if the Spiteful Brakevan is any indication. A brakevan who uses the limited autonomy he's granted and the necessity of his presence to leverage in his interpersonal problems can become such a detriment to his engine.

And while Bradford is a perfect brakevan to pair with an engine like Samson who can't be fully trusted to work independently, his strict adherence to regulation at the expense of common sense makes him a nuisance for engines who are more capable.

So it stands to reason that when Douglas rolled in with a GW engine, a GW autocoach, and a GW brakevan, Hatt might have wishfully thought some of that GW decorum was going to rub off and was all too happy to entertain even purely ceremonial gestures towards the Great Western Way of assigning brakevans.

You know what that also tells us though?

If Toad asked to be Douglas' brakevan, it almost certainly means that he was not Oliver's, particularly since it is stated that Isabel is Oliver's coach. That little notion paints a much more interesting picture of the escape from the scrapyard. Rather than it always being the plan to bring him, Toad may instead have been a late addition to the consist. And if that's true, another suspenseful possibility emerges: that Oliver and Isabel might have had enough coal to make it all the way to Sodor had they not brought him along.

But they wouldn't really have had a choice about it: they are all Great Western and must stand together.

Luckily, thanks to Douglas, they do all make it to Sodor and Toad is able to return the favor quite a bit over.

Toad's shown on several occasions to be a clever little sumbitch. He understands resource allocation (giving Gator one of his lights in "Toad's Bright Idea"), he can solve problems by looking at the bigger picture (using the crane on the other side of the island to get the whale back in the water in "Toad and the Whale", he's even got a touch of the silver tongue (lying by omission about James' speeding and directing the conversation to the branch on the line instead in "Toad's Adventure"). He might very well be the smartest guy on the railway and he's not even an engine. It would be a waste if he weren't as assertive as he is.

And so we reach my favorite thing about Toad: Toad is the one who comes up with the plan to rip Scruffey apart. And what's more, I don't think he actually told Duck and Oliver the whole plan. Three can keep a secret if two don't know they're doing so. 'Cause see, Toad never says they're going to rip Scruffey apart; he tells Oliver the plan is to bump him if he makes trouble.

When they're arranging the trucks, Toad also suggests in a way worded to sound like he thinks Oliver had already thought of and decided that he ought to be placed at the end of this train:

"I expect, Mr Oliver, you'll want me on the middle road as a stop-block, like."

"Er- Yes, please."

Oliver marshalled the worst trucks two by two in front of Toad.

"This way, Mr Oliver, takes longer, but they can't give trouble, and if you leave that Scruffey till last, you'll have him right behind you. Then you can bump him if he starts his nonsense."

Toad just settin' some fuckin' dominoes up right here.

And this is the beauty of it too. If Scruffey don't start no shit, won't be no shit. It's all so plausibly deniable, so brought upon himself!

Duck's presence is also important to the plan, even though he seems incidental. He and his also GW coaches are there as a matter of the schedule, but Duck came to the station with the ulterior intent to cheer Oliver on. As to just what he was going to be cheering specifically he may not have known (he looks quite unsettled by it), but this is Duck's branch line so it's important that he personally be seen condoning the execution about to happen on it, where all the other trucks can see it.

So now the trap is laid and of course Scruffey walks into it. He tells the trucks to hold back and they do. And when Oliver puts every bit of his boiler into pulling them anyway, Scruffey tells them to loosen up. Whether the rest of the trucks did or not, it doesn't matter. It's too late. Toad has his brakes on.

And then Sir Topham Hatt - who loves engine (and probably brakevan) bullshit - comes upon this scene. He can probably guess what really happened here because this ain't his first rodeo, but it solves the larger problem of truck behavior on Duck's branchline and you have to admire the craftsmanship of this scenario. Even Oliver doesn't know this was the intended result. When Hatt asks him about it, he's nervous.

"Well, Oliver, so you don't know your own strength. Is that it?"

"N-n-no, Sir," said Oliver.

The Fat Controller inspected the remains.

"As I thought," he remarked. "Rotten wood, rusty frames - unserviceable before it came." He winked at Oliver, and whispered, "Don't tell the trucks that - bad for discipline!"

He strode away, chuckling.

It might have even been so good a plan, so engineered to absolve all invested parties of blame, that Hatt might not have considered that Toad was involved at all. He knows damn well this wasn't Oliver's plan (he's not that clever), but no one really suspects a brakevan either. At the end of the train, a brakevan is so removed from the action, so far down the line and out of sight as to escape notice entirely.

Fkn consigliere shit right there.

[spc-rambles]

It really took until series 22 for me to actually like Samson.

Like I know he's meant to be an arrogant cunt and I respect the writers for doing this, especially for a character supposedly named after the show's incompetent railway consultant, and the fact he thinks as highly of himself as the original main line trio in spite of his age and size is a refreshing change.

However I dislike him more in the sense that I would hate to hang out with him. Like if I was in Harvey's position in 'Samson Sent for Scrap' I would've used my hook to punch him hard in the face. Mainly when he actively went and asked me to put Sir Topham's car in good condition in the scrap truck.

It took until 'Samson and the Fireworks' for me to like him because of his sympathetic fear and him overcoming it, not to mention his life partner being the lovable military brakevan that is Bradford. We all know how wonderful he is.

On one hand I'm sad that it meant a loss of another chance to get an Oliver episode but I'm also happier to see Samson showing redeeming qualities.

Speaking of such, a good compromise came in the form of his depiction in Sodor: A New Era by TrainKing James. He is only a cunt because he felt that humanity is scum for leaving him to be scrapped way back in the 1900's. I'll leave links to the episodes part of his arc below.

[rygoespop]

List of Characters in my Thomas and Friends AU (Finalized)

Main:

Thomas

Edward

Henry

Gordon

James

Percy

Toby

Emily

Molly

Rosie

Stanley

And Rebecca

Secondary/Supporting:

Duck

Donald and Douglas

Oliver

Diesel

Bill and Ben

BoCo

Philip

Derek

Timothy

Marion

Mavis

Sidney

Daisy

Ryan

Brent the Ballast Spreader

Paxton

Bear

Norman

Dennis

Den

Dart

Arry and Bert

Diesel 10

Murdoch

Arthur

Salty

Porter

Harvey

Fergus

Whiff

Scruff

Belle

Flynn

Stafford

Charlie

Billy

Neville

Hank

Neil

Sonny

Wilbert

Flora

Bash and Dash

Ferdinand

Winston

Stephen

Glynn

Dustin

Skarloey

Rheneas

Sir Handel

Peter Sam

Rusty

Duncan

Duke

Bertram

Freddie

Mighty Mac

Luke

Millie

Smudger

Victor

Culdee

Wilfred

Alaric

Harry (Formerly known as Lord Harry/Patrick)

Godred

Mike

Rex

Bert

Flying Scotsman

Spencer

Stepney

Connor

Caitlin

Samson

Merlin

Lexi

Theo

Hurricane

Frankie

D261

Splodge (Splatter and Dodge)

Jinty and Pug

Patriot the Big City Engine

Mallard

Hiro

Gator

Ashima

Rajiv

Yong Bao

Shane

Raul

Gina

Etienne

Vinnie

Sam

Frieda

Hugo

Axel

Ivan

Carlos

Lady

Proteus

Annie and Clarabel

Henrietta

Toad

Old Slow Coach

The Slip Coaches

SCruffey

Fred Pelham

Hector

Rocky

Judy and Jerome

Catherine

Bradford

Bertie

Bulgy

Terence

Trevor

Elizabeth

George

Kevin

Butch

The Horrid Lorries

Madge

Thumper

Jack

Alfie

Max and Monty

Oliver

Ned

Byron

Kelly

Isobella

Buster

Bulstrode

Captain

Skiff

Harold

Jeremy

Cranky

Carly

Big Mickey

Owen

Merrick

And Beresford

So that’s all for this finalized list, as for the ones planned such as Logan, Duchess of Hamilton, Ulli, Frank, Hannah, and The Spiteful Brakevan, they are unfortunately dropped due to the recent news regarding to Christopher Awdry

So that’s all

[hi-my-name-is-cosmopathy]

Hi guys I just wanted to share something with y'allI

idid say this before but I deleted the post but I have plans for creating TTTE Fan Episodes and I just wanna share you one

( @just-a-douglas-simp-existing come take a look at this)

It's actually abt Donald and Douglas. The episode is about them getting nightmares of losing each other. Donald gets a nightmare that he never confronted the spiteful brakevan and Douglas topples over the frickin hill, falling down and dies. And for Douglas, he gets a nightmare that he performed poorly and is going to be sent back, but Donald sacrifices himself takes his place for scrap.

It's implied that they ignored it at first but CLEARLY that isn't doing anything. So, they try to take initiative. Donald tries to stay closer to Douglas and watch over him, and Douglas tries to stray away from Donald and do his jobs for him. Yeah you can see how this doesn't end well. And it goes on for a week or so. The engines already thought it was suspicious enough that Douglas didn't wanna work with Donald but they assumed it was bcus they had some fight or whatever.

Anyway the problem gets worse when snow comes around and they have to work separately. Yeah and no shet there was a blizzard and Donald has an accident and gets lost in the fookin snow. And now Douglas is worried as shet and regrets all his decisions..Well obviously Donald is saved and the twins have a heart to heart moment at the steamworks and they're finally telling each other EVERYTHING. Then it's like— the first time the twins cry in years. Bill, Ben and the Fat Controller just look and the clay twins just look at TFC and say "Sir, I think you need to do what you must," "what is it?" "bring them to therapy."

and he does. There may be a few hiccups but the twins are slowly being more honest with each other now :⟩

I made this episode for different reasons. First of all, most of the episodes Mattel and HiT gives us Abt the twins is them fighting and fighTING aND FIGHTING GOSH ITS SO BORING AND UNENTERTAINING!! ITS THE SAME THING EVERY EPISODE GIVE US SOMETHING NEW— so I did.

Second of all, self projection. It's not quite often but there are times where I regret not being and older sibling to my siblings and there are things I wished I didn't do to them. So now I'm the responsible one out of them. But, when it's comes to schoolwork, I think my sister is just plain out annoyed with me cus sometimes it's like she does all the homework for me and I just...follow. I feel the to become independent from her. I could talk to her Abt this cus sometimes she just gives me the answers even when I don't ask for it, but I'm too ashamed of myself. This doesn't really happen anymore but I still feel guilty.

Now, last of all, it's because of the thing that made Donald and Douglas special to me. You see, in most media, identical twins are utilized for fun comedy and shenanigans. They're like, the jokesters of the group. But then there's these two. While Awdry was writing them, instead of making a story about two, silly and mischievous twins and there shenanigans, it's about hard-working, no-nonsense twins who enjoy mischief at times, but would do ANYTHING to keep the other alive, even if it means DYING. It's a fresh new breath of air for someone like me (i have a twin).

So yeah I mixed this shet up and got "Lost In A Blizzard".

Okie thas all leave your thoughts in reblogs

[jayde-jots]

Hi I really like your work, I was wondering now how Hotr, duck vs diesel stuff, the Scottish twins esp spiteful brakevan and escape with Oliver works in giant au(how would they react to giants/other giants like Thomas to which twin was a giant, I forgot my bad) Is there a giant in the miniature line if there r any and what were the ardesdale reactions? Sorry for asking a lot

I'm not sure what hotr stands for so I'm afraid I can't answer that one. As for Duck vs Diesel, Diesel is a brand new build and is brought to Sodor fresh out of the works. At first Duck doesn't like the idea of a diesel coming to Sodor, especially since Diesel's class is basically the more modern version of Duck's class, so the panniers and 08's had a few issues here and there. Things get pretty bad and before the other can go too far Thomas puts a stop to it. He separates the two with Sir Topham's permission and Diesel goes to work at the quarry on Thomas's branch line. Diesel doesn't mind Thomas or other giants, he was born in a generation where giants are common after all. Originally Donald came to Sodor by himself, but he was always looking up and around wherever he went, almost like he was keeping an eye out for something. And ever since his arrival things had been going missing on the island. Some of the fish on Henry's train had been going missing, and Thomas and Glynn could sense something outside the sheds at night, and the engines could always feel the ground shaking at night whenever they had to pull a train. At some point a rouge giant came in kicking up a fuss, when Donald became in trouble from this savage who should appear out from the ocean with a mighty roar but Douglas! Douglas proceeded to almost kill the lawless giant when Thomas and Glynn stepped in and tore the two apart. It was a kaiju battle until the rouge giant fled and so did Douglas. Later on, Donald would explain who Douglas is to the others and they'd all head to the piers at Arlesbough. Donald would call for his brother and we'd get to see the twin giant of Donald the Caledonian. Eventually, Douglas would join the NWR with the support of Thomas and Glynn. As for the spiteful brake van? That wouldn't really happen since giants aren't allowed to push trains up hills for safety reasons. Oliver would be a giant on cull road (Giant death row). He'd be saved by Douglas no less and brought to Sodor to which he would be brought onto the fleet with his emotional support van Toad. Toad would be tied to Oliver's chest more than likely and be carried around by him everywhere they went. Duck and Oliver would be very close as per-usual but he would also be very close to Douglas. (Maybe developing a crush? Idk). As for if there's a giant on the Arlesdale? Yes, there will be. After Oliver visits the line Bert becomes infected and turns into a giant.

[beumdi]

forgor i had this random ass drawing of the spiteful brakevan so have this!!

[theflyingkipper]

A screechin’ and a noise + his friends

[meanscarletdeceiver]

this shot will never not be funny

[papieworkzz]

TTTE headcanons

some might be sad, some might be sweet, some straight up random. And bad spelling cause English ain’t my first language.

Humanized! TTTE AU ___________ -Toad can never sleep without Oliver. He thinks that someone will kidnaped him, it will always end up with him awoken from a nightmare. This makes Oliver concerned when someone is looking after him( i humanized him as a child-)

-Marion was already weird from the beginning before coming to sodor. She never had any reliable friends with her, the only one who has been on her side is her driver. Let’s call them Ben. Ben and Marion are inseperable, until hard times came and Ben died, leaving Marion in tears. Ben’s last words are, “we’ll meet together sooner or later, Marion! But for now, goodbye...”. Until a few day a similar looking person came in to take in Ben’s spot, after that incident, she believed it was magic.

-Spiteful Brakevan soul is still lingering around Douglas. And it makes him wonder why no one wants to be around them for too long, except for Donald, he thinks that the aura near his brother is always like that.

-on though days, Millie would insist Luke to rest on her lap, despite this, Luke felt weird about it.

[joezworld]

Someone sent me an ask about how Andrew Lloyd Weber's acid trip of a musical Starlight Express would work on Sodor, so I did some research.

My findings to date:

This play has never had a consistent song or cast list at any point, and is seemingly changed on a whim, with songs being swapped and changed depending on the production or date.

I can't stress that enough. Andrew Lloyd Weber had to go and re-write the long-running German production in 2018 because it was virtually unrecognizable from the original play due to 30+ years of gradual changes.

(The German play is in its own custom made theater btw. Of course it is.)

The original cast soundtrack (which is what's on Spotify, and is not even remotely all the songs that have ever appeared in this song) actually slaps really hard in spots, but having watched old VHS bootlegs of shows from the 90's (and YouTube videos of a Singaporean production from a few years ago) I feel that much of the "this slaps" energy comes from the fact that the cast is standing still in a recording studio, and the songs were then professionally mixed.

That's an important distinction to make because the songs are usually preformed live by a group of mic-ed up lunatics on roller skates, which is naturally going to degrade the quality of the audio somewhat.

Yeah this is performed on roller skates. I knew that already but God damn.

This says nothing of the plot, which is insane - it's nominally about a rusty old steam engine trying to win a race to impress a modern/attractive passenger car, but there's a decidedly large amount of god/worship overtones? The "starlight express" is apparently some kind of actual thing that characters can pray(?) to for guidance.

We also need to remember that this entire story is happening on a child's toy train set. The child himself is "control", which is some kind of other omniscient godlike entity?

This creates some... interesting context for some of the characters, like the (spiteful) breakvan CB, who just straight up has a song where he talks about crashing trains for fun.

I should also mention that Andrew Lloyd Weber made a serious attempt to adapt the Railway Series books to a cartoon format, and only came up with Starlight Express after he got turned down by Granada TV.

And you know what? You can kind of see the RWS influence here: CB is basically the Spiteful Brakevan turned up to 11, the entire "old engine has to prove himself" plot is basically any Edward story when you view it from a distance, and the steam vs diesel / old vs modern conflict is very similar to a lot of Awdry plots (again, on a very basic level). If this was done in a world where Sodor was real, I can totally see even more references to the Island - most of the character names, maybe, and some of the songs.

(Hilariously, the main character is named Rusty, which I'm sure went over fabulously on the Skarloey Railway.)

Finally, let's just talk about the costumes, which looks like what would happen if the TTTE humanization art community was bad at what they did.

I'm being serious.

These are supposed to be trains.

@asktrio516 is good enough that she could probably do better than this with her eyes shut.

-

I bet that Andrew Lloyd Weber showed this once on Sodor, and got laughed off the Island faster than you can say "unintentional comedy."

[fraiserabbit]

So are ruckus and scruffy the same person? Or are they different, the same gose for Hector.

yep, it’s all Ruckus! they can possess any and all rolling stock on Sodor, such as the Brakevan and Hector:

👉 “[Ruckus’] scars are just a result of the trouble they cause while possessing rolling stock...such as when it was the Spiteful Breakvan and Douglas destroyed the thing, resulting in the huge scar in the middle of their chest.” (x)

👉 “[Ruckus] seems to not only have a singular mind though, as when they possess a certain coal hopper truck its motives and attitudes seem to change. Hector is certainly an oddity to the drivers on Sodor.” (x)

so yeah, they’re Scruffey too :]

me, avoiding having to explain why Hector is different: 🏃‍♂️💨

[feigeroman]

Thomas Headcanons: Donald & Douglas

During their early days on the Caledonian, both Donald and Douglas were close friends with future fellow NWR stalwart Elspeth (NWR #53). However, they drifted apart shortly after the Grouping, and it wasn’t until 1959 that they saw each other again. They’d passed through Elspeth’s yard, somewhere in Edinburgh, on their way to Sodor, and told her how Donald had been officially transferred to the NWR, whereas Douglas hadn’t. Elspeth quickly devised a plan to help them both, and told Donald to carry on to his next stop as scheduled. Douglas, meanwhile, was hidden in a corner of the yard until a couple of nights later, when he was able to be smuggled out under cover of darkness and thick fog.

When the twins finally arrived on the NWR, it was their drivers who persuaded Sir Topham Hatt to give them both a trial, to see which one was better. They then told their engines to be as good as each other, so that Sir Topham Hatt would have no choice but to keep them both. Or, failing that, they'd just have to be as bad as each other!

The infamous tender swap was part of this ruse, and the twins had actually managed to get away with it several times before being caught. Although they both tried to work to an equally high standard, one would occasionally fall behind the other. Let’s say it’s Donald. Should Douglas start performing better than him, they would swap tenders, and Douglas would make it look as though Donald was recovering from his slipping standards.

I spent a good half hour trying to explain this, and I still don’t think I’ve gotten it across properly. No wonder the TV series canned this element...

Actually, here’s a better way of explaining it. Douglas, the supposed truant, fell behind thanks to all that stuff with the missing coach and the spiteful brakevan. Because of that, he was the one under threat of being sent back. However, Donald’s accident with the signalbox brings him down to that level, evening the score somewhat. Basically that sort of principle.

Okay, now to try and explain The Missing Coach. If you’ve got a couple of hours, let’s go through this:

To explain why they had to swap tenders, instead of simply swapping positions: Douglas was the only one who knew what happened to the special coach, and so he was the only one who had an alibi ready. Donald was totally in the dark, and so had he simply taken Douglas’ place, there might have been a risk of him blowing his twin’s cover.

Meanwhile, Donald was supposed to be taking a goods train, and presumably only he would know all the information required for that particular journey. So had Douglas simply taken his place, he would have had to waste time getting all that information, and risking being caught out. As it is, once they’d swapped tenders, Donald could easily leave as quickly as possible.

Their plan to fool Sir Topham Hatt seems to be as follows: Make it look like Douglas couldn’t have misplaced the special coach, because he was too busy preparing for his goods train. And also make it look like Donald couldn’t be responsible because he was too busy having his tender coupling repaired.

As I was typing this, I realized that the only other engine in the yard at the time was Duck. So basically the twins planned to pin the blame on him...

As for how Sir Topham Hatt managed to catch them out regardless? There could be any number of reasons, but I personally believe the twins have very slightly different voices, and he somehow recognized Douglas’ voice when he was pretending to be Donald.

On a related note, I like to imagine that the Spiteful Brakevan happened to be on Donald’s goods train the day of the Missing Coach incident. Presumably something happened on that journey that instigated the van’s grudge against who he thought was Douglas.

As suggested above, I’m convinced that Donald’s collision with the signalbox really was on purpose, and meant to even the score after Douglas’ troubles with the brakevan.

This isn’t even that much of a headcanon - it’s literally suggested in canon, albeit in a joking context. Quoth Douglas, in response to James’ moaning: “Anyone woods think ‘at Donal’ had his accident oan purpose!“

During the events of The Deputation, Sir Topham Hatt paid a visit to the Scottish Region to try and sort out the tangle with the twins. He’d originally gone with the intent of having one or both of them sent back, but after seeing first-hand the grim effects of modernization, he had a change of heart, and decided to try and keep both the twins.

During the negotiations, the Scottish Controller nearly threatened to report the NWR for theft of BR property - until Sir Topham Hatt pointed out that, as the NWR was officially a BR region, Douglas technically hadn’t been stolen, just unofficially transferred. In any case, he’d already been struck off BR’s books - and listed as disposed of - and for the sake of a quiet life, both controllers simply agreed to let Douglas stay on the NWR, and pretend the whole mess had never happened.

In short, then, Douglas officially doesn’t exist. That being said, nobody’s really made an effort to maintain this deception, nor has anyone else thought to question how Sir Topham Hatt got away with it.

As mentioned above, I like to think the twins each have slightly different voices. Or at least, very similar, if not totally identical. If anyone here’s ever heard of Ford Kiernan or Greg Hemphill, that’s who I imagine Donald and Douglas sounding like, respectively.

As in the RWS, Douglas later gains Toad as his brakevan, but in my headcanon, they usually only work together when Oliver is busy with coaches. If Oliver is pulling trucks, however, he gets a shot of Toad instead.

Donald and Douglas used to be found working in all sorts of places - from the Main Line, to the Arlesburgh and Brendam branches, and even as station pilots at Tidmouth. Being stretched so thinly across the network was obviously wearing them out, and so Vanguard was purchased in the 1990s to take over their work on the Arlesburgh branch. This freed them both up to concentrate on their work elsewhere - especially since their station pilot duties had already been taken over by Gideon (NWR #D4).