#ttte Corris No.7

[hazel-of-sodor]

Day 13-Corris

Traintober 2023

Other Stories

Day 13-Something New

Corris

Peter Sam was resting peacefully in the yard, all the other Skarloey engines were away with trains leaving the Ker Stuart to bask in the summer morning's peace with the other engine left behind. Edward Thomas was like looking into a strange mirror. His sibling's green paint and normal funnel reminded him of happy days on the Mid-Sodor, but Edward Thomas had been given a rebuild by the Talyllyn much like his own on the Skarloey.

Peter Sam wasn't sure why they had both been given the morning off. Normally when either one of them visited the other railway, they pulled trains for photo charters together. Instead, they had been left to simmer in the yard. Sir Handel had complained about having to take Peter Sam's train, but everyone could tell his heart wasn't in it.

Peter Sam had almost fallen back asleep when E.T. stretched, his valve gear creaking as he shifted his wheels slightly.

"You know if I didn't know better," he began, "I'd almost believe they just were giving us a day off."

Peter Sam snorted, "and Sir Handel honestly loves pulling trucks."

E.T.'s laugh ruined his stretch, "you would think he would eventually figure out he's not getting out of it."

Peter Sam rolled his eyes fondly, "He knows, he just enjoys complaining."

Edward Thomas looked skeptical, "Even though it makes your Duke lecture him?"

"That's probably why he enjoys it."

E.T. nodded thoughtfully, "I can see that, Sir Hayden happily let Peregrine berate him for days when she visited.

Peter Sam winced, the former Corris No.2's ire for her old line was well justified. She had been stripped for parts to repair Sir Hayden, then left to gather dust, only her purchase by the Cronk and Harwick had saved her from scrap.

"At least she eventually forgave him," he sighed.

Edward Thomas glanced over knowingly, "Sir Handel managed to make it worse?"

"She only visits when he's away now."

It was E.T.'s turn to wince, "what did he do?"

"Point out that at least got to know her siblings."

Edward Thomas's sigh of exasperation thoroughly matched how Peter Sam had felt at the matter.

Before they could discuss the matter any further, the thin controller walked out.

Mrs.Nancy smiled at the pair, "I glad you two are getting along, had it been Sir Hayden and Sir Handel left alone..."

Peter Sam groaned at the reminder.

E.T. blinked, "Is that why..."

"Yes," Peter Sam said.

Mrs. Nancy snorted, "Our falcon's inability to get along aside. I have a surprise for you. The Corris Railway has just got their newest steam engine, and they want you two to show her the ropes."

"Of course!" The Ker Staurts chorused together.

"That's what I hoped to hear."

"Where did they find her?" Peter Sam enquired curiously. Edward Thomas nodded, "it's difficult to find a steam engine these days."

The Thin Controller's smile suddenly reminded him of days back when she was just the Guard's daughter and was about to prank Duncan or Sir Handel.

"They didn't find her, they built her."

A whistle sounded from the shops behind them. A red engine rolled out of the shops up alongside them. She was Corris red, with yellow and black lining and a No.7 plate on her sides. She was a 0-4-2 saddle tank, with complex valve gear. Both Ker Staurts starred, and while they weren't identical, they once would have been.

"Hello!" She peeped cheerfully, "I'm Corris No.7. Are you my brothers I was told about?"

[tornadoyoungiron]

TRAINTOBER | Day 29 - Out of Service

Sir Handel is out of service in the sheds today, upset that he won't get to meet a visitor.

~~~

“This isn’t fair!” Sir Handel shouted at no one in particular.

“Yer should have thought about that before ye tried to rush yer jobs at the quarry!” Duncan remarked with a smirk. 

“It was just a bump! I’m not even damaged! Why do I need to be assessed?!” The little blue engine huffed. 

"Safety first, Sir Handel," Mr Percival chided his engine. "I cannot in good faith allow you to pull passengers without knowing that you are completely safe to do so."

"But sir!"

“Enough, Sir Handel,” The Thin Controller scolded the little blue engine. “This is not up for debate.”

“But sir-! I wanted to meet the new engine!” Sir Handel whined but the man was already out of earshot.

Peter Sam looked regretful at Sir Handel before offering some kind words.

“We’ll see if we can convince the visitor to come visit you in the sheds.”

“Isn’t the visitor Tornado? Isn’t she standard gauge? She won’t be able to come and see me at the sheds!” Sir Handel complained.

Duncan gave an annoyed, ‘humph’ but Skarloey was a little more sympathetic. 

“It’s alright Sir Handel,” the red engine assured him. “Perhaps we could organise a way to put you on a flatbed so you can go see her.”

“On a flatbed? Me?” Sir Handel scoffed. “I don’t think so! Especially not in front of a grand young express engine such as Tornado!”

Rheneas sighed and he and Skarloey gave an exasperated look at one another. 

“We don’t even know if the visitor is Tornado!” Peter Sam pointed out. 

“Well, what other new steam engines would there be?” Sir Handel scoffed annoyed. 

"Well um actually," Duncan began but he was quickly hushed by Peter Sam. Duncan glared at the green engine but shut his mouth.

“You’ll get a chance to meet the new engine Sir Handel, fret not,” Skarloey tried to assure him but Sir Handel simply stared down at the tracks before him, dejected and upset. 

The other engines glanced at each other, but said nothing more, leaving Sir Handel to wallow in his misery.

~~~

The day wore on and Sir Handel sat in the sheds, a few of the engineers bustling about, seeing to his parts, reoiling his joints and nitpicking his injectors. 

“Hurry up! Hurry up!” Sir Handel fussed at them constantly. They just rolled their eyes at him and continued their work. “I’m never going to meet Tornado at this rate!”

“Tornado’s not here,” one of the men grumbled at him. “She’s on the mainland.”

Sir Handel frowned at him.

“That’s not right, there’s a new engine coming to the railway, who else would it be?”

“Tornado is standard gauge, she couldn’t come on to the railway even if she was here,” One of the Skarloey engineers pointed out, her voice gentle. “There are other new engines that have been built, not just Tornado, Sir Handel.”

Sir Handel looked at her curiously. Behind her smile she was hiding something, he could tell and he frowned at her. He was about to ask what was going on when an unfamiliar whistle.

He looked out past her and saw a red engine coming excitedly towards them, Peter Sam following them with a wide grin on his face. His face creased in confusion as he stared at the red engine. He didn’t recognise them, it definitely wasn’t Skarloey or Rheneas. 

There was something… odd about them. They only had hand rails on one side, their saddle tank didn’t come down to their running board-

Their design was like Peter Sam's but… not.

“Excuse me! Excuse me! Are you Sir Handel?” The engine called to him and Sir Handel raised an eye brow at her. 

“I am. Who are you?” He responded and the red engine grinned at him.

“I’m Corris Railway No.7!” 

“Don’t be silly, Corris Railway doesn’t have a Number 7!” Sir Handel scoffed.

“They didn’t until they built me!” The little red engine cheerily exclaimed and Sir Handel stared at her.

“You’re… you’re a new build?” Sir Handel was shocked. “I thought Tornado was the only new build in the UK.”

Corris No.7 pouted at him and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Excuse you I was finished in 2005! Several years before Tornado! Don’t be like the rail fans who dismiss us Narrow Gauge engines!” The new engine scolded and Sir Handel blushed in embarrassment.

“I am terribly sorry, you’re right, young iron,” Sir Handel apologised. “You look, like Peter Sam, but different.”

“She’s the next design along from me and Edward Thomas,” Peter Sam explained with a wide grin. “She’s our cousin. A cousin many, many decades apart.”

“Yes! Yes!” Corris No.7 excitedly agreed. “I’m excited to meet you Sir Handel! I heard from the others about how upset you were that you wouldn’t get to meet me! Sir Haydn tells me amazing stories about you and the other engines here!”

Sir Handel blushed, incredibly touched that Sir Haydn would tell a new engine about him all the way on this island so far away from everyone else.

“Tell my brother I’m grateful to him,” Sir Handel smiled at her, an unshed tear burning his eye.

“I will,” Corris No.7 promised. “Would  you mind if I stay a while, Sir Handel? I’d like to hear stories of you and Peter Sam.”

Sir Handel shed tears of happiness.

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure, Corris No.7.”

~~~

Corris Railway No.7

[hellokittyshinkansen]

My most intense TTTE headcanon is one that barely relates to canon. It is as follows:

"Well-adjusted newbuild" is an oxymoron.

Some do better than others, sure, but when you're playing resurrectionist, some sort of trauma to someone is almost inevitable. The little narrow gauge lads who are basically just a new [x] in the family tend to take it better, 'cos they're in this little preserved bubble where the inter-engine culture hasn't necessarily changed that much- there's been a great and terrible upheaval, and everyone bears those scars, but there's a comfort in running routes that have stayed the same for centuries. the likes of Tom Rolt (Talyllyn no.7) and Corris 7 tend to have a bit of time to get their bearings before they're eased into knowing about The Horrors.

Straight replicas of a specific engine have it harder, even if there's still classmates knocking about, especially if there's only ONE classmate. They're effectively imperfect clones, and while that's not as uncanny-valley as it would be to a human, I think a lot of their relatives still wouldn't like it. Perhaps a stronger effort would be made to find common ground there, to let the personality of the newbuild make them distinct from the original in one's memories, but the oddness would probably never quite fade.

And then you have your full on Jurassic-park situations, your Steam Into History no.17s and T1s (pending completion) and Tornadoes. Those are... divisive. Opinion varies from "spit in the face of the originals" to "resource-draining leech taking time and money from restorations" to "Vapid showboat with no culture or common sense" but are rarely good. They're also brought into the world pretty much alone- no railway, no classmates, no nada. Thus begins an unwinnable and inevitable process of "proving" themselves, which happens one hard-won opinion at a time rather than as a general shift in culture. There's the constant need to perform to several different expectations at once, AND the under-socialisation from essentially lacking a family, AND the obvious angst of being physically part of a group you're culturally outside of. Healthy!

[ryan1014n2]

And here we have a page of Rheneas drawings and some other assorted engine doodles.

*the spelling errors by Rusty are intentional

[hazel-of-sodor]

All my Stories So far

Here is every Fanfic I’ve written for TTTE/RWS so Far!

Multie Chapter Fics:

Gaurdian- Tumblr / AO3  On a cold midnight run, Thomas's crew are thrust into an unexpected quest to help a fallen engine complete its final run.

A Life Well Lived-  Tumblr/Ao3 In 1956, Sir Topham Hatt I is given a terminal diagnosis by his doctor. Upon hearing the news, Thomas asks him and Lady Jane Hatt to come with him on a trip. Its time for them to learn a secret hes been keeping from them for almost 15 years.

A Screech in the Night- In the dying days of Steam, a small railway in rural Wales is visited by a Shadow.

Traintober 2023

Day 1-A Day Off

Day 2-Closed

Day 3-More than One

Day 4-Returns and Regrets

Day 5-Down a Well

Day 6-Summons

Day 7-Fire

Day 8-Seagull Line

Day 9-The Fallen Light

Day 10-Never a Dull Moment

Day 11-Exhausted

Day 12-Of Reds and Ones

Day 13-Corris

Day 14-The Best Day

Day 15-Recovered

Day 16-Too Late

Day 17-Snow

Day 18-Rebuilt

Day 19-The Chocolate Zephyr

Day 20-Lively Polly

Day 21-Rescue

Day 22-Succession

Day 23-Greater than Yourself

Day 24 Stuck

Day 25-RMS Aquitania

Day 26-Loss

Day 27-Thomas and the Rocket Sled

Day 28-Home Now

Day 29-Rise Above

Day 30-Everest

Day 31-For What We Fall

Headcanons:

Betla the Steam Outline

Why Thomas is called an E2

Thomas the Engine Thief

Eric backstory

Sad Story of Henry

Diesel 10 heacanons

Henry headcanons

Sheila headcanon

Hiro Headcanon

Gordon Whistle Headcanon

Gordon keeps adopting pacifics

Emotional Support Diesels

The Concept of Family in British locomotives

LNER U1 Garratt Typhoon

Big Emma/Bertha

Sodor in the Age of Social Media

1. Edward

2. Henry

The Cronk and Harwick

Founding to 1914

The Great War

The Quiet Years

The Coal Rush

Star Trek

Enterprise F

Ask Prompts:

Prompt 1 (Dissonance): Impulse- @tigerhawk7109

Prompt 2 (Hazel): Lockdown- @predawnrex04

Traintober 2022:

Night Owl Saga-

Day 3:Owl-Owl by Night

Day 1:Moon-Under the Pale Light

Day 2:Breakdown-Realization

Enaid-

Day 4:Spirit-A Helping Spirit

Day 20:Death-Enaid

One Shots-

Day 5:Out of Service-Reignition

Day 6:Cat-Catnap

Day 7:Bump-Fair Play

Day 11:Jinx-Superstitions

Day 12:Poltergeist-Once A Railway Man

Day 14:Rest in Pieces-Not Again

Day 15:Destination-34090

Day 17:Angel-Of Snow and Angels

Day 21:Stranger-Stranger in my Own Body

Day 23:Squeak-Fidget

Day 24:Mind the Gap-Divide

Day 26:Overgrown-Promise

Day 27:Boulder-Little Problems

Day 28:Last Stop-Sodor, to Welcome You Home

Day 29:Fiery Skys-By His Light

Day 30:Vengeance-The Setup

D5701 Saga-

Day 8:Disgrace-Fall from Glory

Day 10:Torch-All Our Sins

Great Northern-

Day 9:Brace for Impact-To Catch a Lunchbox

Day 13:Lost-No Way to Lose

Lady of Legend-

Day 16:Shadow-A New Legend

Day 19:Fog-Clarity

The Beast-

Day 18:Demon-The Beast

Day 31:The End-Burn

Tornado-

Day 22:Cold Iron-Not Alone

Day 25:Storm-Legacy

The Great North Western Railway

(Swindon Au)

A Swindon Arrival