#wallund silverburn railway museum

[houseboatisland]

(A replica of the 1830 locomotive “Planet,” built in 1999, to which “New Era” is mostly mechanically identical.)

Located at the Silverburn Railway Museum are countless irreplacable and historic items. None can truly claim to be the most significant of all, (just like children,) but in terms of age, one always comes first by virtue of how time works, (just like children.)

In this regard, “New Era,” a dinky 2-2-0 tender engine, is very special: She is the oldest surviving locomotive in Wallundic history. In fact, she’s the first locomotive to ever set wheel in the Liberal Republic, in 1845. She was built roughly fifteen years earlier for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and ran under a different name which has since been lost to time. It’s known that she was withdrawn in 1841, and she was found idle, grimy but mechanically sound when agents of the embryonic Eastern Railway came to purchase her in late 1845.

Getting her to Wallund in time was achieved “by less than saintly means,” and she was very helpful in building up her new home railway. At this time her English name was stripped and the name “New Era” was applied at the extravagant Opening Day festivities on August 1st, 1846. She was also inducted as the newborn ER’s No. 1.

New Era was shortly afterwards painted into the Liberal Republic colors: blue boiler cladding with white rims on the wheels, red wheel spokes and bufferbeams. It had been intended to give her a red smokebox and funnel too, but heat-resistant red paint was scarcely a thing yet. This was applied decades later when it came about, giving the engine a “cotton candy” look.

Surprisingly long was New Era a genuine working engine: even as workloads multiplied in size and engines following her became larger and faster, she was still sought after for ER Directors’ Trains and was a traditional steed for Wallundic Presidents’ rail travel. She was finally withdrawn and immediately preserved for posterity in 1935. Despite being out of service and static since then, the ER never gave her number to another engine and she remains their No. 1, (deservedly, in the author’s opinion.)