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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
@@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.
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...
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 :)
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. 👍
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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 👍🏼
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
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 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.
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.
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
This is the track (by "Bardcore Guy") that I would use as my Culdee Fell theme: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aPofCjIQq3U.html I think it has an up-and-down sound and could imagine Culdee pushing Catherine up the mountain to this music!
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.
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.
@@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 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
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?
@@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...
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?
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.
