A map of the Island of Sodor showing the Railway system (click to enlarge).

A map of the Culdee Fell Railway

The Culdee Fell Railway (CFR) is a fictional railway on the Island of Sodor in The Railway Series of children's books written by the Rev. W. Awdry. It is based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway, and is a steep rack and pinion railway high in the mountains of Sodor. The line runs from Kirk Machan, where it meets the standard gauge line from Killdane to Peel Godred, to the summit of Culdee Fell. Devil's Back is a high exposed ridge which the railway runs along, corresponding to Clogwyn of the real Snowdon Mountain Railway. Image File history File links Maps-sodor-railways-amoswolfe. ... Image File history File links Maps-sodor-railways-amoswolfe. ... Image File history File links Maps-culdee-railway-amoswolfe. ... Image File history File links Maps-culdee-railway-amoswolfe. ... An illustration from Lewis Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland, depicting the fictional protagonist, Alice, playing a fantastical game of croquet. ... A map of the Island of Sodor showing the Railway system (click to enlarge). ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Railway Series The Railway Series is a set of story books about a fictional railway system located on the fictional Island of Sodor and the engines that lived on it. ... Jane Frank: illustration from Thomas Yoseloffs The Further Adventures of Till Eulenspiegel (1957). ... Wilbert Vere Awdry, OBE, (June 15, 1911 – March 21, 1997), better known as the Reverend W. Awdry, was a clergyman, railway enthusiast and childrens author. ... Half way up the Mountain. ... Rack railway track using Von Roll system rack. ... There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ... As railways developed and expanded one of the key issues to be decided was that of the rail gauge (the distance between the two rails of the track) which should be used. ... There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ... There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ... There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ... There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ... Clogwyn Dur Arddu, on the south flank of Snowdon, is considered by many to be one of the best climbing cliffs in Britain. ... Half way up the Mountain. ...

The CFR is popular with tourists and runs from Easter to Michaelmas, maintenance being undertaken in the winter. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Easter, the Sunday of... Michaelmas (pronounced ), or the Feast of Ss. ...

The railway can be reached by the Peel Godred Branch of the North Western Railway. A map of the Island of Sodor showing the Railway system (click to enlarge). ... A map of the Island of Sodor showing the Railway system (click to enlarge). ...

The Culdee Fell Railway has only appeared in the book Mountain Engines, the nineteenth volume in the Railway Series. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Railway Series The Railway Series is a set of story books about a fictional railway system located on the fictional Island of Sodor and the engines that lived on it. ...

The locomotives on this line push a single coach uphill, but the engine is not coupled to the coach. The CFR engines all carry the same purple livery, but each has its own distinctive personality. The book features three of these engines, whilst the others are only mentioned in passing.

History

According to "research" by Rev. W Awdry, the railway was the brainchild of the tourist Mid Sodor Railway. Construction started in 1897; the line was inspected in March 1900 and opened to the public on Whit Monday, but after just a month one of the locomotives was destroyed when it derailed and fell down a cliff. The line remained closed until the following season whilst improvements were made. Wilbert Vere Awdry, OBE, (June 15, 1911 – March 21, 1997), better known as the Reverend W. Awdry, was a clergyman, railway enthusiast and childrens author. ... // The Mid Sodor Railway is a fictional narrow gauge railway on the Island of Sodor in The Railway Series of childrens books by the Rev. ... Whit Monday or Hi Monday is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a movable feast in the Christian calendar, being dependent upon the date of Easter. ...

Characters

Locomotives

The locomotives of the Culdee Fell Railway are all 0-4-2 tank locomotives with angled boilers, stovepipe chimneys and back-to-front cylinders. They have pinion wheels on their driving axles that allow them to climb the steep mountain and prevent slipping. They are also fitted with automatic brakes. In Whyte notation, a 0-4-2 is a railroad steam locomotive that has four coupled driving wheels followed by two trailing wheels, with no leading wheels . ... A tank locomotive (occasionally tank engine) is a steam locomotive that carries its own fuel and water with it, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. ... A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated under pressure. ... Chimney stacks on a Newcastle upon Tyne building A chimney is a system for venting hot gases and smoke from a stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. ... Steam locomotive cylinders may be arranged in several different ways. ... Spur gears found on a piece of farm equipment. ... An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. ... For the type of ferns known as brakes, see brake (fern). ...

Lord Harry, Alaric and Eric are newer, more modern engines. They are fitted with superheating to improve their steaming efficiency. In physics, superheating (sometimes referred to as boiling retardation, boiling delay, or defervescence) is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its standard boiling point, without actually boiling. ...

All the locomotives carry a purple livery, lined out in orange.

Unusually, they carry faces on the back as well as the front. This measure was used by Gunvor and Peter Edwards, the illustrators of the book Mountain Engines, as the engines would spend a lot of the book with their fronts obscured. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The North Western Railway's Crovan's Gate Works are now responsible for major repairs on the Culdee Fell Railway's engines. Previously, engines requiring overhaul had had to be sent to their manufacturer in Switzerland, a long and expensive journey. A map of the Island of Sodor showing the Railway system (click to enlarge). ... There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ...

Godred

Godred was based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway No. 1, L.A.D.A.S.. Godred suffered a similar fate to L.A.D.A.S which came off the rails on its maiden voyage. The fate of Godred is debatable – although the tale as recounted by Culdee (in the story 'Bad Look-Out') claims that he was dismantled for spare parts, at the end of the story it is stated that Culdee had made the whole thing up. However, all other canon sources support Culdee's version of events, leaving the reality uncertain. Half way up the Mountain. ...

The most likely real world explanation is that the Rev. W. Awdry wished for his fictional railway to mirror its real life counterpart as closely as possible. However, as this would involve the "death" of a character, he chose to end it as he did in order to avoid causing distress to his readers.

Ernest

Ernest (number 2) has only a minor part in The Railway Series, being mentioned in the book Mountain Engines. Ernest is based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway engine Enid. Half way up the Mountain. ...

Wilfred

Wilfred (number 3) has only a minor part in The Railway Series, being mentioned in the book Mountain Engines. Wilfred is based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway engine Wyddfa. Half way up the Mountain. ...

According to The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine, he and Ernest have been "retired".

Culdee

Culdee (number 4) is named after Culdee Fell, the mountain his railway climbs. There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ...

He is a friendly engine, and has a lot of good advice for the other engines. He is very careful, and has never had an accident. He was one of the first engines on the line, having been built in 1896, and was used in early test runs on the line. He was also one of the last mountain engines on Sodor to travel to Switzerland for overhaul. One of the last mainline steam locomotives built in the UK: British Railways Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 no. ...

His first and only appearance was in the book Mountain Engines (1964), in which he acted as a narrator and supporting character. He is based on Snowdon, an engine on the Snowdon Mountain Railway. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... The Narrator is the entity within a story that tells the story to the reader. ... Half way up the Mountain. ...

Shane Dooiney

Shane Dooiney (number 5) is the only Mountain Engine never to appear in the stories. He was still being overhauled in Switzerland during the events of the book Mountain Engines. His name was not even revealed until the publication of the book The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways. Like Culdee, he is named after a mountain on Sodor. Since his return, all repairs to the engines have been carried out at Crovan's Gate Works. His equivalent on the Snowdon Mountain Railway is Moel Siabod. There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ... Half way up the Mountain. ...

Lord Harry/Patrick

Lord Harry (number 6) was known as a rude and ignorant trouble-maker on the Culdee Fell Railway. The fact that he was named after Lord Harry Barrane (the chairman of the railway company) and his ultra-modern superheated design made him conceited and led to a habit of unnecessary risk-taking. After scaring his coach, and derailing at the summit station, blocking both roads, he was sent to the sheds in disgrace by the manager, Mr. Walter Richards. He was stripped of his name and was known only as "No 6". Passengers refused to trust him and he was reduced to the level of goods engine, transporting hotel supplies and ferrying railway gangers to and from work. After rescuing an injured climber at the mountain summit by pushing a truck up Devil's Back in a severe gale, he was regarded as a hero and renamed Patrick, the name of the injured climber. There are many fictional locations in The Railway Series of books by Rev. ...

Lord Harry/Patrick is based on Padarn on the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Half way up the Mountain. ...

Alaric

Alaric (number 7) replaced Ernest on the railway and has only a minor part in the series. He is built to a 'super-heat' design. His Snowdon Mountain Railway equivalent is Ralph. Half way up the Mountain. ...

Eric

Eric (number 8) replaced Wilfred on the railway and has only a minor part in the series. He is built to a 'super-heat' design. His Snowdon Mountain Railway equivalent is Eryri. Half way up the Mountain. ...

Rolling Stock

Catherine

Catherine is a coach on the Mountain Railway who operates with Culdee. Like the other coaches on that line, she is pushed up the mountain, not coupled to the engine for safety reasons. She looks out for Culdee on the way up, as he cannot see ahead. She is safety-conscious, and Lord Harry upset her with his risk-taking when he worked with her. // A map of the Island of Sodor showing the Railway system (click to enlarge). ...

She is the only CFR coach to be named in the stories.

The Truck

The Truck is a special item of rolling stock used for goods and maintenance duties on the Mountain Railway. She is also used for stores and rescue trains, as she is the only rolling stock capable of crossing the fearsome Devil's Back Ridge during a gale. For these trains, she is loaded with sandbags and her tank is filled with water to increase her weight. Although she is not allocated to any specific engine, there was a period when she worked exclusively with Lord Harry when the Manager took that engine off passenger trains.

She has no name, but "the Truck" is always spelt with a capital T.

Human Characters

Lord Harry Barrane

Lord Harry Barrane appears in the book: Mountain Engines. He is chairman of the Culdee Fell Railway company.

Mr Walter Richards

Mr. Walter Richards appears in the book: Mountain Engines. He is the Manager of the Culdee Fell Railway, responsible for the day-to-day running of the line. He is also in charge of making sure the engines behave themselves. He might be described as the Fat Controller character of the Culdee Fell Railway. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Merchandise

Merchandise has been produced based on the Mountain Engines, particularly Godred, Culdee, Lord Harry and Catherine.

See also

• Culdee, a medieval monastic order with settlements in Ireland and Scotland
• Fell, a treeless mountain landscape that has been shaped by glaciation

The Culdees formed an ancient monastic order with settlements in Ireland and Scotland. ... Monasticism (from Greek: monachos—a solitary person) is the religious practice of renouncing all worldly pursuits in order to fully devote ones life to spiritual work. ... This article is about the country. ... The Ylläs fell in Finland Fell (from the Old Norse fjall, mountain) is a word used to refer to mountains, or certain types of mountainous landscape, in parts of England and Scandinavia. ... A glaciation (a created composite term meaning Glacial Period, referring to the Period or Era of, as well as the process of High Glacial Activity), often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ...

Sources

• Awdry, Rev. W., Mountain Engines
• Awdry, Rev. W. and G., The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
• Awdry, Christopher, Sodor: Reading Between the Lines
• Clutterbuck, Martin, The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine
• Sibley, Brian, The Thomas the Tank Engine Man