WildNorWester's Characters

Dunno why I didn't upload this before, but here's a mini-sprite sheet of characters from WildNorWester's "Sodor: The Early Years" series on YouTube. From now on, all sprite pictures will be PNG.

Alice
Basis: GNR Ivatt 4-4-2 Atlantic C1/C2 tender engine
Designer: Henry Ivatt
Livery: GNR green with cream and black lining
Number: GNR no. 288
Line: Knapford-Barrow mainline
Bio: If there was an Atlantic counterpart of Emily the Stirling Single, there's Alice, of course! She and Gordon (then painted green) met way back when Gordon was first built around 1920, and when British Railways turned to diesel power, Alice was condemned for scrap, but was preserved by the Great Northern Railway Preservation Society.

By 1983, the mainline of the North Western Railway needed another steam engine to run extra passenger trains. Fortunately, Gordon knew that Alice would be a useful asset, and informed the Fat Controller about Alice. By this time, the GNRPS was low on business, making Alice's future uncertain until Gordon and the Fat Controller arrived at the last moment, with Alice officially becoming a member of the North Western Railway.

Alice's first day had not gone uneventful when Percy's trucks broke away on Gordon's hill, and Alice chased them to Wellsworth, and with the efforts of the inspector, the trucks were stopped before they could crash into Edward and his passenger train, preventing what could have been a terrible accident.

Alice presently takes light passenger trains between Knapford and Barrow, and is grateful to Gordon and Sir Charles Topham Hatt II for saving her from being scrapped.

Patrick
Basis: BR Class 40 1-Co-Co-1 "Bucket", "Whistler"
Designer: English Electric
Livery: BR blue
Number: D400/40 200
Line: The Other Railway
Bio: Unlike his brothers Bowler and Old Stuck-Up, Patrick is actually quite a friendly, loyal diesel. He originally arrived in the 1960's when Gordon's boiler tubes collapsed while taking the Wild Nor'Wester. Henry looked after the express whilst Patrick was to help with Henry's jobs.

The other engines were a bit uneasy and hostile towards Patrick initially, especially when Patrick tried to take Donald and Douglas' train as well as his own to save Donald and Douglas a bit of time. This resulted in Patrick getting stuck on Gordon's hill, and Donald crashing into the brakevan. This meant Donald had to be sent to the works and Diesel returning to help, much to the other engines' annoyance. Patrick knew he didn't mean to cause the accident; he just wanted to be useful.

Despite Douglas' frustration with Patrick, the big diesel proved useful into taking Douglas' passengers for him as well as his goods, leaving Douglas free to shunt in Percy's place (Percy had broken and the milk tankers were in the sun) and kindly brought Percy to the works. When Diesel blocked the engines' path into Knapford sheds, Patrick lost patience with the 08 shunter and the Fat Controller made Diesel remove the trucks, which the latter did.

Patrick apologized for losing his temper, but the steam engines were pleased with him standing up to Diesel like that, yet were sorry to see him go. Since his first visit on Sodor, Patrick has proven to be really useful to the engines of the North Western Railway, and they think he is a part of the family.

Eric
Basis: LNER Gresley 2-6-2 Prairie V1/V3 tank engine
Designer: Sir Nigel Gresley (original)
Livery: NWR green with red lining and black wheels
Number: 12
Line: Kellsthorpe Road-Kirk Ronan branchline
Bio: Eric is a newly-built tank engine built to service the Kirk Ronan branchline, which closed down in 1934 due to the Great Depression. When he entered service, his mentor was Toby the tram engine, who was loaned from the Elsbridge-Ffarquhar branchline to give young Eric guidance in taking passengers and goods.

Like any engine, Eric does have his share of accidents from time to time, like when the trucks pulled him onto rusty old tracks beyond Rolf's Castle, causing Eric to derail, and when he ran into a snowdrift outside of Maron in the winter of 1984. Even so, Eric has proven to be helpful when Gordon's spring fractured outside of Kellsthorpe Road.

Mary
Basis: GNR Ivatt 4-4-2 Atlantic C1/C2 tender engine
Designer: Henry Ivatt
Livery: LNER wartime black
Number: LNER no. 3271
Line: The Other Railway
Bio: Details about Mary's past before World War II are murky, but she was one of the engines who was loaned from the LNER to help with the war effort. On May 30, 1944, her injector failed while she was taking her troop train and had to be helped by Winston to Norbridge station. Winston, at the time, was taking an ammunition train and offered to help. Mary was then brought two stations away, and another engine took over for her.

Sadly, that is all we know about Mary, and little else is known about her, other than she is Alice's sister.

Winston
Basis: L&YR Class 25 with a Fowler tender
Designer: George Hughes
Livery: NWR dark red with black and yellow lining
Number: none
Line: Knapford-Barrow mainline (formerly)
Bio: People may recognize Winston as the engine who once tried to push Henry out of Ballahoo tunnel without success. He was a helpful sort, having been on the North Western Railway during its early years alongside Thomas and Edward. When Great Britain went to war against Germany, Winston volunteered to help with the war effort in 1940. Winston handled goods and ammunition, and always took great care as one wrong move would spell disaster.

On May 30, 1944, when Mary's injector failed, Winston helped her and her troop train to Norbridge station, when he suggested he take her two stations away, where another engine could be waiting to take over for Mary, and then returned to collect his munitions train. As he passed Norbridge, sparks from his funnel set one of his vans alight, and with the help of a young porter named Colin, Winston managed to get the burning van away from Norbridge before a worse explosion could have occurred.

The resulting explosion wrecked Winston and killed his driver, leaving the Sodor engines to wonder about him until his story was told at Knapford sheds in 1984.

END OF BIOGRAPHIES

I'm not sure if I missed any other engines, but I think WNW will be the judge of that.

Thomas and Friends (C) Hit Entertainment and Mattel
The Railway Series (C) The Awdry Family
Sprites (C) myself
These characters (C) WildNorWester