#LNER Hush Hush

[tornadoyoungiron]

Oh shit I didn't even realise that was the Hush Hush! 10000 protection squad.

What are they doing?

They're express engines. They're discussing the state of the railway (gossiping)

but fun thing, there are only 4 A4s here

far right isn't an A4, it's Hush Hush

yep, the LNER's rebuilt white elephant. By all acounts I've found, post rebuild she was just a non-standard A4. Although it is worth noting Gresley was considing rebuild the A4s with the boiler fit to no.10000, so he was impressed with that at part of the rebuild at least.

heading left, we have Golden Eagle

Empire of India (my beloved)

Golden Shuttle, who was later renamed Dwight D. Eisenhower and Preserved

and Dominion of New Zealand

[burgerking-offical]

oh boy i really have been dead here’s an LNER W1 class

[karl-jensen]

CONNOR and CAITLIN — My Headcanons

Since American steam locomotives are a thing in Thomas and Friends, I am quite weirded out with Connor and Caitlin's in-television designs since they are based on American streamliners. The production didn't even look up different streamliners from the United Kingdom and missed out on a handful of interesting trains such as the LNER W1 Hush-Hush, LMS Streamlined Coronation Scot, the P2's and many more. For my headcanons for the two Streamliners of Sir Robert Norramby, I made Connor and Caitlin an LNER P2 (fictional) Prototype and an LMS Coronation class to fit the series' theme of British Steam Locomotives.

Headcanons for Connor

Connor is now an LNER P2, specifically a fictional prototype just like Gordon.

He is now painted Blue to match the color scheme of the A4's and their Coronation liveries. However, Connor's wheels are black instead of red.

Prior to being painted Blue, he was once Green like many of the LNER's engines.

His personality is rather snarky and would often tease anyone as well as rolling stock and humans.

He is numbered 2000 and is named "Lord Connor".

He used to pull the Coronation, a train service from London to Edinburgh.

Connor was the first to be purchased and saved from scrap by Sir Robert Norramby. He would be heartbroken to find that Caitlin wasn't rescued until 1971.

Headcanons for Caitlin

Caitlin is now an LMS Coronation class locomotive.

Her streamlining works as follows: A spare firebox door was specially built for Caitlin and the other Coronations to cover up the smokebox. Whenever their casings are removed, their original smokebox doors are placed back. The face that you see in Caitlin's illustration IS her original smokebox door, while the one inside the casing is the spare one.

Her number is 6249 and is named "City of Sheffield", a real-life locomotive. Caitlin hated that name and would often get called as "Sheff" from many of her colleagues, especially Connor. She would call herself "Caitlin" since it suited her better.

She is quite friendly to everybody, but gets easily irritated whenever someone teases her or hears an annoying sound like screeching.

She once pulled the Coronation Scot, a train service from London to Edinburgh.

Caitlin was rescued from the scrapyard in 1968, months after Connor. She was purchased by Sir Robert Norramby with financial support from Sir Charles Topham Hatt.

She was restored to working order in 1971 where she surprised Connor.

The Edinburgh Incident, 193X

Headcanons in General

Connor and Caitlin's character dynamic in the show is similar to Hercules and Lillie Lightship from Tugs. Both are portrayed as lovers.

Connor first met Caitlin in the 1930's. He tried racing her to Scotland but ran out of water after refusing to scoop up water from a trough along the way. He was scolded by the Stationmaster and was reported to the LNER's head office for his reckless and irresponsible behavior.

During World War II, both engines shared a close relationship. They would often help one another until they became very close like star-crossed lovers.

Both engines were out of service by the 1960's. Connor was the only engine in his class to have never been streamlined, while Caitlin continued her British Railways career without her casing.

Connor fell into a deep depression after he was restored to working order, but he was informed by Sir Topham Hatt and Sir Robert Norramby that they will raise money to save Caitlin from the cutter's torch. His depression ended in 1971 when Caitlin arrived at Tidmouth Station with a passenger train.

Prior to Caitlin's restoration, she was transferred from the scrapyard to Crovan's Gate late at night so that Connor wouldn't see her. Sir Robert wanted to surprise him once Caitlin was restored to working order, but rumors by some engines say that a Coronation Class is in the Island being restored. The crew tried their best in hiding Caitlin by putting her in the shed so that her partner wouldn't see her, and tried their best in hushing up rumors.

The two engines pull special coaches with observation cars, or "Beavertails" as they are called. The TV show did not acknowledge their presence in real life, so I added them to stay true to railway history.

Connor: I'll race ya to Edinburgh, Sheff. See ya in the blink of an eye!

Caitlin: Do NOT call me that, you green goblin! Call me by my preferred name, CAITLIN!

Connor: Alright then, darling. If I reach Edinburgh, I still get to call you 'Sheff'. But if you reach there first, then I shall call you 'Caitlin'. Is it a deal?

Caitlin: It's a big fat damn deal. I'll race ya to Edinburgh!

[cerenemuxse]

Initially, I thought Cailitn and Connor were twins or at least the same class.

I'm going through and updating my Docs and Sheets on the characters right now, and I've been considering making them British engines instead of American engines. It just makes much more sense to me as well as helping with the size issue. American engines are typically massive. Take this photo of LMS 6229 Duchess of Hamilton (streamlined) and a BO P-7 class for example.

Source

To clarify, I love Caitlin and Connor as they are! Definitely two of my favorite CGI-only characters from T&F, but I just don't think their basis are correct for this. Think about it.

The Earl is ALL about preservation and to me, it just seems like he'd be more interested in preserving non-streamlined steam engines more than streamlined steam engines. Maybe that's a better reason as to why he chose Caitlin and Connor, but unless he's having them travel all over the United Kingdom, why would they be streamlined. Originally, I assumed they would go to Barrow-in-Furness from Ulfstead Castle with no stops, which is somewhat the case.

And then their size becomes the issue. I'm trying to stick as close as to real-life circumstances as I can, and having them be cut down to size isn't an option I want to default to when it comes to American steam engines working on the North Western Railway. I'm already using the "they were just built different for UK railways" storyline for another character.

So I'm currently considering the following locomotives:

LNER A4s: I know I questioned the streamlining situation but I think it makes more sense for them if I do have them travel the majority of the United Kingdom to collect passengers for Ulfstead Castle. This would be an interesting option because they'd act so differently to Spencer, considering they're privately owned like him.

LMS Coronation Class: This is could work either way because I'm also considering the possibility that the journeys had to be stopped at Barrow-in-Furness when dieselisation happened and the last of the steam engines were withdrawn from service. At that point, streamlining is unnecessary so the casings are removed.

LMS Princess Royal Class: If I decide not to go the streamlined route or I want to make one of them a different class.

These were chosen for multiple reasons, those being:

I would like to keep the single survivors as they are, like Blue Peter, Tornado, Flying Scotsman, and Duke of Gloucester, which they will be joined by Hengist, a BR Standard 6. This already knocks off the LNER Gresley A3s, LNER Peppercorn A1s, LNER Peppercorn A2s, BR Standard 8, and BR Standard 6.

Go for a class that isn't made up of one example, such as the single BR Standard Class 8, Duke of Gloucester, and GWR 111, The Great Bear.

Cannot be classes that have already been used, keeping that heavy diverse of classes on the Island of Sodor and character roster in general. This knocks off the SR Merchant Navies, as well as the SR Battle of Britians and West Countries, and the LMS Royal Scots, rebuilt and unrebuilt for all three.

Not to use any recent classes, specifically BR. This crosses off the BR Standard 7.

Drop classes that wouldn't have survived by at least the 1950s. This crosses out the LNER Raven A2s and GWR 111.

The 4-8-4 configuration is a definte "No." It was considered to be too much by the LNER when the Hush Hush was released into traffic. Even though it was rebuilt with the body of a A4, it still retained its wheel configuration. It just seems too much for the NWR, considering its size. Its slightly bigger than the Furness Railway from what I've gathered. (If not, they're about the same size.)

These are the engines from the UK that I have listed so far, so I have still have more classes to sift through. The American steam engines are already a "No," due to their massive size. I have the following that could be really good candidates, because I'm pretty damn sure the Earl would love to preserve/operate a foreign engine. It just screams like something he would do. However, this list contain streamliners.

New South Wales C38 class: This one because they look similar to the Hudsons. Like the LMS Coronations, their casings can be removed to unveil the nonstreamlined version. Built in the 1940s.

Source: Wikipedia

Iraqi State Railways PC class: Similar design to the streamlined LMS Coronations with the valenced similar to those of the LNER Gresley A4s. Purely streamlined. I haven't found a photo where its not streamlined. Built in the 1940s. Only international option I've chosen that doesn't have any survivors to this day.

Source

DRB Class 01.10: Another streamlined engine that can have its casings removed. Built in the 1930s.

Source: Wikipedia

"But wait a minute, you just said this about the streamliners-" yeah I did but here's the thing. Connor and Caitlin are KNOWN AS streamliners. They're known to be different to the other engines and extremely fast. I would like to keep that as the first thing you know about them. They're ✨ streamlined ✨.

But then here comes another issue (this is post is so damn long- wut 😭)

I want to make "Best Engine Ever" canon to EoSR but I can't think I can pull off how dangerous it becomes since all of the examples I've mentioned have front buffers and they don't really have skirts, excluding the Iraqi State Railways PC class.

With all of this taken into consideration, I'm definitely leaning towards the New South Wales C38 as Connor's basis, just because the front reminds me of his T&F basis. They're green which is closer to the teal/blue Conor is originally in. As for Caitlyn, I'm somewhat considering the Iraqi State Railways PC class. It's a very good candidate, in my opinion, but the paintwork is what's throwing it off. I don't want to end up with two green engines, though it looks like the PCs used a mint green.

I'm just not entirely convined by the UK steam engines, though technically the Iraqi State Railways PC engine is English since this basis was built in England.

These classes were built mostly before BR era (C38s: January 1943 - November 1949 & PCs: 1940), they look smaller than the American engines and about the same size as the UK built engines, and they have visual aspects that remind me of their original basis from Thomas and Friends. Neither class only has a sole survivor. The Iraqi State Railway PCs having no surivors while the New South Wales C38s have four survivors. Neither class is made up of one example or been used as a basis for another character. Both classes survived past the 1950s and early-1960s, with the lastest withdrawal being that of a C38 in 1970.

So this is my overly-complicated and probably unnecessary analysis/research for Connor and Caitlin's new basis because I'm weird and want to stick as close to the real-world as much as I can. I wrote this within the span of two days because i was doing research as I was writing this so consider this post as a bunch of notes (which is part of the reason why I kept contradicting myself when it came to streamlining 🤡).

[askyoungiron]

Green Arrow, do you know why the other LNER engines hate the W1 so much? (Also, you're my favorite.)

Green Arrow: Other engines opinions of you essentially comes down to how you performed and more importantly how Sir Gresley percieved you. A lot of the engines on the Flying Scotsman's express prided themselves on certain values and that was to perform well, look spotless and be affable and pleasant to passengers. (Why Great Northern worked on the line I have no idea).

The Hush Hush was considered bulky and ugly, ignored passengers and was considered a failure by the Gresley himself and so they where very much outcast because of it and 'Galloping Sausage' became a nasty nickname for it.

You don't ignore passengers on the Flying Scotsman Line. It's just not accepted. Passenger hospitality is their number one concern.

The Flying Scotsman line was like the celebrity line of the LNER. Engines strived to be on it and if you were rejected from by either the engines or the directors, like the W1 was, then you were effectively doomed.

So there was a lot of reasons why W1 was never liked.

(Nice to know someone has TASTE!)

[tornadoyoungiron]

G a l l o p i n g S a u s a g e

[ap0caholics-anonymous]

Tagged by @greatlakesrebel

Rules: answer 9 questions and tag people

1. Relationship status? Single but would kinda like a partner

2. Favourite colour? Purple!!

3. Three favourite foods? Miso soup, chip butties, satay chicken

4. Song stuck in my head? Bad mood rising by credence Clearwater revival

5. Last thing I listened to? Watercolour by pendulum

6. Last thing I googled? LNER hush hush

7. Time? 21:51

8. Dream trip? The Scottish highlands and the Isle of Skye

9. Anything I really want? Some new limbs for my bow

Tagging @thepondstogether @thepastyman @livingdeadk1d @hellfireandflowercrowns @recapitulation @chaoticeddie

[davidarkwright2trains]

The LNER W1 No. 10000 (also known as the Hush-Hush due to its secrecy) was an experimental steam locomotive fitted with a high pressure water-tube boiler.

[hazel-of-sodor]

Tomorrow is @tigerhawk7109 's birthday, so to celebrate, here is their baby. The LNER W1 Class No. 10000 "Hush Hush"

[daikenkki]

by TobyandMavisforever

Mainline:

3. Henry the Green Engine. (LMS Stanier ‘Black 5’ with Fowler Tender, NWR Green with red lining. Previously a A1/A3 C1/C2 hybrid in NWR green and NWR blue. Mixed traffic engine. Arrived in 1919, rebuilt in 1939.)

4. Gordon the Big Engine. (LNER ‘Hush Hush’ A0 with Fowler Tender, NWR Blue with red lining. Express engine. Arrived in 1920, rebuilt 1944.)

5. James the Red Engine. (L&YR Class 27 with Fowler Tender, NWR Red with blue and yellow lining. Mixed traffic engine, but can run on branchlines if need be. Arrived in 1923 in L&YR black, rebuilt and repainted red the same year.)

17. Sally the Great Norther

Read more

[hasanciach]

A row of LNER streamlined locomotives belch out smoke at a London railway station, where they are to be tested out. From the left, they are 4492 (Dominion of New Zealand), 4496 (Golden Shuttle), 4490 (Empire of India), 4482 (Golden Eagle), and 10000 (Hush-Hush)

30 November 1937

[fergusthetracionloco]

so my new original character is based of an experimental lner locomotive

thiscis the hush hush loco

hello. i apologize if this is something you do not care about. i just had another idea for and original character to go along with my br class 28 and my br class 17 also ifin anyone wants to use my original characters they can but i would like it if you ask just to be safe

[tornadoyoungiron]

Do you have any head cannons for Hush Hush? Was their name actually Hush? How did the other A4's treat them after they were turned into an A4? Or were they just doomed to be a social outcast since day one?

Their name wasn’t Hush, they never earned their name and were only referred to as 10000 or ‘Ten’. The other A4’s outcast them and didn’t consider them their sibling. Even the A3 Pacific’s outcast them, the term ‘Galloping Sausage’ a huge insult to almost all Gresley engines.

Ten found solace in other engines that weren’t designed by Gresley though. A few A1 or A2 Peppercorn’s found a friend in them but otherwise they were pretty much rejected by most of the engines on the LNER.

[hazel-of-sodor]

What are they doing?

They're express engines. They're discussing the state of the railway (gossiping)

but fun thing, there are only 4 A4s here

far right isn't an A4, it's Hush Hush

yep, the LNER's rebuilt white elephant. By all acounts I've found, post rebuild she was just a non-standard A4. Although it is worth noting Gresley was considing rebuild the A4s with the boiler fit to no.10000, so he was impressed with that at part of the rebuild at least.

heading left, we have Golden Eagle

Empire of India (my beloved)

Golden Shuttle, who was later renamed Dwight D. Eisenhower and Preserved

and Dominion of New Zealand