#siani the welsh engine

[feigeroman]

Thomas OCs: Siani

Number: 38 (ex-BR #6649) Class: GWR Collett 56XX 0-6-2T Built: 1928 Arrived on Sodor: 1956 (purchased by NWR in 1957) Service (Shed): Ffarquhar Branch (Knapford Harbour) Livery: NWR Goods Black

Of all the branch lines on the NWR network, the Ffarquhar branch is undoubtedly the best-known outside of Sodor - mainly because of the presence of Thomas, one of the railway’s most famous engines. His popularity has ensured that his line receives plenty of attention in popular culture and media - more so, in fact, than most other parts of the network! Every engine, every station and siding, every industry...just about everything to do with the Ffarquhar branch has received attention at some point.

Well, almost. There’s one engine working on the branch line who, for one reason or another, has always managed to slip under the radar, and remain hidden from the public consciousness. And that engine’s name is Siani. Based at Knapford Harbour, she’s usually to be found running heavier goods trains along the branch line, although she sometimes helps out on passenger trains during peak hours.

Like all Great Western engines, Siani believes in working without a fuss. She’s proud of her roots, and keen to ensure that other engines live up to those same standards. However, she equally understands that some engines have different ways of working, and so she's careful not to shove the Great Western Way down everyone’s throats at the least excuse. Needless to say, this sometimes puts Siani into conflict with Duck, on the rare occasions they see each other.

Siani was built in 1928, and like the rest of the 56XXs was intended for mixed-traffic work in the South Wales valleys. The main traffic in these areas was coal, and the various Welsh companies had found the 0-6-2T type ideally suited for hauling heavy coal trains for a relatively short distance. The 56XXs, specially designed for this area, continued that preference in the best GWR tradition. Siani herself was based at Aberdare, regularly hauling trainloads of coal from the pits here, down the Cynon Valley, to the docks at Cardiff.

In the 1930s, however, there was a downturn in the South Wales coal trade, which meant a lot of the 56XXs were surplus to requirements, and had to seek alternative employment. Siani in particular ended up being transferred to both passenger and general goods services on the Aberdare line. She only went back to block coal trains when demand skyrocketed following the outbreak of the Second World War.

After the War, the coal industry in the Valleys went back into a dip, from which it never quite recovered. For a period, Siani was transferred down to Cardiff, so that she could work heavy freight trains out of the docks there. Her continued devotion to her duties impressed everyone, and it was perhaps this strong work ethic that contributed to her eventual transfer to the NWR.

In 1955, Sir Topham Hatt had launched his scheme to expand and improve Knapford Harbour, in order to relieve congestion at Tidmouth Docks. Percy was transferred from Tidmouth in order to help with the construction work, helped occasionally by Toby or Thomas. Over time, however, Percy’s duties on the Ffarquhar branch itself increased, and it soon became clear that these were leaving him with less time to work at the Harbour. There was nothing else for it but to bring in another engine.

Sir Topham Hatt had already been in close contact with the Western Region, following the successful transfer of Duck, and so they were only too happy to send him another engine. Various types of engine were offered, but Sir Topham Hatt decided on a 56XX, because he felt its capabilities would lend itself well to working on the Ffarquhar branch once the Harbour work was completed. Siani ended up being the engine selected, due to favourable reports from Cardiff Docks.

Siani arrived on the NWR in 1956, and promptly took over Percy’s work on the Harbour expansion. This in turn left Percy free to concentrate on his work on the rest of the Ffarquhar branch. Ironically, however, Siani ended up briefly taking over this work as well, after Percy infamously took the plunge off the end of the quay. Siani actually helped to fish him out afterwards, but was neither seen nor mentioned in the story - this is simply because like so many other NWR engines, Siani told the Thin Clergyman, “No publicity, thanks!” and he respected her wishes accordingly.

The improvement of Knapford Harbour - along with the subsequent realignment of the Ffarquhar branch itself - was completed in 1957, and as a reward for her hard work, Siani was offered the chance to permanently join the NWR. Obviously she accepted this offer, and so officially entered NWR service later that year. She was given the number 38, and had her BR emblem replaced with the NWR insignia. Siani was offered a repaint into GWR green, but she insisted on remaining in her black livery.

For the most part, Siani has worked on the Ffarquhar branch ever since, although she is sometimes to be found further afield. In the early 1980s, for instance, she was one of a number of engines trialled on the Bencray branch, to assess the sort of engine needed to work the line and colliery on a full-time basis. While Siani would have happily accepted the job if asked, her wheelbase was sadly just that bit too long for her to comfortably traverse the line more often. Another little-known fact about Siani is that as often as not, it’s her who looks after Annie & Clarabel whenever Thomas has to be absent for whatever reason. The Ffarquhar engines do have a system whereby they take turns to cover for Thomas, usually on a per absence basis (that is, a different engine takes over every time he goes away), but due to Siani’s publicity-shyness, we only ever see Percy or Toby’s turns.

Trivia

Siani actually has her roots in my initial OC to carry the number 56 - this being a pannier tank named Jackie. She arrived on Sodor in virtually the same way, but her backstory is that she was #5742, and therefore Duck’s twin sister. While it definitely seemed plausible that a second pannier would turn up on Sodor, I eventually decided it was less than imaginative, and went for a different class of engine.

This early version of the character does survive, in a sense, as I mentioned her in my write-up on Duck - where her unofficial official name was given as Capulet!

The name Jackie, by the way, was Duck’s name in the Greek dub of the show - and yes, the character was female in that version!

Originally, she was only going to work between the Harbour and the Main Line, and I decided on a 56XX because that seemed well-suited to that sort of operation. This then influenced her name, which I’d previously used for a Welsh character in one of my past pet projects - now lost to the sands of time.

It was pretty much on a whim that I reallocated Siani to work on the Ffarquhar branch in general. I figured they could do with a slightly larger engine, and I’d already placed OCs on all the other branch lines!

[feigeroman]

The New NWR Stocklist

As you'll no doubt be aware, about 90% of my Thomas output on this blog concerns my interpretation of the NWR locomotive roster - be it headcanons about our famous heroes, or write-ups on my metric shit-ton of OCs. You may remember I posted a stocklist, which neatly doubled up as a hub for all those headcanons and write-ups. For the benefit of those who haven't already see that post, I'll briefly summarize:

I've always thought that the NWR, as seen in both the RWS and TVS, seemed rather understaffed - only a dozen or so engines are ever seen in the former, with the latter expanding this to about 40 engines. Canonically, though, the NWR is said to have about 80 engines to its name, with the vast majority going undocumented officially.

So I took it upon myself to expand the visible fleet accordingly, deftly mixing elements from the RWS, TVS and my own ideas. Taking a leaf out of the Extended Railway Series, I limited myself to eighty steam engines, and thirty diesels, the names of which are listed under the break.

Now, the main purpose of this new stocklist is to showcase a substantial rethink I've had regarding the numbering sequence. To cut a long story short, I've massively overhauled the sequence so that it bears more relation to the order in which the characters officially joined the NWR - as well as take account of those characters with canon numbers.

As before, characters listed in bold are canon, and all others are my OCs - some have their roots in canon, though, and are also listed in bold, and marked with an asterisk (*). The numbers in brackets indicate the order in which the engines on this list entered NWR service.

STEAM

Thomas The Tank Engine (1)

Edward The Blue Engine (2)

Henry The Green Engine (9)

Gordon The Big Engine (10)

James The Red Engine (11)

Percy The Small Engine (12)

Toby The Tram Engine (23)

Duck The Great Western Engine (26)

Donald The Scottish Twin (32)

Douglas The Scottish Twin (33)

Oliver The Little Western Engine (50)

Barry The Rescue Engine (108) *

Vanguard The Austerity Engine (107) *

Charlie The Fun Engine (82)

Maggie The R.O.D Engine (3)

Murphy The R.O.D Engine (4)

Everett The R.O.D Engine (5)

Nia The Helpful Engine (102)

Warren The R.O.D Engine (7)

Vernon The R.O.D Engine (8)

Reagan The Director's Engine (6)

Rebecca The Happy Engine (103)

Barbara The Mixed-Traffic Engine (13)

Albert The Jubilee Engine (14)

Spike The Wharf Shunter (15)

Wendy The Dock Shunter (16)

Harvey The Crane Engine (66)

Maura The Atlantic Engine (17)

Sarah The Naughty Engine (18) *

Metin The War Department Engine (19)

Temel The War Department Engine (20)

Jesse The Steelworks Engine (21) *

Jason The Night Owl Engine (22)

Evadne The Commuter Engine (24)

Hilda The Commuter Engine (25)

Cathy The New-Build Engine (27)

Rosie The Yankee Tank Engine (77)

Siani The Welsh Engine (28)

Big Bertha The Banking Engine (29)

Grace The Midland Engine (30) *

Abigail The Compound Engine (31)

Heidi The Cambrian Engine (34)

Monique The Goods Engine (35)

Fletcher The Recluse Engine (36)

Roy The Scottish Engine (37)

Errol The Jazzer Engine (39)

Heather The North-British Engine (41)

Lady Margaret The School Engine (42)

Clarence The Calm Engine (43)

Michael The Franco-Crosti Engine (44)

Hiro The Japanese Engine (84)

Rhonda The Welsh Engine (46)

Elspeth The Caley Tank Engine (47)

Roscoe The Cool Engine (48)

Stepney The Bluebell Engine (40)

Loretta The Utility Engine (49)

Saffron The Hippie Engine (51)

Raven The Vicarstown Pilot (54)

Franklin The Really Usual Engine (55)

Jasmine The Suburban Engine (56)

Ashley The Suburban Engine (58)

Shanks The Suburban Engine (59)

Emily The Stirling Engine (68)

Arthur The Obedient Engine (69)

Murdoch The Mighty Engine (70)

Whiff The Rubbish Engine (78)

Victor The Works Shunter (71)

Molly The Shy Engine (74)

Neville The Ugly Duckling Engine (75)

Billy The Silly Engine (79)

Stanley The Silver Engine (80)

Hank The American Engine (81)

Scruff The Rubbish Engine (83)

Belle The Big Tank Engine (85)

Porter The Dock Tank Engine (93)

Callum The Highland Engine (94)

Robyn The Private Engine (96)

Caneri The Colliery Engine (97)

Ryan The Purple Engine (98)

Sonny The Fugitive Engine (105)

DIESEL

Daisy The Diesel Railcar (38)

BoCo The Diseasel (45)

Bear The Hymek Diesel (52)

Gideon The Station Pilot (53)

Sheridan The Railbus (57)

Mungo The Heavy-Freight Diesel (61)

Derek The Paxman Diesel (62)

Salty The Dockyard Diesel (67)

Dennis The Lazy Diesel (76)

Diesel Ten (65)

'Arry The Ironworks Diesel (63)

Bert The Ironworks Diesel (64)

Violet The Multiple Unit (72)

Hyacinth The Multiple Unit (73)

Den The Works Diesel (86)

Dart The Works Diesel (87)

Stafford The Battery-Electric Shunter (92)

Sidney The Australian Diesel (88)

Paxton The Green Diesel (89)

Norman The New-Build Diesel (90)

Argyll The Express Diesel (91)

Chopper The Quiet Diesel (95)

Maxine The Push-Pull Diesel (100)

Philip The Boxcab Diesel (99)

Donna The Heavy-Freight Diesel (101)

Devious Diesel (104)

Tracy The Thunderbird Diesel (60)

Tanner The Postal Shunter (106)

Pip The High-Speed Diesel (109)

Emma The High-Speed Diesel (110)

[feigeroman]

The NWR Stocklist (my version)

EDIT (AUGUST 2022): MESSAGE FROM FUTURE FEIGEROMAN! This stocklist is now out of date! I have substantially reworked the numbering system for my version of the NWR stocklist - please refer to this link. This original version is being retained because I fear deleting it might screw up something in several other posts.

The remainder of this post is the old Feige talkng:

So you’re all aware of my various Thomas headcanons, right? You must be, if you’ve been following me for the past month. Well, the fact is, I have a metric shit-ton of headcanons, a small amount of which I’ve been sharing recently. But I’ve been holding back, mainly because of that metric shit-ton, many of them feature characters of my own creation, and I wanted to get those out there first.

The bulk of these are my additions to the North Western Railway locomotive fleet. Like most people, I find it hard to believe that a railway of that size could function with such a small fleet of engines - about twenty in the RWS, expanding to god knows how many in the TVS.

So I decided to expand the fleet accordingly. Over the past few years, I’ve been developing and refining this, deftly mixing characters from the RWS, TVS and my own ideas. Taking a leaf out of the Extended Railway Series, I limited myself to eighty steam engines, and thirty diesels, the names of which are listed under the break.

I should stress that when I originally put together this list, certain characters hadn’t had numbers assigned to them in canon. So those characters will be numbered differently here. Likewise, other characters were introduced after I’d already assigned their canon number to someone else. As this is just my headcanon, that shouldn’t matter to much, but it’s just a heads-up.

Characters listed in bold are canon, and all others are my original characters - some have their roots in canon, though, and are also listed in bold, and marked with an asterisk (*). The numbers in brackets indicate the order in which the engines on this list entered NWR service.

STEAM

Thomas The Tank Engine (1)

Edward The Blue Engine (2)

Henry The Green Engine (9)

Gordon The Big Engine (10)

James The Red Engine (11)

Percy The Small Engine (12)

Toby The Tram Engine (23)

Duck The Great Western Engine (26)

Donald The Scottish Twin (32)

Douglas The Scottish Twin (33)

Oliver The Great Western Engine (50)

Barry The Rescue Engine (108) *

Vanguard The Austerity Engine (107) *

Charlie The Fun Engine (82)

Emily The Stirling Engine (68)

Arthur The Obedient Engine (69)

Murdoch The Mighty Engine (70)

Molly The Shy Engine (74)

Neville The Ugly Duckling Engine (75)

Rosie The Yankee Tank Engine (77)

Whiff The Rubbish Engine (78)

Billy The Silly Engine (79)

Stanley The Silver Engine (80)

Hank The American Engine (81)

Scruff The Rubbish Engine (83)

Belle The Big Tank Engine (85)

Harvey The Crane Engine (66)

Porter The Dock Tank Engine (93)

Big Bertha The Banking Engine (29)

Ashley The Suburban Engine (58)

Shanks The Suburban Engine (59)

Cathy The New-Build Engine (27)

Ryan The Purple Engine (98)

Barbara The Mixed-Traffic Engine (13)

Errol The Jazzer Engine (39)

Wendy The Dock Shunter (16)

Rhonda The Welsh Engine (46)

Elspeth The Caley Tank Engine (47)

Maggie The R.O.D Engine (3)

Murphy The R.O.D Engine (4)

Roscoe The Cool Engine (48)

Spike The Wharf Shunter (15)

Jesse The Steelworks Engine (21) *

Heather The North British Engine (41)

Heidi The Cambrian Engine (34)

Grace The Midland Engine (30) *

Sarah The Naughty Engine (18) *

Jason The Night Owl Engine (22)

Clarence The Calm Engine (43)

Saffron The Hippie Engine (51)

Hiro The Japanese Engine (84)

Roy The Scottish Engine (37)

Lady Margaret The School Engine (42)

Monique The Goods Engine (35)

Stepney The Bluebell Engine (40)

Siani The Welsh Engine (28)

Abigail The Compound Engine (31)

Rebecca The Happy Engine (103)

Nia The Helpful Engine (102)

Fletcher The Recluse Engine (36)

Raven The Vicarstown Pilot (54)

Warren The R.O.D Engine (7)

Vernon The R.O.D Engine (8)

Marie The Atlantic Engine (17)

Michael The Franco-Crosti Engine (44)

Loretta The Utility Engine (49)

Franklin The Really Usual Engine (55)

Sonny The Fugitive Engine (105)

Everett The R.O.D Engine (5)

Callum The Private Engine (96)

Reagan The Director’s Engine (6)

Albert The Jubilee Engine (14)

Evadne The Commuter Engine (24)

Hilda The Commuter Engine (25)

Metin The War Department Engine (19)

Temel The War Department Engine (20)

Caneri The Colliery Engine (97)

Jasmine The Suburban Engine (56)

Emerson The Highland Engine (94)

Victor The Works Shunter (71)

Diesel

Daisy The Diesel Railcar (38)

BoCo The Diseasel (45)

Bear The Hymek Diesel (52)

Devious Diesel (104)

Derek The Paxman Diesel (62)

‘Arry The Ironworks Diesel (63)

Bert The Ironworks Diesel (64)

Salty The Dockyard Diesel (67)

Dennis The Lazy Diesel (76)

Diesel Ten (65)

Den The Works Diesel (86)

Dart The Works Diesel (87)

Sidney The Australian Diesel (88)

Paxton The Green Diesel (89)

Norman The New-Build Diesel (90)

Chopper The Quiet Diesel (95)

Stafford The Battery-Electric Shunter (92)

Argyll The Express Diesel (91)

Phillip The Boxcab Diesel (99)

Maxine The Push-Pull Diesel (100)

Donna The Heavy-Freight Diesel (101)

Gideon The Station Pilot (53)

Violet The Multiple Unit (72)

Hyacinth The Multiple Unit (73)

Tanner The Postal Shunter (106)

Mungo The Heavy-Freight Diesel (61)

Tracy The Thunderbird Diesel (60)

Sheridan The Railbus (57)

Pip The High-Speed Diesel (109)

Emma The High-Speed Diesel (110)