#ttte roger sam

[feigeroman]

Any Mr. Percival headcanons?

Just one, and ironically, it's that there is no Mr Percival in my headcanon. Let me explain:

When the TV producers finally decided to introduce a Thin Controller in Series 9, they were faced with the dilemma of what his formal name should be. Series 9 as a whole was based on events which happened in 1977 - according to my own timeline headcanon - and during that time, the Skarloey Railway's general manager was Mr Peter Sam. Obviously that name couldn't be used - the potential for confusion with Peter Sam the engine was too great.

So after a bit of brainstorming, he became Mr Peregrine Percival. Over time, the character evolved into an amalgamation of all the real-life Thin Controllers - in the same way that the TV producers had previously rolled up all the Fat Controllers into one.

In the 'reality' of my headcanon, of course, this change never happened, so the SR remains under the control of Mr Peter Sam from S9-12 (1977-80), and Mr Roger Sam from S12-onwards (1980-onwards).

[houseboatisland]

📂🎇

I've been thinking recently about what a sea change the immediate postwar years, (let's say 1947-53) were for the Sudrian narrow gauge, not only in terms of how their railways were turned upside down in this period, but also just how fraught with tension the engines themselves must have been.

I call this the "Three Little Engines Era," because the newly-preserved Skarloey Railway was just Skarloey, Sir Handel and Peter Sam. Rheneas was still being mended, (and would continue to be until 1961, holy moly,) and neither Rusty nor Duncan had arrived.

A few key factoids to bear in mind before we dive in, some canonical and others my own personal touches:

The Skarloey Railway's existence was touch-and-go, not just under Sir Handel Brown but even the preservationists for a few years. Rheneas' condition was poor but he was called upon daily. Skarloey meanwhile was only to be used in the most dire emergencies, which alone says a lot about how he was doing.

Sir Handel and Peter Sam have been gut-punched with trauma in the span of a few years. Their one and only home is gone. Their mentor/father figure, Duke, is at best MIA or at worst was scrapped behind their backs in lieu of the MSR's debts. They lived an uncertain, unloved and grim couple of years at the Peel Godred Aluminum Works, nearly a whole year of which was standing idle and covered up. They now have to take new names on a new railway they have no guarantee will survive either, which makes seeing it all as a fresh start way harder than it could've been.

In my headcanon, the Skarloey and Mid Sodor were briefly one entity. A la the Festiniog and Welsh Highland, they merged from 1923-37 in a bid to survive increasing pressures as a single company. This partnership was hardly harmonious, and financially was more trouble than it was worth. When it ended, there were grudges simmering on both sides of the breakup, not just among human staff and management but also the engines themselves. Falcon, now Sir Handel, had an especially huge axe to grind with the SR, (because it's Sir Handel, drama extraordinaire,) and he carried this chip on his frame when he came to the Skarloey. So that's fun.

Lastly, in my headcanon, the Mid Sodor Railway's 1947 closure wasn't exactly a closure. Like the Festiniog, although the moribund MSR ran no trains of its own, it allowed the nearby quarries to use its rails at a small cost. Thus the rails were left, (although decaying unhindered,) and the company still existed. Sir Handel, and even Peter Sam, found this particularly hard to bear because their home was still right there existing and rotting, and they were probably exiled forever. When this arrangement ended in 1955, and the MSR was really and truly dead, it cut them deeper still.

Was that a lot? Good, there's more.

Both within the books and without, the newly-christened Sir Handel and Peter Sam started their new lives on the SR on the wrong wheel. Sir Handel insulted Skarloey to his face, and then insulted his lifelong coaches to his face next. (These, in the locomotive world, are fighting words.) Sir Handel also had an Emmy-worthy fit when he learned he and Peter Sam were to be painted red, which was so fierce and embarrassing to witness, that this was shelved forever. Hence, they remain blue and green, and the Manager had a horrible impression of the blue engine. The Owner, whose name was carried by this engine, was completely disgusted.

Peter Sam meanwhile establishes himself, accidentally, as the Golden Child, even accounting for the mishap with the Refreshment Lady. He works hard, the coaches love him to bits, and he even carried the railway when Sir Handel was on punishment. Apart from his excitable nature, he's everything Skarloey admires in an engine, and the two become very tight. Sir Handel is of course fuming, (how dare Peter Sam show him up by just doing a good job and knowing his place in the world?!) and resents the immobilized Skarloey still more as "a crippled waste of space trafficking in patronage and favoritism." Skarloey remained cool and professional about this outburst, but in all likelihood hated Sir Handel down to his rivets.

I really don't know where it all would have ended, had Skarloey not needed to bail Sir Handel out that one Market Day. Skarloey is a principled engine, and naturally came to Sir Handel's aid for the sake of the passengers and the railway. The same way Peter Sam is everything Skarloey envisions in an ideal engine, so he sees Sir Handel (at this time) as everything in a terrible engine. Uppity, self-centered, provocative, and most of all, shiftless. If there's one thing Skarloey can't stand, it's an engine who shirks.

Sir Handel's position on the railway was fairly safe despite everything, emboldening him and making Skarloey's faded paint boil. There were times, we've seen, where Sir Handel was legitimately scared, and the Manager was clearly willing to come down hard on him even when it put the railway back to having only one workable engine. Unseen in the books were the hushed nighttime conferences between Skarloey and Mr. Sam, where he pleaded with the Manager if there was any way to send this turbulent blue beast away, and the Manager repeatedly could only sigh and say this was how things were for the near future. Unbeknownst to either of them or Sir Handel was Peter Sam clinging to every word and worrying what could happen if his adoptive brother didn't shape up. He's still never revealed hearing any of this, and Skarloey and Mr. Sam have never let on to discussing such.

Skarloey went through HELL running the trains that day, and it wasn't just the one train, either. He leaked precious steam and suffered a snapped front spring, but additionally had to deal with a broken firebox stay bulging out of his side, which could have made Skarloey a rolling bomb. It was only after the Manager intervened that the Thin Clergyman agreed not to include that in the book. It would be bad for passenger receipts!

Sir Handel had his momentary change of heart after Skarloey's endeavor. As said, he resolved to manage the coaches in Skarloey's Way, and he did want so badly for Skarloey to be home! If Peter Sam were to reveal how he daily asked for updates about Skarloey's overhaul, Sir Handel would squash him flatter than his new funnel. This didn't last however. It was only about half a year before Sir Handel settled into something between his "the first Sir Handel" and "Skarloey's Way Sir Handel," which the others have learned to tolerate as the best they'll get! But it has to be said that Sir Handel did grow considerably given the circumstances.

Peter Sam hasn't changed much at all. He's still helpful and hard-working to a fault, and still "hard to handle" flighty. Skarloey has still adopted him as a son, and the coaches still fawn over him as a listening ear and a sensitive and gentlemanly engine. Peter Sam's dynamic with the coaches is basically "the one male at the tea party, and the old ladies assembled love him and want to pinch his cheeks." The biggest change, special funnels aside, is Sir Handel being less bothered by his closeness with Skarloey. It infuriated Sir Handel to see an old fart who never moved dote on his quasi-brother over him, and that somehow translate into huge gains for Peter Sam. It never occurred to Sir Handel that, no, that's not how Peter Sam came up in the world, again he was just doing truly good work.

He and Sir Handel still tease each other, playfully, and their friendship does incredibly well in the brief time the two are the only engines on the line when Skarloey leaves. And that was the state of affairs when the two engines received buffers, and Sir Handel, irked by clearing-out operations at the slate quarry and the arrival of an orange diesel, feigned illness on a certain galloping blue sausage's advice...