He then kills Cecil, before he is killed by Gordon, who also loses his life.
The latter is infamous for being depicted in the YouTube series "Sodor: The Dark Times", in which both he and Cecil return to Sodor, and Alfred perpetrates a bombing of Knapford that kills Thomas, Edward, Henry, James, and Percy, viewing them all as obsolete.
In the fandom, 87546 is often named Cecil, while 98462 is named Alfred.
Reginald Dalby.However ,some think 98462 is a Great Eastern Railway S69 (later LNER B12) and 87546 is an LNER B17. This explained why they were only seen in one picture, and never seen again.Ĩ752 do not appear to be based upon any particular class of locomotive. He explained that they visited the Island on trial, but caused trouble and were spiteful to the other engines, so they were sent away. Awdry replied with a response that the two engines had no names, only numbers (being 8752). Their history was expanded upon as a result of a letter from a reader to Rev. They were not named or referred to within the story itself.
Both looked at the early life of Awdry, the development of the Railway Series books, and the phenomenon that ensued as a result of the TV Series. To coincide with the 50th anniversary, Wilbert was honoured with the release of a biography written by Brian Sibley, and a special documentary shot as part of the Bookmark series, called The Thomas The Tank Engine Man. The publishers vetoed the book on the grounds that they wished to concentrate on existing and popular characters in the Railway Series. Barry would have been a BR Standard 2 class engine, and had been intended to be an engine rescued from Barry Scrapyard in South Wales for restoration. (Throughout the period that the Railway Series was out of print, this volume was the most difficult to find!)Ĭhristopher had suffered a similar rejection before, previously with a book called Barry the Rescue Engine. Sadly, this did not have the desired effect. Until the 11th hour, the new book was to be called The Fat Controller’s Engines, however, the publishers felt it would be better to market the book as Thomas and the Fat Controller’s Engines instead, reckoning it would sell more copies. The thirty-ninth book in the series would also coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the Railway Series, and while Christopher had already written a volume he was satisfied with, the publishers rejected it and favoured a Thomas volume instead.