Thomas and the Great War

The Gospel Truth

The Skarloey Railway was located on the eastern side of Sodor and was the home of two little engines named Skarloey who was No. 1 and Rheneas, No. 2. They were the oldest engines on the island since 1865 when they first arrived at Crovan's Gate from the engineering company Fletcher, Jennings, and Co. in Whitehaven. The best of friends, their relationship had been going on and off for many years and they were so close, they did each other's work and were proud to run the line, rain or shine, night and day.

Of all the visitors who had been to the railway, Skarloey and Rheneas, in their red with blue stripe painted glory were beginning to show their age and would tire more easily. Despite the praise of their manager, Mr. Peter Sam, the Thin Controller, service on the railway was very lean, and were under the threat of closure if they did not work hard enough, and the end of the day was the only appropriate time when they could just relax and let their wheels rest.

This morning, Skarloey and Rheneas were in the sheds discussing about England's involvement with the war effort. The coaches Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima and Beatrice the guard's van had overheard their passengers gossiping about Prime Minister Winston Churchill yesterday. Something to do with the Casablanca Conference in January involving American, French and Russian leaders, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle, Henri Giraud and Joseph Stalin that declared the act of an unconditional surrender to the Axis forces.

"Fancy how our prime minister thinks of himself as a national hero," said Skarloey to Rheneas. "Somehow he is able to coax a man more brutal than Adolf Hitler, a certain Joseph Stalin, by allowing him to fight the enemies on our side."

"If the Nazis win the war, we're all in trouble," replied Rheneas.

"That is the kind of thing a pessimist would say," Skarloey argued.

"Worse than the time you were a stick-in-the-mud," teased Rheneas.

Skarloey was cross. "Must you always bring that up?"

Rheneas looked glum. "Well, it happened."

Skarloey calmed down before he continued. "What really interests me about the prime minister are his acts of justice. He has a fair amount of honesty than Lord Halifax or the Queen herself, but that is just my opinion. But that is what people call, the gospel truth."

By now, the two engines realized that it was time to start work. Rheneas went to the slate quarry while Skarloey collected the coaches and went on his way to Lakeside.

The Culdee Fell Railway was Sodor's only rack railway that ran on a mountain. It was twelve miles long and 2048 feet above sea level with a laid out track of 800mm rack rails. The engines, Culdee, Wilfred, Ernest and Shane Dooiney were queer looking with square chimneys, six wheels, boilers tilting downwards and back to front cylinders with a face on the smoke box door front and another face on the rear end since the railway didn't have a turntable. The engines also had automatic brakes to keep them from slipping or going off the rails in the event of a hazardous situation.

Opened forty three years ago after the loss of their number one Godred; Culdee, Shane Dooiney, Ernest and Wilfred were extra careful when crossing up Devil's Back in a gale, a bleak ridge that forced passenger trains to stop during heavy winds, but whatever the weather, supply and rescue trains must get through.

Ernest, Wilfred and Culdee were in the shed discussing the war as well. Shane Dooiney had already taken the Truck up the mountain to deliver a package from the War Office to Summit Hotel and a few passengers were waiting for their trains down below at Kirk Machan, reading the latest news on the headline papers.

"This isn't the most recent news, Wilfred," said Culdee to his friends, "the war might last for another three years and from what the passengers have been talking about this morning, the Warsaw Ghetto has gone into a revolt."