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SleeperAgent1 — Not making a good first impression
#james #nwr #sodor #awdry #railwayseries
Published: 2016-06-16 20:09:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 13600; Favourites: 226; Downloads: 23
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How are they alive?! Is this the same logic as Ol' Spitey?!?!
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It's one of those things you shouldn't think about too much, same sort of thing when an engine needs a new smokebox.
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Or how the express coaches could talk without faces. Just put them in the pile of unanswerable Thomas questions.
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Exactly and when they did give Henrietta her face the front balcony became redundant....once you start pulling that thread it unravels fast.
My take isn't particularly magical but is clean cut for the most part, basically the engines/coaches/trucks/vehicles etc are only sentient within the books and that the Thin Clergyman anthropomorphised whatever to bend around Sudrian events (the isle and its railways the being real in the Awdryverse).
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The trucks look upset, as for my point of view.
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That's the trouble with trucks, they never think too far ahead!
ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Snow/Galle…
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Maybe they think too short ahead, eh? Hahahaha!
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Actually 1924 or more likely 1925 by my reckoning I know RBTL states 1923 but that book is plagued with flaws. Basically the problem with 1923 is that the Elsbridge branch was not planned to be extended until the NWR was unexpectedly approached by Jabez 'Croarie', the principle landowner of Anopha who in 1924 floated the 'quarry' company where Mavis would eventually end up at. He and the Fat Controller hammered out a deal and to cut a story short you ended up with the Ffarquhar branch. The bridge across the river Els, which was made from the quarry's stone was not completed until 1925, so as Thomas could not even be promised to run an extended branch line in 1923 James's saga must of taken place a bit later on.
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A pity James's breaks were wooden before his accident.
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Yeah that plot point always grates a bit as I'm positive the big companies had been done away with wooden brake blocks a fair number of years before he was even built....guess Awdry had read about it in one of his numerous articles and wanted to include it but if the book was made later on in the series I imagine the incident would of been modified a bit.
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I always default to the DX engines whenever that comes up. I've seen pictures of them in early LMS days with wooden brakes (and remember some of them even lacked brakes). Technically, if James came in 1923 (or earlier according to The Adventure Begins), then he would actually be an ex-LNWR engine and not an ex-L&Y engine. This would make a bit of sense. Though with that said, I need to alter the history of one of my OCs.
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Not bad. Still James was new here and he had wooden brake blocks. Seriously? Who gives an engine wooden brake blocks?
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Yeah that story device has always seemed odd to me. I know many several engines did indeed have wooden brakes back in the day and the L&YR's engines were no exception i'm sure, but as general speeds and weight loads increased i'm sure the practice had stopped at least a decade before James was built....in my head he still suffers a brake failure of some kind (like in Buffer Bashing) but his brake shoes are indeed made from metal 
Cheers about the edit, though carrying on with the point about realism his lining should either be the full white & red style (red-white-black-white-red on the boiler bands) that all passenger and mixed traffic engines had during the L&YR's independence
i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o…
and most of the engines still had this for a couple of years after the grouping-like this Flyer in 1926,
i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o…
or he could potentially be in the unlined livery that a few L&Y engines were repainted in the period before the LMS was formed and they came to a decision on their livery policies on the 31st of May 1923 (the L&YR and the LNWR merged at the start of 1922 and the engines that were repainted lost their parent company crests and lettering).
i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o…
The third option, which I personally prefer in order to most closely match the illustration, is that James has the red and white lining, but no lettering on his tender or general company markers (this was the other variant that occurred when engines were repainted between 1922 and 1923)
i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o…
*Same, but with LMS numbers added.
i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o…
I'm not sure why he might of been depicted in the L&YR's freight/shunter livery, as the book came out before BR adopted the Ex-LNWR's 'Black Berry' style livery for non express status passenger engines, my only explanation is that Awdry might of imagined him to be a LNWR engine early on or more likely that was just how Dalby painted him, as two tone is a lot more tricky to paint (Percy's red and yellow lining in 'Tramway Engines' is the only RWS example of two tone that I can think of) ........I might re-edt the above to brake away from RWS lore at some point in order for it to be prototypically correct but it would be a little tricky and time consuming to alter, will definitely keep it in mind for when I come to model him on the ol layout though
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Good theory, but James was originally illustrated by Reginald Payne. So too was Thomas. Dalby didn't start illustrating until James the Red Engine.
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Ah you are right of course, don't know why I forgot it was Payne who actually introduced James to us!
i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o…
Still if I were going to do a photoshop down the road I would probably stick to the lined only L&YR-LNWR livery for when James was sold as that is still the closest match to the above. I have found one more possible variant since however. This engine is the 17th member of the 657 Class and while I unfortunately do not have a date for it it shows the loco in full L&Y livery but with a plain tender.
i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o…
Given that it is the double spring type it is surly the same that all of his closest brothers were built with but still perhaps it has been swapped with another for some reason. Anyway if the LMS did want to sell the non standard loco with one of the lower capacity types this could mean he possessed the full L&Y livery but still have a plain tender like in the illustration
*I only mention the swap idea as the older types that some of his brothers later pulled lacked the double springs and coal grills, which appears to be what is seen in the various illustrations, but that is splitting hairs a bit I admit.
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Either way I hope you follow your heart
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Rolf, good advice for most situations Sorry If I came on a bit strong with all that prototype info, I just seem to like research and getting historical details right I suppose Anyway cheers
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Nice picture, I love the attention to detail and the facial expression on James' face.
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Thanks Darth and thank you ThomasZoey though I don't actually create anything from scratch, just edit things in various ways. I to like James's expression, knew I was on to a good-un when I tried cropping it onto the Hodges painting, though I did have to redo the eyes as the original direction that the Spong ones were at wouldn't of made much sense here.
Anyway thanks fro the compliment about the attention to detail-restoring the track in the bottom left corner was a royal pain in the bum!
ttte.wikia.com/wiki/James?file…
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Can I do one of Godred or Smudger? Umm Godred would be most difficult as there are very few pictures of LADAS due to his early crash, plus as of yet the mountain engines have not appeared in the show. There are the odd Snowdon Mountain Railway paintings/illustrations out there that i'm tempted to adapt but i've got a few other engines I wish to try and cover first.
Smudger might be possible. Do you mean Smudger as in the TV character as a Bb engine or Stanley the Baldwin? I did make the the odd hybrid a while back on SiF but Smudger's face on Rheneas's body re-cloured might be interesting to try.
Thanks for the Fave, you too CalmWriter
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Cho choo favourites for u haha sorry for that poem
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Ah, I can't actually take credit for the truck faces as they were drawn by Hodges
Steamking you are bang on about the face being Spongesque as its from 'Deep Freeze'. I do love Hodges's work but for some reason he rarely managed to draw decent faces. Anyway here is the original painting if you wish to compare.
ttte.wikia.com/wiki/James?file…
Replacing the 'Meet James' area with rails and sleepers took ages but overall I think the edit turned out quite well in the end, which made the effort worth while. Anyway ta for adding this to your faves
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The faces on the trucks are absolutely brilliant! Almost as if they regret their actions. Great work!
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They're probably like. "We did NOT think this through." Talk about living in the moment.
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Cracking picture. The face is very Clive Spongesque.
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