Godred the Number 1 is the 2015 Halloween Special and was uploaded on October 30, 2015. It is the final story of The Slopes of Culdee Fell as well as the eighth and more recent story in Thomas1Edward2Henry3's Railway Series.
Plot
The day after Shane Dooiney's accident, workmen begin picking up the remains of the trucks when they find an old rusty piston. Back at the sheds Mr. Barrane reveals to the Engines that this piston belonged to the railway's No.1 "Godred". The story of Godred is then retold (see below) but when Niles questions about Godred's parts being used to mend the other engines but Ernest and Wilfred reveal that it would have been pointless as Godred was already in pieces by the time he was brought back to the shed, the day after his accident. When Eric questions about the Piston, Mr. Barrane reveals that it will be placed at the back of the Shed in memory of Godred and a plaque of Godred is placed above it. News soon spreads quickly and the next day reporters arrive and start interviewing and taking photographs. After one reporter takes photos of each of the engines, he suddenly notices something in the photo of Eric and reports it to Mr. Barrane who is equally shocked. The photo which is meant to show only Eric has the faint outline of another Engine behind him. This soon reaches the media and the engines question about it and Eric predicts it could be a ghost but this is quickly shut down by Patrick and Shane.
The next day Wilfred is puffing up the mountain with a passenger train, and upon stopping at Devil's Back Station, but notices another steam engine puffing down the mountain. When his driver questions who Wilfred is shocked to see that no steam engine appears on the mountain, his driver claims he must have been seeing things. As Wilfred climbs the mountain he can't stop thinking about the steam engine when suddenly him, his driver, fireman, guard, coach and passengers hear an crash/explosion. They find that it wasn't Wilfred and that there was nothing on the mountain. Upon this news arriving at Mr. Barrane he reveals that he heard a train approaching the crossing but no engine came. That night in the sheds the engines talk and Alaric thinks their could be paranormal activity going on. Ernest reveal that on the 6th July 1950, a group of hikers saw an engine roll down the mountain but all the engines at the time were at the shed. Eventually concluded that their must've seen an animal roll down the mountain. A majority of the Engines think it could be Godred's Ghost apart from Patrick who tells the remaining engines to go to sleep.
Later that night all the engines are fast asleep. Suddenly Wilfred is woken by steam hissing, and eventually one by one each of the other engines and start blaming each other until Ernest reveals the noise is coming from outside and Wilfred realises it couldn't be one of the engines as all 8 are inside the shed. Niles reveals it could be a Standard Gauge Engine which relieves all the other engines until Ernest reveals that no Standard Gauge Engine runs at this time of night. While Ernest reveals this, the Ghost of Godred with red eyes appears and slowly starts puffing to the shed. Suddenly Mr. Barrane arrives but is shocked to find all 8 engines in the shed. As he turns around he spots the outline of the Demon Ghost of Godred and quickly lights Wilfred's fire. Demon Ghost of Godred then disappears and puffs quickly away. Wilfred is soon steamed up and puffs quickly away. He spots smoke and reveals to Mr. Barrane that it is Godred who responds by saying Godred has no right to roam on the railway any longer. The smoke gets closer and Wilfred's regulator is opened. The smoke suddenly appears to stop and there at the level crossing, fuming and grumbling, is George the Steamroller, which makes both Mr. Barrane and Wilfred feel foolish. George's driver reveals that due to Gas Roller breaking down they needed to use George to do the roadwork near Culdee Fell and were doing it at night due to the fact that it would interfere with traffic in the morning. Wilfred, relieved that the puffing was George, still questions about the other events and about the shape Mr. Barrane saw. Mr. Barrane reveals that although he has now idea about the events he concludes that Godred's piston needs to be put back where it was found.
Upon returning to the shed and collecting the piston, they head to where Godred had his accident 100 years ago. Mr. Barrane then throws the piece down the mountain where it rolls down like Godred did. Wilfred stares out in the distance and says that if Godred is their they are sorry for disturbing him and that he is forgiven for his reckless behaviour and now he can move on and find peace, Wilfred and Mr. Barrane then head home. During this the Ghost of Godred looses his red eyes and looks upon sadly, now realising that now he is forgiven he can now move on.
After this no more paranormal activity happens but the engines agree that although they don't know what happened on the mountain, somethings are best left unexplained.
Characters
- Wilfred
- Ernest
- Culdee
- Eric
- Patrick/Lord Harry
- Niles
- Alaric
- Shane Dooiney
- George
- Mr. Barrane
- Godred (appears in flashback and as ghost)
- Jane (cameo)
- Catherine (cameo)
- BoCo (cameo)
Locations
- Kirk Machan
- Devil's Back
- Shiloh
- Culdee Fell Summit
Trivia
- A promo was released on October 19. It contained narration of Willie Rushton's narration of Bad Look Out.
- Whether Godred's ghost actually appeared is up to interpretation. Though he did appear on screen, T1E2H3 made it so the engines never actually met up with him so it would be more mysterious. It was also to keep in the realism of the Railway Series.
- Music from the films Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Jaws is used. Edvard Grieg's piece In the Hall of the Mountain King is also used, with the particular cover by Kevin MacLeod.
- The first newspaper, which documented Godred's accident in 1900, uses passages from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" speech, and an iconic monologue from the movie Jaws in the place of the text. The two pictures in the paper are real pictures of the locomotive L.A.D.A.S, on which Godred and his fate is based, from the Snowdon Mountain Railway.
- At a length of 14:07, this is the longest RWS story and second longest video on Thomas1Edward2Henry3's channel. The longest video is currently The Engines of Sodor Episode VIII: A Tale of a Small Green Engine, with a length of 14:54.
- All 8 Culdee Fell Engines (excluding Godred) have a speaking role.
- The working title for this episode was simply "Godred's Ghost". When the promo was released, it was changed to "Number 1". This was changed to "Godred the Number 1" to give a little more specification to the title.
Godred's Story
The events took place between 1895 and 1900 when the Culdee Fell railway nealry opened. there were fives engines there at the time there names were Godred, Ernest, Wilfred, Culdee and Shane Dooiney. Godred, the #1 engine, was named after King Godred of Sodor, who mimbraned in the 1900's. He was very proud of this, which made him perhaps one of the most conceded engines the island have ever known. He was extremely reckless, often coming down the mountain at a tremendous speed. the other engines warned him, but he never listened, and eventually his arrogance got the better of him.
In July of 1900, shortly after the railway had opened, Godred was coming down the top slope, being reckless as usual, when he suddenly derailed, and rolled down the mountain. Miraculously, the coach stayed on the rails, and the crew jumped out before the crash while Godred, on the other hand, was severly damaged and was never repaired. Whatever happened next is the subject of debate, but had came to conclusion, and agreed, that he was eventually scrapped. The four engines who were there at the time didn't think that the inccident was a perticually great memory, in fact they never brought it up unless in the absolute needs.
In years to come, Culdee would later make up the fact that Godred was cannibalized for his parts so they could be used to mend the engines, and would later used this story to teach Duncan and Sir Handel to behave themselves.
See Also
- The Eyes, another similar Halloween story
- Night Express to Vicarstown, another Halloween special