Fanfic / The Extended Railway Series

The Extended Railway Series is a Continuation Fan Fiction series created by multiple authors on the Sodor Island Forums.

The series picks up where the original series left off (the series was started before Book 42: Thomas And His Friends was published), chronicling events of the railways of the Island Of Sodor, and the steam and diesel locomotives that operate on it. It shows such events as the Skarloey Railway adding new lines, an oil refinery being built on Sodor, the opening of the Vicarstown Railway Museum, and of course, adding a whole slew of new engines to work on the railway.

The series started with "Evan The Private Engine", and has since gone on to add many more stories that have expanded on Wilbert V. Awdry's original books. This includes introducing characters and lines on the Island Of Sodor that never got into the books, and including little-used characters from the original books more appearances.

The series has been a part of the Sodor Island Forums since 2003.

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The Extended Railway Series contains examples of:

• Aerith and Bob: The series introduces engines with names like Evan, Simon, Scott, Betty, and Norman alongside engines with names like Sodor Castle, Blandford, Janus, Loey Machan, and Warrior.
  • Winston and Daphne are also named "Western Minister" and "The Queen's Own Scottish Borderer". Sammie, meanwhile, is short for Samarkand.
• American Accents: Brad and Kaiser have these, being from the United States.
• Ascended Extra: Some one-time characters from the Railway Series get more appearances in this fic series, like Alf, Bear, Ivo Hugh, Jinty and Pug.
• Continuation: For The Railway Series.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Duck has one in "Winston The Diesel-Hydraulic Engine". When he asks his crewman to buff up his number plates, he realizes that Winston's number plate could reveal where and when he was built, and has his crew check them.
• Flashback: Some stories are told such as these, like most of the stories from "Mid Sodor Engines", and Winston recalling trying to save a steam engine named "King James II" from being scrapped.
• Meaningful Name: Two instances in "Winston The Diesel Hydraulic Engine".
  • When Sodor Castle and Bear are listing all the BR Class 52 engines they knew, Bear mentions one called "Western Champion", who lived up to his name.
  • Oliver recalls how he met one of Winston's brothers during his escape to Sodor. He told him he was just going up the line, and the diesel showed him a way, then whispered "the best of Western luck" to Oliver as he passed by. Winston states that that was Western Pathfinder Oliver spoke to, and that he did indeed find Oliver's path.
• Misblamed: In-Universe example in "Blandford the Somerset Engine". For the longest time, Blandford believed it was all the fault of the Great Western Railway (later the Western Region of British Rail) that his original home, the "Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway", was closed on March 7th, 1966. As a result, he's not happy about having to work with Duck and Oliver on The Little Western. It's not until Donald and Douglas set the record straight when he sees them in the works that he finally comes to understand that it wasn't the Western Railway's fault.

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