Mountain Engines is the nineteenth book of The Railway Series in which the four stories focus on the engines from the Culdee Fell Railway.
- Mountain Engine: Rheneas tells a grumpy Sir Handel that he should be grateful he doesn't work on a mountain railway. Sir Handel doesn't believe such a thing exists, and an argument ensues until Donald arrives with Culdee, a queer-looking mountain engine. When Culdee wakes up, he tells the little engines about his line, and an adventure he had on the first day.
- Bad Look-Out: Duncan is in a bad mood, so Skarloey and Rheneas change the conversation by asking Culdee about his coaches. The conversation soon drifts to Culdee's automatic brakes, and the story of Godred, an engine who had too much faith in his automatic brakes. Even though everyone tried everything, they found nothing wrong, but Godred continued in his way. Then one day, Godred fell off the rails and was sent to the back of the shed, where he was cannibalised for his parts. Sir Handel and Duncan are scared and remain silent, but Skarloey and Rheneas don't mention the tale was made up.
- Danger Points: Donald brings Culdee home, where he discovers that three new engines have arrived — Alaric, Eric and Lord Harry, the last of which is loud and risk-taking. The next day, Culdee makes fun of Lord Harry's "super-heat" and Lord Harry determines to pay him out. Unluckily, he derails at the summit, preventing Wilfred from taking his "down" train. Lord Harry is sent to the back of the shed in disgrace.
- Devil's Back: Lord Harry is punished by having his name taken away and, after hearing Culdee's story of Godred, asks the Manager to be let out. The Manager agrees, but forbids him from pulling passenger trains, so #6 is kept taking supplies and workmen to Summit Hotel. One day, he is preparing to continue up Devil's Back, a difficult part of the line, when a message arrives about a group of injured climbers, and #6 is sent to rescue them. Despite the strong wind, #6 perseveres and the leader of the climbers asks the Manager to rename #6 after a friend who helped him when he was injured. Nowadays, #6 is known as Patrick and only takes risks when absolutely necessary.
The book contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: Engine No. 5, who is away being mended, is named Shane Dooiney.
- Aesop Amnesia: Sir Handel seems to have forgotten how to treat the old coaches from nine books ago.
- Batman Gambit: Given how Skarloey winks to Rheneas a few times, it's likely he used Culdee's story about Godred to get Duncan and Sir Handel to shut up.
- Continuity Snarl: So... just what happened to Godred? The last line of the story implied his fate was made up, but the Sodor history books maintain it really happened (based on the same thing happening to Snowdon's LADAS.)
- Earn Your Happy Ending: For Lord Harry, he redeems himself by saving the injured climbers and is now renamed Patrick.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Unusually for the books, Godred's crash is not shown, just a panel of horrified passengers looking down a mountain with smoke rising from below. It was that unpleasant a sight. Mercifully, his fate in the shed is undepicted as well.
- Humiliation Conga: Culdee and Wilfred got a laugh at a derailed Lord Harry.
- Jerkass: Godred and, initially, Lord Harry.
- Karmic Death: Godred gets his parts removed to mend the other mountain engines. Of course, the story was made up.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Lord Harry suffers a harsh punishment as he’s sent to the shed in disgrace and has his name taken away.
- Meaningful Rename: After saving the climbers, Lord Harry is now named Patrick after the climber's friend.
- Named After Somebody Famous: In-Universe. Godred was named after a famous Sudric King, something that would go to his smokebox.
- Never My Fault: Lord Harry shifts the blame onto the coach for the accident, but the manager is having none of it.
- Put on a Bus: This was the only book to feature the titular mountain engines. Better safety regulations and slower traffic at Snowdon Mountain Railway, the railway which Culdee Fell Railway is based on, meant fewer incidents to base stories on.
- Scare 'Em Straight: Culdee made up the story of Godred to scare Sir Handel and Duncan into behaving. Though for Sir Handel...
this would have probably done more damage - Space Whale Aesop: For the Godred story: Don't be reckless or put yourself into dangerous situations or you might have your body parts used to heal your sick friends.
- Tempting Fate: Subverted, for once in these books; #6 bellyaches about how dull he finds his goods work, but when Culdee warns him about the gales that sometimes hit Devil's Back, he takes that warning seriously, so he’s not caught off-guard when he must battle through one to rescue stranded climbers.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: The risk-taking Lord Harry gets derailed at the summit.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story:
- The story "Mountain Engine" is based on Moel Siabod making an inspection with two coaches before the Snowdon Mountain Railway opened to the public.
- "Bad Look Out" is based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway's opening day accident with their first engine, L.A.D.A.S.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The present day events take place in 1963. The flashback story of Godred took place in 1900.
- You Are Number 6: Literally! As punishment for his misbehavior, Lord Harry has his name revoked and is only referred to as #6 until he earns a new one. Almost certainly occured because he was named after the railway chairman, and having a badly behaved engine with your namesake wouldn't be good for image.
