ThomasZoey3000's The Railroad Stories

In March 2017, Fanfiction writer 'ThomasZoey3000' posted a fanfiction series about the steam locomotives that in real life never made it to preservation. The inspiration for his fan-series came about from watching various Train movies of the steam locomotives back in the glory days of steam, the Thomas & Friends stories were also an inspiration as was other fanworks about trains.
Starting in 1956, the series takes the reader to an Island that is the home of the Freedom Railroad, which is to help the people who for many years have never had a railroad, just roads. Due to increased demands for goods and bigger means of carrying passengers, Robert Gagnon, (manager of the Freedom Railroad) and a group of dedicated railroaders came together to build the railroad that the Islanders have come to relay upon today. To keep things running, the engines and rolling stock are looked after by dedicated workers, many of which had been layed off from other railroads on the mainland (Canada, America and Mexico) and all follow the commands and instructions of Bryan Mason, more commonly known as Mr Mason by everyone on the Island. For track maintenance and foreman for the track laying job, the workers turn to Jack Ingram.
As of March 29th 2019, the series now features six books, and after a year's hiatus, the seventh book is due for release in March 2020.
Locomotives in the Fleet (Freedom Railroad):
# Rebecca; a 2-8-0 Consolidation built for the Canadian National Railroad. Retired in 1956 and saved by Robert Gagnon in the same year. Rebecca is based on the N-4 class steam locomotive, numbered; 2578, and with one surviving sister on the mainland; No 2534 (as far as the author knows)
# Carrie; a 4-6-4 Streamlined Royal Hudson built at the MLW and worked for the Canadian Pacific. Supposed to be retired in 1957, Carrie was bought by Steven (an employee of the Freedom Railroad and one many people looking out for Steam Locomotives on the Mainland before the Steam Era ends). Carrie carries the number of 2823, and has four surviving sisters (as far as the author knows).
# Andrew; a 4-6-4 J1 locomotive built for the New York Central, whose class was the inspiration for Lionel Train's famous O Scale locomotives. After a small failure on the mainland, Andrew was retired in 1956 and due for scrapping. However, he was saved by Jake Winters, (another employee looking for locomotives for the fleet). Originally ThomasZoey3000 wanted the number '5344' for the engine, but later learned that it belonged to a Dreyfus Hudson, so he later went with the number 5334. Andrew sadly has no surviving brothers or sisters of his class as they were all withdrawn from service. Happily, there are plenty of models of the J1s to keep the legend going.
# Warren; a 2-6-6-2 articulated steam locomotive built for the California Western and carries the number '47'. Warren is also the brother to the surviving No 46 (due for restoration). Warren worked for the California Western until being bought in 1956 and came shortly after Andrew's rescue of a runaway train. He speaks with a bit of Irish dialect and is a kind gentle steamer who takes on any job without fuss, and never lets his strength go to his head. Warren was a requested engine by Fanfiction user 'Monroejeffrey949'.
# Andrea; a 2-8-4 locomotive built for the Nickel Plate Road (And is the sister to surviving engines 765 and 759), and her number is 772. She worked fast freights on the NKP until she was retired and left in a yard with other engines awaiting their demise. She was bought by Robert Gagnon after he had a three hour argument with the yard manager. Andrea has a bubbly personality and unless she hears something sad, she doesn't frown that often. She can also be a bit of a scatter brain, especially when something captures her interest, but this has never resulted in accidents. There are several survivors of the NKP class, including the 765 and 759.
# Jack; a 0-6-0 locomotive built for the Southern Pacific Railroad (and is the brother to the surviving locomotive 1215), and his number is 1217. He worked on small branch lines in California for many years until he was retired and sent to the scrapyards in Richmond California. He was picked up with SP 4458 and SP 3808 before Winter 1956. He is a good shunter and can do any job that's asked of him. Jack was a requested by fanfiction user 'Noahjacksich'.
# Jessica; a 4-8-4 streamlined locomotive built for the Southern Pacific Railroad to run the Coast Daylight passenger train, and while she shares a similar design as surviving GS-4 #4449, she is a GS-5 locomotive, and one of two of the class. She shared the duty of pulling the Daylight passenger trains with other GS locomotives for years until she was reassigned to carrying either freight or other passenger trains until her retirement. She was bought at the same time as SP 1217 and SP 3808. When returned to service on the Freedom Railroad, she does either freight or passenger work. In real life; the two GS-5 locomotives were not preserved.
# Ace; a 2-8-8-4 Reverse Cab Forward locomotive built for the Southern Pacific Railroad. This locomotive and his class were designed for freight services, but sometimes pulled passenger services. 3808 was sent in his final years to the Cajon Pass subdivision to help with freight services around the late 1940s and in 1951 saved a runaway train on Cajon Pass. After being retired and left in Richmond California with other Southern Pacific locomotives, he was saved before Winter 1956 around the same as SP 4458 and SP 1217. When returned to service on the Freedom Railroad, he will mostly be used for freight trains unless needed for passenger trains. Ace carries the number; 3808 and sadly in real life, the real AC-9 locomotives were not preserved.
The McKenna Museum (Engines saved, but will most likely remain static):
# Nickel Plate Road 773; a 2-8-4 Berkshire locomotive bought at the same time as Andrea and NKP 580.
# Nickel Plate Road 580; a 2-8-2 Mikado locomotive bought at the same time as Andrea and NKP 773.
# New York Central 5300; a 4-6-4 Hudson locomotive bought at the same time as NYC 5344. He is also a brother to 5334; Andrew.
# New York Central 5344; a 4-6-4 Dreyfus Hudson locomotive bought at the same time as NYC 5300.
# Pennsylvania Railroad Turbine 6200; a 6-8-6 steam turbine locomotive bought just after NYC 5300 and 5344.
Little Haulers Narrow Gauge Railroad:
# Makato (Mak for Short); is a 2-6-4 tank engine from the Japan National Railway. She was bought in the winter of 1954, just before the new year of 1955. She was the first engine of the Little Haulers line, and learned to speak English with the help of her crew. She is a dedicated hard worker and does any work without fuss, but isn't afraid to get firm if she hears something awful, like if anyone insults her manager; Mr Harrison. Makoto was a requested by fanfiction writer 'Cyro Threshold'.
# Alison; she is a 2-8-0 consolidation steam locomotive from the Rio Grande Southern, and carries the number 76. Originally, Alison was a troublesome engine and because of her lack of respect or listening to rules, she ended up in pieces before being bought by Mr Harrison for the Little Haulers line in 1956.
Employees of the Freedom Railroad (Date for how long they've worked):
# Robert Gagnon (1956-????): Robert had always had a passion for steam engines and zero interest in diesels. He was the man who came up with the idea of the Freedom Railroad and with the help of dedicated workers, got the railroad started. He is the manager of the railroad and doesn't mind when others call him by his first name. Date of birth is not known.
# Bryan Mason (1956-????): Bryan is the man in charge of the works that repairs steam locomotives as well as rolling stock. Date of birth is not known.
# Jack Ingram (1956-????): Jack is the man in charge of track maintenance and is also the man in charge of the track laying team as of 1956. Date of birth is not known.
# Steven ??? (1956-????): One of the many employees sent to Canada, mostly Ontario region, to search for steam locomotives.
# Jake Winters (1956-????): One of the many employees sent to America to search for steam locomotives.
# Niki (1956-????): Rebecca's Engineer.
# Wendy (1956-????): Rebecca's Fireman
# Brock (1956-????): Andrew's Engineer.
# Michael (1956-????): Andrew's Fireman
# Jackie (1956-????): Carrie's Engineer
# Ryan Edwards (1956-????): Another employee of the Railroad that is in the California region of the United States in the search for Steam Locomotives.
# Vanessa Rickles (1956-????): Andrea's fireman.
# Mandy (1956-????): Andrea's Engineer
# Kelly Burden (1956-????): Another employee of the Railroad that searches in the California region of the United States in the search for Steam Locomotives. She is the mother of Albert Burden.
# Albert Burden (1956-????): Another employee of the Railroad that searches in the California region of the United States in the search for Steam Locomotives. He is the son of Kelly Burden.
Little Haulers Employees:
# Mr Harrison (1956-????): Manager of the Little Haulers Railroad.
# Tom (1956-????): Makoto's fireman.
# Kyle (1956-????): Makoto's Engineer.
# Karen (1956-????): Alison's Fireman.
# John (1956-????): Alison's Engineer.
Friends Of the Freedom Railroad/Little Haulers Railroad:
# Madison; She is the McKenna Forest's Front End Loader, and good friend to the Freedom Railroad. She is cheerful and has a tendacy to go on forever.
# Bad Luck Farmer Jenny; a sheep farmer living outside of Big Jim's town and often called 'Bad Luck' due to a stream of problems coming up with her or her sheep.
# Farmer Brent; a cow farmer that lives along the route of the Little Haulers.
# Mayor Big Jim; a big man whose in charge of the town named after him. He helped many people during the days of the Great Depression. He also used to be a farmer.
# Bryce the Tow Truck; a reliable truck who's willing to help even his worst enemy.
# Jessie the tow truck drover; Jessie is the man who drives Bryce and operates his controls.
# Mark and Ronald; Mark is a three year old boy while Ronald is a one year old boy. Both boys were saved by Vanessa during one of Andrea's runs.
Enemies Of the Freedom Railroad:
In the first book, two girls in the town of McGinnis were angry over the arrival of the Freedom Railroad and tried to sabotage it's building work. Names are unknown.
# McKenna Truck Company; A local truck company in the town of McKenna that had been the main company to move cargo around, but once the Freedom Railroad arrived, they became determined to beat them, even if it got them into trouble.
# Pete the Snowplough; Pete used to work on the Canadian Pacific Railroad until he was retired, but even after being rescued and given another chance, he's still a pain to deal with. Not many engines or employees like working with him.
As of March 2019, there are six complete books out on Fanfiction.net, and a seventh one coming soon.
Book 1: Salvation Engines (1956):
# Author's Note
# Story #1: Salvation; Locomotive No 2578 dreads being cut up, but is beaming when she's bought for a new life.
# Story #2: Trail Run; No 2578 (now known as Rebecca) is given a chance to run to the town of Shannon with a freight train, and even performs a rescue.
# Story #3: Rivals; No 2823 (a royal Hudson from the Canadian Pacific) arrives and is restored for operation. Due to an over inflated ego, she and Rebecca get off on the wrong foot, or wheel in their case.
# Story #4: Equal Partners; When Rebecca has an accident because of two troublesome girls, it's up to 2823 to help, but will she?
Book 2: Andrew the Determined Engine (1956):
# Author's Note
# Story #1: Proving Value; Locomotive 5334 of the New York Central tries to prove steam locomotives are still useful, but ends up damaging himself instead.
# Story #2: Breaking Up; 5334 comes to the Freedom Railroad to become the third engine of the fleet. After a fight with the ships, he tries to prove himself again with bad results.
# Story #3: Protestors; A man overhears Rebecca's crew talking about the fate of passenger services on the mainland, and thinks the Freedom Railroad will be getting rid of their services soon. Later on, protestors block the main line and stop Rebecca's passenger train in it's track.
# Story #4: Taking a Risk; 5334 comes back into service after being repaired and sent to help with track laying. However, when the McKenna Truck company sends a log train out of control down the main line, it's up to this engine and his crew to stop it.
Book 3: Warren the Logging Engine (1948 to 1956):
# Author's Note
# Story #1: Fire Season; Shay #2 sets the redwood forest on fire after something shoots out of her funnel. Still in the forest, Warren and his crew go back to get the workers out before the fires really spread.
# Story #2: Heat and Brakes; Northwestern Pacific Railroad's No 178 thinks he and his line are superior to the California Western, but when the silly engine has an accident, he gets a wake up call he'll never forget. (Partly based on the melted brakes of Southern Pacific Train 7551 in 1989.)
# Story #3: Going Insane; 178 goes to work on the California Western in the hopes of becoming a better engine, but things go south when he tries to attack the railroad he's working on.
# Story #4: A Silver Lining; The California Western is low on money and might not make it to the next decade. A sale though could save them, but it means that Warren may have to go to a new home.
Book 4: Engines of the Little Haulers (1956):
# Author's Note
# Story #1: The Little Haulers; The Freedom Railroad's newest locomotive; Andrea (no 772) meets Makoto and gets to learn about the Little Haulers Railroad, and learn her history back in Japan.
# Story #2: Alison; The new engine (no 76 of the Rio Grande Southern) arrives on the Little Haulers, but the meet and greet doesn't go accordingly. She also causes an accident going down Clover's Hill. (Inspired by the Events of Southern Pacific Train 7551 in 1989).
# Story #3: Bad Luck Jenny; Makoto is asked to bring Farmer Jenny's sheep to the fall fair in Big Jim's Town, but the trip is met with problems mostly due to the sheep not wanting to get on the train, or breaking the lock off their door.
# Story #4: Disgraced Hero; Alison is allowed to go back to work, but shortly after her return, she has an incident with a car coming off a side-street. Shortly afterwords, Mak gets trapped by a mudslide and needs help getting back to the yards. Is her only hope the Disgraced engine in Big Jim's town?
Book 5: Southern Pacific's Finest (1956):
# Author's Note
# Story #1: Tipped Over; On the way to the museum, former Pennsylvania Railroad #6200 tells the story of how Southern Pacific 1217 sorted out a situation that his brother; 1216 caused. (Inspired by the tipped over Tractor Trailer on the Sky Bridge in Ontario Canada in 2017.)
# Story #2: The Tehachapi Landing; Former NYC 5344 tells Andrew and Carrie about Southern Pacific 4458 and how she and her crew helped an airplane that had a blown engine and another that cuts out.
# Story #3: The Mighty Ace; As the Museum train nears the McKenna Railroad museum, NYC 5300 tells the story of Southern Pacific 3808 and he saved young diesels, their engineer and an entire freight train as they run out of control on Cajon Pass. (This story was partly inspired by the real life event involving the runaway train on Cajon Pass in 1989, which sadly ended with the train derailing and killing four people).
# Story #4: The Finest Engine; Freedom Railroad employees go to Richmond California to buy Southern Pacific 0-6-0 #1217, Southern Pacific 4-8-4 #4458 and Southern Pacific 2-8-8-4 #3808. The operation doesn't go smoothly, but soon the locomotives are bought and brought out of the scrapyards, ready to go to the Freedom Railroad.
Book 6: Andrea the Wintertime Engine (1956):
# Author's Note
# Story #1: For Pete's Sake; After a lot of snow falls on the island, Andrea is set out to work with Pete, a very rude snowplough. But when his boasting of how good he is finally goes too far, both he and Andrea end up in a nasty situation. (Inspired by a real life event where a snowplough and set of diesel locomotives went flying off the tracks while cleaning them).
# Story #2: Vanessa the Hero; While on one of her runs, Andrea and her crew come across a horrible sight of two young boys playing on their tracks, which forces Vanessa to risk her life to save them before it's too late. (Inspired by a real life event where two young boys were playing on train tracks as a Conrail freight train came into view. In the real event, the conductor ran up to save them.)
# Story #3: Slippery Conditions; On a very nasty winter's day, a McKenna truck speeds along and runs out of control into a stalled line-up of automobiles, and nearly gets hit by Andrea on a return run. (This event was inspired by the real life event in 2017 when a tractor trailer slid out of control and caused a massive car pile-up outside of Toronto Ontario Canada).
# Story #4: White-Out; While the Blizzards have come to an end for the month, the winds continue to pick up, causing problems for everyone, including a bus and it's Driver taking passengers. They end up off the road and having the engine give out on them. Now their only hope lays in a certain Berkshire just down the line from them.
Trivia:
# This series is done in the same format as the Reverend Wilbert and Christopher Awdry's books with four stories per book, unless it requires more than four tales.