Godred

*"You'll have an accident."
"Pooh! I've got my automatic brakes, haven't I? And Driver's got his air brake. What more do you want?"*
―Culdee and Godred[src]
**Godred**, named after Godred MacHarold, a famous King of Sodor, was an arrogant narrow gauge mountain engine who worked on the Culdee Fell Railway until he was destroyed in an accident.

## Biography

### The Accident

Godred was built at the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works in Winterthur, Switzerland, in the early 19th Century, and he arrived on the Culdee Fell Railway with the first four engines in time for the line's inspection.

Godred was pompous from the start, and believed that if he was put in danger, his automatic brakes would save him no matter what. Despite his crew and the Manager all looked him over to see if there was anything wrong and Culdee advising him to be careful, Godred still went on in his same old way.

On June 4th, just over a month after the railway had opened, Godred was coming down the Summit with a passenger train, when he came off the rails at Devil's Back and rolled down the mountain. The accident was so bad that he was smashed to pieces, and when he was recovered the next day, he was beyond repair and sent to the back of the shed. Godred was scrapped, and his parts were cannibalized to help keep the other engines going until new engines could be acquired.

### Legacy

When Culdee returned from Switzerland after a major overhaul, he met the Skarloey Railway engines on his journey back to his railway, and he told them about Godred's story. The story was so shocking that Sir Handel and Duncan were both left speechless; Skarloey and Rheneas never told them that Culdee had made the story up. Culdee later told No. 6 about Godred.

## Personality and Traits

*"Godred never learnt sense. His Driver and Fireman and the Manager all spoke to him. They even took him to pieces to see if anything was wrong; but he still went on in the same old way."*
―Culdee talking about Godred[src]
Godred was arrogant, self-centered and reckless, most likely because of the nature of his naming. He put too much faith in his automatic brakes, believing that no matter what would happen, he would come out unhurt.

## Technical Details

### Basis

Godred was based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway's "L.A.D.A.S.", the first steam engine on the railway. L.A.D.A.S. was named after Laura Alice Duff Assheton-Smith, the wife of a major landowner, and took one of the first trains on the railway's opening day.

Unfortunately, while coming down the mountain, L.A.D.A.S. was destroyed when the engine came off the track and fell down the mountain, and when the engine was recovered, it was scrapped. The Snowdon Mountain Railway never replaced L.A.D.A.S. with an engine carrying her number.

L.A.D.A.S.'s remains
### Livery

Godred was painted in the Culdee Fell Railway's signature purple livery with orange lining. He carried two red nameplates with gold writing on each of his tanks, and his number was painted on the sides of his cab. His front face was grey, while his rear face was purple, blending in with his livery.

## Background Information

### Cause of the Accident

Godred's accident and subsequent scrapping was inspired by the accident that happened on April 6th, 1896, when L.A.D.A.S. was coming down the Summit with a passenger train, when the engine came off the rails and tumbled down the mountain. The fall destroyed the locomotive, leaving only the pistons, frames and wheels still intact. L.A.D.A.S. was deemed beyond repair, and was scrapped after its remains were recovered.

L.A.D.A.S.'s accident was caused by subsidence of the track, leading to the pinion wheel disengaging; this was amended by fitting guard-bars to the rack-rail. As the Culdee Fell Railway opened four years after L.A.D.A.S.'s accident, it seems likely that the guard-rails would have been required by the Board of Trade from the outset, meaning that a different chain of events would have had to occur to cause the derailment, somehow disengaging both the pinion wheels and the gripper connecting to the engine, which connects with the guard-bars to prevent such an accident from happening.

### Existence

Godred's actual existence on the Culdee Fell Railway was left uncertain in *Mountain Engines*; it is said near the end of *Bad Look-Out* that Culdee had made up both the story and Godred, yet there are no other engines on the railway that carry Godred's number. Furthermore, *The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways* and *Sodor: Reading Between the Lines* both confirm that Godred's accident was an event that actually happened.

The most likely explanation is that the Rev. W. Awdry wanted his fictional railway to mirror its real-life counterpart as close as possible, but as this would involve the "death" of a character, he chose to end *Bad Look-Out* the way he did so as to not upset any young readers.

## Appearances

### The Railway Series

* Mountain Engines - Bad Look-Out and Devil's Back (*mentioned*)

### Other Books

* The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways (*mentioned*)
* Sodor: Reading Between the Lines (*mentioned*)

## References

1. ↑ The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
2. ↑ Mountain Engines

**Culdee Fell Railway**