Trains of the Past

T**rains of the Past** (originally going to be named **History Returns**) is the 5th episode of The Series 1970s. It dates itself the time the District Railway four-wheelers arrived and the opening of the Dentin extension, marked with a race between the mixed-traffic 4-6-0s Stanford and Henry.

## Plot

In mid-1973, the Moorland Steam Railway's new extension was to be opened the next day while final works are carried out. Stanford gets jealous of visiting NWR Black Five Henry for having his fire being lit first because his design is more famous than the Thompson B1s that Stanford belongs to. He's soon assigned a works train to get Burshton North station ready for opening tomorrow and takes five vans with station fittings. Around this time, a Class 08 shunts three flatbeds with three old coach bodies with appear elderly. The diesel scoffs the design of the coaches before leaving, until Capulet takes them away from restoration. The coach bodies are revealed as former District Railway carriages and they've been purchased for restoration.

At Burshton North, Stanford is surprised to see that fellow family locomotive Raven had been returned to operational condition following a three-year restoration and overhaul into pre-WWII LNER black and explaining much about how the opening day is going to go as Henry passes heading for Dentin. The next day, the ribbon is cut with included the bridge that spanned over the mainline at Northampsmith to gain access to Dentin. A little later, Stanford backs into five coaches of LNER origin while Henry is already there and the two want to settle the argument between their classes with race along the full length of the line, which express headcodes being fitted to both engines. With great fanfare, the two set off to see who was the better design. During the race, Stanford attempts to try an overtake Henry by opening his regulator more in-spite of knowing he has problems with his water injectors.

After passing Birdsville station, his left injector fails and cuts of steam to allow the gradient to coast him faster towards Gladsville, and claiming victory, but completely puffed out. At Northampsmith, they are both told off by the manager about their race and told that the MSR was not the East Coast Mainline (ECML) but a heritage railway with a speed restriction of 50mph, which both were reaching speeds of around 70-75. The two soon realise that only to truly end the grudge was to do it on NWR metals. Henry reveals that he would be leaving the railway for home as his loan period was up. The two resolve their argument and given the NWR Black Five a send off.

## Characters

* Stanford
* Raven
* Henry
* Jenny
* Hughes
* Titan
* Labiche
* MSR Manager
* Mitch (cameo)
* Coventry (cameo)
* LMS Black Fives (mentioned)
* Oliver Bury (mentioned)
* Unnamed BR Class 08

## Locations

* Northampsmith MPD
* Northampsmith station
* Dentin station
* Burshton North station
* Dentin Moor station
* Ryde station
* Birdsville station
* Northrop station
* Gladsville station
* East Coast Mainline (mentioned)
* London (mentioned)

## Trivia

The race scene between Stanford and Henry is based on the race scene in 'The Railway Fleet Episode 3: The Better Region' between Flying Scotsman and Rudyard Kipling, which the latter lost due to injector failure.

* Rudyard's injector failure also inspired Stanford's injector failure, which he won the race.
* The song 'Night Witches' by Sabaton was also used in this race.
* The race was also inspired the 1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials, which Black Five No. 45253, Thompson B1 No. 61251 'Oliver Bury, Modified Hall No. 6990 'Witherslack Hall and West Country No. 34005 'Barnstable' were put against each other but the results of the time trials lead to the creation of the BR Standards of 1951 to 1960.

This episode marks the following:

* The first operational appearance of Raven.

* The first appearance of Henry since "Saved from Scrap" and his final until 'Exchanged".

* The only appearance of the District Railway four-wheel coaches before restoration.

* The first appearance of Mitch and Coventry, albeit in a short cameo role.

From now to 1986, the Moorland Steam Railway is now 16 miles long.

The manager's line, "This's a heritage railway, not the East Coast racetrack," is a reference to a line said by Mr Bentley in the original Bob the Builder episode 'Bob's Big Plan' when he was escorting Scambler, "This's a pedestrian area, not a racetrack."

* This could also be a reference to the East Coast Mainline (ECML) being nicknamed by railway workers as a "racetrack".