Knapford

**Knapford** is a large town and railway station on the west coast of the Island of Sodor. It serves as the junction for Thomas' Branch Line and the western terminus on the Main Line.

## History

For centuries the area below Elsbridge had been flooded both at high tide and when the river was in spate. At other times it looked innocent enough to tempt unwary invaders to choose this route inland. All without exception found themselves engulfed in bog.

During the 1880s, the Ulfstead Mining Company became interested in the minerals (lead mostly) waiting to be found on the higher ground east of the marsh; but without a firm footing they could not be either extracted or transported away. Accordingly, they called in A.W. Dry & Co., who had experience of working on drainage problems in East Anglia. A.W. Dry built embankments across the flats north and south of the river (along which the main line of the railway now runs) and installed tide gates. The river was then embanked along its south eastern side, but the opposite bank was left open to provide a flood-pool for the normal river flow which could be drained off every day at low tide. It thus remained a marsh where the Elsbridge fenmen could carry on their activities as before and since this, fortunately, was the side of the river they preferred, they offered little opposition to A.W. Dry's drainage operations on the east.

The town of Knapford itself, though an important railway terminus on the west of Sodor, is in a bleak position. It is a railway and dock town. Few people live here apart from railwaymen, dock workers and drainage engineers. It had a population of 2,200 in 1951. Farming, fishing and fowling also form part of the local economy.

Knapford station is known as the "Big Station", has an all-over glass roof spanning five terminal lines and a "through road" leading to Tidmouth. It contains the Fat Controller's main office and is the station where HM Queen Elizabeth II visited Sodor. The Express departs and returns from here every day. In Tale of the Brave, the station is given a new track layout and signal gantries were added above the lines, with a large yard also being added next to the station.

At one point in 1973, Sir Bertram Topham Hatt decided to upgrade the public announcement system with a new one called the TX-1000, but this caused problems as the sound quality was poor. He decided to switch it back afterwards.

Knapford High Street is located here. A bus leaves from the front of Knapford Station to there every ten minutes.

Thomas was the original station pilot, but he left upon gaining his branch line. Sometime after Percy was bought, he became the station pilot, but when he left for Thomas' branch line, he was replaced by Duck, who eventually left upon gaining his own branch line. From the thirteenth season onwards, Philip has been the station pilot.

Occasionally, Duck and Oliver from the Little Western and the Harwick Branch Line stop here, with Daisy making regular stops at the station after the Fat Controller extended her route from Harwick to Knapford.

## Trivia

* To date, Knapford Station has appeared in every season except the fifth (where it was seemingly replaced with Kirk Ronan), and every special except The Great Discovery.
* Knapford Drive in Columbus, Ohio, is named after the town.