Mountain

**Mountain** is the third episode of the fourth season of the Stories of Sodor and the fifty-third episode overall.

Mountain/Transcript

## Plot

An old phrase on Sodor says, "From every point, you'll see where Culdee Fell". This expression comes from an ancient legend that refers to the mountain rising out of the centre of Sodor. The Culdee Fell Railway was intended to serve as a tourist attraction instead of serving communities or industries. It had a troubled construction. First, the route was proposed to pass through an estate owned by Lord Walter Barrane. He refused at first, but conceded to being chairman of the company. Now that the route was finalised, construction shortly after the completion of the Peel Godred Branch. They completed the yards, shed and station of Kirk Machan within a year. After one of the directors was found to be embezzling, the construction had to be abandoned and was left to rot for a few years. Soon, some anonymous investors came in to help, apparently being keen to see the line be completed. They were able to provide the funds for new materials, purchased a few engines from the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Wales and contracted the Skarloey Railway to build rolling stock for the CFR.

The Skarloey Engines were pleased with this, all except Duncan. He complains to Andreas about being overworked. Today, he had to help out Duke with his passenger train, Stuart with his ballast delivery, and now he has to take some coaches down to Crovan's Gate because Rheneas, who was supposed to take them, had burst a cylinder. Andreas is thankful for this job for the CFR as a good source of income for the railway, noting that Sir Handel Brown, who recently bought the SKR, has been making plans to expand the railway, but isn't able to convince Duncan otherwise.

Duncan brings his coaches down to Crovan's Gate and when he arrives there, he sees on a flatbed, two unusual looking purple engines with faces on their backsides. The first engine introduces itself as Alaric and the other one as Wilfred. Duncan learns the engines are talking from up front, and that they're designed for work on mountain railways. He tells them that the mountain is haunted and explains its history. Wilfred doesn't believe this, but Alaric isn't too sure.

A couple of hours later, Alaric and Wilfred, along with two other mountain engines, Harry and Ernest, have arrived at Kirk Machan. Harry doesn't like the condition of their new shed and Alaric points out that they should be grateful for what they have. Just then, Lord Barrane arrives and explains that they had to economise during the first year of construction. Harry asks if they could restart construction, and Barrane agrees. Alaric then asks Barrane about the legend of King Godred and Wilfred dismisses the idea. He does point out that both engines are correct in different ways, as several hikers had disappeared on the mountain throughout the years, but many have reached the summit and returned, including himself. He also explains that the ghost is a part of a larger legend he promises to tell them about, and while he doesn't believe the legend, he sees it as a good story to tell tourists. Barrane tells his engines that the construction will start the next day, and leaves.

The first year of resumed construction proceeded smoothly, with the line reaching Devil's Back. One day, when Harry delivered some supplies there, he heard an unusual noise echoing from the top of the mountain. That evening, he claims it was the wind sounding strange and now doesn't believe the mountain is haunted. Lord Barrane praises the four engines for their hard work and tells them that they got a call from Royalty Trekking in London. They recently sold a package for a tour group that will be arriving on Sodor the following week. It was going to be a boat ride on the Els River, but the boating company went bankrupt and they asked the CFR for their replacement service. The legal council says they can start operating since the railway has already met all the safety requirements. Lord Barrane then asks the four engines their thoughts on the matter. Ernest points out that they should continue the momentum of construction and bringing the tourists might delay their progress. Wilfred says this could be a good opportunity to generate publicity if they do good. Ernest points out that most of the stations haven't been fitted with lavatories yet. Alaric suggests to limit the experience to a single location, to which Harry says Devil's Back would be the perfect place, but Ernest points out that structural work there was only finished the day before. Ernest is still hesitant to go along, though Barrane promises to remind Royalty Trekking about his concerns and they will ensure the end result will be safe the railway won't operate if it isn't. Barrane leaves. Ernest was hesitant, given what happened at Snowdon at its opening day in 1896, though Harry points out that given the number of trains the engines have operated around that time, they should know how to operate safely, so Ernest decides to go along. Alaric then comes up with an idea to include the legend of King Godred into the business and has an idea on making the legend more entertaining.

The next week, the party has gathered at Devil's Back. Sir Topham Hatt was invited too. They then head down to hear the legend of King Godred. A man tells of the legend of King Godred, Culdee and the Mountain. After defeating Culdee, King Godred heard that Culdee might have returned from Hell. Godred set off to the mountainside, and was never seen again. It has been debated what happened to Godred; He either died while climbing, Culdee ambushed him and dragged him into Hell, or they're locked in an never-ending duel, and if one listens closely, their battle cries can be heard. Just then Alaric blows his whistle, which most people assumed was the battle cry at first. While the legend was being told, Wilfred was focusing on a mountain goat as it had a hat in its mouth.

At the sheds, Alaric is talking about the experience to the others when he suddenly realises Ernest is missing. Ernest had taken a works train up to the base of the summit. Harry then tries to talk to the other two about his experience, to no avail as the others don't want to listen.

Up at foot of the summit, the men are working when Ernest and Catherine hear the strange wind coming from the summit. Ernest tells Catherine that back at Snowdon, one time, he took a train of visitors up to the summit, as usual. On the way down, he didn't see the track was blocked by a landslide. He crashed into it and derailed. Fortunately, none of the passengers were badly injured, but they demanded refunds and the manager scolded him. Suddenly, they hear thunder, meaning a storm is on its way. The workmen get into Catherine and Ernest sets off down the mountain. Soon, it began raining hard. Ernest safely made his way down the steep slopes, but halfway between Shiloh and Skarloey Road, they saw a landslide blocking their way. Ernest braked hard, narrowly avoiding a derailment. Ernest then reveals that it took them almost nine hours to rescue him when he derailed.

The others heard about Ernest's predicament and wanted to help immediately, but they couldn't due to the storm. The storm continued into the night, and the next day, after nineteen hours of being stranded, Ernest, Catherine and the workmen were rescued. The track wasn't damaged in the landslide and construction resumed on that day. Almost one year later, the railway reached the Summit. After its grand opening, the Culdee Fell Railway became one of Sodor's greatest attractions. The mysterious whistle can be heard occasionally, apparently being caused by wind blowing through an unusual rock formation, which is the only detail that guides ever mention. This has never been confirmed because the entire mountain was declared a nature reserve the year the Summit station was opened, so all hiking on the mountain became illegal. It was always suspected that the measures were imposed because something unknown was found there that was better left alone.

## Characters

* Lord Walter Barrane
* Alaric
* Wilfred
* Harry
* Ernest
* Catherine
* The Fat Controller
* Duncan
* Andreas
* Edward *(narration only; does not speak)*
* Mr. Zorro *(does not speak)*
* Stuart *(does not speak)*
* Rheneas *(does not speak)*
* Duke *(does not speak)*
* Thomas *(cameo)*
* Donald *(cameo)*
* Skarloey *(cameo)*
* Falcon *(cameo)*
* Atlas *(cameo)*
* Stanley (No. 2) *(cameo)*
* Kate *(cameo)*
* Bertie *(cameo)*
* Samantha *(cameo)*
* Hurricane *(cameo)*
* Arthur *(cameo)*

## Trivia

* Bits of dialogue from A Bad Day for Sir Handel is present.