Arthur's Ghost

"*It's reckoned every year of the anniversary of  Arthur's death that his ghost appears, hoping desperately to reach its destination so he and the tormented souls of his victims can finally be at peace...*"
— Edward's explanation about the Ghost, Ghost

## Character Information

### Color:

White

**Arthur’s Ghost** is a supernatural force.

## Bio

Late one night in the winter of 1923, Arthur was late leaving Maron. He sped down the line, desperate to preserve his spotless record. He went full speed on Gordon's hill. The icy rails, low visibility and the steep downgrade of the hill caused him to crash. It was said that on the week Arthur died, he will return as a ghost trying to pass the area where he crashed.

One winter's night in 1937, Percy was pulling a coal train up the Wellsworth side of Gordon's hill; when the ghost raced past in the opposite direction. Percy then heard the sound of a train crash, but when he went to investigate, nothing was found. Word began to spread, and more people began to see it along the line, however, Edward remained skeptical.

At least that was until a few nights later; when he was waiting at Maron for Reginald to arrive with his passenger train. However, the ghost train came in first. Thinking this was a regular engine, the stationmaster went to speak with the crew but got no response. Then, a woman tried to peer into one of the coaches and became so shocked by what she saw, she was committed to an insane asylum. Reginald came up soon afterward, but just as he was about to crash into the ghost's brake coach; the whole train disappeared.

Things began to get worse; and when told of the events of Percy's encounter, Toby believed that the train was doomed to repeat the events that led to Arthur's death; and interrupting the events might send the ghost away, with the help of a very reluctant Mr. Zorro, who was only convinced to help by Diesel. So, that night at Maron; Edward, Toby, Zorro, Diesel, Lily, and Mickey waited to confront the ghost train. When it arrived, Zorro spoke to the ghost, saying that he got an express engine to take Arthur's train for him; and saying that he could go; after that, the ghost vanished.

By the time Edward is telling the stories in present day, the engines had never seen Arthur's ghost since, but as Edward points out, "Who's to say we never won't?"

## Livery

Unlike Arthur, his ghost is painted in silver livery with red lining and the number 0 on his tanks in yellow. He has a black dome and a black cab.

## Basis

Unlike Arthur, his ghost is based on the LB&SCR Class E2 0-6-0T, particularly the second batch of locomotives built with extended side-tanks. These engines were built by Brighton Works between 1913-1916 to replace the aging Stroudley E1 class and were primarily used for heavy shunting and short-distance freight trains in the London area and on the south coast. During their final working years, the E2 class worked as shunting engines at Southampton Docks, until they were replaced by the BR Class 07 diesel shunters. All of the E2s were scrapped, with none surviving into preservation.

## Appearances

### The Stories of Sodor

#### Season 2

* Spectre *(mentioned)*
* Sabotage *(stock footage cameo)*

#### Season 3

* Extension *(indirectly mentioned)*
* Fog

### Sodor Shorts

* Busters
* Swagman

## Trivia

* Arthur's ghost appearance is based on Timothy the Ghost Engine, which is a famous Thomas the Tank Engine myth. The ghost model is made by Paul Gausden and it's called "Sp00py".
* In Fog, a non-faceless E2 class tank engine and a brake van appear several times in the mist. This was thought to be the ghost and Dominic by several of the engines. However, this is later proven false as the engine that was seen was The Government Owned Engine.