The British Railway Series

"The British Railway Series" is a model railway series currently shown on Youtube on the Copley Hill Works Channel. It is written and produced by Simon Alexander Martin, a student at Loughborough University.

The current series, "The End of the LNER" is set in the period 1950-1967, in Great Britain and on the Eastern Region of British Railways. Throughout the course of the series the look of the locomotives and rolling stock changes dramatically. This is due in part to the historical events such as British Railway's Modernization plan, and the replacing of steam traction with diesel locomotives.

The locomotives all live at an Eastern region yard, "Copley Hill", which has undergone and will continue to undergo changes in design.

Currently there have been 15 episodes. The series is currently on hiatus until the summer of 2009.

Main Characters

 * N.B. Originally the series was conceived with just three central characters, Stephen, Allen and Sir Ralph. It has been debated as to which of the three engines is the "Thomas" character of the series, the one which the series revolves around. Either way, the trio of passenger locomotives have established themselves as the main characters in the series.

"Stephen" is a Holden B12 locomotive, and the oldest locomotive in the series. He is named for the designer of his class, Stephen Holden. Numbered 61572, Stephen currently wears British Railways mixed traffic black livery, though he has also appeared in LNER green, and BR express Passenger blue. Wise and sensible, Stephen is the only character to have appeared in every episode of the series so far. He has established himself quite firmly as the fans' favorite character.

"Allen" is a Peppercorn A1 pacific, and one of the youngest locomotives in the series. Numbered 60114, named "W.P Allen", Allen is the prototype of his class. He pulls the "Fair Maid" express regularly, and is a powerful performer. Young, cocky, but well meaning, Allen wears the British Railways Express Passenger Blue livery with pride.

"Sir Ralph" is a Gresley A4 pacific, and is a rather pompous character who has a good heart in his smokebox somewhere. Numbered 60006, and named "Sir Ralph Wedgwood", he is painted in British Railways Express passenger Blue. Not everything is what it seems, and Sir Ralph is not quite the locomotive he appears to be - originally, his name was Herring Gull. He gained the name "Sir Ralph Wedgwood" after his friend, Gadwall (whom had been the first to be renamed after the Chief Officer of the LNER), was destroyed in the Baedeker Blitz on York in 1942. This caused some confusion amongst the engines, happily this has now been resolved (see episodes 8-10).

"Herbert" is a Gresley V2 locomotive, and is a nervous locomotive. Numbered 60903, and wearing British Railways Brunswick Green, Herbert is one of the few characters in the series to have his name or class included in the titles of episodes (namely "Veto a V2!" and "Nigel, Herbert and the Cows"). Although in reality 60903 was not named, the character of Herbert was named after his designer, Herbert Nigel Gresley (better known as Sir Nigel Gresley). Herbert's first appearance came in "Veto a V2!"

"Nigel" is a Gresley V3 locomotive, and is a powerful mixed traffic tank engine. Wearing plain black with a cycling lion crest, Nigel is, like Herbert, named after his designer, Herbert Nigel Gresley. He is known to listen to the cricket matches on his driver's old wireless set. His first appearance came in episode 4, "Nigel, Herbert and the Cows".

"Tavish" is a Gresley J39 locomotive, and is the only six coupled tender engine in the series so far. Scottish in origin, Tavish has a strong Scottish accent and a hardworking nature. Tavish first appeared in Episode 6, and has been a firm fans favourite ever since.

"Scott" is a Gresley A3 pacific, better known as Flying Scotsman. Numbered 60103, Scott made his full debut in Episode 8 "Scott and the Herring Gull!" although he has appeared in the background of other episodes. Scott was a very tense, angry character, and has been portrayed as being similar to Sir Ralph in terms of character, although there appear to be some more devious tendencies than the haughty A4 pacific. Scott has been the subject of an ongoing trilogy in which he accused Sir Ralph of being an impostor - happily it has been resolved, and the two engines are friends once more.

"Hawk" is an ex Great Western Railways "Hawksworth" pannier tank, specifically the 94XX class. He is quiet, and hard working individual with a great sense of right and wrong, and not afraid to speak his mind when it is needed. He returned to the series in episode 11, "Hawk Eyed" and left again in episode 14, "Silent Night". He also appears in the short episodes, "Diesel Depot" (cameo), "Night Hawk" and "Jerry's Ghost", which are three parts of the special episode, 15X entitled "The Parting of Ways".

"Thompson" is a B1 locomotive, numbered 61130, and is the grumpiest locomotive at Copley Hill shed. Rumour has it that he's bitter because of his designer's bad rap with the railwaymen of the old London &amp; North Eastern Railway...

"Stewart" is a British Railways Standard class 6 pacific locomotive who appeared very briefly in episode 5 (as a background engine), however he is the other Scottish locomotive who will have a very significant role to play within the episodes to come. He is numbered 72009 and his full name is Clan Stewart. He is named for the first time in "Day of the Deltic" when it is revealed that Nigel was moved to the Out of Use line so he could pick him up.

"Gronk" is a British Railways Class 08 Diesel/Electric shunter. He has been Copley Hill's yard shunter since Episode 11. Timid, but hard working, Gronk tries his best to please everyone, however there are some characters who look to take advantage of his good nature. He was the engine that moved Nigel to the out of use and when the other engines found out they turned on him. Stephen helped him by saying that he could shunt at Leeds Central instead.

Recurring Characters
"George" - Ivatt 2MT (Midland Region)

"Jerry" - Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0

"Samson" - Royal Scot 8P (Midland Region)

"Arthur" - Ex-LNER Peppercorn A2 Pacific

"Geoffrey" - Ex-LNER J50 Tank

"Holden" - Ex-LNER J83 Tank

"Deltic" - English Electric, Prototype Diesel-Electric Express Locomotive

List of episodes
1. A Great Problem Goes West!

2. Veto a V2!

3. Hawk, Aye!

4. Nigel, Herbert and the Cows

5. Hand of the Fair Maid!

6. Goodbye, Stephen the Green Engine

7. Christmas, 1952

8. Scott and the Herring Gull!

9. Birds of a Feather!

10. The Legacy of Gadwall

11. Hawk Eyed!

12. Hawk the Hunter!

13. Suburban Tank

14. Silent Night

15. The Day of the Deltic

15X. The Parting of Ways - Includes "Diesel Depot", "Night Hawk" and "Jerry's Ghost".

16. Great Scott! (Coming Summer 2009)

17. Fowler's Ghost (TBC)

18. The Lady of Malta (TBC)

Shorts
In the special video, "The Making of The British Railway Series", there were three special "shorts" which continued the story of Episode 15.

The names of the shorts are:
 * 1) Diesel Depot
 * 2) Night Hawk
 * 3) Jerry's Ghost

Predominantly, the main character in the shorts is Stephen, though he is joined by Gronk, Hawk, Jerry (Episode 6's standard 4MT character), and the first appearance of the class 47 diesel, "Brush".

These shorts were later merged together into a special episode for Youtube numbered/named Episode 15X, "The Parting of Ways". It was intended to bridge the gap between Episode 15 and Episode 16. It is considered canonical in the series, though not being an episode in its own right.


 * Plans are afoot to release a special DVD to help fund the building of sets and new camera equipment. The DVD will contain, for the first time, the full Episode 15, a full hour special named "The Day of the Deltic &amp; The Parting of Ways".

N.B. Updates and behind the scenes pictures can be viewed on the new dedicated website: http://www.sodor-island.net/thebritishrailwayseries/index.html, where there are complete episode guides, character profiles, interviews, a guestbook and many other features!