okay so we know sodor's been host to some preserved engines over the years (stepney, scotsman, wilbert, etc) - what other preserved engines do you think have visited sodor? one of the duchesses, perhaps? or maybe an engine who'd left on bad term prior?
I don't have any specific HCs tbh... except perhaps Bodiam. She got an overhaul at Crovan's Gate and while "working off" the expense of the repairs on Sodor she and Percy got up to so. much. mischief.
(I feel like the key Sodor engine involved in Duchess of Sunderland's visit was James. I can't put my finger on exactly what happened, though.)
Overall, I do think that at this point it would be easier to list the preserved U.K. engines who haven't been through Crovan's Gate, as CG would be the destination for steam and diesel engineering. Its biggest competitors are Darlington, Didcot, and Riley & Son but (sorry) CG is clearly the best in league. (They are also the fastest—once they begin—but the waiting list is looooonnng.)
The biggest exception to the long list of Sodor visitors are most of the Didcot engines (which is fine; they're taken care of) and most of the National Collection (which is not so fine—this is sheer stubbornness). The latter is because the NRM sometimes goes through long periods of pointedly ignoring the NWR's existence due to behind-the-scenes Politics that are too boring to get into. This cold war came back to bite them in the arse when Flying Scotsman's 2016 overhaul went on so long and proved so disappointing. I reckon there is a high chance that here the timeline changes because both Hattian and public pressure made the NRM pivot Scot over to CG to complete the job. If this didn't go down, then engines from both institutions are still pissed and the NRM has discontent stewing almost to the point of mutiny.
Anyway, yeah. I spend more of my time trying to re-arrange the TVS characters into permanent Sodor engines and ones who were there temporarily and when? than I do thinking about real-life engines. But Sodor is definitely a revolving door for many of them, too.
or maybe an engine who'd left on bad term prior?
Ooooh. That's really interesting.
I really like that idea—one of the many, many Class 40s that came through Sodor was probably preserved. And probably did the overhaul-and-temp-loan thing! Wonder how that went down.
And omg. 98462 survived? And went back to Sodor for a bit for this process?? (And was incredibly popular with the new lot, who had no idea why The Three Railway Engines™ + Thomas were so sour about the whole thing???) 👀
