I've always had issue with the fact that Henry, presumably built off of a set of drawings from 1915 (perhaps there were more in between those and the 1920 draft?), went through a derailment which, while tragic, *physically* affected him very little compared to what could have happened, and caused a conspiracy theory and identity crisis because of it.
Now I know that this is Sodor, and its meant to be full of whimsy and things which Just Happen and it all (usually) works out in the end even if you have to go through a 20 book arc of things happening in the background. But a lot of its whimsy and joy (particularly regarding The Rebuild™) does sometimes have to be seen through a lens of it being stories.
But I don't roll like that. See I have two very, very, small issues with The Rebuild™.
1: As much as I like the idea that a cash strapped somehow-making-it-by NWR *does* have that unique chance of Hatt calling in a miracle of a favour of having Henry be sent off to Crewe for a few months and coming back with a clone theory... I also don't. Personally I think that trying to rebuild something of Henry's size into a faux-5X (Jubilee for the uninformed) is a bit too far of a reach for me personally.
2: I will be citing the report of the 1955 Milton Rail Accident by Brigadier C. A. Langley as linked at the bottom of this post for this second point.
A quick review: If any of you have noticed irregularities with the deflectors on the BR 7MT pacifics, this accident is why! 70026 'Polar Star' derailed at speed due to the driver both not seeing an update to the notices at the beginning of his shift and not being able to see a distant nor home signal as being at 'danger'. This accident and its paired report led to many 7MTs having the handrails on their deflectors removed in favour of grab holes cut into them. The Western examples had theirs lined with brass trim while the Midland examples had two comparatively huge grab handles with no decor at all!
The reason I bring this accident up here is because I think it is very similar to the Flying Kipper accident 20 years prior. A pacific of similar weight and size to Henry derailed over a sharp crossover at 50 miles per hour, turning onto its side, and falling down an embankment. Now before I hear any criticisms, yes, I do know that the Flying Kipper accident happened on a straight alignment and seeing that Henry did not tip over at the entrance to the passing siding it can be judged that either his driver slowed down appropriately to enter the loop and started to pick up speed again, or, alternatively, this passing loop has points rated for 60 m.p.h. plus to at the least enter it.
What ever happened, the impact with the stalled train caused Henry to demolish the brakevan and enough wagons to slow to a speed where he mounted instead of demolished and ride up and over to fall down the embankment beside the line.
Allowing for his front end to be suitably mangled I personally can't see Henry turning out much worse than Polar Star did in their respective accident. We know that Crovan's Gate can do "lots of new parts and new paint too" (HtGE, 'Coal' Pg.1) so they would be more than capable of sorting out a new front end, a new bogie too if needed considering they do need to maintain the railways own coaching stock.
This is the point where I cite one handy thing from the IoS book which I'm sure many many others have cited before.
On one hand I think that them doing a rebuild *in-house* is arguably even more insane than sending him off to a contractors Crewe considering that really I don't think we have any idea of what Crovan's Gate actually is capable of in terms of large scale rebuilds in the mid-30s. But, on the other hand, it would further cement that this is a proper railway. They have the capabilities to rebuild their own engines and not rely on outside contractors. It would also give Hatt I something else to point at come 1948 to say "see! we have all the proper facilities and more to run and maintain our engines." and further twist the governments arm in to not lumping them in with the London Midland Region.
Assuming that whomever built Henry originally didn't bungle up the building process and *did* go according to the drawings I personally don't see an issue in what would effectively be a boiler swap. Of course Hatt would likely prefer to add his own details (see the flowing running board) but I do not think it is too far out of the realm of possibility to give Sodor not one but two reliable pacifics. This would of course throw a wrench into Henry being the middle man in size between him, Gordon, and James, and the sole reason why James can be considered a "Big Engine" (apart from his ego), but mmm this ain't about him shhh.
This is all to say I much prefer Henry in his (frankly quite handsome) pacific form to his rather stubby 5P5F form so I did something about it (for my AU).
Music Clip Video: The Three Railway Engines / Sam Baardman - When the Freight Train Rolls
So this Idea has been bouncing around in my head for months and I finally had some free time to put it together. tbh I could wait for Traintober but... I don't want to lol. Expect a reblog then tho lol. UUHH happy extremely belated 80th anniversary ig? Music source below -v
I FORGOT I MADE THOMAS LMAO didn't need to wait to finish Emily in order to post them, at all
Anyways !! More of the steam team frr !! Only need to do Emily and Toby now, then i'll go for the diesels :>>>>>> thoo i'll probably share some headcanons n relationship stuff of the steam team in the mean time yeps
