There he is, the engine, the myth, the legend!
Since I already asked you about your headcanons regarding Walter, I'll go ahead and post some of my own!
1. Walter is one of the Hunslet Austerities that were ordered but not built until after the war ended, entering service in October of 1945.
2. Walter was absorbed into the LNER, becoming part of the J94 Class. Specifically, he is LNER 8062/BR 68062, as depicted in this Hornsby/Hattons model:
Fun fact, I picked that number without knowing about the model. But hey, BoCo's BR number came from a model too, so this is just par for the course.
(Originally, I was going to make Walter a fictional add-on before I decided I would only use the add-on method either for thematic reasons like with Oliver if it just makes more practical sense to do so as with Barry, Daisy, James, etc)
2. As with the real 68062, Walter spent many years allocated to Ardsley Shed, working as an industrial shunter in the Yorkshire coalfields and local marshalling yards. Aside from the occasional visit to other nearby sheds and junctions, Walter would remain here until being withdrawn in 1965.
3. Upon withdrawal, Walter was subsequently purchased by the Cumberland Steel Works and worked here for the next eight years before being withdrawn. From there, Walter would go through a variety of owners such as the Fred Pelham Coal Company, Jolly Frank's Funland, Wickersham Park, the odd heritage line, and who knows where else he's worked.
4. As a result of his rather colorful working life prior to arriving on Sodor, Walter's never short on stories or anecdotes from back in the day.
5. Walter is also familiar with a wide range of famous engines you wouldn't expect him to know. Gordon can talk about his brother the Flying Scotsman and Walter would be like "oh yeah, Scotty, love that guy!"
6. Walter enjoys a good joke, but is very serious about his work and will stand for no nonsense.
7. Walter was named in honor of then-recently retired Culdee Fell manager Walter Richards, who had once been his driver.
Okay, these are more specific to my AU the Sodorverse:
8. Walter works on the Harwick Branch Line along with Stirling (full name Earl of Stirling, a member of the GWR 3200 class), Paddy (a BR Class 14 "Teddy Bear" and the fifth diesel purchased by the NWR), and Ryan. He gets along swimmingly with Paddy and Ryan, and although he and Stirling can but heads, they do ultimately care about one another.
9. Likewise, he has a great deal of respect and admiration for Duck and Oliver and hits it off very well with the Scottish Twins and the Aresdale engines.
10. This one is more specific to my AU the Sodorverse, but the other lines near him there are the Misty Valley Branchline-where Emily and Paxton from the tv series work along with an ex-Caledonian Railway 439 Class tank engine named McIntosh (who's basically a Scottish Boomhauer)- and the Mid Sodor Heritage/Historical Railway. Walter and Bowler are the only non-Scottish engines who can understand McIntosh. Nobody knows how Walter understands him, he just does.
vaporwave
andulkaphoto
areudirty
titsay
2087
tangentwithtanner
stormborns
