The Old Iron Bridge Ghost Engine

“Other engines came and went.”

The tale of Duncan Gets Spooked is legendary in the Thomas Universe, let alone the fandom. As of recently, brand new Unseen, Extended Footage & Deleted Scenes of Season 5 has been released to the public, featuring many obscure takes and and gag reels clips that didn't make it to the final cuts of the episodes, and as you can imagine everyone has already gone nuts over it, myself included. ( Link to the full video posted by ThomasTankMerch: www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ6I2… )

But of all the new footage shown, one clip stood out most, a deleted shot from Duncan Gets Spooked of what appears to be an unknown narrow gauge engine. This my friends... was footage of the famous ghost engine that fell from the Old Iron Bridge!

First off, sadly, it's NOT Proteus. For so long fans has theorised that Proteus is the engine who fell from the bridge and that the engine's shape resembling Skarloey was just an easy overlook for it to make sense, but the clip very clearly shows that the ghost is a black painted basis of Skarloey. If they'd used Sir Handel's model then it being Proteus would be more believable, but you can't argue with live proof, so it looks like all those theories have been thrown out the window. Sorry folks. 

And that brings us to the official headcannon, and after a lot of thinking, most of us have now concluded, myself & GallopingGoose97 especially, what very well might be the most legitimate explanation for this little engine's existence.

His name… is Fletcher.

And he was a Mid-Sodor engine.

Here's the story:  

As we all know, Skarloey & Rheneas we're built by Fletcher, Jennings & Co. in Whitehaven and sold off to Sodor in 1865 to work on the newly formed Skarloey Railway. Years later the factory had built another 0-4-0 like Rheanas named "Jennings" after one of the company’s owners respectively, and shortly afterwards another 0-4-0 like Skarloey followed suite, his named was, you guessed it... "Fletcher" so called after the 2nd owner of the company like Jennings. In 1927 Fletcher, Jennings & Co. went bust, and both engines were sent off to Sodor a year later in 1928 to work on the Mid-Sodor Railway. At this point in time the railway had 7 engines: Duke, Stanley, Stuart, Falcon, Freddie, Albert & Tim. Everything was still healthy and the line was seeing a rapid increase in work. However, two of these engines had recently suffered not-so pleasant ordeals; Albert had blown himself to kingdom come hauling an ammunitions train, and Stanley had been turned into a generator, so with 2 of it’s 7 engines out of play, the Mid-Sodor needed replacements… enter Fletcher & Jennings.

As Duke & Falcon mostly handled passenger trains, Jennings was put to work assisting the goods traffic with Stuart & Freddie, whilst Fletcher was assigned to quarry and mining duties with Tim.

Now Fletcher was a simple engine, though he wasn't afraid to interact and crack a joke every now and then he usually preferred to keep to himself and just get on with his work, regardless how frustrating he found it. This attitude reflected on his paintwork, of which he never really cared for one, as an engine he was here to work, not fuss about looking smart, especially if his work resulted in getting scratched and dirty anyway, it was all unnecessary to Fletcher, and so he opted to don an all-plain black livery upon being built, much to everyone's surprise, even Jennings. Being his oldest and closest friend who she had been built alongside and voyaged over from England with together, she had always found Fletcher to be somewhat introverted, and a little mysterious. Regardless of personas though, home is where your friends are, and for 13 years life on the Mid-Sodor ran smoothly, despite a tew predicable conflicts and head butts with each other, Fletcher and the others were more then just friends, they were a family.

But nothing was to last however. 1923 prior saw the formation of the Peel Godred branchline, and with it the inevitable doom of the Mid-Sodor. With passenger numbers and goods traffic dwindling conditions of the line started to show as well, until in 1945 when closure of the mines saw Tim, Jim, Gerry, and sadly Jennings too, being sold on to try and recoup some lost cause as a last ditch effort to keep operations afloat, but it was all in vain, the Mid-Sodor’s fate was nearing. The remaining engines carried on with what little work they had left, despite the poor state of the line.

Then... in 1946... the fateful night came.

Fletcher was making his way home after a long day at the quarry. The moon was full and the cold night air caused mist in the swamps below to rise up around the hills. With a final blast of his whistle Fletcher rolled onto the Old Iron Bridge, non the wiser that the mist hid a loose rail from eyesight... and it was too late. His wheels snagged the joint as he tipped over the side, plunging to his death into the abyss below, taking the lives of his crew with him; their screams never to be heard by anyone as they echoed out into darkness. It wasn't until late next day when Fletcher was reported missing. Everyone searched the line until they came to the bridge, only to find evidence of the damaged rail... the conclusion of Fletcher's whereabouts was all too simple. Workman searched the waters below for days, while the dead bodies of the crew we're recovered... there was mysteriously no sign of the little engine himself. Further attempts to find him was eventually called off, Fletcher had fallen from the bridge and was literally gone, that was that. However… not long afterwards, rumours of a ghost engine started to spread, workman claimed that at night, under the light of a full moon, they would hear the sound of a engine’s whistle call out across the valley, others convinced they even saw the silhouette of a little engine ON the bridge, only for it to disappear halfway across... there was no doubt among the workman that it was the ghost of Fletcher, and decided it best to keep these sightings to themselves. With no more passengers, the mines dry , and one of it’s last remaining engines now lost, the Mid-Sodor Railway officially closed. As the last of the engines were sold off, the crews and workman all left to find new work elsewhere… but no one ever forgot about Fletcher’s legend.

Meanwhile the Skarloey Railway was also falling on hard times, both little engines we're old, and work was declining rapidly, until Skarloey finally wore out and was retired to the shed, leaving Rheneas to run the struggling line alone.

Then in early 1952… it happened.

Departing the quarry late one night led Rheneas to encounter Fletcher’s ghost on the Old Iron Bridge!. This was most certainly something our gallant old engine would never forget. One might say it was an “Old Haunt”.

As time went on though the SR continued to struggle, that it until Rheneas' valve gear jammed and was sent back to England to be overhauled. Not long after that did things begin to prosper again, WW2 was over and the line was affordable to be mended again. Sir Handel & Peter Sam we're purchased to take over the line while Skarloey to was sent away to be overhauled like Rheneas.

It wasn’t until Rheneas returned and met Rusty when years later in 1998, shortly after hearing about Peter Sam’s accident with the trucks, he told the little diesel about the legend of Fletcher. And thus, when Duncan teases Peter Sam later that evening… Rusty spooks Duncan with his story about a little engine returning home.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

From looks alone i've simply copied the engine's appearance in the photo, plain black livery with no particular lining. Although i've kept the red buffer beams to give him that small pop of colour. 

From the established info of the RWS timeline, the new BTS Season 5 clips, and in Duncan Gets Spooked in general, i think it's safe to say this headcannon of Rusty's Ghost Engine ( both name and backstory ) makes the most absolute perfect sense. Although it's totally fine to disagree. I'm just saying that if you agree with this take on the ghost engine's history then i encourage you to spread the word and try to get THIS headcannon of Fletcher main and official across the fandom.

Thanks to MaxtheModellingDude for posting the original idea on Twitter for inspiring Fletcher's now official name: twitter.com/RealMaxtheJ13/stat…

Original Sprites ~ Princess-Muffins, Cj-The-Creator

Livery / Shading and Faces ~ Me
Thomas & Friends ~ (C) Britt Allcroft, David Mitton

Free to use, please use credit. Enjoy!.