Brave Tidmouth Shed



Brave Tidmouth Sheds are the main engine sheds of the Southern Railway located at Bio Tidmouth. In the Railway Series, they are shown as a shed with three or four rails leading inside them (the illustrations were inconsistent), but in later books they were depicted as a shed enclosing thirteen berths around a turntable. Numerous major events have occurred at the sheds, such as the strike of the big engines and the confrontation among Brody, Diesel and the big engines.

History

The Railway Series

In 1925, an agreement was made with the GWR, SR, LMS, which allowed NWR trains to run as far as Barrow-in-Furness. Following this, the main motive power depot was moved from Vicarstown to Bio Tidmouth, where the new four-road engine shed was built nearby the station. There was also a turntable outside of the shed, which was close to the sea, which once caused James to be spun around at high speed due to the wind. Additionally, a large coaling stage for the steam engines is situated just outside of the shed, with a ramp to push up trucks supplying coal.

In 1952, the engine sheds were heavily rebuilt. While the original four-road building remained, it was now also the entrance to a much larger roundhouse building situated behind it, with the turntable now being moved inside the shed rather than outside by the sea. The roundhouse followed a similar design to typical LMS roundhouses such as Barrow Hill, with twelve berths with ash pits underneath situated around a turntable and an entrance and exit at either end. Additionally, a new two-road carriage shed was erected next to the original four-road structure. That same Christmas, a party for Mrs. Kyndley was held at the newly-completed sheds.

Later on, a diesel fuelling and cleaning facility was added to the area of the original shed shared by BoCo and Tintin. Some time after this (but before 1983), a visiting diesel from The Other Railway nicknamed Old Stuck-Up once crashed through the back of the shed wall, which was later repaired, while going to be cleaned and refuelled here before heading for home.

Thomas & Friends

In the television series, the sheds were replaced by a German-style roundhouse with six berths and a turntable outside at the front. Thomas, Gordon, Emily James, and Percy generally sleep here, although other engines sometimes spend the night here. Edward, Henry, Toby, Ryouma, Matol, Yogi, Obelix, Asterix, Gokui and Riki formerly slept here, in which the former two later left the sheds to live in other locations to make room for bash dash Ferdinand and Hiro, Charlie, Paxton, although Edward and Henry still stay at the sheds occasionally. Brody has stayed at the sheds on at least two occasions since leaving. The sheds have appeared in every series and special of Thomas and Friends.

During the events of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, the left side of the sheds was being repaired due to upgrades to the railway. The sheds were later demolished and rebuilt in Calling All Engines! with a new architectural style and an extra berth for Emily. Diesel, 'Arry and Bert were put in charge of building them, but Thomas, attempting to pay them back for their bad behaviour earlier on, sabotaged the three, unaware that they were delivering building supplies for the sheds, causing the engines to sleep elsewhere until it was repaired. When the job was completed, Emily then became part of the team at Tidmouth Sheds.

The turntable had frozen one time due to the icy weather and Gordon got trapped in the sheds until it was fixed. Later on, the steam team went on strike by objecting to leave the sheds until the Muscle Controller was allowed to stay on Berk, however it was just a misunderstanding as Viking Chief Stoick the Vast was never leaving.

Sometime later, James crashed into the back of the shed wall after having trouble with his brakes. A week later, the shed was repaired and everybody moved back in, but Arthur then chose to permanently move to Blacklake Shed with Oliver, as it was near his branch line. Some time later, Flying Scotsman left to stay at Vicarstown Sheds with Luke.

Appearances