Sir Topham Hatt II (Thomasfan9)

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Sir Bertram Topham Hatt (March 14, 1890-August 30 1989) was the second "Fat Controller" of the North Western Railway. He held this position from 1916 to 1984.

Biography
Sir Bertram Topham Hatt was born in March 14, 1890 at Topham Hall on the outskirts of Wellsworth and his parents were Charles Hatt I (1850-1945) and Lady Jane Brown (1845-1919) and he had a sister named Elizabeth (1916-2002). From a young age Charles seemed to be fascinated by trains and would occasionally go along with his Father and visit the Engines in their sheds. For his 21st Birthday his Father surprised Bertram with Gordon's arrival on Sodor, before then Charles had never seen such a big Engine. Unlike his Father, Charles was quite educated and went to Imperial College London to study Mechanical Engineering in 1933. Then in 1940 Charles married Amanda Croarie (1916-2015), and had two Children, Steven (1941-) and Bridget (1943-).

Charles took over the railway in 1916 when his Father had broken his leg and could not walk properly. Throughout his time he began improvements to the harbor at Knapford, planned by his father, beginning construction of a new harbor at Brendam, and reopened the Arlesburgh Branch in 1965/6, being responsible for the construction of the Arlesdale Railway and for establishing the ballast consortium which uses it. He also rescued Oliver from scrap in 1967.

At the age of 94 Charles decided to retire after 50 years of the position. His son, Stephen, took over at the age of 43. Despite being retired, Charles led Britt Allcroft and David Mitton's film crew around the Island, who were getting inspiration for the TV Series. Charles attended the premiere party along with his wife and son. In 1986, he went on a long, 4 month vacation around the world. The countries he visited were the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Japan, China, India, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Liechtenstein, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Vatican City, the Netherlands, and Belgium. After returning home, he slept for almost 25 hours non-stop in his bed. Whilst on this trip, he made a documentary about the various railways he visited. Unlike his father, who was in poor health in his last years, Charles, despite being obese, was very active and often made frequent visits to heritage railways on the mainland. However, his weight problem became massively worse as he entered his late 70s. He overate to the extreme and never exercised.

By the time he was 99, Charles had reached almost 500 pounds. Doctors were baffled that he was still alive despite being in such a terrible condition. In 19, he almost never left his house aside from visiting the hospital. Though he did manage to loose about 50 pounds, the damage had already been done. On August, 30, 1997, Sir Topham Charles Hatt died of liver failure at the age of 83 after spending a month in the hospital. This occurred 5 months after the death of the Thin Clergyman. Charles's death was mourned throughout the Island. He was survived by his son and wife Amanda.

Engines Acquired During Tenure

 * Percy (1918)
 * Toby (1951)
 * Duck (1954)
 * Donald and Douglas (1955)
 * Diesel (temporarily)(1957)
 * Daisy (1961)
 * D261 (temporarily) (1962)
 * Bill and Ben (1964)
 * Boco (1965)
 * Oliver (1967)
 * D199 (temporarily) (1967)
 * Bear (1967)
 * Mavis (1972)

Films

 * The Adventure Continues
 * The Adventure Goes On

Voice Actors

 * Thomasfan1 (TAC and TAGO only)