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Currently Playing: The NWR Stories | 1983

A new era forces Diesel to return to Sodor, but the future is chasing him. Across three stories, each set in a different decade, the Modernisation Trilogy follows the Fat Controller and his famous engines as the tides of change crash against their rails... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ErQ99d_mQ Music and BTS here! CHAPTERS 00:00 - 1983 01:38 - Him, Here, Now 03:25 - The Debt Collectors 05:06 - The Hiding Place 07:09 - Diesel and Duck 09:35 - Night Terrors 11:31 - A New Day, Leonard! 13:47 - Subterfuge 15:27 - Sinking Feeling 18:34 - The Table Turns 22:20 - 1984 25:18 - End Credits Dear Friends, The Modernisation Trilogy has now been an idea for ten years. I promise I'll never commit to a saga ever again! By 1983, British Rail faced record-low passenger numbers. To combat this, main lines were supercharged with electrification, while small, unprofitable branch lines were axed - along with their rolling stock. Across the UK, early diesel engines, once revolutionary and new, suddenly faced the same fate as the steam engines they replaced. Isn't that ironic? I always thought that this was an obvious story to tell, perhaps inside that decade without the Railway Series books (1972-1983). And whose perspective for this would be most interesting? A guilty engine - perhaps unloved, perhaps forgotten about by the rest of the characters in the books. And so, 1983 began… Because the three Modernisation ideas came about together, I wrote a first draft of this in 2016. Nine years ago! So, perhaps you can feel my relief, and my delight, in finally putting this out. Life has worked its hands, taking away the time I once had to film and edit videos, meaning that 1983 came together over several years, in countless spare hours. In that time, I’ve been helped along by a village of talented friends. Thank you to Andrew, for your superb face designs which bring Diesel and Leonard so effortlessly to life. Thank you to Jake, for creating the synthy score of my dreams. Thank you to Matt for leaping over an impossible brief, and to Lucas, Chris, Tom, Luciel, James and Owen for your delightful performances. Cathaoir, Stuart, Matt, Neil, Mayo, Dan, Haydn, James, Euan, Mike, Luke and Harry - not only did you round out this cast with aplomb, you've also given me years of creative bedrock and friendships that will mean everything to me, always. And thank you to you (yes, you - at the back!). If you've ever watched one of my videos, I'm in your debt. As a shy little boy, Thomas and his friends showed me how to escape into stories. All these years later, using this world to tell a few new ones has meant ever so much. For now, I'm dropping the fire and closing the shed door - full of happy memories. Dry rails and good running, George