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This article is about Ruth and Beatrice from The Railway Series. You may be looking for the television series character named Ruth or the real engine named Beatrice.

Agnes, Ruth, Jemima and Lucy are the oldest coaches on the Skarloey Railway, whilst Beatrice is their guard's van.

Biography

The Brown, Marshalls and Co stock have been part of the Skarloey Railway since the beginning of its history. When Skarloey took them out for the first time as part of the directors' train, Agnes was very suspicious and warned the other coaches to "be on their guard". She warned Skarloey that they would keep a sharp eye on him, but after Skarloey began to bounce when Mr Mack shut his regulator too quickly, they thought he bumped them on purpose and bumped him back, causing Mr Mack to fall into a set of bushes. He was so cross that he rode in Beatrice for the rest of the journey. However, when Skarloey was given a pair of trailing wheels and a cab, the coaches, even Agnes, could not help but feel impressed by it.[3] Lucy arrived in 1866.

When the railway was facing hard times, the coaches were sometimes so full that passengers had to travel in Beatrice and third-class passengers were allowed to travel in Agnes, to the latter's ire, on occasions, particularly on Market Days.

In 1952, when Sir Handel and Peter Sam came to the Skarloey Railway, they immediately began to dislike Sir Handel for calling them "cattle trucks", so they decided to seek revenge by holding him back on the hill. When Peter Sam had to take the coaches out, they preferred him over Sir Handel, given his good nature, despite a small incident where they told him that he left the Refreshment Lady behind after Henry jokingly threatened to leave their passengers behind.

The coaches still held a grudge against Sir Handel when he had to take them out for Market Day and when Sir Handel had to stop for sheep that strayed onto the line, the coaches thought he bumped them on purpose and derailed him by bumping him onto a set of points. Skarloey was the only engine left and he scolded the coaches severely for their bad behaviour and warned them not to play tricks on him. They were left feeling ashamed of themselves. Since then, especially after Skarloey went away to be mended, they never play tricks on Sir Handel that involve derailing him and they all got along with him.[4] Despite this, they can still be awkward on occasions and act in a way that only Skarloey and Rheneas know how to handle.

Early in the summer of 1982, the railway had so many visitors that there was not enough room in the four coaches to carry all the passengers, so some had to travel in Beatrice. When they reached Rheneas, the guard had to check the passengers' tickets, which made Sir Handel impatient. When the guard had finished and blown his whistle, he tried to climb into Beatrice but some passengers blocked the entrance and Sir Handel set off without him. Beatrice tried to stop but was unable to on her own, but a passenger had pressed a buzzer inside her which sounded an alarm in Sir Handel's cab, which alerted his crew to the problem and made them stop Sir Handel and pick up the guard.[5]

Personalities

The coaches like all the engines, Sir Handel least of all for referring to them as "cattle trucks". They were also mistrustful of Skarloey at first for being bouncy. On the contrary, they took to Peter Sam right away, and he even called them his 'dears' whenever he took them out.

Agnes is a deep-voiced and proud first-class carriage who looks down on the others, who are third-class. She appears to be the leader of the five. Jemima is somewhat deaf. All four coaches look down on Beatrice and claim that she "smells of fish and cheese". Beatrice is, however, very useful. She has a ticket booth and an emergency buzzer and sometimes even carries passengers when the coaches are full.

The coaches are genuinely nice and quiet like many other coaches but can be hot-tempered and sinister if an engine does not treat them properly. They can occasionally be silly and awkward and play tricks on the engines by pushing them down a hill without thinking about what they are doing, something that Sir Handel and Duncan struggle with. However, Skarloey and Rheneas, given their many years of experience, always know when to be stern with them when they misbehave and put them in their place.

Technical Details

Basis

Agnes, Ruth, Jemima and Lucy are based on the Talyllyn Railway's first four coaches, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, while Beatrice is based on the Talyllyn Railway's first guard's van, No. 5. Coaches Nos. 1, 2, 3 and No. 5 were built by Brown, Marshalls and Co. Ltd. between 1866-67, while No. 4 (also known as "Limping Lulu") was built by the Lancaster Wagon Co. in 1866 to a different design.

Agnes is based on the first-class No. 1, while Ruth and Jemima are No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, with Lucy being No. 4. Although Agnes is misidentified as having been based on No. 4 in Sodor: Reading Between the Lines, the Rev. W. Awdry's own writings state that Lucy is Coach No. 4. This is confirmed by her arriving later than Agnes, Ruth and Jemima and thus being absent from "Bucking Bronco".

In the television series, the red narrow gauge coaches are based on the same coaches as Agnes, Ruth and Jemima while the blue narrow gauge coaches are based on the same coach as Lucy. In the CGI series, Beatrice's basis makes a cameo appearance in the feature-length special Blue Mountain Mystery.

Livery

Agnes, Ruth, Jemima and Lucy are painted in the Skarloey Railway light blue with cream window surrounds livery. Agnes has a number "1", Ruth has a number "2" and Jemima has a number "3", all painted under their doors in gold to indicate what class they are. In Four Little Engines only, Ruth, Jemima and Lucy are numbered as "3", indicating that they are all third class. In most illustrations, however, they lack numbers.

In Four Little Engines and The Little Old Engine, all have "SKARLOEY RAILWAY" painted under their windows in black. In a flashback to the railway's opening in Very Old Engines, Agnes has the letters "CGMC" painted under her windows in black.

Beatrice is painted in the Skarloey Railway's livery of light blue all over. Awdry's model of Beatrice has "SR" painted on her doors in gold. In Great Little Engines, she has small white inscriptions on her bottom sides. In Railway Rhymes, she has "TICKETS" written in white on her ticket-window.

Appearances

Annual Stories

Books

My Thomas Story Library

Documentaries

Trivia

  • In Four Little Engines and Sodor: Reading Between the Lines, they are addressed as Agnes, Ruth, Jemima, Lucy and Beatrice. However, in most stories, Jemima and Lucy's names are switched around.
  • In the fourth illustration of Old Faithful, Skarloey is shown pulling five coaches instead of the usual four.
  • The models of Agnes, Ruth, Jemima, Lucy and Beatrice built by the Rev. W. Awdry are now on display at a Narrow Gauge Museum in Tywyn, Wales.
  • Agnes, Ruth, Jemima, Lucy and Beatrice are the only named narrow gauge rolling stock that had speaking roles.
  • The coaches were featured on the 1986 single cover of Oh L'amour, a song by English synthpop duo Erasure. They were incorrectly painted dark green with cream windows and Beatrice was portrayed as a coach rather than a guard's van.
  • In the early drafts of the history of the Skarloey Railway, Sir Handel Brown (then named Sir Handel Smith) was said to have five daughters: Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Hilda and Beatrice. Their names would be used for the Skarloey Railway Coaches, with the exception of Jemima who took the place of Hilda.
  • Ruth shares her name with Hilary Fortnam's granddaughter. Fortnam was the youngest daughter of The Railway Series creator, the Rev. W. Awdry.
  • In the Korean version of The Railway Series, Jemima and Beatrice's names are "Jenny" and "Beth" respectively.
  • In Clive Spong's illustrations, sometimes they are inaccurately depicted as bogie coaches.

Merchandise

References


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