Mid Sodor Railway

The Mid Sodor Railway is a railway opened in 1880 and closed in 1947.

History
The Mid Sodor Railway was opened in 1880 as a division of the Cas-ny-Hawin Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Sodor and Mainland Railway. When the railway opened, the MSR had 4 engines, number 1 Duke, number 2 Duchess, number 3 Pioneer and number 4 Bertram. Because the Mid Sodor Railway was owned by a subsidiary of the Sodor and Mainland Railway, Mr. Duncan Glasgow (who was the controller of the Sodor and Mainland Railway) was appointed to oversee the Mid Sodor Railway.

Due to the powerful success of the Mid Sodor Railway, the MSR opened a subsidiary in 1881, and that subsidiary was the Harwick Quarry Company. Bertram was sent to Harwick for construction of the Harwick and Ballaswein Railway.

For the next 4 years, Duke, Duchess and Pioneer worked on the railway until in 1885, the railway acquired a number 5 engine named Proteus. In 1888, Pioneer was scrapped due to very poor condition, and Bertram was sold off to the Harwick Quarry Company because the MSR needed another batch of engines. That same year, Duncan Glasgow retired and his son Murdoch Glasgow became the next manager. Construction began on the new numbers 3 and 4 of the MSR.

In 1890, traffic began on the Mid Sodor, and the manager Mr. Glasgow acquired a Double Fairlie named Mighty Mac, who was Mid Sodor's number 6 engine. In 1891, construction was completed and Albert and Alfred were bought by the Mid Sodor Railway. That same year, the manager Mr. Glasgow acquired a number 7 engine named Jennings.

In 1893, Mighty Mac was sold to a private owner for obvious reasons and a saddletank engine named John took his place in the following year. Two more years pass, and in 1896, Duchess had a boiler failure and was used as spare parts for Duke and the now sold off Bertram. Smudger replaced Duchess as the number 2.

Due to not being built properly, Smudger derailed so many times that he was converted into a stationary boiler in 1900 in case the MSR declares bankruptcy.

In 1901, the Mid Sodor Railway started negotiations with Mr. Handel Brown. Because of these negotiations, Mr. Rooney Smith (the cousin of Mr. Handel Brown) was hired as the new manager of the Mid Sodor Railway. As negotiations continued, the manager Mr. Smith bought a number 8 engine named Atlas.

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