The Culdee Fell Engines - Next in Line for CGI?

Ever since Brenner, McCue and company have taken over writing for Thomas and Friends, there have been talks among the fandom in them bringing forth the remaining RWS characters into the CGI series. Amongst them being the Culdee Fell Railway and its eight (or seven, if you exclude Godred) engines.

Why would people want them to appear? Well, they're the only (active) railway that has not yet had representation in the TV series, even if they (mostly Culdee) were made into merchandise like ERTL (with Godred and Lord Harry/Patrick) and Take-Along. Plus, they also stand out from the North Western, Skarloey, and Arlesdale Railways by being a rack-pinion railway.

But why would people not want them to appear? It's all down to safety restrictions, which could limit storytelling potential. Ignoring that, in the books, they look more or less the same with their purple and orange liveries. There's reasons that they only had one book in the Railway Series.

For me? I personally would love for them to show up in CGI. Here's why:

1. The appearance of an electric engine in The Great Race

Even though some of its stations have shown up on TV, the Peel Godred branchline has not been properly represented as an electric branchline. One of the international engines in The Great Race will be Etienne, a representative of France, and he's an electric engine!

But what's that got to do with the Culdee Fell engines? At Kirk Machan, the branchline connects to the Culdee Fell Railway. If Etienne's presence in The Great Race foreshadows the appearance of the Peel Godred branch, then the Culdee Fell Railway will have become part of the show by 2020, when the franchise is 75 years old. Of course, you can't have the branchline without electric engines now, can you? Speaking of which...

2. The Ffarquhar "Coffee Pots" being canon

Despite my qualms about Glynn's "twenty seconds of fame" in The Adventure Begins, it was at least a good gesture to acknowledge the presence of the former Coffee Pot engines.

Again, why do I bring this up in a Culdee Fell engines topic? Well, the Coffee Pots and the Peel Godred engines were mentioned in the book The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, and since Glynn was spun off from the Coffee Pots, why not have one or two engines based off the Peel Godred engines? (Depending on what they're based on if they show up, it could answer the ongoing question as to when the show takes place.)

I know that's not got much to do with the Culdee Fell engines being candidates for CGI, but it does connect to the first reason as to why I'd love for the mountain engines to show up.

3. The Skarloey engines and their liveries

Ever since season four, the Skarloey Six have been in individual liveries - Skarloey red, Rheneas vermilion, Sir Handel blue, Peter Sam green, Rusty orange, and Duncan yellow. In the Railway Series, they (bar Rusty, who was charcoal black) were all painted red, and unless you look carefully for small things, you could easily confuse one engine for another.

That's where the Culdee Fell engines come in - I know many would want them all to be purple, but obviously, we, as adults, are not the target audience and we have a children audience to consider. If they were all purple in CGI, sales would be quite poor, as none of them would stand out except for their names and numberplates. There was a magazine story in which Godred was painted red instead of purple, which could add a little bit to the diversity. Plus, each Arlesdale engine has his own unique livery, so why not have the Culdee Fell engines be in different liveries as well?

And since Skarloey is the only one painted red, it'd make sense to have Culdee be the only one in purple, with the possible exception of Lord Harry/Patrick, since he's a different shape to Culdee.

4. The slice-of-life stories in the Brenner era

In the recent seasons, there's been a mix between the action-packed stories (Not So Slow Coaches or Slow Stephen) and the simplistic, down-to-earth plotlines (Duncan and the Grumpy Passenger or Thomas the Babysitter). Some would think that the Culdee Fell engines have little chance of getting strong storytelling due to safety measures, but consider the likes of Duncan and the Grumpy Passenger; does that not sound like it could also have fit Lord Harry/Patrick?

On a slightly unrelated note, I think Helen Farrall could handle writing for the Culdee Fell engines and do a fantastic job with them.

Final Thoughts

Personally, despite what some would think, I don't believe the idea of the Culdee Fell engines in CGI is far-fetched - if they could render the Arlesdale engines, and they're in such a scale that'd be impossible for models, then the Culdee Fell engines have a future. But I don't want to see all seven show up so suddenly; I think they could start off with just Culdee and Lord Harry/Patrick, and maybe Wilfred as well. Then we could introduce the remaining engines later on and maybe a new diesel or two. And no, I didn't forget Godred. I'm not sure what they could do with him - maybe they'll pull a Smudger and have him be a generator?