Sir Handel, named after the Skarloey Railway's first owner, Sir Handel Brown I - but previously named Falcon, after the works where he was made - is a narrow-gauge tank engine who works on the Skarloey Railway.
Bio[]
Falcon was built at Falcon Works in Loughborough, England for the Mid Sodor Railway as an 0-4-0ST, causing him to bounce. He was delivered by sea to Arlesburgh to replace a locomotive which was sent to the works, to have an overhaul completed. He returned to Loughborough in 1910 to have trailing wheels fitted as a cure for his unsteadiness in running.
When the Mid Sodor Railway closed in 1947, he and Stuart were sold to the Sodor Aluminium Company at Peel Godred for an expansion project. They were sheeted at the project's close for almost a year, then both were purchased for a total of fifty pounds by Sir Handel Brown II. They were sent to The Works and were overhauled, repainted, and renamed Sir Handel and Peter Sam respectively.
Sir Handel did not cope well with the worn track on the railway and would often derail - sometimes deliberately. He was given a pair of special wheels with broad tyres to cure this problem, dubbed "steamroller wheels" by the other engines.
Sir Handel was not very well-behaved when he first came to the Skarloey Railway, as shown when he insulted the coaches by calling them "cattle trucks", which resulted in them holding him back on a hill and bumping him off the rails when he had to stop for some sheep that strayed on the line, and when he derailed himself on purpose when his driver planned for him to fetch trucks from the quarry. This led Mr. Peter Sam to discipline him by leaving him in the shed until he was ready to behave. He also pretended to be ill to avoid going to the quarry, as advised by Gordon, which only led to Peter Sam to have an accident with trucks at the incline after they mistook him for Sir Handel. He also tried to avoid getting televised by The BBC Television Producers, but the Thin Controller arranged for him to be taken apart instead in order to show the producers how an engine works.
Sir Handel did not cope well with the worn track on the railway and would often derail - sometimes deliberately, so he was given a pair of special wheels with broad tyres to cure this problem, dubbed "steamroller wheels" by the other engines. Skarloey later had Sir Handel meet his match with a bad-tempered steamroller named George to teach him some sense, which resulted in him having an accident when George rammed his front roller into his train. Despite this, Sir Handel still took belief that he sent George packing, but he stopped talking about it after some children heard about his situation with George and teased him about it.
In 1982, Sir Handel visited the Talyllyn Railway to help tide over a locomotive crisis while Sir Haydn was being repaired. Sir Handel had plenty of adventures there, like pulling a wedding train and having to wear an eye-patch after colliding with a tree at Nant Gwernol. He spent two years in Wales before returning to Sodor in 1984 to take his share of the summer traffic.
When Peter Sam was brought back from the Talyllyn Railway early during a visit in 1995, Sir Handel became jealous and as a protest, deliberately knocked out his firebars. He was sent to the shed and began to fear that he would never come out after weeks went by and no one came to see him. When Mr. Roger Sam came in one day Sir Handel confessed, asked for a second chance and got his firebars later that day (although no one bothered to tell him that they had only just arrived).
Sir Handel was working in the stone quarry because of bad behavior. When he returned, he had a much different attitude. He did his jobs without complaining, and had trouble getting up hills. He is also wiser in most situations, but in some cases he is still pompous. He is generally of the opinion that he knows best and should be in charge.
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