Narrow gauge engines (Thomas & Friends)
In Thomas & Friends, the Island of Sodor is home to a narrow gauge railway in the hills. These lines and the engines who work on them are some of the oldest on the island. The narrow gauge railway has some contact with The Fat Controller's standard gauge engines, but the location of the railway leaves the little engines in relative isolation.
North Western Railway
Victor
Victor is a dark red Hispanic tank engine in charge of the Sodor Steamworks. He supervises all the engines who journey in and out of the workshops, as well as Kevin, the clumsy yard crane. Victor always has a helpful, constructive disposition and is good-humored with everyone he meets. He speaks with a Cuban accent and spoke Spanish when he first came to Sodor.
Victor was introduced in the feature-length special Hero of the Rails. The show's staff were researching real-life engine workshops as inspiration for the Steamworks when they learned that one had a self-contained narrow-gauge line, used to transport parts internally. The staff decided they wanted an engine with a cab, and chose as a prototype ALCo's #1173, which was specially built for a sugar plantation line in Cuba. Some artistic licence was taken, as the original #1173 is a standard gauge locomotive. Victor made multiple further appearances in the thirteenth series, and has appeared in every series and special since.
Duke (Cambridge Town Club cricketer)
Duke (first name and details of birth and death unknown) was an English cricketer with possibly professional status who was active in 1831. He made his first-class debut in 1831 and appeared in one match as an unknown handedness batsman whose bowling style is unknown, playing for Cambridge Town Club (CTC). He scored four runs with a highest score of 4 and took no wickets.
References
Bibliography
Duke (album)
Duke is the tenth studio album from the English rock band Genesis, released in March 1980 on Charisma Records. It was the first album by the group to reach No. 1 in the UK charts and featured the singles "Turn It On Again", "Duchess", and "Misunderstanding".
The album followed a period of inactivity for the band in early 1979. Phil Collins moved to Vancouver, Canada, in an effort to salvage his failing first marriage, while Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford recorded solo albums. Collins returned to the UK after his marriage ended and wrote a significant amount of material, some of which was used for Duke and some was later reworked for his first solo album, Face Value. Duke contained a mix of individually-written songs and tracks that evolved from jam sessions in mid-1979, while recording took place at the end of the year.
The break in activity rejuvenated the band, and they found the album an easy one to work on. The album contained the first use of a drum machine by Genesis on "Duchess", and as well as the hit singles included more experimental pieces such as the closing ten-minute "Duke's Travels"/"Duke's End" suite. The album has since been certified Platinum in both the UK and U.S.
George (webcomic)
George is a webcomic written and illustrated by John R. Norton. The strip has been in existence for several years, making its first appearance on the web as early as 1999. As of December 4, 2009, there have been 529 full-color comics published. The current George website was established in January 2005, using a strip from the old site to make its debut. Since then, however, all content has been entirely new. New comic strips were originally posted every Monday and Thursday before going to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. In early 2006, the strip went on hiatus for most of the year, but returned with regular, though unscheduled, updates in January 2007. Currently, new comics are once again posted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Plot
The strip is centered around a fairly normal freelance cartoonist, George, and his circle of friends. The strip often deals with computers, technology, and generally "geeky" things like World of Warcraft and Star Wars, though a myriad of light-hearted subjects are commonly explored. The strip takes place in the fairly small, fictional town of Perkton, located in the heart of California, presumably somewhere near Fresno. It is not particularly close to well-known California cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is not in line with the stereotypical view of California. Most of the strip's characters are between 26 and 30 years of age, with a few exceptions, such as Chain-Link Jefferson and Coach Demurson, who are much older, and Megan Beauxmont, who is much younger.
Minor characters in The Railway Series
The Railway Series by the Reverend W. V. Awdry and Christopher Awdry is populated with many and varied characters. Some of these had only a few stories or pages devoted to them and, as such, they cannot be regarded as 'major' characters.
This page lists and profiles these characters using the same categories as the sister page, Major characters in The Railway Series.
Standard gauge engines
These are the characters that run on standard gauge (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)) railway track. They comprise the majority of Engines on the Island of Sodor.
'Sodor' engines
Neil
The Red Engines
There are two unnamed red engines that appeared in the books The Three Railway Engines and Henry the Green Engine.
The First Red Engine appeared at Tidmouth Sheds along with Edward, Henry, Gordon, 87546, and 98462 in the story Edward's Day Out in the book The Three Railway Engines. His basis is unknown with no outside cylinders or motion. However, he looks like a cross between Gordon and Henry in his old shape with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement. He is painted red with yellow and black lining and has red wheels and a black dome. It is unclear what happened to him after the story.
Jordi (bishop of Vic)
Jordi (Latin: Georgius, George; died 947) was the bishop of Vic (Ausona) from 914 until his death. After the death of bishop Idalguer, the clergy and people (plebs) of Vic acclaimed as bishop Jordi, whom they described as "noble, prudent, sober and chaste". His election was confirmed on 17 June 914.
In 935, he consecrated the second monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll under abbot Ennego. In 945, he confirmed the foundation of the monastery of Santa Cecília de Montserrat under abbot Cesari and the rule of Saint Benedict, but retained episcopal control over it. He also consecrated the church of Santa Maria de Manresa around 937.
During his episcopate, Jordi expanded the property holdings of the diocese. On 3 August 915, a certain Leupardus (Llopart) donated some land in Felporc to Vic for the sake of his soul and that of his wife, Gaudesinda (Godesenda). On 28 February 919, Jordi purchased a vineyard at Seva from Ferminus (Fermí) and his wife, Eldogiva (El·lovija). On 17 July 918 the diocese was the recipient of half of a vineyard at Fontcoberta from one Ferruç. In the town of Vic itself Jordi received an allodial grant on 21 October 921. In 925, Jordi donated the churches of Sant Martí de Vinyoles and Sant Sadurní de Sovelles to the monastery of Ripoll. In separate transactions on 11 November 941 and 19 November 942, Jordi purchased two halves of a vineyard at Sevedà for thirty solidi each. He was the first bishop of Vic to organise an ecclesiastical structure in the region of the Moianès.
