One of the things I had wanted to do in the series was a proper ghost story. I remember always feeling disappointed at the age of eight, when I realised that the Thomas & Friends episode, Ghost Train, didn't actually feature a real ghost in it! The ghost was of course Percy in disguise...

A chance glance at this website: Fowler's Ghost gave me the initial idea for a story based around the mysterious Metropolitan Railway prototype.

I spent around six months scripting this episode, and it wasn't easy. The problem lies with how much or how little you want to "show, not tell" and how much you need to "tell, not show". Doing the story in flashback was, I decided, the best way of presenting the subject matter. In basic story blocks, the makeup of this episode and the one that precedes it, are identical. Both start out with a few stories and some banter between the characters. Both go into a flashback. Both then return to the present and resolve the situation that was created in block one.

The truth of the "ghost" (which you can read on the above website) was that it was a little used prototype eventually broken up for spare parts after only a few test runs. John Fowler did try to cover the building of the locomotive up, but was forced to show some photographs to the ever curious public. The engine was never named - the name "Ghost" is a nickname that was fixed onto it beause of its obscurity and apparent first class coverup!

Therein was my plot. The Metropolitan engine figuratively and literally takes on the definition of its own name - "ghost". The demise of the actual engine is unknown, so I wrote in that it had been "banished to a disused tunnel" - fairly feasible, there are lots of tunnels that remain unused to this day on the underground system.

I spent a lot of time over the last year researching ways of filming in the dark and making "ghosts" look plausible. A big thank you at this point then to RMweb and its wonderful modellers there - there were two ideas given freely here: resin cast, and see through, and special paint, with careful lighting. In the event, both methods were used!

More to follow as I write up my notes.

Until next time!