North Western Railway

"Please tell everyone that whatever happens elsewhere, Steam will still be at work here. We shall be glad to welcome all who want to see, and travel behind, real engines."

- The Fat Controller, Enterprising Engines

The North Western Railway (abbreviated NWR) is The Fat Controller's Railway and was first created in 1914 after a government-funded joining of Sodor's standard gauge railways. The railways involved were the Sodor and Mainland, the Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light, and the Wellsworth and Suddery Railways. In 1948, it became the "North-Western Region of British Railways", but this term was never used as the railway kept its operating independence. With Privatisation in the early 1990s, it officially became the North Western Railway.

The railway's motto is "Nil unquam simile", which, translated from Latin, means "There's nothing quite like it!"

Routes

 * The Main Line
 * The Norramby Branch Line
 * The Kirk Ronan Branch Line
 * The Peel Godred Branch Line
 * Edward's Branch Line
 * Thomas' Branch Line
 * The Little Western

In the television series, the railway also has the Ulfstead Branch Line, Toby's Branch Line, and Stepney's Branch Line.

The Fat Controller's Railway
The standard gauge railway on Sodor in the television series is affectionately known as the Fat Controller's Railway or the Sodor Railway. It serves the whole of Sodor, apart from some areas in the mountains. It is more expansive than its Railway Series counterpart.