"Sir Eustace Missenden" may reappear in the series soon, in rebuilt condition!
Bulleid Light Pacific Number 34090, "Sir Eustace Missenden", was one of The Dark Railway Series' most memorable characters, appearing in almost every episode in Series One, and was one of the first characters introduced, after Black Five Number 45101 "Dave" and BR Class 47 Number 47527 "Raymond".
He was a pompous unrebuilt Pacific, appearing in his hybrid SR/BR Livery, who generally irritated the other engines with his cocky, posh disposition!
However, he left the Dark Railway at the end of the first Series, returning to the mainline to haul expresses for British Railways. Whilst fans may not know the whole story, there was a good reason for this.
After some research of the character, a problem arose: The real locomotive was rebuilt at the very end of 1960, losing it's distinct Air Smoothed Boiler Casing and Bulleid Valve Gear to be replaced with a new, more powerful appearance and more conventional Walschearts Valve Gear.
My original plan was to write the character out of the stories at the end of series one, as hinted in Episode Three, where Eustace and Mr Dark discuss an "Offer": This was originally an offer for a rebuild by British Railways.
In the original scripts, Eustace would have had a proper "Leaving" episode, where he finally reconciled with the engines, especially "Raymond". He would have left for his rebuild and never return, remaining on the Mainline until withdrawn in the mid 1960's, as originally scripted for Episode Ten of Series One.
This was down to two factors: One, that I personally thought that historical accuracy regarding this engine would be appropriate. And secondly, because at the time of planning, there was no Rebuilt Light Pacific planned for or avaliable for the game.
Unfortunately, I became rather attatched to this character, and just couldn't stand to get rid of him. Though he left at the end of series one, my plan was to return him after a short hiatus, still in unrebuilt form, to annoy the engines once again!
However, a very interesting development is taking place...
"Digital Traction", renowned freeware and payware producer for the game I use to make the series, "RailWorks 3: Train Simulator 2012", are currently creating a brand new payware model for the game: A Rebuilt Bulleid Light Pacific!
After sending a friendly email, and sending some reference images of his Nameplate, DT has said that they would be happy to include Sir Eustace, in rebuilt form, in their upcoming pack, if possible!
This is fantastic news for the series, as now, Sir Eustace Missenden can make his long awaited return to the Dark Railway, in rebuilt form!
Cheers,
Dark.
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