The Mid Sodor Railway is a fictional narrow gauge railway on the Island of Sodor in The Railway Series of children's books by the Rev.W.Awdry and Christopher Awdry. The railway was closed in 1947, but three of its engines survive on the Skarloey Railway. Part of its route is now occupied by the Arlesdale Railway.
The railway ran from the coast at Arlesburgh along the Arlesdale valley then through the Sudrian mountains to King 'Orry's Bridge near the town of Peel Godred. At Arlesburgh it met a branch of the standard gauge North Western or Fat Controller's Railway
The main sheds and works for the railway were at Arlesdale station.
The railway was at first a goods-only line for mineral traffic from the lead mines in the valley but with the arrival of tourists to Sodor it started carrying passengers, with connections at Arlesburgh for the ferries to the Isle of Man. The mountain section to Peel Godred was built to give the people of Peel a rail connection after plans for the Sodor & Mainland Railway to extend here were cancelled. Although the MSR's station was on the edge of the town it had once planned to build one in the town centre.
The MSR was responsible for the creation of the Culdee Fell Railway although there was no connecting station for the two lines.
The railway has so far only appeared in the book Duke the Lost Engine, but has been mentioned in others.
Read more about Mid Sodor Railway: Locomotives, Inspiration, In Model Form, Route
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One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
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—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
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