If we do get Henry and the Flying Kipper as one of his service runs, I was wondering how that route would work? For context, the Flying Kipper is a nonstop run starting at Tidmouth Harbour, all the way through Sodor and to the Mainland. In the show, I thought that was the simple case and then I noticed the map layout, more specifically Wonders of Sodor's map. Tidmouth Harbour only connects to the Ffarquhar Branch, not straight onto the Mainline. Henry would have to go up the branchline and then down, hauling it up from the harbour and back down to Knapford Station before his run. I then thought it could come from Brendam, but Brendam heads left in Knapford's direction instead of right for Vicarstown. He would have to haul it up to Wellsworth, turn around and continue his journey up Gordon's Hill.
It’s Knapford harbour in game The TV series loop via Elsbridge would work, it’d be very difficult to try and join the Brendam branch up to the mainland heading towards Vicarstown in game because of its proximity to Gordon’s hill and the required change in elevation and turn radius. Adding Tidmouth harbour in game is another option
This is an interesting question because it made me rethink the Flying Kipper in a way I never had before. In the Railway Series, Henry takes the Flying Kipper all the way to Manchester, but since Dovetail is unlikely to add Manchester to Wonders of Sodor, they'll probably have to adapt the route somehow. The CGI series uses Brendam Docks as the departure point, but that has always seemed a little odd to me since Brendam is on a branch line and not typically suited for large mainline engines like Henry and Gordon. Knapford Harbour has a similar issue. One possibility would be extending the railway from Vicarstown to Barrow, giving the Flying Kipper a mainland destination. It may sound ambitious, but Dovetail has plenty of experience building real-world railways in train simulators. Whatever happens, I think future updates may need to involve more than just new engines. Dovetail may eventually have to expand or rework parts of the railway itself to accommodate services like the Flying Kipper.
Yeah, I was prepared for people to pretty much debunk my ambitious idea. I can see why, though. I mean, this is a game about Thomas and Friends, and the last thing people think about is Barrow. It's been ingrained in the minds that the Express usually stops at Vicarstown. But if we were going on the Railway Series route, I think it would be awesome to have Barrow. But I think it’s just simply wishful thinking.
