Caracus Smash (engine)

This article is about the engine. For the man, see Caracus Smash. For the company, see Caracus Smash Ltd.

Caracus Smash
Number: 70047 Class: BR Standard Class 7MT Designer: Robert Riddles Build date: 1954 Configuration: 4-6-2 Arrived on the DR: 1970

Caracus Smash is a large mixed traffic engine currently owned by Caracus Smash who lives on the Dark Railway.

Bio

Caracus Smash was built at Crewe Works on June 25th, 1954. Not much is known about his early life, apart from the fact that he was the only member of his class to never recieve an official name in BR service. He was withdrawn in July 1967 and was, surprisingly, sold to Caracus Smash Ltd to be broken up, despite the fact that British Rail did not have a contract with Mr Smash for disposal of engines at the time.

However, as Mr. Smash did not break up his locomotives, but rather restored them and potentially sold them on, Caracus was put to one side to await restoration. He had still not been worked on a year later in 1968 when Mr. Dark arrived to purchase an engine for the Dark Railway. Mr. Smash sold him Repulse in order to raise funds for his engine, and by late 1969, he was more or less complete.

Caracus finally returned to steam at the beginning of 1970, and to honour the occasion, Mr. Smash chose to finally give him a name, naming him after himself at the engine's request. Shortly after this, Mr Smash decided to base his engine on the Dark Ralway, with Caracus arriving in April that year, along with the Dark Railway Preservation Society's engine, Five. Caracus quickly made friends with the engines on the railway and also stood up for Five to ensure he wasn't ignored. His first day in service didn't go quite as smoothly as he had hoped, as the brakes on one of his first train's coaches locked on as he was leaving the station, but he was assured that it wasn't his fault by Mr. Dark. Caracus was not happy to see Barry arrive on the line, having been driven mad by him in Mr. Smash's works, but still showed him around on his first day.

In 1972, Caracus learned of plans to send himself, Sir Eustace Missenden and 257 Squadron out on charter services on the mainline. He and 257 tried to outperform each other in order to be able pull the first trial train, but they ended up humiliating themselves in the process and lost out to Eustace. In 1973, Caracus was loaned out by Mr. Smash to a private railtour charter service in Carnforth. He was ecstatic about the opportunity, thrilled at the chance to finally get away from Barry. To his dismay, Barry followed him there and proceeded to continue annoying him. This came to a head when Caracus was invited to join a club of prestigious mainline engines and Barry spoiled it for him. He berated Barry for his insanity, making it clear that they were not friends and refused to speak to him from then on. He later came to realise that Barry was sincere after he failed on a charter train and Barry came to his aid, promising he would try to be better which led to the two making amends. Caracus remained on the mainline in 1978 when Barry returned to the DR. The following year, he was brought back to the DR to cover for Eustace and 257 when they went on loan to the North Western Railway. After Gordon arrived and Barry began to feel jealous of him, Caracus supported him. Caracus became upset when Mr. Smash stopped coming to see him and Barry whilst Rick was being built. The works being closed also took its toll on Caracus who was in urgent need of maintenance by the time Rick was finally completed. When Rick met him for the first time, Caracus took his anger out on the new engine, furious that he had been kept a secret from him while so many others knew of him. He apologised after the others spoke up in Rick's defence and Mr. Smash later threatened to take away his nameplates if he acted up like that again, especially for his remark where he called Rick Mr. Smash's pet.

Livery

70047 is currently painted in British Railways lined green with the late crest, the livery he would have worn for most of his life.

Basis

70047 is based on a British Railways Standard Class 7MT 4-6-2. These were nicknamed "Britannia's" after the first member of the class. Oliver Cromwell is another member of this class.

Appearances

The Dark Railway Series

Episodes:

• Series 5 - Repulse (mentioned by number)
• Series 7 - Futura (mentioned by number), Smashing!, Braking Bad, The Road to Colhapper, Ey Up?, The Red Herring, Mothership Reconnection and What a Clarence! (does not speak)
• Series 8 - One More Time, De la Trip, Face to Face (mentioned) and Outro (cameo)
• Series 9 - 9, Rock Shock (mentioned) and Meanwhile...
• Series 10 - Barry the Steam Engine (mentioned)
• Series 11 - The Times (mentioned), Quatro, Puppets (does not speak) and Sundowner (cameo)
• Series 12 - Ventura, What To Do, Outrun, Outrage (mentioned) and High Fidelity

Trivia

• In Repulse, the Britannia seen in Mr. Smash's scrapyard was intended to be 70047. However, this has since been retconned by Dark DJ, due to the fact that the number of the loco was not visible and plans for the character have since changed. It is possible that the locomotive seen in the scrapyard was actually No 70013 "Oliver Cromwell" having maintenance before it was used for "The Fifteen Guinea Special".