The Trottingham Vale Light Railway

"Perchance you were to visit the town of Trottingham, County Shire on a weekday afternoon. You would see the young colts and fillies playing in the streets of the housing estates, when all of a sudden a noise draws them from their games, to a single road, leading to the centre of town. A stallion stands in the middle of the road, a green flag in his mouth. He turns to the side and waves it. What responds is the low, loud blast of a steam whistle, as the most peculiar locomotive passes through the crossing, hauling 11 gleaming carriages along the former back roads towards the terminus at the town centre. As it passes, the gleaming brass nameplates proudly bear the name "CELESTIA" and the legend "FAIRLIE'S PATENT", and from the cab sides, the image of a white alicorn.
This is the Trottingham Vale Light Railway, 24 miles from Trottingham to Longbridge where it meets the Equestrian Rail network, serving day and night."

This is my pet project, the tale of a narrow gauge railway in Equestria, combining two of my great loves - ponies and trains.
Back in April/May last year, I won a part built 009 model of a Double Fairlie, fully painted but lacking a chassis. Struggling to come up with a name for it, I eventually went with "Celestia", which ultimately sparked the idea of ponies building and running a narrow gauge line. The design and livery are replicated here, although I can imagine that being on the footplate isn't easy for ponies.

With the debut of Pipsqueak and his accent (however varied it may be), I gathered that ponies from Trottingham speak with English accents. But it can't just be Cockney, like Pipsqueak's attempted accent, so there had to be more British ponies. Hey presto, the region of County Shire. I could come up with a headcanon where British locomotive designs were used and (unlike the show) engines would be portrayed accurately.

Having spent last week in Wales visiting the narrow gauge railways there, I felt inspired to finally draw this picture, instead of waiting for the 009 model to be up and running. Yes, this type of engine actually exists. In fact, the image is pretty much identical to a photo I took of Double Fairlie "Merddin Emrys" leaving Porthmadog on the Ffestiniog Railway (which I think the TVLR to be most similar to).
So what we see here is locomotive number 1 "Celestia" charging through the valleys, having just left Colton and coming up on the extremely narrow Foalwyn Tunnel.

MLP © Hasbro and Lauren Faust