Herman - A Halloween Thomas Story

"Once an engine on an upward climb
Rounded the bend, and saw, out of time
A line of trucks headed it's way
Not engine, nor passenger, survived that day."

- - -

Happy Halloween everyone!

[BiscuitCatProductions]

Just so people don't get confused- this is not canon to, nor related to Tedious Tales of Sodor! This short story takes place in its own bubble universe, seperate from the others!

[NwrDuck]

Quite a nice little story. It's nice to see a passive spirit roaming the rails instead of a vengeful one trying to spook or hurt our characters. Also well done on the execution of this! Very enjoyable

[WilliamPoliteski]

The signal at the bottom being controlled by him makes me so happy. It’s like in Stranger Things, with Will controlling the lights from the Upside Down. Love it!

[MasterOfTheLemons]

You struck such an authentic tone with this. The way you write dialogue… I am ALWAYS in awe. These engines feel like real people. Just certain lines and their subtle delivery like “shaken, but not stirred”, “we’ll talk later”, and “It’s greek”, just… I don’t know, hit different. Feels so, so real. I love Edward’s serious, in command tone. James is all bluster in peacetime, but the second there’s a crisis he’s cowering and Edward knows exactly what to do.

The editing is like, the best I’ve seen. Anywhere in the fandom. Your pacing is perfect, your use of silence and pauses adds so much gravity. The many complex pans and rolling shots and interesting angles… The musical cue as the signal changes for James, startling him, just capped that tense sequence off perfectly. I LOVE that this absolutely belongs in the TVS universe, but has a slow, dramatic tone to be taken seriously and treated cinematically. Rarely do I find a video that I adore every second of, but you did it here.

I was on my toes the whole time. The ghost whooshing through James is genuinely uncomfortable to watch, and Seamlessly executed visually! Looks stunning, even the lights in the coaches! I LOVE that we don’t see the crash at first. We have to listen to Henry slowly explain, and we can tell from his voice it’s SERIOUS, but I’m just like “WHAT, WHAT HAPPENED UP THERE?!”And WOAH, that reveal at the end with the signal… It doesn’t DO anything, it’s just been put there for Herman to use. I got literal chills upon hearing it. Like, actually.

“He took a bullet for you” is such a good way to describe it, and I can totally see the engines (especially Edward) using a phrase that serious. That type of langauge absolutely belongs in the world of the TVS, but it’s something the show could never say, which is why I love that you did it so classily throughout this video. Anyhow, I could go on, but the long and short is, cinematography wise, editing wise, story and dialogue wise, and visually, you made my week with this.

[eddingtonrailroading]

James: “you too Edward”
Narrator: said James who shortly fell asleep knowing that Herman was still trying to be useful, even after death

[IAmEvilTree]

Nice story. Given how engines are so dutiful and desire to be really useful, it only makes sense that their ghosts are helpful to others.

[wrandom]

I can just imagine Herman having the Great Saiyaman voice everytime he appears.

[jazzykingjack]

Herman is refreshing to see a guardian angel or a watcher ghost to the engines that travel over Gordon's Hill and the signal is for him to stop other engines to meet the same fate as him it's refreshing to see friendly ghosts and guardians

[datawizard]

I love the idea of the signal specifically being there for Herman, not controlled by any box or lever. Only for Herman to protect the other engines. Fantastic work!

[RmsOlympic]

"THIS LINE IS OCCUPIED"
one of the best lines ive heard from james it fits his accent so well jameses voice actor is really good

[jake_]

Very, very enjoyable. It blows me away how the community have gone all out with horror stories recently! And who knew the best medium to tell it was trains with faces!

[trombonebunny]

A simple but effective ghost story without the use of narration? Absolutely spectacular!!! I loved everything about it! Well done!

[silverline]

HOLY Short yet good and I like that a guardian spirit, if sodor was real you know SCP and a lot of Ghost hunters would be around there 24/7

[SSR_YT-lil]

I really like this
And I like how you made it so he’s not an angry soul. He’s a soul that would take a bullet for someone else

[emersoninfinitystone]

Pretty deep stuff here. I don't blame James for being that shook up, i'd be to... that's the first time i've seen a ghost encounter when the spirit actually phases through someone.... definitely the highlight moment, bravo man!. Also 4:55 that James Bond reference was gold.

[danielmovieproductions]

This was a well done special if I do say so myself! Usually with ghost stories for Thomas the ghosts like Timothy or Alfred or whomever else it may be are usually evil and look to scare or harm the engines in some way, but the idea of this ghost being a guardian is quite refreshing from the overused evil ghost trope.

[Somerandompokemon]

Even though james mocked edward… eddie knew what he’d seen. A guardian angel roaming the rails to the hill.


(Splendid job biscuit! As always you never cease to impress

[christinejorgens]

Murdoch: *freezes and stares ahead at the spirit of one of his brothers… Herman* “Brother?”

[fishpop]

Huh, that was pretty good!
Herman's blank eyes were spooky but it's nice there's a ghost looking out for others.

[sudrianhunslet]

This was absolutely brilliant. The sound design, voice acting, writing, pacing, everything. This is a textbook example of how to produce an outstanding Thomas story. Can’t wait to see what you cook up next!