Tri-ang Railways

Tri-ang Railways (TR for short) is the current railway in Nerland, founded in 1854. It is the successor of the Nerland Continent Railway. It's emblem is known as the "shield" emblem due to it being shaped into a shield and was introduced in 1857. It's founding engine was McConnell (No: 1), who was withdrawn after 164 years of TR service.

History
Tri-ang Railways was founded in 1954 and started train operations the same year with Crewe-built, L&NWR designed "Small Bloomer" 2-2-2, McConnell as the main motive power. In 1872, the first true TR design emerged from Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns in the form of the 2 or "Crimson" class 4-2-4 well tanks, Bertram (TR No: 7) is now the last of the class in TR service. In 1889, TR took its first delivery of two 4-4-0 express locomotives to replace McConnell on express workings to Glasgow. These ended up being No: 8 and 9 Mathew and Neilson of the 8 or "Highlander" class due to their Highland Railway-style yellow livery.

Choice of motive power
TR has always relied on steam as the main motive power for the railway, due to there being a lot of steam locomotives around the isle. Diesel power was first seen on the railway in the for of the Brush Type 2 or BR TOPS (Total Operations Processing System) classification Class 31 Bo-Bo diesel-electrics of 1957. TR owns only 2 diesel-hydraulics (Hymak and Western Hero) and only one diesel-electric.

Line cuts and closures
In 1959, TR's management did a financial investigation into the 34 branch lines on its network. In 1961, the line from Hyde to Upkeep was closed to passenger traffic but remained in use by goods traffic (handled by former LSWR "Black Motor" Morrissey) until 1988, when the line fully closed. Another line that fell to the railway's own version of the 'Reshaping of British Railways' is the 2 mile tramway from Klondyke to Hattons in 1968. Unlike the Hyde to Upkeep line, this was a pure freight-only line when passenger trains stopped running on the line in 1921. This was the first Scottish gauge route to be closed to all traffic in the 20th century. 16 other lines have been fully closed to the plan or are still open to only one form of traffic.

The line from Norfork Junction was closed in 1983 but is now used by locomotives of the Nerland Industrial Board's (NIB) coal sector. This is where Edinburgh and Glasgow are normally seen, due to them being a part of the coal sector.

Real life counterpart
Tri-ang Railways appears to be based on British Railways, formed in 1948. Like TR, BR is a national company and serves its area and used a heavy number of steam locomotives from 1948-1968.

Livery choice
For its first seven locomotives, TR's standard crimson lake livery was adopted with the exception of the L&NWR Southern Red which is carried by McConnell. For the 8 class 4-4-0, they were painted in TR's version of Highland Railway yellow, which lead to the class' nickname of "Highlanders".