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5:33 scared the crap outta me

Duke told him about the fate of poor Stanley to try and knock some sense into him, but Smudger just laughed “HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!” 5:58 is that sound the mine flooding? I’m pretty sure that happened in the books

Wonderful job! The atmosphere, set-design, model-work, it just comes together really nicely. Very well done!

Who is that scary engine

Stanley was not a bad engine. He was a victim.

How did the engine change basis?

The idea that Stanley intentionally caused accidents in a bid to escape death, only to bring himself closer to it, is really depressing. He gambled his life away. When he was turned into a generator, it paid off… until the debt collector came and made him regret it.

Why didn't you use a real 009 brigadelok? Those models exist

What a beautiful story. Such beautiful scenery that tells a tale dialogue never could. Well done!!!

So creepy dude! I honestly didn't understand the context of this very much until reading the comments (but after reflecting I remember you telling me some of Stanley's story before). Making this a silent film really added to the eeriness for sure (Yeah no shit, why else would miles do that???)! The Stanley face is particular was really impressive I thought, and seeing him as a generator and being lifted out of the back of the shed was super cool. Great attention to detail bro, amazing work

I think this is the first time a jumpscare's actually gotten me in AGES, well done! Well done all around, the entire video is absolutely spectacular, from the visuals to the general plotline to the WONDERFUL sound design that absolutely pulls this whole thing together. I cant overstate how much I love this! Great job!

Bro just made the hardest TTTE Halloween short of 2024

Music used?

stunning.

Fnaf music

Stanlstanley is just smugger

Beautifully written, masterfully told. There was no dialogue, yet I knew exactly what was happening. Visual storytelling at its finest, well done indeed! Stanley’s a character that’s got so much potential, and you’ve certainly captured that potential here!

Woah...

A Masterpiece brimming with thought and effor whilst showing without telling the tale of an unfortunate soul.

Easily one of the best I've seen in 2024 fantastic! 👍

Nice work freind 😎

Weren't the mines flooded meaning Stanley is actually considered drowned here?

Very awesome

I do have one potential quibble with this. I say potential because it depends on just how exactly the lore of Stanley's placement at the mine aligns with the layout detail it's based on (on Awdry's MSR layout, Stanley/what's left of him as a pumping engine is located in an aboveground shack with his smokebox and extended funnel sticking out).

“He’ll never moved again” Fucking understatement

For the people who want the song here it is: MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - Nobody's Dirty Business 1928

I don’t think their where literally narrow gauge tracks going through trenches I thought they would be built to supply depots as a more cheaper way of getting stuff to the front other then French steam engines just being at risk

Never thought of a steam engine having PTSD before, but if any of them would it'd be a trench engine. He sees both the Hunslet taking him to the mineshaft and the death waiting for him there as German Brigadeloks since those were the enemy in the war, and being trapped in the mine is made all the worse by its similarities to an abandoned trench.

I don't know how you do it, man, but you continue to amaze us with your direction, practical effects, and editing skills. You are doing god's work ❤❤

Bro this looks amazong even better than the railway serues in general the charm of this has more power than series 1 through 16 combined,and thats saying alot. Cheers to you lads if youtube had an award for railroads this would be it

I love this so much. I was planning something with Stanley in the trenches already, but this has inspired me even further, so thank you for that boost. Your stuff's amazing, please keep it up.

Hello miles

I love that the engine that haunts Stanley since his first encounter with death is a (presumably) captured german Brigadelok engine, goes back to the trench railway history as well as what Stanley associates with death from than on, causing him to start to see and see it everywhere in his final days- Not to mention no words being needed, all visuals and sound design, i absolutely loved this!! No. 2 is my favorite (im military as well so im biased) and he has so much potential in terms of story with his engines basis and im glad someone covered the darker parts of his presumed history in the trenches. Bravo!!!

Hold on wait now ik that's Stanley, and that he was in WWI, but what's the other stuff about

What an incredible short! The shot of the trench engine being swept away in the fog was excellent!

I don't think it's talked about enough Stanley was built for war and had a lot of issues running. Awdry accidentally made a character, who is a disabled war veteran and chose to villainize him and killed him off. Low-key think he deserved better.

war never changes

Miles, this is exceptional!! You utterly NAILED the sound design, that transition between the war and the quarry carried SO well, and the cut to Stanley in the mine, with the dripping... Awww JESUS that's eerie! Some of the sfx associated with the spectre, like the one in the jump scare, SO good. I love the song in the middle too, fits Stanley and the era so perfectly, gives that great depression dust bowl no-shits-given american on the porch with a banjo in a hooverville vibe. The crashes turned out so good!! Miles, this is so moving and grounded and full of vision. You are the only person in the world who would make this; everyone whispers about Stanley and theorizes but nobody would convey his story like this and tastefully weave in history the way you do. Your work has a subtlety that is so hard for me and most people to capture, but comes across soooo well in your films. So much communicated here with no dialogue, brilliant storytelling, atmoshphere, and modelwork. I'm glad Stanley didn't jump off the tracks at lightspeed and stare into the camera, that would have been really scary!!

Attempting to piece it together as best I can, Stanley is having flashbacks to his time in the trenches, with there being one engine in particular (presuming a Brigadelok that got captured?) that either got destroyed or ran into the ground and abandoned, and its memory haunts him. Stanley's tanks cause him to derail, the MSR does their thing, he gets transferred via the Mine Engine (it has the colors anyway, but it's a Quarry Hunslet) and he has a flashback, seeing the engine has the one from the trenches. It causes him to freak out, break down and flood the mines, dooming the railway. I always did feel bad for Stanley. Given he was on the surface, sticking out of shed by the line at Cas-ny-Hawin in the Rev's layout, a small part of me hopes the Arlesdale surveyors found him.

I felt so bad for Stanley! He messed up but to be sealed away forever in a mine? A sad fate indeed. Also the switch from the Mine Engine to that evil Narrow Gauge engine is so good (I called it "Evil Tim" because it looked a lot like Tim is meant to with the sideplate & cowcatchers)!

Oh... poor Stanley

For those of you don’t know that engine that took Stanley away and down that shaft was a Brigadelok. A German narrow gauge engine used by the German army during WW1.

Poor smudger/stanley I love the way you use the facial expression and the way you did the background 😊😊

This is beautiful and incredibly cinematic

I got chills. And that's a good thing.

Man Stanley was an ass on the MSR, but we never really took much thought about the shit he experienced on the front lines…Which explain why he always always a chip in his boiler…And yet, he never got a happy ending after what he endured

Very unique how you were able to tell the story without narration and instead with quality models, sets and claustrophobic sounds to create the mood. Great work!

i decided to do some research on trench railway locomotives after this to see if you based the death engine on something. it seems that you based it on a german locomotive... i see, i see

The sound of rushing water

scary