Sir Topham Hatt I

Sir Bertram Topham Hatt, also known as The Fat Director is the former controller of the North Western Railway

Biography
Sir Bertram Topham Hatt was born on July 23rd, 1880 alongside his twin brother Lowham Hatt. Bertram and Lowham grew up with only their mother as their parents were divorced and their father lived in France. Bertram became fascinated with railways as a young child and wanted to work on a railway when he grew up. He began volunteering at railways as a teenager until he enlisted in the miltary at age 19. He fought in the Second Boer War which lasted from 1899 to 1902. For his bravery and strong leadership, he was knighted by King Edward VII himself. Soon after, he returned to his home on Sodor and married Jane Brown, sister of Sir Handel Brown. He began working on the Sodor & Mainland Railway and even built a group of coffee pot engines to help expand the railway westward.

In 1913, he was put in charge of the biggest project the Island of Sodor had ever seen; bringing all the standard gauge railways together to form one large company. Bertram did so and when the railway opened in 1915, Bertram became director. He purchased two engines just before this named Edward and Thomas.

In 1918, Bertram and his wife had their first child who they named Charles. Bertram swore that this child would one day become director of Sodor's Railways.

In 1919, Bertram's brother Lowham approached him with the idea of purchasing a hybrid engine built by a crook currently in custody. Bertram agreed and Henry was brought to the railway in 1920.

in 1922, Bertram and his wife had a daughter who was named Barbara Jane.

In 1924, Bertram was approached by Sir Nigel Gresley with the idea of purchasing the A1 prototype and to separate the North Western Railway from the Big Four and privatize the Island's railways. Together, Sir Bertram Topham Hatt and Sir Nigel Gresley made a deal with the LNER and the LMS to privatize Sodor's rail networks. This deal was finalized in 1925, the same year Bertram brought James to the railway.

In 1929, Bertram helped settle conflicts in the sheds involving the big engines. He did so by purchasing a green saddle tank named Percy Shortly after, he and his family took a trip to Harwick in the North of Sodor. There, they found a tiny tramway and a little tram called Toby. Bertram agreed to purchase Toby after finding out his tramway was nearing closure.

In 1955, Bertram purchased a Great Western Pannier Tank named Montague. it was around this time he also began to teach his son about the ways of the railway and how to run a railway.

In 1957, Bertram announced his retirement before the end of the decade and agreed to give Charles partial control of the railway. Together, the two of them would make purchases, begin expansions, and make other financial and logistical decisions until Bertram's full retirement.

In 1959, Bertram purchased an engine from Scotland named Donald, but Donald also brought his twin Douglas over from the railway. Bertram quickly caught onto this and learned of Douglas' reasoning for traveling with his brother. Feeling sympathetic, Bertram agreed to do all he could to keep Douglas on the railway. But Henry and James decided to take matters into their own hands. They created a plan to keep both twins on the railway which backfired miserably. Bertram was taken into questioning by the police but was found to not have anything to do with the crime committed.

A few days later, he welcomed the three new diesels, Splatter, Dodge, and Diesel 10 to the railway. A few days afterwards, he was at Crovan's Gate Station when Gordon came rushing in, claiming the three diesels had captured Thomas, Edward, and Donald. Shortly after this, the two of them faintly heard bombs go off on the other side of the railway and were informed by Mr. Hugh that Henry had been hijacked. Bertram and Charles were forced to climb into Gordon's cab and was pursued by Diesel 10. Bertram came up with a plan to juke Diesel 10 and they all returned to Crovan's Gate. They hid from Diesel 10 and Peter Boomer and took Sir Handel up the line to alert the authorities. After returning to Crovan's Gate, Bertram was informed by Lowham that Knapford Station was in ruin. Bertram then asked the location of Patrick Boomer's workshop, and set off to find Boomer with Charles, Mr. Hugh, Lowham, his bodyguards, and James. They arrived at the workshop, where Bertram proceeded to give Charles his hat in case he didn't return. He went inside the workshop where he was shot by Boomer in the arm. Charles burst in and shot Boomer. Charles brought Bertram over to the other side of the workshop in attempt to give Bertram a better place to breathe. However, Charles was shoved out of the way by Boomer and Bertram was shot in the chest. After narrowly escaping death, Charles ran over to his father, who grabbed his hat and slowly placed it into his son's hand before passing away dying on the floor in front of his son

Sir Bertram Topham Hatt passed away on December 17th, 1959 by two gunshot wounds and is survived by his wife Barbara Jane, his twin brother Lowham, his son Charles, his daughter Jane, and his grandson Steven.

Personality
Bertram is a very generous caring person to both his family and his staff. It is often noted that Bertram is perhaps too passive to his engines and business partners and they can sometimes take advantage of his pushover personality. Charles directly states this and Bertram claims he is able to hold his own.

Regardless, Bertram has his moments where he knows when to put his foot down. Though he isn't strict per say, he knows when enough is enough and he finally needs to take a stand.

Bertram is quite the family man and loves his wife dearly. He cares deeply for both his son and his daughter and states constantly that if Barbara Jane had been born first, she would take control of the railway.

Engines Acquired During Tenure

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Duck
 * Diesel
 * Donald
 * Douglas
 * Splatter
 * Dodge
 * Diesel 10

Season 1

 * Sodor Then and Now 1: A New Beginning (S1, E1)
 * Sodor Then and Now 2: He's Number One! (S1, E2)
 * Sodor Then and Now 3: Prototype Failure (S1, E3)
 * Sodor Then and Now 4: Gresley's Greatest (S1, E4)
 * Sodor Then and Now 5: Proving Worthy (S1, E5)
 * Sodor Then and Now 6: Little Engines (S1, E6)
 * Sodor Then and Now 7: Old Faithful (S1, E7)
 * Sodor Then and Now 8: The Work Begins (S1, E8)
 * Sodor Then and Now 9: The Caledonian Engines (S1, E9)
 * Sodor Then and Now 10: Reign (S1, E10)

Short Films

 * Sodor Then and Now: A Time of Joy

Trivia

 * Bertram in the RWS canon retires in 1954 and dies in 1956, but is still in control and in decent health as of December of 1959 in Sodor Then and Now
 * Bertram was not initially supposed to have an older man face, but the two faces used for his older years were chosen during the production of Episode 7 given the time gap.
 * Bertram receives his baronetcy because of his actions during the Second Boer War, not because of his contributions to railways as stated in the RWS.
 * Bertram is knighted after he marries his wife.
 * Bertram's name is based off the name used in the CGI and early model eras, despite the first Fat Controller's real name being Topham.
 * Bertram was supposed to go the entire first season without his signature top hat, but GTSH acquired a LEGO top hat about two weeks before the production of Episode 2 began.
 * Bertram was always intended to be the main character of Season 1, but he wasn't meant to be killed off until Season 2 initially.
 * Bertram's top design came alongside the top hat GTSH acquired and became Bertram's signature suit used from Episode 3 onwards. Charles is slated to wear a similar looking suit in Season 2.
 * Bertram was initially going to die before Boomer in the finale, but GTSH felt in monumental for him to pass his hat along to Charles as he died, so Boomer was killed first.
 * The Wooden Railway moveable figure of Sir Topham Hatt was initially used in a very early production of Sodor Then and Now, but was scrapped in favor of the LEGO figure.
 * The suit Bertram wears in Episodes 1 and 2 can be seen on both his bodyguards from Episode 3 onwards.