Buy 'n' Large Inc.

Buy 'n' Large Inc. (most commonly known as BnL Inc.) is a company that was in charge of all railway supplies and repair shops from 1967 until 2013.

Early History (1937 - 1950s)
In 1937, two British people named Michael Smith (1899 - 1976) and Richard Davis (1902 - 1997) set up the company Buy 'n' Large to sell cigarettes. The company grew up to be quite successful over the next few years, especially during World War II (1939 - 1945). In 1949, Michael and Richard received a large supply of coal, water and fuel, and began offering to sell it to a railway company. By the 1950s, many railway companies were begging for the railway supplies.

In 1953, Michael and Richard approached Sir Topham Hatt I (1880 - 1956), the controller of the North Western Railway at the time, with a contract to be allowed to settle on Sodor and to sell all railway supplies needed, and to handle the repair shops. Topham Hatt refused and ripped up the contract, sending them out of his office.

Successful Agreement (1967)
In 1967, Michael and Richard approached the NWR controller again, who at the time was Sir Charles Topham Hatt (1914 - 1997), and this time was successful. Charles happily made the agreement and the company moved from West Sussex, England to Crovan's Gate, Sodor. They demolished the old works and built Buy 'n' Large's Sodor Steamworks, hiring most of the staff that worked in the old works. The company grew up to be very successful.

Legal Lawsuits (1968)
In 1968, they built an experimental diesel with a claw, - the project known as Project D-10 - leading to British Railways threatening to file a lawsuit against the company for plagiarism if they didn't remove the diesel from the public transport. The company then filed a lawsuit against British Railways, claiming that someone who used to work at BnL copied some blueprints of an experimental diesel and sold them to the designers at British Railways, leading to the creation of the Class 42 diesel built in 1958, ten years prior. This was a total lie, but never the less, the company won the case and British Railways left court almost in debt.

Great Success (1970 - 2000s)
By 1970, BnL became the richest company in Europe. Michael wrote a bestselling book in 1972, titled The Success of Michael and Richard, which was an autobiography, filing all events of the partners' success. In 1976, Michael died of a stroke, and his son, Roger Smith (1955 - ), took over operations with Richard still helping out. In 1997, Richard died of old age, and Roger had the entire company in his hands. By 2005, BnL had become the richest company in the world.

Present (2013 - 2020)
In 2013, Roger attempted to manipulate Sir Stephen Topham Hatt (1941 - 2019), the NWR controller at the time, into giving BnL complete legal control over the railway. When Stephen caught track of the plan, he decided to put a lawsuit against the company. The company was then charged with "manipulation, lying and attempting to get control of the railway", and the company had to pay fifty million pounds to Stephen. Stephen then cut ties with the company and the company nearly went out of business. Then, the company made an agreement in 2017 with an unknown organization to sell medicines to many people, putting the company back into business.

In 2020, the company closed down temporarily due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, but resumed production in September 2020, with a tweet from Roger on Twitter announcing: "We will be going back into production, but not of medicines. This time, we will be making robotic replicas of famous locomotives. We want to bring the old fashioned steam engines back in a robotic way. The first robotic replica should be completed by June 2021. #FuturisticSteam" It is currently unknown what the first robotic replica is.

Staff

 * Roger Smith (CEO of BnL since 1976)
 * Unnamed Staff

Former Staff

 * Michael Smith (CEO of BnL until 1976; death)
 * Richard Davis (co-worker of Michael Smith until 1976, and co-worker of Roger Smith until 1997; death)

Trivia

 * This universe version of Buy 'n' Large is inspired by the company with the same name that appeared in "WALL-E" and other Pixar films.
 * The company currently resides near Crovan's Gate, Sodor, despite the fact that Stephen had cut ties with the company.