Old Square Wheels
From Sodor Island Forums
Old Square Wheels is one of the newest members to SIF's moderating team. However, unlike his name suggests, he is not old, nor does he have square wheels. He is in fact a 16 year old student by the name of Daniel Howells, who lives in a small town on the island of Australia.
Forum History
Old Square Wheels (or 'OSW' or 'Square Wheels' or whichever people prefer to use) first discovered the Thomas Fan forums, as it was then known, in November 2003. He had heard about it previously, although he stupidly didn't search for the link, and first became a member of the now defunct Star Tugs Pier. It was there that he re-discovered the link, and became a member, coincidentally on his birthday, November 6, under the name 'boco'. At first, being unfamiliar with the workings of forums, he did occasionally type in the dialect known as 'nOOb', as well as breaking the odd rule. However, upon learning from his mistakes, he soon became a fairly valuable member. In March 2006, when the board clean up occured, Old Square Wheels, as well as good friend thehalford, were asked to be 'trial moderators' to assist with the clean up, as several of the current moderators would be absent for the cleanup. The offer couldn't have come at a better time for Old Square Wheels, so he gladly took on the role. His moderating skills were obviously highly valued, as within the first day, upon helping delete several irrelevant threads and posts, discovered a post from an angry member threatening to 'kill that *******' who deleted his threads! Of course, this member was soon banned, and Old Square Wheels has so far never received another death threat from someone he's never met since!
Contributions to the forum
Old Square Wheels, when compared to some of the other members, doesn't look to have contributed that much. However, whilst this does sometimes worry him, believing it may earn him an anti-social reputation, he does believe that what he has contributed has been worthwhile. He has written 2 volumes for the Extended Railway Series, Sudrian Twin Engines and Small Railway Discoveries, with help from Ben Pennock, as well as contributing to the 100th volume, Edward and the Branch Line Engines. Old Square Wheels has written the occasional episode re-write (although these disappeared along with the original Sodor Island Forums, and have never been seen again), as well as the occasional parody.
Old Square Wheels has also done several voice overs for various studios. His debut was playing Harold the helicopter in RH&CS productions dub 'Sir Topham Hatt Wants Vengeance!' Although OSW was not too pleased with his performance, Ryan apparently was. Since then, Old Square Wheels has been in a number of productions, although his most well known role would be that of Henry the Green Engine, which he has currently played a total of seven times. Old Square Wheels also tried to do his own audio redub of Percy's Predicament in 2005, although it wasn't thought out very well, and henceforth the redub collapsed into a pit of obscurity, with many members wondering what happened to it. Since this, Old Square Wheels has never attempted another redub since.
In a Nutshell
- Name: Daniel Howells
- Date of Birth: 6th of November, 1989
- Occupation: Student
- Hobbies: Surfing the net, writing fan fiction, watching comedies/classic kids shows, running, cycling
- What got him into TTTE/Railway Series: I honestly can't remember. My brother was a fan before me, and I most likely followed his interest.
- Closest Heritage Railway: There's the Puffing Billy railway, or this small 'loop line' at Coal Creek (which I drove the steam train at once).
- Closest 'real' railway: The line that runs from Melbourne to Sale
- Favorite subjects in school: English (until this year), History, IT
- Favorite character in the Railway Series: Either Duck or James
- Favorite character in the TV series: Gordon
- Least favorite character (overall): Arthur or Neville
- Favorite Railway Series book: Duke the Lost Engine
- Favorite Episode of Thomas: A Close Shave
- Least Favorite Episode: Tough call, but I think I'd say Rheneas and the Dinosaur
- Favorite Series: Series 2
- What really bugs him: 'In crowds' at school, political correctness, teachers who really don't know what they're doing, Reality TV
- Favorite Films: Lord of the Rings series, Pirates of the Carribean, Monty Python fims, War of the Worlds, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
- Favorite comedies: Family Guy, The Office, Only Fools and Horses, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Mr. Bean, The Royle Family, Little Britain, Fawlty Towers, Max and Paddy, Phoenix Nights
- Favorite kids shows: Thomas (obviously), TUGS, Power Rangers, Fireman Sam, Danger Mouse, Ed, Edd N Eddy, Chucklevision, Postman Pat and the Trap Door
- Favorite Celebrities: David Jason, Rowan Atkinson, Martin Freeman, Keira Knightley
- Personality: Witty, reliable, quite easily embarrassed, cheeky
