//------------------------------// // A Tale of Two Belles // Story: Big World! Big Adventures! // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// As a Wainwright C Class 0-6-0 made its way up the climb out of Sheffield Park, it produced a wonderful noise as it climbed the bank. The sound of the cylinders and the gentle puffing was music to the ears, and that alone was a good reason to be out this spring day in April. Unfortunately, some people didn’t get to experience it. As moments after the train departed, the family consisting of Hondo Flanks, Cookie Crumbles, Rarity and Sweetie Belle all poured onto the platform, only to see the train racing away into the distance. Sweetie Belle just looked on disbelief as the train got smaller and smaller in the distance. “OH COME ON!” she shouted in frustration. “Keep it down!” Rarity exclaimed. “We want to maintain a level of respectable decorum, don’t we?” This seemingly had no effect on Sweetie Belle, who seemed to be fuming. “This isn’t right!” Hondo Flanks said. “The train isn’t meant to leave for another hour!” He looked at his wife. “It’s only 10 o’clock!” The station master walked over. “Terribly sorry sir,” he said. “But it’s actually 11 o’clock. The clocks have gone forward as part of British Summer Time.” He then walked away, to his next duty. Sweetie Belle turned to her dad, steam pouring out of her ears. “I told you,” she said. “I told you that the clocks went forward!” “Well, I wasn’t aware that the clocks had gone forward!” Hondo replied. “Yes, you were dear,” Cookie added. “Because I reminded you at LEAST seven times!” “Did you?” Hondo asked her. “She did,” Rarity added flatly. “And now we’ve missed our train,” Sweetie Belle said sadly. She walked down the platform. Hondo Flanks looked at his brochure for the line he had picked up at the ticket office. “Well,” he said, “We most certainly won’t get bored whilst we’re waiting.” He looked closer. “The engine sheds are that way,” he said, pointing. “And the museum is on the other platform. So, there’s plenty to do!” They went to the engine sheds first, and looked around inside. On display at the front were No. 55 ‘Stepney’, an icon of railway preservation, as well as a Dukedog and a South Eastern and Chatham Railway ‘01’ 0-6-0, no. 65. Sweetie Belle almost immediately forgot to be cross at her parents, and as such walked up and down the lines of engines with a massive grin on her face. “Look at that!” she said, with a smile. “It’s been years since I last saw one of those!” “Ah, the Bulleid Light Pacifics,” Hondo smiled. “Good, dependable machines, that were easy to maintain but challenging to drive. I hope to drive one someday, or at least have a cab ride.” Sweetie Belle then hopped in the cab of another, a South Eastern and Chatham Railway P Class engine named ‘Bluebell’. Hondo took out his camera, and took a picture with a smile. “There,” he said. “We have two bells in the same shot.” “Sorry, what?” Rarity asked. “Has Sweetie Belle been trying to clone herself again?” “No!” Hondo exclaimed. “The locomotive is called ‘Bluebell’, so by having Sweetie Belle in the cab of ‘Bluebell’, we have two Belles in one shot.” Cookie facepalmed. “Dear, they’re spelt differently,” she groaned. “I know that!” Hondo replied. “It was a pun.” Rarity shrugged her shoulders. “How many more minutes till that train gets here?” she asked, looking tired and bored. “40 minutes,” Cookie reminded her, looking stern. “And please stop whinging; Sweetie and your father didn’t find the country house yesterday to be that interesting, but they took it well and didn’t complain.” Rarity sighed. “Alright mother.” Once they had finished looking around the shed, they went to the Bessemer Arms for lunch. Whilst there, they had a most excellent lunch. Hondo went for the steak and ale pie, which Rarity echoed, whilst Sweetie Belle settled on sausages, chips (or fries), and beans. All the while, Cookie stuck to her guns and went with fish and chips. All the while, the visitors and staff marvelled at their accents (although Rarity was called out for not sounding particularly British, despite her best efforts). Once they were done, they assembled on the platform to see the train in. It soon became apparent that something was rather wrong. As the train rolled into view, the engine was coasting all the way, with steam leaking from places it shouldn't be. The engine was brought to a stop, and the driver got off. “Blowing injector ring,” he explained to the station master. “We need to get it back into the yard and bring out another engine.” “But which engine can we ready in such a short time?” the station master asked. “And who will drive it?” “I can, sir,” said a voice. The station master turned around to see Sweetie Belle looking up at him. “You?” he asked. “How old are you, eight?” “I’m twelve!” she protested. “Besides, I can drive these locomotives. I do so back in the USA!” With that, she presented her licence from the California Coast Railroad. The station master peered at it. “Well,” he said, “It all seems to check out. Take control of number 323 and get this train to Horsted Keynes and return.” “Can I fire?” asked Hondo Flanks, with a grin on his face. “I’ve always wanted to fire a steam engine.” The station master nodded. “Yes, you can. Now, off you go, you two!” Within a few minutes, they had 323 ready to go and out of the shed. Waiting for the points to change, Sweetie Belle expertly opened the regulator and the locomotive rolled through the station beautifully. Rarity and Cookie looked on in amazement as they saw their younger sister and daughter respectively driving the tank engine with such precision and skill. The engine rolled out of the front station approach, backed down through the points and was coupled to the front of the train. Sweetie Belle looked to her father. “This will be tough,” she said, with a look of determination on her face. “You need to keep the fire hot, but don’t use too much coal. I’ll focus on keeping up steam pressure on the climb.” “Got it!” he nodded, his hands gripping the shovel tightly. The guard’s whistle sounded, and Sweetie Belle pulled the whistle chord, a long, deep note that rumbled through the area. She opened up the regulator, and the engine pulled away, producing a melodious note from its chimney as it climbed the hill. The locomotive had to work hard in order to clear the steep gradient. All the while, the weight of the coaches pulled it back, and speed threatened to drop to unsustainable levels, but Sweetie Belle managed to keep the train going, through superb control of the regulator and the cutoff. Hondo kept the fire nice and hot, and the train rolled into Horsted Keynes right on time. The station master at Horsted Keynes came out to congratulate them. “Well done!” he called. “You did a superb job on that run, and thanks to you we didn’t have to cancel a train. Good work!” Sweetie Belle simply beamed with pride that day.