Thomas was soon hauled into the workshop, where Spitfire checked him over. "Heh, I've had to fix worse," she said coolly.
Thomas was surprised. Her manner seemed to be completely different to when she and Flying Scotsman had visited Sodor. "You don't seem to be shouting as much as usual," he said.
"There's no need in here," Spitfire replied. "We can all hear each other when speaking at normal volumes. Come on people, let's get to work!"
A crew of people helped out with fixing Thomas, and before long he was as good as new. Flying Scotsman was also in the shed, and was keen to speak to Thomas again after so long. "Hello again, Thomas!" he said. "I say, it's good to see you again."
"I'm glad I made it here!" Thomas replied. "I'm happy to help around the yard. What are you in for?"
"I just need some springs changing," Flying Scotsman replied. "I am nearly 90 years old, after all. Having said that, none of us are getting any younger. Evening Star, the youngest steam engine here, will be 60 in a few years time."
"I'm feeling my age a bit," Thomas sighed.
One of the people assigned to help fix Thomas was a girl with light green skin, golden hair and eyebrows. She was usually seen wearing a grey T shirt with a white lightning bolt with three golden stars on it, a black jacket with yellow lines on the arms, a pair of dark grey skin tight pants, and white and turquoise trainers with the same lightning bolt and star motif as her shirt. She seemed quite friendly, so Thomas struck up conversation with her. "Hello," said Thomas. "May I ask your name?"
"Sure!" the girl replied. "I'm Laura Dashel, but I prefer my nickname, Lightning Dust. I've been here a few years now, but I never had the chance to work on an E2 before!"
"That's because I'm the only one left," Thomas replied. "The rest were scrapped in the 1960s, and even then I only survived because of a typo in official paperwork."
"Possibly the luckiest typo in history," Lightning Dust mused, as she adjusted a bolt. "There. That's your buffer fixed. How's it going with the paintwork, Clipper?"
"It's lookin' great, Dusty!" a familiar voice replied. Thomas gasped when he saw Soarin'.
"Soarin'!" he exclaimed. "When do you start working with the National Railway Museum?"
"I'm visiting for the show alongside Harold," Soarin' replied. "I know a thing or two about paint, so I figured I'd help out."
"Why did you call him Clipper?" Thomas asked.
"Oh, we all have nicknames that relate to something embarrassing we've done," Lightning Dust replied. "I sent a huge spray of dust through the workshop once, and Soarin' tripped on a flagpole whilst heading to the canteen, hence 'Clipper'."
Before long, Thomas was fully fixed and out in the demonstration yard. Several other engines were in service, giving rides or cab tours, and Thomas saw an old face in Boxhill, the former Brighton depot shunter. "Hello Thomas!" the Terrier called. "It's a while since I last saw you. We must meet up and chat some time."
"Can't stop and chat!" Thomas called. "I need to head over there!"
"You're the main attraction, Thomas!" Twilight explained. "An engine from Sodor is rarely seen off of Sodor."
"Is that being a credit to Sir Toppham Hatt?" Thomas asked. "I'm quite keen to make up for that parking ticket!"
"Thomas, that wasn't your fault," Twilight soothed. "Besides, we're working the demonstration trains today. We'll be giving passengers rides in an original set of LBSC coaches!"
"Hoorah!" said Thomas. "That will be good."
Lightning Dust was acting as pilot to help them along the demonstration line, which was connected to the rest of the site by Station Hall, an old goods shed that had been turned into a replica of a railway terminus. There were three demonstration lines in use. The first was standard gauge, and the second was for narrow gauge engines (a little brown engine called Bertram was pottering up and down that). The third was called broad gauge, and was being operated by a very big and very old engine called Iron Duke, visiting from a museum in Didcot near London.
Thomas was concerned. There were so many people at the lineside that some were not being as careful as they should have been. Not only that, the museum was not monitoring the crowds properly, and hundreds, if not thousands, of people were jammed in at the lineside. "I don't like the number of people packed in like sardines at the lineside," he told Twilight. "What if a child managed to get onto the line?"
"There are plenty of strong barriers to hold them back," Twilight replied. "And we'll be careful. Besides, people know these machines aren't toys."
Thomas was sweeping the track very carefully for any potential causes of danger, and most of the day went succesfully. Then, on the final run of the day, it happened.
At the lineside, a woman had taken her youngest son right up to the barrier. "Look, Timmy!" she said. "It's the choo choo train!"
Iron Duke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "That'll be the day," he grumbled.
"Err, mum?" shouted another boy. "Get back from the barrier! You're far too close!"
"Nonsense, Richard!" the woman replied. "It's Thomas the Tank Engine! We can't be in any danger."
She was completely wrong. A bag snapped off a support column, and flew onto the demonstration line!
"Obstruction ahead! Full emergency stop!" Lightning Dust shouted.
Twilight slammed on the brakes, and the train skidded along the line.
"I must stop! I MUST STOP!" Thomas said, and crashed into the bag, finally stopping. Mountains of sandwiches and bags of crisps flew everywhere, as well as several bottles of pop. They exploded on Thomas' bufferbeam, making him look very silly. He looked over, and a great jet of steam blasted from his cylinder cocks- right over the mother and the child.
The child didn't take it very well. "I wan't to go home, mummy, now!" he screeched.
"You noisy great engine!" the mother thundered. "Wait until I speak to the manager about this!"
Lightning Dust had gotten down from the footplate to clean the mess, and looked back. "Steam engines are noisy, and we had to stop. That involves making noise. Besides, the CCTV footage will show you were standing where you shouldn't have been!"
"Are you arguing with me?" the mother replied. "How dare you raise your voice at a customer! We'll be going home after this!"
"Be thankful you're going home in a car and not a coffin," Lightning Dust replied coldly, as the woman walked off. She glanced back to Twilight. "Honestly, the public can be so idiotic sometimes. Steam engines can be dangerous? You don't say!"
The boy called Richard walked over to Thomas. "Sorry about my mum," he said. "She behaves like that when she knows she's in the wrong. Yes, she couldn't have foreseen that accident, but she shouldn't have gotten so close. Steam engines aren't toys, after all."
"Indeed," Twilight replied. "Even the smallest of narrow gauge locos usually weigh upwards of 30 tons and will put you in A and E if they hit you- if you're lucky."
"And you did a great job stopping, Thomas," Richard continued. "Good thing it was only somebody's lunch."
"You've damaged your brakes, Thomas," said Lightning Dust. "We'll need to get those fixed at the works. Let's hope people have learned engines can't stop at once."
Thomas hoped they had.