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// High Speed Gordon 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: More Tales from Sodor 
// by The Blue EM2 
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Donald was staying at Tidmouth Sheds one night. Work had run late on the branch line, and it was too late for him to return to Arlesburgh shed. Even so, he seemed to be interested and excited by something he had seen.

"I saw one of those 'High Speed Trains' whilst at Barrow today," he said, with a smile on his face. 

"What's a high speed train?" Gordon asked.

"They have a diesel engine at each end, and several coaches between them. They can run at up to 125 miles an hour, and are pretty good at going up and down hills too!"

"That sounds familiar," said Thomas. "Remember when those inspectors from Network Rail visited, with that strange yellow train?"

"That was indeed an HST," Donald said, with a smile. "That's the one fitted with the track monitoring equipment. They call it the Flying Banana."

Henry snorted. "The Flying Banana?" he laughed. "Whatever next? The Galloping Fruitcake?"

Gordon seemed cross. "A diesel at each end, eh?" he said, scornfully. "Pathetic. I reckon I could go as fast as them, if not faster. There's only one of me, after all. Besides, one of my cousins did 126!"

"And nearly shook himself to bits doing it," James pointed out. "Besides, you don't have the best of luck with high speed runs."

"Never trust domeless engines!" said Edward. "They aren't respectable."

Gordon fell silent. For the night, at least. But once morning came, and the drivers came to ready their engines for service, he was once again boasting. "Speed is nothing to me," he said confidently. "Why, one of my cousins went at-"

"One hundred and twenty six, we know," Rainbow Dash interrupted, as she took the driver's seat. "We, on the other hand, are limited to seventy five, given the speed limits. Remember what happened last time you tried to break a record?"

"The passengers laughed at me," Gordon said. "Oh, the indignity."

Rainbow Dash opened the regulator, and Gordon puffed away across the turntable and towards the yard. Gordon was normally allocated to the first Wild nor'Wester service of the day running nonstop from Tidmouth to Vicarstown, although James, Henry, Bear, and sometimes even Murdoch took it. Today, the service was to depart first from Tidmouth, so Gordon was reversed a short distance along the line and rolled into the big station at Tidmouth. There, he was held at a shunt signal for a few minutes, as the station pilot was yet to finish moving the coaches into position. Rainbow Dash glanced back and looked at the load with concern.

"It's longer than usual," she said, worried. "Normally we only have to pull ten. We've got fifteen on the back. That's 540 tons tare, and who knows how much gross?"

"Stuff and nonsense!" said Gordon. "I am a big and strong engine. I can move anything!"

"Maybe," Rainbow Dash said quietly. "But the icy rails and wet weather aren't filling me with confidence."

It had been a cold night, and there was a thick film of frost on the track. This was combined with a rainstorm and a lot of wind, which produced an icy film on the tracks. The coaches stood safe under the station canopy, but the longer train meant that Gordon would have to start off from outside the canopy. As he was coupled up, the passengers began to climb aboard. Apart from the usual crowd who used the service to travel from one end of the island to another, the Wild nor'Wester was also very popular with tourists and those often dismissively referred to as 'anoracks'. This was because it was one of the few remaining timetabled high speed steam workings in Great Britain, or 'plandampf' to use the German expression.

It took several minutes to get everybody onboard, especially those with ludicrous numbers of bags, and Gordon grew colder and colder. "Come on!" he said. "Let's get going! It's freezing out here, and the sooner I get my motion on the move, the better."

Rainbow Dash checked back down the platform to see whether the guard was there. The guard suddenly appeared, waving his green flag and blowing his whistle. "Good, no floppy green hats this time," she smiled, and pulled her head back in. "Here we go!" she called. "Next stop, Vicarstown!"

She released the brakes, waiting for the needle to reach 21 inches of mercury, and then set them to running. Finally, she opened the regulator.

What happened next would always be remembered... for all the wrong reasons. Gordon's wheels slipped on the damp rails, and he jerked forward suddenly. Water rushed forward through the boiler. Gordon had a parallel boiler, so this meant that he lacked the curved tubing that would naturally pull water forward. This meant that it collected and caused his regulator valve to jam, meaning Rainbow Dash couldn't shut it!

"SHUT OFF STEAM!" Gordon shouted. "MY WHEELS ARE SLIPPING!"

Rainbow Dash opened the cylinder cocks and tried to use that to vent steam and correct the spin, but that didn't work. There was too much water and far too much weight in the train, and Gordon skidded helplessly. Sir Toppham Hatt came up the platform and shouted some things, but Gordon was producing so much noise that nobody could hear them.

This went onwards for 15 minutes, until Gordon had finally used up the excess water. Rainbow Dash slammed the regulator shut with a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to have all that noise out of my ears," she said.

Sir Toppham Hatt said something, but she couldn't make it out. "What?" she asked. Suddenly, it all made sense to her. She couldn't drive the train, as the noise had made her temporarily deaf.

Henry came to take the express on its journey, with James piloting, whilst Gordon was dumped on a siding. Workmen would also need to replace the rails where Gordon had been, as he had worn deep grooves into them. Naturally, Gordon got some mockery for his antics.

"Hello!" said Duck, as he stopped with some goods. "I heard you went for a spin today. Oh well, not the worst thing ever. Although I assume you know you're supposed to move your train when you go at high speed?"

Gordon looked over and growled at Duck. "Shut up," he said. "It's not funny."

"OK then, let's see how you handle trucks."

Gordon knew he had to find some way to get his own back, but he had no clue how. He would have to wait for his shot to prove himself once more.