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// If I had a Voice I would Sing... 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: Journey beyond Cornwall 
// by The Blue EM2 
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Both engines and their drivers looked on in disbelief at an engine sat in a nearby siding. The engine was small and blue, with disproportionately large bufferbeams for his size. Scattered atop his boiler was an interesting jumble of machinery, presumably critical for his operation. His also had quite a tall chimney with a copper cap, which meant he closely resembled the 'steam elephants' of the dawn of the steam age.

But this wasn't what drew their attention. He had no connecting rods at all linking his four wheels. Instead, his wheels were connected to an absolute tangle of different geared wheels. "Hello!" he said. "It's not everyday we get visitors!"

"What precisely are you?" Bellerophon asked. "I've never seen an engine like you before!"

Misty harrumphed. "What he meant to say was hello, how are you?"

"It's alright," the engine replied. "I do attract a lot of attention, as not many of us were ever built."

Izzy walked over. "Where are your pistons?" she asked.

"They're sat in that box on top of my boiler. You see, I'm a rail traction engine."

"What's one of those?" Porter asked. "I thought traction engines were road vehicles."

"Instead of connecting rods and valves, my wheels are driven by a network of flywheels and gears to keep me moving. I'm not fast, but I was not meant for that. I was built for a cement works, where my gearing allowed me to maintain very slow speeds for shunting."

"Fascinating," Misty said. "You'd fit in nicely where we're from!"

"What's your name?" Bellerophon asked. "As you probably guessed, I'm Bellerophon, this is Porter, and our drivers are Izzy and Misty."

The engine noted this. "I'm Fergus," he replied. "Spent my working career in the South. It's a little strange now being based in County Durham, but this yard has plenty of work for me to do. And where are you two headed?"

"Darlington yard, to drop this lot off," Porter explained.

"You're not far, then," Fergus noted.

"What's all this noise?" asked a voice.

"Just some visitors, Ashleigh!" Fergus replied.

Moments later, another tank engine rattled into view. It was another tank engine, only this one was painted black with red and white lining on the tank and frames. They had a very oddly shaped funnel, and a large dome sat atop a saddle tank. The cab had oddly shaped windows and frames, and the bufferbeams hung down a long way from the tops of the frames. They whistled as they approached. "Hello!" they called, the voice revealing them to be female. "It's been awfully quiet around here, and some company is appreciated!"

Izzy glanced over to Fergus in confusion. "I thought you said the other engine's name was Ashleigh."

"I did. What makes you ask that?"

"Isn't Ashley a man's name?"

"Not in the United States it isn't," the saddle tank said. "The colliery I worked at was owned by an American, and he named me after his daughter. Quite confusing, isn't it? Apparently he wasn't aware that Ashley is a male given name in the UK."

"Right then, you seem to be holding up," said another voice, this time in the direction of the footplate. Another person hopped off Ashleigh's cab and walked over to the new arrivals.

She had purplish skin and piercing blue eyes which were so bright it took the others aback for a second. She had lighter purple hair, part of which was currently arranged in a mohawk, and she wore a pair of black boots, black pants, and a greyish black jacket with a strange symbol on them.

"It's not often new engines arrive at our yard," she said. "And a Fowler Dock Tank being one of them."

"His name's Porter," Izzy said.

"I can speak for myself, you know," Porter said.

"I'm Izzy Moonbow. This is Misty, and the other engine is Bellerophon. We were just talking with Fergus here."

The woman nodded. "Tempest Shadow. I'm a local mechanic, and keeping these two in working order was a nice fit after I was discharged."

"Discharged from what?" Misty asked.

Izzy indicated to Tempest's left hand. "She has a prosthetic."

Tempest pulled up the sleeve of her jacket, revealing her entire forearm to be a prosthetic. "Yeah. Losing your entire forearm is a good reason for a medical discharge from the military. Still, it could have been worse. It's pretty dextorous, after all." She picked up a tool with it and took to oiling Ashleigh's axleboxes. "So, what brings you here?"

"We're taking some goods to Darlington, but aren't quite sure where the yard is."

"You got routed round the goods loop, didn't you?" Tempest replied. "Not much traffic comes this way, which is why we're based here. Good facility, decent rail access, and plenty of space."

"We?" Bellerophon asked.

"Yes. Myself and a friend look after these engines. We have three- Fergus and Ashleigh are two- and we returned them to running order, with the intention of taking them to heritage lines at some point. The third is currently out on a loaded test run." She glanced up at the sky. "It's getting pretty late. You can stay here if you want until the morning. We have housing on-site, and I know a couple of places around here to eat."

"Thanks for the offer," Misty said, "but we'd probably best be on our way to the delivery point. They're probably wondering where we are!"

The drivers reboarded their engines, and after running round the train set off once more out of the yard. They had at least been refuelled, and as they left Tempest mused to herself. "Izzy Moonbow, eh? The name sounds familiar somehow."

The goods train rattled off into the distance, not realising that they were being watched. A person was up a tree with a pair of night vision goggles, which were rather useless in the light. He switched on his radio.

"Good news, boss," he said. "They're coming. Roll out the red carpet."