//------------------------------//
// The Visitor 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: Tales from the Mainland Volume 2 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

Today, we go a little bit back in time, to shortly before the Havens packed up their things and began their journey to Falmouth. Things had been busy on the Swanage Railway, and the engines were needed to help out with the last bits of the holiday traffic. Overall, everybody seemed cheerful, and the shed soon sounded to the noise of fires being lit and diesel engines being started.

"I wonder what adventures today will bring?" Sophie asked excitedly.

"Probably more of the same," Charles yawned. It was early for him.

"No doubt there will be passengers and freight," Ray said. "I think we can deliver the goods better by pulling away more gently."

"In other words, go slowly," Charles replied.

"No, carefully. If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well."

"Quickly!"

"Well!"

"Quickly!"

"Well!"

"We're already off to a flying start," Zipp said, looking over to Pipp.

"We're still on the ground," Pipp replied.

"Figure of speech. It's like the ideas above the station."

"There are ideas above the station?" Sophie asked.

"No," Charles replied. "It's also a figure of speech."

Just then, Lady Haven arrived. "Can I call a staff meeting?" she said.

"Given you're our boss, I presume you can," Ray replied.

"I have some news," Lady Haven began. "An inspector is coming to the railway."

"What's an inspector?" asked Sophie. She then noticed the odd looks from the others. "What? I'm just fulfilling the show's educational requirements!"

"An inspector," Lady Haven said, "is a person who inspects things. This inspector is coming to ensure that all is in order."

"When will the inspector get here?" Pipp asked.

There was a sudden loud rumble in the distance, and the loud whining of traction motors. "What's that coming over the hill?" Zipp asked.

"Is it a monster?" Pipp added.

"Very funny," Ray said, rolling his eyes.

Just then, a big green diesel loomed into view. It had a long nose at both ends, and three cab windows for the driver to see out. It had twelve wheels split over two bogies, and was producing a lot of smoke from its exhaust outlets. It had the late British Railways emblem on the sides, and rumbled to a magnificent stop.

"Sorry we're late!" the diesel said, confirming them to be female. "We got a bit lost on the way!"

"Not to worry!" Lady Haven replied. "Is your driver available?"

Just then, the cab door opened, and a familiar figure stepped out, down the ladder, and to the gravel below. "An honour to be here, Your Ladyship," he said.

Pipp and Zipp looked in surprise. "Alphabittle?!" they both said in unison.

Alphabittle looked over. "Hello you two!" he said. "It's been a while since we last spoke, huh?"

"It's been a few weeks at most," Zipp answered.

Lady Haven glanced back at her daughters. "Alphabittle is here to inspect the railway. You'll be sure to make him welcome, won't you?"

"W- well of course!" Pipp stammered. "We were just caught by surprise, that's all!"

"Hopefully the diesel won't give us any surprises," Charles muttered.

Alphabittle indicated up to the diesel. "This is Janet. She's a Class 37. Restored her myself. She's a bit noisy on the traction motors, but a good runner so far."

Zipp smiled. "Well, let's see what she can do. And of course we'll be sure to showcase all there is to see."





At first, things were going well. Alphabittle was first shown around the goods yard, where many trucks were waiting. "Nice arrangement of stock," he commented. "Good fit."

Some of his remarks were a bit odd, but Charles was soon in a spot of bother. He had been put on a demonstration goods, but the resulting load was... a bit large. "I'll need a banker!"

"We can't fit any engine around you because the train is too long!" Janet complained.

Charles rolled his eyes. "Then clearly you need exercise."

"Bit rude," Sophie said.

"Uncouple half the train and leave it there," Charles said. A member of staff did, and Charles rolled away with his section- and the left behind bit blocking the points, preventing engines from entering or exiting.

Ray, who had been watching, rolled his eyes in frustration. "Charles, you are an utter child sometimes."





Alphabittle headed into the staff office on bringing his engine to a stop. "So far, so good," he said.

"I'm glad to hear," Lady Haven said, glancing up from her monitor. "Fancy a drink? I can put the kettle on if you'd like."

"No thanks," the burly man replied, and took a seat at the bar. He sighed, his face devoid of its usual energy and cheerfulness.

Lady Haven noticed this sudden change in behaviour. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

Alphabittle sighed. "I've always found this time of year hard. It happened a long time ago, far away... but I can't forgive myself for what I did. Or rather what I failed to do."

"What do you mean?"

The man sighed again. "I was married once, a long time ago. It was far from here- I doubt you'd know it, a place called New Romney- but it was a reasonable life. I had a stable job, a good life. Whilst there, I achieved a dream I'd had for years. I became a father."

"That sounds wonderful," Lady Haven said.

"It was, for the first few years. We did so much together, and it seemed nothing would break us up. But then she vanished when I should have been keeping an eye on her. We looked everywhere, and the police did a search, b- but we never found her." Alphabittle was clearly fighting back tears as he told the story. "It's haunted me ever since. I've tried to find her since then, but I don't think there's any real chance. I lost everything that day. My wife left me, and I left the area as I couldn't bear to be around there anymore!"

He broke down all at once. Anybody with a heart would have wanted to give him a hug, and so Lady Haven did. "There, let it out," she said gently. "I am so, so sorry you had to go through that."

"I'm a failure of a man and a failure of a father! If I can't even keep my own kid safe, what use am I? I guess she was right; I'm so focused on the past I can't see the future!"

"You're not a failure," Lady Haven said gently. "From what I've heard you've done stellar work for the East Lancashire, and from what I've seen you're an excellent engine driver."

Pipp suddenly popped in through the door, before stopping and quickly reversing out and shutting it.

Alpahbittle sighed, seemingly his tears beginning to subside. "You know, maybe a cup of tea wouldn't be a bad idea."





Unfortunately, things continued to go wrong. Sophie pulled into the platform at Norden and stopped far too quickly, throwing the passengers about.

"Watch the braking!" a passenger shouted. "If I wanted to be thrown about I'd have gone to Alton Towers!"

"Your passengers probably don't like being thrown about," Ray said, from the other platform.

"And I imagine your passengers appreciate actually being in the platform," Sophie replied.

Just then, there was a loud crash from the loader, and Janet was covered in dust. "Hey! The clay goes in the trucks, not on me!"

"Then position your trucks under the loader!" the foreman shouted.





Later, Charles was about to pull away from Corfe Castle when suddenly-

"LOOK OUT!"

Zipp slammed the brakes on as suddenly Janet rolled past, before abruptly stopping... and obstructing the points.

Charles was not happy. "JANET! WHAT IN IVATT'S NAME WERE YOU DOING?"

Janet looked over. "Sorry! I didn't see you there!"

"USE YOUR EYEBALLS!" Charles bellowed. "You nearly had me off the rails there!"

Alphabittle glanced over from the controls to see Zipp wasn't making eye contact. He stepped over and rolled the window down. "Look, sorr-"

"No excuse for failing to read signals," Zipp said quickly, before rolling the window up and taking off.

Janet sighed. "We've really messed this one up, haven't we?"





When they got back to Swanage Charles was still fuming, to the point you could see the smoke coming from his radiators. "I mean, the nerve of that engine! To come here and make a complete pig's breakfast of running at lights! What is the world coming to?"

Zipp wasn't bothering to respond to any of it, and simply hopped out of the cab once they stopped.

"Zipp?"

Zipp turned around to see Lady Haven standing there. Her face was hard to read. "Can we talk?"

Zipp sighed. "It's about the near miss, isn't it?"

"There is nothing more to say!" Charles snapped. "That idiot nearly caused a crash and went through a red when I had the line! It's utterly dis-"

"CAPTAIN CHARLES!!!!"

Charles clammed up almost immediately.

Lady Haven brushed her hands on her jacket. "Never fails to work." She looked back to Zipp. "Now then, my office, please."

Zipp suspected she would soon need some replacement eardrums, and made a mental note to get some. As she sat down, her mother spoke. "Zipp, I want to tell you a story. Once upon a time-"

"Mom, I'm a bit old for fairytales."

"Zipp, can you please take this seriously?" After getting acknowledgement, Lady Haven continued. "A long time ago there was a girl who struggled with relating to others. She had few friends, and one day she got into a big argument with a friend. It was over something silly, but it had damaging effects. They didn't speak for months, the anger eating away at both of them. And when they did finally connect with each other again, it was as if a cloud had been lifted. What they had fallen out over hadn't mattered. And the time they had wasted hating each other could have been used to come to a better understanding."

There was a silence. "Is she still around?"

Lady Haven nodded. "That girl was me. Now, I know that there was nearly an accident, and you can't be blamed for that. But you could have handled the situation in a more mature way, both you and Charles."

Zipp sighed. "I know. Have you seen Alphabittle anywhere? I need to speak to him."

Lady Haven checked the security cameras. "He and Janet are at Wareham. If you're quick you may catch him."

Zipp exited the office and climbed into Charles, and set off up the line.





Alphabittle sat on a bench, checking the time. "Not long now until we can head back," he said to Janet.

"I get the impression we're not welcome here," Janet replied.

Just then there was a horn, and Charles rumbled to a stop and Zipp got out. "Alphabittle?"

"Hey Zipp," he said. "Everything OK?"

Zipp looked down. "Look, sorry for blowing up at you earlier."

"It's OK. We were in the wrong. We nearly caused an accident. Doesn't create a good show for a hired engine, does it?"

"Excuse me?"

Alphabittle looked over. "The Swanage Railway wanted to hire an engine in to cover for you being gone. I'd just brought Janet back to working order, and wanting a place to run her in properly I jumped at the chance. This visit was a gauging run to see how well she'd fit. We haven't exactly created the best first impression, I know, given the long history the Swanage and East Lancashire have."

"You've been here before?" Zipp asked.

"Yeah. It was when the Corfe Castle extension was being built in the 1990s. Me and several volunteers came down to help with the tracklaying. It's how I met your mom, actually. Not that I ever felt anything for her, of course. I was already married, and she was already head over heels in love with your dad anyway." Alphabittle looked down. "All in the past, of course."

Zipp felt even worse. "How about we make this up to you and give you a second chance?"

"You'd do that?" Janet asked.

"Scout's honour," Zipp answered.





Lady Haven was more than happy to put the day behind them and give the new engine another chance. And I am proud to say Janet and Alphabittle performed flawlessly. That evening, decked out in all their finery, the three of them went to the Bridge Street Cafe for a fine meal.

As the food was passed around and the conversation flowed, all was well between them. Even if Pipp did have her suspicions... but if I say any more, I shall spoil a future story.