Hurricane the tender engine had come to visit Falmouth for a few days, as the LLF reckoned he could do with a change of scenery. Not to mention the encounter that he'd had in the steelworks near Darlington. As he sat on the end of the bay platform one morning, he observed the other engines going about their day.
"I stick out like a sore thumb," the Dean Goods said. "I'm the only former Great Western engine here, and yet I feel left out. They all have so much to do. It must be the fact I'm old."
Just then, Charled rolled to a stop, and Zipp hopped out to couple him to the coaches waiting in the main platform. "Hello Hurricane!" Zipp said. "I don't believe we've met before."
"We haven't," Charles said. "When Porter, Sophie, and Bellerophon were gallivanting about in northeast England I was in bits, remember?"
"Were you?" Hurricane asked.
"I had an accident," Charles answered. "But now I'm back to Peak efficiency!"
"You're a Class 33."
"You knew what I meant," Charles said. "And who's the pirate on your footplate?"
"I'm not a pirate!" his driver, Celeano, replied. "I'm Celeano. Nice to meet you."
Zipp had gotten back from connecting the air hoses, and addressed Hurricane. "Is something wrong? You look a bit down."
Hurricane sighed. "You two are always lucky to have work to do. I haven't sat out of action for this long since, well, the old days of the Great Western."
Charles rolled his eyes. "That tinpot railway indeed."
"I'll have you know I was based out Tyseley, which is in Birmingham," Hurricane replied. "Usually I was allocated to shorter trains or pickup goods. It was always wonderful seeing children turning out to watch us rumbling by. And the famous named expresses overtaking us, usually with a Castle or a King gleaming at the front." He sighed. "But then the diesels came, and before we knew it the good old days were over. It'd be nice to take some goods somewhere."
Charles wasn't exactly what you'd call sympathetic. "Rubbish! Passengers are where the real money is! In fact, the entire rail system is built to haul passengers nowadays!"
Zipp leaned out of the cab. "Which is why freight should be moved back onto the rails. It would free the roads of all those lorries and reduce carbon output overall." Just then, the signal changed and the guard blew his whistle.
With a blast of his horn, Charles was underway. "POWER!"
Celeano rolled her eyes. "Showoff," she said, when he was firmly out of earshot.
No sooner had he gone then Ray arrived with two coaches. "I don't know if I'm coming or going, Jazz!" he said.
"More likely going, to be honest," Jazz replied. "I'll need to clean up before I get home. I can hardly do manicures looking like a chimneysweep!"
Ray glanced over. "Everything OK, Hurricane?"
"I just fancy having some work to do," Hurricane sighed. "In fact, if I could find some work it would be fantastic."
Ray had an idea. "There's a goods train I'm booked to take up to Newham," he said. "You can take it if you'd like. Of all of us you probably fit in here the best, being Great Western."
"Thank you!" Hurricane said, and once the points had changed he was on his way.
Hurricane was soon coupled onto the train, and with a whistle was on his way. He looked splendid with twenty trucks rattling behind him, but as he climbed out of Falmouth he grimaced. "I'm starting to be out of puff!" he said. "It must be age getting to me."
"Take it easy," Celeano replied. "Best to get there safe then in a rush."
But what Charles had said still echoed through Hurricane's mind. If the system really was so focused on passengers as he had claimed, what role was there now for goods engines like him?
At Newham, Porter was fuming. "Where's Ray?" he asked. "He's always dawdling about and going slowly! There is this thing called a timetable, you know!"
"He's probably busy ensuring all the trucks are arranged by colour," Izzy suggested.
Just then, an unfamiliar whistle sounded, and Hurricane rolled into Newham Harbour tender first, with the train behind him. "Sorry for the delay!" he said. "I had to run round at Penwithers Junction! It's not safe to propel this lot for long distances!"
"I wasn't expecting to see you again, Hurricane!" Porter said. "That's a heavy load for an old engine like you!"
"You're hardly a spring chicken yourself," Hurricane replied, as he was detached from the stock. "Besides, the oldest engine here is nearly 150. Your combined ages probably come out at well over 1,000."
"Do you have any further work we can do?" Celeano asked.
Porter smiled. "See the trucks over there?" he said. "They need to go to Truro goods yard so Brookes can handle them. Think you're up to the task?"
"Of course," Hurricane smiled, and he was soon attached to the train. He was still running tender first. "Hopefully I've got enough water. Not having water on the crown sheet is hardly ideal during a climb."
Nontheless, he set off. The climb out of Newham Harbour is quite fierce, and the train was long and heavy. Hurricane puffed his way up the slope, the sun shiming off his polished brass dome as it did so.
"He seems a bit out of puff!" one of the trucks said.
"Oh well, there's a downhill bit coming up," said another.
Once he reached the summit, there was a long downhill stretch. Hurricane was so focused on the climb that he soon realised what was happening. "Brakes!" he shouted.
Celeano shut off steam and applied the brakes, but it wasn't enough. The heavy trucks slammed into each other, effectively rendering the train uncontrollable.
The trucks were having a tremendous time. "FASTER! FASTER! AS FAST AS YOU WANT!"
The brake blocks were screeching, but were having minimal effect on train speed. They flew along at high speed as they flew up a gradient and rejoined the main line, but luckily the uphill section had started to slow the train down. He skidded through the tunnel and eventually came to a stop in the platform at Truro.
Brookes glanced over from the yard. "That was quite the entrance."
Hurricane sighed. "That could have gone better."
Later, Brookes released the stock and took it to the sidings, whilst Porter had arrived to check on Hurricane. "You alright?" he asked.
"Nobody was hurt, if that's what you mean," Hurricane replied.
"That's lucky," Celeano added.
"Still," the old engine said, "that was a rather uncomfortable reminder that my best days are past me. Perhaps I should get a better sense of my own strengths now rather than chase past glories all the time."
Izzy then spoke. "The past isn't always how we remember it, given our tendancy to forget the bad stuff. But there's little point in living in the past if it means you miss the present. And there's always a place for engines like you. We're putting together a vintage train, and I think you'd be the ideal engine for it!
Hurricane smiled. Although he knew the good old days were long gone, he knew he could build new and positive memories in the present. Although things may come and things may go, and they have a chance of going either fast or slow, nothing lasts forever. But one thing does carry on through the ages, and those are friendships.