The weather had taken a sudden turn for the worse in Cornwall, and it had started to rain. Everywhere you looked it was wet, wet, wet. The engines sat in the shed, looking concerned as raindrops hit the ground and exploded into the air.
"I hope we don't have to go out in this!" Bellerophon said. "The weather looks awful, and if our drivers have to walk about in that they'll look like drowned rats!"
"For once I agree," Charles said. "This weather will make stopping difficult."
"Only because you go too quickly," Ray said.
"And you go too slowly. Every time you take a train it always gets there late."
"Now that just isn't true," Ray replied. "Is it, Porter?"
"I don't have a stopwatch, so I can't tell for certain," Porter replied.
Just then, Misty and Izzy arrived. "What a day!" Izzy said. "It reminds me of that big storm we had a year ago, just without the weird portal in the ground."
"We should be safe here, right?" Misty asked.
"Almost certainly," Izzy replied. "Sunny tells me that Falmouth's flood defences were rebuilt very recently, so should be able to withstand any flooding."
Misty looked at her work order. "Proceed to Newham and check on the river?" she said. "Well, orders are orders." She climbed into Bellerophon's cab (his fire was already lit) and smiled. "Nothing like a nice warm fire to warm you up on a day like today." Adjusting the controls, she backed Bellerophon out of the shed and onto the line, ready to proceed up to Newham."
The Falmouth Branch largely runs well above the river to protect it from any flooding, as water levels are very unlikely to rise to the level of the line. However, the same is not true of the Newham Branch. This terminates in a dockyard next to water, and the docks are very prone to flooding.
As a result, Truro Council had flood defences and walls built along the side of the dockside to ensure no water could get in. These could be raised and lowered based on the predicted level of water. The river was already higher than normal in several places, and this was most alarming.
When Misty and Bellerophon arrived, the flood defences were in the up position. "We're not off to a promising start," Bellerophon said. "They're already up."
"That they are," Misty said. "And the water's still rising!"
Just then, there was the sound of water. "That's not good," Bellerophon said quietly. And it wasn't. Water was seeping in through one of the walls and making a mess of the track beyond it.
"The wall is breached!" Misty said. "Let's get out of here!" She put Bellerophon into reverse and backed him out of the yard.
Izzy and Porter were waiting at the start of the Newham Harbour Branch, waiting for Bellerophon and Misty to return. The nearby water levels were continuing to rise.
"What's taking them so long?" Porter asked. "It's not as if water levels are dangerously high!"
Izzy glanced out of the cab, and made up her mind. "We're going in!" she said. "They may be in trouble!"
"What if we end up in trouble as a result?"
"That's just a risk we'll have to take," Izzy replied.
And then things went from bad to worse. Unbeknownst to any of them, there was a dam upstream, used to supply drinking water to many settlements in Cornwall. This dam was old, and the rainfall had proven to be the last straw. With a massive bang it gave way, thousands of tons of brick and stone falling into the water. Thousands of gallons of water now had nothing to hold it back, and it flooded into the river below, having become a borderline unstoppable force.
Bellerophon was reversing along the line when he saw the water coming for them. "The river's burst its banks!" he shouted. "Quickly!"
Misty increased the regulator to try and speed up, but the tide of water was moving too fast. The wave of water slammed into them, tossing the engine about like a toy and depositing him on a bank. The ground began to give way, and began to slump backwards as the water ate away at it.
Bricks, metal plates, and even an entire container drifted past on the river as Bellerophon sat there. "Help!" he wailed. "I'm trapped here!"
Then Porter arrived. "No time for joking!" Porter said. "Izzy, we're pulling him out!"
"Not arguing with you on that one!" Izzy said, as she jumped out of the cab. She ran a line of steel cable from Porter's coupling to Bellerophon's buffers, and wound it tight. She then climbed back onboard and set Porter to full reverse.
Porter's wheels skidded on the wet rails as he tried to pull Bellerophon clear, but it seemed to be having little effect. "Bellerophon's weight is causing him to sink into the mud!" he said. "Can you provide some power, Misty?"
Misty applied the regulator, but it did little good. Bellerophon lurched further forward, looking straight down into the raging torrent below. "I'd rather not drown!" he shouted.
"You won't drown!" Izzy shouted. "We'll get you out!" Given she had previously failed to save a friend, she wasn't going to let that happen again.
Just then, a Coast Guard helicopter roared overhead, and saw the commotion. It lowered another line down to the stricken engine, which Misty quickly tied on.
The radio buzzed in Porter's cab. "We need to time our pulls to maximise torque," said the chopper pilot. "On my mark. 3, 2, 1, MARK!"
The engines of the helicopter roared at maximum power whilst Porter puffed as hard as he could. Steam and smoke poured into the air as the combined power of both machines began to shift Bellerophon off the bank. After a few more seconds of pulling, Bellerophon was free and back on the rails.
"Thank you!" Bellerophon said. "I thought I'd be sleeping with the fishes tonight."
"I would never leave a friend in the lurch," Porter replied. "You were pretty brave, though."
Misty glanced back. "We didn't have much of a choice. You never know how you'll react to a situation until you've tried it."
Porter and Izzy sincerely hoped they wouldn't end up in the same predicament.