Thomas and Friends: More Tales from Sodor

by The Blue EM2

Overloaded

It was a difficult time on Thomas' branchline. Thomas had developed a fault shortly after his return from the National Railway Museum, and had to go to the works to be mended. This meant that, much like previous times, only Toby, Percy, and Daisy were handling business, with talk of another engine to join them at some point. Bertie helped out as best he could, but he couldn't get everywhere. As he was not a four wheel drive vehicle, he couldn't go into the quarry and had to drop the quarry workers off at the edge of the premises. Which left the workmen with a two mile walk there and back. This wasted time.

"This is getting ridiculous, Flash!" Toby complained. "There is no safe way that we can carry all of these workers in one carriage! It's standing room only in there as it is, and we still have people to get onboard!"

"I know," Flash mused, as he put his hand to his chin. "We could do with another coach, but Annie and Clarabel are too heavy for you to pull alongside Henrietta, and there aren't any other Wisbech and Upwell verandah coaches in existence. We really could do with another four wheel coach."

"Can you all please stop trying to get onboard?" asked Henrietta. "I won't be able to move if any more of you clamber on!"

"You have no propulsion, so you wouldn't be able to move anyway," grumbled a workman. "We can't move either, in case you're wondering. We're squished in like sardines here!"

"Use the balconies!" shouted another, and the workmen scrambled onto those. Soon even those were full, and Henrietta was dangerously overloaded.

"This is worse than a London commuter train," grumbled Flash. He heard the guard blow the whistle, and the train set off for Ffarquhar quarry.

It proved to be incredibly slow going. All of those passengers crammed onto the coach meant that Toby had to work incredibly hard to move. He crawled along the branch line at what seemed like walking pace, and rolled through stations at a snail's pace. People turned out to look at this strange sight, but Toby rang his bell cheerfully and tried to keep going.

As he approached Hackenbeck, he looked around for cones. Daisy had been damaged by an impact with an errant cone here that had been left by a group of careless workmen, and he was keen to prevent the same happening. However, as he approached the gates, which had just started to close, a car suddenly floored its accelerator and sped through, trying to beat the train.

Flash slammed the brakes on and brought Toby to a full emergency stop. "What an idiot!" he shouted. "Those cars should know better! Don't they know that cars will always come off worse in a collision with a train?"

The stop also had a domino effect within Henrietta as the workmen were squeezed against one another. They eventually leaned into Henrietta's front balcony, which bent, but luckily did not break.

"OI, YOU!" shouted a familiar voice. Pedalling towards them was a certain policeman. He wrote something down in his notebook and then disappeared off into the distance.

"There goes trouble," said Toby. "I don't think that policeman likes us."

"You don't say!" Flash sighed. "Ever since we started working the line he's been scrutinising us for any conceivable slip up. He really doesn't like us, one bit."

A few days later, Sir Toppham Hatt got a visit from the Chief Constable for Sodor. "Good morning, sir," the Constable said.

"Good morning," Sir Toppham Hatt said in response. "Is something the matter?"

"Indeed," said the Constable. "I received a report that one of your trains was operating with passengers on the balcony of the railway carriages. The Light Rail Act of 1896 expressly prohibits the transportation of passengers on the balconies of railway carriages."

"Oh dear," said Sir Toppham Hatt. "That was rather unfortunate. Normally, quarry work is supported by a bus, but that had broken down. It won't happen again, sir."

"Please do see to it that it doesn't happen again," the Constable finished, sternly. "You narrowly avoided a nasty accident when a car jumped the crossing gates."

Once the Constable had left, Sir Toppham Hatt picked up his telephone.

"Applejack here, how can Ah help ya?"

"Hello Applejack!" said Sir Toppham Hatt. "Can you and Edward help out on Thomas' branch line for a bit? We're one engine short and need some help. There's supposed to be another engine and a coach arriving from the mainland soon, which should take some pressure off."

"No problem sir!"

Edward worked on the Ffarquhar Branchline for a few days, enjoying the change of scenery. As he was a little more powerful than most of the engines on the branch, he could pull more coaches, which temporarily solved the issue with overcrowding. One morning, Edward was waiting at the junction for James to arrive, when he suddenly heard a whistle from the other direction.

"Did you hear that, Applejack?" he asked. "That sounded like a whistle!"

"Sure did, Eddie," Applejack said, eating an apple as she did so. "But Ah don't think any trains are due through yet."

Suddenly, the whistle boomed through the valley, and an engine steamed into view. He was the oldest engine that Edward or anybody had ever seen. He was painted a deep maroon livery that looked almost ochre when viewed in the wrong light, and a tall dome right up next to his chimney, which was very tall, like a chimney on an old mill. He had a brass band of metal running around his firebox, an open cab with windows and protection at both ends, and a small lined tender rattling along behind him. The sides of his boiler bore the marking Furness Railway 20. Rattling behind the tender was two coaches, both painted blue with white window lining.

The train rolled to a stop in the platform. "Well, that was a challenging journey up from Preston!" said the engine.

Edward's eyes widened in amazement. "Albert!" he said. "You survived!"

"As did Victoria and Helena," the old engine smiled, his moustache bristling as he spoke. "Hello Edward. You don't look a day over 119."

"Do you two know each other?" Applejack asked.

"We do indeed!" Edward said. "This is Albert. I knew him back in the days I worked on the Furness Railway, when I was painted red. Those two coaches are Helena and Victoria, whom I worked with sometimes on the Lakeside Branch."

"That's now a preserved railway," said another voice, and a woman dressed in a boilersuit stepped off the footplate. She looked to be rather old, with purple, wrinkled skin and hair a dull grey that seemed to collect oddly atop her head. Her blue eyes looked about her, with a degree of concern. "I do say, Albert, I hope they have the facilities to maintain an engine of your age."

"You're not exactly a spring chicken yourself," Albert replied. "This is my driver, Madeleine, or as some call her, Mistmane. Reportedly she used to have quite a flowing head of hair, but not these days!"

"Old?" Mistmane replied. "I've have you know I'm only 60!"

They all had a good laugh, before Edward spoke. "I imagine we want to catch up, but I have a train to pull, and that means I'll be busy for a bit. Catch you later!" And he puffed away, happy that a piece of his old railway had survived into preservation.

Author's Note:

Furness Railway No 20 is Great Britain's oldest operational steam locomotive, having been built in 1863 and overhauled many times since then. Not a powerful machine, it is strictly limited to 2 coaches in normal operation. Edward is, of course, another Furness machine, though of a much later era.

Comments

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

Huh, this was quite a surprise here. Not what I expected at all

[JimmyHook19]

Good to see Mistmane appear. X3

[The Blue EM2]

10761285
I thought it only fair to give a very venerable machine the spotlight.

[The Blue EM2]

10761292
I figured as much from your profile art.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10761695
Well, no complaints here. It's nice to see Edward interact with a fellow FR engine!

[The Blue EM2]

10761747
One of only three survivors too.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10761811
Oddly, I find it ironic that this very engine is the only preserved FR engine, yet no one thinks to preserve a K2 engine

[The Blue EM2]

10761829
They'd all been scrapped by 1935, long before preservation really got into gear.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10761868
Either way, I wish at least one K2 was kept

[The Blue EM2]

10762154
A very similar loco was preserved in Denmark.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10762159
I hadn't known of that honestly.

[The Blue EM2]

10762175
lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/j8uYdGwPgCOSf4pDTfgKll9kBJf4mnNTELF8f_MAOTh2-eVZzyNvh4eAIsad454WdODX6U0iMRMfDEEMrC4dV-H4QVNZr_yV-4Zu__EB2znI8wHZ-xwyqID6
static.wikia.nocookie.net/locomotive/images/a/ab/M_LMSR_10131_SRA150911_16084-M_%282%29.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200607095033

The resemblance is uncanny.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10762234
It most certainly is.

But in lines of all the tender engines, I never understood why Edward, James, and Gordon were all given Fowler tenders

[The Blue EM2]

10762235
I can only assume it was a lack of choice. Most NWR engines received light refits in the 1930s, and the LMS was busy recycling old Fowler tenders and replacing with Stanier ones. They were probably very cheap.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10762242
That would make sense.

What was that other engine in the picture you shown me?

[The Blue EM2]

10762247
The first image is a Sharp, Stewart 4-4-0 built for Danish Railways. The second was a K2.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10762253
Well the Danish one definitely resembled Edward very well.
Interesting enough, I have my own character based on a K2 as well, but for him, he has an American Steam Locomotive's tender (but I can't remember which one. But I do know it isn't one of a common 4-4-0 of America)

[The Blue EM2]

10762255
Presumably a smaller tender to keep them in gauge.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10762303
Yeah, it is a decent sized tender, however this guy doesn't work on a British based gauge railway, he works on a US based gauge one.

[The Blue EM2]

10762433
That works, actually, as UK locos will be in gauge.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10762444
Yeah, as Flying Scotsman proved it.

Plus, it is a better plan than having US engines on UK track. Since we both know Hank, Catlin, Connor, and Sam would never work on UK track

[The Blue EM2]

10762446
Or change them to S160s.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10762448
Yeah, or even a 2-8-2 Mikado as well

[The Blue EM2]

10762453
I've got a little list.

[KRMebius]

"We do indeed!" Edward said. "This is Albert. I knew him back in the days I worked on the Furness Railway, when I was painted red. "

You watch the the stories of Sodor?

[The Blue EM2]

10778128
Yes. And I know railway history.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Flash slammed the brakes on and brought Toby to a full emergency stop. "What an idiot!" he shouted. "Those cars should know better! Don't they know that cars will always come off worse in a collision with a train?"

Mhm.

The stop also had a domino effect within Henrietta as the workmen were squeezed against one another. They eventually leaned into Henrietta's front balcony, which bent, but luckily did not break.

Oofity.

"There goes trouble," said Toby. "I don't think that policeman likes us."

You don't say!?!?

"We do indeed!" Edward said. "This is Albert. I knew him back in the days I worked on the Furness Railway, when I was painted red. Those two coaches are Helena and Victoria, whom I worked with sometimes on the Lakeside Branch."

Nice.