All you Need is Love!
The darkness was fighting back against our heroes who were flying along at speed through the darkness towards Bury. Kolhapur's lamps glowed in the darkness, and the landscape around him was dark and cold. But onwards he went. "Whomever this is, they're determined to not be caught!" he said.
"That's rather the idea with crime!" Sunny noted, who looked out of the cab. "Any idea of how far ahead this guy is?"
"Not a clue!" Zipp answered. "I've got my drone looking for them, but the night vision module seems to be playing up!"
Ruby, on the other hand, was at the controls of the large Jubilee, maintaining superb control over the large machine. "Just passing the station approaches!" she called.
Moments later, the gas lights of Bury Bolton Street flew into view, and they roared through the platform and into the next section of the yard. The small petrol cart was visible up ahead briefly, and a small, hunched figure was seen in the gloom, a gloom briefly cut through by Kolhapur's lamps.
"Keep going!" Hitch shouted. "But watch our speed on the bends!"
Izzy checked her watch. "We have to be careful," she said. "The ski jump is coming up!"
The engine rumbled round the bend and up into the grade, Ruby increasing steam pressure to handle the climb. Speed dropped as they began to clumb to the top, but before long the summit came and they were over.
But this was soon about to go wrong. The track drops steeply on the other side, and speed began to rise rapidly. "This isn't good!" Kolhapur shouted. "Apply some brake, would you kindly?"
Pipp was trying to figure out what was going on through her phone monitor, but the speed at which they were travelling and the bumpiness of the track was causing her problems. She had driven this route before- not just for Christmas, but during their first ever adventure together- but even so the place felt alien in the dark. "I'm trying to get a snap on that driver!" she said.
"I think they're too far away!" Sunny replied, looking ahead herself. "Just hold on and try not to fall out of the cab!"
They flew round another bend and maintained some impressive speed, the cart they were chasing briefly visible one again as they flew along in the dark. Suddenly, the AWS siren in the cab went off, and Ruby leaned out to see a yellow signal. "Looks like we're stopping!"
She applied the brakes and brought Kolhapur to a stop as safely as she could, with the line up ahead being the main line beyond Heywood. Hitch and Zipp jumped out of the cab and ran down the platform to try and figure out who had been there, but they scowered up and down and found nobody there at all.
They returned with this disappointing news. "Whomever was there is now gone," said Hitch. "They vanished a long time ago. We're out of luck this time, but at least we drove them off."
Owing to the disruption caused by the incident, the concert did not resume until the next morning. But those who did attend said it was worth the wait. Electric Blue put on an incredible performance of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the Dreamlands proved to be surprisingly popular considering it had been decades since they had last performed together.
Proceedings rumbled on and the visitors enjoyed the musical spectacle. Although the lack of bioluminescence during the day rather changed the tone of the event, it wasn't a problem to most visitors, who were simply happy to be able to enjoy the band performances at all.
And as the concert drew to a close, they all had one last surprise for everybody. Pipp stepped onto the stage and grabbed a microphone. "Thank you, all of you, for coming today!" she said. "I know that not everything went to plan, but we are glad we were able to have the time to perform here in Burr's Country Park, and intend someday to come back. To round off this performance, we have written a special song to remind all of us that, no matter when or where you're from, when we all work together we can work wonders!"
Music blasted through the speakers as the lights came up on Electric Blue, still in the Sgt. Pepper costumes, but having switched to a distinctly heavier rock sound. "What's up!" shouted Fretlock. "Hello Bury!"
The lights then came up on the Dreamlands, the older members of the crowd going wild at seeing their teen idols performing again all these years later. "Let's do this, girls!" Minty called over the mic.
The last set of lights illuminated Pipp and Ruby, representing more modern music, and as the beat shifted the three groups began.
The Dreamlands went first.
"Ohhhhhh, hey!
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh, oh, oh!
Put your hands up, put your hands up!
Hey! Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh, oh!
Put your hands up, put your hands up!
Pipp was next to sing.
"Generations comin' together!
Celebrations, dancing, and laughter!
This is a call to you from all walks of life!
Lift up your hooves now under the starlight!"
"We were going to perform this at midnight," Pipp quickly explained.
"There's magic rainbows for hundreds of miles-
The Dreamlands then cut back in.
"Me and my buddies never go out of style!"
Then, in a marvellous blend of music, all of them joined in together.
"We don't hang our heads/
When things get too hard!
We put our hands together!
'Cause we're forever friends!
Making our mark/
And putting hands together!"
There was a shift in the music, and the lights shifted over to the Dreamlands.
Minty went first, as lead vocalist.
"All new places, the lengths that we've gone to/
Newfound faces, the friendships that grew!"
Bluebell then took over as the other dropped back to harmony.
"This is a call to you from all walks of life!"
And Snuzzle joined in on the next line.
"Lift up your hands now under the starlight!"
The vocal then shifted back to Pipp.
"There's magic rainbows for hundreds of miles!"
And, as before, the Dreamlands sang the next line.
"Me and my buddies never go out of style!"
And all of them then joined in together once more.
"We don't hang our heads/
When things get too hard!
We put our hands together!
'Cause we're forever friends/
Making our mark!
And putting hands together!
"Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
We put our hands together!
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Put our hands together!
"Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!"
The beat dropped back for the middle eight, and the Dreamlands once again resumed lead vocals. Naturally, Minty went first.
"If it ever feels like there's something out to get ya!"
Bluebell took over once more.
"Or if it ever feels like you're wasting time!"
Snuzzle filled in the next line with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, we come runnin' from across Englandia!"
This caught her an odd look from Fretlock. "I'm Welsh!"
Luckily, Pipp cut back in before anything else could happen.
"You just reach out and touch your hands to miiiiiiiiiine!"
And then they all sang together once more, the crowd dancing and cheerful.
"We don't hang our heads/
When things get too hard!
We put our hands together!
'Cause we're forever friends/
Making our mark!
And putting hands together!
"Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Put our hands together!
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Put our hands together!"
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Put our hands together!
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh/
Whoa-oh-oh-oh!"
Then Pipp sang the final line of the song.
"Putting hands together!"
The crowd received the performance well, but everybody concerned had been up and awake for a very long time, and as such fell asleep on returning to their allocated rest space, which considering the demands of the day was well earned.
The next morning, the Falmouth crew prepared their engines to depart for Falmouth. The formation was assembled and ready to go, with the last brake checks being done in preparation for towing.
A figure was watching from the platform. "A shame I never got a chance to ride behind the Battle of Britain," he said. "My family has a close connection with the class; my grandfather fought in the Battle of Britain."
"Sir, the engine is a West Country," an aide said.
"The two designs were mechanically identical," the figure replied.
"Air Chief Marshal?" asked another voice. "You are wanted on the telephone."
Down in the yard, Ruby and Misty were speaking. "So, I guess this is goodbye," Ruby said. "Thanks for saving my life. I owe you a debt I can probably never repay."
"I did what I had to do," Misty replied. "But it was an honour to meet you in person, and I think we all had fun."
"Time to go!" Pipp called from Sophie's cab. Misty hopped onto Bellerophon's footplate as the train pulled away towards the main line.
Misty looked back and saw Ruby waving, even until the yard vanished out of sight.
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great chapter mate keep it up mate
the 303 squadron was the bravest pilots in the RAF made up of Polish aces they made their mark in the battle of Britain history was not kind to them after the war with no home to go back to they scattered to the wind for greener pastures they with not see their homeland again after ussr fell
briefly visible once again*
Well, good to know aws is installed in the cab.
Even at an older age they've still got it.
11820153
Cheers.
11820163
They have several memorials in the UK, including one at IWM Duxford.
11820175
1. Fixed.
2. Age ain't a barrier to performance.