Chapter 2-A New Arrival
After a long journey to the construction site, the engines of Falmouth pulled into the construction site to a chorus of cheers. Salty was the first to park up in the shed. "Well, that was a smooth run!" he said.
"That," Charles said, "was because you had me towing you the entire way."
"We did the last bit under our own steam!" Porter protested, as he moved into position.
"That hardly counts," Charles said. "Because this island is small, you did not do many miles under your own power."
"Does it really matter how far we ran under our own power?" Rebecca said, looking surprised. "Well, this is a new bit of the island I've never seen before."
"We were on the other side of it for much of the operation last time," Sophie noted, her engine still running. "It's nice to see some new scenery, and experience Sodor whilst not being blasted at by a nutter in a robot suit."
"Agreed," Bellerophon said. "I wonder if the other engines are still around?"
Just then, a group of workmen arrived. "Hello there!" one of them said. "We need you lot to get to work immediately. Sophie and Charles, we need you two to go and collect some freshly collected rails for laying at the construction site. But that is not all. Much ballast has arrived in the last few days, and we have rather a lot of hoppers to deal with. Salty, Porter, we need you two to process them as soon as possible and get them ready for onward movement by Donald and Douglas."
"On my way, sir!" Sunny said.
"You can count us to follow the three r's!" Izzy said.
"Which are?" asked another worker.
"Reliable, Ready, and Right on Time!"
"I see," they said. "Well, ensure the work is done properly, not quickly."
As the two engines moved off for the shunting yards, Sunny got a buzz on her radio. "Hello?"
"Hey Sunny Bun," her father said. "Your mom and I will go and set up the house we'll be staying in. Catch you later!"
"Sure thing, dad!"
As the diesels were positioned to move off, a large steam shovel rolled through and stopped. "My word!" she said. "What a sight! Charlie, you did it!"
Charles looked very confused. "I don't follow."
"Ah, but you do!" the steam shovel said. "I'm Marion, and the magic engines we passed are magical. Clearly you wished to be something else and it came true! Now to see if I can find a way to make a wish come true!" And she then steamed off towards the dig site.
Charles sighed as the familiar shapes of Donald and Douglas blasted into the yard with loaded ballast hoppers before coming to an abrupt stop.
"Stop bein' pushy!" Donald complained.
"I'm not bein' pushy, Donald!" Douglas replied.
"You pushed me when the signal changed back there!" Donald retorted.
"Didnae."
"Did too!"
"Didnae!"
"Did too!"
"Can we have this argument later?" Bon Bon asked.
"Sure thing, Sweetie Drops."
Bon Bon rolled her eyes. "I've lived on this island for close to a decade now, and people still get my name wrong." She looked over. "Oh! New arrivals!"
Charles glanced over. "You seem like a sensible engine, Douglas. A steam shovel just went through and said something about wishes coming true. Any idea what she's on about?"
Douglas sighed. "Not a clue. Watch it with the handbrakes!"
Back at Knapford station, the last of the damaged coaches were being recovered from the crash scene. Sir Topham Hatt had arrived on the scene, and he looked exceptionally annoyed. Mind you, that was fairly typical when things went wrong on his railway.
"This is quite the mess to clean up," he grumbled. "I really could have done without this." He looked at Thomas with a glare that could melt a glacier. "You are a very naughty engine, Thomas. I thought you knew better than to shunt coaches like this. Has nine years of working with Twilight taught you nothing about how to be useful engine?"
"The signal changed seconds before I got to it!" Thomas protested. "It was green before I was propelling to the station throat and suddenly changed!"
Sir Topham Hatt sighed. "How many times have I heard that story. I've had quite enough of your excuses. It wasn't a faulty signal or damaged points or wind or a bouncing beach ball or Gordon or backing signals or a danger sign or a snapped cable or rain. And not even a magic carpet either!"
"I can vouch for Thomas, actually," Twilight said. "I was watching the signal as well and it changed exactly as he described."
"I don't recall inviting you to speak, Twilight," Sir Topham Hatt said. "The simple fact is the both of you caused this accident, as the signal failure you describe is completely impossible under any circumstances."
Thomas glanced over at Edward, his face in complete and utter disbelief.
"Perhaps," Edward suggested, "we should launch an investigation into what happened?"
"No need," Sir Topham Hatt said. "It's obvious what happened from the CCTV footage." He turned his attention back to Thomas. "Now then, naughty engines are to be punished for their misdeeds, as I cannot trust them until they have proven themselves once more. As such, I am taking away your branchline and Annie and Clarabel until futher notice!"
"WHAT?" Thomas said. "You can't do that!"
"There's absolutely nothing that says I can't," Sir Topham Hatt replied. "And trust me I've done worse. I'm sending you to the construction site for the new branch line. There you will shunt trucks in the sidings and generally be useful once again. That should teach you a lesson about moving stock carefully and properly, and there are no signals for you to ignore either."
He walked off, and Twilight shook her head. "He's not normally like this. What's caused the change?"
Even Gordon was surprised. "I wasn't expecting that harsh of a punishment," he admitted. "I only thought he'd get put on goods trains for a bit."
"Question is," Rainbow Dash said, "who will shunt in the yard until Thomas comes back?"
Back at the worksite, Sophie and Charles pulled in with some rails, and dropped them into the siding. Sophie then moved off to the fuelling pump. Pipp hopped out to get her plugged in.
"Nice weather we're having!" Sophie said.
"I know, right!" Pipp grinned. "Shame dad couldn't come with us this time, but most of us are here, and that's what matters. Besides, I feel I could take on the world!"
As she set the pump running, Pipp produced a microphone from nowhere and decided to give her vocal chords a run. Synth music soon began to flow through local speakers.
"First things first, you gotta look for the spark!
That bit of magic way deep down in your heart!
It's the rhythm that connects us/
When you find it, yeah, now that's a great start! (start, start)
Hey!
"You gotta follow your beat! (beat, beat)
And then soon you will see! (see, see)
You won't have that far to go/
Until your song starts to grow/
All you need is your beat! (your beat, your beat)
"All you need is your beat/ (beat, beat)
(Hey, come on!)
To get them stompin' their feet!
And then the next thing you'll know/
Imagination will flow!
All you need is your beat!
All you need is your beat!
"Whoo!
Bah-dah-dah, bah-dah-dah!
All you need is your beat!
Bah-dah-dah, bah-dah-dah!"
As the music stopped, a group of workmen looked over in confusion. "I don't recall wiring speakers up to play music," he said.
"Clearly a mystery for the ages," said another. "She's certainly got quite the voice, thought."
Even the trucks seemed impressed, as they weren't complaining.
"Let's keep the music up!" Salty said. "After all, a singing workforce is a happy workforce!"
As sea shanties started to flow over the yard, James suddenly rattled in with some trucks. He looked over with a smile when he saw Pipp leaning on Sophie. "Hello Pipp!" he said. "You look splendid!"
"Hi James!" Pipp replied. "Looking totes fab yourself!"
Rarity looked out of the cab. "As much as I appreciate your fashion sense, Pipp, I cannot help but fear your use of English is causing poor grammer.
"Lay off a bit, Rares!" Pipp grinned. "No need to be so formal all the time!"
"But you've been gone for ages!" James said.
"We went home after dealing with Discord," Pipp answered. Her phone suddenly buzzed, and she switched the display. "What's new, Pippsqueaks! The sun is high in the sky and we're feelin' the groove today! Rock your world like never before, folkies!"
Over in the yard, Salty was pushing some some new vehicles. It had been decided, owing to projected traffic volumes, to widen the cut of the line here, as the line was built as single track. In order to lay a second line and avoid bottlenecks, they needed to widen the alignment. Heavy duty explosives was being moved in to complete the task of blasting through the rock.
"Quite a lot of explosives, this!" Salty said. "We could dig our way into Davy Jones' Locker with this lot!"
"I don't think we'll need to go that far," Sunny said. "Harwick will be quite enough." She quickly brushed a hair strand out of her eyes. "Wait a second. I think my braid's come loose."
As she brought the formation to a stop, she got to work on cleaning it up, before noticing something odd. "Huh?"
A shape moved back from the rocks overlooking the building site, and vanished into the undergrowth. "That was weird."
"What was weird?" Salty asked.
"I just saw somebody moving in the rocks up above," Sunny said. "I can't recall any workers being up there."
"They might be needed for positioning the explosives," Salty answered. "They've just finished uncoupling us, by the way."
Sunny nodded and put Salty's engine into reverse. The roar of Salty's engine soon was joined by singing.
"We'll buy one for the bo's'n/
And one for the mates!
We'll buy one for your man of the topsail all day!
We'll buy one for the striker to keep him on game/
And one for the gunner, who's well on his way!
And another round just for good measure!"
Back at Knapford, Twilight had finished packing up her tools and had loaded them onto Thomas' footplate, placing them into the lockbox in the cab. "I don't think I'll be seeing this place again for a while," she said, sadly.
"Why won't they believe us?" Thomas said sadly, as Twilight opened his regulator and brought him out of the yard.
"Hopefully this is only for a short time," Twilight said. "Besides, I need the work."
As they rolled into the yard, a large, boxy tank engine sat there under the coaling tower. He was much bigger than Thomas, and was painted black with red and white lining. His tanks bore the British Railways crest.
Sir Topham Hatt was talking to him. "Now then, Ryan, I want you to work on the Ffarquhar Branchline, as the original engine is indisposed."
"The original engine can hear every word you're saying," said Thomas.
Sir Topham Hatt wheeled around. "Ah! Just setting off, I see. This is Ryan. He will be working your branch line. Now then, Ryan, be smart, drive well, and follow instructions- or you might end up like Thomas here."
Ryan looked over with a cool smile. "I don't think that will be a problem, sir," he said. "Quad Arts were always very easy coaches to handle, and I reckon Midland coaches won't be a problem."
Thomas was aghast. "You replaced me with a Great Northern engine?"
"Now then, let's not let old company rivalries cloud our judgement, shall we?" Ryan smirked. "Enjoy shunting, and do something sensible and get a black coat of paint like me!"
Thomas steamed away. It truly seemed as though things had fallen apart for him. And all in less than 24 hours.
Well, another chapter is here, and the plot is hotting up! With Thomas in disgrace, the construction program underway, and other problems appearing, things are certain to become tense.
Sir Topham Hatt's post-crash speech includes references to many episodes of the TV Series. See if you can identify them all.
Salty's sea shanty is an original composition by Irish musician Colm McGuinness, namely Over and Under. The song is told from the perspctive of a crew looking forward to returning home and having a drink. It's certainly a sentiment I can relate to, having spent long periods away from my homeland.
And finally, a new character:
Ryan is a Great Northern Railway N2 class locomotive. A superheated upgrade of the earlier N1 class, the N2s were built to work heavy commuter trains in and out of King's Cross and on the now-closed Moorgate lines. Ryan's livery here is based on how the engines looked in later service, rather than the innacurate purple livery he gained in the TV series. His running number is also innacurate for the class; 1014 was, in real life, a D9 4-4-0.
Our story shall resume tomorrow, with plenty of stuff going on. See you then!
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awesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
Not this again.
be a useful engine?"*
I believe the episodes referenced were faulty signal, Gordon and the mechanic, Percy and the signal, down the mine, Percy and the magic carpet, though i can't remember the other ones I'm afraid.
Who knows. Better than saying 'special special' or 'causing confusion and delay' a lot.
voice, though."*
grammer."*
I'm pretty sure his number is 1014, not 1044.
11867510
Glad you enjoyed.
11867591
1. Agreed. Marion firmly outstayed her welcome on that special.
2. My A key seems to be having some trouble working.
3. The snapped cables and rain are references to real life accidents; the 1876 Abbots Ripton crash was partly caused by a snapped signal cable.
4. Yes.
5 and 6. Fixed.
7. Thanks for spotting that. Quite why the show has characters constantly running with innacurate numbers I don't know, as to establish the correct numbers would only take a quick Google search.
11867723
7. yep.
11867933
Perhpas it can be used as a running gag.
11867944
maybe.
11867980
Eh. Still, it's an idea.
I still can’t understand how Marion is so imbecilic on her silly beliefs of the Arlesdale engines being magic.
Well, I’m glad to see Edward and Gordon are on Thomas’ side for this case. As for Sir Topham Hatt, I don’t know what his deal is, but I get a feeling there’s something much more deeper than what meets the eye.
T’was nice to see Pipp, Sophie, James and Rarity unite again.
And we now have Ryan present, but, who’s gonna be his driver?
11868100
I get the impression she was written to be silly.
Trust me; there's a good reason for him being a bit of an ass.
Given they got along so well first time it only made sense to reunite them.
More on that soon.
11868146
Yeah, but there’s a limit to have much I can take.
Given everything that’s happened in this Falmouth Verse, it doesn’t surprise me. I’m just glad Thomas isn’t on his own here.
Hopefully we’ll get to see the Falmouth reunite with their counterparts in good time.
Of course.
11868149
Likewise. Comedy is a fine art; underdo it and it turns into cringe. Overdo it and it becomes annoying.
Well, as that breezie put it, 'nopony is alone who has friends.'
Indeed.
Yup.
11868362
Aye, and Marion’s light headedness is more than I can take.
Indeed, there is no greater treasure than friendship.
11868364
Good thing they dialled her appearances back in later episodes (though the cynic in me suspects that was partly due to budget constraints; the plan had been to recast Merlin, but when the character was revived they discovered Hugh Bonneville happened to be available to reprise his role).
11868387
I'm glad they did too. (Well regardless how it came to be, I'm still glad they cut back on it)
11868390
Agreed.
Part of me wonders if the workmen are working for Opaline, and the reason they know everyone's names and who drives whom is because they were briefed beforehand, and the gang just didn't realize the workmen's slip-up...but I think it far more likely to just be plot convenience.
11888364
Alternatively, they were briefed on the new workers in advance.