The adventures of the little engines on a big railway
The narrow-gauge steam locomotive, despite its size, is the most remarkable vehicle on land. And the engines of the Ponyville Narrow-Gauge Railway are the power behind the industries and sightseeing that make up their beautiful line. This, is “Narrow Gauge Engines”!
This series is dedicated in memory of David Mitton, 1936-2018.
A long time ago, there was a land called Equestria. It was a huge country, and spanned from the Crystal Empire in the north, to Appaloosa in the south. Like any self-respecting country, it had miles upon miles of railway lines, snaking their way across the country to towns across the country. It also had spectacular viaducts, soaring bridges and tunnels carved through solid rock. However, we are not concerned about the main line.
Our story focuses on a line in the south, in a small town called Ponyville. It was not the largest of places, boasting homes, a few businesses and a small railway station. However, during the summer, the town was popular as a resort for those seeking to get out of Canterlot. And it is with one such train that our adventure begins.
A B1 4-6-0 snorted down the track toward Ponyville, with a 10-coach train in tow. The engine was painted pink, with pink lining, and had blue eyes set into her grey face. Her name was Pinkie Pie, and had a reputation of being somewhat wild. This was certainly true of today, as she and her train were rocking and rolling all over the place!
At long last, the train rolled to a stop in the platform. Another train was waiting in the passing loop. This was being pulled by Gilda, a BR Class 55 painted brown and yellow with white lining.
“Took you long enough,” the diesel growled.
“Enjoy the scenic route!” Pinkie told her. “Life-”
“Is a party, I know,” Gilda interrupted. “But that’s not helpful when it causes us to run late. It makes the passengers complain.”
“Oh well,” Pinkie laughed. “All in the fun, you know!”
The diesel pulled away rolling her eyes. “You’re unbelievable,” she groaned.
A passenger got off from the train and hopped onto the platform. She had blue skin and pink hair, but she also had glassed-over eyes. She headed into town and passed by several buildings, such as the library, the post office, and the local café, Sugarcube Corner.
She arrived at her destination presently. It was an old shed, with two roads and a lean-to on the side. It was connected to a series of narrow-gauge rails, which headed off in the distance and ran to a wharf behind the shed, as well as into the forest. She wandered toward the shed and stepped inside.
“Is somebody there?” asked a voice. A female, raspy voice.
The girl looked around in a panic. Was there somebody in the shed? She exited and started heading back toward the town.
“Sorry, did you want to look around?”
There it was again. The girl turned around and saw an old engine sat underneath the lean-to. It was short and stumpy, with a running board encompassing the entire frame. Its smokebox protruded out from the front of the saddle tank, which curved elegantly around the boiler. The engine had no cab, which left the cab controls exposed to the weather, and the water tank had a small brass dome mounted roughly halfway along it. There was a scattering of other devices on its frame, but it wasn’t clear what they did. The engine was painted orange, with purple lining, and had a pair of deep violet eyes. “Are you going to answer, or are you just going to stand there and stare?”
The girl jumped. “Sorry! I had no idea that there was an engine in here, that’s all. I thought they’d all be out at work.”
“The others are. They’re newer and more powerful than I am, so I get to sit here whilst they raise the money to mend me.” The engine paused. “My name’s Scootaloo, by the way.”
The girl smiled. “I’m Ocellus,” she said.
“Are you from the Changeling Kingdoms?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I noticed your eyes. Not that I’m at all concerned by them, that’s all.” The engine smiled. “Would you like to hear a story?”
Ocellus walked over, and sat down on a wall next to Scootaloo. “Please tell,” she asked.
Scootaloo smiled as she led the memories flood in. “I was built in 1885, and arrived here in 1886. It wasn’t easy at first, with only one engine to run the railway, but I soon found my uses on passenger and goods work. We got a new engine in 1902, and another in 1922. With 3 engines life became so much easier.”
“Back in the good old days,” she continued, “all 3 of us were working together on our line. I often took the market train in the morning, with 8 coaches rattling behind me. The others would either pull goods trains or local services. Slate, you see, was the primary reason the railway was here. Without that big old quarry up on Thunder Mountain, I wouldn’t be having the conversation with you now.”
Scootaloo paused. “Some of those coaches were really fussy. There was one who had plush red seats, and was marked First Class, as she frequently reminded us. If the guard permitted anyone who wasn’t a 1st Class ticket holder to sit in her, as was sometimes required on busy days, she would moan about it all the way up the line.”
“So, what did you do?” Ocellus asked.
“I told her to stop being a fusspot. That did the trick!”
The two of them were so busy laughing they didn’t notice an engine enter the yard. It looked very similar to Scootaloo, but was painted white, with light pink lining, lacked a dome, and had a cab. It whistled, and called in a cheerful voice, “Hello Scootaloo! Found a new friend?”
“Nice to see you Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo replied. “She’s the one who arrived after me.”
Sweetie Belle backed into the shed. “Who’s the new girl?”
“My name is Ocellus. Nice to meet you.”
“You already know my name thanks to Scootaloo.”
Another whistle echoed through the valley, and hence appeared another engine. Again, it had the same basic shape as the others, but was a little larger, and had a large protruding dome on the saddle tank. She was painted yellow, with red lining, and had orange eyes. She reversed rapidly into the shed, and stopped in the berth so as to talk to her friends.
“Phewee!” she exclaimed. “Now that was a busy day!”
“Glad you enjoyed it Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle replied.
Ocellus looked at the three of them. “There’s something I don’t understand,” she said. “You 3 don’t have nameplates, so how did you get your names?”
“That’s the funny thing,” Scootaloo said. “When a steam engine wakes for the first time, they awaken knowing how to speak, read, and what their name is. So yeah, we just knew. It’s actually against the law to give an engine a name against their will!”
“And ta take it away!” Apple Bloom added. “So, Ah’ll be Apple Bloom forever!”
A whistle blast echoed over the wharfs as a Robinson 04 with orange livery and cream lining puffed past on a goods train. “Howdy y’all!” she called.
“Hi Applejack!” the three little engines called.
“Good evening you three!” called a voice. A woman with light pink skin and purple hair stepped forward, dressed in workers overalls.
“Hi Miss Cheerilee!” they chorused. Miss Cheerilee was the manager of the narrow-gauge line, as well as its chief mechanic.
“Who’s the newcomer?” the manager asked.
“Her name’s Ocellus,” explained Sweetie Belle.
Cheerilee walked over to her. “Would you like to help us Ocellus?” she asked.
Ocellus stood up. “I would love to help out, if that’s OK.” She stopped. “You don’t have issues with me being a Changeling?”
“Not at all!” Cheerilee said. “I appreciate any help I can get. It’s incredibly tough keeping these engines going with only one person, especially given Apple Bloom’s coal consumption.”
“HEY!” shouted a voice.
“And remember!” Cheerilee finished. “We have 2 new engines arriving tomorrow. Please make sure to be welcoming to them, and show them our ways.”
The two new engines rolled up alongside the shed. Both of them had long double frames, and outside cylinders set at an angle. Like Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, they had protruding smokeboxes, but unlike Sweetie Belle had large brass domes. Each had a tender coupled to them, a large cab, and two whistles. One of them was painted pink, with two-tone pink and white lining. The other was painted dark grey, with two-tone grey lining.
The pink one looked at the shed with disdain. “Oh, look at them, Silver Spoon!” she said, in a voice which indicated years of being spoilt. “They’re blank tanks!”
Did I forget to mention that both of them had nameplates? The tank engines introduced previously did not, which explains this comment. There was a certain degree of snootiness to having a nameplate, and those who lacked them were referred to as “blank tanks”.
“Stop it Diamond,” Silver Spoon snapped. “This is their railway after all.”
“Don’t you mean OUR railway?”
“Good morning!” called Cheerilee. Ocellus was with her. “These two engines are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They came from a railway that closed down recently, so please treat them well.”
As soon as Cheerilee was gone, Diamond rolled forward and blocked the junction leading to the shed. “Listen here!” she shouted. “I will not have blank tanks ordering me around. So, stay out of my way and-”
Silver Spoon whistled loudly. “That is no way to speak to an engine!” she replied.
“You’re siding with the-”
“You can’t use the trick of jumping down my blastpipe again. This is not the old railway, they have their own way of doing things.” Silver rolled up alongside Diamond. “Daddy won’t get you out of it this time.”
Diamond blasted her whistle loudly, and roared off into the distance, steam blasting from her cylinders and generally making a racket.
Silver backed up to the shed. “Sorry about her,” she said. “She was the manager’s favourite at our old railway. He always used her to pull the foreman’s train, and she became conceited as a result.”
Apple Bloom looked over. “Ah hope she don’t do anythin’ stupid,” she replied.
Diamond backed roughly into the coaches with a bang. “Alright, listen up!” she called. “While I’m in charge, we do things my way. Understand?”
The coaches were furious. “We want Sweetie Belle!” they roared.
“Whatever,” Diamond snorted. “These aren’t even proper coaches.”
She pulled forward and stopped in the station, where people were waiting for her. “Look, a new engine!” called a boy.
“She sure is smart!” said another.
Diamond simmered in their praise, and promptly forgot to be angry. She was still annoyed at Silver, though. Who was she to side with those Blank Tanks? It made no sense. Life was an upward trajectory, that was what Filthy Rich had always told her, so why associate yourself with those down at the bottom?
The guard’s whistle went, and Diamond departed from the station. She was much more powerful than the other engines, and as a result the train started off with a jolt. The passengers went flying through the air and landed on the other side of the compartments.
The journey didn’t improve on the way up either. Diamond rode roughly on the rails, and the carriages wobbled and shook as she rumbled up the line. The last station on the line before the quarry was at the top of a steep hill, and ran along a cliff edge. It was here, on the last train of the day, that the coaches decided to play a game.
“Hold back!” they whispered.
The coaches began applying their brakes, which caused the train to slow down. Diamond simply applied more power, but the train continued to slow. Her wheels spun wildly on the grade, and the train ground to an embarrassing halt.
“Stupid coaches!” Diamond exclaimed. But they were stuck there. They had to bring Apple Bloom down from the quarry to help her into the next station, but the return trip was uneventful.
Cheerilee was not pleased. “I have received numerous complaints about the ride quality Diamond!” she snapped. “I was not expecting this of a passenger engine. I expect better of you!”
Diamond behaved well for several days!
But it all went wrong. Diamond was sent up to the quarry to bring a loaded train down the hill. She had no objection to pulling slate wagons; after all, she had done that for many years on her old railway.
It was getting late, and the clouds were forming in the sky. Diamond hurried along the line, hoping to get to cover before it started raining. Alas, the heavens opened, and rain lashed the rails and splattered all over her smokebox.
“I hate rain!” she shouted. “It’ll ruin my paint!”
They then came to a downhill section. Diamond applied her brakes, but the weight of the trucks caused her to start sliding down the hill.
The sound of screeching brake blocks and wagons clanging together could be heard for miles. The train gathered pace uncontrollably, until Diamond’s tender jumped the rails and pulled the entire train off the rails.
Diamond was unhurt, but the load of slate was ruined.
Sweetie Belle towed Diamond back to the shed. Cheerilee was not impressed.
“This careless attitude must stop!” she demanded.
“It was the trucks!” Diamond protested. “Besides, the rain wasn’t my fault!”
“But breaking the speed limit was,” Cheerilee replied. “I shall have you confined to the quarry until I decide what to do with you.” She sternly walked away.
Scootaloo chuckled. “Based on that, it may be better to remain a Blank Tank.”
Silver Spoon was determined to create a better impression than Diamond had. One morning, she puffed out of the yard and went to pick up the coaches. She made sure to back down onto them slowly, rather than bang them as Diamond had.
“Isn’t she a nice engine!” said the coaches. “Always so careful!”
That made Silver feel happier. She pulled the coaches to the station and saw Sweetie Belle waiting for her. There was another engine waiting on the standard-gauge line, an Improved Director painted yellow with pink lining. She was called Fluttershy.
“Good morning!” she called.
“Hello!” Sweetie Belle replied.
“These are your passengers for the day,” the big engine said. “Do be sure to be back in time at 6’o clock, or I may have to leave without you.”
Sweetie Belle ran forward, backed over the junction and backed onto Silver Spoon.
“What are you doing?” Silver asked.
“This is the market train,” Sweetie Belle explained. “It’s too heavy for one engine, so we put two on as a precaution.”
“How do I know where to stop? I can’t see.”
“Well, I’ll look out for you.”
Just then, the guard’s whistle went.
Both engines whistled, and started out of the station toward the end of the line. They made sure to start off very smoothly, and came to a gentle stop at each of the stations.
One of the stations is next to a lake. Passengers like to get off here and enjoy the cool water and gentle breeze that lines the air. There is also a refreshment lady, who works out of the station building selling ice creams and cold drinks.
The train paused here for a while, to allow the passengers to enjoy the sights. Then word came down the line of a problem. “Apple Bloom has derailed just outside the Top Station. I’m afraid it’ll take a while to clear the problem, so please wait here patiently.”
They waited. And waited. And waited. The seconds seemed to turn into minutes, the minutes into hours. They must have been held for 2 hours before Apple Bloom pulled into the loop with her slate train.
“I’m real sorry for holdin’ ya’ll up,” she said, sadly.
“It’s no worry, accidents happen,” Sweetie Belle said. Just then the guard’s whistle went, and away they went.
At the top station, Sweetie Belle went onwards to the quarry to help with the slate, whilst Silver Spoon ran around her train. There was no turntable here, so she would be running tender first the whole way. Not too difficult, but something she wasn’t used to doing over long distances. The passengers finished boarding, and the guard blew his whistle. Silver remembered to be careful, and reversed out as slowly as she could. The gradient was managed with little difficulty, and Silver reached the bottom safely.
She rolled slowly along the track, calling at every station along the way. More and more people got on at each station, the train slowly getting heavier and heavier.
It is a standard precaution on the railway that the Refreshment Lady returns on the last train of the day. The delays had escalated so much that this was the service Silver was running. The Refreshment Lady was packing up her stall, with no particular hurry as the next train wasn’t due for a few minutes.
Silver, meanwhile, saw a lineside clock and panicked. It was 5:30, leaving her only 30 minutes to get back to Ponyville. Checking behind her, she saw that the lakeside station was empty. “I can skip that stop,” she thought. She opened up her regulator, and barrelled through without so much as a second thought.
The Refreshment Lady ran outside to try and stop Silver Spoon, but by the time she got outside, the train was vanishing into the distance. “Bother!” she cried, and ran after the train.
The trees shook as Silver blasted along the line, great jets of steam pouring from her funnel as she rocketed along the track. Her cylinders were rocking back and forth, double time, and the carriages rocked as they sped along.
The children were enjoying the ride, but some of the adults most certainly weren’t.
Fluttershy was waiting at the junction. She glanced at the clock nervously. “Oh dear,” she said. “I hope they're not held up.”
Just then, a loud whistle blasted out of the treeline, and into the platform rolled Silver Spoon and her train, at 5:59. The narrow-gauge engine rolled to a stop, puffing and panting, whilst the passengers got off and headed for the mainline train.
Silver was uncoupled and ran under the water column to have a much-deserved drink. One of the boys walked over. “You were doing 30 there briefly!” he exclaimed. “Good job!”
“Thank...you...” Silver panted.
When suddenly, who should appear, but the Refreshment Lady. “Whatever were you thinking, you silly engine?” she exclaimed. “You left me behind.”
“If we’d stopped, we’d have missed the connection and Fluttershy would have gone without us.”
The Refreshment Lady looked at her, and burst out laughing. “She was joking! That’s a guaranteed connection! She wouldn’t go!”
Silver looked over. “Well, then I’ll have a word.”
But she didn’t. For Fluttershy was already vanishing into the distance with her train.
Cheerilee had decided to give Diamond another chance. As a result, she put her on an early morning passenger train to try and see how well it went.
Although Cheerilee had given Diamond another chance, the coaches hadn’t. As she rolled forward, they were already plotting to pay her out. Just ahead, a ram had broken through a fence and was standing on the track.
Diamond applied her brakes, but the coaches surged forward. “Bump her off the rails!” they screeched.
Diamond tried her hardest, but slid forward and crashed into the ram. The ram was unhurt, and quickly headed off. But Diamond was not OK.
“Ouch!” she exclaimed. The impact had dented her front bufferbeam quite badly. She limped back along the line to the shed, and was backed into one of the empty depot roads.
“It wasn’t my fault!” Diamond exclaimed, when she saw Cheerilee walk over.
“For once,” Apple Bloom snarkily replied.
“I am aware of that Diamond,” Cheerilee told her. “Unfortunately, we cannot mend you now. With Apple Bloom out for maintenance, Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle up at the quarry, and Diamond Tiara damaged, we have no engine to work the evening train.”
“What about me, miss?” Scootaloo asked.
“Are you sure you can do it?” Cheerilee asked. “You haven’t run in years!”
“I’ll try,” the engine replied. “I don’t want to disappoint our passengers.”
Cheerilee sighed. “I guess I have no choice. But I want Ocellus to go with you just in case.”
“Yes ma’am!” Ocellus called, and climbed onto Scootaloo’s footplate.
Within a few hours they had Scootaloo’s fire burning nicely. The old engine, with a noticable effort, pulled forward out of the shed and ran forward to the station. Ocellus watched in amazement. Apart from the fact that seeing the cab controls move by themselves was a little surreal, she was astonished that this old engine was moving forward with the determination and skill of locos a fraction of her age.
The coaches were waiting, and they looked very sorry.
“Whatever were you thinking?” Scootaloo scolded them.
“It was that Diamond-” one of them began, but Scootaloo blew steam, silencing them.
“You could have hurt your passengers! And what good would that have done?”
“We’re sorry, Scootaloo,” they whimpered.
The Guard’s whistle went, and the old engine pulled away with skill, but with a noticeable grunt of pain.
Scootaloo remembered all the old stations, and where she had to stop. It was just like the old days, and she ran well. But along the way, she began to feel a dull ache in her pistons, which progressively got worse. Stopping at stations caused it to go away, but when she started running, it returned.
On the return trip from the top station, the pain built up again, even though she was rolling down a hill at first. When they came onto the flat, she opened up her regulator to get the train moving steadily.
That’s when it happened.
There was a loud bang on the left-hand side of the engine, and the cab abruptly pitched to the left. Ocellus was hurled onto the floor as Scootaloo howled in agony.
“My...cylinder’s...blown!” she gasped.
Ocellus ran around the other side. Indeed, shards of torn metal sat where a cylinder had once been. As well as this, several other parts had gone as well. “Your springs have gone as well,” she said. “We’ll have to get a bus-”
“NO!” Scootaloo interrupted. “Anything but a bus! I can finish this run.”
Ocellus frowned. “Not with all that metal in the way,” she said. Stepping down, she took out a wrench and undid several bolts, removing the offending components and easing the gear. “Are you sure you can do it with only one cylinder?”
“Yes.”
That settled the matter. Scootaloo heaved at the train best she could, but it was tough going.
At the station, a Bulleid Light Pacific was waiting. She was painted cyan, with rainbow lining, and had purple eyes. Her name was Rainbow Dash, and she sat there impatiently.
“Come on!” she exclaimed. “Where in Equestria can they be?”
There was a loud whistle, and the sound of clanking cylinders. Emerging from the treeline, was Scootaloo, damaged and looking like an APT with a jammed tilt system. She only had one cylinder, and looked utterly exhausted. But onwards she went, backing into the platform and coming to a gentle stop in the platform.
“Squirt!” Rainbow called. “You made it!”
The little engine could only smile. “Nice to see you too,” she said.
The passengers crossed over the line and boarded the mainline train. Rainbow whistled and pulled away.
Cheerilee stepped forward. “Well done Scootaloo!” she cried. “You are a true credit to the railway. I have decided, after all you 3 have done, that you shall be named. But first, you shall be repaired, and restored to your full glory!”
“Thank you Miss Cheerilee!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
The other engines missed Scootaloo whilst she was gone, but when she returned, she was gleaming with new paint and new parts, including a cab!
They held the naming ceremony at the station, with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and a white K1 named Rarity in attendance. There was a great chorus of whistles when the nameplates were unveiled, and Pinkie had helped bring all the goods needed for a great party.
Then they had a parade down the line, all the engines pulling a grand train the full length of the railway.
Although they had achieved the goal of being named, so much was left to be done. There were new adventures to be had, and they would make their mark.
Cast-in order of appearence Andrea Libman-Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Boy on Platform #3 Maryke Hendryksse-Gilda Madeleine Peters-Scootaloo Devyn Dalton-Ocellus Claire Corlett-Sweetie Belle Michelle Creber-Apple Bloom Ashleigh Ball-Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Boy on Platform #2 Nicole Oliver-Cheerilee Chantal Strand-Diamond Tiara Shannon Chan-Kent-Silver Spoon and Boy on Platform #1 Foreman-Peter New The Refreshment Lady-Emily Blunt
