Bury Bolton Street Depot, Lancashire, October 2014
The sun rose on a cold, but cloudless and sunny day in the Lancashire hills. Bury was a town just outside of Manchester, and a place well known amongst railway enthusiasts, as it was the home of the East Lancashire Railway, one of the younger startups at twenty seven years old (formed 1987) but nevertheless a big player in the field of railway preservation. They had their works at Bolton Street, a short way to the south of the station of the same name and very close to the old Metrolink station of Bury Interchange. This works, however, was divided in two by what was termed the 'Berlin wall'. On the other side was the home of Riley and Sons engineering, a workshop and engineering firm run by Ian Riley, a well respected engineer in the field, as well as a major owner of locomotives alongside men such as Jeremy Hosking and John Cameron. On this day, two locomotives sat within the shed. The first of them was a Britannia Class locomotive, or 7MT to use the official designation. These had been introduced in 1951 to work the high speed passenger trains out of Liverpool Street, but the 55 strong class had eventually found all across the British rail network. This locomotive was the class leader, 70000 Britannia, and had been back in mainline traffic for a few years alongside classmate 70013 Oliver Cromwell (which sadly was not available today).
The other locomotive was an engine of considerably older pedigree. It had been built in 1923 to the A1 specification of the LNER, and had worked top link expresses on the East Coast Mainline all the way through to withdrawal in 1963. It had then been saved by Alan Pegler, gone through a number of owners, and then finally wound up in the National Collection, having only just emerged from a mammoth overhaul that autumn.
Its name? 60103 Flying Scotsman.
That morning, Ian Riley and Pete Townend entered the works and glanced about them at all the work going on. The engines were simmering gently, and had had their fires lit a few hours earlier. The smokeboxes had been cleaned out, and the engines were fully prepped for operation by the depot crew.
"You've got a great setup here Ian," Pete said.
"Thanks," Ian replied. "The engine crews are yet to arrive, though. Only one crew at the moment, as the trip doesn't start until we get to Settle."
Suddenly, the shed door burst open, and two men ran into the shed. Both were fully dressed in boilersuits and jackets, to protect them from the heat of the footplate, and one of them had short brown hair and eyes, and seemed to be the more experienced of the two.
The other had long, messy brown hair and blue eyes, and wore a pair of red glasses that stood out on his face. "Sorry we're late!" he called, in a distinct American accent. "We didn't hear the alarm!"
"You mean you didn't," said the other man, speaking in a rough Midlands accent. "Sorry Ian, Jimmy here decided to be a sleepyhead and not get up on time."
"We've still got plenty of time, Tom," Ian replied, waving to the engines. "Both are prepped and ready to go now. Have you learned your route and timings?"
"Yes sir," Tom replied. "Tow 60103 and 14 MK1s dead to Hellifield, where Katrina and Stephanie will join us and take over. We will then run to Settle to pick up passengers, and finally run to Carlisle, where we shall rest for the night."
"It ought to be fairly simple," Jimmy replied. "We got plenty of power on the locos, and the grade isn't too steep."
"Don't be so sure," Pete told him. "Those gradients are tough, and these engines don't fire like the oil burners you're used to. And don't speed, ORR dislikes it when we run too fast, and the engines don't like it either."
"Why is the name and number wrong?" Jimmy asked, pointing to the A3 pacific.
Ian facepalmed. "The engine has been renamed and renumbered as classmate 60077 The White Knight for this trip. I thought I'd explained all of this."
Just then, the depot shunter sounded its whistle to indicate it was preparing to tow 60077 out of the depot. Tom took this as the opportunity to hop onto 70000's footplate, and waved to Jimmy. "Come on! You don't want to be left behind, do you?"
Jimmy sprinted across the depot floor and hopped into the cab, moving to the left. He then saw Tom staring at him. "What?"
"Fireman on the right, driver on the left," Tom said. "This is not the Great Western. And one more thing. Tie your hair back, the last thing you want is it getting caught in the firebox."
After all was ready, Tom reset the cutoff to -75%, released the brakes, and sounded the whistle. 70000 began to back up beautifully, steam shooting from the cylinder cocks and rolling gently from the chimney. The engine rolled into 60077 gently, and the depot worker coupled the two engines together. With a whistle, the formation moved forward, and once they were onto the East Lancashire Railway, they coupled up to the coaches. Due to the nature of the depot, the train needed to pull the coaches back out onto the mainline, and then run around at Castleford. They could then run the correct direction down the Hope Valley line to Sheffield, and onto the Settle and Carlisle.
The maneuvre was completed moments later, and the whistle was sounded once more. Britannia dug into the rails as it departed towards Manchester Picadilly.
"Carlisle, here we come!" Tom called, looking out of the cab. "Come on Britannia, give us a spectacular performance." He glanced over his shoulder. "Jimmy, keep the fire hot, and prime the injectors! If possible, avoid a release of the safety valves!"
"Roger that, sir!" Jimmy replied, as the train roared through Manchester Victoria, and onto the mainline towards Sheffield (having run via Manchester Picadilly in the meantime).
Meanwhile, in Hawes, Yorkshire, several friends gathered to have breakfast. The Canterlot Movie Club was there, as was Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pear Butter, Cookie Crumbles, and Cheerilee. It was a somewhat long story as to how they had got there. Put simply, the Crusaders had won a competition winning them seats on a special trip from Settle to Carlisle and return, with all lodging and flights paid for. The only thing they needed to do was pick a parent and another person to bring with them. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had picked their respective siblings and mothers to join them on this journey, and there they were eating together, as family and friends.
"So, who wants to be right behind the engine?" Rainbow Dash asked her friends with a smile. "It's the best place to be to catch the sound, and we'll be getting a syncopated beat thanks to the two engines working together."
"Why?" Cookie asked, eating a pancake. Mercifully, Cheerilee had offered to cook for them, and had firmly prevented Sweetie Belle from doing so, as they would otherwise be eating very burnt food indeed.
"Britannia has two cylinders, both outside," Rainbow Dash explained, with a smile, again. "But Flying Scotsman has three cylinders instead, which will produce a mixed beat that will flow in and out of sync with one another."
"And it'll sound amazing," Scootaloo added.
"Ah prefer ta be further back round the curves," Apple Bloom said. "Ya get a better view that way of the locos workin' hard."
"Now y'all be careful that them windows don't drop on y'all," Applejack sternly warned them.
"The windows here drop down, rather than rise up," Sweetie Belle explained.
"But still, watch yer head," Pear told both of her daughters. "If something approaches quickly, get them back in."
"We're only going to be doing thirty or so miles an hour for most of the run," Rarity said, in a sentence that surprised most of them. "The climb up to Garsdale is very steep indeed."
Cheerilee then spoke up. "If we're done, then I suppose we might as well head to the station. We don't want to miss our train, do we?"
At Hellifield, the train came to a stop on the platform, and Tom stepped off the footplate, hoping Jimmy wouldn't break anything. When he stepped onto the platform, he saw two old friends of his. Both were girls, one with brown hair and hazel eyes and dressed quite appropriately for the weather in jeans, boots, and a long sleeved shirt. A pair of glasses sat quite prominently upon her nose. The other had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was dressed somewhat oddly for the occasion, in a large shirt, baggy shorts, and trainers.
"Hello girls!" Tom called. "Sorry I couldn't bring you a carriage. I hope Flying Scotsman fits the bill!"
"Glad you haven't lost your sense of humour!" the first girl, Katrina, replied. Another American, she had come all the way from Topeka. "I just hope we don't end up in a mess. It is wet here!"
"Welcome to Yorkshire," Tom replied. "That's not in Kansas, either."
"Am I stoking or engineering?" the other girl, Stephanie, asked Tom.
"Neither," Tom answered. "You're firing, Kat's driving."
"Shall we go then?" Katrina asked, and jumped onboard. Tom took position back on the footplate of Britannia, and took out the in cab radio.
"Are we ready to move, over?"
"Roger that. Godspeed."
Tom smiled. "Right you are, Kat." He gave the whistle a short toot, and they were off and away on their adventure.
A few minutes later, the train reached Settle Junction, where a red signal had brought it to a stop. Tom pulled out the radio (as it was buzzing) and answered it. "What's going on, 60077?"
"70000, I'm having a fault with the injectors and cannot clear it. We need to run at full power up to Settle station to solve the problem."
"Copy that. Right away it is. Check signals."
Just then, the signal arm in front of them dropped as a DMU came off the Runcorn line and passed them. "That's our signal," Jimmy replied. "Good to go?"
"Roger that," Tom replied, and reached up for the whistle chord. With a rumble of the whistle later, the train got underway again, steam shooting from the cylinders of 60077 as the two engines climbed the one in one hundred climb toward Settle Station, photographers looking on as the engines approached the platform. With an easy effort, Tom applied the brakes and brought the train to a stop. "Easy as a Sunday morning drive."
In the platform, the waiting party cheered as the train came to a stop. The doors were opened, and they climbed aboard. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash took a window near the front of the train, whilst Apple Bloom went further back. Rarity, on the other hand, went in search of a nonexistant Pullman car. All waited for the train to be given the all clear to move off.
With a snort of steam and a hum from the ejectors coming off, the train went off to a flying start, climbing the gradient out of the station at Settle with little effort. The train moved up the climb with grace and precision, thanks to very precise driving on the part of Tom and Katrina. Tom looked back over the shoulder to see Jimmy simply hurling coal into the firebox.
"Don't just throw it!" he called. "Move it in gently, and to the side. Otherwise you will just get lumps of coal building up in the firebox that'll simply sit there and not burn."
"Roger that!" Jimmy replied. "Sorry, I'm just used to oil burners, that's all."
"If you want to fire an oil burner, go to the Ffestiniog," Tom answered, and looked back at the boiler pressure gauge. "Good. We're reading at 200 PSI. Keep up the power, and ensure the boiler doesn't drop."
Back in the cab of 60077, Katrina consulted the gauges. "Increase fire temperature!" she called. "Steph, hit the blowers!"
"OK!" Stephanie replied, and pulled a lever out on the cab floor. The engine responded to the increased hot air being blown through the firebox, and the boiler pressure suddenly shot upwards. 60077 lurched forward and smacked into the back of 70000.
"Careful!" said Tom's voice on the other end. "We've got plenty of time, and I'd rather not get thrown onto the cutoff valve!"
"Sorry!"
"Apology accepted." The line clicked shut, and Kat looked back to the controls, winding the reverser back even further to increase speed and power. The engine responded with a booming exhaust beat that sounded in beats of three, as the train roared through Horton in Ribblesdale at 40 miles an hour.
Tom smiled. "Two engines, sixty five thousand and fifty horsepower, and fourteen coaches. This is easy work for these two."
Meanwhile, Scootaloo was looking out of a window with Rainbow Dash's head right behind hers. The two engines were putting down a truly incredible show, as they climbed up the relentless slope of the long drag.
"Whoohoo!" Rainbow Dash called. "Yeah! Look at that exhaust trail!"
Twin jets of white steam poured into the air as the two engines battled their way up the slope in the cold, bright day. Just then, the guard came around. "Tickets please," he said, with a smile.
"Sure, here you go," Scootaloo replied, and handed over her Edmonson. Rainbow Dash took hers out of her pocket and handed it over to. The guard punched both of them, and handed them back.
"Have a pleasant run, and make sure to pull your head back in before you reach Blea Moor Tunnel," he explained. "The clearances are very tight, and there's no guarantee that you'd be able to see an oncoming train."
"Thanks for the warning," Scootaloo replied. The guard then entered into the carriage.
"Tickets please."
At the top of the climb, the train rolled onto Ribblehead Viaduct and slowed down to let the passengers take in the sights. People waved from the nearby pub car park and from below on Batty Moss as the two engines roared over the viaduct.
In the fifth carriage, Pear Butter sat with Cookie Crumbles, having a conversation, as mothers are known to do from time to time.
"Ah think this part of the world's lovely, don't ya?" she asked her compatriot across from her.
"Oh yeah, Yorkshire and Cumbria sure are lovely," Cookie replied, with her trademark New York accent and gentle drawl. "This place would be perfect for buying a holiday home."
"The problem is, there isn't much property to go around up here," Cheerilee told them, hopping into a seat next to them. "After all, people do need places to live up here. Mostly sheep farming, I saw."
"An entirely different world from Sweet Apple Acres, Ah have ta say," Pear answered to her. It was a little odd how these three women knew each other purely because they happened to give birth around the same time, but that was how the world worked, I suppose. "Ah hope Applejack and Apple Bloom remember ta pull their heads in at Blea Moor."
Rarity suddenly appeared, sitting down in another seat opposite. "I'm not sure if luncheon is being provided on this train, but I did see advertisments for Afternoon Tea. Does that thought tickle your tastebuds!"
"Absolutely!" Cookie smiled, her eyes going wide. "I haven't had a proper English afternoon tea since the 1990s!"
"Are we all in agreement?" Cheerilee asked. The nods told her all she needed to know.
After clearing Blea Moor Tunnel, the train roared over Blea Moor viaduct, Sweetie Belle getting a mouthful of soot as the exhaust from the twin locomotives drifted back to her.
"Bleagh!" she said, her face now covered in soot. She was wearing goggles to ensure no soot got in her eyes, she still looked like a chimney sweep.
"Good heavens!" Rarity cried, seeing the state her sister was in. "You look positively frightful!"
"I'm used to it," Sweetie Belle replied, with a smile. "Besides, what did you expect from steam engines? Water vapour?"
Suddenly, large blobs of water began shooting out of 60077's chimney. "Is it meant to do that?" asked Rarity.
"Yep! They just need to shut the snifter valves."
After a short stop at Garsdale, to visit the remains of the Hawes Branch, the train set off once more and thundered down the hills through such vaunted towns as Kirkby Stephen, both engines having shut off steam as it was not needed on the downhill. Apple Bloom whooped as the wind whistled through her hair and blew it behind her, streaming in a crimson line behind her head.
"Watch ya don't lose ya bow!" Applejack called.
"Got it, sis!" Apple Bloom replied. Suddenly, there was a loud bang up ahead, and a loud sploshing noise.
Katrina looked in horror as the water gauge suddenly dropped to zero. "Tom, we got a problem!" she radioed.
"What's happened, over?" Tom asked from 70000.
"Tender tank's gone! Water is draining out of the tender at speed, and at this rate we won't have enough to run without exploding!"
"Get Steph to dampen down the fire. I'll radio ahead to request an emergency stop at Appleby. They've got a water tank there, and some engineers to patch it up."
The train slowed down and ground to a stop at Appleby station, and the engineers checked the damaged tender over. They were able to weld the damage shut, and fill the tender to a level that would hold for the run to Carlisle, so that the engine could get a full repair at Kingmoor depot.
The final part of the run was covered in good time, and arrival at the massive, wondrous station of Carlisle Citadel was on time (sort of, as the timetable was very slack anyways). The passengers piled off the train and went to their hotel, whilst the coaches were stabled at Kingmoor depot, and the two engines put away for the night, whilst a replacement tender for 60077 was sourced.
The night soon vanished away, travelling into the darkness like the great sagas of old do pass away and fade, and a new morning dawned upon the city of Carlisle, the jewel of the Solway Firth (subject of possibly the most pointless bridge ever built in British history, as it went more or less nowhere across the Solway Firth, which is a very important waterway that is not to be confused with the Firth of Tay, or the Firth of Forth, which are not only mostly in an entirely separate country, that country being Scotland, they are also on the opposite side of the land of Britain, nearer to Berwick upon Tweed than Carlisle). To the north of the city lies Kingmoor, a small surburb that was chosen by the Caledonian and London and North Western Railway as the facility for an engine shed where they could keep their engines, coal and water them, refuel them, and turn them around to either continue on north to Glasgow or return south to Preston. The arrival of the Midland in 1870 had made things even more complicated, and when the Glasgow and South Western had begun running trains into Carlisle with the Port Road and the Ayr Line, the place became a hive of activity, not to mention an absolutely bottleneck for passenger and freight traffic.
Alas time, in all its wisdom, had marched onwards to the future, and the old depot, 12A, had closed in 1967 with little to show for itself other than grubby Black 5s and 8Fs. A new depot, or Tractive Maintenance Depot (or TMD, for short) had been built on the other side of the line to specifically service diesel locomotives, as they were the future until the electrification of the West Coast Main Line could be completed. This depot had itself been closed in 1987, but had been reopened in 1998 by Direct Rail Services (DRS), and now was home to large numbers of diesel engines that belonged to the operator.
That morning, as the sun rose and beheld its sleepy eye upon the world, the depot began to wake up, sounding gently to the ticking of spirax valves and the start of engines, which whined and roared as they were pulled out of bed far earlier than they were comfortable with. In one part of the shed, near the turntable, were 70000 and 60077, having rested overnight from the previous day's excitement. In the time since we last met them, the leaky tanks on 60077 had been fixed by the engineers from the National Railway Museum, but to be safe, they had stated that the engine could not run under full power for the rest of the run to avoid using too much water from the tender. This could cause the problem to start all over again, and that was the last thing they needed with a railtour to run and a network to slot in with. It would lead to delays (though, frankly, Northern Rail travellers wouldn't notice much of a difference in that regard).
Tom, Jimmy, Katrina and Stephanie headed toward the depot to get the engines prepared for work. "OK," Tom spoke up. "Because of the technical problems we've been having with 60077, we are going to put that engine on the front of the train. That way, if the engine were to fail, 70000 can provide most of the power and keep it going until we can drop the engine off at a siding for repairs."
"Hopefully that won't happen," Katrina said quietly.
"Yeah!" Steph snorted. "I doubt the National Railway Museum would be happy with us breaking one of their engines!"
"Indeed," Jimmy laughed as well. Katrina looked annoyed.
"Cool it, ladies," Tom told them. "We've got a job to do. You can argue all you want when we get back to Bury. Before that, we need to get this train back home. We need to move our engine onto the turntable first, then 60077 can be turned. After that, we can proceed over to the marshalling yards, collect our coaches, and be on our way."
The two crews hopped into their respective cabs, and the engines were moved and turned with speed and efficiency. The two locomotives, now coupled together, began to move backwards toward the coaches, which had been cleaned since yesterday and were ready to go once again. After successfully coupling up, the two engines began to pull them forward, out of the yard, and past the depot. As they ran toward the station, the working was diverted over the freight lines via Bog Junction, and went up and down some rare track (or trackage, as Americans would call it), and after a short run up to the platforms, came to a smooth stop in the platform at Carlisle Citadel.
Meanwhile, the families who had been travelling on the train had had a similarly pleasant day in Carlisle, and had had a meal out at one of the hotels before going to bed for the next morning. Now they were up, and hyped for their onward journey, and had assembled on the platform.
"I think this direction is the better one," Rainbow Dash told Scootaloo. "True, you've got the flat bit from Carlisle to Appleby, but beyond that, its a nonstop climb to Garsdale!"
"I've heard it's especially fun with a Jubilee, or a Black five!" Scootaloo replied, checking over some of her pictures from yesterday. "That's funny, the two engines are the other way around today."
"Didn't ya hear they were havin' technical problems?" Applejack asked her in all seriousness. "They've put The White Knight on the front as it was leakin' like a busted drain yesterday. That way, if it fails, they won't damage the engine by pullin' on it too hard. They'll only be pushin'!"
"That makes sense."
Just then, the doors opened, and the passengers got onboard to await departure at 7:11 AM.
Thunder thundered overhead, as it usually did, in an otherwise clear sky.
Meanwhile, as the train was getting ready to depart, a trio of somewhat dishevelled individuals was standing in the middle of a soggy field. The first of them, a red centaur, looked over.
"Are you sure dropping us in the middle of a soggy field was a good idea?" he asked her, his face full of confusion.
"I can't control where the portal drops us off!" Chrysalis snapped back, looking around at the strange world all around her. All around were these muted greens and trees with the leaves falling off and metal rails and some grey buildings nearby. The colour pallette was so much more to her taste, she had to say. All of the bright hues and sickly colours of Equestria and all the HAPPINESS were so annoying to her! At last, here was a place that didn't look like somebody hadn't just hurled a ton of paint at a wall and seen what had come out the other end!
"Well," Cozy Glow said, hovering above them as she observed a DMU roll by, "we could easily have suffered the alternative and be stuck in a statue. Suspended animation is not a fun way to spend one thousand years, after all."
Tirek suddenly seemed to me more cheerful. "Yes, this soggy field is a much better alternative. Speaking of which, I must say your plan to disguise yourself as all three of us at once and then disguise yourself as all three of us being turned to stone and all three of us as a statue was an excellent idea."
"Indeed," Chrysalis smiled, her pride in her plan showing through. "That way, I could sneak into the portal between dimensions I've heard discussed so often, and got you two hear as well. This world doesn't have magic, so we can cause as much havoc as we please."
"We don't have much of the magic from the Bewitching Bell left," Cozy Glow pointed out. "So how could we use it to cause as much chaos as possible?"
They all thought for a moment, and then the moment of inspiration hit them. "Of course!" Tirek cried. "How about we create a thunderstorm so massive that it makes travel almost impossible?"
"I'm on board with that idea!" Chrysalis laughed, and charged her horn. "Bring us power, and rend them sorrow! Rain, and rain, like there'll be no tomorrow!"
Her horn flashed, and in that instant the heavens opened. Rain droplet after rain droplet poured down as clouds moved in and thunder flashed in the sky, all like that scene in Fantasia atop a mounting with a demon.
"Yes!" Cozy Glow whooped, flying about again. "This world shall end up in such a mess, nopony will be able to challenge us!"
"We may not have much power of the magical sort," Tirek grinned, "but we can cause more havoc than Discord ever did."
"Erm... what you are doing on my farm?"
Tirek turned to see a man with a flat cap looking at him. "I said, what are you doing on my farm?"
Cozy Glow landed, and suddenly spotted a girl who had the same colour skin and hair as her. "How can there be two of me?"
The massive storm raged over Carlisle, and the mess threatened to flood the city. The timing could not have been worse, and the railtour pulled away as fast as it could to avoid the worst. The track was wet and the sky glistened with light and heat as a fireworks display erupted above them.
As they cleared onto the line proper, Jimmy called out behind him. "JEEZ LOUISE! THUNDERSTORM!"
Gigantic bolts of lightning rained down from the heavens as the train roared through the hills and tried to clear some of the hills. They started dropping sand onto the rails to assist the engines, but it did little good as the rain assaulted the Cumbrian hills. The storm continued to roar, and the train made a quick water stop at Appleby for 60077, which was having issues with its tender again, or rather the water supplier was having some problems again. The train finally got underway again after the tank was refilled, and the train roared down the brief downhill slope out of Appleby, only to go up the other side and encounter problems.
The radio went in Britannia's cab. "Tom we've got a problem!"
"What's happening, over?"
"The wheels are slipping uncontrollably, and I can't correct it. I'm going to cut the reverser."
Tom's eyes widened in horror. "No, do not release the reverser handle lock! It'll spin-"
He didn't finish his sentence, as he heard the sound of a reverser racing forward, followed by loud screams that could be heard over the noise of the engine. Tom poked his head out of the cab to see the wheels on 60077 revolving at speeds in excess of 120 miles an hour, and smoke and steam pouring into the air. He grabbed the radio again. "Steph, I need you to shut the regulator."
"Kat's hurt pretty bad. We need to help-"
"If you don't get that regulator closed, the boiler will prime and the cylinder covers will explode, wrecking the motion. Get that regulator shut. NOW!"
"On it." There was a moment's pause as a loud bang signified the regulator being closed. "Regulator shut. Kat's thumb seems to be broken, and her arms are badly bruised."
"Get the train doctor to remove her from the engine. I'm calling the air ambulance."
After the air ambulance had flown Katrina to hospital, they inspected the damage on 60077. "Well," the guard said, "she's not safe to operate. Too great a risk of motion failure."
"We'll need to move an A3, and fourteen coaches, with only one engine," Jimmy sighed. "What a day this has turned out to be."
Tom's eyes lit up. "We need two fireman for this task. Steph, you can fire on 70000 to keep the fire hot, and supply enough steam to keep the engine moving. It's going to be hard work."
Just then, a loud clunk confirmed the support diesel had just been coupled to the train. Rejoining the engine, the now three strong crew of 70000 got the train moving. The engine blasted smoke and steam into the air whilst the diesel roared loudly on the back, creating one of the most spectacular sights in preservation history as two machines from opposite ends of railway history battled the grades of the Long Drag.
The diesel was dropped at Garsdale, and 60077 was left in a siding to be assessed and later run back light engine whilst Britannia took the rest of the train to Settle. The passengers alighted safely, and watched as Britannia hauled the train off into the distance.
