It may seem scary, but don't be afraid, for all's not what it seems with a ghost train...
Moondust Skylight, one of Goldie's brothers, is visiting Falmouth to see his sister and brother-in-law. Whilst there, he regails them with exciting stories of the time he worked for Canadian Pacific, and how he and his engine solved a spooky mystery.
Inspired by the Arnold Ridley play The Ghost Train, with elements taken from Digs and Discoveries, a special from the 24th Season of Thomas and Friends. Based on a suggestion from SciSetShimmerEvan.
"Could you move the box over there a bit please?" Goldie asked, indicating to one awkwardly placed in front of a door.
"It's a bit heavy!" Sunny replied, as she resorted to pushing it. "Are you sure it needs to be over there?"
"Where is there?" Argyle asked, currently preoccupied with the mantelpiece. "Whomever knew we had so many knives and forks?"
"I'd been wondering that myself, actually," Sunny noted, as she pushed the box out of the way, and then went to help her dad with the cutlery mountain that had developed. "It must be a special visitor if we're doing all of this."
"That's from our wedding," Goldie explained, as she finished adjusting the glasses on the table. "Several people decided to get us several cutlery sets for some reason. Not to worry. Gives us plenty of flexibility!"
Sunny decided to speak up. "I'm confused. I know that's not much of a change from normal, but nontheless I'm a bit surprised by all this. Why are we putting all of this stuff into place for what is a family visit?"
Goldie stopped what she was doing and turned around to address her. "I apologise in advance for the infodump, but this is information I would prefer to disseminate only once. So listen carefully, for I shall say this only once." She breathed in, and then started with her speech.
"As you probably know, the person coming to visit is your uncle, Moondust. He's my older brother, and he doesn't come to this part of the world very often given that he lives in British Columbia, which is in Canada."
"As opposed to British Columbia, South Korea," Argyle said. "Most people know where British Columbia is."
"Just making sure!" Goldie smiled awkwardly, before walking over to a cupboard to remove some plates. "As I say, he doesn't visit this part of the world very often, and seeing as I'm the furthest away member of the Skylight family him coming all this way across the ocean is rather important."
"Skylight?" Sunny queried, then remembered. "Oh. That's his name."
"And mine as well, before I married your father," Goldie replied, having found what she was looking for. "Aha! Blue plates and bowls. Perfect. These will go nicely with the glasses." She picked them up, then stopped before seeing what Argyle had in his hand. "Argyle. What is that?"
"Bought some maple syrup on my way home from the university," Argyle explained, with a smile on his face. "I thought it'd make him feel at home, seeing as he's come a long way. Canadians, eh?"
Goldie facepalmed. "Argyle, people usually go to another country to experience their food, not eat stuff they can get at home." She put the plates down. "Honestly, this is like that business trip to Hamburg all over again."
"Fry up?" Argyle suggested.
"I thought the plan was to go to the Fisherman's Arms tonight," Sunny replied, who then went back to sorting chairs. "At least we're not washing the doors like the last time Lady Haven popped over for tea."
"Funny how we went from being just a normal family to being one with so many connections," Argyle laughed. "If you'd told me two years ago that we'd be friends with aristocracy I'd have laughed!"
"You are now," Sunny pointed out.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Goldie, as she was closest to the door, walked over and checked the eye hole, a habit she'd developed many years ago, before her face lit up. "He's arrived!" she said, before unlocking and opening the door.
On the other side stood a man with light blue skin, greyish hair, and yellowy eyes. He had the look of a man who had been travelling a long time, as his coat had quite a few creases in it, and his eyes had the distinctive look of a person who has been flying a long time. Nontheless, his face broke into a smile. "Afternoon," he said, before shutting the door behind him (he had stepped in during the interval between it opening and him speaking). "How's my little sister?"
"There's only two years between us," Goldie pointed out. "Then again, keeping track of all the relatives is quite difficult, seeing as mom and dad maintained the old tradition of many children. How was the journey?"
"Flight from Vancouver was pretty good. Hopped down to LA to visit Penny and Blackjack, then across to Boston to visit mom and dad, then down to New York to see Vicky." He paused. "You know, living out here has clearly rubbed off on you. You wouldn't sound out of place in Canada with your accent."
"I've lived here a long time, which is why I sound vaguely Mid-Atlantic. And I hope she didn't give you too much trouble," Goldie said. "You know what she's like."
"What is she like?" Argyle asked, innocently.
"We were at her wedding, remember?" Goldie replied. "The way she acted that day is not too far removed from when she was a child."
Argyle shuddered at the memory, as did Moondust.
"Luckily she wasn't too bad this time," Moondust smiled. "Then across to Blighty itself. Even got in early." He took his coat off and hung it up, before stepping further into the room. "Hello, Sunny. I don't know if you remember me- I last visited when you were about three, after all."
"It's been that long?" Sunny said in surprise. "Would you like a drink?"
"Yes please," Moonlight said. "Coffee, as strong as you can make it."
"That I can do!" Sunny smiled. "I've recently developed a sideline in selling coffee in addition to milkshakes and smoothies, and it seems to be working."
Argyle laughed. "She really takes after her mom. My little entrepeneur."
"Well, it never hurts to meet public needs," Moondust added. "So, you guys still doing all the railroad stuff?"
"We can show you round the sheds and meet the engines later, if you'd like," Argyle noted. "My study recently got an update so I could exhibit more of my Sodor memorabilia."
"We even have a crane tank!" Goldie added, indicating to a seat. "Shall we sit and talk?"
"Good to see that time on the dockyard payed off." Moondust took a seat as Sunny popped a mug out of a machine. "Milk, one sugar."
"How have things been in Canada?" Goldie ventured.
"Well, I do have quite a special story to tell from my days working for Canadian Pacific's steam program. It concerns ghosts, mountains, and a lot of steam engines...."
Revelstoke, British Columbia. A reasonably large settlement largely underpinned by the skiing and snowboarding industry, in summer the area constantly rang to the sound of freight. Revelstoke was a key martialling yard on the Canadian Pacific, as it was where freights from numerous locations were usually combined in preparation for their long journeys towards either the east or west coasts (most freight going to either one or the other).
One October morning, the weather was fairly cold, as was normal in British Columbia at that time of year. There was a small amount of fog left on the ground from the previous night, but still enough to produce an odd murky effect on the landscape for those who were travelling about the city.
Further away from the noise and hubbub of the yard sat a small facility that didn't fit in very well with the local railway architecture. It was an oddly bland building, made of brick and stone and with a tiled roof that stuck up into the air like a sticky uppy thing. Most people didn't even think too much about it, assuming that it was either an offshoot of the nearby Revelstoke Railway Museum or that it was just some industrial leftovers that nobody had bothered to clean up from before the place became a resort town.
They would be wrong, however, as inside this building was something very special. As Moondust unlocked the door, he was greeted to the familiar smell of steam and oil from the solo occupant of this building.
"Morning," he said to the occupant.
"Morning," came the reply from the engine. The engine in particular was an enormous express passenger machine. It had large, slab sided frames seemingly cut from an entire mountain each, and a high running board with red and cream lining. The locomotive boasted four leading wheels, six driving wheels, and four trailing wheels. The boiler was similarly enormous, and was festooned with a jumble of machinery that ran from the chimney to the equally slab sided cab. The tender was similarly large, being once more flat sided and very big as it sat upon two large trucks, painted mostly black apart from a large red section on each side with cream lining. On each side of the cab was the emblem of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the tender reinforced this notion with the letters CANADIAN PACIFIC emblazoned in block capitals on either side. "Nice to see you again."
"Ready for another run, eh?" Moondust joked. "Sounds as though the crew have you ready to go, John."
"Firelighter arrived at three in the morning," the engine replied. "So, where is it today?"
Moondust climbed into the cab and checked the paperwork handed to him by the stoker before signing off on it. "Seems some top levels of management are out on an excursion to Lake Louise today," he replied. "We're taking them fom here in the excursion set complete with the rear observation car."
"They'll enjoy that very much, no doubt," John answered. The doors were already open, so all that remained was to move him out of the shed and onto the line. With a hiss of steam and ringing of the bell, the massive engine was shortly underway and on his way to the yards.
After shuffling onto the mainline and avoiding the line that would take him to the gravel loader, John arrived at his destination. The coaches were stored in a special siding, and had been cleaned and polished so comprehensively that you could see your face in them.
John was coupled to the back of the coaches so he could haul them back to the station for running round. Just then, an incredibly ugly steam engine roared past. He had less the look of an engine than a set of wheels attached to a brick, as if somebody had been streamlining an engine and had just given up. An unobservant person would probably have mixed John and this engine up, but the personalities were very different. The black and green paintjob especially reinforced this notion of ugliness.
"Getting a sympathy run, old timer?" he laughed, as he flew by. "Clearly they haven't stuck you in a museum yet!"
John rolled his eyes. "In British Columbia, we say good morning."
After running round his stock, John was ready to go, and with the high raking officials officially onboard the train they could. Moondust sounded John's whistle three times to warn those concerned that the train was now ready to go. And then they went, producing a most marvellous sight as the train rolled through the outer edges of Revelstoke and off towards the coast.
Once clear of the town limits they could really get some speed up, and the line began to twist and turn as it began to climb through the Canadian Rockies. Trees and mountains populated the windows for a considerable amount of time as did many beavers, who were very used to trains by now (they had, after all, 120 years to get used to them).
After a few minutes, they halted outside the Mount MacDonald tunnel as the signal was red. In a nearby siding sat a large red diesel, typical of the types of locomotives fielded in the region. "Moving important people again?" he asked. "Bet they're enjoying the hail."
"Pardon?" John asked.
"25% of the year here is rainy," the diesel replied. "It's foggy the other 75%."
"Glad to see you still have your sense of humour, Harrison," John replied. "I shouldn't need a push today- it's a light load, and they'll be having lunch at Lake Louise so I don't have to worry about the gross weight increasing mid journey."
Both engines laughed at that. "But what out for the ghost," Harrison said suddenly. "Other engines have reported spooky things going on, and I think that-"
Just then a massive coal train roared out of the tunnel, making it impossible for anybody's words to be understood. Whatever this ghost was, it would have to wait
After an otherwise uneventful journey, John pulled into Golden to be serviced and turned in preparation for the climb through Field and up to Lake Louise. The coaches were left in a clean place, as otherwise they would have been made messy by the nearby freight.
Golden was largely known for large numbers of coal hoppers. It was where the Windermere line joined the mainline, and as a result the sidings were usually full of either coal hoppers or potash hoppers waiting to head for the ports.
Just as John was parking next to the water pipe, a chime whistle echoed across the terrain, and a familiar face rattled into the yard, towing a diesel and some coal hoppers. "Hey John!" she called. "What's up?"
The engine was a 2-8-0, characterised by the same sort of chunky construction which was standard on Canadian steam locomotives. Her boiler was similarly covered in machinery and pipework, above which lay black paint. A huge piece of rolled metal sat atop the front of her smokebox, and the pilot bar gleamed in the sun. A similar tender to John's was coupled to the back, and also bore red and cream paint with CANADIAN PACIFIC painted on it.
"Hey Miranda," John replied. "Diesel's giving you trouble?"
"Just the usual, breaking down. Good thing they have me to pull them in, huh? Good this was only a short train. I may be awesome, but even I have my limits."
John sighed. "Sure thing. Listen, have you heard anything about a ghost recently?"
"No," Miranda replied, as she was detached from the train. "Why?"
"Harrison mentioned something about a ghost train haunting the Mount MacDonald Tunnel at night," John replied. "It all sounded very strange, as we haven't seen ghosts in these parts in a very long time. I think we should be on our guard."
Miranda started laughing. "Ghosts? Seriously? I think you're going soft in the boiler! There's no such thing as ghosts! And even if they were, I'd soon put them in their place!"
John, fully aware that not taking things especially seriously was Miranda's MO, internally sighed. "Oh well. I'll be heading up the line later to Lake Louise- important people in the company out on a sightseeing trip, you see- and I'll see if I can get any more information up there. Is Marie working in the region?"
"You bet!" Miranda replied. "Says the air reminds her of home."
"No surprises there then," John smiled. "It'll be interesting to see what perspective a Quebec pair of eyes can bring to this situation."
"Thanks for the info!" Moondust said, as he checked the water gauges. "That's the water topped off. We'll just get some more sand and we should be good to go."
John was later reattached to the train, and railfans were in for a treat as he and Miranda departed towards different directions on the lines running out of Golden. Hopefully Marie could shed some more light on this mystery.
Harrison rolled into the yard at Golden as the previous duo left for their respective destinations in Canada. Moonstone looked down the line and was pleased to see it was quiet. "We should have a clear run from here!" he said.
"At least as far as Field," John replied. "That's where Marie is working. I was thinking we could ask her if she saw anything odd, as we can at least figure out what's going on."
"Playing detective, are we?" Moondust smiled. "I'll be happy to join in with that game, as I often enjoyed solving mysteries back in my youth. Me and my sister often did that sort of thing."
"Which one?" John asked, as they began the climb out of Golden and up into the mountains. "I recall you saying you had three."
"Oldest," Moondust replied, as he checked the speedometer. "The other two were born a fair bit after us, and tended to be with each other. We used to joke that the youngest partly existed to give the one older than her a playmate!"
Both engine and driver laughed at that as they continued on their way. Pulling into Field, they noticed some stock waiting in a siding. "Looks like we got a traffic jam," John sighed. "We'll probably be cleared to start the climb after these two trains have gone."
As he sat there, waiting for the line to clear, a familiar horn sounded nearby, and a small diesel on two four axle trucks came to a stop. Although the bodywork towards the back was narrow, the front was tall and bulbous, making visibility harder on the driver.
The engine was also painted in an odd livery. The front and back were red, but most of the bodywork was painted in black and white stripes. The letters CN were also emblazoned on the side.
"Bonjour, Marie," John said, jokingly.
The diesel rolled her eyes. "I do speak English, you know. Just because I'm owned by a railway company from Quebec doesn't mean I speak French all the time."
"Noted," Moondust said quickly. "Have you noticed anything odd going on around here lately?"
"Apart from the usual?" Marie asked. "Well, come to think of it I can think of one thing. A few nights ago a motorbike crossed over the crossing and didn't stop when the barriers were down. An engine nearly hit them!"
"Did you see what they looked like?" John asked.
"Only that they were wearing leather and had a biker's helmet on," Marie replied. "They must have been a ghost as they had an implausible amount of luck that day."
Moondust put a hand to his chin. This piece of information intrigued him, as this was an oddly specific ghost. "Why would a ghost need to wear a helmet and leather?" he asked.
"Ghosts tend to wear the clothes they died in," John pointed out unhelpfully.
"You'll have plenty of time to discuss it," Marie noted. "With a broken air line that train isn't going anywhere fast."
"Ghosts, spooks, mists," Miranda snorted to herself. "John's gone soft in the boiler! There's no such thing as ghosts, after all!"
She came to a stop at the foot of the climb towards Rogers Pass. The signal was seemingly at red, indicating an oncoming train. But the signal didn't clear for a few minutes. "Come on! What's taking so long?"
Suddenly, the air seemed to grow clolder, and the sky began to darken around the steam engine. "What's going on?" Miranda asked, more in confusion than anything else.
The sky continued to darken, with banks of bad clouds building up and blocking out the sun, plunging the area into darkness. Then a heavy fog began to roll in from another place, blanketing the area and severely restricting visibility for anybody in the area.
Soon the fog was so thick that nobody could see more than a foot in front of them. "This'll make climbing the grade difficult," Miranda noted.
And the signal was still set to red, indicating that oncoming train was still not here. Had it suffered an air line failure? Was it halted for other reasons? Or was it not there at all for other reasons?
Miranda would soon have her answers. A puffing sound started up out of the fog, which was odd as no steam specials other than the one John was working were due for today.
And then it happened. A ghostly shape suddenly rolled past on the other line. The engine was spectral and grey, and the coaches were white as if made of nothing but air itself. It rattled past at speed before vanishing into the mist.
It took Miranda a few seconds to process what she had just seen on the other line, even as the fog stubbornly remained in position before her. But eventually she made the connection. "A g- ghost!" she said, after a moment. "John was right!"
"Excuse me?" called a voice further back. "I don't mean to be a bother, but the line ahead is clear, and this potash needs to get to the docks."
"Sorry!" Miranda called as she set off up the grade. This needed to be dealt with and discussed with the other engines before anything bizarre happened. Or anything else that qualified as bizarre happened around these parts.
She needed to get this information to the others so they could produce a plan of action. But first she had to complete her delivery.
She had always believed that there was no such thing as the spirit world. That this tangible reality is all there is before us, and that there is nothing else. But this bizarre encounter was something she could not explain with what was dreamt of in her philosophy.
She had to ponder the critical question that this bizarre encounter raised amongst those observing the circumstances and come to a conclusion about them as reasonably as she could.
It seemed like a bizarre question, but- were ghosts real?
John sat at Lake Louise water column whilst his tender was being refilled. The coaches sat in the platform, as the important people had gotten off and were currently in the static dining coaches next to the station, where they seemed to be enjoying something fairly posh.
Not so for Moondust, who was looking forward to his sandwich, which would keep him going until they got back to the staff canteen at Golden.
Just then, Harrison arrived, having trailed them from Mount MacDonald. "I'll take the coaches for you to Eldon to be sorted out!" he said.
"Thank you!" John replied, and watched the shunting operation start before the coaches were hauled away to a place far away. This was the train the railwaymen call-
"Wrong story, Mr. Narrator!"
Izzy? How did you get here? You hadn't even been born when this story happened!
"Glitter lets me see everything!"
Anyway... A few hours passed, and John later noticed a familiar shape rolling into the station, shorn of stock and running light engine. "If it isn't little miss brash herself," he said. "How'd it go down there?"
Miranda stopped in the loop, rather out of breath for some reason. Then again, climbing the spiral tunnels around Lake Louise is hard work. "Sorry," she wheezed.
"For what?" John asked.
"Turns out your ghost is real," Miranda replied, still exhausted. "I saw it on the way towards Rogers Pass. It was heading this way last I saw, but I saw no sign of it on the way here. It's almost as if it vanished!"
"Ghosts aren't known for obeying the laws of physics," Moondust noted.
"I thought I should head this way and inform you so we could figure out what to do," the consolidation continued, her tender being refilled from the nearby pipe.
John laughed. "The great, fearless, fire eating Miranda? Afraid of a ghost? I never thought I'd see that day coming."
"Very funny."
Moondust consulted a track map. "If it was coming down that line, then it must have come from the Mount MacDonald tunnel. Unusual, but that could make sense depending on the cargo. Now then, there's another line in the area that runs in, so it might have used that." A plan was beginning to form in his mind just as Harrison returned from switching.
"Something going on?" he asked.
Moondust had a plan in place. A plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel. "We've got a plan to catch a ghost," he said. "Tonight, we camp out in the siding next to the Mount MacDonald Tunnel and see if we can spot this ghost. If so, we follow this ghost and find out where it's going from and to, and if needed what is required to appease it and make it leave."
"Should we get Marie in on this?" Miranda asked. "Four engines is better than three."
"Let's do that," John said, and glanced towards the line before him.
Mount MacDonald Tunnel always looked more spooky at night, for some reason. Moondust always reckoned it was the lack of light surrounding the tunnel portal, with only a single powerful light illuminating the area. This left long shadows that snaked across the region like ghostly fingers that seemed intent on grabbing those caught sitting underneath them.
"Tunnels," Harrison grumbled. "Why do ghosts always frequent tunnels? Why can't they be on sidings or in stations?"
"There is a theory," John said, "that ghosts are manifestations of things the human mind wants to see. That is, the human mind is very easily tricked into seeing what it wants to see. This may have happend here."
"I definitely saw something," Miranda countered, as her eyes focused closely on the tunnel entrance that sat before them, illuminated like a dangerous portal to something dangerous, with the single light above it serving almost as a light drawing in unsespecting moths to a deadly flame."
"Right," Moondust said. "As little noise as possible. Keep it dark. Harrison, cycle your engine as low as it can go. If that train appears, Marie should follow it."
"Sacre Bleu!" Marie replied. "Of course I get the trailing job. Predictable."
There then fell almost total silence, before the wind took over the noise role and the odd howling of a wolf here and there. And a caribou, for some reason. Nobody was quite sure why there was a caribou there, but it was there and producing noise, which only added to the very confusing atmosphere within the team as they watched and waited.
And waited. And waited. And waited.
Nothing seemed to happen for quite a long time before them at that tunnel entrance in darkest British Columbia, which nearly led to some of them falling asleep before the scene presented in front of them, which would have been a shame.
As suddenly there was a change. The fog rolled in, and soon place became very spooky. There was, however, a distinct lack of skeletons, which reduced the chance of shivers being sent down your spine by quite some margin.
They watched as they heard noise starting up, and suddenly a train emerged from the tunnel portal and roared into the distance, rattling down a side track and into a narrow valley.
"Well, there's our ghost train," John said, looking over the scene as quickly as he could. "Marie, you're up?"
"Why me?" she complained.
"Because you have the shortest wheelbase of any of us," Harrison replied.
The GP9 moved off from the siding and reversed a short way to access the turning wye, and then proceeded forward to where the signal change would occur. Once the signal had changed and the switches were all in the correct position for her to proceed, then proceed she did up the line towards her destination.
She was nervous about what she would find. But she knew she and her friends would need this information so that they could put an end to whatever was going on.
She arrived in a clearing and stopped in a siding, monitoring what was going on before her. And what she saw was surprising, to say the least.
Doors were sliding open on the passenger cars with the doors still attached, and men were getting off. They were carrying large crates and boxes off the train and placing them into large storage pens below, which had many more of the same boxes in them. These piles of boxes stretched well into the distance with many many piles of them.
"Be careful with the merchandise!" shouted a man. "We wouldn't want it all to go bang, would we?"
What does he mean by that? Marie thought to herself. Whatever this train was transporting, it was clearly dangerous.
Just then, she saw a familiar face walking through the crowd. The man in leather and a biker's helmet was there, and was walking closer to the boxes. More kit had been unloaded in the meantime, and was being placed into storage pens further down the line.
Rumbling started up as a flatbed was unloaded, and a large military vehicle rolled off and into a vehicle pool.
"What have you got for me today?" said the man in the helmet.
"Good news, sir," said one man. "The fresh shipment is genuine. New equipment as well. M16s, all the way from the United States." He popped open the box to show a box full of rifles, and another full of all sorts of tactical equipment. Marie wasn't sure what all of them were, but there seemed to be scopes and even a few grenade launchers.
Suddenly, the remark about things going bang made sense to Marie. Some of these boxes were loaded with ammunition. Of course they didn't want to risk an explosion.
The man in the helmet glanced back and saw all the equipment stockpiled. "Good work, all of you," he said. "The revolution draws closer with every passing day. With this level of firepower, not even the Canadian Army will be able to stop us!"
Just then, a device rang, and he pulled it out. "Yes, this is Boomer. Fresh shipment has just arrived and checked out as indicated. Military grade firepower, and even some of those Humvees with rocket launchers. With all this firepower, the revolution is guaranteed to succeed. "Of course. I will post update reports when we are ready to launch the attack."
He put the device down. "Victory is at hand, men!" he called. "One more shipment and we'll be ready to go!"
Marie didn't know how much longer she could afford to wait much longer, and as such began her retreat whilst the men were distracted by their considerable collection of weapons and ammunition. She had no clue what this meant for safety, but whatever this was it had to be reported to the authorities as it seemed they had serious intent of either taking over the country or causing serious damage in the process.
Once she had returned to the mainline, Marie explained to the others all the things that she had seen. "So," she said. "It seems as though the ghost train wasn't real after all. It was an actual, tangible train. And not only that, it seems they were using it as a cover to smuggle guns."
"Rifles," John corrected.
"Alright, mister pedantic," Miranda replied. "Either way, they were moving firearms. Gun runners, huh? This is like something out of a John le Carre novel."
"Indeed," Harrison noted. "Did they have any particular plans for the weapons?"
"Some talk of a revolution," Marie said. "Their leader was the biker man I saw a few days ago. He seems to be in league with somebody else, though- I don't know who, though."
Harrison sighed. "Revolution, gun running, equipment being moved, tensions, master plans- it's like 1812 all over again!"
There was a moment of silence as the engines reflected on this information. Never in their lives had they imagined that out here in rural Canada, which had always seemed like such a quiet and peaceful place, that weapons smuggling was going on, and not only that it was putting the very future of the country at risk for all concerned.
Moondust was the first to speak after the several moments of silence had elapsed. "I would suggest," he said finally, "that we need to inform the authorities of what is happening."
"That's rather obvious," Miranda replied. "Of course they need to know! Gun running's a crime!"
The engines all knew how serious that was, as after all this could cause trouble. "To this end," Moondust said quietly, "that we all make our way towards Revelstoke and inform the local dispatcher. That way the local dispatcher can inform police and they can assemble all the equipment and teams they need to bring down the smugglers. After all, they seemed to be packing a fair bit of firepower based on what Marie said."
With that, the formation prepared to move off for the other end of the line, the environment around them not as warm and friendly as normal, but a dark and inhospitable region characterised by harsh lights and unfriendly objects which seemed to want to hurt them. And knowing that was there, who felt safe anymore with the threat of a revolution before them and under them and all around them?
It was well past midnight when the formation pulled into Revelstoke, battered and pretty exhausted from the long run. Moondust temporarily secured the engines in position and then left the cab, proceeding across the yard towards the dispatcher's office. He was certainly gone- gone for a very long time, as he had a lot of information to reveal on the other end, which was proving to be a bit of a toll on the circumstances.
He emerged from the office a while later, certainly showing the strain of a long working day. "We should all get some rest so we're fresh in the morning," he said. "Then we make our move."
Morning came, as mornings are known to do. No, that's an overused joke, I'll try a different starting sentence.
As the giant plasma ball coloured orange made his way into the air and shone down upon the Canadian countryside, there was a small indigestion (or indignation) meeting going on. John, Marie, Harrison, and Miranda were gathered at the coal and water point, discussing the plan of action for the night's proceedings. Moondust was there too, feeling most refreshed after a difficult night. He had a map on the ground, as people are known to do, and had drawn lines and such on it. These lines looked very confusing and complicated.
"I still can't make sense of this map," Harrison said simply.
"I'll explain it, then," Moondust replied, indicating to the other engines to pay attention. The engines apart from Harrison, that is. His hand sat on a box with an arrow drawn from it with a bit of pen. "This is the junction where we saw the ghost train, or not ghost train as it turns out. The formation has to stop to access the line it takes to get to the valley, so we have to use that time to our advantage."
He looked over to the coaches. "We've disguised the passenger set used yesterday as a scrap train, of stock being hauled to be disposed. Onboard this train will be Mounties, who at the correct time will leap off the train and arrest the perpetrators."
"Hopefully they won't be interrupted by any lumberjacks who are OK," John noted.
"We should be fine," Miranda noted. "This will be at night, and seeing as they sleep at night and work all day they won't be awake."
"There appears to be a cultural reference I'm somehow missing," Harrison noted.
"And what is a Mounty?" Marie asked.
"Royal Canadian Mounted Police," Miranda explained. "Mostly seen in the English speaking parts of Canada. Of course, you guys have your own police force."
"Once they have arrested the smugglers and gotten the goods as evidence, we should be good to go. We'll haul the prisoners to jail and then we can go back to normal."
"We'll probably be heroes too," Miranda added.
"Remember we're not doing this for glory," John told her. "We're doing this to save Canada from that group of criminals." Suddenly, patriotic music started up in the background. "In many ways, we are merely continuing in an old tradition of the values that this nation was founded to represent. And in doing so we show that loyalty was indeed commanded in all of Canada's residents- including the mechanical ones. And we shall once more be the land where the beaver roams free, and good people can once more eat poutine in peace. For this is our land, and we shall not see it fall to troublemakers!"
No sooner had he finished the speech, the music abruptly stopped. A workman came over holding a wire. "You really shouldn't run record player wires over active track," he said.
Night came, and it was a very dark night. Although it was unable to rise again as night rarely does that. The train sat in position, ready for the incoming visitors. The engines waited in position for the incoming formation that night, with ghostly formations and suitably redone stock sitting in position, waiting for the ghost to surface.
The moon hung once more in the sky, looking sickly as it always did. The fog swirled around them, and the RCMP's Emergency Response Team had already set up a forward position to monitor the trains as they passed.
And soon they got what they were looking for. A puffing noise began from down Mount MacDonald Tunnel, and the engines all watched in anticipation.
"Get ready," Moondust said. "We need to be ready to expect the worst. We have no idea what these gun runners are capable of."
In that moment, the ghost train left the tunnel and came to a stop at the switch it needed to use to access the other line. There was a moment's silence. And then the cry went out.
"NOW!"
Suddenly, floodlights slammed into life and lit the ghost train up, bathing it in bright light. The doors of the scrap stock burst open, and the Mounties went into action, dashing across the gap between the scrap and ghost trains to board whilst the ERT kept them covered from the barricade.
"THIS IS THE POLICE! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"
The engines watched, incredibly tense. The lack of sound was very worrying, but this would soon not be source of their attention. The engine at the front was a very familiar face.
"Vinnie?" Harrison asked.
"Yes," the engine replied. "And you goody two shoes have stopped the plan that would have saved us all. Boomer will lead this place to greatness in honour of the lady with the white hair!"
"What is he talking about?" Marie asked.
"I have no clue," Moondust replied.
The police had mostly finished clearing out the train, and brought the crooks out in front in lines, with their hands behind their backs and firmly handcuffed, so they couldn't do anything clever or make any false moves. Or real ones, for that matter.
"That train was loaded with weapons and evidence," said one of the Mounties. "Thanks for bringing this to our attention- you've saved a lot of lives. Now how are we going to get all of these criminals to jail for trial?"
"You could use our train," John suggested. "And the train with all the evidence onboard could be moved by another engine. After all, it doesn't look too heavy, moving some coaches a few flatbeds, and a steam engine.
Vinnie growled in frustration at that remark.
The police began moving the criminals towards the train whilst other engines began moving about to move the other stock. But their work was mostly done, as the criminals had been caught.
Though oddly, there was no sign of the man with biker goggles or a leather jacket. Clearly he had escaped.
"Well, that was quite something," Goldie remarked. "I never knew of this story!"
"I had to keep it under wraps until fairly recently," Moondust admitted. "Legal proceedings against all the perpetrators only recently concluded. You know how it is- these sorts of cases can drag out for years. But we all got rewarded. The engines got medals (which are still in their cabs), and I've got one in my apartment back in Canada."
"What was it like working out there?" Sunny asked. "I've lived by the sea my whole life so don't have much familiarity with the mountains."
Moondust smiled. "I can see now why mountain railroaders are considered to be so tough. Going up and down those mountains day after day is pretty tough on anybody, not to mention the engines, which are constantly being cycled up and down from full power. But not with steam power. The excursion program ended years ago, although last I heard John was being prepped for a run to Mexico City. I guess I'll have to wait and see if Canadian Pacific want be back for that."
Argyle, who had been largely silent for much of the time (as he had been listening intently the entire time), then spoke. "Moondust, if I may, you say that Marie saw a figure with biker goggles and a leather jacket. Is that correct?"
Moondust nodded. "Correct. He seemed to be some sort of ringleader of the operation, not to mention somebody who was clearly the hired muscle. Why, does he sound at all familiar to you?"
Argyle nodded. "One of my daughter's friends has sometimes mentioned a man who matches the description. I know many people wear biker goggles and leather jackets, but it's possible they may be the same person." He glanced to Goldie, who figured out what he was inferring, and nodded to both of them before glancing back to the guest. "Well, anyway, it all sounds like it was a very exciting adventure. I must head out there again someday, but my attention has largely been focused eastward. I did a lot of trips into the east for photography purposes. We can discuss them over dinner at the pub if you'd like."
"Sounds great," Moondust smiled. "I kinda knew. The Dresden trip has become family legend, as it's where you won my sister's heart."
"Still one of the best decisions I ever made," Goldie replied, smiling at Argyle, who smiled in return. "Funny how your life can change because of who you, quite literally in this case, bump into."
Moondust laughed. "Ah well. Enough from me and my journeys. I'd like to hear what you've all been up to in the years since I've been away. I thoroughly doubt that it's been anywhere near as crazy as my adventures in the frozen north."
The Starshines nervously glanced at one another, before Sunny spoke. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."
