The Skarloey Railway of the Great Depression wasn't the only railway serving the local valleys, lakes, and villages. Another much smaller railway that was restricted to the local slate quarry near the village of Skarloey. Due to the workload of both Skarloey and Rheneas, the other railway kept its own personal engine.
The line had suffered in recent times, primarily due to the value of slate having fallen after the end of World War I. Men often were out of work, and as time went on, this small railway had started to fall apart, mainly on the tracks themselves. Due to the even lower finances of the global Great Depression, there was barely any money to even repair their own engine.
The engine in question had no name, and was said to be a poorly looking engine. She only appeared when delivering slate trucks to either Skarloey or Rheneas' trains, and after shunting, would travel over towards what was known as the Old Iron Bridge.
The bridge had originally been made of wood, but after the boom of slate, it had been changed into a stronger iron bridge. The bridge was a splendid one, with the views of the valley providing a lovely view. Below it was a different story, for below this picturesque view was Cattle Creek.
The creek was known for having a bit of a swampy marsh below the bridge, and flooding was very common in this part. So much was the flooding, that no towns were built near this part of the creek in order to prevent loss of life.
By the Great Depression, this bridge had been in poor condition. Many of the railings became rusted and had fallen off into the abyss of the creek below. Several scrap merchants looking to make a quick buck, had figured that the railway was shut down, and that anything on the line was theirs for the taking.
They snuck in and pinched the pieces of metal and wood. They were about to finish the deed when a whistle was heard in the distance.
"What was that?" cried one.
"Don't worry about it, this railway has been gone for a LONG time now! No one uses it!"
The whistle echoed louder.
"Maybe not... Hide!"
The two men ran to the other side of the bridge and hid in some bushes.
Sure enough, the engine appeared, pushing her cargo for her last delivery of the evening. The engine, pushing her train, wasn't able to see that the bridge and the tracks were damaged. A snag was hit, and the railings that were to prevent such accidents were missing. Combined with the amount of slate in the trucks, it was impossible to get out of their situation.
A whistle crying for help by the crew was blasted, but the two men responsible were frozen in fear of being caught for their deeds, and didn't move a muscle.
The slate trucks pulled the engine off quickly, with no chance of escape for her or her crew. The trucks dragged on until they pulled the entire train off the bridge. The engine and her crew screamed in agony before falling helplessly into Cattle Creak below.
"Help! Can anyone hear us! Help! Please, anyone! Help us! Anybody!" cried the crew. The engine had already sunk in due to her weight, and was no more.
The crew had survived the fall miraculously, but they were too far from any signs of others to be saved, and eventually their lives were claimed by the marsh, which flooded a few days later, leaving the men's bodies, and the remains of the train lost to the marsh.
When it was realized that the company's only engine and her crew were missing, it was decided that the marsh had been too flooded to perform a proper rescue, and with no reason to continue on, the quarry was eventually abandoned by its owners.
The two men in question were feeling mighty guilty of their own actions, one being so horrified that he turned his life over to the Church and had became a Vicar in Crovan's Gate. He claimed that he had turned his life over to Jesus Christ, but still had nightmares about how his greed caused the loss of two innocent lives.
The other man eventually went mad with insanity, something of which he tried to compensate with alcohol. This drunkenness mixed with his insanity caused him to jump off of the Old Iron Bridge, leaving him to the same fate of the men that he caused the death of.
The Vicar eventually died himself, also in the same location. He had come to visit the remains of the bridge, and during the evening while reflecting, caught the sight of the same engine that he had caused the death of. The engine and her crew stared coldly at him with a piercing glare of flashing red eyes, and a whistle fit to burst. Horrified by such a sight, his heart gave out, and forgetting where he was, tripped, and finally tumbled to his death in the swampy marsh below.
The engine and her crew disappeared afterwards, and the people of Crovan's Gate were never able to figure out the whereabouts of the Vicar after he disappeared, never realizing that he and his partner in crime were in the marsh below both suffering the same fate of the deceased engine and her crew.
30 years later, the line in question had become of interest to the Ministry of Defence, and many plans were made to revitalize the line for their own personal use. The Ministry met with the Skarloey Railway, and Rusty was entrusted to pull both the executives of the Skarloey Railway and the Ministry of Defence to inspect the line running towards the now abandoned slate quarry.
Although normally a brave engine, Rusty didn't trust the idea of traveling over Cattle Creek across the Old Iron Bridge. The air always felt colder for some reason, and combined with the disarry of the line, it gave off an vibe of uneasy feeling.
Rusty internally panicked when the Ministry Officials asked to stop on top of the bridge. Although rusting, the bridge had managed to keep its shape, and was still in the same shape as it was 30 years ago. The officials of both companies stepped out to inspect and discuss the possibilities of a deal.
Rusty drowned out the talking of the men, as he turned his attention to the bridge. His driver, Mr. Ivo Hugh, had grown bored of the business chatter of the railway, and decided to turn his attention to the view. Before looking, he noticed Rusty's face, and began wondering if something was bothering him.
"Rusty, I can't help but notice that you have been awfully quiet today. Is something wrong?"
Rusty looked up, surprised that Mr. Hugh had even noticed.
"No, not at all, Mr. Hugh!" Rusty replied with a false smile.
Mr. Hugh wasn't taking no for an answer, and frowned at Rusty.
"Rusty, I can tell that there's something wrong, and that you are lying to me. Tell me what is bothering you! Don't forget that I know you BETTER than any of the other engines save for Skarloey and Rheneas."
Rusty sighed, knowing he was defeated.
"Mr. Hugh, there appears to be something off with this bridge. I can't help but feel as if someone is watching my every move here. Are you sure that this bridge and quarry are abandoned?"
"Rusty, this place closed over 30 years ago, and aside from the occasional teenage prankster from the local villages nearby, no one has been here for that amount of time. The machines are outdated, and the track is rusty, if anything, it could be demolished and turned into something more!"
Rusty listened to Mr. Hugh, knowing he was right, but deep down inside, he still felt that something was off. Mr. Hugh was then called over by Mr. Peter Sam to discuss something with the Ministry.
After an hour of chatting, a handshake was placed with each man, and Mr. Hugh had come back with exciting news for Rusty.
"We did it! The Ministry of Defence will be purchasing the land! They plan to use it as an ammunition dump! This will bring us lots of money to pay for repairs, new coaches, and other things we need! This is going to be great!" Mr. Hugh said as he happily danced around."
Although Rusty was happy to hear that the deal had worked, he was happier to leave the bridge, and to return to the safety of Crovan's Gate. As Mr. Hugh backed him out, Rusty could've sworn that he saw a pale rusty engine staring at him coldly. Rusty blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but opened his eyes to see no one there. Rusty began to feel that there was more to the story of the bridge.
At Crovan's Gate, Rusty was parked in the shed alongside Skarloey, Rheneas, Peter Sam, Millie, and Duncan. Mr. Hugh stated that he had the rest of the day off, and was going home to celebrate the recent deal struck.
Skarloey and Rheneas discontinued their conversation upon spotting Rusty's presence in the shed. Peter Sam, and Millie began asking about the deal with Ministry. Duncan heard about the deal, and groaned. Before long, Duncan began his famous complaint list.
"Och, ANOTHER bloody deal?!" he shouted. "Work, work, work! That's all this railway ever does, is work, work, and more work! If ya ask me, Mr. Hugh, and The Thin Controller can take that extra work and shove it up their bloody arses!"
Normally, the other engines would put up an argument towards Duncan's rant, but they were silent. Duncan expected another round of fighting with them, and was about to open his mouth, before realizing that there was someone standing in front of him.
"Duncan, if you have any complaints about the way that this railway is run, I would advise that you don't RANT about it as if you are in a Scottish factory! Furthermore, you have a passenger train due to depart from Crovan's Gate, which I highly suggest you take before I can think up of a punishment for your foul outburst!" said Mr. Peter Sam.
Duncan was steamed up, and rolled backwards to collect a train of coaches without so much as a whimper!
After Duncan had left, the Thin Controller turned his attention to the other four engines in the shed.
"As you may have heard from Rusty, the Ministry of Defense has agreed to purchase the now abandoned Slate Quarry for their own personal use. This is a very important deal, as it will allow us to have extra money for things such as keeping you, the rails, and the coaches in good working order. The Ministry would like the area to be cleared so that they can begin building their private ammunition dump. As such, there are many tasks to be completed, the Old Iron Bridge is in need of repairs, the track needs to be relaid, and branches need to be cleared. Due to the autumn season beginning to come to a close, I will be assigning some of you to help Rusty and Mr. Hugh clear up. Peter Sam and Millie, you will also inform Sir Handel and Duncan that they are to help out with this. We shall begin this next week, so for the rest of this week, please focus on your regular jobs. I shall be returning to my office now."
The Thin Controller turned on his heel and walked away humming to himself.
Rusty, realizing that he wasn't alone, decided to question Skarloey and Rheneas on the Old Iron Bridge.
"Skarloey, may I ask you something about the early days of the Railway?"
Skarloey was intrigued, he and Rheneas always enjoyed discussing the early days of the Railway when it was just them running the line.
"Of course Rusty, you can always ask me anything! What's on your mind young engine?"
Rusty took a deep breath.
"It's about the Old Iron Bridge that runs over Cattle Creek. There's something off about it, the air gets cold for some reason, and I swear I saw the shape of a pale rusty engine staring coldly at me. When I blinked my eyes, she disappeared!"
Skarloey and Rheneas' faces went pale.
Peter Sam spoke up.
"Is there something you aren't telling us you two?"
Silence followed, and the silence was broken when Rheneas spoke up.
"Back in the Great Depression, only Skarloey and I ran the line. There was an additional engine, she had no name, nor a number. She was younger than us, but looked older than us due to her poor condition. She only worked in the Slate Mines, and would travel from there each day to one of the stations to drop off slate cars for our goods trains."
Rusty, Peter Sam, and Millie looked on with intrigue and interest, leading Rheneas to continue with his story.
"One day, there were no slate deliveries. Feeling that something had happened, The Owner sent Skarloey out there with the Breakdown Crane to investigate. When Skarloey got to the bridge, he noticed something was wrong with the situation."
Rheneas stopped his story, and looked over at Skarloey. He knew that Skarloey was well-versed in what had happened next.
"I looked over at the side of me, and noticed that there was a big hole in the bridge. What I saw down there, was something that no engine and his crew should ever have to see..."