So, we 're on Sodor and we all went out separate ways mentioned in our previous stories. Though I rarely see Hannah nowadays, Colin I see on a regular basis as in the afternoon he works down at the clay pits. A distance I know but it all worked so I could see him.
Apparently there have been a fare few directors on the Island. There was one when the place first opened with the SM railway, the Fat controller, Lorelei and when this story happened it was Sir Niel. He was voted as the new railway head after Lorelei and Daniella disappeared on the mainland.
He was a great railway controller. He understood the engines well and even gave Diesel 10 and the Class 60 a lighter sentence at railgate.
Wow I do get sidetracked huh!
Well, I was shunting with porter, taking unloaded cargo and either loading Edward's train or shunting them into sidings.
We attached the brakevan and without a seconds notice, Edward was off. Then Colin came to me later in the day and told me had news...
"Peter..! Peter..! Oh my..." He said panting.
" Colin! It's eleven 'o' clock buddy, shouldn't you be with thomas? " I asked.
"That's the problem! Something's happened at Dryaw!"
" What? Is everyone ok? " I asked nervously.
"Just come! No time to turn around!" Then, without hesitation, he sped off backwards. I naturally followed on.
When we got to Dryaw, we saw a horrible collision.
Thomas had collided with JTK 62, causing his face to be be caught in Thomas's front wheel. Poor Thomas had debris caught in his left eye and his boiler had been dented.
Due to the family aparently going camping, they brought propane tanks for a grill which, as I'm sure you can guess, exploded.
Rocky was sorting out this catastrophe by the time I arrived. JTK was being taken by Butch and Annie and Clarabel were being brought into a siding.
Sir Neil arrived not long after I did. He comforted the two injured machines and told them funny life anecdotes to calm them down.
Unfortunately however, the tale of how Niel recieved his first detention couldn't repair any damage.
JTK died before he reached the works. Thomas survived, but was rendered immoble. He was given the option to retire and become a museum piece or to have 'black water' and euthanize him. He chose to be a museum piece and is still located at the Sodor railway museum, replacing his replica.
This stirred commotion however. There was no level crossing or even a place where cars can go onto the rails. So how did JTK get there in the first place? As it turned out, the drivers were members of the A.F.M ( Anti face machines) and purposely sabotaged the train.
As found in their home, they initially planned to leave the car and say they 'lost control' and went to get help. The 5:45 train however arrived sooner than expected.
People questioned Sir Niel and how this entire cult went below the radar. Under the pressure, he resigned and left the island.
Obviously, another controller was needed. But people began to wonder if all the rails should be ripped up. It would stop the cult, accidents would happen far less, and due to the recent addition of a motorway which connected to the mainland and went near nearly every town, city and village in Sodor, the railway was not the only way off the island anymore. A vote was put in place to see if the railways would stay or go on Sodor.
The engines were worried. They knew british rail wouldn't allow them all on the mainland and considering how many steam engines reside in Sodor, not everyone would make it. Help was necessary.
I was sleeping in the makeshift shed at Brendam Docks when Colin came up to me.
"Peter, wake up please..." He whispered, before shouting " Wake up! "
My eyes flung open. "Ahh! What? Others are trying to sleep!" I whispered.
" Sorry, sorry. Me, percy, Dexter and Andrew are going to try and find Lorelei! "
"You're joking right?" I asked half asleep.
" No, no! " he assured."Percy knew her fairly well, Dexter knows the mainland and Andrew can either help us escape or talk our way out of danger! "
"What about us?" I asked " how do we fit in? "
" I'm the captain, so I give the orders and you're resourceful! "
"Me? Resourceful?" I questioned .
"You used me to break down the gates twice in two different scrapyards. You're pretty resourceful."
" Fine... But wait what about Hannah? "I asked.
" Awww... You LIKE her! " he laughed.
"What! No-no." My cheeks turned so red you would think they were lights from a brakevan. " we haven't seen her in ages and if she could come along then we could see each other again... " I murmured the last part.
"Ok fine, she can come along too. Just keep it PG ok?"
" hey what? We can't even-" but by then he had sped the corner and left.
"Do ye matie?" Salty asked.
"No!" I said puffing away with a bright red face.
First, we went to Tidmouth and caught Percy just as he was getting home from the mail train.
We found Dexter working on the renovations of the Abbey on the Peel godfred branchline.
Next, we found Andrew just having repairs finished at the steamworks talking to Victor.
Lastly, we found Hannah in her shed at the dieselworks.
Everyone else already knew the plan, but Hannah hadn't heard a single scratch of it.
"So Peter, gonna ask Hannah to tag along then?" Colin asked.
" Umm... Yeah yeah. " I replied.
"Umm, if I may ask. W-what are we doing here exactly? " Dexter asked.
God knows what the rest of the conversation was after that. But I had a slight idea it was about me and Hannah.
I slowly creeped up to the shed door and gently knocked with my buffers and whispered.
"Hannah? We need you're help..."
She's a light sleeper so awoke after this. She opened the shed door (which we can do) and asked half asleep.
"Uhhh... Oh Peter! What do you need at this time of night?"
"We are going away to find Lorelei! She's on the mainland and were going to find out where! "
" hold on, slow down.. We? Lorelei? Who's we and why are we going back to find the old Controller? " Hannah asked dazed.
"Me, Colin, Percy, Dexter, Andrew and hopefully you!"
" Fine... Five minutes... "
"You don't get five minutes." I smiled.
Hannah then remembered the time when she brought me and Colin on a huge chase, not letting us wake up gradually.
"Ha ha... Ok ok I'm moving."
her wheels began to move slowly and I reversed to make sure she wouldn't bash into me.
We rejoined back into the mainland and set off once more.
Me and Hannah talked for most of the way until Vicarstown bridge.when we got there we found it was raised. Perminantly.
" Well then, what now wise guy? " Andrew sarcastically asked Colin.
"What do you mean? This is a PERFECT plan!" Percy said sarcastically aswell.
" hold on one sec" Hannah said. She then began to move forward to the operating box.
"Ahem!" Hannah said clearing her throat.
The operator heard her and went outside to see what she wanted.
" What?! " the operator hissed.
"Me and these engines need to cross the bridge please." Hannah replied calmly .
"Really? Well your not on the list." He said directing his eyes to the clipboard he was holding.
" It's a last minute ordeal for Barrow. "
"Aren't you NWR?" The operator asked suspiciously.
" N-no sir. I'm privately owned, I need to do Maintenance, one of those is a shunting replacement at Barrow and two need to double head a freight train. "
He looked suspiciously at his clipboard and then back to Hannah multiple times.
" Fine, I'll lift the bridge. " He said reluctantly.
"Thank you very much sir." Hannah replied.
The operator just mumbled.
"W-w-what? But persuasions Andrew's thing!" Dexter stuttered.
" What? Does everyone just have one defining character trait? " Hannah asked. "That would be awful!"
We all crossed the bridge and went through Barrow. I never knew Lorelei at the time or anything about her. But I knew she drove someone...
"Hey, didn't Lorelei drive a Locomotive?" I asked.
" do you not know who? " Percy replied.
"No, who is it?" I said.
" Daniella. Though more commonly known as the Reaper. " Percy awnsered.
I immediately stopped.
"T-the Reaper! We're trying to find that!" I said scared.
" you don't believe her stereotype do you? " Percy asked.
"I don't need to! If she's anything like Diesel 10 or that class 60, we'll be butchered! "
"What if she's like John?" Hannah asked " he helped you and Colin escape death and took care of both affer mentioned diesels! "
She had a point. He helped us escape. Lots of diesels have helped us in the past come to think of it. John, Hannah, Dennis, Andrew and a couple others get to come.
" O-ok, but if we're killed I'm blaming all of you. " I said, moving forward.
We continued forward. I was behind everyone else as I wanted to be alone.
Then Hannah reversed up to me to talk.
"You ok?" She asked politely.
"Yeah... I'm fine." I replied.
" you sure? You've been acting strange. Over reacting about the Reaper despite what she did, when we were talking earlier you were giving short replies and who knows what next! "
"I see what you mean but no-no I'm fine!"
"Is something on your mind? " she asked innocently.
"What! No!" I saidLooking down, Blushing.
"He he... I have a vague idea of what's on your mind." She said giggling.
"Y-you do?" I asked confused.
"Come talk to me when you have the courage." She then sped off to the rest of the group.
We came to a stop as a water tower from a heritage railway was along the mainline. All the steam engines stopped for a drink. Including me.
I decided to go last. To talk to Hannah.
"Umm so... You wanted to talk?" I nervously asked.
"No, you want go ask me something..." Hannah said
" I-um well... " I stuttered for ages.
"Wow! You really can't say it can you? Don't worry, I know that you like me. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. "
All I could do was stare and look like a bewildered animal.
"You look like a deer in headlights!" She looked over to see everyone has filled up. " are you having a drink? "
"Um -What no no. We should set off now." I replied zoning back after day dreaming.
"Well team! Where to now?" Colin asked.
The group just murmured to each other. No one actually knew what to do.
"What about Blackwell scrapyard?" I asked " that's where she used to work wasn't it? "
Everyone asked in unison "Blackwell?!"
" have you checked it? " I asked again.
"Have we checked? Have we checked it! Umm... No actually." Andrew said, having a conversation with himself.
"Well let's go there then!" Colin boastfully said.
We set off for Blackwell. It was however, a lot further away than we thought. At that point I was wishing I took on some water.
After Daniella disappeared, no one was there to operate the yard. All the dying engines were sold off and probably met a horrible fate.
But since we John had no where else to work, Blackwell was renovated again and he was chosen to be the scrapyards aided scrapper. He still followed all the initial rules that Daniella and Lorelei had put in place too.
I opened the gate and called out:
"John?"
He then emerged out of the second shed berth.
"Peter! Colin!" He said " try not to be too loud or clumsy, I want to keep it quiet for these lot. "
There were various dying diesels around. However the company now brings all sorts of diesels, not just shunters.
"Right, right" I said."Now, would you know anything about Daniella or Lorelei? "
"No, no sorry. You could ask Dennis however, he's over there." John said.
after Daniella vanished, Dennis was distraught. He knew it wasn't just an accident and vanished, but he knew it was no mistake.
"Umm hi Dennis..." I said wearily. " could you help us with Daniella? "
"What about her?" Dennis asked.
"Where was she taking the train?"
"She never took a train!" He shouted at us "she was going to Cark to pick up some old shunter. She never came back."
" do you know how far she got? " I asked
"I don't... But ask the different stations up to Cark to see if they saw her." He said glumly.
Thanks Dennis. " I said. "We'll get her back."
" I hope so..." He mumbled.
On that, we set off to check all the stations.
First up was Askam, they had seen her as she stopped for fuel. Next was Dalton, though she didn't stop for anything, they did see her pass. After that was Ulverston. They had seen her too, some DMU leaked fuel and Daniella was very expressive on her opinion on the matter. But when we reached Cark they never saw her.
We checked during between the two stations thoroughly. Every siding and yard was sweeped top to bottom but not a single Warship was found. It was only until some cars with rail wheels cornered us. We had no where to go.
The car doors opened nearly in sync with eachother. They all attempted to hijack our cabs and affirm full control over us.
That can happen. If the drivers force are more powerful than ours. They can have full control over our actions. And that's exactly what happened.
Well, all except for Hannah. Though they did enter her cab, she did regain control and sped off backwards to escape, knocking the driver out of her cab.
The rest of us however were being taken to an unknown location by unknown people. We didnt know it at the time but it turned out to be the A.F.M...
