Disclaimer: Due to impatience of the writer of this story and to not conflict with any events of another writer's story (or give away spoilers for that matter), this story shall begin after the first couple of nights of the main protagonist in her current location. We shall return to those times when the spoilers have been revealed.
Heroics:
May 12, 2015:
On the Island of Sodor, one would think that the Fat Controller would just stay to his own fleet of engines. In the earlier days that would have been true, but the current fat controller has been leasing engines from away the British isles, mostly engines from the United States such as Hank, the Pennsylvania K4, or Erika, Ex-Southern Pacific Gs-4 number 4449 to name couple. Another engine, who is the famous Southern railway mikado number 4501, is named Sarah and she has been on the island since early April and so far she is enjoying her time. Especially with her man Casey, a Southern Ks-1 class consolidation number 645. The two of them were rarely apart from one another, and thus they worked together flawlessly. Trains were on time, freight cars behaved, passengers didn't complain. There were some bumps in the road in Sarah's early days on Sodor but we'll get to that another time. Today, Sarah was hauling a freight train of china clay to the stop in Barrow, where a mainland engine will take it to other various places around the United Kingdom. The train was rather long, fourty freight cars with three brake vans. Casey had warned her to be weary of the cars, for they almost killed him during the winter in a near miss with Paxton. Because of this, Sarah wanted to run the very cars that did it into a turntable well, but changed her mind when she learned that those same cars took a beating from Peter after he took them as well as his own on that very same day.
Anyway, Sarah was waiting on a signal at Krovan's gate, the Wild Nor'Western was due and unfortunately it was on her track, which was the far side of the Krovan's Gate station platform. There was a siding but Sarah's train was too long for it and the only switch between hers and the express was a hundred yards ahead of her, and well behind the signal. Sarah didn't mind this too much, because she got to talk with the little engines of the Skarloey Railway. The engine she chatted with today was number four, Peter Sam. Peter Sam was a cheerful little engine, with a smoke stack that was flatter than a pancake. Sarah remembered from a previous meeting that the stack was made to replace his old one that was knocked off by a large icicle many years ago and was made with special pipes that gave him a tractive boost.
"So Miss Sarah, my driver happens to be a modeler who likes to collect engines and rolling stock from other countries. He tells me that whenever he sees you on model websites you are labeled as a USRA standard light mikado yet he knows that you're not. Tell me, why do you think that is?" Peter Sam asked.
"To be honest with you, I don't know the whole story." Sarah began. "I was built in 1911, long before USRA, but I think the reason is that after the first World War the Southern rebuilt me and my siblings in a similar fashion. You wouldn't believe me if I told you what I looked like all those years ago, nothing like I do now."
"Really? How so?"
"Well, for one thing my bell was further back on my boiler, I had a headlight where my feedwater heater is now, and my tender was tiny...even more than the one I was retired the first time with."
"Really? So you could say you were like a tender engine from the Great Western." Peter Sam chuckled. Sarah just gave him a puzzled look, she hadn't seen a tender engine from the Great Western Railway before and thus she didn't understand the little engine's humor.
"Oh don't worry Sarah, you'll get it eventually. You're not the first one to be puzzled by that joke."
Just then, Gordon passed by with his express. Both engines were a little surprised to not see him do it alone.
"Hmm, that's odd, usually Miss Erika is with him and the train is much longer." Peter Sam observed.
"Maybe she's got to handle a freight train, after all her class were built as mixed traffic." Sarah replied. But there wasn't time to ponder it, Sarah's signal dropped and the points switched in her favor. "Well, it was nice talking to you again Peter Sam."
And with that, she slowly pulled out of the siding and towards Barrow. When she reached Vicarstown, the town with the drawbridge to the mainland, the track was once again unclear, the drawbridge was lifted and this began to make the mikado feel a little impatient. But just as she blew her whistle the signal changed to all clear, the bridge was lowered, and Sarah was not about to lose more time. As she crossed the bridge she could see a British Royal Navy destroyer sailing towards the canal that she crossed, but it was moving too slow for her to be worried. She crossed the bridge and was now on the mainland. When she stopped in Barrow, there were lots of engines from several different railways. One of which was a green burrito shaped diesel with a yellow face. The color combo was not dissimilar to the old livery of the Southern railroad , it looked very nice on him. The number the diesel had was 66543, a class 66 he was. Sarah had heard of EMD sending diesels to the UK but she didn't expect to see one in a relatively short amount of time on the Island. The diesel smiled warmly as she pulled her train into the yard and stopped.
"Welcome to England." The engine said. Sarah replied in kind.
"Thank you good sir, are you here to take my train today?"
"Unfortunately no, that would be Churchward and Donella. My name's Jerry, who are you my lovely friend?"
"My name's Sarah, otherwise known as Southern 4501."
"Ah, I've heard of you, you're said to be the most famous mikado in the world. I didn't recognize you without your green paint." Jerry replied with a smile. Sarah was well aware of her return to her freight livery and the amount of controversy that it brought upon the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum or TVRM for short. While Sarah herself didn't mind it but her fans were split down the middle, some wanted her to be historically correct while others wanted the Ps-4 look that made her famous to begin with. But what most people don't realize is that it wasn't TVRM's decision, it was actually the man who funded the restoration that brought her back in 2014, who was head of the Tennessee Valley Authority at the time.
"Yes, I get that a lot." Sarah laughed. Before Jerry could say more, a high pitched whistle was heard. Bother engines looked ahead to find a pair of steam engines coming towards them, Sarah's mouth dropped, she hadn't expected to see British steam in revenue service. Jerry laughed.
"Yes that's the normal reaction I see from when people meet engines of the Norramby Line, I mean, how else would Sir Robert Norramby be able to afford so much stuff?"
One engine was a Great Western twenty eight hundred class consolidation, the other was a Caledonian Railway 812 class like Donald and Douglas, the Scottish twins who run around on Duck's branch line on Sodor. When Sarah got a good look at the twenty eight hundred she immediately understood the humor of Peter Sam earlier. The Caledonian engine who was leading smiled broadly when she saw the train that she was to haul.
"Oh take a good look at'er Churchward, isn't she gorgeous?" She asked in a very obvious Scottish accent.
"Yes, yes, I see her Donella, she is rather lovely." her Western companion replied calmly. Sarah thought they were talking about her and she was flattered, that is until she noticed Donella's eyes aiming at her coal train.
"It's been a while since I've seen coal trucks like these in a while, so dirty, and so many. Uh, Churchward I'm in Heaven." Donella continued. Churchward looked to Sarah.
"Don't mind her, Donella just loves goods trains." He said apologetically.
"That's alright, I just wasn't expecting it. After all it's been over seventy years since I've last met an engine so enthusiastic about hauling freight cars." Sarah replied.
"Indeed." And then Churchward noticed Jerry, who was snickering to himself. "I take it Jerry has already given our names to you."
"Yes, I'm..."
"Sarah is it? I know a couple of engines who have met you. It's a fine pleasure to meet you, I'm always charmed to meet such a lovely lady."
"Wait a minute, Donella ye silly goose, ye forgot to greet the visitor. 'Ello Visitor, Nice to meet you." Donella suddenly perked up. Sarah just laughed and told her it was nice to meet her too. As Sarah was uncoupled from her train, she noticed some very dark clouds roaming overhead.
"Oh dear, it appears that we are about to be hit by a massive storm." Churchward observed. The first reply he got was a very loud thunder crack and it made everybody jump.
"Oh no, the rain will wash these truck clean, they'll be sparkly and new." Donella cried out in horror.
"Yep, this storm's gonna be nasty, I'd better get back while I can." Sarah stated.
"Are you sure? We've got a shed you can rest in while the storm passes, you can easily be serviced there." Churchward offered.
"Thank you for the offer, but I think I can make it to Vicarstown before the storm actually hits. Besides I've got a freight train to Brendam Docks waiting for me, and no storm can stop a Southern engine." Sarah replied confidently.
"Suit yourself, but do keep in mind that our offer still stands, after all Sir Norramby and your Fat Controller are very dear friends and I'm sure they will understand."
"Thank you Churchward."
"Goodbye Miss Sarah, promise me you'll bring me back more dirty trucks next time you visit." Donella called cheerfully.
"I will."
Luckily for Sarah, the Norramby railway had a massive turntable at Barrow, it looked big enough to hold a Norfolk and Western J class on it easily. After she was turned around, Sarah ran light to the bridge and with clear signal all the way it seemed that she would easily reach Vicarstown before the storm hit. But when she rounded a bend she saw something horrible.
"Michael, stop!" She shouted.
Michael was her driver and he very quickly put on the brakes and shut off steam. With no train behind her it was very easy to stop Sarah from going too far. Michael and the Jack, her fireman peered out of the cab to find the destroyer ship from earlier had run into the bridge and damaged it.
"Now how did that happen?" Jack asked in bewilderment.
"Jackie if I knew that I'd tell ya." Michael retorted. Suddenly, a Royal Navy sailor ran towards them.
"What happened?" Sarah asked the sailor.
"Our ship was sailing across this canal when the drawbridge suddenly fell right in front of the our ship's bridge. Our captain and several crew members are injured and our sick bay was not equipped for these kind of injuries of all times. We need to get to a hospital quickly." The sailor replied firmly.
"How many are injured?" Michael asked from the cab.
"Including the captain there are four."
"There should be enough space in the cab for them, we can take them to the nearest station and find an ambulance." Michael offered.
"Thank you, I'll call for the ambulance, you just get them to the station."
The sailor did as he said while several other sailors, including the chief sick berth steward helped the injured crew members into Sarah's cab. The pair with the worst injuries ended up sitting on the two seats while Micheal and Jack stood around at the controls. The sailors that could stand remained on the footplate and held on as best they could to the multiple handle bars. The sick berth steward tended to the captain who was oddly enough the worst of the wounded, his side was punctured, his leg was cracked, and three ribs were broken. Michael had to reach around both of them to open up Sarah's throttle and throw her in reverse. Sarah ran back as quickly as she could, unfortunately it began to rain, hard. Lightning flashed around her and thunder rocked the ground beneath her. It has been a very long time since she had encountered a storm like this and she knew that when a storm would get this bad it would cause some damage. Sarah hoped that there wasn't a tree on the line behind her, of course the rain had only just started but still, it was enough for her to be a bit worried. Luckily for everyone there wasn't a single obstruction on the line back to Barrow. There were three ambulances waiting for them and several pairs of first responders brought their rolling tables. When Sarah came to a stop, the crew of the destroyer were quickly moved into the trucks and raced to the hospital. The steward stayed behind with the last patient who only suffered a concussion.
"Thank you for the care of Her Majesty's sailors." He said to Sarah.
"It was no trouble at all." Sarah replied. Later on that day the rain continued to hammer the British Isles with no signs of letting up so the soaking wet Sarah was moved to the Norramby Railway roundhouse where she was turned around earlier. It was nice to be out of the storm, especially since she couldn't go back to Sodor at the moment and was pretty much trapped for the time being. But she didn't mind that, at least she had someone to talk to; in the stall next to her was Caitlin the B&O P-7 Royal Blue, and they chatted for hours about all sorts of girly stuff and the rescue earlier that day.