Sorry for the delay! At this rate, we won't be done until next Christmas :P

Chapter Three: The Old and the New

Snow continued to fall all across the island, and many engines, vehicles and their drivers and operators were beginning to get concerned. There was very low visibility, and the snow was starting to bury the lines and form thick layers upon the roads. By morning, the entire island could be snowed in once more, but during the night, there was the serious danger of accidents occurring and that the snow could lead to communications failing or prevent them from being accessed.

"This weather is truly dreadful, isn't it?" Gordon said, staring across an empty Crovan's Gate, watching as flakes fell within the light of the various lamp posts positioned around the yard. Light was spilling out from the Works, turning the snow the colour of lemons and hinting at signs of life, but otherwise everything was quiet. Gordon's crew had just stated they were being held up, as they were waiting to hear if Edward had started back yet, as he was due to have reached Vicarstown a short while ago and they did not want to risk a collision.

"I have always liked snow," Ivo Hugh said from the Narrow Gauge platform. Behind him were a small row of empty coaches, the passengers now all aboard the much bigger coaches shivering behind Gordon. The little engines crew were indulging in coffee with Gordon's crew and the station staff as they all waited to hear about Edward, leaving the engines to wait for them out in the cold.

"Snow can be quite wonderful, but only during the day when we have a chance to truly marvel at it," Gordon replied, "and especially when it stays off the lines! When it piles up around us like this, it can only lead to accidents. Of course, they only happen to young, inexperienced engines like you, not to engines like me that know these tracks from memory!" Ivo Hugh merely mumbled in agreement, not entirely sure what to say to the big engine and left him to his own self satisfaction. Gordon noted the disinterest and scoffed, not needing the approval of such a small engine anyway.

"What is Edward doing on the Mainland anyway?" Ivo Hugh asked, trying to fill in time and awkwardness. "I thought he worked on a branch line."

"Sir Topham Hatt wanted Edward to greet a visiting engine," Gordon replied drolly, "though I am not sure why he wanted such an old and worn out engine to represent the railway!"

"Do you think it should have been you?" Ivo Hugh asked with a hint of sarcasm, and Gordon winked at the little engine.

"Indeed, I would have been a splendid guide! And it would have prevented me from having to talk to silly little engines!" Gordon chuckled at his own little joke while Ivo Hugh rolled his eyes, having learnt to expect this sort of behaviour from Gordon. The big blue engine stared at the rails ahead, wondering if he would be seeing Edward and this tilting engine some point soon…

Truthfully, there was only one reason why Gordon wanted to meet the new engine. Ever since the Express had been taken away from him, the once proud and gallant engine had begun to feel old. It felt odd to no longer take what had once been his signature train, and it pained him every time Pip and Emma passed him or he saw them in the distance. For years, those two had been the epitome of modern engines, and while Gordon was proud of the way he looked and how powerful he was, their speed and sleek designs had always made him envious.

And now there was a new style of engine that was even more modern than Pip and Emma! It almost seemed ridiculous that they were all getting worked up about being able to tilt around corners without slowing down or upsetting passengers, but this was something the engines had never even imagined, and it was going to be amazing to see it in action. Gordon, however, could not get over the fact that more and more sleeker and modern engines were coming into the Island.

How long until the Fat Controller no longer sees any worth in us? Gordon thought to himself, and stared down at Ivo Hugh. All the little engines are privately owned and operated, they are proper heritage railways. I still have to work to prove myself, and the Fat Controller has already realised my age. How long until he takes away all my duties all together and ships me away to the scrap yard?

Gordon fell gloomily silent, the thoughts that had haunted him for days creeping back. He wanted to see this new engine and find out just how worried he should be, hoping that this engine turned out to be just as pitiful and boring as the rest of the diesels that trumped through their railway.

There was the sound of a door opening and closing, and Gordon and Ivo Hugh both looked around as their crews emerged, biding each other farewell before separating to their respective engines.

"Are we going now?" Gordon asked, thankful for anything to take his mind off things. "I thought we were supposed to leave a while ago."

"We were waiting to hear if we were going to run into Edward and this visitor on our way up there," his driver replied, coming around to check the snow that had built up around his snowplough. "However, we cannot get hold of anyone at Vicarstown, so we have to risk things now or get snowed in here. You need to be on the look out for Edward's appearance and see if there is any chance he has had an accident on the way, just in case, and we will move a bit slower to make sure nothing bad happens."

"Are we sure this is safe?" Gordon asked, not particularly wanting to have an accident on such a cold night, as there were only open sidings from here until Vicarstown. He could almost imagine Edward and him meeting in the middle of the tunnel…

"All of this stuff is mostly precautions," his driver called out as he moved back to the cab. "Edward and this Marco engine are meant to be on a different track all together, but we are just being prepared in case there are any accidents. We don't know where Edward currently is, but I highly doubt we are going to smack into him."

"Only if you're sure," Gordon mumbled back, feeling barely reassured. I bet these modern engines can sense each other! They might as well be able to fly…

"The guard is going to explain it all to the passengers while we move," the voice of Gordon's fireman said, and Gordon felt his crew climb aboard and begin to get him ready. Ivo Hugh was already moving off, and Gordon blew his whistle in farewell, and got a quiet peep back as he trundled away to their smaller sidings and the little sheds beyond.

Those engines have nothing to worry about, do they? The blue engine thought gloomily to himself. He wheeshed steam, sending snow cascading back into the air, and as he began to roll out of the yard, Gordon watched it fall back to Earth. He could only wonder what it would be like when left the quiet, bright safety of this yard, and imagined what it would be like when he met this new engine.


Edward was the sort of engine who, even after all these years, was able to stay cool, calm and relaxed for long periods of time, and it usually took a lot of bother to get him angry or impatient, and even though he could get back to normal quickly.

But after only half an hour of waiting, the blue engine felt more annoyed than he had ever been.

Edward was now facing the line back to Sodor, and his brief excursion to the turntable had been the only eventful thing to occur in the last short while. They were still waiting for Marco, and nothing would happen until he appeared. No snow plough had been procured, so Edward received little distraction from the grey and white world that surrounded them, staring warily at the tracks ahead that seemed to disappear into nothing. There were the echoing, constant noises coming from Arianna as she went about her work, and Edward almost wished she was there to talk to, anything to take his mind off the weather.

Where is this engine? Edward thought impatiently, glancing behind, expecting every second that the tilting engine would appear. He was meant to be here ages ago, and if we do not head across the bridge soon, there is a chance we could get snowed in on this side! He did not want to be annoyed, and felt irritated with himself for being so irrational, but the foul weather, dreadful location and long wait where all building up to make for one grumpy old engine.

His crew appeared a moment after this thought crossed his mind, shivering as they clutched their coats to their bodies and warm drinks in their hands.

"We have received word from Marco's driver that they are nearly here. There was some sort of delay that held them up, but regardless, we will be ready to leave soon!"

"Good," Edward huffed, making his crew smirk. Everyone always found it funny when Edward got in a bad mood, as if old, wise engines were not allowed to be anything but friendly and insightful. Edward simply looked to the line, waiting for this engine to arrive so he could brave this storm and get on home.

It took another quarter of an hour though before they finally heard a sharp, sleek horn sound in the distance, and a sudden rattling louder than Arianna and her trucks sounded from behind. Edward watched as a silhouette got closer and closer, and there was a sudden blast of wind as Marco pulled up alongside.

"Evening there, you must be Edward!" The diesel-electric engine cried, and Edward was finally able to lay his eyes upon this mysterious character. Marco's smooth, sleek face was yellow like many of the diesels, with a black window right above and headlights on either side. The rest of his front was a light shade of red, but this turned to silver throughout the remainder of his paintwork. There were four coaches behind him that made up the engine, similar to Pip and Emma, and Edward had to admit he was initially impressed.

"Hello, yes, I am Edward, and I presume you are Marco."

"You presume correctly!" Marco boomed. He sounded as though he was trying to be posh or impressive, and Edward's smile faltered a bit at this, but he kept it up despite the smug expression planted firmly on Marco's place. "My goodness, I must say, this yard appears to be a bit run down! Does it always look this bad, or did you dress it down for me?" He laughed loudly at his own joke, and Edward made himself laugh a bit as well as to not upset him.

"It is as nice as a yard can get really, the snow just makes everything look a bit old and abandoned when it gets like this," the steam engine explained, though when he looked at Marco, the diesel engine was staring in the opposite direction, clearly not paying attention. "So… was it a long journey, or just made difficult?" Marco seemed not to hear, and Edward blew his whistle, making the diesel jump.

"My goodness, I have not hears a whistle in years!" He said, staring at Edward as if he was some alien creature. "You must be very old…"

"How was your journey?" Edward inquired, struggling to keep his smile up.

"My journey? It was fine!" Marco replied. "They must have cleared the rails or another engine had gone ahead because there was barely any snow, and I did not have to stop at any stations so I merely glided here!" Edward's face fell, remembering what his crew had said about there being a delay, and he could see his crew looked confused out of the corner of his eyes as they checked no snow had built up around him.

"Why did it take you so long to get here then?" The blue engine asked, wondering what his answer or excuse would be. "You were due a while ago, we heard there had been a delay!"

"Was I?" Marco said, disinterested. "Oh yes, that's right! We were ready to go on time, but my crew thought you would be late, being a rusted old steam engine, of course, so we dilly-dallied about the yard for a little bit, chatting to the other engines, my crew made some drinks for the trip, that sort of thing. I never imagined that you would actually be here on time!" Edward wanted to say something, shout something, give this rude, insolent, new fangled engine a piece of his mind. It took all of his restraint to hold his words back, forcing himself to remember all the tricks Bill and Ben had pulled, all the comments Gordon, Henry and James had said…

They all got their comeuppance in the end, Edward thought, and so will he, though just not from me, and not before he makes this long trip worthwhile… A laugh sounded from nearby, and Edward and Marco both looked around as Arianna rattled across a set of tracks towards a siding with a water tower. She was glancing at them with a smirk on her face, and Edward knew that she must have heard Marco, even though she had not noticed the engine. Very good at blending in, this one, Edward thought icily, directing his glare towards the purple engine, who winked back at him in response.

"You steam engines are very odd," Marco said, shaking his body in over exaggerated confusion.

"Indeed…," Edward said through pursed lips that made him look like Elizabeth. His crew moved across to the other platform to introduce himself to Marco's operator, and Edward listened to the friendly banter, no longer bothering to try it with Marco, the tilting engine staring off into space, probably wondering what prehistoric railway he was about to encounter.

"Its time we head off Edward, I expect we are causing worry across the canal," his driver said as he and the fireman clambered up the footplate. "There is some sort of power problem affecting the communications, so they won't know why we're late."

"I am sure they will love the reasons why," Edward said, and Marco merely nodded, missing the sarcasm. A few minutes later, Edward was steamed up, and he whistled loudly to Adrianna as he headed off in front, glad to leave the yard behind and continue with his journey.

"Remember Edward, you're the guide, not him!" The tank engine called, and Edward could not help but smirk as he rattled away into the night: he was definitely slower than the multiple unit engine, and Edward thought quite frankly that if he could slow the engine up, than there was a bit of comeuppance for him after all.

Initial thoughts on Marco? And I promise I am not going all Sharon Miller on the character's personalities, though they may seem a bit different from usual in this chapter! :p