Chapter 9
Sir Topham excused himself to look through some more of his father's old notes, while Peregrine invited Jeanie out onto the balcony so that they wouldn't distract him, considering the serious nature of the information his two ancestors had been left for him. Once out on the balcony, it was tacitly agreed that they would leave any discussion of what they'd seen on the film reels and the experience that Jeanie had gone through with Lady until Sir Topham was ready to take their meeting further. Instead, they passed the time with some small talk and, with Jeanie being Sodor Railway's newest employee, Peregrine begged leave of her to ask a few personal questions, not only in order to get better acquainted with her, but to try and distract her from asking questions of which he had no answers.
She was twenty-four and her sister, Gemma, lived in Knapford, which was where she'd been heading when she was stopped on the road by Toby that morning. She was, actually, her half-sister through Jeanie's father's first marriage, and was six years older than her elder brother, who was two year older than her. She also had a younger brother, and Peregrine chuckled at Jeanie's confession that she'd often felt 'sandwiched' between brothers as the three of them grew up, which led to her developing a strong friendship with her half-sister to act as an escape from her 'confinement'. This feeling of being 'hemmed-in' was the main reason why she moved into a flat in Elsbridge with two female friends after she graduated from Preston University.
Her older brother was an assistant manager in a retail store and her younger brother was still in college on a sports fitness course, whilst she was hoping to find a job that involved interior design work, but wasn't having much luck, until today, that is. She laughed as she admitted that she didn't really see herself doing a 'Personal Assistant' type of job, and if she buggered up whatever it was Sir Topham wanted her to do, she added, he may have her painting the insides of the railway stations' waiting rooms and toilets instead! She was twenty-four years old, she told Mr. Percival, who requested that she not be so formal and that she could call him Peregrine from now on. She and her friends had even ridden on one of the trains that worked on the branch line near her flat, she said, but never had she ever imagined that one day she'd end up actually working for the railways themselves.
Her brief enthusiasm suddenly turned sour as the enormity of what she was now involved in began to sink in, and she looked quite down-hearted all of a sudden. Maybe, she thought to herself, I was stupid to listen to him when he offered me that job. Oh, my god, what have I done? and feeling as though she'd really like to just cry with remorse at her hasty decision-making and the mess she was now in, she confessed to Peregrine, "Despite...despite that 'thing' that happened with me and Lady and the trust that Sir Topham's placed in me, like allowing me to be part of all this...this magic railway stuff, I still feel I don't really belong here. I don't think I'll be of much use to him at all. I...I just want to get away from here!"
Peregrine looked at the upset young woman as she leant back against the corner of the door recess, nervously playing with her fingers and occasionally sniffing back what he believed were possibly tears that she didn't want him to see. He felt that commiserating her on her unexpected entrance into the magic railways wasn't quite the right way to go about consoling her, and decided that simply telling her the truth would be better. He could well understand what it felt like to be suddenly removed from one's comfort-zone and thrust into a totally new and unfamiliar experience. How the conversation went from there, he'd have to see how it goes.
"Miss Watkins...may I call you Jeanie?" he started, injecting some cheerfulness into his voice, then continuing at her nod. "It was about the only way it could have gone after your 'unexpected' arrival, though I had to stop myself from laughing out loud when Sir Topham turned his head and swore!"
He chortled as Jeanie gave a choked snort when she heard those words. "And then, when you took charge and demanded to know what the hell was going on, well, that was the icing on the cake! Between you and me, I've never seen him quite so lost for something to say! There, that's better!" he offered, seeing her smile as she wiped the back of her knuckles across her tearing eyes.
"That was the reason I suggested he employ you, you know?" he said to her.
"Oh! Why...why was that?" Jeanie sniffled, looking over at Peregrine curiously.
"Personally, I've never known a time when someone has come so close to finding out about the magical railways as you did. I remember my own introduction as though it was yesterday. I'd passed my accountancy exams and applied for a job being offered at the quarry for an accounts assistant. It was the ideal opportunity for me, fresh out of university and raring to go. I passed the job interview and turned up for my first day at work the following Monday, only to be met by Sir Topham himself. I thought that he'd come all the way there to apologise to me and say that I hadn't actually got the job and that there'd been a terrible mistake. Boy, was I wrong!
"He put his arm around my shoulder and said to me, 'Young Peregrine, I'll be introducing you to some of your new colleagues soon, but let's get some necessary paperwork out of the way first, eh?'. Well, I was really nervous at the time, what with it being my first day and all and not knowing anybody, so I said, 'Yes, Sir Topham', and he pulled out a folded sheet of paper from inside his coat and said that I was to read it and if I was happy with it, then I was to sign it and then he would introduce me to Sir Handel. I thought, 'Blimey!' another 'Sir'! I felt so inadequate amongst all these important people! Then, all of a sudden as we walked along one of the railway lines that led to the quarry works itself, he loudly called out, 'Sir Handel, come here and meet Mr. Percival. He's starting work here today.'"
Pleased to see that Jeanie was looking more herself, he continued with his story. "You should have seen my face when the engine started moving towards us as we were walking along the same track it was on. 'Sir Topham,' I said, feeling nervous, 'we'd better get off the track or that train is going to hit us.', but all Sir Topham did was to smile at me and carry on walking towards this approaching engine. I was slowing down and looking back and forth from the engine to Sir Topham and then he said, 'Is something the matter, Percival?'.
All I could do was to stare open-mouthed at him. I didn't know what to say, of course there was something the matter; there was a bloody steam engine heading right towards us! Then, as I was gaping at Sir Topham. I heard a voice behind me say, 'He doesn't look strong enough to be working with heavy tools, Sir Topham!' I turned round and, to be honest, nearly shit myself, if you'll pardon the expression. There, looking at me, were the two biggest eyes I'd ever seen in my life, and they were on a bloody steam engine! What's more, this engine had an actual bloody face as well! Well, as you can imagine, I didn't do much work THAT day, I can tell you!
"So, you see, Jeanie, everyone that works for the Sodor Railways has to meet the trains on their first day at work, and just like you, we're all human and we all have our doubts and fears and bad times. Even Sir Topham had to meet his first talking train at some point in his life. What you'll find, though, is that you'll go through phases of doubt and disbelief, but they'll disappear soon, as they did with me."
"What about those that can't handle it?" asked Jeanie, thinking that there must have been somebody that couldn't accept what they saw and wanted to resign straight away.
"With those that reacted badly," said Peregrine, "Sir Topham would take them to one side, say, the station café or his office if they were in Knapford, and he'd rip up the sheet of paper they'd signed right in front of them there and then, ending the hold the railway magic had on them, except for the confidentiality bit. If you remember, he explained that when the both of you were discussing the job offer?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Well, that's exactly how it works. The railway magic on Sodor starts its effect on someone the moment they sign that confidentiality agreement, and ends the moment it gets destroyed by whoever has the authority to employ new staff."
"Do YOU have that authority?" Jeanie asked him.
"There's four of us that can employ staff without having to go through Sir Topham first. There's myself as Quarry Manager, Dick Robbins, the manager of the scrapworks, Sam Browning at the dieselworks, where they repair the diesels, and Lawrence Harrington, the manager of the steamworks, where the steamies are repaired. Old Wynford at the miniature railway in Arlesburgh and all the other stationmasters on Sodor have to recommend potential staff to Sir Topham for his approval first. You have to understand, Jeanie, the fact that the trains are sentient has been kept a secret since it all started, just as we saw on those old films in there." Peregrine gestured with his head at the terrace doors on his right. He hasn't told you of the other 'magics' here on Sodor yet, I take it?"
"Other magics?" asked Jeanie, incredulously. "You mean...it's not just the railway that has magic? When...when I was told about what's-his-name, Bert the Bus by Toby this morning, and after finding out that Lady controls the this magic, I...I thought that was it!"
"You mean 'Bertie the Bus'," corrected Peregrine, "Jeanie, here on Sodor there are sentient buses, lorries, and construction vehicles that you will be able to communicate with as well as the trains. There's even aircraft, believe it or not, but Lady has nothing to do with any of them, though. They're controlled by other magical...vehicles somewhere on the mainland."
"Yeah, Bertie. Wow. You know, when Toby pointed him out to me, I thought he was off his rocker or something. Now, I feel as though I'M the one going off their rocker. It...it must be hard not to let other people know about all this, yeah?"
"Sometimes, we offer part-time jobs to our family members and friends just to take some of the strain away from us, otherwise it would feel wrong to go home to one's wife or husband and not tell them certain things. It would be like living a lie, keeping such a massive secret to oneself."
"I...I can imagine," said Jeanie, still trying to accept the enormity of this new world she found herself in.
"That puzzles me," said Peregrine. "I wonder what it was that allowed Toby to do that. Sir Topham told me of what had happened to him, Henrietta and Burnett, so I suppose that with Burnett's need to save Lady, the railway magic must have allowed Toby to give you that knowledge, after all, we now know that Lady was still able to communicate with the Sodor magic, as she did with you earlier, so maybe she was able to maintain a link between herself and Burnett and believed that you had a part to play in all this. It's an idea you may want to think about, Jeanie. Anyway, going back to the reason I suggested Sir Topham employ you..."
Peregrine then explained that he'd had a flash of inspiration, believing that Jeanie, being introduced to the magical railways so suddenly, would be able to help the former engines with their own sudden introduction to humanity, for she would be experiencing something very similar to them. Sir Topham had agreed, and hoped that she could use the learning experience she would be going through to help anticipate any potential needs that the former engines may have to help resolve any problems that might arise.
Now, feeling she had a much better grasp of the sort of things she could do for Sir Topham, Jeanie felt somewhat relieved, and thanked Peregrine for explaining it in the way he did, as she thought Sir Topham hadn't really been clear enough in what he actually needed from her. She felt as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders and the tightness in her chest disappeared, and she resolved to ask Sir Topham if she could talk again with Toby and Henrietta now that she had a better understanding of the two elderly peo-, former trains.
Seeing Peregrine Percival for the very first time that morning had made Jeanie think of a bank manager when she'd noticed his bowler hat and briefcase, and he grinned at her when he told that he'd actually started working at the quarry as an accountant some twenty-odd years ago. He'd become the actual quarry manager and controller of the narrow-gauge railway when the former incumbent retired at sixty-five, just over ten years ago.
At first, the responsibility of looking after the engines as well as the commercial side of the quarry had been quite daunting to him, but Sir Topham had taken him under his wing, so to speak, and taught him the basics of railway engineering. Since then, he'd taken a course in Systems Engineering on the mainland and applied his new learning to make a success of his job. He'd also learned a lot through his own mistakes, he'd admitted with a few chuckles, mistakes that made him laugh even louder as he recalled some of the funniest ones he had made. Often, he told Jeanie, he would occasionally chat with the quarry engines to find out what sort of work they did that caused problems, as his belief was that if the person in charge knew of the small problems, then he could do something to ensure that they didn't grow into big problems.
Jeanie asked him to tell her something about the engines he worked with, and Peregrine obliged, and told her of how the narrow-gauge engine, Rheneas, had managed to pull a full train home one rainy day despite his small size and having jammed valve gear at the time. He'd just started to explain the different personalities that made up the collection of quarry engines when Sir Topham opened one of the terrace doors and asked them to come back into the study. A cool breeze had picked up outside only minutes before so they both considered this as a timely intervention. As they re-entered the study, they noticed that the butler had also returned, bringing another trolley with some fresh tea on it, and was exchanging it for away the trolley that he'd brought their lunch in on earlier. Sir Topham sat back doen at his desk and looked at both Peregrine and Jeanie.
"Well," he said, "I've found something that may be of interest to us regarding the engines' present...difficulties, though I'm not quite sure of its full import as of yet. It may be able to help us put things right again," he stated, quite solemnly, "or it may end up being of no use to us at all, and I won't know which until I have an opportunity later to take a proper look at it."
"From what I've learnt in one of the letters from my father, though," he continued, "there's no fear of the trains suddenly changing back to, well, trains again, and surprising everyone with their sudden appearance in the oddest of places."
"How does you know that, Sir?" Peregrine asked him.
"According to the notes that my grandfather left," said Sir Topham, picking up a sheet of paper in his left hand and waving it above the desk, "a ritual was carried out to give the steam engines a measure of sentience. A ritual that was translated, my grandfather was told by one of his business partners, from a carved stone tablet found in a private collection somewhere in the south of England nearly three hundred years ago. Allegedly, the carvings dated back to about three thousand, six-hundred years ago, and were in some form of hieroglyphics rumoured to have been of European descent, and nothing at all like those of the Ancient Egyptians. I've looked through all the paperwork that was in the trunk, and I can't find any other mention of them, so I'll be making a more detailed check through them when I come home tonight."
"The Romans were in Britain in those days, weren't they?" Jeanie asked Sir Topham.
"I've no idea," he replied. "I was never very good with history at school, engineering was my forte. Anyway, this is what it says..."
But as Peregrine was about to tell Jeanie that the Romans came to Britain in the first century AD, Sir Topham started speaking...
'Great Darkness strikes down the Pure One. She is stricken by the Destroyer. The Pure One shall not this time take of the Birth Water, She to drink of the Mother herself. Eternal is the Well of the Mother, Eternal is the Product of Her Well. The Winged Beast, born the way of the bird but not of the bird. He that possess the Coat of Blood, Pure is his Song. He to eat/overcome(?) – unknown glyph, T.H. – and The Burning Rock. Sacred is He that devours. She shall breathe the Spirit of Life anew.'
"It sounds more like something from a Harry Potter book to me," said Jeanie.
"I prefer to see it as a recipe for a possible cure rather than that, Jeanie. You've been reading too many fantasy books, my girl!" laughed Sir Topham. "Unlike Harry Potter, though, all this is for real, which brings me to something I want to ask you."
"What do you mean, Sir Topham?" asked Jeanie, slightly apprehensive.
"You remember when we were in the hospital earlier and Toby mentioned that you told him that you knew all about him?
"Yes," she replied. "Why?"
"What did you mean when you said that?"
"Well, I was thinking, going by what he was saying in the car, that they were all some sort of new age travellers, like gypsies or something, not actual trains travelling about on railway lines."
"I see," smiled Sir Topham. "No wonder he thought that you knew what he really was!"
Jeanie chuckled, remembering the elderly man's excitement as he was telling her his tale.
"Um, Sir Topham..." she queried, "Peregrine, sorry, Mr. Percival told me about only railway staff knowing about and seeing the engines' faces?"
"Yes," said Sir Topham, "that's quite correct. What was it you wanted to know?"
"Why would he tell ME about talking trains when I had nothing to do with the magic railways?"
Sir Topham hummed for a moment, thinking about that.
"Jeanie," he said, "you've got me there, though I would think that it has to do with filling roles. Even I didn't know about them until my father introduced me to the engines when I was a teenager, correctly guessing that I wanted to be involved with them when I grew older, and believe me, it was quite a shock to the system, I can tell you! He explained to me that it was a real, actual 'magic' that allowed sentience to be created in not only the steam engines of days gone by, but also the coaches, trucks and various wagons that were made, even the diesels that were becoming more common back then.
"To the general public, they look just like ordinary trains, just as you've always seen them, but my father told me that the 'magic' that created the engines bound the secret to whomever was told about them. That authority, or 'power', to introduce newcomers to the 'magic' railways was granted to a very select few, which included my grandfather when he was a young engineer in the early twentieth century. That ability was passed on to my father when he was old enough to understand, and he passed it to me.
Over the years since I found out about it, and as the railways on Sodor became more complicated, I felt it right to allow certain others to be able to pass on the secret, such as Peregrine...that's got to be it! Burnett has that authority as well! Yes, he told me in the hospital that he felt his connection with Lady break in the ambulance. He, or Lady, must have done something that allowed Toby to tell you. Yes, that must be it. I can't thin of any other way he could have told you."
Sir Topham gestured towards the thin man sitting the other side of his desk, "I myself have given that authority to a few others here on Sodor. It has to be that, for I will eventually pass the secret on to my son, Richard, if and when he tells me that he wants to be involved with Sodor's railways."
"I know I should think myself very fortunate to be told all this," said Jeanie, "but isn't it like some form of mental control over people, this secret-keeping and...and bestowing of authority?"
Sir Topham raised an eyebrow questioningly at that, and countered, "Supposing the public knew that their car or clock or...even their dustbin could be made to talk back to them, what do you think their reaction would be? Bear in mind, first, Jeanie, that the awareness that the engines have is only marginally greater than the rest of the rolling stock, and even THAT is at the level of an innocent eight-year old child or so, and that's throughout the train's existence. One last thing before you decide whether it's right or wrong...I know for a fact that the people behind the various 'magics', whoever they are nowadays, they keep this secret away even from the government. I can only assume it's because these people may have thought twice about sending the equivalent of eight-year old children to war."
Jeanie considered what she knew of people and the government in general. Although there would be demands that the process or whatever it was be stopped, there would probably be an even greater demand that they, too, be allowed to share in it. The potential for likely abuse and pain towards the equivalent of millions of pseudo-children that people in their ignorance would demand be made available to them appalled her. The thought of children killing each other, even though they would maybe be in the form of tanks and such was horrifying, and although she felt awkward at having been made complicit in what had already been done in the name of the magic railways, she could still see the logic in what Sir Topham had told her. Now that she was part of all that, and having already met two former trains, Toby and Henrietta, her own desire to actually speak with an actual engine, once it was able to return safely to Sodor, overwhelmed the guilt she thought she ought to be feeling on behalf of those innocent minds, but wasn't.
Jeanie gently shook her head, wondering at her own sanity as she finally accepted what Sir Topham had told her was the truth. Not only that, but since signing her employment contract, she'd decided that she needn't bother having it checked over by a lawyer, and as an increasing sense of loyalty to Sir Topham developed inside her, she wondered where her earlier lack of self-confidence had come from. It shouldn't be like this, a small voice inside her whispered, but she didn't really pay much attention to it. Her thoughts were brought back to the present by Sir Topham saying that he really should be getting back to Knapford Station to check for any further developments with the former engines. Three of them had been sent out on special tasks and he needed to see them when they returned.
It took Sir Topham five minutes to carefully repack the box's contents and put everything back into the large trunk, leaving the screen and projector where they were for when he returned home later that night. Jeanie remained seated, thinking of the fantastic event she'd seen on the old films. She realised that what they'd all seen was very important and personal to Sir Topham as it showed the actual creation of a sentient engine. It was something that, as he'd told Peregrine and herself, he'd never had an opportunity to see for himself.
Sir Topham finished off by tucking the rolled up translation into a pocket inside his coat, saying to both Peregrine and Jeanie, "The usual Company Matters Protocol applies to what we've seen and discussed today. Peregrine, I already know you'll do your best when it comes to dealing with the narrow-gauges, but I wish you good luck, all the same. Once I feel there's a solution in sight, I'll let you know and we can plan further. I know it'll take a couple of hours for you to get back to the quarry, and I wish I could take you back there with the whistle, but I feel it more prudent to conserve the majority of the sparkle for when I get a chance to go and check on Lady."
"It's no problem, Sir Topham, the drive back will give me some time to take in what we've already found out."
"Excellent, Peregrine. Drive safely."
"Thank you, and goodbye, Sir Topham," he replied, shaking Sir Topham's offered hand, "and goodbye to you, too, Miss Watkins...Jeanie. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Until the next time..."
"And you too, Mr. Per-, Peregrine," she said back, smiling at the thin man. "See you again, one day."
After stepping out through the two large entrance doors to Hatt Hall and seeing Mr Percival off on his journey back to the quarry and the former narrow-gauge engines, Sir Topham said to Jeanie, "We'll be leaving for Knapford Station very soon, so if you wish, I can arrange for one of the engine drivers to collect your car from St. Tibba's. He can either take there for you, or he can bring it here if you'd care to stay here tonight for dinner, as my guest. We can look at that translation to see if it'll give us a clue to how we can save Lady. He'll be told to be extra careful with it, so you needn't worry about it being bumped or scraped."
"Thank you for the offer, Sir Topham," replied Jeanie, "but I'll have to speak with my sister first to see what she thinks. We were going to spend a few days together, but now, with this job and what-have-you, I don't know what to do."
"Well," said Sir Topham, "give her a ring when we get to Knapford and see what she says. It's entirely up to you, though, but I would appreciate whatever help I can get with all of this."
"I'll see what she says and let you know," Jeanie replied, then asked, "Um, Sir Topham, I hope the clothes I'm wearing will be alright to work in? My others are still in the boot of my car."
"Apart from the trainers, they'll do just fine for now," her new employer said as he looked his new personal assistant up and down. Her denim jeans and brown suede waistcoat were by no means suitable, but they would have to do until she could get hold of something more formal. There may be a spare Company blazer somewhere at Knapford she could wear, he thought. "Although there are no trains running right now, I'll have Debra at Knapford sort out protective footwear for you. Non-slip shoes with steel toe-caps will offer you much more protection than what you're wearing at the moment, after all, I wouldn't want you to have an accident on your first day, would I?" chuckled Sir Topham.
"That's much appreciated, Sir Topham," she said, smiling. "I don't fancy getting oil or something on my trainers. I can't afford to get a new pair yet."
"You'll be able to treat yourself when you get your first pay-cheque," chuckled Sir Topham.
"Yes, as long as you think I'll be any good doing this job," Jeanie said, trying to gauge Sir Topham's expectations of her.
"I'm sure you'll do just fine, Jeanie," he said. "You seem to be coping so far, yes?"
"I think so, Sir Topham, but time'll tell, won't it?"
"At least it won't be a surprise for you this time," Sir Topham responded.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused at the change of subject.
"Travelling to Knapford by sparkle," said Sir Topham. "I'll use the whistle to take us to the station, seeing as I don't have the use of Harold at the moment. It won't use that much to take us there."
"Harold?" puzzled Jeanie.
"The helicopter," replied Sir Topham.
Jeanie closed her eyes for a few, silent moments. There is just SO much I've got to get used to now, she thought to herself. I'm going to make a right fool of myself, I just know it!
"It takes a while for everything to sink in," said Sir Topham, smiling gently as he acknowledged her confused state of mind.
"You should have seen my face when my father told me of the talking engines for the very first time," he chuckled softly. "I was fourteen at the time, and when a face suddenly appeared on the front of one the engine and said hello to me, I felt like it was Christmas all over again, and every day after that it felt just the same. My father never really explained how the trains were alive, just that they were, and that was all I was told, apart from it all being a secret I had to keep. I felt so special when he told me that though, but one day, I went to tell my best friend in school and he just laughed at me when my words kept getting mixed up and came out as nonsense.
"Still determined to share this great secret I had, I took him to the sidings to prove that the trains could really talk, but they didn't. I couldn't even see their faces. I felt so foolish and I thought it was all a dream or a joke that my father was playing on me. When my friend ran off, laughing, that was when one of the small tank engines finally showed his face and reminded me that secrets are meant to be kept.
As I grew older, I realised that it was only the people that worked on the railways that could talk to the trains, and that made me more determined than ever that I learn as much as I could about running them and one day taking over after my father. He'd always loved the railways, ever since his own father had introduced him to the magic, and...and I had become just as enthralled by it as they'd both been, and now you, too, Jeanie, will become just as enthralled."
"What do you mean 'enthralled'?" she asked, looking slightly worried.
"The magic is a harsh mistress, Jeanie. It will not let go of you until you either reach retiring age, get fired, or die in service. Whatever the reason, you will still be unable to reveal its secret. It will drive you to fulfil the tasks you are set no matter the nature or size of any obstacle you may meet. Failure to do the task brings great disappointment and shame, which many of the engines on Sodor have already experienced, but they still endeavour to persevere, as they say."
"Who was it?" asked Jeanie, not fully realising the significance of Sir Topham's words.
"Who what? Who said those words?"
"No, the engine that first spoke to you. Who was it?"
"Oh, sorry. It was Thomas. He said hello to me and then told me of how pleased he was to meet me and how honoured he'd be to work for me one day. You see, Jeanie, through various marriages going back several generations, my family has always been connected with the railways here on Sodor in one way or another. Before the railways were nationalised in 1948, other families owned the various railway companies that existed on Sodor then, and through marriage, those companies were all brought together until one family line, the Hatts, owned them all. When I decide to retire, or die, whichever comes first, everything will pass on to my son, Richard."
Sir Topham then took Mr Conductor's whistle from his pocket and turned it round and round in his hands, staring at it in silence for a few moments, then he sighed quite heavily and said, "When I was young, back in the nineteen-fifties, the railways in Britain were in great trouble. Wages were rising faster than revenue was coming in and with the fare-freezing and limit on freight charges imposed by the government, they were losing money with no sign of the situation ever getting better. The government decided to set up an advisory group to look at the situation. They following their recommendations and closed down a third of the railways to get rid of the little-used and unprofitable railway lines and services, and they scrapped a third of a million freight wagons. They were all sentient freight wagons.
"The end of fuel-rationing after the war led to the development of diesel engines, which began replacing the steam engines. Some of the steamies were sold abroad, but the vast majority were sent to the scrapyards in Barry, south Wales, to be broken up. That was when my father changed from being cheerful and friendly to sombre and moody . I could see that he'd became very concerned about something quite serious, and sometimes, I'd hear him arguing with my mother about the trains, especially the steamies, but it wasn't until a few years later that I found out what had changed him.
Jeanie listened to Sir Topham, the seriousness and tone of his voice telling her that she was about to learn something very personal indeed, eager to hear more but, at the same time, feeling intrusive.
"I was in the family room one evening," Sir Topham continued, "listening to the radio with my mother whilst my father was working in his study, the room you arrived in with me just before lunch. I remember that night as though it was yesterday. He came in and sat down in his favourite armchair and looked at me for a few seconds, and said, 'I know, Son. I know.' 'Know what, Father?' I asked, thinking I had done something wrong and was about to receive a scolding for it, but he just kept on looking at me...then he said, 'I know the truth about the trains!'."
Jeanie could tell by the sombre expression that had appeared on Sir Topham's face that he was recalling a rather poignant memory and, intrigued with his tale, she felt that the elegant gentleman standing a few feet away wanted to say more on the subject, and being intrigued, she asked, "What did he know?"
Still staring into space, Sir Topham replied, in a hushed tone, "He said that he'd found out how the engines had become sentient, and when I excitedly asked him how, all he said was that he couldn't tell me, but one day I may or may not find out for myself, and he refused to say another word on the matter. That was when he changed, and what he did then was an obsession with him that lasted until the day he died. He started trying to acquire as many steam engines as he could afford before they were dismantled and melted down.
"Sometimes, he'd be gone for days, travelling all the way down to Barry to search the scrapyards for a particular engine before it was taken apart and melted. Sometimes, he'd be successful, and a few weeks later there'd be a new engine working on the island, other times, he'd come back home in tears, crying for an engine that he'd failed to save in time. I never understood why he got so upset about it. Many years later, I went to Barry to see the scrapyards for myself. It...it was a sad, sad place, seeing all those engines lined up there, all of them so silent and broken, just...just waiting...waiting to die."
Jeanie suddenly felt embarrassed for the man as a couple of tears started running down Sir Topham's face. Her cheeks reddened as she watched the elegant man's grief and, not knowing how to respond adequately, she cleared her throat which, as it turned out, was enough as Sir Topham coughed in response and quickly searched his pockets for a handkerchief to wipe his face and eyes dry.
"Please...please forgive me, Miss Watkins. I became rather...melancholic just then."
"I...I'm sorry, Sir Topham. I...I shouldn't have asked."
"No, no, Jeanie. It wasn't that at all, it was my own fault. They were just...memories from long ago. Memories that have a certain...significance to what is happening at the moment."
"What do you mean?" asked Jeanie, thinking that something like may have happened before.
"I...I can't say, to be honest. It's just a...it's just that I can't speak of certain things to you. The...the railway magic has a...hold over me, so to speak That must be why my father said he couldn't speak about what he'd found out."
Feeling completely out of her depth, Jeanie remained silent as she stared at the ground, on the one hand fascinated by what she was hearing and hoping to hear more, but on the other, feeling sadness in her heart as she imagined lines of sentient trains, no, children, she told herself as her throat hitched, children waiting to be executed!
"When you get a chance," she heard Sir Topham say, but she wasn't listening anymore, instead, she was seeing herself racing along a track with the only thing of any importance to her being that she arrive at her destination on time. The last time she'd been late, her controller shouted at her that if she didn't get her act together and be more punctual in future, it would be Barry for her. Terror filled her heart on hearing that as she and the other engines at Crewe had overheard the managers talking about the impending service cuts and line closures being implemented.
Some of the express engines were feeling confident that, as their runs were popular and much-needed, they were pretty sure that they wouldn't have anything to worry about, but there were a few engines, her included, that knew their futures were being discussed by the people that ran the railways. Being sent to Barry meant that it was the end of the line for an engine. Being sent to Barry meant deactivation and...and death!
She knew what deactivation was, well, a bit of it, as she'd been semi-deactivated before when she'd gone in for repairs after having had a bump with another engine, but death, that was what all the engines feared. None of them could answer her question when she asked what death was, only that it was like when she entered a long tunnel that didn't have an exit, and that she wouldn't even know that she was in a tunnel or anything, in fact, she wouldn't know anything at all. She didn't like hearing that, as she quite liked knowing where she was and knowing things as well. After hearing from the other engines what death was and every time she went into a long tunnel, she would try and think what it was like to know she was inside that tunnel, but found it quite a hard thing to do, but she kept on trying anyway. She even tried to see what it was like to not think of anything whilst she was in the dark tunnels, but the light from her lamp kept distracting her. Once, she'd managed to extinguish it by herself, only to receive the worst scolding of her existence from her driver afterwards. She never tried that ever again.
Next, she was seeing a three men walking towards the siding where she usually slept overnight. Recognising then as her controller, driver and fireman, she wondered if she was being given a really important job to do today, but as the group of men got nearer to her, she could see that they all looked rather sad. looking at her with misery in their eyes. She heard her driver say to her controller 'It's only right that I tell her, but it's breaking my heart to do so!' before he turned to face her and said, "I'm sorry, my girl, but the directors have looked at your case and...and they've decided that...that you must go. I...I'm so sorry, love, but they won't change their minds."
~Go?~she asked.~Where are they sending me? Is it another branch line? What part of the country is it?~
"It's not a branch line, I'm sorry to say," her controller said. "It's Barry."
Jeanie suddenly felt herself drained of all hope and started to cry in despair. Her driver and fireman rushed up to her and grasped the rims of her buffers offering condolences and sympathy but all she could think of was that she would miss all her friends at the sheds in Crewe, especially so Mary, the Stanier Class 8Ps with her blue livery and rounded front that made her look so sleek "I couldn't face it if a stranger took you on your last trip," her driver said to her, so I'll see if they'll let me take you there myself to say goodbye instead.".
Jeanie reluctantly raised her downcast eyes up to look at him, and replied, "I'd appreciate that. I...I'm afraid now. Will it hurt?"
"I beg your pardon?" said Sir Topham, looking strangely at her.
"I said 'Will it hurt?'" said Jeanie, looking at Sir Topham but not recognising him.
"Jeanie, are you all right? I suggested you look on the internet for some photographs of the railway scrapyard at Barry, and you then asked me if it'll hurt. Are you feeling okay? You looked...lost there for a few moments."
"The internet? Hurt?" she asked, struggling to regain her bearings. She knew what the word he'd just used was, but somehow, she couldn't quite connect to it. "What's that?"
"The internet. On a computer?" prompted Sir Topham, looking concerned. "Typing words on a keyboard, looking at a screen, pictures?"
Sir Topham looked at the worried frown on his new assistant's face. Time to reveal another secret of the railways, he thought to himself.
"What date is it, Jeanie?" he asked her.
"It's...it's November the seventeenth. Why do you ask?"
"What year?"
"Nine...no, it's twenty-eleven. No...yes! I...I'm confused. It is, isn't it? Seventeenth of November, twenty-eleven?"
"It is, Jeanie. Now, think carefully for a moment. You were obviously distracted over something when I spoke to you, so tell me, what year did you think it was?"
"I thought it was...I thought I was back in nineteen sixty-something. I wasn't even born then. When you said for me to look on the internet, I felt so confused, I didn't know where it was, or even what year it was, I was so lost all of a sudden!"
Jeanie looked around her and, seeing a large concrete shrub-pot beside the Hall's entranceway, she made her way over to it and sat down on its round edge, shaking her head. "What...what was that? More of your railway magic taking over my mind?"
"In a sense, yes," said Sir Topham, "but not intentionally. What happened then, Jeanie, happens to everyone on the island, though not as intense as what you just experienced. That was just due to your new 'connection', for want of a better word, strengthening with the railway magic, or what's left of it."
"Would you mind explaining that to me, please?" asked Jeanie, holding her head in her hands to concentrate on where, and when, she was right now, only just aware that Sir Topham had gone to sit on the other shrub-pot across the footpath from her.
"Not at all," he replied. "One of the letters from my father contained a number of theories that he was working on before he passed away. I haven't had a chance to study them all that closely yet, but one of them was that when they, whoever they were, started to give the engines sentience, whether planned or not, they set off what my father named 'time-snags'."
"Time-snags?" asked Jeanie, raising her head to look over to Sir Topham. "What on earth are those?"
"It's what you just experienced. It's a sensation of dislocation in time that's felt by people when their minds are focused on anything to do with the railways, here on Sodor in particular, because there are so many of the older engines here. To an outsider, someone not...er...acclimatised to the everyday environment of the island, like a visitor to the island, they may feel as though they are living in the past. These 'snags' are centered on the older engines more then the coaches or wagons as they are the ones that have greater awareness of their own sentience. The older the engine, like the steamies, the more powerful this 'time-snag' is. It's not so noticable with the more recent diesels as they are more, how can I say, contemporary to observers."
"So the engines affect people?" asked Jeanie. "When people are near these 'steamies', as you call them, they feel like they've gone back in time. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes and no. At first, if they notice it at all, they'll feel a touch of nostalgia for the old engines and coaches, but the more contact they have with the trains, even if it's only glancing at them as they pass by, the more they get used to it until, eventually, it's so small it's barely noticable and they never comment on it again, just as you no doubt got used to the novelty of your very first computer when you had it. The more you used it, the easier it got until you use it without thinking about what you're doing."
"That's...weird!" snorted Jeanie. "Don't people say anything about all that...those feelings they get?"
"They're not consciously aware of them in the way they'd notice, you see. I think the best way I can describe it is this: Imagine time as a river flowing along in a straight line or, even better, like an underwater current in a flat pool of water, yes?"
"Okay, I think I understand that..."
"Right, well, when the first sentient engine came to Sodor, picture it as though someone fixed a stick upright in the bed of this river or pool of flowing time that poked up through the surface and caused the water or, in this case, time, to flow around the stick, much like you may have done yourself as a child if you ever played near a river."
Sir Topham raised an eyebrow, tacitly asking Jeanie to confirm she was following what he was saying, or indeed, had played in a river as a child.
Jeanie nodded her acknowledgement.
"Now, a molecule of water flowing in that current of water, or time, when it meets the stick, it obviously has to go around it, so it takes slightly longer to get passed the point where the stick is than if the stick wasn't there and it flowed in a straight line, yes?"
Jeanie nodded again. "Yes, like driving my car round something in the middle of the road."
"Yes, that's right. Now, don't think of it as water, but as time, time that takes longer to flow to the point where an observer is watching from. This observer 'sees' all the time that go past him, including the part that was delayed on its journey to get to him, and that's when he unconsciously notices the 'time-snag' that my father theorised. The observer senses a part of time that happened in the past at the same time that he's experiencing the present, and that's the feeling he, or she, experiences when coming into contact with the old engines for the very first time."
"I think I can understand that, Sir Topham. When my friends and I travelled on one of the trains, it was a steam engine pulling the coaches, and there was a point where we were talking about going back in time to the olden days!" said Jeanie. "It was like we were in a science-fiction time-travel film," she added.
"Yes, but you were experiencing fact, not fiction, if my father's theory is correct. Anyway, what makes it more complicated is that when more and more of the old steam engines came to the island, it was like someone adding more and more sticks to the river bed, creating more and more ripples or 'time-snags' that then began to influence each other so much that they became stronger and stronger until, eventually, they became part of the permanent flow of time on Sodor, affecting people's, especially newcomers', perception of time."
"But why?"
"Why? What do you mean, why?"
"Why do the older engines affect the flow of time? And I've always lived on Sodor, except when I was in uni. Why should it affect me?"
"I don't really know, though I would assume it's due to the time period when the steam engines were created, as though, for example, Victorian and Edwardian era engines brought the 'feel' of Victorian and Edwardian times with them to the island, the same with the not so old engines. I'll have to look more into that idea when all this is over. It's a fascinating idea. Anyway, time is passing us by, which is rather ironic considering what we've just been discussing, and we have to get back to Knapford Station."
Jeanie, like Sir Topham, stood up, and followed him on the gravel driveway in front of the Hall for a few yards until he stopped, turned round, and offered his arm for her to hold on to. Whilst she understood what he'd just told her, it felt to her that there was something else going on, something that Sir Topham couldn't, or wouldn't, tell her, after all, surely someone in his position would either know or say it was none of anyone's business, wouldn't they? The idea of things being kept from the people who ran the railways seemed absurd to her, and whether or not it was because of something like the confidentiality clause she'd not long ago signed that affected him, she didn't know. And then there were these 'time-snags', as Sir Topham called them. That was just mad! What she did know was that although she was becoming more and more accepting of her new situation, as unprepared for that as she was, all it did was to add more to the fear and confusion that she was already feeling.
She was frightened of her growing acquiescence to the degree of servitude to Sir Topham that she was developing, confused over her desire to help him resolve the crisis that had befallen upon the Sodor railways, and also the increasing sense of dislocation from her own wants and needs that were fading away like a cloud on a hot day. She found herself wondering if she should start panicking at her impending loss of independence and free will, but then memory of Sir Topham telling her that she would find herself fascinated and enthralled by the magic of the railways and that all would be well began to reassure and soothe her. She was sure though that she'd just been daydreaming about something sad, but for the life of her couldn't remember anything about it except that it was something to do with tunnels. Never mind, she thought to herself, It couldn't have been important, but, yes, she then decided, she would do whatever had to be done and be really useful to the portly gentleman.
Sir Topham had a lot on his mind. What with Lady's magic failing, I MUST go and see as soon as possible, the engines and wagons transforming into human beings, What caused that? and an obscure translation offering a possible solution, he had a lot of things to sort out. Not only that, but he'd had to deal with the unplanned intrusion from the young woman standing next to him. Thankfully, he'd managed to resolve that particular problem without too much difficulty, but it was the fate of the sentient trains that was the most important thing on his mind right then. What he'd learned so far from reading his father's letters had worried him deeply, especially the part where his father had written that as a result of the creation of this pseudo-sentience, 'the genie was now out of the bottle, and it can't be put back in!'.
Sir Topham had always been emotionally attached to the engines, especially the steamies that he'd first talked to as a child and then later again, as a young man to the diesels, but now, it was quite worrisome, and he wondered how long it would be before the island's newest 'residents' started to feel magical 'backlash' in whatever strange form it might take. He assumed they were going to suffer in one way or another, but wasn't really sure in what form that would be. He hoped that when, not if, it came, it wouldn't drive them mad or insane. He didn't think he would be able to cope with that, not now, not with him knowing what it was that his father was hinting at in his letters.
"Take my arm, Jeanie," he said, "and just relax..."
"You can open your eyes now," Jeanie heard Sir Topham say as she shook herself together to drive away the dizzying effects of the whirlwind ride she'd just taken. Although it was the same feeling she'd experienced when she'd touched Sir Topham at the hospital and travelled to Hatt Hall, it didn't mean that it was any easier on her.
Blinking her eyes, Jeanie looked around to find herself in a small office lined with folders and boxes on shelves that lined the walls, a large, round clock next to a closed doorway, a couple of filing cabinets and a rather luxurious office desk, behind which was a quite comfy-looking leather chair. On the desk were what one would normally expect to see, a blotter pad, pens and pencils standing upright in their plastic containers, various sheets of papers, timetables and forms, and a rather ordinary-looking telephone. The journey there had taken about two seconds, two seconds that had made her feel as though she was on both a merry-go-round and a roller-coaster at the same time, as well being stretched like an elastic band all the way from Hatt Hall, wherever it was, all the way to where she was standing right now before snapping back into place, surprisingly, without any pain.
"Where are we?" she asked Sir Topham.
"My office at Knapford Railway Station. Come, Jeanie, let me introduce you to Debra and some special friends of mine."
Sir Topham then led her into the main traffic office and Jeanie found herself in a rectangular room about twenty by fifteen feet in size. Both Sir Topham and her were standing behind an L-shaped counter with a swing-door at one end, beyond which was another desk where a petite, brown-haired woman dressed in a dark blue, two-piece suit and white shirt was sitting. The woman turned her head to look at her surprise visitors.
"Oh, Sir Topham, I didn't know you were back," she exclaimed, wondering how he'd entered his office without her seeing him. "If I'd known you-"
"It's all right, Debra, it's not a problem. I'd like to introduce you to Miss Jeanie Watkins. She'll be assisting me until further notice. Debra, Jeanie...Jeanie, Debra Harris, my secretary. Debra, I'm just taking Jeanie to the café to meet our new...'colleagues'. I'll be back soon, but I want you to prepare a full list of any messages and calls from any of the other station masters, and anything else that you consider relevant to this morning's events. Have you heard from Gordon, James or Thomas yet?"
"Nothing yet, Sir Topham. I hope they're all right, though Mr. Harrington from Crovan's Gate has called twice while you were out."
"I'll call him back when I have that list of calls from you," said Sir Topham, pushing open the swing-door at the end of the counter and holding it open for her. "If Thomas and the others were having any problems then I'm pretty sure they would have phoned by now. Come, Jeanie, let's go and meet some of your fellow workers."
"Thank you," said Jeanie, "but I'm a bit nervous of talking to them, though."
"They won't bite you," chuckled Sir Topham. "In fact, they'll probably be slightly in awe of you."
Jeanie gulped. Just who were these 'transformed' engines? How was she supposed to address them? What could she say to them? Would they understand her? Where they all as batty as Toby appeared to be, or were they like robots she'd seen in films on the telly? With a growing sense of nervous anticipation, she followed Sir Topham along the platform, trying not to catch the eye of the many colourfully-garbed people either milling about in groups on the platform or sitting together on the benches as they noticed Sir Topham and an unfamiliar woman walking through them. Suddenly, Jeanie found herself being ushered by Sir Topham into what was obviously the station café. The hubbub of loud conversation stopped and she stood in the doorway, feeling her heart pounding in her chest as the roomful of colourfully-dressed, grey-faced former engines noticed her and Sir Topham's arrival.
ooOOoo
