Let it be known that I don't own Erika, Edith, Daemon and Scarlett, Erika and Edith belong to The Raging Blue Flame, and Daemon and Scarlett belong to Darthmaul90


Nothing Like a Little Daylight to Warm Your Pistons (part 4) :

San Francisco, California, November 3, 1952:

Casey was excited, depressed, and embarrassed at the same time. On one hand he's finally seeing California, on another, it's his final run and as far as he knows he's going to be scrapped when he goes back to Atlanta, and then embarrassed because he hasn't had a strong cleaning at all since the trip began and so any Daylights he sees would probably laugh at him, or at the very least try to avoid him. He was truly relieved when he was told he was going to be washed once the trip was over. When he was pulled into the yards, his crew left to go eat somewhere and he sat in the spot virtually alone, minus the crews that were cleaning him carefully. About half way through however, someone was careless and shoved soap suds up Casey's nose. Now what they didn't know was that soot was stuck in his smoke box from the long journey, but before they could check...

"Ah-Ah-AH-ACHOOO!" Black smoke and soot flew from his smoke stack high up in the sky and fell right back on top of him, and the crew.

"Hooey, pardon me" The crew complained and and chewed him out. After that they gave him a very harsh rinsing, and then left him with only half of his exterior actually cleaned. To make matters more embarrassing, Casey looked over to find a rather annoyed looking GS-2 Daylight number 4412, she too was covered on her top with soot.

"I uh, I guess say'n "I'm sorry" ain't gonna cut it?" The Daylight glared her amber eyes at him quietly for several long seconds, before she signed.

"Yes, it is. I know you didn't mean to. But do be so kind as to not let it happen again please, it would be an awful sight if I was completely covered in soot." Her answer gave Casey a reason to sigh in relief, he had been holding his breath during the whole time she was glaring at him.

"Tell me, what's a Southern Railway engine doing all the way out here in California? Doesn't your line end in New Orleans?"

"Yes, but for some darn strange reason, here I am."

"Strange."

"Oh excuse me, where are my manners? I'm Casey."

"Edith." At that moment, Marcellus and Barry came back to a shock.

"What the Hell? They told us he'd be clean by now!" Marcellus roared.

"Yeah, what happened to those guys?" Barry asked.

"They made me sneeze soot all over them and Miss Edith here, by stuffing soap suds up my nose, they sprayed me harshly and then they left, complain'n somth'n awful."

"You see Barry? That's why we have to clean out Casey's smoke box when the day's done. Come on, let's go give that yard master a piece of our minds!" And without Barry say a word in reply he followed Marcellus out to the yard master's office. Edith's driver assessed the situation, by climbing on top of the cab.

"Well, most of the soot fell on anything that's black, so there isn't much cleaning to be done before her next train, we can finish her afterwards." And so they quickly got down to wipe off the little soot that was actually on her bright color hue paint and the top part of her face. Of course this left her with some of her makeup wiped off too. Luckily for Edith her crew always knew out to re-apply it.

"Again, I'm real sorry for that" Casey said to her. If he could, he could apologize a thousand times. Edith found this slightly up-lifting, poor guy, his unusually long trip left him in such a bad shape, yet, he still seemed to care more the well-being of others, must be the Southern Railway culture of his.

"I told you, don't fret about it." she replied. A couple of quiet moments went by, Casey wasn't sure what else to say, and Edith probably didn't have the time to strike up a good long conversation. His chance for one fell away when her whistled blew twice.

"Well Mr. Casey, I'm afraid I must be off, do take care of yourself." And she puffed away before he could reply.

"I will Edith, I will."

Sodor, 2013:

Erika was confused, by all this, what did it have to do with Casey having familiarity with her? She can remember Edith talking to her about him, yet something in her brain was screaming at her that she's met this engine before he was retired. She dared not to speak, she knew not what to say. But Gordon did.

"Excuse me Casey, I hate to interrupt, but what's this all got to do with Erika?"

"Be patient, I'm gett'n there, it's finally come back to me now" Casey laughed.

San Francisco:

After Marcellus and Barry got a new washing crew to come and clean Casey thoroughly, even his insides, he looked and felt like he did the first time he was fired up and steaming. And like then, his fire was burning fiercely, with so much steam his crew kept having to open the steam release valves. Now there was a deal made by Southern and Southern Pacific to have him help pull one Daylight train before going home with a freight train full of various materials. Casey was told before that he would be helping another engine but he wasn't sure who, all he knew was that the train he was pulling was on "track 3" to take a Coastal Daylight to Los Angeles. When he got there, he saw the coaches, but no engine, so he got himself turned around and he backed into the coaches, hoping people wouldn't notice. He was right, they were too busy talking to each other to take a gander at the completely out of place KS-1 class freight engine. The coaches did however.

"Who's this old piece of junk? Don't tell us that this is the engine that's supposed to help pull us! He doesn't even belong in our presence!"

Casey ignored them, sometimes the freight cars would laugh and be troublesome so he knew better than to talk back to the snooty coaches. Moments later, he saw a pair of EMD E-7 diesels with Daylight ivory roll up back-to-back and they were shocked at the sight of Casey.

"What is this? Why is there an old tea kettle on our line, touching our coaches!?" they shouted.

"Oh, great, just great, I'm stuck with a pair of nit-wit diesels." Casey groaned to himself.

"This is unacceptable! Disgraceful! I refuse to be near that pile of scrap metal!" the diesel in the back protested. Little did they know, the controller was standing on the platform to explain the situation to the diesels. Casey didn't reply, he just glared at them. The diesels became so angry that somehow both of them blew a fuse. Casey snickered to himself, it was the first time he's seen that, but it still didn't compete with how funny Joe's primer being exposed was. The controller was furious with the two diesels, he quickly sent for a switcher engine to take these two to the shop to have their fuses replaced. He then turned to Casey.

"While I don't doubt your strength Casey, I do doubt you know the route. I'll set up for you to meet and join Edith in San Jose, her train is set to go to San Diego, Los Angeles is just on the way. So that you guys get there early to prevent her train from being late, I'll make sure your route is straight and you have nothing but green signals!"

"Yes sir. Get in quickly please passengers!" Casey blew his whistle long and loud. The passengers first looked ahead with confusion, but when they saw a switcher diesel pull the Daylight E-7s away, it made sense now, so they quickly filled in. Soon enough the signal changed to green and as soon as it did the conductor signaled for the journey to begin. Casey, pulled out of the station in a cloud of steam, and truth be told, he was very nervous, he hadn't pulled a passenger train since the night that earned him his nickname, but he remembered one thing, he had to be extra careful, and smooth. Two things he wasn't particularly strong in. During the journey to San Diego, he had a few bumps here and there, mainly from the coaches being careless. There were many curves so Casey couldn't go as fast as he was hoping.

"Good, grief, how do them Daylight girls do it?" he asked himself. And then finally, a long straightaway came into view. Finally, he can go top speed now! Marcellus pulled the lever back, Barry threw more coal into the fire. Casey felt so strong he could push a fighting Big Boy backwards, he blew his whistle despite there being absolutely nothing in front of him. It was time for one more accomplishment in his long career. He could hear Marcellus calling out to him.

"Easy there Casey, we still have time!" But Casey didn't slow down until he could barely see the station in San Jose about three miles away. As the station came closer, Edith's train was now in view, along with a pair of switches. Marcellus brought the entire train to a halt just before them, while Barry let off steam.

"Hey, how are we go'n tell out train from Edith's?" Barry asked. Marcellus thought about it for a moment, how does one tell whose coaches from whose? He pulled out his neckerchief to wipe off his face when it hit him.

"Tie this to the pin of the first coach while I flip the switch. And tell the conductor to set the brakes." The two men set out to do their stuff, while Marcellus set the switch another man came to him, it was probably Edith's conductor.

"Are you guys the train from San Francisco?"

"Why yes, we are."

"Oh good, you're early, the passengers are getting restless. What do you suggest we do?"

"Well, my plan is to disconnect Casey from the train, let Edith back into it and have Casey join up with her for a doubleheader."

"Sounds good, I'll inform her crew right away, oh wait! Who leads?"

"I think Edith should, she knows the route."

"Okay, I'll go tell them!" As the man ran off Marcellus walked back to Casey to check the guages, to his surprise, he found that Casey needed a lot of water. He called to Barry and told him to uncouple the coaches and help guide Edith back so that he can take Casey to a water tower. And so he did, it took them a few minutes to get set up at the water tower and as he filled up he watched Edith struggle a bit to pull her train back to the platform.

"I hope you can keep up with her Casey."

"Watch me!"

The time it took to fill Casey up and get he and Edith positioned the way that was planned took a total of twenty minutes. Like Marcellus, Edith was also not so sure of how well Casey could keep up to her, but the decision has been made so she said nothing, she just had to remember that he was there. With restless passengers and careless coaches, they slowly pulled out of the station. The two engines were rather quiet for the majority of the trip, it gave Casey time to think about how wonderful would it be if Southern would just sell him to this railway, but the thought of being on the other side of the country from Cassidy, and Sarah, the joy turned to home sickness. About ten miles away from Los Angeles, Edith finally spoke up.

"So, how are you enjoying the Daylight run?"

"Oh, it's real nice and all, but, I'm kind of split. On one hand, I miss my sister and my girlfriend, who were sold to different railways a long time ago, on the other, when I go back, they'll retire me and most likely scrap me."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Edith knew just what it's like to lose someone you love, her sister Elena died in a wreck years ago. She started to cry at the thought of seeing her being taken to the scrap yard.

"Did, did I say someth'n to upset you?" Casey asked.

"No, I just know how you feel." And that was that, neither one of them talked again until they pulled into the Union Station of Los Angeles. They spent several minutes trying to sort out the train, and when they got done with that, Edith said "goodbye" and chugged out of the station to San Diego. Casey looked around, it was a lovely station, he could see plenty of hustle and bustle, and trains too, most of them were pulled by diesels, except for one on the other side of the platform. It was a GS-4 4-8-4 Daylight and her number was 4449. This one looked much younger than Edith and her eyes were blue too, she was gorgeous. She seemed to pay him little mind, her signal was red and her passengers were still dilly dallying to get inside the train. Casey cleared his throat so to speak and decided to try to strike up a conversation.

"Uh, afternoon ma'am." She looked over to him with not much interest.

"Hello."

"I'm Casey, I come from Southern Railway." His voice was a dead giveaway, it was so deep, he couldn't have meant Southern Pacific. This sparked a little interest in the Daylight, maybe he could help the time it's taking the passengers to board and the track to clear.

"I'm Erika, the Most Beautiful Steam Engine in the World."

"Very well then Erika, it's nice to meet you, I see there are a lot more steam engines around here."

"What do you mean? I thought Southern was a big railway."

"It is, but the problem is that they're try'n to go complete dieselation, I'm afraid I'm on my last run." This caught Erika's complete attention, the South is trying to advance itself faster than anyone? She was always told southern humans were stuck in the past, is his railway trying to prove the rest of the nation wrong?

"How quickly are they moving the diesels in?"

"Quicker than anyone, Marcellus done told me that they're expected to completely take over by next year." That piece of news was horrifying to Erika, she knew the diesels were moving in but not that fast. What's going to happen to the steamers of that railway? Would the South preserve them for museums, or just scrap all of them?

"Why? Why do they think diesels are better than us?"

"I don't know Miss Erika, I don't know. But, keep your spirits up, you never know when people change their minds about someth'n." Erika smiled, but she still wasn't so sure about his claim. People may be unpredictable, but when they make an advancement, they hardly turn back. A little while later, Casey's train was switched for his freight train home, and Erika got the clearance to leave.

"See ya around Casey, it was nice meeting you!"

"So long Miss Erika, take care of yourself ya hear?" Casey smiled as she blew her whistle in acknowledgement through the horizon, but his smile soon faded, the reality was that now he's basically going all the way to the other side of the country, just to be retired and most likely scrapped. Why must life be so cruel sometimes? It's bad enough that his retire is just over the horizon, but now he knows that he's never going to see Cassidy, nor Scarlett. He can remember when the young lady first came to the line, she was so energetic and so full of life, and an absolute love for running The Tennessean. And then there's Sarah, the love of his life, he knows that she's probably heartbroken enough just being apart from him, but the thought that he could be scrapped will devastate her. Casey didn't want that to happen, but he had no choice but to face reality, and pray for a miracle.

His trip home was a long, quiet one, he managed to see Daemon about to leave for Memphis, but Casey never said "hello" to him, he didn't have the will power to do so. In Mississippi, he stopped at a signal and to his left, he saw the most depressing reminder of his fate. What he saw, in a junk yard was a very young but sadly totaled car being picked up by an orange crane to be crushed and made into something else. The car looked at him, and Casey could tell he was about to cry, poor guy, he never got a chance to truly enjoy life. As the car was crushed, Casey shivered on his wheels with the thought of soon that could very well be him to be crushed and then melted down.

Worthless, that's all I am, just, worthless

The thought swirled around his mind all the way back to Georgia, even at night when sleep was evidently trying to move in on him. Along the way, lots of diesels tried to make fun of him, but he didn't care anymore, he knew their time will come just as his has now. He dropped off his train in the yard and left, never to return again. His crew backed him into a single stall shed, cleaned and oiled him him thoroughly, said their goodbyes, and then the crew left him to their new assigned diesels. For three weeks, Casey sat there, alone, and untouched, until one day, the door was opened and in front of him, was a black, white and yellow switcher diesel number 2313. It was Wally, Wally was a kind and caring engine, he didn't have very many enemies because of this and he had taken a really strong admiration to Casey in particular. But his expression told Casey what was going on better than Wally could say it.

"It's time?"

"I'm afraid so."

Wally slowly hooked himself up to Casey and pulled him out of the shed to take to the scrap yard.

Sodor:

"Preposterous! If you were supposed to be scrapped, that what are you doing here in front of us?" came an all to familiar voice, it was Spencer, who had snuck in next to the sheds.

"Keep listen'n and you'll find out Mr. Silver Sandwich." Casey replied. If Spencer was going to interrupt at least say "excuse me" first.

Atlanta Georgia, December 7th, 1952:

The weather in North Georgia is known to be almost completely unpredictable, this day, it was an early snowfall that rose to be 6 inches deep. It was beautiful, but still very cold, the crews were out and about, doing their usual work, but some were mourning the losses of the attack on Pearl Harbor that happened eleven years ago as they did their work. The diesels, while respectful to their crews, cheered as they saw Wally taking Casey to his death. Casey paid them no mind, they will face the same fate when something that's better than them comes around. Wally could tell the pain he was going through and truth be told he didn't want the Alco to go, so he had a plan, a plan that only his own crew knew of and were willing to go through with it. When they got to the scrapyard, he looked around as his engineer jumped out. When he saw that nobody else was around, he spoke quietly.

"Psst, Casey."

"W-what?"

"Don't worry, I have a theory and a plan to save you." Casey wasn't sure but he "lent an ear" so to speak, he learned a long time ago that listening can very well be beneficiary.

"There's a small shed that's just big enough to fit you in, nobody goes there, I can hide you in there long enough for someone to come and save you."

"Why would anyone want to save me?"

"Well, I have a theory, humans have a thing for old stuff if it is old enough, they want to preserve it. My theory is that if we wait long enough, somebody is going to come here looking for an engine to rescue and restore, that's how I can save you." It was indeed an interesting idea, it was true too, humans do have a thing for preserving really old stuff if it's valuable. but there was a great big risk.

"What if we get caught?"

"We wont, like I said, nobody goes to that shed. It's worth a try." As crazy and dangerous as it sounded, Casey knew Wally was right, it was indeed worth a try, it might even just be the miracle he had been praying for.

"Alright, let's do it." And with that, Wally's engineer set the switches and Wally carefully backed Casey into an old, run down shed, no wonder nobody had gone in there for years. There were rats, spiders, and all kinds of problems in here, but it was better than the cutter's torch. After he was backed in, he watched and quietly said "thank you" to the little diesel that may have just saved his life as he backed himself away just far enough for his engineer to close the doors and lock them.