A Dawn at Dusk
Crovan's Gate – Terminus of the Skarloey Railway
Early 1916 – Exact Date Unown
A whistle cut sharply through the early evening air, followed quickly by a heavy, exhausted cheer from the gathered workers. Tools were dropped where the men stood, and they quickly moved into line and began the slow walk to the waiting buses, a mournful march like a funeral procession. The sky was clear, the setting sun throwing beautiful shades of rusted amber into the air, but the way the men moved you'd think a storm was coming.
Edward could not blame them. He had pulled into the station mere seconds before the whistle sounded, yet it had been long enough to soak up the atmosphere that seemed to hover around the island. The railway construction was taking longer than people had expected, and the work was taking its toll. Tunnels had to be dug, track had to be lain, viaducts had to be strengthened, and there were few able bodied men left to do it. These were men who had escaped the battlefield, yet the construction site could just as easily prove the death of them.
"Do you mind if we leave you here tonight, Eddy? If we take you back to Vicarstown we'll probably miss the bus."
Edward looked at his driver standing on the platform and smiled. "That should be fine."
"Brilliant!" The boy clapped his hands in delight and ran back to the cab. A few seconds later Edward started rolling backwards, his trucks being dragged with him. The porter yelled out to his crew, and he had to jitter to a stop to allow him to be freed from the trucks.
Where do they keep finding these boys? Edward felt bad even thinking negatively about his crew, but his patience was running thin. He looked at the workers rushing to cross the tracks before he blocked their way, and beneath the dirt and sweat he saw a number of familiar faces. It seemed half the workers had served as his driver or fireman at some point, but none had lasted more than a week yet.
Edward sighed to himself as he trundled through the yard. He should have seen this coming. To his knowledge, he was the first engine of his size to run on the island, and no one here knew quite what to do with him. Those that did know he had left behind on the Furness Railway, and all the good stock on Sodor had been sent to the frontline.
Those who remained would learn in time, but as Edward's eyes scanned the men marching towards the buses, he wondered who would have the stamina. Overweight, underweight, crippled, unwell, too young and too old; these were the men left behind to build an entire rail network. It had probably seemed like a great challenge to them at first, the same way it had appealed to Edward when he heard about the burgeoning company looking to buy him, but the dream of working on a railway had quickly disappeared under the workload and the strain.
Edward knew how they felt. The blue engine knew he was not as modern or new as some engines being designed and built at this very moment, but he had thought there was still some mileage left in him. That was before he had had to race back and forth between construction sites all day carting trucks and workers wherever he went; a few months and he only felt worn out, and Edward doubted he would be of much use when the railway was finally done.
No wonder they wanted to sell me. They were probably relieved I was being taken out of their hands. Edward sighed at the thought, his sadness draining away the last of his energy. He longed for a good rest. He longed for quieter work. He longed for a driver that had time to learn his intricacies, or at least how to be careful. Was that all too much to ask?
Thankfully, they soon left the workers behind and disappeared into the sidings. There were trucks everywhere, but Edward juddered over a set of points and saw space beside Skarloey and Rheneas in their shed. "Evening! How were your –"
"Shush, the young one is sleeping."
Edward quickly fell silent as he eyes skirted around. There were so many trucks around, most still overflowing with earth, that he had not noticed a little tank engine tucked away at the far end of the train. As Edward came to a stop, he could see the engine was fast asleep, little snores rattling through his whistle.
"My mistake," Edward whispered, smiling to his old friends. "I likely won't be much better company; I am about ready to pass out as well."
Skarloey sighed and rolled his eyes at Rheneas. "These young ones don't have much stamina anymore, do they?"
"No Skarloey, they don't build them like they used to," Rheneas said in agreement.
Edward was startled, but after a few moments his worn out mind finally caught up to the joke. The look of realisation on his face made the little engines laugh, and Edward managed to chuckle himself. He laughed all through his crew's final checks, and was still chortling when they leapt out of his cab.
"Bye!" He called out through his chuckles, and laughed harder when they didn't reply.
"Not getting any better than, are they?"
Edward looked at Skarloey and sighed, his humour fading away. "Unfortunately not. They try and very nearly achieve, but all the young ones are either too keen to head off to war or want to do something more hands on, and the old ones are too set in their ways to learn the delicacies of a new engine. They try to drive me like those coffee pots they've still got clanking about!"
"It takes time to learn," Skarloey murmured in agreement.
Rheneas snorted with laughter. "Of course you say that. I think Edward is a lot kinder on his crews than you were starting off."
Skarloey's face flushed as red as his paintwork. "That may be true, but at least the crew I had wanted to be there. We found our rhythm eventually. Maybe that's all you need, Edward."
"Perhaps," Edward murmured, smiling encouragingly even though he didn't feel it inside. Would he last long enough to find the right driver and fireman though? The perfect pair could be out there somewhere, but what of the railway, the war, his own wear and tear?
"Cheer up; you will probably be able to take our crew if this war carries on any longer," Rheneas grumbled.
"Traffic still slow?"
"So slow we might as well be going backwards," Rheneas said with an indignant snort.
Skarloey sighed in agreement. "We can carry on for now, but the manager is worried how much longer we can go before there is no money left for repairs."
"I am sorry to hear that," Edward said with a frown. "At least you will always have each other."
"Is that a good thing?" Rheneas said, eyeing his friend, and the three laughed again.
"The war's not really going to go on much longer, is it?"
The soft, quiet voice jolted the engines out of their humour. They had forgotten all about keeping quiet, and now found the tank engine watching them with wide shining eyes. Edward knew his name was Thomas, but despite working alongside him for several months, the two had barely spoken. They were both either too busy during the day or too tired at night the rare times they had ended up together, leaving little time to bond.
He was not sure what to make of the young engine, but right now, in the fading light of day, it was clear Thomas was frightened. His wide eyes shone out from the shadows, glowing with fear, and unless Edward was imagining it, the poor engine was quivering.
"No, of course not!" The tender engine said quickly. "From what I've overheard on the sites, the war might be over soon enough. There's nothing for you to worry about."
The fear did not disappear from his eyes, but Edward's words at least made Thomas smile. "I bloody well hope so. The war's gone on long enough. I mean, imagine if it reaches our shores; what are we meant to do then?"
"You two better get that railway built than before that happens," Rheneas said, eyebrows raised, and this time all four engines laughed.
"Do you think you will stay on Sodor when the railway has been built?" Edward asked.
"Oh, yes, hopefully," Thomas said with an excitable nod, suddenly awake and alert. "I like it here, more than the other places I've worked. It feels nicer… safer…" He trialled off, eyes widening again.
"You used to work around London, is that right?"
"Yes. There and then here. I prefer it here." Thomas spoke rapidly with a tone and look as if trying to convince Edward that was a fact. "I definitely don't want to leave any time soon."
"Really? That's surprising. I don't meet many young engines who want to stay in one place."
"Oh, well… I guess I'm not like other engines," Thomas said sheepishly, avoiding Edward's gaze. "Sodor seems like a safe, I mean, nice place to be. I'm happy being here. But, well…." Thomas paused and looked up at the darkening sky. "I guess eventually I'd like to see the world."
"You mean other countries?" Rheneas asked.
"I hope you don't think you can just head to any country you want willy-nilly. Not all countries can carry the same gauge as you," Skarloey said with a smirk, glancing knowingly at Rheneas.
"I'm sure he didn't mean that," Edward said with a slight glare at the older engines.
"Well, yes… maybe, I'm not sure," Thomas said, the words pouring out of his mouth. "I do want to see more. Different railways, different engines, different work. I don't want to be stuck in one place doing the same thing forever, or worse, doing nothing…"
"I know exactly what you mean," Edward said with an all too knowing smile.
"I have to get better though. Taking trucks back and forth is all well and good for now, but I want to be able to do everything," Thomas said, getting more animated. "That's all I have ever wanted, to be able to take the biggest trains there are in the whole wide –"
"Maybe take some smaller steps first," Edward interrupted, chuckling. "It's good to have goals, but you can't just go racing into everything head first. Things won't always work out perfectly even if you know what you are doing."
"You seem to have it sorted," Thomas said with a slight pout, but then he perked up again. "You can show me how to do it right!"
"I can?" Edward smirked and tried to avoid Skarloey and Rheneas' eyes. "I mean, I suppose I can show you a thing or two…."
"That would be incredible!" Thomas whistled sharply, making the trucks nearby jump in surprise. "Sorry!" He whispered back.
Yet his apology was drowned out by Edward, Skarloey and Rheneas laughing. Thomas looked stunned before he began to laugh too, and the four carried on like that for a long time, even as the trucks squawked at them to be quiet.
Maybe this is my future, Edward thought through the madness. My gears may fail me and my wheels may fall off some day, but I will always have my experience. If I can't follow the next generation down the tracks, I can at least teach them the skills their crews never can. With the happy thought imbued in his mind, Edward laughed with the rest of them, suddenly excited for what tomorrow might bring.
I wanted to get something out by the end of the year, and started writing the next chapter a week ago. This was to be the opening section, but realised as I neared the end it was a bit too long and unrelated to the core of the chapter to be a part of it. So enjoy this little interlude that looks at some of the story's key players before they all get swept up in the aftermath of the crash.