(Author's note: Okay, if you've been following my story thus far, you'd know it's mostly comedic and chill. This episode IS NOT. This is the infamous Flying Kipper crash, and if you know what that is, it's a little downplayed in the original story. I extended the whole situation and it got pretty dark. I'm sorry, this is probably another rating up, but it's well written and I hope you still enjoy it! ~HC712)
Chapter 14:
Henry the big, green engine was preparing for the Flying Kipper tonight. While the other engines got to return to their sheds and sleep, Henry would rush across the island one last time before returning home. Sometimes he even slept at Vicarstown.
The Flying Kipper, for reference, was a special train of Fish. The people of the Mainland had a great demand for Knapford Herring, a special and delicious type of fish exclusively found in Knapford Harbor. A special train was arranged every two weeks, and Henry was the exclusive escort of the legendary train. One merely called, "Knapford Fish train," Henry did it fast enough that he was mistaken for Gordon while painted blue, and the train gained a the loving title of "Flying Kipper", the kippers seeming to fly down the track behind Henry.
Henry was at Knapford Harbor now as the clock struck 11. The Kipper always ran at night. He pushed his last car into place and began to move to the head of the train. He laughed to himself slightly thinking of what Gordon would say. 'A tender engine? Shunting cars for themselves? Never!' but Henry did it every time, Gordon didn't have to know.
He coupled up to the train and waited. Snow began to fall, gently at first, but it got heavier. "Och." Owen sighed. "A pretty night again, eh Henry?" Owen Bailey, his driver, pulled himself into Henry's cab.
"You've always been a man of nature Owen." Henry laughed. "But you aren't wrong. Falling snow makes the sky light up, and it's indeed the prettiest sight on Sodor."
A guard's whistle blew, Henry responded with his own, and he pulled out, headed for Vicarstown in a puff of steam.
Henry and Owen always passed the time chatting. Owen had grown up as a nature lover, like Henry had said, and he often talked about what the island's ecosystem was going through. Pollutants in the Harbor and River Els, forests being chopped apart, the mines damaging the mountains, but he never complained too much. "Now Steam is much bet'a for th' island than Diesel!" He said. "Diesels may seem mor' effectiv' at firs', it's fa' betta for Hatt to keep th's island jus' as it is!"
"I fully agree!" Henry replied as they whooshed quickly through Wellsworth.
But down the line, there was trouble. Now, on a normal Kipper night, Henry would be the last train on the rails for the day. But not tonight. Tonight, Edward was at Kellsthorpe road, a station about 2 and a half miles from its namesake town, Kellsthorpe.
Edward was sitting, resting as his Driver, Sidney, sat in the brakevan with the guard, talking and drinking hot cocoa for a moment before they made their way down the former-SSR branchline to Kirk Ronan.
"The Kipper's due soon." Sidney Heaver remarked to his buddy.
"Who cares? This is good Cocoa!" The Guard laughed, possibly having spiked his own drink. Sidney laughed and pulled his buddy from the non-sentient brake van.
Edward was perfectly fine as he stood. Henry was perfectly fine coming down the line. What wasn't fine was the snow, and a slightly broken signal.
Henry should have been stopped just before Kellsthorpe Road, preventing him from coming near Edward. But heavy snow had pushed the signal down, making it appear Henry was clear to go through the Station. But he wasn't. Edward hadn't yet moved onto the branch line.
The crash was spectacular. Not in a good way. The smash of three freight cars as Henry collided at high speed, a smash of Henry's buffers, damage to his boiler, chassis, and even his already Asthmatic smoke box, and the derailment of both trains. Edward screamed, and moved quickly away from his cars. Henry fell sideways and his cab windows smashed and controls broke, and his Tender's connections snapped completely and rolled beside him. Henry skidded alongside the track and discovered that sentient engines can bleed, and it wasn't pretty. Every Kipper car broke in some form and the whole load was destroyed. Edward's three cars that were hit were destroyed, and while Sidney Heaver and the Guard had cleared the wreckage, but Owen was nowhere to be seen as Henry finally hit is resting spot.
Edward cursed and screamed, and moved to the next track over to back up. "HENRY!" He screamed. "GODRED CROVAN'S MOTHER WHAT-" Edward stopped and looked at the crash. "What- Henry? HENRY!"
Henry's face was bleeding, he was dented and twisted across his whole frame. Edward stared in shock. "OWEN!" Edward looked up Sidney and the Guard were now holding Henry's driver in their arms, shaking him. "OWEN!"
"Sidney!?" Edward shouted.
"Get the Breakdown Crane!" The guard shouted as the smoke and steam began to clear. "Get the Breakdown Crane! Get Hatt! Get a Doctor! Get my mother!" The guard then proceeded to absolutely breakdown, sobbing.
Edward couldn't hesitate, so he chuffed backwards, fast. Tender engines weren't supposed to run backwards, it was dangerous, because he could run over his own Tender. Now was not the time for him to care. He wasn't worried about himself, he was worried about Henry.
He charged down the empty line to Tidmouth, and slammed onto the turntable, screeching his whistle and waking the whole world, he didn't care. "Percy!" he shouted. "Percy!"
"Wh-what?!" Percy woke with a start. "It's too early, and Halloween is over, what'd you want?"
"Where's the Breakdown crane?!" Edward demanded. He was still backwards, his tender facing Percy.
"What?" James gasped.
"It's in Knapford yard." Percy stated. "Why? What's happened?"
"Is it Henry!?" Thomas exclaimed.
Edward shuddered, finally taking in the moment. "Henry may be dying, and Owen Bailey is probably dead." And he ran off the turntable to Knapford yard.
"WHAT?!" The remaining four engines screamed.
"I can't move without a fire!" Percy cried, desperately trying to get out of his shed. "Where's Ivo!? Where's Neil!? Where's Hatty!?"
"Gordon?" James said suddenly. Thomas and Percy looked at the westernmost shed where the express engine sat. He was in absolute shock. He hadn't spoken yet, and was now staring dumbfounded at the turntable where Edward had just been. "Gordon, are you alright?"
"What's going on out here!?" A man shouted from Tidmouth town. "You engines are causing an insane amount of noise!"
"I'm sorry sir, but-" Thomas blustered.
"No! You engines keep waking me up!" the man shouted again. "I'm trying to sleep, my children are asleep, and you engines keep freaking waking us up!"
"WELL I'M SORRY SIR!" Gordon suddenly screamed. "BUT HENRY IS APPARENTLY DYING AND OWEN BAILEY IS-, AND I'M KIND OF LOSING MY MIND!" The following silence was awful. Gordon was red faced from both screaming and near crying, and he slammed his tender enough to move forward to the edge of the turntable well. "Sir… If you have a phone, please call my driver and Sir Topham Hatt, and tell them we need them now."
The man returned to his house while Gordon breathed heavily, and James, Thomas and Percy sat in absolute shock.
Edward now had coupled up to the Breakdown crane and was attempting to get out of the yard. He found his track slightly blocked by Fred Pelhay the truck. "What's the mess today Edward?" Fred growled. "Waking me up like this deserves an explanation."
"Move. Your. Arse." Edward ordered. Fred didn't move. "MOVE!"
"Nope. You don't give me enough respect." Fred snapped.
Edward totally lost it. He rammed the truck off the rails and charged out of the yards, cursing the names of all trucks and declaring war on all trucks, while Fred responded with similar threats and curses on all trains.
Edward charged down the line, dragging the breakdown crane behind him. Edward was without a driver, and he had less control, but he couldn't stop, not with Henry and Owens lives on the line. But he had to. Between Maron and Cronk now, his fire died. "No, NO!" Edward shouted in anger. But without a driver to keep the fire burning, or to gauge his steam usage, Edward had over-consumed his coal, and now he was stuck on the main line, with only the breakdown crane to accompany him.
Back at Tidmouth, no one had spoken yet. Gordon was shuddering slightly still. Thomas opened his mouth to comfort the big engine, but the slam of a door back across the yard took his attention. The angry parent had returned, but now the engines could see who he really was.
"James, you ready?" The man called. He was wearing a driver's uniform from another railway, and he was holding a box of matches.
"What?!" James exclaimed. "What do you want with me!?"
"M'name's Ted." he declared. "I once worked on the Great Eastern Railway, driving a troublesome engine, but now I'm a signalman here." Ted hopped aboard James and began lighting his fire. "I drove a mixed-traffic engine there, so it's best if I take you. Can you go fast?"
"Excuse me sir?" Percy peeped. "If you want to go fast, Gordon is the express engine!"
"I can't drive a big engine like him, sorry mate." Ted sighed. James's fire roared to life, and Ted jumped out and moved the turntable into position. "I've called Hatt but that's the best I can do, and I doubt Edward can clean up Henry alone!"
"Go James!" Gordon shouted. "Please."
The bright red engine nodded and steamed across the turntable. Ted jumped aboard and James raced through Tidmouth, then Knapford, and charged onto the Main line.
"It'll be alright Gordon." Thomas finally said.
"No." Gordon sighed. "If Henry is damaged enough to send Edward into that state of panic, Owen couldn't have survived. Old Man Bailey always said this job would be the death of him… and he was right."
Gordon finally began to cry. Thomas and Percy were shocked. Gordon had never appeared to be feeling in the slightest. Alway better and more powerful, and proud of it, the tank engines couldn't breathe as Gordon wept.
Edward was crying too. Stuck on the mainline with no way to reach Henry in time, he knew Henry would die if left there for so long. He cursed himself under his breath and started to drift to sleep, when he heard a valiant whistle from behind. "James?" He whispered.
The splendid red engine hit the Breakdown train from behind and slammed forward, pushing Edward and the crane with incredible speed. "C'mon Edward!" James shouted heroically. "No sleeping on this job!"
"I've never been happier to hear your voice James!" Edward cried.
The train reached Kellsthorpe Road now. It was a messy sight still, but Henry was still alive. The same could not be said for Owen. As Edward and James set the breakdown train into position, Edward looked over the wreck.
Sidney Heaver was still cradling Owen's body. Sir Topham Hatt and Jeremiah Jobling stood beside Henry, looking over the damage to the great engine, and a good worker by the name of Jem Cole was ready as soon as the engines set the Crane into position, clearing the wreckage of the trucks swiftly.
Edward was pushed by James back onto a siding. Workmen were showing up to the crash site now, helping to clear what they could. Hatt walked over to his two engines. "Thank you for your work Tonight boys." He sighed. "Henry will survive, but we'll have to send him away to be repaired. Owen… is not so lucky."
"Sir, how did this happen!?" James cried.
"A faulty signal and this snow." Hatt sighed. "No one is to blame here." Topham suddenly looked up and into James's Cab. "Who's your driver?"
Ted stepped out of his cab. "Ted Brigham, sir." He stated. "The engines woke me up, I used to drive engines and when they told me what had happened, I did what I could."
"Well I thank you, Ted." Hatt nodded. "Now if you and James could return to Tidmouth, Edward and I will do what we can here." Ted nodded and James looked around sympathetically, but they drove off, back to Tidmouth together.
"Owen is dead?" Edward asked.
"He was thrown from Henry's cabin on impact, and he was too old to have survived the fall." Topham sighed. "Lord. It's been a long night." Hatt sat on Edward's buffer beam. "It's been a bad night."
Back at Tidmouth, Ted had left James back in the sheds to tell the engines of the accident. He'd, meanwhile, gone to find the other drivers of the NWR, not caring that it was 1 in the morning by the time he got to Charlie Sand, the last one.
"And that's how it looks." Ted finished the story, sitting in the Sand home, sipping a coffee Mrs. Sand had gotten for him.
"Wow…" Charlie sighed. "We always thought something like this could happen. Me, Owen and Sidney, that is. We were the only three drivers on Sodor for a while you know."
"Well, I'm afraid this is reality." Ted sighed.
"Then a toast is in order." Charlie declared, sitting upright more and holding his coffee high. "My father would always toast the death of his army friends, a tradition I suppose I'll carry on."
"To Owen."
"To Owen."
And with that, the two men drank, while across the island, other men hurried to rescue the fallen train.