A man stood on the bridge of the USS Texas, the first school-ship of the United States, as the land came closer and closer into view. He wore a dark blue frock coat, beneath which the school's uniform he wore and a naval officer's cap adorned his head. He was Master of the Texas. At least for another few minutes anyways.

In a few short minutes, he would walk down the gangplank one last time to his dismay. Normally, students would only walk down the gangplank on graduation night and to assist in resupplies. Today was very different from either of those occasions. He had been told that being an exchange student was "A tremendous honor" that was only bestowed to the most excellent of students.

The officer snorted, tremendous honor his ass. He was being forced out of a position that he excelled at to make way for some kid to take the reins who, he feared, would run "The Grand Experiment" as the Texas School-Ship was called into the ground.

A quiet cough from behind him brought him out of his ruminations. Turning to face the noise, he was greeted by the sight of his First Officer standing near the door. "Captain Perkins?"

The Captain softened his expression, "Joseph, you are permitted to use my name you know. I will no longer be your SO."

Joseph's face pinched before smoothing out, "Sorry Scott, habits die hard I guess." he murmured before joining Scott at the bridge window, "Everyone is assembled outside of the necessary crew." he quietly mentioned.

Scott shut his eyes for a time before nodding. "It says much for the discipline of the students that we made it here without delay." he remarked before clasping Joseph's shoulder, "I'll miss this."

Joseph nodded solemnly, "I think we all will Scott."

Turning to the door, Scott looked to the bridge crew, passing each of their stations and personally saying goodbye and issuing his final orders. "Ensure that my words are heard throughout the ship, Alexia."

Alexia, the Communications Officer of the Texas, and Scott's little sister nodded. "Stay safe brother," she said, the family's Irish heritage bleeding through her words.

Scott nodded, knowing full well that he couldn't guarantee it, but not wanting her to worry, and left the bridge. Even his slow pace did not delay the inevitable for long as he soon found himself in front of his soon-to-be former classmates.

It had been expected of him that he would give a farewell speech, even if the normal crowd was absent due to the fact that it wasn't graduation night. "Students of the Texas!" he called out, ensuring that everyone would hear him. "I have come to say… Goodbye! We all have been on an incredible journey together, one that I am honored to have shared with you!" He said, tears forming in the eyes of most of the audience. Scott was a beloved member of the student population since his first days as a freshman Captain and the majority of the students loved having him. He continued, "Know this! The bonds we've forged over these few years are strong as can be. I look forward to hearing about your graduations in the coming years. Our paths diverge here, but you will always be in my heart and my prayers. And though I love you all, I cannot embrace you all!"

With that, Scott turned to the land as the gangplank was lowered and grabbed his travel bag. Turning back to offer a wave to the crowd, he was stunned to hear them spontaneously break into a chorus of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and wave back to him.

Turning away to walk down the plank, Scott let the tears pour down his face. Free of the trappings of the position, he no longer felt the yoke of being watched at all times. By the time he reached the berth of his new ship, the tears had stopped and he found a comfortable-looking bench and awaited his new home for a year.

It didn't take long before the ship came into port and looking up at it, Scott's eyes shot into his hairline, "I thought Texas was a big ship, this is ridiculous!" he muttered.

Scott looked from side to side, the morning sun completely hidden behind the ship. He had seen trains in America shorter than that thing, and those things could go on for miles. Watching the gangplanks deploy, Scott heaved his travel bag over his shoulder and traversed the distance to board Ark Royal.

On his boarding he was greeted by a rather unusual sight, "A railway station?" he muttered.

"It's one of our points of pride, along with our Sensha-dō team." A girl beside him replied before looking over to him, "Did you not have a railway on your previous school ship?"

Scott raised an eyebrow, "The Battleship in the harbour was my old ship, hardly big enough for such a thing." he replied.

The girl nodded, "I take it you're the new exchange student then?" she asked, receiving a nod in reply, "Perfect, my name is Lily and I'll be your guide for the day."

Scott inclined his head, "Pleasure, ma'am."

Lily smirked, "We'll want to catch the train to get to the dorms, we're a little over twenty kilometres from them and that's hardly an acceptable distance for us to walk in any sort of time."

Scott nodded, eager to see what sort of railway was onboard. "What sort of fuel do you use?" he asked, "I'm quite interested in trains."

Lily hummed in thought, "Then you'll be quite pleased to know that St Gloriana has a program that sees you working on the Railway. I'll send an information booklet to your dorm and it should be there when we get there." she replied, tapping a few buttons on her phone.

Scott smiled for possibly the first time that day, but before he could vocalize his appreciation, a loud whistle sounded and a distinct bark of chuffing could be heard. Following Lily, Scott quickly discovered that the line was a Narrow Gauge line, using two foot three-inch wide tracks. Then he saw the engine on the line, "You got a replica of Talyllyn running your trains?" he asked.

Lily raised an eyebrow "I take it you know of the Talyllyn Railway in Wales then?"

Scott nodded as they entered one of the compartments and the train set off. "Whenever my family went on holiday in Britain we often went to the Talyllyn because it was an easy way to keep me entertained." he replied before setting his bag on the floor, "The Grand Old Lady, Dolgoch, was my favourite engine on the line."

Lily nodded and watched Scott take in the sights in wonder. She knew that using a repurposed Battleship from WWII was something completely different to the modern school ships that the Japanese government would give its schools and was quite amused by his expressions the whole way.

After they disembarked from the train, Lily led him towards the block of dorms that would be used by foreign exchange students, which weirdly Scott was the only one for the time being. After he laid his bag down for unpacking later, Scott sat at the dining room table with Lily where she began explaining things, "So, of the programs available to you, there are the General Studies, the Naval Studies and the Transit Studies. The first one being an average student's life like on the mainland, the second where you'd have an eight-hour shift running the ship then eight hours of school and then eight hours of rest." she began, "The Transit Studies program is similar, but instead of running the ship, you'd be operating one of the two railways on the ship, either the freight line servicing the ship's services or the general line that the students and families would use."

Scott thought for a moment, Naval Studies would have been the most familiar to him what with his service on Texas. However, the familiar was boring to him and there was something he wanted to do, "I think I'll do Transit."

Lily nodded and pulled out the booklet, "The passenger line needs another member so I'll speak with the relevant officials to get you assigned there." she replied before looking at her files, "Your official schedule will come in the morning, however, I suspect that you'll be assigned to the Afternoon shift, meaning you're in school at the same time as the General Studies students and your work shift will end about midnight."

Scott raised an eyebrow, "Is there even any traffic that late at night?"

Lily frowned, "You'd be surprised…" she muttered, "I've heard that the trains run 22 hours a day with Mondays being the day where one of them gets maintenance, switching off every week."

Scott frowned, "Sounds like they need another engine." he muttered.

Lily nodded but said nothing as she made notes. Eventually, she stood up, "I have all I need, one last thing though." she said, "Many of the girls here are part of what's called "The Tea Garden" and as such we have tea-based names, mine is Orange Pekoe for instance."

Scott nodded, "I see." he remarked, "Thank you for getting me here, class starts in two days?"

Orange Pekoe nodded and took her leave, leaving Scott to unpack.

It didn't take long for Pekoe to arrive at Darjeeling's office after submitting the paperwork to get Scott into the system. She even picked up her sketching pad from her locker and was sketching to pass some time.

Rosehip looked over her shoulder, "Who's that?" she asked.

Pekoe opened her eyes fully, having been nodding off a bit. "I'm not sure…" she replied.

Darjeeling looked at the sketch in question and pulled a picture from the stack of papers on her desk, "Looks like him to me." she remarked, laying the picture on the table.

To Orange Pekoe's surprise and horror, it was a picture of Scott Perkins in a rather dashing uniform, looking very attractive and she had, unknowingly, copied the picture.

Rosehip, for her part, saw an opportunity to further embarrass her lifelong friend, "Looks like someone's crushing!" she sang.

Orange Pekoe was quickly becoming red-faced as she was mortified by her friends. Even Assam, who normally didn't tease, was getting involved, "Aw, should I order my dress for your wedding?"

Eventually, Orange Pekoe decided to end it and exploited a pause in the teasing, "So there was once this one time, back when Samantha and I were in the Sixth grade…"

This shut Rosehip right up for she knew that if Pekoe was dropping her birth name, she really wanted Rosehip to stop. And she really didn't want that secret out just yet. Darjeeling, seeing what Pekoe was doing, turned to Assam, "Assam, play nicely with our kouhai."

Giving a grateful look to her elder, Pekoe noticed the twinkle in her eye and knew that it was only a temporary stay of execution, and Darjeeling had the habit of being able to pull out a lot of information from very little. However, before Pekoe could ponder the matter, Darjeeling spoke up, "So how did our exchange student settle?" she asked.

Pekoe frowned, "Well enough, though it is unusual to have only the one. He's in the Transit Studies program."

Darjeeling nodded, "I saw, I've assigned him to the afternoon shift since they need it the most."

Assam thought for a moment, "First time an American will have been exchanged to us, at least since we've been here. Seems odd."

Darjeeling nodded, "He'll be the first exchange student since our first year too."

Assam nodded, "I remember hearing that two of them are returning to the ship, taking over the Passenger Line if I remember correctly."

Darjeeling flushed slightly, knowing exactly who she was talking about. "Yes. Joshua and Foster Hall are returning tomorrow."

They talked for a while longer about the future before they parted ways for the night and made their ways to their dorms and their beds for a restful night's sleep. Though Pekoe's dreams were filled with the brown hair and sea shade eyes of Scott Perkins.

The following morning, Scott woke from his rather restful night's rest, having possibly been the first full night of sleep he'd gotten since arriving on the Texas. Dressing in his old uniform and greatcoat, he looked at his naval officer's cap before finally putting it on his head.

When he reached the mailbox attached to the dorm, he checked and found that his schedule had arrived and was as Lily had suspected with him being on the afternoon shift. Included were also directions on where the engine sheds were and a request for him to make an appearance before his shift the next day to be acquainted with his fellows. Deciding to oblige as soon as possible, Scott walked to the engine sheds as quickly as he could.

Reaching the engine sheds in good order, Scott was surprised at the level of activity for the hour, especially since he had been under the impression that both engines were out working. Instead of the quiet shed, it was bustling with activity as fellow students rushed about working on an engine that had been taken down to its frames. Or perhaps taken up to its frames, Scott mused. One of the worker students noticed him and walked over, "Hello there, what brings you to The Sheds?" he asked.

Scott shook the offered hand, "Scott Perkins, I'll be starting tomorrow on the afternoon shift."

The student's eyes lit up, "Brilliant!" he exclaimed, "Works crew had been short-handed ever since we started work on the Number Three. You'll be welcomed with no small amount of relief I think." he remarked. "Oh, where are my manners. John Snow, head of the morning shift of The Shed."

"Pleasure Mister Snow." Scott replied before looking at the frames, "I was under the impression that there were only two engines on the line."

John sighed, "There are, but with the traffic, we desperately needed more engines so the new management gave orders for four new engines." John then pinched the bridge of his nose, "The Little England was easy, just had to upscale just slightly, but I can't even find the other classes."

Scott raised an eyebrow and brought out his tablet, "What classes are you looking for?"

John sighed, "A 'Hall' a 'Castle' and a 'King' if you think you can find them."

Scott's eyebrows shot into his hairline, "Standard Gauge…" he muttered before tapping his tablet several times. "Do you have a printer around here?" he asked.

John nodded, "We do, in the main office." he replied before looking hopeful, "Did you find one of them?"

Scott nodded, "I found all three in the archives."

John sighed in relief, "In that case, let me lead you to the office." he said before looking thoughtful, "What archives did you look in? We looked at all the Narrow Gauge manufacturers and didn't find them."

Scott slowly nodded, "That was your problem then." he murmured, "They are Great Western Railway engines that worked on the standard gauge network. I can only assume that management wants them scaled down to fit on the track."

John huffed, "That shouldn't be too hard, but what archives?"

Scott waved his hand in a dismissive manner, "The Great Western Preservation Society and the British National Collection. They give unrestricted access to their members and I am a member of both."

They reached the office soon thereafter and, after explaining to the office staff the break they had, printed out the three documents. It was then that one of them pointed at the picture of the Hall, "Shouldn't that be red?"

Scott raised an eyebrow, "Only if you want the Hogwarts Express, otherwise, they were green. Though when British Railways took over, a King was in blue for a time."

Another person spoke up, "I thought the engine on the Hogwarts Express was called 'Hogwarts Castle'?"

Scott sighed, "It's the Hall that thinks it's a Castle. Why Warner Brothers couldn't be arsed to use a Castle when there were plenty available, I have no idea."

Someone in the back snorted, "Lazy bums probably chose the first one that looked good enough that passed their view."

Scott merely grunted in reply, it was clear where he fell on the issue. Just then, two blokes entered the office. "Hello all!" the taller of the two called out, "I'm Joshua Hall and this is my brother Foster, we're your new management."

Before introductions could begin, another person entered the room at a run. "John!" She shouted, "The Number One is a Runaway! She approaching danger levels and there are passengers aboard!"

Before John could reply, Scott spoke up, "Is the Number Two ahead or behind the One? Can she divert her passengers to be light engine?"

The girl nodded, "Ahead and yes. Why?"

Scott rushed out of the office, "Get a volunteer crew to run the Two in front of the One, have them get as close as safe and I'll jump aboard."

If anyone had any concerns about the plan or the fact that the newbie was the one giving the orders, they didn't vocalize them. Instead, the Number Two engine, a perfect replica of Dolgoch from the Talyllyn Railway, made its way onto the line with Scott standing on its rear buffer beam.

It didn't take long for the Number One to catch up, nor long for Scott to clamber onto the engine itself. The trick was going to be getting into the cab without falling. The running board wasn't going to be a problem, it was thick enough to put his feet on as he shimmed across. It was the coal bunker that would be a problem. Since there was six foot of no place to put a foot, there was only one thing for it. He had to jump. Taking a breath, and ignoring the heads of passengers sticking out of the carriages, he reached for the cab, gripped the wall, and flung himself out while pulling with his arms. It was good fortune that he was light and strong as he quickly set his feet in the cab and threw the water injector open while shutting the regulator and gently applying the brakes.

Checking his speed, he saw a station not too far away and regulated it so that he pulled into the station gently before sinking to the floor. He was completely drained from the adrenalin rush leaving him. He idly noted that the water glass was nearly back to a quarter filled. "Well…" he murmured, "Least we averted an explosion…"

A female voice drew his attention, "PARDON? What do you mean an explosion?" she screeched.

Scott looked over at the blond girl, "When there isn't a lot of water in the boiler of a steam engine, it sloshes around in the tubes. This generally leaves the firebox uncovered in terms of water coverage and leads it to heat rapidly. If sufficient water then is over the firebox it will then rapidly cool the firebox yes, but also rapidly become steam, leading to a rapid and sharp increase to the boiler pressure. The result of which is an explosion as it will seek any means of equalizing."

The blond girl looked ill at ease, "How bad would it have been?"

Scott frowned and looked at the various gauges before turning back to her, "Every passenger would be dead, that much I can assure you." he finally replied before rubbing his chin, "Beyond that? Probably a further forty meters would be the kill zone while everyone beyond that would probably be injured in some way."

Looking green around the gills, the girl found a seat while the Number Two backed down and coupled up to the Number One. A few words were exchanged between the crew and Scott before Scott nodded and walked into the station.

"Hard to believe that was the newbie, isn't it?" a male voice remarked, startling the blond girl.

"Joshua! Don't do that!" she yelped, slogging his arm.

Joshua Hall chuckled, he had run to a car and followed the line until he got to the station and saw the train in the platform, "It's good to see you too Darjeeling."

Darjeeling fought a blush as she leaned into him, "An explosion…" she whispered.

Joshua nodded, "Likely a large one based on what the blueprints suggested." he replied. Not hearing her reply, he looked at her, "You okay?" he murmured.

"Yeah." she replied quietly before intertwining her hand in his, "He shouldn't be wasted on the Works Crew."

Joshua rubbed his goatee, "Agreed, and I think some positions just opened up." he replied.

Darjeeling smiled, letting her eyes shut slightly, "I'm still undecided about the beard."

Joshua chuckled, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend. He would deal with the railway in a moment, but for now, he would relax with the one person he missed the most since leaving St Gloriana years ago.

After a long hiatus, I finally post something once again. The past few months have been hard on me. My grandfather's health deteriorated and he passed away about a month ago so I wasn't really motivated to continue any of my current stories, though I will return to them eventually, I just need to get back into the swing of things and into the muse of writing them. But, with things looking on the up and up for me and I hope to return in full to my usual writing speed.

I have a Discord server that I normally plug in the first chapter of a new fic (invite code: BSdFMH3). Feel free to join if you want to offer your point of view in my view and others so long as you are respectful to the author of the fic and the other residents of the server.

Until next time.