The sun rose high and bright above the beach at Harwick. Its sands were void of any life as despite the clear sun, the air was sharp from the cold. Meredith was pulling her coaches along the line when she came across Daisy who was just coming from Harwick station. "Good morning, Daisy." Meredith said with a friendly whistle. "Are you getting along alright in the cold?"

"Absolutely not!" Daisy honked in return. "This cold weather is bad for my swerves."

"Are there any conditions that are good for your swerves?" Meredith asked, trying not to laugh at the snooty rail car.

"Yes, when I'm cozy in my shed." Daisy replied with a smile before she hummed away.

Meredith shook her boiler and puffed on down the line. She saw Donald coming towards her pulling a long goods train with Douglas coupled at the caboose. "Hello, boys!" She whistled.

"Hello there, Meredith." Donald replied with a smile.

"Is that Meredith I heard up there, Donnie?" Douglas called from the back of the train.

"Hey, Douglas!" Meredith called back as she came up to the end of their train. "I see you've been stuck at the back again."

"Aye," Douglas said with a huff. "My brother thinks he's too good to be my back engine."

"Nae true," Donald scowled. "I've been your back engine before."

"Yeah, a long time ago after I basically tricked you to do it." Douglas said with a smirk to Meredith.

Meredith laughed and Donald kept quiet. He was in no mood to argue with his silly brother. They had a delivery to make. "Try to get along, you two." Meredith giggled as she picked up more speed and continued down the line towards Knapford.

Knapford station was as busy as ever. Thomas waited patiently at platform two with Annie and Clarabel as their passengers slowly piled into the two coaches. Gordon had just pulled into platform one with the express when he let out a rather large yawn.

"Struggling to stay awake today?" Thomas liked teasing the big engine. Gordon was very easy to set off, which made him more vulnerable to Thomas's jokes.

Gordon rolled his eyes, but kept quiet. He learned quickly that the best way to avoid Thomas's antics was to ignore him all-together, but the little engine persisted. "Can't hear today either?"

"I'm not in the mood for your jibes, Thomas." Gordon hissed. "Please leave me alone."

Thomas groaned. "You're no fun anymore- oh! Hello, Meredith!"

The little white tank engine was backing into platform three beside Thomas. She returned his smile. "Hi, Thomas. It's been a minute since I've seen you. How's things?"

"Eh, can't complain." Thomas shrugged his boiler. "These winter holiday makers sure keep things busy."

"Not for me," Meredith said. "Being along the coast the people want to stay far from the chilly sea air."

"Is that why you're running passengers from Knapford?" Annie piped up.

Meredith nodded. She had noticed Gordon, but she could tell he was in a particularly foul mood so she didn't want to bother him. "Sir Topham Hatt wants me to help along the main line for a bit until the Christmas season is in full swing."

"Great," James scoffed as he pulled in beside Meredith. He was also pulling coaches. Ones that matched his brilliant red livery. "Another engine to take the people's attention away from me."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I don't want their attention, James."

"But you're going to get it," James whined. "Why couldn't Sir Topham Hatt have you painted blue like Thomas and Gordon."

"What's wrong with blue?" Gordon finally spoke up, and raised his eyebrows at James's underhanded insult.

"There's nothing wrong with it, it's just so plain." James said matter-of-factly. "Not as splendid as red."

"Yes, but even if she was blue, Meredith is still a very beautiful engine." Clarabel chimed in. Annie agreed with her sister.

"Indeed, she has such a lovely face as well." Annie added.

Meredith's cheeks grew hot, as did James's. He stuttered but couldn't find the words for a retort.

Thomas giggled as his guard blew his whistle. "They're right, James. You may be bright red, but Meredith is just all around lovely." The tank engine puffed away. James was now fuming, which made Gordon smile.

Meredith's eyes grew wide. She had never seen Gordon's smile before. It lit up his whole face in such a wonderful way. He noticed her staring and his frown returned. "What?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you have a nice smile, Gordon?" Meredith said as she puffed forward. Her passengers had boarded and the whistle was blown.

"N- no," Gordon stammered, he looked away from Meredith, fighting the heat he could feel accumulating in his cheeks.

"Well you do." Meredith beamed. "You have one of the best smiles I've seen."

Gordon watched her chug away and he could no longer fight his steam build up in his face. His cheeks grew bright and he smiled again. James watched this and groaned as he himself sped off with his passengers.

Meredith had stopped at Wellsworth to pick up more passengers on her way to Vicarstown. She was humming quietly to herself when she heard Duck's whistle as he was puffing towards her. "Well hello there, Monty." She teased.

Duck stopped and scrunched his nose. "Monty?"

"Just trying to mix it up since you call me 'Mer'." Meredith giggled. Ever since their heart-to-heart Duck and Meredith had grown closer. She admired his work ethic that caused most engines to groan in annoyance, she also enjoyed listening to his stories from when he worked on the Great Western Railway. It was no question that Meredith considered Duck her best friend.

Duck shook his boiler. "I'd prefer you stick to Duck if it's all the same to you."

"You're no fun." Meredith pouted, making Duck blush. He wouldn't say it, but he thought her pout was extremely adorable.

"It's not my job to be fun, Mer." Duck said as he started up again. "It's my job to keep you busy."

Meredith huffed as she watched Duck steam away. Her guard blew his whistle and she continued along her route. She kept to herself the rest of the way to Vicarstown until she pulled into the station and saw Flying Scotsman having a rest on the platform beside hers.

"Must be nice to get to sleep on the job." Meredith teased as she came to a gentle stop beside the big engine.

Scotsman slowly opened only one eye to peek at Meredith. "If you had to travel as far as I did you would be napping whenever you could."

"How can you be so sure about that, hmm?" Meredith said with a playful smile.

Scotsman yawned, then opened both of his eyes. "First of all, you're a tank engine. You're not even designed to go long distances, little Meredith."

Meredith groaned. "I could if I wanted to."

"Oh ho, dear." Scotsman chuckled. "There aren't near as many coal hoppers and water towers along the lines of the mainland. You'd run out of steam before you reached my first express stop. That's why I have to have two tenders."

The little white tank engine glanced to Scotsman's tenders, one was for coal, the other was entirely water. She pouted. "Maybe if I had a tender of my own."

Scotsman shook his boiler. "You're a stubborn little engine."

Meredith grinned as she pulled out of the platform. "Why thank you."

Meredith had dropped her coaches at Knapford and was on her way to pick up a special from Brendam Docks when she came across Duck once more. He was humming quietly to himself as he pulled a goods train from Tidmouth. Meredith gave a quick whistle in greeting which Duck returned promptly with a warm smile. "Where to now, Mer?"

"Brendam Docks!" She responded cheerfully. "I've never been."

"Oh, well try not to spend too much time sightseeing. There's another goods train at Tidmouth that I need you to take this evening before your last passenger run." Duck said sternly.

Meredith sighed. "Yes, Duck. I'll be quick." She puffed away eagerly and Duck chuckled to himself as he continued down his line.

Brendam Docks was always bustling, and that chilly afternoon was no different. Salty and Porter were busy shunting Meredith's train when the little white tank engine steamed in with wide eyes. "Oh wow! This place is huge!"

"Aye! Ye must be Meredith." Salty said as he backed down the track to gather the last goods car. "I'm Salty and that there's Porter." He gestured with his stripped buffers to a tank engine with a wide saddle tank, three domes, and a dimpled chin.

Porter smiled. "Hi there!"

Meredith noticed his accent was similar to hers. "Oh! Hello. You sound like me."

"Aye," Salty said as he moved onto another siding of cars. "He's an American build like you, little lass."

"Most of the engines here were built on the mainland." Another gruff voice chimed in and Meredith looked all around, but she couldn't see another engine. "Up here."

Meredith stretched up on her pistons and saw a large crane staring down at her. "Hello there- uhh-" she paused and saw 'Cranky' written across his cab. "Cranky!"

"I didn't know Sir Topham Hatt had brought in another engine." Cranky said as he turned with a low creak towards an incoming ship. "How wonderful." He grumbled to himself as he went about his work.

"Don't mind him, Meredith." Salty said with a kind, toothy smile. "He's a good crane at heart, just hard as nails on the outside."

Meredith grinned sheepishly as she backed into her cars so she could be coupled up. She was given the signal to go ahead and she started up with a peppy whistle, but was suddenly cut off by a cloud of heavy exhaust. "Hey!" She coughed and sputtered as the smoke cleared and she was met with a sneering grin. "Uhh… hi?"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't another little steamie." A raspy, pitched voice scoffed. The voice belonged to an entirely black diesel shunter engine with a smug visage and narrow, pointed nose. "I heard Sir Topham Hatt had brought in another engine. Shame it wasn't another diesel like me."

Meredith's cheeks flushed and she furrowed her brow. "What's wrong with being a steam engine?"

"You're so outdated, it's only a matter of time before you're all scrapped and diesels like me take your place." The diesel said with another puff of exhaust.

"Don't you have somewhere to be, Diesel." Cranky groaned as he lowered a pallet of crates onto an empty flatbed.

"You're a diesel named… Diesel?" Meredith raised her eyebrows.

Diesel's smirk disappeared and he scowled. "Ugh, like your name is any better."

"Well my name isn't 'Steam'," the little tank engine teased. "It's Meredith."

Diesel felt embarrassed, he drove away, mumbling angrily to himself as he disappeared around the bend.

Meredith giggled. She was finally starting to enjoy herself and her work, but there was still a strange emptiness in her boiler that she couldn't shake no matter how hard she tried.

Evening, all! Just another little note to pop in and say thanks for taking a look! I wanted to kinda just depict a normal day for Meredith before getting into the nitty-gritty or what have you so I appreciate the patience towards the slow start. Other than that, thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review and to favorite and follow!

Much love!

- Bumble