A/N: Ok, so I was looking at Sir Haydn's page on the TTTE Wiki- it was implied in Christopher Awdry's book, "Hugh Goes Sliding" that Sir Haydn was originally named Hugh, and Edward Thomas (Peter Sam's Talyllyn counterpart) was originally named Kerr- after their designers, before they came to the Talyllyn Railway, where they got their current names.

So, any mention to either of these two will be by those names until the Corris Railway and the MSR close.

Enjoy!

P.S. A bit of historical German bashing ahead, so I'm sorry if it comes across as offensive! It's merely to replicate the sentiments of the time.

P.P.S. Turned out I made a mistake publishing this, so this chapter never actually got put up where it was meant to, so I'm slotting it in now.

As tempted as I was to ask Granpuff about whether he knew anything of my new friend, I realized that that was very unlikely- seeing as Freddie said he worked on the Skarloey Railway, wherever that is, and I've never heard Granpuff mention the Skarloey Railway before- I mean, I didn't even know until I met Freddie that another narrow-gauge railway exists!

… on Sodor, I mean- I know other narrow-gauge railways exist! Like the Corris Railway in Wales- it's a bit like the MSR, I guess, if I had to compare it to something. (I'll bet you were looking for some descriptions like pretty woodland railway by a lake, with quaint engines running up and down the line all day long, but I've never seen it, so that's all you get from me.)

What I can say is… it's Wales. It's wet.

And the only reason I know of its existence is because my older brother, Hugh, lives and works there. Driver receives letters from his driver from time to time, to give me some status updates. My brother is a pompous bore- more so than Granpuff sometimes.

"Falcon?"

Oh, dear sweet Lady, he read my mind!

"Falcon, are you alright?" Asks Duke. "You look worried."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply, curtly, relieved that he hadn't actually read my mind at all. "I just got lost in my thoughts, I guess."

"I could see that. Is… something bothering you?" Asks Duke hesitantly. I murmur in the negative. "Just thinking about my brother, that's all." I add. After all, he doesn't need to know anything else.

"Ah, I see." Duke replies gruffly. "Where does he work?"

"On the Corris Railway, in Wales." I say.

"I see." Duke murmurs.

"Well, speaking of," Interrupted our controller, before Granpuff could say any more to me. "I've ordered a new engine to come in for us."

Duke frowns. "Are you certain, sir? We go through many of these engines and have so few actually stuck around."

"I know, Duke, but this engine will be fresh off the line… once the war's over." He sighs. "The government's ordered all factories to use any metal to manufacture arms and shells to send over to France. Therefore, the manufacturing process won't actually start until the war ends… whenever that is."

I thought of human arms and seashells, made of recycled metal, bobbing up and down in crates… what would our boys do with those?

"So, we have to wait and keep going until the new engine can actually get built, sir?" Ask Duke.

"Yes, afraid so." Sighed our controller. "He'll come eventually… but on the plus side, the designers generously knocked off some of the total cost of this engine due to the inconvenience of waiting for so long."

"What sort of engine will the new one be, sir?" Asks Duke, warily.

"It'll be a Kerr Stuart, Duke." Our controller replies, "Very dependable and engaging engines, so I've been informed. However, I've also heard they can be rather… um, naïve. But that won't be much trouble- under your good instruction, Duke, this engine will soon be settled in and working just as hard and efficiently as you two." He sighs again.

He's been doing that an awful lot lately and I bristle with uneasiness.

"Anything else we need to know, sir?" I ask hesitantly. I'm not sure I want another engine in this yard- after all, it's pretty much been me and Duke for nearly 11 years now, and I'm worried how a new engine might disturb our dynamic.

"Well, not much… I'm just hoping that this engine will help us through the post war period." He replies gravely. "There's been so damn little going on here that we're losing profits." He groans. "I hear the Skarloey Railway is also leaning on tough times." He mutters to himself. However, I overheard, and I worried about Freddie. Would he be alright? I wondered.

"Surely things will just go back to normal once this war's over, right?" I ask. Duke chuckles darkly.

"Well, hardly. It'll either be uphill or downhill from here, you mark my words." He says grimly. "In times like these, you sink, or you swim."

"But engines can't swim, Granpuff!" I protest. "They haven't got any hands, or arms to do it with! Unless the factories can give us some spare arms to fix to our boilers…"

"Quiet, boy," Says Granpuff, rolling his eyes at my comment about the arms. "I merely meant that this railway will face hard times ahead- only you will know whether you're ready to face that challenge or not."

I gulp.

"And for the record, Falcon, the arms our factories are making are not to be used for swimming. They're for killing the damn Germans."

"Right," I roll my eyes, as Duke launches into another boring lecture about how His Grace would never allow the Germans to reach the Sudrian shores. It was so tempting to doze off there and then, but I daren't, fearing yet another lecture.