Island of Sodor Remake
Chapter 8-A Second Chance
The next morning Ellkan was still sulking in the shed, it had been a rough couple of days. He hadn't left the shed since the accident at the harbor and he was constantly beating himself up over it. The other engines tried to get him involved in what was going on but he was to depressed and angry at himself to even want to be around them. Sir Topham Hatt even brought in two new engines to help out since he probably wasn't wanted anymore. Everyone else was out doing work and he was still in the sheds moping about.
"I really hate this. I know I am being replaced for a better more efficient work force and I really don't deserve to be on this railway anymore. But I wish I could prove myself one last time." Ellkan said to himself sadly.
"You might just be able to." A voice said next to him. Ellkan jumped and looked over to see none other than Sir Topham Hatt.
"S..S..Sir!" Ellkan stuttered. Sir Topham Hatt came up in front of him.
"Ellkan, now I have heard from the other engines that you have been beating yourself up over the incident at the harbor. While that wasn't part of my punishment, I do think you've gone through enough and should be back on the team." Ellkan looked shocked at this notion.
"But Sir, I thought you needed to be able to make room in the shed for the new engines. With those two on the railway, we are one over capacity in Knapford sheds."
"We are, which is where your job comes into play. I am stationing you at Crovan's Gate. You are going to be the goods engine between Crovan's Gate and Vicarstown. You will also be doing the goods work for the Norramby branch line and the Great Waterton branch line. But because of that you will have to live there now," Ellkan looked unsure of this. "This is a second chance for you so make the most of it." Ellkan realized that this is what he wanted and knew that he had to make the most of it.
"I promise I won't let you down sir." Ellkan said happily. Sir Topham Hatt smiled and that's when Ellkan noticed his driver and fireman walking around the corner and climbing into his cab.
"That's great. Now keep that anger of your in check and all will be fine. I am looking forward to seeing how well you do with this job. Good luck Ellkan." With that he walked away from the sheds.
His driver and fireman didn't take long to get him in running order and soon he was leaving the sheds on his way to Crovan's Gate. While he had seen Crovan's Gate many times he had never spent a significant amount of time there. Only really when he was in the yards or pulling passenger trains that stopped at the station. He barely even knew any of the Skarloey railway engines. Just their names and minor details about them. But now that he would be at Crovan's Gate full time, he would be seeing them all the time. Soon enough through that would be a reality since he could see the station up ahead. He pulled into the center area of Crovan's Gate's station to wait on an assignment from the stationmaster. Next to him, on the narrow-gauge track, was a maroon colored engine with two leading wheels and two driving wheels.
"Ellkan, you are out of the sheds. I heard you got in trouble for your accident. Glad you are back at work." The engine said. It was pulling three passenger coaches and passengers were just getting on.
"It's good to be here, Deion. Although it's a changed. I've been assigned to work this area of the railroad now. I'm doing goods work from here to Vicarstown and also the Great Waterton branch as well as the Norramby branch."
"Wow, you have a lot to be doing now." Deion said impressed. His guard blew his whistle at that moment. "Have to go now. Good luck." With that Deion pulled out of the station. Ellkan watched as he left and waited for the stationmaster to come by with his orders. It was a cold day but warmer than the day before. A few clouds in the sky helped keep the temperature a bit higher. Even though it wasn't warm his fire helped keep him nice and toasty. He was only waiting a minute before the stationmaster Garvan Brown came out.
Garvan was a tall 28-year-old man with long blond hair tied up in a ponytail. He was a strong man who exercised regularly and didn't look the role of a stationmaster. That's because a few months before the stationmaster before him had to step down unexpectingly. Due to that the only person that was willing to take the job was Garvan. In the few months he's been stationmaster he's been doing a fantastic job and all of the engines always have a good time around him.
"Ellkan, I just got off the phone with Sir Topham Hatt and I heard that I will be seeing a lot more of you now." Garvan said to Ellkan. Ellkan smiled, he felt wanted here and was afraid that his reputation would be held against him. "Well as to your work, there is a train that is going to Vicarstown from the Transfer Yards. Go take care of that first." Ellkan was happy to be put to work right away. He left Crovan's Gate immediately.
It was only a minute or two before he got to the Norramby branch line junction and then it took him less than a minute to make it to the Transfer Yards. The Transfer Yards were a yard that was formulated of multiple lines and sidings for both standard gauge and narrow-gauge engines. The yard was so that goods from both the narrow gauge and standard gauge railways could be switched through without a lot of work needing to be done. When Ellkan got in he saw another engine at one of the transfer platforms.
This engine was another narrow-gauge engine with 2 driving wheels and 2 trailing wheels and it was colored navy blue. It was coupled in front of six trucks that were full of stone. Workmen were taking the stone from the narrow-gauge trucks and putting them into three trucks for Ellkan to take. Ellkan switched onto the track that had his three trucks and pulled up behind them and got coupled up.
"Hello Nat. How are you today?" Ellkan asked the smaller engine. Nat gave a loud grumble.
"The trucks have been difficult all day. They didn't want to move from quarry and by the time we did get along they still weren't happy. I was almost late when I got here." Nat complained. Ellkan chuckled. It was only a few days ago that he would have acted the same way to being late. The difference between the two engines was that Ellkan always assumed he knew what was best for the railway. Nat just hated delays, being late, or anything that made him look unprofessional.
"Well, hopefully it won't be to horrible. Sir Topham Hatt has given me the western part of the island. I now do the goods work from Crovan's Gate to Vicarstown and both the Great Waterton and Norramby branch lines." Ellkan told the other engine. Nat though just huffed.
"Sounds like a lot of work for just one engine. I heard you got into some trouble on your side of the island. Sounds like you caused a big ruckus."
"I did, but I am trying to make up for it now. I intend to do what I should have been doing a long time ago."
"Well as long as you don't make me late, we shouldn't have any problems." The workmen finished loading in the last of the stone and Nat gave a toot on his whistle. "I am off now. Let's go you troublemakers." He said angrily to the trucks as he gave a large pull and they grumbled and cried as they moved out of the yard.
"Its weird to think that just a few days ago, that was me." Ellkan said to his crew.
"Its weird to think that the accident at the harbor really put you in a better mindset." His driver chuckled.
"Now let's hope it stays that way." He said as the guard blew his whistle and he set off down the branch line.
The Norramby branch line works in two parts. One of the parts is a line that holds stations for the town of Norramby. The other part is a section of the line that goes from Crovan's Gate to just south of the Ballahoo Tunnels that has Ballahoo station on it. The Ballahoo section makes it easier to get to the main line if you are ever on the branch line since it connects to a north and south part of the main line. Ellkan took the branch line past Ballahoo to the north and exited right near the Ballahoo tunnels. The day was nice and smooth and the trucks were being easy, even though they were giggling the whole time. He made his way through the tunnel right on schedule.
"All is going so nicely." He said to himself, until he heard the trucks start crying out and suddenly he was going faster and faster. "What is going on?" He cried out.
"We are losing control." His driver said to him. "The trucks are pushing us."
"Great just what I needed on my first day." Ellkan grumbled. He was going to fast now and eventually he wouldn't be able to stop in the yard. He wasn't sure what to do until he remembered what Atul said to him once
"Don't act with your emotions. Act with your intelligence."
Ok so he couldn't let his anger or bitterness get the better of him he needed to be smart about this or it would end in disaster for him. Right now, outright braking wouldn't help that much since it would just push them more. But what about exhausting the trucks?
"Driver, apply my brakes little bit by little bit. We might be able to exhaust them before we get to the yard." His driver agreed and he then applied his brakes just a little bit. The trucks never noticed it but he did. Soon his brakes were applied just enough so the trucks had to push harder and harder. The junction to the yard was coming up and they didn't have much time left. He could feel the trucks getting tired from the extra weight they had to push now that his brakes were being heavily applied but not to the fullest extent. They entered into the junction and he could feel himself slowing down more and more.
"Ok on my signal, fully apply my brakes." He paused waiting for the right moment and letting his driver get ready. "Now!" He yelled. His driver fully applied his brakes. Extremely quickly the train came to a grinding halt. Ellkan was back under control. The trucks were exhausted after the ordeal.
They pulled the train into the yard and put the cards into the proper siding. The yard manager came up to him after he uncoupled from the train. "I heard what happened from the signalmen's reports. Good work on controlling your train." With that he walked away. Ellkan was surprised.
"I think I took a bad situation and made it better without overreacting."
"See I knew you could do it." His driver said to him. At that point Ellkan left the yard to go back to Crovan's Gate. When he arrived at the station, he found Atul waiting with a passenger train.
"Well, well. You leave Knapford for Crovan's Gate and suddenly you've turned your life around and don't let trucks get in your mind anymore." His guard blew the whistle. "I'm proud of you Ellkan." With that he pulled out of the station.
"Wow I wasn't expecting to hear that my first day here." Ellkan said happily as he moved off towards the yard for his next job.
That night after all his work was done Ellkan went to the Crovan's Gate sheds. He backed in and got ready to sleep when he realized that there was no one else around. He was alone.
"I guess this is the downside now to being out here. I am all by myself." He said to no one in particular. Suddenly he heard three short whistles from down the line. That's when he saw three little engines reversing into the Skarloey railway sheds. It was Deion, Nat and a third engine.
"Did you really think we would just leave you out here by yourself?" The third engine said to Ellkan as they rolled into the sheds.
"Zeth, I haven't seen you all day." Ellkan said to the third engine.
Zeth was light green engine with two leading wheels, two driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. He was the head engine of the Skarloey railway and, in connection with the head of the Skarloey railway, makes choices for the engines that work on the line.
"I know, we kept missing each other the whole day. I heard about you controlling those trucks. Good for you keeping your mindset and avoiding a catastrophe." He remarked to Ellkan.
For a good hour or so they kept talking about the day and how they had been doing and when Ellkan went to sleep he knew two things.
He wasn't going to be lonely at all.
And he didn't mess up his second chance.
Well that concludes the Ellkan Story arc as well as introducing the Skarloey railway. I hope you enjoyed it. A lot of points happened in this story that I would like to point out.
1) If you haven't noticed yet due to the fact this is a remake certain places aren't named like they are in the regular series. Due to that, Gordon's Hill is now just the hill, Henry's Tunnel is the Ballahoo Tunnels, and Neville's bridge is going to be Crovan's Gate Bridge (due to the fact that it has no other name but its near Crovan's Gate). I did a bit more looking and there aren't any other places whose names need to be changed so those are the three main ones.
2) Originally there was supposed to be another chapter in between the time of Ellkan's accident and the arrival of the new engines. This was my fault due to the fact that the chapter after the accident I wrote the timeline wrong. But at the end of the day it does work out since I realized that a railroad with all these branch lines and work can't possibly run well with only 5 engines working on it.
3) I am incorporating weather more now in my story. Right now all I am using is a random weather generator to add something random to my story. I do have another story arcs planned so it will be interesting to see what comes up if a major chapter has something different in it.
Once again thank you for reading and I hope these come out a bit more regularly since it's a lot of fun to write. Please review and tell me what you thought of Ellkan's storyline. If you have any questions for any of my stories feel free to PM me. I am always open to answering questions.