Well, I kinda scrapped my original idea of starting my series "From The Cabs" in the second half of the 1980s. So, I've decided to go for what's admittedly yet another fan rewrite of the whole Railway Series. Ah well, guess I'll do it.

Basically, this one is mainly intended to be based on the original books and is more or less intended as a mostly-faithful adaptation of them, but it has a lot of characters from the TV Series woven in, and has a lot of additional "books" (mainly adaptations of TV Series episodes and fan episodes), so to speak.

Foreword

If you've heard of a place known as the Island Of Sodor, you've likely heard of it's well known North Western Railway. Established in 1914, it's the island's largest and most notable railway, and also the United Kingdom's most successful and one of its most reliable, as well as perhaps its single most famous. It's fame and notability come, in part, from being the only British Railway to be independent of the Big Four, the only one to be independent of British Railways, one of the oldest existing railways in the United Kingdom, and also one of the only one to have never phased out Steam Traction. Its engines are well known these days for their varied personalities and distinctive "character", but also for being relatively even-tempered with tourists and passengers, and for ensuring that a visit to the island and its railway is never not worth it.

However, it didn't start out as this. There was a time when the railway was much smaller, and the engines on it younger and less mature, less tested by life. Let us follow these engines of the North Western Railway as they grow in experience and number with time.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

May 3, 1922

It was Mid-Spring on the island. A time of the year known for warm weather and sunny days juxtaposed with rainy and sometimes stormy ones. And a man of an Albanian-British noble family, Sir George Skanderbeg Kastrioti, aged 34, ran the North Western Railway, which had been founded only 9 years before. It was much smaller than today; it had fewer branchlines, fewer and smaller facilities, and much fewer engines. While there were nonetheless several engines on the NWR, having been carried over from older Sudrian Railways like the Sodor and Mainland Railway, the Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway, and the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, our story is focused on the engines currently based at the railway's Terminus of Vicarstown.

There were six engines who currently resided at Tidmouth full time. Thomas Billinton was a 8-year-old, semi-experimental M1 0-6-4T tank engine, a hybrid of his native London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway's E2 with the London and North Eastern Railway's J50, who had come to the island's railway from Brighton when his builder's railway had sold him, as despite his impressive performance for a tank engine and ability to pull passenger trains quite well, they had considered him and his class "impractical". Edward Worsdell, 25 years old, was an engine who had been the prototype for the NER Worsdell R Class, but who would nowadays be considered a hybrid between that class and Worsdell's later "R1" class, as Edward was, shapewise, practically of the latter class but with the "R0"'s single dome and different-shaped tender. Henry, as he was simply known, was a 4-6-2 engine of unknown build, age, and origin, though he bore a loose resemblance to the Great Western Railway's "Great Bear" with the cab and firebox of the Great Northern Railway's Ivatt Large-Boilered C1. Allison "Allie" Ivatt, 18 years old, was an actual Ivatt Large-Boilered C1 4-4-2 (albeit a four cylinder "compound" example with a superheated boiler), and her friend, Hailey Robinson, 17 years old, was a Great Central Railway Robinson 8B "Jersey Lilly" 4-4-2. When Allison and Hailey had come to the island, the two had brought with them an older engine (specifically, 28 years old) named Emily Stirling, who was a GNR Stirling Single A3 4-2-2.

Of the six engines, Thomas, Edward, and Henry were numbered #1, #2, and #3 respectively, while Allison and Hailey had elected to keep their respective old numbers of #1300 and #6090, and Emily had gone without a number, not wanting anything to do with numbers thanks associating them with her time on the GNR, where she had unfortunately been mistreated by her older brothers and sisters. And as for colors and liveries, Thomas and Edward were given the NWR's Capri Blue livery, while Henry was given the NWR's alternate "Apple Green" livery, and Emily, Allison, and Hailey all maintained the liveries of their old railways (Grass Green for Emily and Allison, and Brunswick Green for Hailey), albeit with NWR lettering.

Here, the engines lived relatively happily. While Thomas would at times annoy the others, particularly Henry, with his cheeky, fussy antics, Edward, Allison, Hayden, and Emily in particular were nonetheless fond of him, and he was fond of them back. And all were proud to be at the service of Sir Kastrioti, who in turn was proud to have them.

Today though, four more engines came to the railway. All four came from railways that were from railways that would be grouped into the "London & North Eastern Railway" by the beginning of next year, just like Allison, Hailey, and Emily did. The first was a Great Eastern Railway S69 4-6-0 known as Kirk Holden, #1571, who wore his old railway's Ultramarine Blue livery. The next two were two North Eastern Railway S3 4-6-0s known as sibling engines Alfred and Cecil Holden, #843 and #844 respectively, who both wore their old railway's Apple Green livery. The last was a very new-looking engine, an engine who had been the prototype for what was now the LNER's brand new A1 4-6-2. His name was Gordon Gresley, and while he bore no number, he did bear the GNR's Grass Green livery. Of the four engines, Kirk was the oldest, Gordon was the youngest, and Alfred and Cecil were the two strongest by tractive power.

When the four engines came to Vicarstown, Sir Kastrioti was waiting for them. "Hello there, you four. You're all on time."

"Of course we are, sir." Alfred replied smoothly in a Northern English accent, indicative of his and Cecil's origins in Darlington.

"Indeed." Cecil added. "It wouldn't do well of us to be late to our new director."

"'Scuse me, surr..." Kirk cut in, speaking with a Scottish accent thanks to being built in Glasgow, "but are ye going tae trial us, or have ye baught us?"

"It is trialing you four that I shall do." Sir Kastrioti replied. "I wish to see if any of you four will be a good fit for my railway before I buy any of you."

"And if you decide not to, we'll be sent back?" Gordon asked for clarification, having a South Yorkshire accent thanks to hailing from the GNR's (now soon to be the LNER's) Doncaster Works.

"Correct." Sir Kastrioti answered. "Now, it will admittedly be a tight fit for you all at the sheds, as there's only four berths available here in Vicarstown. I hope you're alright with that."

"Af caurse, surr." Kirk responded before the others could protest.

Starting the next day, the four engines were put to work alongside the six already there. After a few days, a few things were soon clear to Sir Kastrioti.

Being the oldest, Kirk was the most humble, experienced, and good-natured of the bunch, as while proud of being capable of pulling express trains and proud of being a member of the great Stephen Dewar Holden's finest class, he was otherwise a sensible engine who understood that letting pride get to his smokebox was dangerous, and was also relatively courteous and polite to the engines already on the railway, who (save for Thomas) returned it. Alfred and Cecil, on the other hand, being the two strongest of the bunch, had let this get to their smokeboxes very readily, believing themselves to deserve being the prides of the line wherever they'd end up, and were very abhorrent and rude personality-wise, often putting down the other engines for the shallowest of reasons. Gordon, being the youngest, was somewhere in-between Kirk and Alfred and Cecil. While very proud and rather prone to arrogance, he wasn't a (figuratively) heartless engine, and he was indeed capable of kindness.

"I will say..." Sir Kastrioti quietly told himself, "...I hope that Alfred and Cecil and Gordon all mellow out soon..."

Unfortunately, he would soon find that he spoke too soon.

May 10

By a week after the four engines had first appeared, Alfred and Cecil had decided that Thomas and Henry annoyed them more than the other, "old" engines. So they'd decided to play tricks on them. Particularly nasty ones, mind you.

For Henry...

May 9, the previous day...

Cecil backed into the sheds alongside Henry, looking nervous.

"What's gotten into you?" Henry asked, confused by the usually boastful Cecil's sudden change in demeanor.

"It's this blasted rain." Cecil replied, putting on an act of worry. "If you stay out in it too long, it'll spoil your paint."

"Really? I've never heard that before."

"Oh, yes." Cecil then decided to tell him a story he made up. "Once, a friend who I had on my old railway went out in the rain. It was awful. The rain was heavy, and he was feeling very worried. He raced down the line, wishing he could have stopped in the tunnel. The rails were slippery, and he felt terrible. He got the passengers home safely, but something was wrong. He told me that he felt funny, though I had at the time told him that it was nothing. But we found out that it WASN'T nothing. The other engines and I looked on in horror...as thanks to the rain, from buffer to buffer...his whole brand new paint job was ruined. Our controller was most displeased with him, and made him stay in the sheds for the next week."

While an older, wiser engine would easily be able to poke holes in the story, Henry was not such. He was a young engine who was quite naïve, so he bought it entirely. "I...I didn't know rain could do that."

Now nervous, Henry backed further into the shed...not noticing Cecil's sly grin. Though...nearby, Gordon did notice that grin, having overheard the whole thing. He remained silent as to be beneath notice, but he was aware that trouble was soon to come.

And for Thomas...

Around the same time Cecil was tricking Henry with that 'story', Alfred was in the yard with all the trucks. Like the other engines, he didn't like them. They were noisy, silly things that liked to play tricks on an engine, and he was well aware of that. But he had a plan in mind, so...if he was to have to stoop to this depth, he would.

"So..." Alfred decided to speak to them, "have you all heard of an annoying little blue shunter by the name of Thomas?"

"Yeah! We have!" One truck grumbled loudly. "He bosses us around like he owns the place!" Numerous other trucks also grumbled in agreement.

"Well...I believe I have a way for you lot to deal with him and stop his being so annoying..." Alfred replied.

"How? How?"

"Hmm..." Alfred looked about before noticing a small turntable used for turning goods wagons and flatbeds around. "Well, do you see that turntable over there? Well, tomorrow, if it's turning while Thomas is near it...push him into it. You'll be laughing for days, I bet!"

The trucks were delighted by this idea. "Pass the word! Pass the word!" So they did, while Alfred went off chuckling. He didn't know that Gordon had heard and seen him talking to the trucks just after having overheard Cecil tricking Henry with a false story.

Now, today, Alfred and Cecil's tricks would bare fruit.

It was raining, and Henry was nervous. He was still rattled by what Cecil had told him, and his paintjob was only a few days old.

"Oh...how I wish to get out of this rain..." Henry muttered to himself as he went along pulling his passenger train. He was worried about the fate that had befallen Cecil's friend, and he didn't wish to befall such a fate himself.

So...when the tunnel came up...Henry stopped under it, much to the confusion of his crew. They tried to move him out from under the tunnel, but he wouldn't move. His passengers tried to argue with him and point out that the rain had stopped, but Henry refused, saying "What if it starts raining again? Then it'll spoil my paint for sure!"

It was then that Sir Kastrioti came to the scene onboard Gordon. He wasn't happy.

"Henry...what is the meaning of this?"

"Sir...it's the rain! If I go out in it...my paint job will be ruined! I won't be fit to be seen then..."

Sir Kastrioti was baffled. "Ruin your...Henry, since when and where did you get THAT idea?"

So Henry told Sir Kastrioti about what Cecil had told him. When Henry was done, Sir Kastrioti buried his face in his hands in exasperation.

"Oh, Henry, Henry, Henry...for one thing, that 'story' that Cecil told you was absolute rubbish. We specifically paint you engines in a way so that such a thing as rain won't spoil it. For another thing..." This, he said with a rather dry tone of voice. "...what WILL spoil your paintwork is if you stay under that bridge too long. Dust and dirt come flaking down upon anyone and anything that does."

Henry was startled by this, and immediately felt very, very, very silly. "Oh...I...! I...I 'm sorry sir! I am! I truly am! I'll leave this tunnel and get these passengers to the station! I promise!"

"You'd do well to." Sir Kastrioti firmly replied. "Given the sheer absurdity of this incident, I shall have to put you on freight trains for a time after you do so, since it's clear that your passengers will likely be unable to trust you to not do such a thing like this again for quite a while."

"Yes sir." Henry replied, miserable. The passengers got back aboard his train, and Henry set off, feeling very foolish and sorry for himself.

"Now then, Gordon," Sir Kastrioti then inquired of the GNR Engine as he got back aboard... "what was this about Alfred and trucks...?"

When they got back to Vicarstown, they were greeted with a confusing sight in the yard. An embarrassed-looking Thomas was being lifted onto a flatbed that Edward was coupled up to. His back end and coal bunker were damaged. A small turntable used for turning rolling stock around was also damaged, and clearly in need of serious repair.

"What happened?" Sir Kastrioti asked one of the workmen operating the crane.

"With all due respect, sir, but Thomas was pushed into the well of that turntable by these trucks. His crew are alright, but he'll have to be taken to the works for repairs. That turntable will be in need of repair as well."

"I see..." Sir Kastrioti got off Gordon and walked away for a bit, deep in thought. He found himself in a dilemma of a situation. He was well aware of what tricks Alfred and Cecil had pulled - Alfred by telling the trucks to cause Thomas to have an accident, and Cecil by lying to Henry about rain and paint work - so he sorely wanted to shut them up in the shed to teach them a lesson about playing tricks. However, he had promised to trial Alfred and Cecil on his railway, and if he shut them up in the sheds, he could give them an opportunity to twist it so that it looked like he was treating them badly and so give him and his railway a bad name. Nonetheless, he couldn't let this behavior of theirs go unanswered, but he didn't quite know how to punish them while still having them working. Then, he got an idea from an odd source.

"Erm...sir..." Gordon asked, "Since Thomas is our shunter and he'll have to be repaired...who will shunt now? With all due respect, I cannot shunt, for I'm an express engine and as such I do not know how to do so."

"Who will shunt..." This got Sir Kastrioti thinking...and after a few seconds, he walked right up to Gordon so that no one else would hear. "Well then, we'll just have to find a fill-in shunter. Or rather...two of them."

"You mean Alfred and Cecil, sir?" Gordon grinned.

Sir Kastrioti was also grinning. "Not too loud, Gordon...I wish for this to be kept a surprise from those two. It shall begin tomorrow. Can you keep this secret until I reveal it?"

"Of course, sir."

So, one by one, the other engines aside from Alfred and Cecil were informed about this change as well. They were all fed up with the two, so they were more than happy to aid their director in this endeavor.

May 11

The next day, Alfred and Cecil were laughing at the news that Henry would be assigned to freight trains for the time being. The other engines were greatly annoyed, but said nothing. They just waited for Sir Kastrioti to do what he'd promised.

And soon, Sir Kastrioti came, and first things first, he walked over to Alfred and Cecil. "Hello, you two."

"Good morning sir." Alfred responded first, being polite on the surface as ever.

"Which one of us is to get the express today?" Cecil asked in addition.

"Well, that will be Gordon. Fear not, though; I have a task for you two that is equally important and that you can both share. But first, I'd like to call your crews over for a bit."

Not knowing that the two of them were about to be had, Alfred and Cecil didn't object. So, Sir Kastrioti led them to a space where they'd be out of Alfred and Cecil's hearing range, and told them about the change of plans that had resulted from Thomas' accident with the trucks, and also Henry's incident at the tunnel. He also made it clear that they were not to tell their engines until they got to the yards.

Then, they all came back to Alfred and Cecil.

"Your drivers will take you to where this special task is to be carried out. I take it there is no problem with this?"

Alfred and Cecil seemed a little confused, but the former raised no objections. "Of course not, sir."

"Yes, certainly not." And neither did the latter. They didn't know what was coming.

So, Alfred and Cecil set off out of the sheds. When they were out of earshot, the other engines started laughing.

"You think they'll take it well when they realize that they're about to be the replacement shunters until Thomas gets back?" Allison chortled.

"I think not, Allie!" Hailey chuckled.

"And neither do I!" Sir Kastrioti agreed. "Now then, let's get back to the day's tasks..."

"The yard?" Alfred snorted as the two engines found themselves in the rolling stock yards. "Our special task is in the yard?"

"What is the meaning of this?!" Cecil demanded. "What special task is this anyways?"

Alfred's driver decided to spill the beans. "Well, while he did a fine job of hiding it, Sir Kastrioti wasn't exactly pleased with your antics yesterday, you two. Causing Thomas to get pushed into a turntable well, and fooling Henry into stopping under the tunnel with a false story...he's not happy about that. He doesn't like those things happening on his railway."

"Indeed." Cecil's driver agreed, and then added with the following statement: "As a result, Sir Kastrioti's decided that the two of you will take over Thomas' job of shunter and station pilot until he returns, and then the two of you will be pulling freight trains until your attitudes improve."

The effect was immediate; both engines were shocked and outraged.

"WHAT?!" Cecil didn't take hearing this well. "SHUNTING?! FREIGHT TRAINS?!"

"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" Neither did Alfred. "WE'RE EXPRESS ENGINES, NOT COMMON SHUNTERS OR GOODS ENGINES!"

Neither of their crews were particularly sympathetic. "Sorry, director's orders!" Alfred's driver replied. "You two wouldn't want to anger Sir Kastrioti, now would you?"

Alfred and Cecil said nothing more; they just grumbled as they reluctantly set off to work.

All day, the two engines were miserable. The other engines were more than amused to see Alfred and Cecil in this position

"Ah, hello, Cecil!" Gordon had a laugh at Cecil shunting his coaches to the platform, the soon-to-be-passengers looking very confused. "Playing shunting engines? Not exactly good form for an 'express engine' like yourself, now is it? I hope you've taken care with the coaches while you've been at it! An important engine like me needs them in good shape and order, you know!"

Henry himself also had a laugh when Alfred shunted his goods train into place. "Good morning, Alfred! Thank you for getting those in line for me! It's good that we still have shunters on standby while Thomas is away for repairs! Otherwise, things would be much harder around here!"

Given their wounded pride, though, the two big engines didn't do their work quietly, and would raise a fuss to whichever engines were nearby.

"This is a disgrace!" Alfred complained to Edward as the latter stopped by to drop off a mixed train. "We deserve better than this degradation!"

"Indeed!" Cecil agreed, just as indignant. "We should be flying down the line with an express or two, not getting press-ganged into...whatever this is!"

"Well..." Edward replied oh-so-innocently, "it would have helped if you hadn't had those trucks push our usual shunter down the turntable well."

"Aur trick 'Enry into hidin' aunder the tonnel from tha raiyn." A passing Emily added, also oh-so-innocently.

At this, the two big engines just grumbled. It was going to be a long few weeks for them until Thomas came back.

At the end of the day, when the engines were at the sheds, Sir Kastrioti came to see them one last time before he turned in for the night.

"Good evening engines. I know this may sound like an odd question, but...how was today?"

"It wuz interestin', surr." Kirk replied. "Pity wha' happen' tae Thomas, but tha nyew shonters look fonneh!"

The other engines laughed for a bit at that (except for, of course, Alfred and Cecil, who were quietly sulking).

"Oh, I'm aware." Sir Kastrioti went with what Kirk said for a bit before getting more serious. "While I can definitely see why one would find it...amusing, I do also hope that it serves as a lesson. Namely, that while I'd rather be nothing but kind with the engines on this railway, I am also running a railway and I want to have it run properly, and there are certain actions and types of behavior that I will not tolerate. And if anyone, human or engine, does something that they shouldn't, then I will react accordingly, and there will be consequences for that, as is the case with Alfred and Cecil here. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir." The engines (again, save for Alfred and Cecil) replied.

"Very good. I'd rather not have a repeat of the tricks that those two have pulled. Now then, I will see you all tomorrow."

So Sir Kastrioti left for home, with all the engines eventually dozing off to sleep after being cleaned out for the night.

A few weeks later, Thomas came back after having been repaired. Gordon was telling him a brief recap of what happened, quite proud with himself.

"And then, those two were given your shunting job the rest of the time you were away. You should have seen their faces when they had to shunt my coaches into place!"

Thomas seemed quite impressed. "So you did this all for me? Thank you, Gordon!" It seemed, just for a moment, that the two would become friends...

...until a laughing Gordon destroyed that possibility. "You? Thank me? Why should I need thanks from someone whom I didn't do this for in the first place? I did this for the railway, not you, so there's no need to thank me, pipsqueak!"

And Gordon ran off, still laughing, leaving an indignant Thomas behind. Now, he wished that he could pull important trains like Gordon did so that he could show him up. But he wasn't aware of just how soon he'd get his opportunity.

So, this chapter is at least partially based off of the two-part video, "What Goes Around..." and "...Comes Around", by Noodle Studios on YouTube. I had actually written the first part of this chapter a while back, but I didn't finish the rest of it until now because of Writer's Block. Oh well, it's done now.

So, what I'm trying to do here is kinda-sorta establish everyone's personalities in this chapter, or at the very least lay the foundations for those personalities. Sir Kastrioti (this fic's equivalent of Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller") is the kind and caring but ultimately firm and no-nonsense head of the railway, for instance, Edward is the wise old engine, Henry is rather naïve, trusting, and gullible, Gordon is proud and arrogant but does have some standards to that pride and arrogance, Allison and Hailey are the "those two girls" pair among the engines, Emily (here, at least) is the shy and somewhat quiet sort but nonetheless hard working and responsible, and Kirk is somewhat of a jokester but otherwise a sane and sensible engine (though with an accent). And then there's Thomas, who's definitely still in his "cheeky and impudent" stage at this point and wants to be special just like, say, Gordon is (I've set up their rivalry here, for instance).

And as for Alfred and Cecil...well, they won't be here for long. Though I will say that, while they're definitely arrogant assholes here, they're not straight up "evil", just reckless and careless.

Either way...I'll see you next chapter.