SHUNTING, STRENGTH AND SPEED
Back in Canada, it was time for the Shunting Challenge to begin. With the Best Decorated Engine Parade now behind, Emily, Glynn and Yong Bao stood to the sides so they could see the Shunting Challenge in action.
"Hong-Mei will be representing China for the challenge," Yong Bao explained to them.
"Is she friendly?" asked Emily.
"Well, at her best, she's very hard-working and dedicated," said Yong Bao. "But she can be very competitive."
The first contestant in the Shunting Competition was a Russian diesel named Ivan. He was among the engines Emily recognized from when the international engines accidentally visited Sodor.
"Here comes Russia's funny-diesel, Ivan, outta the gate!" declared the announcer in an Australian accent. "He had a rather underwhelming performance the last time he partook in the Shunting Challenge, but here's hoping he can make up for it!"
The event standard was to arrange three box cars (or vans), three tankers and three flatcars (or flatbeds), before finishing off with a caboose (or brake van) for a total consist of ten in the quickest amount of time. The wagons were always arranged by diesel shunters in a random order so no contestant would have the same strategy. Any missed rolling stock would result in a time penalty.
Every time Ivan needed the points changed so he could access another wagon, he would toot his horn, and the signalmen would respond. After a while, Ivan had finally arranged his trains.
"And... time!" the announcer declared. "Ivan has completed his run in a fairly quick time. While it won't beat the previous record set by Percy of Sodor from the last show, it's still a good enough bar to hold up to."
The audience cheered; the Russian diesel smiled.
"Not bad, if I do say so myself," he said to the other contestants. "Good luck to you all!"
"Oh, I don't think I'll need it when it's my go," a blue Chinese tank engine smirked. The next contestant was Gina from Italy, another contestant Emily was familiar with.
"I hope she'll do better than last time," she said to herself. "She really messed up towards the end."
But Emily needn't have worried too much; Gina was quick for an engine of her size, and she had managed to beat out Ivan's time by less than half a minute.
"Isn't that amazing?" cried the announcer. "Gina, the beauty from Italy, has managed to beat out Ivan's time by about twenty seconds! It's going to take a really fast performance to try and beat that!"
"Oh, grazie, grazie," the Italian engine smiled at the cheering crowd. She smiled at the next two competitors - Logan being one of them - but she glanced a quick scowl at the blue Chinese tank engine.
"Our next contestant is Natalie from the United States of America!" said the announcer. "She's a mighty little shunting engine from good ol' sunny San Fran from the state of California! How will she stack up against Ivan and Gina? Let's watch and find out, mates!"
Unfortunately, Natalie's time wasn't as quick as Gina's or even Ivan's; although she had arranged all the wagons in the specified order, a slip up near the start of her run had crippled her chances of success.
"I can't believe I almost didn't blow my horn to set the points where I needed to go," she said to herself. "Oh well, there's always another year."
By now, Logan was feeling very anxious; Gina had set the bar pretty high, and Ivan and Natalie had done respectably despite the latter slipping up. How was he going to do well with no knowledge at all as to what the layout was like?
"Just treat it like it's a normal shunting yard," Natalie encouraged. "Pretend the crowd isn't there and you'll be okay."
"Th-thanks," said Logan, but he still felt nervous as he entered the arena.
"Alright, Logan!" cheered Emily from the sidelines.
"Go and show them what you can do!" added Glynn.
After nervously glancing around the yards, trying to figure out his strategy, the airhorn sounded, and Logan set off to arrange his trucks.
"And he's off!" shouted the announcer. "There goes Logan of the United Kingdom about to shunt his first few bits of rolling stock!"
"Whoo-hoo!" Emily whooped excitedly. "You got this, Logan!"
But I'm afraid he didn't; due to his unfamiliarity with the track arrangement, Logan ended up making a lot of mistakes. Any enthusiasm there was for him quickly turned into confusion.
"He's gone for the flatbeds instead of the tankers!" remarked Glynn.
"What are you doing, Logan?!" Emily cried in utter disbelief. This was perhaps the most shocking performance anyone had ever seen with arranging a train for the Shunting Challenge.
"That's not going to be good for his time," remarked the announcer. "He's trying to fix up his mistakes, but all it's doing is adding more to his time! He's done worse than Natalie already, and he hasn't even got half of his train done!"
Gina, Ivan and Natalie all cringed with worry upon seeing Logan humiliate himself on the television screen installed so they could see him.
"What a fool," the Chinese tank engine said condescendingly. "If he can't arrange his trucks properly, then why did he come here at all?"
"Nobody's perfect, you know," insisted Natalie. "Everyone makes mistakes when competing."
The mistakes Logan made ended up getting worse as he continued. It got so painful to watch that he was quickly sent back to the competitor's corner with a DNF (did not finish).
"Poor Logan," sighed Glynn.
"Must have gotten stage fright," Emily insisted.
"And now, for our final contestant," said the announcer, "Hong-Mei of China!"
As the Chinese tank engine smugly puffed out onto the arena, the other contestants tried to cheer up Logan for his failure.
"Don't feel too bad," Ivan insisted. "Nobody's perfect."
"There's always another year," added Gina. Before anyone realized it, Hong-Mei's trial had finished in a resounding success.
"I won!" she cried happily. "I won, I won!" Hong-Mei then decided to boast about her victory to the others.
"Oh no..." Gina groaned, knowing that she'd come in second place.
"Look at me!" she boasted. "I am the Shunting Queen of China!"
"Not quite," said Ivan. "You didn't exactly beat Percy's record, and he managed to beat Ashima's record from the last show, who beat Raul's own record in the same show."
"At least I did better than Logan," Hong-Mei snorted.
"Who cares who did better than who?" snapped Gina. "Do you know what your problem is, Hong-Mei?"
"What?"
"Sei troppo competitivo per il tuo bene!" Hong-Mei was quite confused by what the Italian shunter had just said.
Next up was the Strength Competition. Emily recognized two of the contestants; Freida of Germany and Shane of Australia. Of the remaining three, one was a blue tender engine with a light gray smokebox and red wheels of American origin and another was a red tender engine with a similar shape to Gordon and Flying Scotsman.
"That big blue electric engine is Gustavo," explained Gator. He too was watching the Strength Competition take place. "He's one of the strongest and fastest engines to run in Brazil; I've seen him a few times when he made his trips to Colombia."
"Who are the other two?" Emily asked.
"That's blue one with the cowcatcher is Hank from the American State of Pennsylvania," said Gator. "And the red one's Canada's very own Flying Thistle."
"It'll probably be interesting to let Gordon know that one other brother of his is still around," said Emily to herself.
As the Strength Competition went on, Gustavo had taken a huge lead, with Frieda coming in second, followed by Shane, then Hank, and Flying Thistle coming in last. The German engine was secretly impressed with the Brazilian engine's performance.
"At least he's not a cheater like Vinnie," she admitted.
At long last, Gustavo pulled his load over the finish line first. The crowd cheered even as Frieda came in second.
"A very impressive feat from you, senorita," Gustavo praised.
"Er, danke," Frieda said, a bit surprised that she would be congratulated even though she didn't win.
"Winning is not everything, after all," Gustavo continued. "All that truly matters is how you try your hardest and stay a good sport no matter the outcome."
"That's very inspirational words right there," Emily noted. "I just wish certain engines would take note of that..."
At last, it was time for the final event of the Great Railway Show; the Great Race. Emily, Glynn and several other contestants were lined up to see the race in action.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen," a deep-voiced announcer called Charles proclaimed, "here comes the moment you've been waiting for!"
"Yes, it's the Great Race, where five engines across the globe compete to take home the trophy!" another announcer named Mark declared, this one with a higher voice than the previous.
"Now let's get a look at the competitors," the third announcer, Daniel, added. His voice was more soft-spoken and mature compared to his more lively co-hosts. "First up, we have France's most popular electric engine, Etienne. People love to see him and his rival from Belgium, Axel, get competitive with each other."
"Unfortunately," Charles cut in, "Axel will be unable to compete this year due to him being in for an overhaul. Nevertheless, Etienne's still got steam powered competition with Spencer, representing the United Kingdom and my hometown of Doncaster."
The crowd cheered for the silver engine.
"Oh, thank you, thank you," Spencer beamed at the crowd.
"Next up in the lineup is the streamlined bombshell of Baltimore, Caitlin of the United States of America!" announced Mark. "I tell you, guys; American engines are the best!"
The crowd cheered for Caitlin. The fuchsia engine just beamed with pride.
"Our next contestant is from Canada itself," said Daniel. "One of the finest Royal Hudsons to ever grace Canadian rails; introducing Mathias!"
The engine in question was a semi-streamlined 4-6-4 tender engine painted black with a light gray boiler and a large burgundy red stripe running across his running board, cab and tender, as well as the number 2823. The crowd went wild.
"And finally, we have one of India's finest passenger express diesels," said Charles. "Give it up for Noor Jehan!"
Despite his loss at the Best Decorated Engine Parade, Rajiv cheered the loudest for the white diesel. Noor Jehan, seeing this as a chance for a bit of fun, winked at Rajiv. At last, Charles stepped out with a starter pistol to begin the race.
"And they're off!" he declared as all five engines sped off down the racetrack. Etienne had taken the lead at first, but Spencer began to catch up. In his mind, losing to a French engine would be humiliating.
"Etienne is in the lead," Mark stated, "followed closely by Spencer, and here comes Caitlin!"
"She sure is an excitable one, isn't she?" Daniel remarked.
"Oh, you know it, Dan," said Mark. "She's quite a popular choice among the fans."
"Don't count Mathias out yet, chaps," said Charles. "Look at him go! He's catching up!" True to his words, the Canadian engine was coming closer to Caitlin.
"And Noor Jehan is having quite a bit of trouble tailing at the way back," Daniel remarked. True, the Indian diesel wasn't going as fast as Etienne or the steam engines, but she wasn't about to let that stop her.
At long last, the finish line appeared in the distance. Suddenly, Etienne found himself going slower.
"Zut alors!" he cried. "What iz happening?! I'm slowing down!" Etienne struggled on as best as he could, but he eventually ground to a halt just a few feet from the finish line.
"This is unbelievable!" gasped Mark. "Etienne has stopped just before the finish line! This means that Spencer now has a chance to take home the gold!"
"Maybe not, Mark; because Spencer's slowed down as well!" remarked Charles. "And that means that Caitlin's gone across the line with Mathias shortly behind her!"
And indeed it was true. With Spencer and Etienne stopped, Caitlin was able to take first place with Mathias in a close second, followed by Noor Jehan in third. Then, to everyone's surprise, Spencer slowly began to reverse to switch onto Etienne's line.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Etienne asked, not expecting help from a racing opponent.
"Helping you finish the race," said Spencer simply. "We Englishmen might have issues with your culture, but I wouldn't want you to return to your country coming in last place."
Etienne smiled at this. Despite his attitude, Spencer was a gentleman at heart.
Emily, Hong-Mei, Gustavo and Caitlin were all lined up side by side for the award's ceremony.
"Well, this has been quite an exciting day," said the head organizer for the Great Railway Show. "But after so many events, it's time to present awards to the winners of this year's Great Railway Show! First, to the winner of the Best Decorated Engine Parade - Emily of Sodor!" Emily beamed as an announcer placed a trophy on her buffer beam.
"Second, to the winner of the Shunting Competition - Hong Mei of China!" Hong-Mei whooped with excitement as her trophy came up.
"I'm number one! I'm number one!" she gloated. The other winners rolled their eyes at the Chinese engine's bragging.
"Next," the head organizer continued, "for winning the Strength Competition - Gustavo of Brazil!" A trophy was placed on the running board of the big electric engine.
"And last but not least, to the winner of the Great Race - Caitlin of America!" The streamlined engine cheered happily as she was given her trophy. Once all the trophies had been given out, a photograph of the winners was taken.
As the engines were getting ready to go to their respective homes, Sir Topham Hatt strolled up.
"Fantastic work, you two," he congratulated Emily and Caitlin. "And to Spencer as well for his display of good sportsmanship."
"How did Etienne end up losing his power?" asked Caitlin.
"As it turns out," Sir Topham Hatt explained, "a lorry... er, sorry, truck - I can't get used to American terminology - lost control and crashed into one of the electric towers."
"Ooh," said Emily, wincing slightly. "If not for that mishap, Etienne could've easily won."
"Indeed," Sir Topham Hatt stated. "Nevertheless, I've found out where Thomas is."
"You have?" asked Emily, surprised. "Where is he?"
"In Tanzania, Africa," explained Sir Topham Hatt. "I shall be taking a plane there straight away."
"How long will it be before Thomas returns home?" asked Emily.
"I'm not sure," said Sir Topham Hatt, "but Mr. Percival's informed me that a ship has been sent down to Tanzania so Thomas can return to Sodor."
"Well, that's good news," said Caitlin. Soon, she, Emily, Spencer, Logan and Glynn were loaded onto their ship bound for Sodor. As they sailed home, Emily couldn't help but feel a bit happier.
"At least now I know Thomas is safe," she said to herself.
Author's Comments
Wow, there's quite a lot to unpack there! This chapter itself was the main reason this and "The Best Decorated Engine Parade" got split up into two, extending this book into five chapters as opposed to the traditional four. Out of the three events, my favorite to flesh out was the Shunting Challenge, which has become a time trial rather than an accident waiting to happen, inspired from Chase the Ferroequinologist and DonaldDouglasandToby6's collaborative rewrite of The Great Race (don't worry, I'll do my own version one day). For my personal take on said special, Percy actually takes part in Thomas' place, having beat out Ashima's time, who had beaten Raul's time, severely denting the Brazilian engine's ego. That's where Hong-Mei comes in, wanting to beat Percy's record and become the greatest shunting engine in the world, which will serve as the main conflict for a future book. I even incorporated Gina's "won't take anyone's nonsense" personality from season 23 with how she feels towards Hong-Mei, even saying that she's too competitive for her own good.
Don't have much to add for the Strength Competition, though; I was going to use merchandise-only character Sam in Hank's place, but I thought that the articulated engine would be a bit overpowered, so I used Hank instead. (For the record, Heave Ho Thomas! did not happen in my universe.) I even included Flying Thistle from the magazines to complete the set of five; I see him being a recolor of Scotsman but crimson with yellow lining, one tender, no smoke deflectors and the number 1992. The only OC to be featured here is Mathias, the Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson. I didn't give him much in terms of character as most of the focus went into the Sodor/mainland engines, particularly Spencer. I figured him helping Etienne after he ran out of power would show some growth in his character following Look for the Light in Seasons 13-16 Redux, which I'll resume one day. Lastly, there's the hosts for the Great Race, whom I based off of the Top Gear/Grand Tour trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May; it feels like it was made with the trio in mind to host.
Next time, the final story of the second book, in which we say Welcome Home, Thomas and Nia!
