Meredith rolled sluggishly from her shed. Her boiler was dripping with fresh summer condensation as steam rose up from her pistons. She had spent the night in an open shed at Knapford yard. It wasn't the nicest shed, but Sir Topham Hatt had informed her that it was for just the one night as she was officially being sent to work at the branch line that ran between Arlesburgh and Harwick.

The little tank engine gave herself a good shake to try and get all the water off her boiler before she continued forward into Knapford station where Sir Topham Hatt was waiting with a new green tank engine. "Good morning, Meredith! I trust you slept well." The fat controller beamed, he was always so eager when it came to new engines.

"Yes, sir." Meredith said as she stopped beside the other engine who smiled warmly at her. "Hello."

"Hello, Meredith, it's nice to finally meet you!" This engine was a rather funny looking one. A pannier tank engine with the letters "GWR" painted across his wide water tanks. "I'm Montague, but everyone just calls me Duck."

"Duck?" Meredith looked the engine over, she couldn't see why he would be called that. Maybe it was because his nose was pointed much like a duck's beak. "Why do they call you that?"

Duck shrugged his boiler. "Engines claim that I waddle when I move, but I think they're just being silly."

"Duck is going to show you your duties." Sir Topham Hatt said. "He'll be your mentor as you'll be working on his line."

Meredith smiled, she was eager to begin her work and make more friends. She looked back over to Duck who returned her smile. "If you will follow me, m'lady." He tooted his whistle and pulled away.

Meredith began to follow him and noticed that his wide water tanks caused the engine to waddle… like a duck. She laughed.

"Everything alright back there?" Duck called.

"Mhm." Meredith held back another giggle. How could he not realize? She didn't want to hurt Duck's feelings so she kept this observation to herself as she puffed along behind him.

They traveled in silence for quite a while down the mainline when Meredith heard a rather loud whistle come from behind them. The tracks began to rattle which made the new tank engine fearful, she sped up, bumping into the back of Duck.

"Easy there, Meredith." Duck said. "It's only Gordon coming with the express."

Meredith could barely hear Duck as Gordon drew closer, the tracks thundering from his weight as he rounded the bend towards them. He let out another warning whistle before changing tracks to overtake the two tank engines. "Express coming through!" Gordon bellowed proudly as he passed Meredith and Duck. Meredith watched him in awe. He pulled the heavy express coaches with such ease, as if they weren't even there. She continued to watch Gordon until he disappeared over the hill, her boiler still shaking and funnel ringing from just how loud the express was as it powered by.

"You alright, Meredith?" Duck chuckled. He knew she was staring at where Gordon had passed them. New engines are always so impressed with the big blue engine.

Meredith shook her boiler as she forced her focus to return to the engine before her. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine."

"Here's James!" The red engine called as he slid into Knapford pulling his matching red coaches. The passengers who were waiting on the platform sighed. They were used to James's antics, but they could never get used to the grating sound of his sudden braking.

"Are you ever going to stop like a normal engine, James?" Edward inquired as he passed by pulling a train of giggling troublesome trucks.

James rolled his eyes. "I'm not a normal engine, and I'm insulted you would even imply that, Edward. I'm too splendid to not do the most every chance I get."

Edward shook his boiler and smiled. "So what do you think of the new engine, hm? She seems very lovely."

James felt his cheeks get hot. "Oh, she's alright." He didn't want to admit he thought she was very beautiful, it would lead other engines to think there really was another engine more perfect than him. "She seems too timid."

"She's a new build though." Thomas added as he pulled up with Annie and Clarabel. "Don't you remember when you were first built, James? How scary and new everything must've been to you?"

"Pfft. I'm no scaredy engine, Thomas." James boasted, sticking his nose in the air. "Never have been, never will be."

Both Thomas and Edward laughed. "Of course, James, you're the bravest of us all." Edward said with a wink to Thomas who giggled.

James huffed as he was signaled to depart. "You're damn right I am."

"James!" Sir Topham Hatt's head popped out from his office window. "Watch your mouth. There are families here!"

James rolled his eyes again. "Whatever." He grumbled as he pulled away.

Meredith and Duck chuffed along the coast, they were coming to the sunny seaside town of Harwick. Meredith couldn't take her eyes off the sparkling sea and she bumped right into Duck, again, but this time he had stopped. Meredith backed up, and noticed two little black tender engines had also stopped to talk to Duck. "Good mornin', Duck." One said, the other one had taken notice of Meredith, however.

"Aye, whose this little lass?" The second engine asked.

"Donald, Douglas, this is Meredith." Duck said. "Meredith, meet Donald and Douglas. They're twins and they came here all the way from Scotland."

Meredith paused, then noticed the name plates on each engine's boiler. The one closest to Duck was Donald. "It's nice to meet you." She said finally.

"Aye, lovely to meet you." Donald said with a mischievous wink.

"Don't you go flirting with her, Donnie," Douglas huffed. "I saw her first."

Donald cut his eyes. "And that automatically gives you rights to her?"

"Aye, it does."

Meredith furrowed her brow, she didn't like being fought over like a child's toy. Duck could tell Meredith was uncomfortable with the twins arguing and he whistled loudly, which silenced their bickering. "She belongs to neither of you. Show some respect for your fellow engines."

The twins both blushed. "Sorry, Duck. Sorry, Meredith." They said.

Meredith gave a small smile as they both huffed away. Her and Duck continued down the line and she gave his buffers a gentle bump. "Thanks for that."

"Anytime," Duck said, he was happy she couldn't see the red in his cheeks. "They mean well, but they're young engines, you know how it is."

"No, not really." Meredith giggled.

"Ah, right, well, you'll learn." Duck liked Meredith already, if she was as useful as she was kind she would go far on the railway.

That afternoon Meredith was pulling a goods train along the Little Western when she came across yet another green tank engine, but this one looked more like her, but with six wheels and a handrail that wrapped over his face. "Hello there!" She called to the engine as he puffed towards her.

"You must be Meredith!" The engine stopped and Meredith noticed he was pulling a brake van. "I'm Oliver."

"And I'm Toad!" Meredith started, his brake van spoke. She inched forward until she could see the van's face. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Meredith!"

"Awwwh, aren't you a sweetie." Meredith cooed. He was a silly looking thing and she couldn't help but notice him and Oliver shared the same big round nose.

Toad smiled. "You're very pretty Miss Meredith."

Meredith blushed. She appreciated the compliment, but she felt she heard it quite enough already. It was making her self conscious.

"Oh, Toad, you're embarrassing her." Oliver said with a sneer. "I'm sorry about him, Meredith, he sometimes doesn't think before he speaks."

"It's okay, I just wasn't expecting the flood of compliments I'd be receiving I guess." Meredith said. Toad looked sad and she felt guilty. She didn't mean to hurt his feelings. "But it's very kind of you to say, Toad. I'm sure you don't mean any harm by it."

Toad smiled once more and Oliver started up again. "I wish we could stay and chat, but we have some scrap to deliver!"

"Goodbye, Miss Meredith!" Toad called and Oliver pulled away with a farewell whistle.

Meredith had finished her deliveries for the day and was given two new passenger coaches that matched her white and black paintwork. Her very first passenger run was to take some holiday makers from Harwick all the way to Vicarstown. She was a little nervous as she traveled down the mainline. She worried about bumping her passengers around too much which made her travel slower than she needed to, but she made it to Vicarstown right on schedule.

She approached the large station and found herself distracted by the tall glass ceilings and loudspeakers blaring music. She didn't brake soon enough and slid right past the platform. She grimaced and waited for the guard to give her the all clear to back up.

Meredith reversed back to the platform and the stationmaster was waiting for her, his arms crossed. She gave a nervous smile. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay, just don't let it happen again, young engine." He said with a wave of his finger before marching off.

Meredith felt extremely embarrassed, she didn't even notice the Flying Scotsman and Gordon on the adjacent platforms quietly watching her.

"Get a little distracted, did we?" Meredith nearly jumped out of her boiler at the new voice. She looked over and saw the Flying Scotsman smirking. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Meredith narrowed her eyes. This engine looked very similar to Gordon, but his paintwork was green and his nose was pointed more upward. "That's okay." She said quietly. "Everything is just so new."

"Ah, to be a new build again, huh little brother?" Scotsman teased. Gordon cursed under his breath, but not loud enough for anyone to hear.

"You're brothers?" Meredith's eyes widened in curiosity.

"Unfortunately," Gordon grumbled. "Meredith, this is the Flying Scotsman. Scotsman, this is Meredith."

"Pleased to meet you, little Meredith." Scotsman said with a flirtatious wink.

Meredith's boiler bubbled. Scotsman was a very handsome engine, as was Gordon, but Gordon wasn't exactly as charming as his brother. "Do you work on Sodor?"

Scotsman laughed. "Oh no, I work on the Mainland. I just have a stop here on Sodor, which I'm starting to think might be very lucky as I got to meet you."

Meredith giggled and Gordon groaned. Leave it to his brother to act so undignified. Gordon decided to look Meredith over. Her paintwork was flawless and it shimmered brilliantly under the fading sun. Her features were soft with not a blemish or wrinkle in sight. A brand new engine, and a stunning one at that.

Meredith and Scotsman noticed Gordon eyeing her and before Meredith could speak, the large green engine chortled. "Lost in thought there, little brother?"

Gordon snapped out of his trance and glowered at his brother. "I'm just tired, that's all."

"Right, right." Scotsman said, passing another wink over to Meredith. There was a whistle from the platform and Scotsman's smirk disappeared. He looked back to Meredith as he started to pull away. "I hope I'll get to see you again soon, little Meredith." He whistled three times before taking off towards the bridge to the mainland.

Meredith watched him leave then glanced over to Gordon who was quietly fuming on his platform. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Gordon snapped. His guard whistled and he departed quickly without another word to her.

The moon and stars were out by the time Meredith made it back to her new shed at Arlesburgh. There were two engines already sleeping there. A handsome purple and black tank engine and a striking green diesel rail car. Meredith noticed an empty track beside the shed, but it wasn't covered. She paused a moment then shrugged. The weather was lovely, she didn't need a covering.

Meredith stopped on the track at the other side of the tank engine and he awoke with a start. "Oh, who are you?" He asked, his voice still heavy from sleep.

"I'm Meredith, I'm sorry to wake you."

"That's okay," he said with a yawn. "I'm Ryan and that's Daisy." He gestured with his boiler to the rail car who was still fast asleep. "Best not to wake her. Daisy takes her sleep very seriously."

Meredith nodded in understanding. Ryan blinked a few more times as he looked over the new tank engine. "Are you going to be working with us here?"

"I am, I just got done with my very first passenger run. That's why I was so late getting in."

"Where did you work before Sodor?" Ryan inquired. He was wide awake now, he wanted to learn more about this new engine.

"Nowhere," Meredith said sadly. She noticed the piping that went from Ryan's smoke box towards his water tanks. How unusual. "I'm a new build."

Ryan's mouth dropped open. "I've never met a new build before. Are you adjusting alright? I imagine all this is rather odd to you."

Meredith twisted her mouth in thought. "I'm having a harder time figuring out how to control my own parts than adjusting to the environment I guess."

Ryan chuckled. "That just comes with time. You'll get the hang of it soon, I'm sure." He then noticed Meredith didn't have a covering over her tracks. "Would you like to trade places? You shouldn't have to be out in the open like that."

"I'll be fine," Meredith replied with a shy smile. "Thank you though."

The two sat in comfortable silence for a moment, Meredith's gaze drifted towards the clear night sky. Her boiler bubbled in excitement. After so long in the dark, she was finally alive and she was more than ready to see what living was all about.