This is part of a saga that was really intended to be a two parter but I was like: Why not? And did this. I like to apologise for my recent absence on my stories, life has been getting in the way and I wanted to publish this saga as one on here. Anyways, here's the first saga in the Salvation Collection:

The Twelfth Engine - Part 1

1973

More and more passengers were coming to the Fat Controller's railway, this meant more trains were needed, but the problem was that the other engines were very busy with their own work. This meant more coaches were added onto Gordon's express and he felt the strain, he even had Edward help him up his hill, which most engines would know Gordon was able to pull the express over with ease, even when having twenty coaches. But that day he had twenty-five, and with that, Gordon rumbled into Barrow-In-Furness very late indeed. The diesel who took over from the train sniffed as the big engine came in.

"You're late," he said crossly.

"You try and get twenty-five coaches moving," grunted Gordon.

"I need to make up your lost time!" snapped the diesel.

"As I said," continued Gordon, "I had to move twenty-five coaches. You won't have to pull that much with only taking seventeen of that much."

"Pooh!" snorted the diesel, "you steam engines are just old fashioned, just simply get a diesel to do your work and your controller will never have to deal with you rusty old kettles again!"

"Pah," said Gordon, "keep your fairy-tales up in your exhausts!"

He steamed off before a fuming diesel could reply. The passengers were cross with the delay, and complained to the Fat Controller about it. The poor stout gentleman had to deal with a barrage of letters all night. He decided to visit Gordon the next morning.

"Hullo Gordon," he greeted warmly, "I've seen complaints about the Wild Nor' Wester from many, many passengers, care to explain."

"Indeed I have sir," replied Gordon, "I'm afraid that too many coaches and passengers have been adding to my train frequently and I cannot pull them as well as I can with the usual twenty or seventeen."

The Fat Controller pondered for a second. "I guess I've forgotten your limits Gordon," he said at last, "I'll make sure to adjust the timetables for more passenger runs along the mainline."

"But sir," said Bear from nearby, "Gordon would be pulling the Wild Nor' Wester to and from the other side of the island, if anything he would only have one other, slow run for the rest of the day. And me and the others can't take the extra work, even Donald and Douglas wouldn't even be able to help us cope with the extra work after those new trains come in!"

"I have given that a thought Bear," the Fat Controller replied, "so I'll be trying to get a new engine before the summer season begins."

With a tip of the hat, he walked off to make arrangements, leaving Gordon and Bear to glance at each other with intrigued looks.

"A new engine," said Gordon grandly.

"Yeah," chuckled Bear, sounding quite relieved, "we hella need those at the moment! What do you think it'll be?"

Gordon sniffed. "Judging by this point in time," he said, "it'll be a diesel."

*

"It'll have to be a diesel," said the Fat Controller quietly, he looked around his office, no one else in their but himself, he mumbled something under his breath as he began to scan the papers of diesels on the other railway.

A sudden, hard knock came from the door. "Come in."

The door swung open and in came a tall, scrawny man. He had an angular nose, with pointy eyebrows, cheekbones were strong strong as steel (comparable to Duck's) and deep, green eyes came out of his thick glasses. He grinned broadly at the older man, his grey suit contrasted with the black to the Fat Controller's. He looked like he was in his early thirties.

"Hello father," greeted the younger man, "I see you're working harder as usual."

"Stephen," the Fat Controller sighed, "I thought you were still at Suddery."

"Well I had to see my old man!" chortled Stephen, "but mother said you didn't return home last night and was only wondering why?"

"Passenger complaints Stephen," replied the Fat Controller plainly, "they aren't best pleased with the yesterday's umm... longing delays."

Stephen chuckled. "Always have to pull out a pun," he said, he walked over to where the Fat Controller sat at his desk and toppled into the guest chair on the other side. "So what are you going to do then?"

"Get another engine of course!" said the Fat Controller, "the other engines cannot cope with the work as it is and it's obvious that railway will remain this busier in the coming future. I'm thinking of getting another one of Bear's class, they seem capable enough or maybe one of those Falcons."

"Father," cut in Stephen, the Fat Controller looked over to his son who was shaking his head.

"Perhaps you could get another steam engine!"

"Another steam engine?"

"That's what I said," nodded Stephen.

The Fat Controller pondered the thought of another steam engine, then shook his head, and went to scan the papers on his desk. "I'm sorry Stephen," he replied, "but diesels are much more cheaper to run and more sustainable."

"Sustainable for efficiency," Stephen added, "but not sustainable for the eye-catchers."

The Fat Controller looked up at Stephen once more and then put the paper down. His full attention was now on his son. "Go on."

"Well..." started Stephen, a hand going to the back of his neck, "Sodor gets a lot of tourism during the holiday seasons, and one of those reasons is to see the steam engines."

"...Yes...?"

"The books written by Reverend Awdry help with boost our passengers due to children wanting to see the engines from those stories," carried on Stephen, "when someone sees a railway, they immediately think of a steam locomotive, not a diesel, and I believe that we need to help keep that image with showing the world that steam engines aren't a dying breed of locomotive power. So, we should give another steam engine a chance to work again."

"I need an engine ready now Stephen."

"Then get one from a heritage railway or a preservation society!" exclaimed Stephen, "there's plenty of them and only a few engines are in the scrapyard that only need a quick tune up, a new coat of paint, and a few new parts and they're ready to go!"

The Fat Controller sighed. "A diesel is what the railway board want though," he said, as he leaned back into his chair, "but you'll need to prove that a steam engine is needed more than a diesel."

"Oh I can do that father."

"Alright," the Fat Controller began to smirk, "you shall have to do a survey on the Sudrian people and ask around to see if they prefer to see a steam engine, or a diesel engine."

Stephen's eyes widen and his back flew straight up off the backrest. "You're bluffing," he said, "I'm going to replace you soon and this is what I do, ask people around on which one is better! I'm not a surveyor!"

The Fat Controller chuckled. "You are now," he grinned, "besides, this will be easy for you! You did do geography so to run this railway after all."

"Well I-I-I..." Stephen trailed off and sighed bitterly, "what shall I do for it?"

"Ask around in the local streets!" smiled the Fat Controller, "make sure to give a good speech for the railway board and myself!"

Stephen nodded and got up from his chair and headed to the door, he stopped as he pressed onto the door handle. "Anything else?"

"Make sure Thomas doesn't shove Percy down the old lead mines whilst you're visiting Ffarquhar," called the Fat Controller, who had begun to return to his paper work.

"How did you-?"

"You always go and visit Toby afternoon on a Thursday," interrupted the Fat Controller, "I'm very good at surveying my children."

Stephen sighed. "You should always get some advice from other engines," and with that said, he gave a farewell to his father, and headed out of the office, leaving Charles to ponder on whether his son was right.

*

A week had gone by and by then, the engines on the mainline were exhausted, the Fat Controller had to get James the Red Engine to be put on full time passenger work. But goods work was still needed to be handled and Henry and Bear couldn't handle them on their own, so other arrangements were made for BoCo and the Scottish twins to help on whatever trains they were needed on. But they were needed on the branch lines and this didn't help none of the mainline engines all too much.

That evening, BoCo had to take a train of trucks to Tidmouth docks, he shunted them in one of the sidings and headed over to where Bear the Hydraulic Diesel stood near Cranky with his own train of flatbeds, ready for a ship to arrive.

"Hullo," called BoCo, as he came to a stop next to the other diesel.

"Hello BoCo," Bear replied, "how are you?"

"Same as you from what I can tell," chuckled BoCo, "exhausted, these mainline trains are making me and the twins more worn than ever, I don't know how long I'll cope 'till my engine fails!"

"Sorry about that," smiled Bear sympathetically.

"Don't be," replied BoCo, "it's not your fault and we're pretty much going through the same thing. You need all the help you can get!"

Suddenly, a bright blue car, pulled up. "Who's that?"asked Bear.

"That's Terry," said BoCo, "Stephen Hatt's car."

Then, the driver's door opened on the right side and out came the very man BoCo just mentioned. He looked around the place and landed on the two big diesels. The red-haired man began to walk up to them, BoCo and Bear glanced at each other.

"What's he doing here?" whispered BoCo.

"Don't ask me!" cried out Bear, "I didn't even know he had a car!"

"Hello you two," called Stephen, as he came to a stop in front of them, "I'm here to ask you question for my survey."

"A survey?"

"You mean you're examining something?"

"Well, kinda..." shrugged Stephen, "my father told me that I had to prove something to the board. So I've been asking around with locals and tourists on a particular question and I need your answers for it too. You both don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not sir!"

"Good! Now, I need your honest opinion, do you two think that another engine should be a diesel or steam engine on this railway?"

Both diesel engines looked perplexed by the question. "Odd question to ask sir," replied Bear.

Stephen chuckled lightly. "You're diesel engines," he said, "I thought getting your opinion might be helpful since you work with steam engines yourselves."

"Well... I don't sir," said BoCo, "it's quite a hard question to ask."

"Yeah," agreed Bear, "but if I must, I would go with steam engines."

Stephen smiled and wrote something in his notebook. "Excellent," he muttered, "what about you BoCo?"

"I'd go with Bear here sir," replied the big diesel, "steam engines are what keeps this railway alive and the books are still quite popular, even when Wilbert has decided to retire."

"It also gives the tourism in too!" Bear added quickly, "this railway wouldn't be as successful and busier from how many people trust us to get them to their destination!"

Stephen nodded, his eyes twinkling with triumph. "Thank you the pair of you," he said at last, as he folded his notebook back into his grey suit, you've been a great help!"

"Happy to help sir," said BoCo.

"Is this going to be common?" mused Bear.

Stephen paused for a split second, then gave a grin and a wink to the two diesels. "We shall wait and see."

*

"I did it," beamed Stephen.

"Yes you did," the Fat Controller said, a little surprised. Both men had just walked out of the meeting with the railway board. Stephen had given his father his assessment and the Fat Controller, once reading it, had accepted it. The assessment also struck something in the meeting too, and most of the members who were against the idea of another steam engine had now switched sides.

"Now we can go off and find another engine!" chimed Stephen.

The Fat Controller sighed, as he watched his son walk happily ahead. "Actually Stephen," he began, making his child spin his head around to his father. "I have to find an engine on my own... that means... without your help."

Stephen's jaw fell a little. "Why?" he demanded, "I helped you a lot! I did a survey for an entire week and a half! I should at least help find the steam engine!"

"It's up to me to decide Stephen," the Fat Controller sighed, "I would like you to help, but you must do your other work."

"What? Supervising staff and their performance?!"

"It's something I did too."

"For only about a few months," scoffed Stephen, "I'm thirty-one father, and if I'm being groomed to run these rails, these engines, I should-"

"I know! I know..." the Fat Controller, rubbed his forehead, then looked back at Stephen. He looked annoyed and offended. "I know you want to help, but the time isn't there yet," said Charles, "I need to do this on my own."

Stephen sighed, he looked down to the platform for a few seconds, then at the passenger train, sitting at the station next to the second platform. He finally glanced back at his father and nodded. "Alright father," he agreed, "but if you want any help, call me, I'll be at Suddery."

He began to walk around to the second platform and past his father who watched him with calm and relieved eyes. Then Stephen paused and turned back to look at his father. "Can I take the train freely?"

The Fat Controller chuckled. "You're a high-ranking member of the NWR, I think you'll be fine."

Stephen nodded, he readjusted his suit and continued to the coaches. The Fat Controller walked the opposite direction to his office so to look for another engine. A steam engine at that.

*

Gordon was dozing in the yards, when he shoes trodding over ballast, he opened a sleepy eye to see the Fat Controller walk towards him.

'Dam it Gordon,' thought the big engine, 'you promised not to oversleep again.'

But Gordon would be proved wrong as the Fat Controller halted in front of him. "Gordon listen," he began, "I've known you since you've first came here and my father had me in your footplate the week after I met you. I've seen you changed a lot and the stuff that happened in 1967 was very impressive."

"Thank you sir," replied Gordon proudly.

"My son has convinced me to buy another steam engine," continued the Fat Controller, "but I cannot get the right engine at the moment."

Gordon was puzzled. "But you could get an engine from the scrapyard sir," he said, "there's still plenty of them there."

"I know," said the Fat Controller, "but I need an engine to work now and all the engines on heritage railways aren't available or aren't the right engine. So, I need your advice."

Gordon thought for a few seconds, pondering on what to do in his controller's shoes, he then thought of something. "Perhaps go to London," he suggested, "there's bound to be some information there."

The Fat Controller nodded. "Perhaps," he said, "I'll see if I can go there."

*

It was arranged, and a few days later, the Fat Controller headed out to London on the Wild Nor' Wester. The engines didn't hear from him for days, but they were too busy to care. And unfortunately the day before they received a letter from him, a major occurrence happened on the mainline.

But I shan't say anymore, otherwise I'll spoil the next story!