March 6, 1923

"Good morning, Henry!" Duke, the 2'3"-gauge Mid-Sodor Railway's brown Small England and its No. 1 engine, greeted. "Come with our coal shipment already?"

"Yes indeed!" Henry grinned as he was uncoupled from his trucks. "I had to come early, I'm supposed to take a new engine up that new branchline to Peel Godred."

"Why would you have to carry them? Are they narrow gauge, like Frederick?" Duke wanted to know.

"No, they're standard gauge. Still don't know why, though." Henry shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to find out when I get to Tidmouth Harbor. How are things here?"

Duke groaned. "Not too good. Smudger's being a stupid git as usual. And now I have to teach Falcon about the Mountain Road, the toughest part of the line. At least Stuart, Albert, Jim, Jerry, and Atlas are somewhat reasonable."

"I hear you," Henry agreed. "Well, see you later." And off he went.

Duke grumbled to himself. "This would never suit his grace, what I'm about to do." He left to go find Falcon.

"Okay, okay, I just had a repaint and I'm NOT ready to get it dirty," Falcon, a starch blue Falcon Works Olomana saddletank, griped to Duke.

"And I'm supposed to care?" Duke asked.

"See, this is why no one likes you! You're a right fusspot, you are!"

"Be quiet, Falcon! Now, the Mountain Road is very steep and the curves are often quite sharp. That's why we don't have buffers, to keep them from locking up."

"Then why don't we have knuckle couplers instead of these flimsy hooks and chains?"

"I don't know! Let me get in front of you and lead our train."

"But how can I learn the line if all I'm staring at is your boring old tender? Let me lead and I'll learn it that way."

"Suit yourself."

"Okay, everyone, I'm here!" Henry announced.

"'ello, 'enry!" Clementine, an ex-LSWR G6, greeted Henry. She, along with ex-MR 1377 Noah, ex-NER E1 Earcna, and ex-Caledonian 498 Thirteen, were the four black tank engines who worked Tidmouth Harbor. "Your delivery is over there!"

"Thank you!"

"You know, I don't rightfully know what he is," Earcna mentioned as he passed. "He says he's an engine, but he sure doesn't look like one."

"I 'ave ta agree with that," Clementine said. "'e's the strangest engine I ever saw!"

"I can hear you, you know," came an unfamiliar voice. Henry puffed up and saw the new engine resting on a flatbed. He was painted bronze and had an odd shape. Unbeknowst to Henry, he'd just met an LNER EF1, though at the time that classification did not exist.

"Hello," Henry said. "I'm Henry."

"And I'm Faraday," replied the new engine.

"Um...if you don't mind me asking, where's your funnel? And your bunker?"

Faraday chuckled. "I don't need those, Henry. I'm an electric engine. I get my power from overhead wires. See these folded contraptions on my roof? Those are pantographs. I lift them up so they're touching the wires, and then whammo! Off I go!"

"Very interesting. But why an electric engine?"

"Well, from what I know, Peel Godred's buried in the middle of Sodor surrounded by mountains on all sides," Thirteen mused. "I know I'd hate to have to go all that way to drop off coal."

"And there's a big dam there that provides all the power I need," Faraday finished.

"Well then, how about I get you there?"

"That would be marvelous."

"Fuddy-duddy, fuddy-duddy!" Falcon cursed under his breath.

"What, just because I keep telling you to pay attention to the track?" Duke asked skeptically.

"No! It's because you keep going on about all this old stuff that no one cares about!" Falcon huffed. "If you like living in the past so much, why don't you up and go live on Skarloey? And would it kill you to go a little faster?"

"Falcon, you impudent scalywag, we're not pulling a train! This is meant to be a learning experience. So pay attention to the track and not to your speed! Though you should be mindful of your timeliness as a general rule, safety comes first on the Mountain Road." Falcon scoffed at this and they continued in silence.

Henry stopped at Knapford to catch his breath. "Hello, Henry," Edward said courteously. "Who's your new friend?"

"Faraday's the name, the Aluminium Works shall be my game," Faraday introduced himself. "This is the second time Henry's stopped. Is he alright?"

"He suffers dreadfully, but none of us care!" Alfred cackled as he passed with the Wild Nor'wester, the NWR's own express train. Henry whimpered at the statement.

"Henry's an experimental hybrid engine, a cross between a prototype LNER A1 and a GNR C1," Edward explained. "As a result of his heritage he has great strength but an undersized firebox. Sometimes it's hard for him to build up steam, especially when the coal is low in carbon."

"Ah," Faraday nodded. "I see. Well," he said to Henry, "cheer up, sport. You can do it." Henry, encouraged by this, was able to bring up his fire enough to set off once again.

"I don't like this tunnel," Falcon muttered. "I can't see the sleepers two inches in front of my face!" Duke sighed. It had been a long day.

Suddenly, a bright light came from the end of the tunnel. Because Falcon had been looking up and not down, he was blinded by the late winter sun. "AUGH!" As a result, he wound up missing a sharp turn and his front half came off the rails, dangling precariously off the track above the valley below. "OH BLOODY HECK! I'M GONNA DIE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"No you aren't, Falcon! Not if I have a say in it!" Duke said firmly. "Now will you stop shaking? I can't pull you up if you shake!" He tried to pull Falcon up. Falcon's crew scrambled out of their engine and helped move their engine into a more stable position.

Suddenly, Duke's wheels turned on their own. "Duke's low on water!" realized his driver. "If we don't refill his tender we're not going to be able to do it!" Luckily, there was a worker's cottage nearby, and the man who owned it graciously let them fill buckets of water with his sink. Once his thirst was quenched, Duke quickly hoisted the smaller engine up.

"There we go!" Duke sighed.

"Wow...thanks," Falcon said, respectfully quiet. "But...why?"

"Because no engine deserves to die like that," Duke replied. "Besides," he chuckled, "you just got repainted, it'd be a shame if it spoiled so soon." Falcon sighed in relief, rolling his eyes happily.

"I worry about Henry," Edward said to his driver. "If he keeps randomly stopping like that he's going to the scrapyard for sure!"

"Don't worry, old boy," Charlie Sand replied. "Sir Christopher values you Lifers. That's why all of Sodor's engines are living."

"I hope you're right." Edward stopped at Maron, where Eagle was dropping off some vans.

"Edward, did you hear?" Eagle asked. "There's a big hullabaloo on the Mid-Sodor railway!"

"There is?"

Eagle nodded. "Duke saved Falcon's life! He's a hero!"

"Well, he always did have a begrudging compassion for his fellow engines. I suppose Falcon will take him seriously from now on."

And Falcon did, recounting his tale that night in one of the sheds. "I'm telling you, Duke's a fusspot, but he's not half-bad!"

"Wow, that must've been scary!" Stuart, the green Kerr, Stuart & Co. Olomana saddletank, gulped. "But I'm glad you're alright!"

"Scary?" Stanley, or Smudger as everyone called him, a red Baldwin 10-12-D with dull green accents, scoffed at this. "You boys haven't seen the mountains in the states! Those'll give anything here a run for their money!"

"Regardless of whose mountains are bigger, Duke proved he was firm like a bulldog, never letting go," Albert, Falcon's sky blue younger brother, said in admiration. "He should be an inspiration to us all."