Chapter 3.
New Mountain Climbing Friends

Several days later after its grand opening, Ashima was taking an empty branch line train to Kirk Machan. She loved the scenery, and was more happy to see the completed mountain railway. "This is a beautiful place," she said to herself out loud. "Almost reminds me of home." "It really is, isn't it?" asked a strange voice. Ashima nearly jumped startled when she heard the voice. She looked over and could almost barely believe her eyes. Backing down to the lower platform was a small purple engine with a stove-pipe funnel, tilted boiler, and his cylinders back to front. Ashima was also bewildered a single coach in the front of him, and see another face on the back of this engine when he came to a stop beside her.

"Hello," said the purple engine cheerfully. "Who are you?" "My name is Ashima. Who are you?" smiled the beautiful hot pink engine. "I'm Culdee. I'm a mountain engine, so I run this mountain railway." Ashima was amazed. "I too am also a mountain engine," she smiled. "Are you now?" asked Culdee. "Yes. I work at the Nilgiri Mountain Railway between Mettupalayam to Coonoor, part of the mountain railways in India."
"Well, glory be," said Culdee, amazed at hearing what the other engine was telling her. "Five of my kind were built in the Mainland. Tragically we lost our number 1 shortly after the railway's opening. Back then after his loss there were four of us. After I was mended along with engine number 5, there are now seven of us. And we've been running this railway since."
Ashima was pleased. "You run a very good railway, Culdee, as I do in India. I only have a couple weeks left before I return home, so I hope to meet your friends someday." "Thank you, Ashima," said Culdee gratefully. "If you don't mind me asking, too, Culdee… how is it you have a face at the back?" "It's hard to explain," replied Culdee. "I can't remember why exactly. But even if I could, whether it was a building error or I was pictured this way, I'd rather not discuss it." "No worries," smiled Ashima. "It's okay if you can't explain how. I just thought I'd ask. "No problem. Now, I must be off to the summit. It was a pleasure meeting and talking to you. Bye for now, lassie." And with that, Culdee puffed happily away. Ashima continued on her journey after the passengers boarded.

An hour and a half later, Culdee steamed proudly up to the summit. Wilfred was there, preparing to start his journey down the mountain. "What has you in such a good mood?" he asked. "That beautiful, kind-hearted mountain engine I met at Kirk Machan." A confusing look crossed Wilfred's face. "Who do you mean?" "A mountain engine from India. I think she said her name is Ashima." "I see," replied Wilfred. Then he perked up. "Since you met her, Culdee, I would like to meet her myself." "I'm sure the other mountain engines will like meeting her, too," smiled the railways number 4. That evening, Culdee and Wilfred told the other five engines about the mountain engine Culdee met. "A visiting mountain engine?" asked Ernest, number 2. "Well, that's really amazing," Alaric, number 7, chimed in. "This will be a meeting of the mountain engines," chuckled Patrick, formerly named Lord Harry, number 6.

During the next week, other branch line engines came and went with their passenger and goods trains. But the Culdee Fell engines never stopped hoping to meet Ashima. Then one day, just before the next week could start, their chance came.
Ashima was taking a goods train to the aluminum works on Peel Godred. She had to stop at Kirk Machan while another train was being unloaded there, so she had some time. To her luck, Culdee and his friends came to meet her. They too had some time before they could start work, so it was a perfect opportunity to get acquainted with the visiting Indian engine.

"Namaste again, Culdee," she smiled. "Are these your friends?"
"Yes," replied Culdee. "I'll let them introduce themselves to you."

Each engine performed the introductions, by saying their names and numbers.

"Ernest, number 2."
"Wilfred, number 3."
"You already know me," chuckled Culdee, number 4.
"Shane Dooiney, number 5."
"Patrick, number 6; previously named Lord Harry."
"Alaric, number 7."
"Eric, number 8."
"And I'm Catherine, Culdee's own coach."
"And this is Jane, our tool van. But we sometimes call her 'The Truck'. She doesn't mind, though."

"So nice to meet you all," said Ashima. She was pleased.
"So, how many engines of your kind are there?" asked Shane. "Counting myself, 21," answered Ashima. The seven purple engines were surprised. So much so, they couldn't think of anything to say. "It's true," Ashima went on. "My fellow X-Class engines were built on the Mainland just like you. Our railway opened in 1908, and despite huge losses, coal shortages and monsoon landslides, our railway still goes on."
"You're lucky," sighed Wilfred. "We only had one loss, with our number 1 in 1900. But despite that loss, landslides and facing bad weather, we too struggle on." "It seems your railway has a taste for common troubles and losses," said Ashima. "If I may ask, though, what happened to your railway's number 1?"

Culdee, Ernest, Wilfred and Shane looked at each other at first. They knew that this memory wasn't a good one, but decided to tell Ashima the story, because she was curious.
"Well," began Culdee a little uneasily, "Back in that year, long before engines 6, 7, and 8 were built, there was me, Ernest, Wilfred, Shane, and Godred, our number 1. Being named after a king, it went into his smoke box, which made him very conceited. At first he was a very hard worker, but he also became arrogant. He never kept a good look-out, and paid more attention to his surroundings than at the track whenever he climbed and descended. In July of that year, shortly after our railway opened, I was waiting for Godred to pass me at Devil's Back, one of the stations going to the summit. As I waited, he came off the rails and rolled down the mountain!" Ashima gasped.

"It gets worse, lassie," sighed Culdee as he continued. "Although the coach stayed on the rails, the crew jumped clear and no one was hurt, Godred was a complete wreck. When we brought him home the next evening, our manager told me that I was sensible, and that I should give my advice, lead the engines, and teach them my ways if they didn't have sense. I didn't know what to say about that." "How tough," murmured Ashima. "It gets more sad from there," said Wilfred. "Our manager turned to Godred and was cross with him. 'Godred,' he said, 'you are badly damaged and beyond repair. We have no money to mend you, so you will go to the back of the shed, forever.' As time went on, Godred got smaller and smaller until all that was left was… nothing."

"What happened to him?" asked Ashima. "Our drivers stripped Godred of his parts to mend us," answered Ernest. "That would never happen on my railway," said Ashima. She was sad, but she immediately turned it into a happy face. "And now that you mention it, one of my friends from India also acts a little like a royal engine. He goes by the name of Rajiv, because of a crown on top of his funnel. He was named after a prince of India, too, but I can't quite remember all the details about him."

The purple engines laughed at that. "Rajiv sounds funny," Patrick remarked. "True, but like me, he also won in a competition at the Great Railway Show. That's a long story though." After 10 minutes of talking and exchanging stories, Ashima needed to continue on to the aluminum works.
"Thank you so much for gathering to meet me, and for sharing your stories. I hope to see you one more time before I return home to India." "And we had an honorable time with you, Ashima," said Eric. A passenger with a camera took a picture of Ashima and the purple engines.