Fun fact: Of all the characters from the Classic Series, I think Elizabeth is my least favorite. I find it bizarre that she gets more screen time in this season than either Salty or Harvey, and as funny as she can be, I don't think we really need another crabby asshole character. This entire episode, while good, feels a bit off. Like...ALL OF THE SKARLOEY LINE IS NOW CLOSED...what about the other engines?! Hence my approach to this episode.
AaronCottrell97: Definitely! Plus, the running gag of Duncan crashing into things was one I really enjoyed writing for some reason.
Reality Rejection Service: Pretty much.
Bronze Shield: Is that a good thing? XD.
Game-Watch: Ah, knew there was a technical term to it.
MattPrice01: Yeah, see, here's the thing. The Skarloey episodes this season really should have been spread out more, or at least at the beginning of the season rather than the end. Actually, that's one thing about Season 7, the balance feels much more natural and therefore less stressful. So if I'm not at my A Game on these, I apologize.
JD145: That they do!
RadicaL Sandwiches: Honestly, the bouncing didn't really bother me that much. I'd like it to go away, but if I have to take it, there's far worse things that could have been happening. Especially considering that this is the first thing from a new studio, there were kinks that Nitrogen and ARC had to work out of their system. I mean we're talking about a show that, for the first few seasons, had people sticking to the ground with blu-tack, so things like that really don't bother me as much. If the story's good, I'll put up with it.
GreatWeestern1522: Hope you enjoy my take on it!
CUE THE THEME!
Rusty is a little diesel engine who works at the quarry on the Island of Sodor.
And let me just tick off 'Generic Platitude Number 31' off my bingo card. All I need now are 'cinders and ashes' and 'Oh the indignity' and I can call out BINGO! Don't worry, it's not too late to start playing along at home. Oh, wait, wait, I lied! I forgot my 'X is my Best Friend' space! Well thank goodness I don't need to worry about that for long! Ahem.
Rusty's best friends are Rheneas and Skarloey.
Said no one ever.
However, with Duncan being...well, Duncan, and Peter Sam currently a massive ball of anger and misery, Rusty had rather been forced to join up with the two older engines, no matter how many time having to take care of Drunkloey and listen to Blaneas got old. Rusty helps keep the line clear for them, though there are some who have stated (incorrectly) that they don't work on the Skarloey Railway now...for some reason? And sometimes, Rusty works so hard clearing the line for the others that they can't do their work at the quarry.
One might assume that the Fat Controller would do something about this that didn't punish the two engines who didn't actually do anything wrong...if you didn't know the Fat Controller by this point. If you did, however, there's very little that can surprise you any more.
So when one day Rusty returned late, he was there, cross as all hell.
"Sorry, sir!" said the driver, cheerfully. "We were helping Rheneas and Skarloey! ...Skarloey fell in the lake again, and Rheneas just watched and laughed. So, you know, typical day."
"I KNOW YOU LIKE HELPING RHENEAS AND SKARLOEY!"
"No need to shout, sir."
"I'M NOT SHOU-I'm not shouting...the line is in a bad condition! It takes too much of your time!"
"EH! YOU!"
"Oh TERRIFIC! And now Elizabeth is here! Anyway! I am going to SHUT it down!"
Rusty stared at the Fat Controller in wonder. "...That's a really stupid decision, sir."
"DON'T YOU QUESTION MY CHOICES, YOUNG...DIESEL! I AM SIR TOPHAM HATT! I MAKE ONLY THE BEST CHOICES." The Fat Controller turned on his heel and walked straight into one of his many bodyguards. "AND THIS IS WHY I'M CUTTING YOUR PAY!"
"You don't pay us sir."
"SEMANTICS."
"...What will Rheneas and Skarloey do? I mean, since you're effectively closing down one of the most profitable sides of the Island's business because you're feeling petty and such?"
"DON'T BACKCHAT ME...they're coming to work with you! Yeah! That's a great idea! I'm so CLEVER!" And as he had made his mind up, there was nothing that Rusty could do other than wait for the inevitable moment of horrified realization that happened so often with Sir Topham.
...
Sure enough, the line was closed down rather unceremoniously. And so the two engines came to work at the quarry, where they promptly made Rusty's life incredibly hard to deal with. They worked as hard as they could, but they missed the forests and hills and breweries (That one was more Skarloey to be fair) and most of all, their passengers! For how else were they to earn a steady income?
Rusty was not blind, so they could see that they were not happy.
And because they really didn't need more miserable engines around them, the little diesel came up with an idea. So when the Fat Controller arrived, they put their plan into action.
"Right Rusty! We're going to blasting for the next two weeks! ...For what, I'm not sure. It's just one of those things. So...SHOVE OFF! I'll find you other work."
"How?"
"How?"
"Yes, I said how. Because you've shut down everywhere else we can go. Except for Crovan's Gate, which you still haven't cleared up yet!"
"Ah." Hatt was now keenly aware of what a big mistake he had made. And not just from the massive row with his economist who, having seen the transaction between Gullane and HIT, had nearly ended his own life there and then.
"So how about we try this on for size? We vacate this area here for you to begin the blasting. Meantime, we head back up to Skarloey and Rheneas's line, and we try and repair the line. Both of us win!"
"And there are plenty of line-workers available!" said Rusty's driver, choosing now to be helpful, for once.
"...Two weeks to complete the job!"
As they left, the Fat Controller tried very hard not to panic over the thought of what the hell would happen if they failed to complete the mission in the allotted time. He'd have no real reason to re-open the line then. He put that aside, and focused on beginning the expansion of the slate quarry. He was thinking of removing the old incline and putting in something a bit more modern. Like a lift.
He was already thinking about renaming the place too. Incline Quarry was too generic.
Now Blue Mountain Quarry, on the other hand...
...
As has been mentioned before, the damage inflicted on the line by the Battle of Sodor was catastrophic. As also mentioned before, many of the stations had had to close up shop so as to begin the restoration process. But there were still stations that were open, mostly in the mountain and valley areas. It was on those lines that the three engines set to work. Rocks and branches had covered the tracks, the result of the many storms that had happened in the past few years. The trucks were also bent out of shape, and in some cases had come apart.
And as if the next fortnight wasn't going to be hard enough, Elizabeth the Quarry Lorry had to come down and tell everyone how she thought this was a waste of her time. "WHAT A WASTE OF MY TIME!" She huffed.
Skarloey was beginning to get hungry again. "She's not wrong. In two weeks? We've got more chance of getting Duncan to the Eisteddfod than fixing this up!"
"Well we can't just give up! At least if we do our best, no one can say we couldn't try!"
At which point, the Skarloey Bridge collapsed under Rheneas's weight.
"RHENEAS! ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!"
"...YesI'mstillalive." growled Rheneas through gritted teeth.
As they worked to get Rheneas out, the two of them worked harder than ever elsewhere. But time, as it often does, was running out. And it was only as they began to move logs from a section of track that overlooked the picnic area by Skarloey Lake that Rusty hit open a rather clever idea.
In earshot of Elizabeth, the little diesel remarked innocently. "Phew! Hot work this! If only we had a LORRY to help us." They watched in amusement as Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks, then hurriedly backed up.
"SPEAK UP! ...I'm a quarry lorry! Can't possibly help you!"
"Ah, but it is a special kind of lorry that we need, I suppose."
"I AM A SPECIAL TYPE! ONE OF A KIND!"
"It requires hauling-"
"I can haul with the best of them!"
"-and pulling heavy branches-"
"NEVER MET A BRANCH I COULDN'T PULL! MUCH LIKE A MAN."
"-so you'll do it?"
"Of course, you idiot! I wasn't born yesterday, you know!"
"No one could ever make that mistake, madame." said Skarloey, gravely.
Over the next week or so, Elizabeth was as good as her word. While Rusty and the others worked on fixing the actual line itself, she hauled rubbish, pulled branches, fixed jams and basically was actually useful for once. She even removed a fallen sycamore tree from the Cattle Creek, which was helpful for the farmers,, and even more helpful for the engines. Tea breaks were important, after all.
"Ta, Elizabeth!" said Rusty, over their copy of the Sudrian Times. "Couldn't have done it without you!"
"I KNOW!"
"Ah, she's all right for an old bat, isn't she?"
"Said the kettle to the pot, Skarloey?"
...
The Fat Controller inspected the line. He was both impressed and relieved, massively. "Well done Rusty! And you, Elizabeth! Try not to look so smug."
"OI! WHAT ABOUT US!?"
Hatt ignored the Welsh wonders. "Now, let's get this line open!" He watched as Rusty beamed, and Skarloey and Rheneas nodded knowingly. "Maybe now you'll have time to work at the quarry!"
"Maybe now you'll actually learn to keep better care of your line!" said Rusty through a massive smile.
...
"Hi, Britt, just letting you know that there's been a slight change of plan.
For the most part, we're going to be taking over branding and such. Everything's going to be HIT Entertainment approved...save for the actual production, the company handling that is a recent offshoot of a new shareholder's own company. We have mutually agreed to work together. We get credit, he gets to fulfill a life long dream, everyone's a winner!
Uh, for the record, it's called Zed-Industries. Hope you get along! He's a real rogue!"
Britt nodded and sighed at the chairman's message.
Tomorrow was going to be the hardest sale of her life.
...
The thing that had once been 87546 looked in the mirror and sighed.
The fact of the matter was that being the Juggernaut was not something anyone should have to deal with. At least, not in the form that Truro had taken the project in. The technology itself was Soviet in origin, and considering how harsh 40's Russia was, it was impressive that the Brits had managed to make it even worse. In order for the armor to move as part of the engine, his body had to be synced up to the armor. Which meant removing things like nerves, and veins, and connecting them up to cold hard metal, so that it could truly BE an extension of himself.
And that wasn't even getting into what had happened to his face.
Truro had used him and his friend like a pair of hunting dogs. And the time had been where that had bothered him.
Not any more. Emotions were burned out now.
All that he could think of now was making sure that everything went according to plan.
What the Malignance had planned was, quite simply, breathtaking.
"Juggernaut!"
"...Sir."
"Deal with the Duchess. Permanently."
Ah.
And so the hunt began.
So yeah. A bit of foreshadowing there.
Obviously, the Incline Quarry makes several appearances throughout the next few seasons. So I'm not suggesting that it was turned into the Blue Mountain Quarry overnight, or indeed over the next year or so. But laying down the ground work is important, and is something that Thomas doesn't do much any more. Besides, once we reach CGI, it disappears near completely, so...yeah, I think it's justified.
Next time, we finish off Season 6, and after taking a quick detour into the lives of the Pack. we get down to the business of ending the Classic Era.
I'm just as sad as you are.