Chapter Two: Corridor Calamity

Due to the fact that Henry and Helen had chosen not to speak up about Spencer, Gordon had been led to believe that Spencer could be a role model for him. Spencer told Gordon many stories of when he and the other Silver A4's would pull the Silver Jubilee across the region, and Gordon would recount his own stories to Spencer too, particularly when he was rebuilt to A3 specs when he went to Crewe in the late 30's. Spencer figured he'd talk to Gordon about a few of his own beliefs early the next morning after his arrival.

"How often do you pull the express, Gordon?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm the main express engine, of course. Sure, Helen, Henry, the diesels, and even James help at times, but I'm always the first choice, so to speak."

"Doesn't surprise me in the slightest… You are the one that meets the requirements of a true express train the best."

"Well yes, though I must admit the others I mentioned have done a good job as well. They get the job done, and that's what's most important."

"You have been away from the LNER too long…" said Spencer observingly. "You should have seen how our brothers whizzed across the region."

"Really?"

"Really really. Why, even before Mallard took the record, my colleague on the Silver Jubilee runs, Silver Link, reached a speed of 112 miles per hour. Imagine that on this island!"

"I… Must admit." said Gordon awestruck, "I've never gone that fast before myself before. Do you think you could go that speed?"

"Do I think? I've gone that speed many times myself on the LNER, if not more. Heck, I still go at least 70 or so on the rail tours I do with the duke occasionally."

"That's quite remarkable, Spencer! I can see you've still got speed in your system"

"Yes…" said Spencer, "It's just a shame your friends can't see that."

"What do you mean?" asked Gordon. Spencer looked around to make sure nobody was watching. "Well, you see… Before you came into the yard yesterday, Henry was having a go at me."

"He what?!" said Gordon

"Yes," said Spencer, "He seemed to be grumbling dreadfully about some sort of nonsense that I wasn't able to catch, and when I tried talking to him, he had a go at me, saying I was not welcome in the sheds and that I was basically an alien to him."

"Henry?! Said that to you?! I don't believe it…"

"Neither did I…" sighed Spencer sadly, "All I did was ask him if he was feeling alright and then… I don't know, maybe he just doesn't like my class."

"Regardless…" said Gordon, he had fallen for Spencer's lie, "He should show more respect to you, you are our guest and even helped him when his injector failed the other day! I'll have to confront him later."

"Thanks, Gordon… Though you really don't have to" said Spencer

"Yes… I do." said Gordon. "Well, I've got to go now. Nice talking to you Spencer, see you later!"

"See you later, Gordon…" laughed Spencer darkly. Soon, Helen and James were fired up and prepared for their jobs of the day. Gordon had already left with the Wild 'Nor Wester and Henry with the Flying Kipper, so Helen and James took their turns dealing with Spencer's ego.

"Is it really true what I heard, that when Gordon is unavailable, two of the other options for the express are an antique Star class and a Mogul?"

"We have more experience pulling the Express than you have!" argued James.

"Do you have corridors on your tenders?" asked Spencer.

"... What's a corridor?" James asked, confused.

Some of the Gresley engines had corridors added to their tenders. These mean that the tenders have a passageway on one side to allow an extra crew to ride the trains so that they could take over quite easily without stopping the train. These came in handy in the old days of the London and North Eastern's "Flying Scotsman" service, a 632 Kilometer run. On a small island like Sodor, they weren't deemed necessary, but the way Spencer talked, you would have thought they had them for quite another reason.

"Corridors are much more efficient!" he continued, "You two should get one like me and be more of a 'Proper' Express engine! Even Flying Scotsman has one."

"Efficient, you say?" said Helen thoughtfully, she whispered something to James and they both sniggered.

"Well Spencer…" began Helen, "If you believe that you're more efficient at us than express trains, why don't you pull the Limited in my place today?"

"Would you really?!" Spencer said, excitedly.

"Of course! Rosie's shunting the coaches right now, and you can go and get them. I'll look after James' goods."

"You sure?" asked James.

"I like a quiet run every once in a while, don't worry." smiled Helen. "As for you Spencer…" she continued, "See if you can beat my usual time."

"Go on…" said Spencer, most intrigued.

"I always leave at 9:00 AM" explained Helen, "And I make every scheduled stop on the Limited. Usually, I reach the last station at 12:00PM, and once I turn around and get refueled, I make my return journey at 1:00PM. Think you can beat that time?"

"Of course!" laughed Spencer, "This'll be a synch! I don't even have to try!"

They spoke to their crews and they agreed. Spencer was delighted when he backed down onto his coaches, ready to show off!

"Now this is my kind of style!" he said as the guard blew his whistle, and Spencer set off. Spencer didn't go as fast as he had hoped to, since the island wasn't as long as the mainland, there was no need for him to get up to the triple digits. This would be far from his troubles, however, as once he reached Edward's Station, he had to be stopped.

"What's the holdup?!" asked Spencer.

"Derek's broken down on the junction" explained the signalman.

"I'm so sorry, Silver-"

"SPENCER!"

"Sorry, Spencer, something's wrong with my camshaft! Hopefully Edward will be here soon."

Edward soon came to push Derek off the mainline.

"Honestly…" Groaned Spencer as he watched the operation, "This railway's way too problematic for my liking. You've got insufficient engines pulling express trains and a lemon breaking down on a branch line? I'd better make up for lost time…"

"You know something, Spencer?" asked Edward, quietly.

"What?" replied Spencer.

"In all my years of experience, I've learned a name for engines like you. We call them bigots, and when they come to this railway they don't stay for very long."

Spencer said nothing as he puffed away. In truth, Spencer was only 10 minutes late when he reached the last station, but to Spencer, this was more than enough for him to be in a hurry.

"Uncouple me as fast as you can!" he barked at the shunter.

The shunter, who hadn't any experience with corridor tenders, didn't realize that the corridor on the tender had clips that attach it to the corridors on the coaches. As a result, because Spencer was barking at him to uncouple quickly and not knowing this, he forgot to remove the clips.

"Alright driver, now let's get on that turntable!" shouted Spencer, not noticing the shunter's mistake.

Then, everything seemed to happen at once. One moment, Spencer moved slowly forward, the next, he could hear the coach behind him screaming in pain as he ripped the corridor clean off!

"Ooohhhh! My corridor!" screamed the coach, and the others quivered in fright. Spencer was most shocked to see the wreckage.

"I'm really sorry…" said the Shunter sheepishly, "I didn't know anything about corridor tenders."

"That's alright." sighed the Fat Controller. "You both just made a mistake, that's all."

But the coaches were too frightened of Spencer now.

"We won't go with engines that will pull us apart! We want a new one at once!"

The only other engine present was Henry, so he took the return train. Spencer, meanwhile, had to take the damaged coach to the works. The coach would have to get a new corridor built, and Spencer's corridor had to be inspected as well.

"Your lucky day, Silver Fox!" said one of the workmen, "Your corridor's only a bit bent out of shape. We'll be able to take care of that very shortly, and you'll be on your way back."

"I hope that Henry will keep his smokebox shut about this…" said Spencer darkly.

But it was too late. Henry told everyone all about the accident. James and Helen thought it most hilarious when they found out! They couldn't stop teasing Spencer when he returned to the sheds that night.

"Well, well, well!" laughed James, "I knew corridors were efficient, Spencer, but I didn't think that it meant you also had the ability to pull coaches apart!"

"Now you see, Spencer…" smiled Helen, "That 'Slow and steady', wins the race."

Gordon was a little more sympathetic.

"You'll get it right next time." he smiled to Spencer, "Besides, it wasn't entirely your fault. Just remember that most of us here don't have Corridors and we don't really need them."

Spencer, meanwhile, wanted to pay the other three engines out. Then, he remembered something… He remembered the story of how Henry had originally been a faulty one-off engine, built from stolen blueprints by none other than Sir Nigel Gresley, and the fact that the only way to get Henry functioning like a normal engine was to get a rebuild at Crewe… Soon… Spencer had an idea on how he could start with Henry.

"Yes…" He said to himself darkly when everyone else was asleep, "I'll do it tomorrow."

To be continued...