3 Months had passed since Emily had her accident. For a while after she returned to work, nothing unusual happened. Even so, she still wasn't on speaking terms with Lily: the latter confessed directly to the Stirling about what she had done and even apologised. Normally not one to hold a grudge, Emily was upset that Lily would endanger the passengers out of pettiness, and considering the fact Lily was still arrogant, she decided Lily didn't actually deserve forgiveness. Consequently, determined to stay as far away from her as possible, Emily started sleeping at Crovan's Gate instead of Vicarstown.
It was during one of these stays that Emily, while moving into a siding for the night, ended up bumping into a truck she had never seen before: it looked like a flatbed, but there was a wide hole in the middle of it. The wheels also seemed to be covered, and there were chains.
"What exactly is this truck?" she asked.
"No idea," admitted the driver. "Never seen one like this before. Let's ask Skarloey."
Emily buffered up to the truck and brought it over to the Transfer Siding, blowing her whistle to alert Skarloey. Skarloey opened a sleepy eye.
"Good evening, Emily," he yawned. "What bri…WELL I'LL BE DING-DONG-DANGED!" Skarloey wasn't sleepy now! "Where on Earth did you find that thing?!"
"I found it in a siding here," Emily replied. "I was hoping you'd know what it is."
"Of course I do!" said Skarloey brightly. "It's my old haulage wagon! Oh, I've not seen that thing since the Sodor and Mainland closed fourteen years ago!"
"Haulage wagon?" Emily asked. "Yours?"
"That's right: as you know, the Sodor and Mainland sold two of its locomotives in the 1890s, Neil ended up joining the Crovan's Gate Mining Company, the other was scrapped. This left a huge lack of motive power when an emergency arose, such as an engine needing repairs. That wagon you have there was the solution: when the emergency arose, I would be placed into it and take the standard gauge trucks carrying the copper, and later slate, down to Kirk Ronan. Rheneas couldn't use it: he's too long. Yes, the journeys were slow and it wore me out, but at least it kept the trains running."
"So why was it stored in Crovan's Gate?" Emily asked.
"Well, once the S&M went bankrupt, there wasn't much use for it," Skarloey answered. "A third rail was built to allow me to make the journeys down there without needing the wagon. Besides, there are now bigger and stronger engines that can handle covering for Neil better than I ever could. I assumed this wagon had been scrapped."
"Do you want it back?" asked Emily.
"No need," said Skarloey. "You can keep it: you'll probably find more use for it than I ever could."
"Well, thank you Skarloey," said Emily with a smile. "I promise to take great care of it!" And with that, Emily returned to the shed she was sleeping in.
Skarloey was right, Emily did find plenty of uses for the Haulage Wagon: for starters, passengers could put their luggage in it. The wagon could also be used to carry parcels and tools. Emily found it could even be used to stop other engines from bumping into her, accidentally or not. She took it everywhere, and would sing its praises to everyone else. The only engine who showed any vocal opposition was, of course, Lily.
"I don't see what on Earth is so special," she huffed one night. "It's just an old dirty wagon."
"Hey, show respect!" Emily snapped. "This wagon helped keep the Sodor and Mainland going!"
"Not for very long, though, did it?" snorted Lily. "And I don't see how a little engine like Skarloey could even haul heavy trucks."
"I hauled you easily," said Thomas cheekily.
"You were just lucky!" Lily snapped.
"At least this wagon has more manners than you ever will," said Emily.
In spite of her praise of it, the wagon also had problems: for starters, since it wasn't built to help with passenger trains, the wagon only had handbrakes. This meant Emily had to either have it in front of her or at the rear of the train, otherwise, the brake pipe between Emily and the coaches couldn't be connected. When it was the latter, she would have to shunt it onto the other end of the train every time she arrived at either Tidmouth or Vicarstown, resulting in her having to rush to make up for any time lost. Thus, she decided to settle for pushing it in front of her. The only downside to this was teasing from some of the other engines. Emily brushed it off: at least it didn't block her view.
Rheneas, on the other hand, didn't like her showing it off.
"What right does Emily have to flash around that wagon like it's a Royal Saloon?" he grumbled to Skarloey. "Wagons should be treated with respect, not shown off."
"You only say that out of jealousy," grinned Skarloey. "After all, YOU are way too long for it."
"Jealous? Of you? You wish," scoffed Rheneas. "Pah! I much prefer sticking to my own rails, thank you."
"Besides, I don't see what the big deal is," said Skarloey. "Vehicles are meant to be useful, and that's what Emily's helping the wagon do. We should be thankful it managed to find a new use rather than be cut up for scrap."
"I'm surprised you aren't showing so much concern," said Rheneas. "Aren't you afraid your wagon will get damaged?"
"It's Emily's wagon now," said Skarloey. "If she wants to damage it, she's allowed to do so."
"At least she's not one of those Ypres Poisoners," said Rheneas. "They'd really have done damage to it."
"I doubt poison gas would affect a haulage wagon that much," said Skarloey. "And hey, at least we drove the Germans away that time. It was all over the radio when it was over."
Lily did not change her opinion of the wagon and would taunt it every chance she got. Emily ignored these taunts of course, but Lily was determined to find a way to prove it was useless. She thought about how so much that she wasn't focused on her own work.
It all came to a head when Lily ended up breaking a cylinder when she tried to leave Ballahoo with a stopping train one afternoon.
"Well that's torn it," said the driver. "We won't be going anywhere now. We'll have to call for help."
Emily was waiting at Crovan's Gate when the call came in.
"Right, I'll get her at once!" she declared.
"Sorry Emily, no can do," said the driver. "We're due to leave with our express soon."
"Surely they can call on another engine from Vicarstown to take over!" Emily pointed out.
"All engines are busy elsewhere I'm afraid," said the stationmaster. "Even Thomas: he was needed to cover for Neil: collapsed firebars I believe."
"Well what else am I supposed to do?!" Emily shouted angrily. "I can't just abandon Lily!"
"You can't abandon your passengers either," Skarloey pointed out. "Helping others is important, and passengers are others."
Emily sighed, and looked down. That's when it hit her.
"Stationmaster," she said, "I think I have an idea."
Skarloey, realising what she was getting at, gave a smile.
Lily waited impatiently for what seemed like hours. Eventually, a whistle was heard.
"That sounds like Skarloey," she puffed. "But it can't be: Skarloey's too small to run on these rails!" But it WAS Skarloey: riding on his haulage wagon, the old engine buffered up to Lily.
"Gotten yourself into trouble, have you?" he asked. "I'm very surprised: I thought modern engines like you never got into any trouble."
Lily growled, but didn't reply.
"Nevermind, dear Lily: we'll have you under way in no time."
"You can't: you're too small to pull this heavy train."
"We'll see about that," smirked Skarloey. "We mustn't let our passengers down. They'll get there late or burst." He was coupled on and began to pull. Puffing hard, the Little Old Engine got the train underway.
It was hard work, particularly when rain started to fall, but Skarloey struggled on.
"I can do it…I can do it…" he panted. Lily didn't say anything: she tried to help, but her broken cylinder meant she couldn't do much. It was heavy work for the narrow gauge engine, but wheel turn-by-wheel turn, he struggled on. The work was hard and Skarloey found it very tiring to keep turning his wheels. But he did. And another. And another. Finally, after what seemed like hours…
"I've got there at last!" he declared, pulling into Crovan's Gate exhausted but triumphant. Edward happened to be nearby, staring in shock. "Not bad for a useless wagon, eh, Lily?" Skarloey teased the Dreadnought. Lily didn't say anything, too taken aback in admiration.
"Second time I've been rescued by a tank engine," she muttered to herself. Skarloey basked in the admiration of the passengers for a while, pleased to at least be able to make it, then was uncoupled and pushed Lily into a siding. Edward took over the train while Skarloey steamed himself back to the transfer siding to be returned to his own rails.
Later on, Emily came to see Lily.
"So that haulage wagon wasn't so useless after all, I take it," said Emily.
"No," Lily admitted. "It wasn't. I'm sorry for doubting you."
"That's alright," said Emily. "I'm sorry too: I shouldn't have assumed you hadn't changed. You definitely wouldn't have apologised last year. You know what Lily? I forgive you."
The engines sat there, smiling in silence. After a long few months of animosity towards each other, they couldn't just become friends now, but they were happy to at least be on good terms, and to no longer be rivals trying to outdo each other.
(Notes: Yep! We are aware the last bit of this chapter is recycled. To be honest with you, our dear readers, we have great plans, but those will take time to implement. So, we decided to make a fun little chapter that showcases the advancing relationships between our cast, while also being based on a fun fact we found about. Yes, this can be considered filler, but we're sure it's an enjoyable chapter nonetheless. Please leave a review, and thus, your opinion)