The newest Great Western Engine, Lady of Legend or Tydfil struggles with her identity after learning her origins. Truro tries to assist her but finds that his issues are getting in the way and causing other Great Westerns to doubt his role as Ambassador.
Tornado, now a confident young teenager grows evermore boisterous and brash, however concerningly also more arrogant much to the dismay of Flying Scotsman and her Trust. She soon finds out that she may be biting off more than she can chew when trying to do what she thinks is the right thing.
Green Arrow helps Edward reconnect with his Furness roots and unwillingly befriends a diesel.
This fic makes a lot of references to the previous entries in the series, so reading the previous series is advised. A few characters going forward have quite colourful language so something to be aware of.
Young Iron Series Order:
A Bad Day
Young Iron
Green with Envy
A Golden Soul
This is set several months after the events of Young Iron - A Golden Soul.
1 - The Trouble with Peppercorns
"What's with the face Arrow?" Douglas asked as he happened upon Green Arrow awaiting his long heavy goods train at Barrow-in-Furness. "Yer be looking like someone's fallen off the viaduct!"
Arrow sighed and gazed at the Scottish engine with an exhausted look on his face.
"Well, falling off the viaduct would arguably be less of a hassle than it would be to deal with those two little gremlins," He growled in a low voice, dreading his goods train's destination.
Douglas looked at him sympathetically.
"Ah yes, the Bagnall Bees," he remarked. "Good luck with that laddie. Yer gonna need it."
"I know, I know," Arrow sighed resigned to his fate. "How's your brother? Is he alright? I heard he derailed near Arlesdale a week ago."
"Ah, he's fine! Mostly bruised ego y'know? You know how that track was getting bad? Duck'd been complaining about it for years now," Douglas explained. "Hopefully they'll finally pay attention and get us some new track."
"I doubt it," Arrow muttered. "I'm not even allowed near there, my pilot wheels are too sensitive."
"Was wondering why you never went up that way," Douglas mused. "Seems like you would seeing as yer best friends with Duck."
"Oliver is best friends with Duck," Arrow corrected but Douglas scoffed at him.
"An engine can have more than one best friend," he pointed out but Arrow just hummed to himself, deep in thought.
He was staring at the railway station thoughtfully. It was rather small and it wasn't grand like Vicarstown but it was functional and appropriate. The famous old glasshouse where Furness No.3 Coppernob had long since gone.
"Coppernob's glasshouse used to stand around here," Arrow recalled. "I wonder if they miss being here on their old stomping ground?"
"Yer seen them at the museum, why don't you ask them?" Douglas pointed out.
Arrow sighed.
"They wouldn't bother with me," Arrow looked at his buffers sadly. "No one else does."
"That's a shame," Douglas observed. "If yer look past some of the annoying things yer do and get past that block you put up against people yer dunno know, yer quite affable."
"Affable."
"Yer know, easy to get along with," Douglas explained.
"I know what it means I just never saw myself as 'affable'," Arrow clarified. "I always thought no one wanted to bother with silly me so I never really reached out, I just did my jobs. Well, that and spread rumours about people and be awful I guess."
"Stop it with putin' yerself down is no good!" Douglas complained to him. "Yer sound like Edward! Never thinking he be worth a damn when he be one of the best engines on the railway!"
Arrow smiled at Douglas, appreciating his kind words.
"Well, despite the initial hazing I had when I came here, I've started to enjoy the railway, reminds me of the old days with my siblings you know?"
"Sodor's good like that," Douglas grinned at the V2. "Anyway, gotta deliver this coal or the big man's going to get upset, you know?"
"Yes, yes, I apologise for keeping you Douglas," Arrow apologised. "Safe travels."
"You too young laddie," Douglas laughed and Arrow huffed.
"I'm not young!" He shouted to the back of Douglas's train.
"Yes, yer are!" Douglas laughed as his train disappeared into the distance.
Green Arrow pouted as he stared at the back of his break van.
"Alright, we're good to go!" He heard his driver, Gabriel, call to him as he climbed back on board.
"Urgh, do I have to go to the clay pits?" Green Arrow complained and Gabriel chuckled.
"Afraid so."
Green Arrow hissed excess steam and began to pull forward, all the while grumbling to himself about two small yellow-orange Bagnall Tank engines that would most certainly give him a 'warm' welcome.
"You want to put Gordon on the Touring racket?" Sir Topham Hatt asked bewildered.
"I do indeed!" Lady Olivia Gresley smiled. "He's one of the most requested engines by other railways. All the preservation railways want him or Henry to visit to drive up interest. Rail tourism has sadly been dying these past few decades."
Sir Topham leaned back in his chair surprised. He looked out of his office window, watching James and Toby having a with each other on the platform.
He sighed.
"Gordon's a fickle engine," Sir Topham finally replied after a while. "He doesn't like change. He thrives on routine as much as he wishes to be famous. The run of the Flying Scotsman he did drain him significantly. Rebecca had to cover his express as well as her duties for a week after."
"Rebecca?" Olivia asked, confused.
"Tangmere," Sir Topham clarified.
Olivia nodded and followed his gaze out of the window. Toby had since left and James was now singing to himself happily as he waited for passengers.
"It's up to Gordon of course," Olivia firmly stated. "We won't force him to do something he doesn't want to do. We will tailor any tour to his needs but if he refuses then he's well within his right."
"Just so," Sir Topham agreed. "Well, the good news is that Henry already regularly goes to the mainland so it wouldn't be out of the question for him to have some excursions and meet his siblings."
"The Black Fives are a tight group, it's good they accepted Henry no questions asked," Olivia pondered. "Shame about Biggin Hill though."
"Yes, Henry has asked me not to invite her back," Sir Topham frowned. "Caused too much conflict between himself and the other engines."
"She's always been like that."
"Thomas threatened to replace her coal with Kippers after she made one too many snide comments about Gordon," Sir Topham chuckled and Olivia laughed.
"That reminds me, Stepney invited Thomas to visit the Bluebell if he's available," Olivia suddenly informed him.
"Did he now? That cheeky little Terrier."
"I think he wants Thomas to meet Fenchurch if I'm being honest. It's very cute, " Olivia admitted. "But by all means, Sir Topham, any of your engines are more than welcome to come to rail events."
"I think with everything that happened with Mallard, a lot of them are just happy to go back to a normal working day," Sir Topham admitted.
Olivia nodded, however, there was a darkness behind her eyes. Losing Mallard had been regrettable but after many deliberations and board meetings they had found it to be the only outcome that would have prevented even more carnage and death.
Flying Scotsman hadn't spoken of the incident aside from providing a statement to the board and asking for the whole thing to be kept closed and treated with respect.
Olivia knew that the incident haunted him though. He was a gentle soul taking Mallard's soul was distressing for him despite him knowing it was the only way to protect others.
Still, Mallard's now empty shell had drawn a lot of ire and rumour among the other engines of the collection. Hamilton had been particularly devastated but did accept it. Mallard's remaining sister however was not taking it well if her owners were to be believed.
She stared at Sir Topham blankly before redirecting the conversation elsewhere.
"How's the lovely Lady of Legend? Is she doing well learning the ropes?" Olivia asked and Sir Topham gave a long deep sigh.
"She's… um, an interesting engine," he admitted hesitantly.
Olivia laughed. "Just say she's horrible!"
"No, no, no, she has some good traits," Sir Topham argued but Olivia just raised her eyebrow at him.
"Like what?"
"Um."
"Go on."
Sir Topham sighed and rubbed his face in frustration.
"Alright, she's a handful," he finally admitted. "If the City of Truro wasn't here to reign her in I don't know what I would do!"
Sir Topham gave a frustrated grunt and looked at Olivia who gazed ahead, not seeing him.
"From what I hear from Director Parsons, Lady of Legend was sheltered by the King Edward's in an attempt to bring Maindy Hall back," Olivia muttered. "It was cruel and she didn't develop her skills or her own identity because of it. If she is to learn then I think there's no better place than Sodor."
"Doesn't mean we have to tolerate such behaviour," Sir Topham scoffed and Olivia nodded.
"I never expected you to," Olivia clarified. "But she does need to learn how to get on with others and Sodor tends to teach engines how to."
Sir Topham looked at her thoughtfully and nodded to the Museum director.
"You do make a valid point, maybe I should let Edward have a shot at reeling the girl in," he suggested.
"The Furness?"
"That's the one, he's the first engine that my great-great Grandfather owned that wasn't a coffee pot," Sir Topham explained. "He's been here almost as long as the Railway has. He laid down the very foundations as it were."
"There's so few Furness' left, I'm surprised that he doesn't get the recognition he deserves."
"Oh he does, he just doesn't like the attention. He tends to hate it when the Furness Society comes along now and again," Sir Topham said sadly. "He thinks other engines are more important and tries to put them before himself."
Olivia looked thoughtful for a long moment.
"I know that face," Sir Topham looked worried. "What are you thinking?"
Olivia looked flustered for a second but then smiled.
"I was just thinking, you need a few more displays in the museum," she said coyly. "And I have someone from the collection in mind."
Sir Topham raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing.
He knew exactly who the woman was referring to.
"That's Sir Robert's little project, not mine," he said. "But I'll let him know."
"Wonderful! Now, if you don't mind me taking a goods train to Brendam Docks, I want to greet Flying Scotsman's presents for his 100th," Olivia said with finality to her voice as she stood up and moved to leave Sir Topham's office.
"Greet his presents?" Sir Topham questioned but the woman was already out of the door and had grabbed her coat from her assistant, North, who had been waiting outside the office the entire time. "What do you mean?"
Olivia just gave him a cheeky wink and smiled at him.
"Come and find out," was all she said before walking off, North at her heels.
Sir Topham frowned before relenting and locking his office before hurrying after the woman.
"Surprised to find you here old man," Boco called to Edward playfully as the Sudrian number 2 pulled into the Clay Pits with a long train of empty trucks. "Where's Bill and Ben?"
"Helping Mavis and Marion with a new cut at Ffarqhar quarry," Edward said cheerily. "You'll have to put up with myself and Bear for a week I'm afraid."
Boco rolled his eyes and Edward stared at him.
"I'm not that bad now am I?" The blue engine asked half-jokingly.
"No, no, it's not you Edward, it's Bear. He can be a bit… much," Boco admitted and Edward chuckled.
"He loves steam engines, he's just excited to be working on a railway where there are so many," Edward explained but Boco just looked at him exasperated.
"Alright then, why don't you go and work with him for an afternoon, see how that goes," Boco offered and Edward just chuckled.
"I have, many times," the Blue Engine explained. "He's alright just a bit enthusiastic, that's all. It's harmless if very annoying."
"So you admit he's annoying."
Edward just looked at Boco quizzically.
"I admit that it can be grating sometimes, but everyone has things unpleasant about them," Edward spoke evenly.
"I just point it out because you never complain about anyone at all, even when they're pissing you off," Boco commented.
"It's rude to take about people in unflattering ways Boco, I find it incredibly distasteful," Edward explained as he uncoupled his trucks and turned around to rest beside his diesel friend. "I assumed you would be the same."
"I more or less am, but I've rarely heard you say a bad thing about anyone, not even the twins. You have the tolerance of a literal Saint."
"It's just how I am I guess," Edward smiled at him. "I have more trucks to fetch, I'll be seeing you later."
"Later Eddie!" Boco called after him.
The Class 28 watched the steam engine as he disappeared into the distance before hurrying about his duties.
"Good Morning Stepney!" Fenchurch's cheery voice called out to his fellow Terrier. "It's good to see you up and about!"
Stepney laughed. "Well, it's not every day we get an A4 Pacific visiting now do we old friend?"
"Excuse me?" A woman's voice called to both of the Terrier's and they both looked to the platform to find a silver-haired woman in engineer overalls and a fluorescent safety shirt standing with her arms crossed and glaring at them.
"I meant in the metal Ms Balgair," Stepney imparted to the woman with a warm smile. "Nothing against your gentle soul."
The woman, Ms Balgair gave a soft giggle and gave Stepney a gentle pat on one of his side tanks.
"I know Stepney, just winding you up," she smiled at him. "Hello, Fen! You're looking extra shiny today!"
"A great compliment coming from someone who was a shiny silver engine such as yourself," Fenchurch complimented. "It's good to see you too Silver Fox."
Ms Balgair just waved her hand dismissively to the little orange Terrier.
"Stop Fenn dear, you're too kind!" She laughed at him.
"Do you know which of your siblings is visiting?" Stepney asked and Silver Fox pondered thoughtfully.
"I asked Rooster and he said Spencer," Silver Fox answered. "But I heard that Sir Nigel and Union were also touring so I'm not sure."
Fenchurch cleared his smokebox loudly and looked away from Silver Fox.
"I mean no offence Ms Balgair, but I really hope that it's not Union," he stated. "Last time she was here she was very rude about our Atlantic project and treated the little engines like garbage."
"No offence taken," Silver Fox assured Fenchurch. "Union has always been a horrible uptight bitch to everyone, it's no secret that she's hard to get along with."
Stepney yawned, still waking up for the morning.
"Too long in the shed?" Silver Fox asked. "It's been a while since our last run."
"It has hasn't it?"
"We'll just wait for the fireman to change into his overalls and we'll take a little wander around the railway shall we?"
"That sounds delightful Ms Balgair!" Stepney exclaimed excitedly and Silver Fox chuckled.
Stepney was such a little positive engine, always happy to help a friend in need and more than pleased to offer his assistance.
"You're always happy all the time Stepney, how do you do it?" She remarked.
"I just am," Stepney explained. "I don't know, I guess I don't let bad things get the better of me."
Silver Fox nodded at the orange Terrier.
"I wish I had that outlook on life but it's hard," she reflected. "You make it look so easy though."
"Sometimes it isn't but I'm glad it comes off that way," Stepney smiled. "I know it annoys Fen sometimes."
"It shouldn't be possible for someone to be that happy all the time," Fenchurch muttered. "But I do appreciate it."
Stepney beamed happily and his paint seemed to glow along with his smile.
"Do you think Flying Scotsman will come back for his 100th?" He asked happily.
"He was just here!" Fenchurch pointed out.
"Yes but Ms Balgair wasn't here then, she was helping Rooster out on his farm!" Stepney argued. "Don't you want to see your old friend again Ms Balgair?"
Silver Fox stared at Stepney for a moment, her mind going over a million things before she turned to the fireman who was coming out of the toilets, all dressed up in his work clothes.
"Ah, Mr Freeman! It's good to see you it's been a while!" She greeted him enthusiastically.
Stepney and Fenchurch glanced at each other but said nothing.
"Any particular reason why you're stalking me, Blue Peter?" Tornado demanded with one eye open, glaring at the A2 Peppercorn with disgust in her gaze.
The A2 was sitting on a siding near the Trust's workshop where the P2 Mikado Prince of Wales or Charlie was being built. Tornado often came by and hung around to visit him or greet visitors if she had an off day from tours and was close by.
She'd been napping outside when she'd been awoken by Blue Peter pulling into a nearby siding.
"I am not stalking you," Blue Peter insisted but Tornado just frowned.
"Funny because you don't usually call Darlington your home base, not even when you were sweet to me as a baby," she pointed out. "Now cut to the chase, are you still wanting my approval of your apology so the Duchess can invite you back into her good graces?"
Blue Peter gazed at his cousin.
"Duchess seems to think I need it," Peter scoffed. "She favours you for some reason."
Tornado yawned and shook the sleep from her boiler.
"How about you stop chasing the approval of the 'high class' engines and just be yourself?" Tornado suggested. "It's sad seeing you act like some kind of lapdog for other engines."
"We engines have a society!" Blue Peter snapped defensively. "One built of tradition and history! Not that a scruffy new build like you would understand!"
Tornado just sighed and rolled her eyes at her cousin.
"You're so boring," she muttered and closed her eyes to go back to her nap. "So frightened of change and new things. That's sad."
Blue Peter glared at Tornado but the A1 Peppercorn seemed not at all bothered as she eased herself back to sleep.
"If you must stay here then I ask that you don't disrupt my sleep," Tornado stated bluntly. "I've had a long day and an early start tomorrow."
Blue Peter stared at Tornado for a long time before wheeshing steam in her direction.
"At least I don't break down at 90 mph," he spat and Tornado immediately became wide awake and enraged. "I'm not a failure of an engine!"
"How dare you!" She shouted angrily, attracting the attention of visitors and volunteers around them. "How dare you bring that up!"
"Maybe if you weren't made by a bunch of people who had no idea what they were doing you wouldn't be such a failure!" Blue Peter snapped.
"I am not a failure! I broke 100 miles per hour! I'm made from the pride and love of my trust!" She shrieked angrily.
Around them, people had gathered and their crews tried desperately to de-escalate the situation.
"You didn't go through nationalisation!" Blue Peter shouted furiously. "You never knew the fear of scrapping!"
"That doesn't mean I don't respect it!" Tornado screamed back. "Why did you turn against me? I thought you said were proud of me when I woke up! What did I do wrong!?"
"You're only here because Saint Mungo was scrapped!" Blue Peter shouted furiously. "My best friend was scrapped and here you are! Constantly mocking me! A failure of an engine while Mungo was in perfect condition."
Tornado fell silent.
Blue Peter looked genuinely upset. There was a deep hurt in his eyes.
"Is that why you were nice to me in the beginning?" Tornado asked. "Because you thought Saint Mungo would come back?"
Blue Peter glared at her angrily.
"Yes," he admitted bitterly. "But instead you turned out to just be a pathetic, weak crybaby engine who couldn't even function properly."
"I am not weak and I am not pathetic!" Tornado snapped. "I'm sorry about Saint Mungo but I'm not him. I'm Tornado. I was built because people wanted Saint Mungo's class back. I'm his little sister. Isn't that enough?"
Blue Peter just snorted and looked at her distastefully.
"You will never be enough," he said coldly and Tornado felt disheartened and hurt. "And you're not Saint Mungo's little sister, you never even met him!"
Blue Peter began to reverse to leave, clearly having had enough of the argument.
Tornado stared at the tracks before her, conflicted between being upset and absolute fury. Members of her Trust surrounded her and she could hear them talking to her sweetly, trying to reassure her but she ignored them.
How dare he bring up the Ebor Flyer! How dare he call her weak and pathetic. She was his only living family member!
Why did he have to be so cruel and dismissive of her when she had only ever tried to do her best? She was fed up with it.
"At least my crew knows how to drive me without ripping apart my cylinders!" She suddenly spat venomously, her voice cold and cruel. Blue Peter froze in his tracks. "I don't think you get to criticise my incident with the Ebor Flyer when you've had an accident worse than mine!"
The volunteers stared at her in shock. Never had they heard Tornado speak so cruelly to another engine.
"Tornado!" Iain, her chief engineer, scolded her immediately.
"Oh he gets to bring up my accidents and I don't get to pay it back?" Tornado suddenly snapped at him. "I see how it is."
"That's not the point Tornado, you need to be better than that!" Iain explained but Tornado ignored him.
Blue Peter still stared at her, fury and hurt in his eyes. It was clear he wanted to scream at her but he was struggling to find the words.
"I don't want to see Blue Peter again!" Tornado demanded. "All he ever does is insult me and treat me like shit! I won't have it! I don't care if he's my only family left, I'm not putting up with it anymore!"
Iain sighed and waved down Blue Peter's crew, speaking to them hurriedly.
All the while the two Peppercorns glared at each other, hatred in their eyes. They did not speak, only simmering in uncomfortable and awkward silence.
Finally, Iain waved Blue Peter's crew off and the A2 Peppercorn backed out of the siding and out of sight, his gaze never leaving Tornado's who met it with equal disdain for her cousin.
The volunteers shooed away the visitors so that Tornado could be afforded some privacy.
"Tornado," Iain began sternly.
"He started attacking me for no reason!" She shouted down at him, not even waiting for her engineer to speak. "He brought up the Ebor Flyer incident! He knows how much it upsets me!"
"Tornado!"
Tornado fell quiet and gazed at him.
She adored Iain. The man had seen her through thick and thin, helped her through the worst of times and was always a good listener when it came to her venting her troubles.
"Yes Blue Peter did start it but you did not have to respond in the same way," Iain scolded her. "You need to be better and not rise to his insults."
Tornado just grunted in frustration, clearly unhappy with being lectured to.
"Are you going to take my tour away from me?" She said sulkily. "Because I've been bad?"
"No Tornado," Iain assured her. "We need you to run so we can get funds to finish Charlie. You do want Charlie to be finished don't you?"
Tornado's expression and mood softened as her thoughts drifted to Charlie, who sat in the shed unfinished and barely put together.
"Yes I want Charlie to be finished," she answered.
"Then we need you to run and that means the best behaviour, alright? We don't want to pull you off unless necessary, okay?"
"Yes Mr Iain," Tornado smiled at him.
"I've told Blue Peter's crew to keep him away from you so you shouldn't have to worry about him," Iain assured her. "Are you excited to see Flying Scotsman and the other museum engines again?"
"Yes!" Tornado squealed happily. "I can't wait to see everyone again!"
Iain chuckled.
"Then you behave yourself, young lady," he warned, pointing a finger at her.
"Yes, Mr Iain!"
Seeing as everything was now settling down, the volunteers drifted back to their previous jobs and visitors began milling about again.
"Uh, Mr Iain?" Tornado suddenly asked. The man turned to look up at her.
"Yes, Tornado?"
"Evening Star is part of the Museum isn't she?" She asked and Iain gazed at her surprised.
"I assume you're referring to the 9F."
"Yes."
"Yes she is, why do you ask?"
"I'd like to meet her if that's alright?"
Iain nodded to her.
"I'll call Lady Olivia, and see if she can arrange something for you."
"Thank you!"
Iain gazed at the A1 Peppercorn confused, but otherwise turned on his heel and went about his business.
"Would you little engines move? You're in the way!" Cranky shouted at Thomas and Percy as they milled about the docks, awaiting a delivery.
"But Sir Robert sent us here to be a welcoming party!" Percy piped up. "He said that several engines were coming in from overseas!"
"Well, they can't be put on the rails if you're on the tracks now can they?!" Cranky shouted and Thomas and Percy pulled a face, looked at each other and then relented, quickly reversing out of the way.
As they waited, Oliver pulled up beside them with Sir Topham Hatt, Olivia Gresley and her assistant, North.
"Hello lads, what's all the hullabaloo about?" he asked them.
"Cranky says that there are several engines here from overseas!" Thomas exclaimed excitedly.
"Engines?" Sir Topham looked at Olivia who smiled.
"An old friend of Scotsman's and a small mountain engine to help build Godred's new engine," Olivia explained.
The humans and tank engines excitedly watched as a large vibrant green Pacific Engine with gold stripes, the number 3801 and a blaring red buffer beam was lowered down on the tracks before them.
Thomas was the first to excitedly greet them.
"Hello! I'm Thomas! Welcome to the Island of Sodor!"
The engine gave a hearty laugh at Thomas' enthusiasm.
"Why g'day Thomas!" The engine exclaimed brightly in a thick Australian accent. "Name's Grey and if you couldn't tell from my accent, I'm from Australia!"
"Oh wow! That's on the other side of the world!" Percy observed as he stared at the engine. Her colour wasn't like the green he had, it was more emerald and it had a gloss to it that made it stand out.
"Yep, that's right, me and my friend travelled a long way to get here!"
"Wow," Percy breathed out amazed.
"Welcome! Welcome to my Railway!" Sir Topham Hatt gave the engine a cheery welcome. "I don't think we've had an Australian engine on our railway before!"
"What about Pendennis?" Oliver pointed out. "Or that big 'SAR' engine, what was his name?"
"Shane," Thomas answered.
Sir Topham paused and looked thoughtful.
"I guess there has been, my mistake," he agreed. "But Pendennis is Great Western, I don't think he counts."
"Of course, he counts!" Grey boomed with a jolly tone. "Pendennis is one of us! Although, he's called Rio Fe to us!"
"I see, I see," Sir Topham said.
"Hello, Grey! It's nice to meet Australia's most famous Steam Engine again!" Olivia called to the engine. "Scotsman will be elated to see you!"
"Where is the old codger? He get stuck up a hill again?" Grey teased and Olivia laughed, waving her hand dismissively.
"No, no, he's on tour for his 100th birthday," Olivia exclaimed. She was about to talk some more when she noticed the large gold and green diesel being lowered on the tracks next to her. "You brought Gold too?"
"I wouldn't come here without him," Grey huffed. "Gold's my emotional support diesel. That and they've never met Scotsman so I thought it would be a riot, you know?"
"Of course, of course," Olivia smiled at him. She looked to Sir Topham Hatt. "I know this is a big ask but could you accommodate these two until they're ready to head to the mainland to give Scotsman his surprise?"
"Of course!" Sir Topham expressed joyfully. "I'm excited to see what these Australian engines are capable of!"
"Haha good on ya sir!" Grey exclaimed as the diesel came to a rest on the rails beside her. "What do you say Gold, show these Brits how we do it down under?"
The Diesel looked at her but didn't smile, only giving a grunt of affirmation.
"Hello!" Thomas greeted the Diesel, who turned their attention to him. "I'm Thomas and this is my friend Percy!"
"Hello," Percy squeaked in a small voice. "You're quite big engines."
"I think Grey might be bigger than Gordon!" Thomas exclaimed and the large green engine chuckled.
"I was only a bit bigger than Scotsman when he came to visit us in Australia," Grey smiled at him. "But I hear he got a rebuild than made him a little bigger."
"We'll find out when you see him again," Olivia assured the large green express engine.
"I'd also like to meet that Tornado girl everyone won't shut up about," Grey stated and Gold gave another grunt of agreement.
"You can meet her too," Olivia smiled.
"You look," Thomas mused as he stared at Gold. "You look like an American diesel."
"I'm not American!" Gold grumbled, annoyed.
"Easy big fella he's just observing," Grey reassured her friend. "He does look it, but they were built and born in the same works as I."
"Oh, I'm sorry for offending you Gold," Thomas apologised, genuinely sorry for upsetting the large diesel.
"S'alright," Gold huffed. "Simple mistake."
They gave Thomas a small smile to show no ill will and the tank engine felt at ease.
Finally, a small engine, about the size of the Narrow Gauge engines was lowered onto a flatbed and coupled behind the Australian Pacific.
"This here is number 1 of the West Coast Wilderness Railway in Tasmania," Grey introduced the engine which went red from embarrassment, clearly uncomfortable with the people looking at her. She had a huge lamp on her funnel and looked quite shy.
"Hi," she mumbled quietly. "I'm Lyell."
"Hi, Lyell! I'm Thomas and this is my friend Percy!" Thomas shouted to her and she looked frightened at his enthusiasm but returned it with a polite hello.
"Well," Sir Topham Hatt turned to Olivia. "It's certainly going to be an interesting winter, I'll tell you that right now."
"It certainly is."
Here we go.
Australian Locomotives are:
The 'Grey' Nurse - Class 38, no.01 or 3801
Gold - Clas 42, no.01 or 4201
Lyell - Mount Lyell No.1
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