The expansions at Tidmouth began sometime around November 1924, and the project was due to be completed by late January 1925. At first, the authorities of Tidmouth didn't feel there was a need for another set of stations. It took lots of negotiations and investments, promises of profit, and Lord Harwick giving them a slideshow of how beneficial more stations could be to convince the Mayor otherwise.

The first step was to expand the harbour. Well, expand was a relative term. In truth, a passenger terminal was being added to it, the idea being that ferries would sail to the Isle of Man, or basically everywhere. Lord Harwick began talking about transatlantics, even though it was argued the island was too small to warrant such sailings. Some decades later, the naysayers would be proved wrong, but that's another story.

The passenger terminal was based on Brighton station, except with four platforms instead of eight. There was also a brand new luggage depot, which would be a holding place for luggage, allowing for easy transfer to and from the ships, and to other stations on the island. Selena had been put in charge of building this station and worked hard to make sure it was finished on time. It was a lot of work, from carrying the workmen and their tools, to picking up supplies, and everything in between. However, it wasn't all roses and smiles: to help out with construction, an old crane had been refurbished and moved from the old harbour at Knapford. The workers nicknamed him Old Wheezy and he proved to live up to the title, especially the old part.

"About time you got here!" he grumbled one day.

"Sorry. Got stuck in a snowdrift in the tunnel and had to wait for Hurricane to clear it."

"Pah! It's always something with you engines!" grumbled Old Wheezing. "Back when I was young, engines would brave through snow to get their work done, they didn't wait around for somebody else to clear it."

"I tried! Honestly, I tried! I got stuck trying, however."

"Rubbish! You just didn't try hard enough! You need to try harder!"

"I'd rather try moving a heavy goods train on a dry boiler. I'm very strong, but not that strong."

"Of course you'd say that: you engines nowadays don't know the meaning of hard work," grumbled Old Wheezy. "If you worried less about snow and focused more on your work, my old joints wouldn't need to rush so much to make up for all that lost time."

Selena rolled her eyes, and shunted her brick trucks into position. She thought for a moment about talking Edward into helping her. Surely, the Wellsworth Line wasn't too busy during this time of year for Rolf to handle it on his own. Maybe some help from MacHarold, or Luoc, who usually wintered in Brendam. Because if she was being honest, this crane was proving to be too much for her to handle alone.

She had a chance later that day, at Wellsworth.,where she found Edward in the bay platform with a passenger train.

"Hey Eddie. You busy tonight?"

"Not really," Edward replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's going to be cold, and in my shed it gets rather lonely, maybe you can give me some warmth?"

"You could always ask your fireman to keep your fire in, you know," said Edward. The innuendo had flown over his funnel, much to Selena's frustration.

"Oh come on! We've been dating since 1914, how could you not get what I'm implying?!"

After thinking, Edward got it.

"Gee, can't remember the last time you made such a joke," he said. "Then again, we have both been so busy we hardly got time to see each other. Alright, where is your shed?"

"Tidmouth Harbour."

"I'll gladly spend my night with you. Luoc and MacHarold will be sure to enjoy running the line like they did in the early days of the Wellsworth & Suddery."

Arrangements were made and Edward steamed off to Wellsworth. When he arrived, he caught sight of Old Wheezy hanging a man by the waistcoat.

"Now look here, mister," the crane snarled, "you've no right coming into my dock and…"

"HEY!" Edward shouted, steaming on over. "Put that innocent man down!"

"Oh, gimme a break!" growled Old Wheezy. "He's a lawyer!"

"Well…put him down anyway! You may need him to defend you if you find yourself on trial! Besides, doesn't the law give you gas?"

"Ugh, you got me there," said Old Wheezy. Slowly, he set the man back down. The man dusted his coat and walked into a building.

"I swear I've seen you somewhere before," said Edward, glancing at the crane.

"Funny: all my years in Knapford, I never seen you around there," said Old Wheezy. "Say, where's that red engine, the one with the bitchy attitude?"

"I wouldn't exactly call James bitchy," said Edward. "He just doesn't like getting his paint dirty."

"James? That's a funny name for a girl."

"Oh, a female! You mean Selena, and I don't understand why you think she has a bitchy attitude."

"Have you seen her? She's been taking her time getting the stuff I need to build this station, and whenever I try to talk sense to her, she goes off."

"I'm starting to see why Selena wanted me to come here," Edward said to himself. "Well, let me tell you this: I will not tolerate my girl being disrespected. She is not bitchy, she's a hard worker."

"Then you got no taste in women."

"Look, just tell me what I need to do so we can get this station finished."

"Pah! I don't have time to give instructions to old busybodies like you!" snorted Old Wheezy.

"Fine! Maybe the foreman will be more helpful," said Edward. The foreman was indeed more helpful and told Edward everything that needed to be done. The K2 set to work at once, proving to be just as efficient as Selena, though Old Wheezy would say otherwise.

The long day was finally over, as Edward conversed with his girlfriend.

"If you wanted help dealing with that crane, you should've just told me," said Edward.

"That was just half of it~ I just wanted to spend some time with you."

Edward rolled his eyes.

"If we were humans, I'd make you regret your innuendos," he said. "You know a professional environment…"

"Screw being professional, we're both alone!" Selena snapped. "Let go for once!"

Edward was taken aback.

"Whoa, think carefully! How exactly are we supposed to do it? We can't get off the rails and jump on top of each other, you know."

Selena didn't know what to answer.

"Honestly you young engines and your lust…Anyway, onto the subject of that crane, there's clearly something wrong with his mind if he thinks neither of us are working efficiently enough. We need to show him otherwise. Only question is, how?"

"How should I know? He won't even give me the time of day," grumbled Selena. "And even if I rushed, he'd still complain about it. Somehow."

"Then," said Edward, "we'll just have to prove him wrong. We work together very efficiently, then he can't complain about us."

But that was easier said than done: they tried shunting their loads to Old Wheezy early, they tried bringing triple loads, and they tried taking turns on the jobs. But no matter what they tried, Old Wheezy continued to grumble like anything.

When December rolled around, both engines were red in the face and very cross.

"God, that crane is insufferable!" complained Edward.

"Why the heck is he like this?!" Selena added.

Even their crews were furious, and complained to the dock manager, who had some stern words with Old Wheezy. But even that proved to be futile.

"If these engines spent more time doing their work instead of being lovey-dovey," he claimed, "I wouldn't have anything to grumble about! Honestly, romance is all everybody thinks about now. Why, back in my day, nobody really put romance over work."

At last, everybody just gave up.

"I'm sorry, you two, I tried all I could," said the dock manager apologetically. "But that crane is just too stubborn to admit when he's wrong."

"It's not your fault," said Edward sympathetically.

"Nevermind," agreed Selena. "I'm sure something will happen that will make him see sense."

Eventually, something did happen, sooner than expected. It all came to a head a few weeks later, during the night, one final job needed to be finished before they stopped work during the Holiday seasons. Something had to be taken out of a rickety old shed located straight over the water, which hadn't been used in years. Selena volunteered, against Edward's wishes.

"Relax, Eddy," she said. "I got this."

And she puffed away, with Edward gazing worryingly at her.

At first, the old pier the shed was on held. As Selena's crew began loading things into her trucks, however, a crack was heard, followed by the sound of wood groaning.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

Slowly, the pier began collapsing under her. Terrified, the crew left her and made a run for shelter.

"HELP ME!" she cried, scared.

Edward rushed forward, but his leading bogie derailed.

"Bother! This is the last thing I needed!" Edward complained. Powerless, he could only watch as the pier slowly collapsed under his girlfriend.

Selena felt her wheels touching the water Or so he thought: out of nowhere, a hook grabbed onto the undercarriage of Selena's tender. It belonged to Old Wheezy. The old crane made sure he had a good grip, then began tugging backwards.

Just in time, Selena was returned to stable ground, as the pier collapsed and sank into the water. As soon as that happened, there came a grind, then a splutter, then the sound of a small explosion. It had all come from Old Wheezy: the rescue effort had taken a heavy toll on the old crane and he was now tilting dangerously to the side. Black smoke billowed from the crane's boiler.

"Old Wheezy! He's going to fall!" shouted the foreman. "Quick, somebody…" He paused when he looked up: the face on the old crane…was no longer there. Everybody just stood there, stunned. Edward broke the silence.

"I don't believe it…he was more noble than we gave him credit for," he said.

"But if that was true, then why did he never show it?" asked Selena. Edward gave a sigh.

"I once heard from one of my siblings cranes have high reputations to live up to," he said. "Perhaps he was too obsessed with this to actually show any compassion. Either way…may he rest in peace."

Everybody swore they heard breathing coming from the crane. Nonetheless, his cabin was removed from the pedestal and made part of the office of the new station.

Some days later, Selena and Edward were reminiscing on their time together on the place where the now lifeless crane laid. It had been rebuilt with a new cabin and was still used for work, but such debates about how ethical this practice was came up.

What they didn't expect was to hear a familiar voice.

"You never learn, do you?"

The two engines looked up: there was nothing on the crane indicating sentience.

"Old Wheezy? Are you alive?"

No answer came. Not from the crane.

"Not up there! Down here!"

The two engines looked down and gasped: there, flat on the quayside, was the face of Old Wheezy!

"Old Wheezy?! How long…"

"Ever since I rescued you," the crane's face replied. "I gotta admit, I like it down here: a great view of what goes on underneath you engines. Why, reddy, you look rather…." He purred, which infuriated Selena.

"PERVERT!"

Edward was just as pissed, and actually considered asking somebody to put the face in front of him so he could run it over.

The situation was something rather odd, but instead of giving him black water, Old Wheezy was eventually given a nice life in the wall of the stationmaster's office. He's still there today, having dozens of stories to tell. Mainly regarding the many harbourmasters on the station next to the sea, as well as those of the many stationmasters who came and went. Edward and Selena never did find out why he helped the latter, but noting he actually seemed to be happy as a decoration, they decided not to bring the issue up.