The next morning, busy chatter could be heard from inside the shed. It almost sounded like an argument, though when listening closer, one could clearly hear James busily discussing things with his driver. James asked him if he had a book about Central European expresses to make sure he hadn't been just daydreaming the previous day. He also asked his driver if the big photograph he had been given by his trial crew still was stored inside his cab and vaguely remembered that he had received it as a present when he felt terrible after his failed trials, it had really made him feel better and even put a smile on his face on a rather dull day. Slowly he started to remember more and more about what he had read about that particular class of engines and suddenly it struck him: what if he still felt that strong attraction towards that one of the sisters in particular after so many years, even though she happened to be so similar in looks to the Midland Compound he despised so much? Was he just acting like a jerk around her to cover up his actual feelings? He couldn't quite tell… All he knew was that he needed to tell her the truth about his past and how he actually came to know her before she herself even knew he existed.
It probably was around 11:00 in the morning when he heard an all too familiar whistle before the blue kkStB 306.02 came into view. She slowly rolled onto the turntable, something clearly bugging her as she had a very downcast expression on her face. As she finally was turned around, her crew slowly backed her into her berth, she was sighing heavily and looking down to the ground. She didn't even notice someone was looking at her with concern in his gaze. One part of James wanted to know what was on her mind but he also didn't want to upset her further, not after what had happened between them already. He dearly regretted being rude to her now that he had found out who she actually was and he wanted to apologize properly as the half-hearted attempt the previous day wasn't really enough, though he didn't know how. James then decided this was the only chance he'd probably get so he put all his eggs in one basket. He convinced his crew to let him talk to her directly rather than from the side. He then slowly made his way onto the turntable, getting turned around to face her. He carefully crept forward, stopping about one metre in front of her. Sandy didn't even notice that the mogul had moved up to her, she was deep in thought and totally lost. As he cleared his throat, her eyes snapped back up, taking on an angry glare.
"What do you want now?" she spat at him, "I'm not in the mood for any kind of conversation…"
"I- I'm sorry for my asshole behaviour… I really shouldn't have been that rude without even knowing you," he couldn't even look at her.
"Quite late for a proper apology, right… You know what? I'm freaking pissed by your behaviour! Why can't you just act normal and go on with your work and leave me alone?!" she narrowed her eyes and snarled.
"Because I fucking care about you! Yes, now you know why I've been acting so damn stupid. I only realized this yesterday when I found out who you really are. I wish I could take back all the mean words I said, but, I can't… will you accept my apology? I truly am sorry," James pleaded.
"I do accept your apology, but don't expect me to pretend nothing happened. All the things you've thrown at me, that's something I simply can't forget that fast," Sandy stated, her anger subsiding somewhat.
A small smile crept up on his face as he looked at her. He felt very light-headed now that he had gotten this off his heart. Sandy was aware of how close he was, feeling slightly uncomfortable with anyone close to her that was not a member of her crew. She wasn't used to closeness of any kind since she had her heart broken those many decades ago. As a result, her crew started to back her up, knowing she was feeling uneasy, until they heard a small clanging, noticing she had reached the buffers behind her. Seeing this, James had a flashback, remembering their accident and his mind recreated the feelings she had left him with. He blushed slightly, but then he thought he wanted to risk it all now, slowly creeping forward once again. He remembered how his buffer beam would easily go under hers due to her being taller and his removed lamp posts.
Sandy sighed, not even noticing James had followed her further into her berth. She had her gaze glued to the ground on her left side again, not paying any attention to her surroundings. Only till his nose was nearly touching hers, she noticed his breath, gasping in surprise and trying to reverse further. But she couldn't, she was stuck and left to wait until he would move out of the way and she certainly didn't like to be jammed between him and the buffers like that.
"What do you actually think you're doing?! Trapping me like this, eh? Back off, I don't like this!" she tried to make him move, a small hint of despair in her voice.
'No, I guess this is not a good idea right now considering I just apologized for being an idiot,' James thought and his crew backed him away again quickly, onto the turntable and then back into his berth, with him muttering a small "Sorry".
Sandy sighed, at least he had listened to her this one time. She then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as she had no more trains until evening, not knowing a pair of golden eyes rested on her, having a look of compassion in them and… longing?
The next time she woke up, the sun was setting already and James was prepared for their evening special and her crew just arrived as well from their afternoon nap. The Austrian express locomotive yawned and blinked a few times, trying to get used to the light. Her eyes slowly wandered over the rails until they flicked over to her right side, looking directly into golden ones. James had a smug grin on his lips before looking away again. Oh she won't find out about his secret, at least not very soon. About half an hour later, they were both ready and sitting at platform 1, waiting for their coaches. They were surprised to see Edward coming in with them, but then didn't wonder anymore. He had already been helping out the past few days since there were too many trains for Thomas, who also had to run his branch line, and Percy to handle alone. As soon as the coaches were ready, Sandy and James got coupled to them and the passengers started boarding the train, eager to get home. Sandy was the pilot again, but due to the little incident on their first run together they weren't expecting any problems on this run since she had learned her lesson about speeding already. And they now had a spare coupling hook and spring stored in Sandy's cab as well.
Sandy had been deep in thought once again as she suddenly jumped at the guard's whistle. James grumbled behind her and rolled his eyes, wondering what had happened to her that she was that out of character. After Sandy had finally snapped back to reality, they departed with James secretly hoping there won't be any more hold-ups. The two were almost at their final stop before Vicarstown, when there was a loud whistle. They couldn't see further down the line since they were going round a bend, but they heard laughing, giggling and rattling somewhere ahead of them. James' eyes widened in horror; he immediately guessed what had happened. James knew Gordon took a fast non-stop goods train about half an hour before the evening special and now some of the trucks were on the run down the line, right towards them! His driver feared a bad incident as well and applied the brakes right away, but the train couldn't stop in time and there was no way to avoid a crash. Sandy only heard James yell something in a rather high-pitched voice before she saw the runaway trucks come into view. Only then she was aware this wasn't going to end in a good way and blew her whistle loudly before everything went black for her.
James could only watch as the trucks derailed and broke into pieces, smashing against Sandy and causing her to derail as well. When the clouds of dust and smoke cleared away, the degree of damage slowly dawned on everyone involved. The kkStB 306.02 lay on her right side, all scratched and in a horrible shape surrounded by the remains of the trucks and the load they had been carrying. Her tender was still connected to James though, it was terribly bent and parts of her handrails were scattered all over the place as well. Her golden boiler bands were out of shape and standing off in different directions, making it look like she would be stripped down for scrapping. Her features were lined with pain and a few tears slipped down her cheeks. Luckily, her face took no damage apart from a small scar on the left side above her lips. It was bleeding slightly, probably due to some wood or metal parts still stuck in her skin. Her driver and fireman had already jumped clear before the crash. They were now surveying the damage and already called for help and the breakdown train. Sandy's driver Georg was kneeling down next to her, trying to get the scale of wood out of her skin. He managed to remove it without breaking it and then pressed his handkerchief to the scar to stop the bleeding.
"You will be fine again soon, don't worry," he mumbled, softly rubbing her cheek to calm her.
Sandy's crew had arrived from Austria only this morning when they took her over from her Sudrian substitute crew just in time for the evening run, they had known her since they rediscovered her in that small shed-like building as young grown-ups after World War II. Ever since then, the two had been tending to her and taking care of her. As time has gone by, they started working for the ÖBB, learned how to properly tend to steam locomotives, how to fire them up, drive and maintain them. The two also helped restoring the kkStB 306.02 a few years after they had earned their certificates and so she learned to trust in human beings again.
After about 20 minutes of waiting, the breakdown train finally arrived and the workmen started on tending to the damaged engine. Her driver and fireman were helping to the best they could, securing their engine on the flatbed when the cranes had lifted her onto it and accompanying her to the steamworks. As soon as they arrived there, Victor also surveyed the damage and already gave orders to his workmen to arrange Sandy's repair and a repaint. Meanwhile, the Fat Controller had arrived in his car to survey the injuries and damage as well. He praised everyone for having done a good job on getting Sandy here so fast.
Then he spoke to her, "Your repair will take some days, that runaway train has caused a lot of trouble. Now Tina and Cally have to take over your jobs and I have to rewrite some time tables. We will try to have you fixed as fast as possible, though I will have to order another engine to help out with the work too. You're not to blame for this accident and I will have a serious word with the responsible engine and crew."
With that said, he turned to Victor and gave some orders to him and also asked if he needed anything for the repairs. Victor only mentioned a few things that he still needed to start working, but was confident to be done soon. Then the Fat Controller left, thinking about how to reorganize the time tables and where to get another new engine at this time of the year. Back at Knapford, when he was about to enter his office, he overheard Cally, Donald and Douglas talking about a small railway in Scotland that had been shut down due to money shortage. They talked about how all the engines were sold on to heritage railways or museums and were now waiting for restoration or overhaul. Sir Topham Hatt walked over to them and cleared his throat. Then he asked the trio which engines they have been talking about.
"Weel, Sur, ye ken there's this Caledonian Hielan Railway 944 class, an' a' kent as th' 'River Class', a wee class o' 4-6-0 engines designed by f. G. Smith fur th' Hielan Railway. Some gaed tae th' lms in 1920 'n' ainlie twa gaed tae th' british railways efter oan in 1946. There's ainlie yin surviving up tae noo, he's bin a guid mukker o' ours, richt Dougie?" Donald explained, looking over to his brother.
"Aye, that's richt. He's a crakin' laddie, 'n' solid workin' tae, Sur," Douglas agreed.
The Fat Controller was in thought for a few minutes before speaking up to the twins, "Please tell me more, where can I find this hard working engine and is he in need of restoration?"
This time though, Cally answered, "Richt noo he's oan display in th' Glescae Transportation Museum whaur ah wis fur ferr a lang time tae, bit ah heard blether o' th' gaffer trying tae sell him oan tae a private collector whaur he wid juist end up rusting awa' again."
As Sir Topham Hatt heard this, he thanked the three engines and walked back to his office in a rather quick pace to look up the telephone number of the museum to phone them and arrange a meeting. After a few minutes of exchanging information, the controller got to know that the engine was still in working order and that his name was Aindrea. He assumed that his name came from when he was working for the Highland Railway. The Fat Controller soon had an appointment arranged to inspect the engine and hoped he could afford his lease despite the money shortage.
A few weeks later, a blue engine bearing the Caledonian Highland Railway crest came into Vicarstown station directly from the mainland. He had dark blue name plates on his splashers on each side, his name in silver lettering written on them, his number "944" written on his cab sides and there also was a small Scottish flag on the backside of his tender. The new engine had blue eyes as bright as a Scottish winter's sky as well as some freckles across his nose and cheeks. Donald and Douglas had been sent to wait for the new engine and to show him around the island since they knew him from their days back in Scotland. They were happy to see their old friend again and nearly talked him down with questions about how he has been, what he has done since they've been gone and what he thought of the island so far.
"Whoa thare, laddies, calm ye smokeboxes, yin efter th' other… tae git ye minds a wee refreshing, lang story short: efter mah line closed doon, ah wis sittin` in a shed wi' maist o' mah wee brothers. Ye likelie awready ken that some o' thaim hae bin sold oan tae th' lms 'n' efter oan tae th' BR, bit sadly didn't mak' it thro' th' end o' steam. Ah wis th' ainlie yin remaining efter British Railways decided fur mah retirement 'n' sold me aff tae th' Glescae Transportation Museum tae be restored 'n' then pat oan display neist tae Cally. It git gey wheesht whin men cam 'n' tellt her she wis tae wirk 'ere 'n' teuk her wi' thaim. She's bin a timorous bit freendly lassie, enjoying th' company as she's bin thare alone beforehand. Thare aye wur th' twa ither engines, bit thay wur ower arrogant, nae talking muckle. Efter years 'n' years o' juist sittin` thare, fowk taking picters o' me 'n' seeing th' world ootdoors chaynge in a rapid pace, an important keekin jimmy cam tae visit me a few weeks ago. He asked me a few questions 'n' then disappeared wi' th' museum high heid yin. Efter a while, he cam back, smiling 'n' stating that he leased me 'n' that ah wis tae come tae his railway, he an' a' tellt me that ye twa 'n' Cally wid be 'ere as weel sae ah wid hae kenspeckle faces aroond," the new engine finished his story.
"Aye, we ken maist o' this awready, bit it's crakin' tae ken whit happened efter thay teuk Cally awa'," Douglas told him.
"It's guid tae hae ye workin' wi' us again noo, Aindrea," Donald smiled at him, knowing that his friend's name might cause some confusion at first since only the Scots knew its real meaning.
"Duin fur ye wee tour round th' island tae see th' important places, laddie?" Douglas questioned.
"As duin as I'll ever be, let's git te, lads!" the new Caledonian Railway engine answered before the three set off down the mainline.