TAKE ME SERIOUSLY

Written by Zack Wanzer and Rachel Ravens

Set during Series 20

Early one morning, as the engines of the Arlesdale Railway were getting ready for the day's work, Mr. Duncan came to the sheds.

"Good morning, Mr. Duncan, sir," greeted Rex. "How are you doing?"

"Very good, Rex," he replied. "I'm pleased to say that another engine will be coming to join you."

"Another engine, sir?" inquired Bert. "Already? We haven't even been in service for a full year!"

"Well," said Mr. Duncan seriously, "this engine was almost bought by someone else, but rejected. If no one acted upon it…"

The engines gasped quietly.

"We understand, sir," said Mike. "We'll make them feel welcome."

"That's good," nodded Mr. Duncan. "I hope you'll help her settle in."

A few days later, Donald brought the new engine to the transfer yards.

"Ah'm sure ye'll lak yer new home, lass," Donald assured.

"I hope so…" the new engine said under her breath.

"So, let me get this straight," Rex's voice drifted over. "You decided to get one of the clergymen back by spraying him with water?"

"Okay, okay, it wasn't my best idea!" snorted Bert. "But they did say they'd put us in a book."

"So now people are going to read about your misfortune?" snickered Mike.

"You two are just jealous about my story!" the blue engine retorted.

"Are one of you going to help me off my truck or what?"

The trio blinked in surprise.

"Oh, she's… she's here?!" gasped Rex. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. Hang on, I'll get you down."

Within minutes, Rex had unloaded the new engine off of her flatbed. She was a diesel painted in a two-tone blue livery and had an unusual wheel arrangement of four wheels on both ends and six coupled driving wheels in the middle.

"Welcome to our railway, miss," said Rex. "I'm Rex, and this here is Bert and Mike."

"I see…" the newcomer said quietly. "I don't really have a name yet."

"Oh dear," said Bert. "Is it alright with you if we call you 'No. 4' until a name is decided upon?"

"What about Ivy and Idina?" Mike pointed out. "Do they not count?"

"They're our two other diesels on the line," explained Rex to the new engine. "We sometimes refer to them collectively as the Blisters, and their numbers are B1 and B2."

"So I see," said the new engine. "I think 'No. 4' will be okay until a name is decided upon…"

"Why can't she be 'No. 6'?" asked Bert. "I mean, that's how many engines are here right now!"

"Ivy and Idina aren't numbered four and five!" argued Mike. "Just be glad we aren't on the big railway. Now their number system is very out of whack."

"Finally, something we agree on!"

No. 4 frowned at the sight; already, her first impression on her new shedmates was not a positive one.

Later on, No. 4 was tasked to help out the Blister twins on maintenance trains.

"Where did you come from?" asked Ivy.

"Oh… just recently built in a workshop," said No. 4.

"Which workshop?" asked Idina. "The Dieselworks?"

"…there's a Dieselworks here?" No. 4 blinked.

"Yep," said Ivy. "There's also a Steamworks, but I don't know if there's an Electricworks as well."

"Everyone is mended separately?" No. 4 asked, rather perturbed at the implications. "Is there steam/diesel segregation here?"

"I don't think that's what they're going for," said Idina. "That seemed to have been in place by the time we first came here to help build the railway."

"Besides," added Ivy, "we're good friends with the steam engines of the railways. The same can be said for the other engines too."

"I think it'd make a lot more sense to send the engines to the closest workshop on the island," said No. 4. "What if there's a serious accident?"

"Well… there have only been a very small number of accidents where someone did get hurt around here," admitted Idina.

"Even still," said No. 4, "who allowed the engines to be separated like that?"

The twins blinked in confusion. "We honestly can't say," said Ivy. "But it's never really been a problem for us."

"What is a problem," said Idina, "is that that fence is down over there. Some of the animals could get loose." Upon hearing that, the workmen quickly set about fixing the fence. However, they hadn't noticed that another area of the fence was also broken, but No. 4 did.

They wouldn't listen to me… thought No. 4. They brushed off my concerns about the segregation of the different engines. Can I even trust any of the engines here?

The fencing area that the maintenance crew had missed out on eventually led to a cow blocking the line. Mike was the engine unfortunate enough to encounter it while pulling the return train to Arlesburgh and lost his whistle trying to shoo it off the line. Rex and Bert couldn't resist teasing him about it.

"…and all he had to do was say, 'moo-ove'!" laughed Bert.

Thomas laughed too and made a silly face. Even Mike couldn't help but join in in the end.

"You lost your whistle?!" snapped No. 4. "And you're all joking about it?!"

"Hey, calm down," said Rex. "No one got hurt."

"The cow could have," retorted No. 4. "What if Mike had been going too fast? Or if he had no passengers to 'whistle' for him?"

"The latter I could've done without…"

"I'm serious, Mike!" No. 4 argued. "Whistles and horns are very important, and need to work properly. From what I overheard, Duck's whistle wasn't cleaned out until late this afternoon! He shouldn't have been working with a clogged up whistle."

"You may need to talk to my driver about that one," Duck admitted. "He isn't exactly the most responsible."

"I heard that!"

"You need to be!" growled No. 4. "Drivers and engines have a duty of care to each other, and it's imperative they follow through. I wouldn't be surprised if you were sacked for this."

A dead silence rang through the air at those words; Duck's driver put his hand to his mouth in shock.

"Well, she's got a point," said Duck's fireman. "We will need to report this to Sir Topham Hatt."

And indeed they did. Because of his lack of care toward Duck, the driver was suspended from work and the pannier tank was given a relief driver. Mike was also kept in the sheds until a new whistle could be made for him.

"I can't believe it…" gasped Ivy. "No. 4 really got Duck's driver suspended?"

"No, I did not!" cried No. 4. "I was just the messenger for an irresponsible person."

"Look, sis," said Idina, "it's for the best. Mr. Duncan always makes a point about our drivers looking out for us and vice versa. Sir Topham Hatt must have the same viewpoint."

"Exactly, Idina," said No. 4. "If our crews can't run us properly, we can't do our jobs right. And if we can't do our jobs right, the railway will grind to a halt."

"But still," said Ivy, "there's one thing I don't know – how did the cow get out of its field?"

Idina blinked at her sister. "I'm not sure. The workmen fixed all the fences the other day, didn't they?"

"Not exactly…"

"No. 4?" asked Ivy. "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?" asked Idina.

No. 4 sighed. "Well… I saw a broken fence down in another field."

The Blisters gasped in shock. "What?!" cried Ivy. "And you didn't say anything about it?!"

"Well… you brushed away my concerns on the steam/diesel separation!" retorted No. 4. "So why would I think you would take my comment about a broken fence seriously?!"

"That's not true!" argued Idina. "We take all manner of maintenance duties very seriously! Maybe the problem isn't everyone around you; it's you, and you alone!"

No. 4 bit her lip as the twins headed off. "What have I done…"

"So she's the reason I lost my whistle to a cow?!" cried Mike.

"Maybe not the whole reason," said Bert. "The cow got out because she didn't report the broken fence to the workmen, but your whistle would have come loose anyway."

"Gee, thanks for reminding me…"

"Look, guys," sighed Rex, "No. 4 may be extremely serious, but… she does make good points. It is kind of strange that diesels, steam and electric engines are fixed at separate places on Sodor, and… it does sort of sound like segregation."

"Maybe she has some trauma about that," suggested Ivy. "I mean… Sir Handel and Peter Sam do have that whole business up at Peel Godred they've been having therapy for."

"Wait a second," said Bert. "Mr. Duncan did say that No. 4 was rejected by a previous buyer. Maybe that had something to do with it."

"Well, whatever it is," said Idina, "I hope we can help her through this."

Meanwhile, No. 4 was making her way home with a passenger train.

"How can I trust others… when I betrayed my own ideology?" she sighed to herself. She felt her eyes grow red hot. "Then again, they don't know what it was like. That first buyer was so biased about– wha… whoa!" With a sudden crack, No. 4's front wheels went off the rails. "Grease and oil! What's happened?!"

"Looks like we've hit a bad bit of track," said her driver, coming down to inspect. "And I don't think we'll be going any further today. We'd better call for a bus to take your passengers on."

"Th-the bus?!" exclaimed No. 4, appalled at the suggestion. "N-no, please, driver! That won't be necessary–"

"It's either that, or a long walk to the next station for the passengers," the driver interrupted.

"I can make it to the next station!" insisted No. 4. "I heard stories about engines struggling to the station when they broke down."

"But this isn't a breakdown," reasoned her driver. "It's the track that's the problem."

No. 4 sighed. "Alright… I'll… I'll let a bus come for the passengers."

"That's settled then." And on that note, the driver went off to phone for help.

It was Algy who came to pick up No. 4's passengers.

"Hello there," he greeted. "Sorry to hear about your mishap."

"You… are?" No. 4 was taken aback.

"Yeah, a derailment could happen to any engine," said Algy. "A similar thing happens to us road vehicles, only we get stuck in ditches or run into potholes."

"Oh," said No. 4. "I guess… that does make sense." The diesel's breath caught in her throat. "Thank you for doing this… oh, I… never got your name."

"It's Algy."

"Nice to meet you, Algy," replied the diesel. "I'm No. 4."

"No. 4?" asked Algy. "Now, simply having a number would never do around here. You need a proper name."

"That's what everyone's unsure of," sighed No. 4. "Not even Mr. Duncan's found a suitable name yet."

"I'm sure something will come up," said Algy. "Don't worry, miss. And your passengers will be safe with me."

"Thank you…"

Algy reported the incident to the Blister twins up at the next station.

"And… she was okay with you helping her?!" gasped Ivy.

"That's quite a sudden change for her," remarked Idina.

"Well, I told her what happens to us buses when the road overheats," Algy admitted. "Just try to understand it on her level, and she'll open up to you."

The twins glanced at each other before smiling a bit. "Come on, sis," said Ivy. "Let's go and talk to her."

It wasn't long before the twins brought the cranes and workmen to fix the tracks.

"No. 4," said Idina, "Algy told us about how you started to trust him."

"Well… he took the situation very seriously," admitted No. 4, "and the passengers got to the station safely."

"And we can too," said Ivy. "We've… been thinking about what you said about the Steamworks/Dieselworks thing. Yes, they are mended in different places, but that doesn't mean that the engines hate each other."

"It's because the Steamworks is run by Victor, and the Dieselworks by Den and Dart," said Idina. "They simply know more about how to fix steam engines and diesels, because those are the types of engines they are. Victor has even allowed diesels to be fixed at the Steamworks before, and it wouldn't surprise me if Den and Dart did the same for steam engines."

"Oh…" said No. 4. "That all does add up." She sighed. "I'm sorry I was so snappy about it. I just… I…" Tears started leaking from her eyes. "B-before I came here, I was rejected by another buyer."

"We heard about that," said Ivy, "but we don't know the details. Why were you rejected?"

"Because… the buyer was trying to get a steam engine for her heritage railway," explained No. 4, sobbing. "She said I was a disgrace because I was yet another 'oil-guzzling monster.'"

"That's horrible!" gasped Idina.

"No wonder you took the 'works separation' to heart…" gulped Ivy. "Come now, No. 4; Mr. Duncan would never treat you like that. And neither would any of us, or the bigger engines."

"Thanks, girls," No. 4 smiled weakly. "I… I guess I need more time to learn to trust people, engines and everything in between."

"And you'll need a name as well," said Idina. "And I think I know one. My driver read up on Sudrian history lately, and came across a figurehead of Sodor that may fit you well – Sigrid of Arlesdale."

"Sigrid…" trailed No. 4. "Hmm… it has a nice ring to it. Why would this figurehead fit me?"

"Well," said Idina, "to make a long story short, Sigrid of Arlesdale was a daughter of a royal figurehead from a time long before railways existed. She started a female-only monarchy because she didn't trust men due to her father deeming her unworthy for the throne because she was a girl. However, she opened her heart to a genuine man out in the community, and they had two daughters together."

"Wow…" gasped Sigrid. "That's quite a story, alright. I think we are quite alike – minus the children part."

And so, Sigrid of Arlesdale became the new engine's name. Needless to say, Mike, Rex and Bert were as shocked as the twins when they heard about Sigrid's past, but they, like the bigger engines, all helped her through her hardships. Sigrid had even gotten some therapy from Mrs. Kyndley, and now gets along really well with the engines. She may be a bit too serious, but she is that sort of engine. Mr. Duncan was actually grateful to have a more serious engine like Sigrid on his railway to keep the others in check.

And what about Duck's driver? Well, he returned to service with his engine, and he was far more responsible from then on.

"And if you slack off," called Sigrid, "I may just have to report you to Sir Topham Hatt myself!"

"Great, now I've got two watchdog engines…"

THE END

Author's Comments

It's been a few months since I did a Between the Lines story, and now, we're officially halfway through Set 3! This one marks the introduction of Sigrid to the Arlesdale Railway, and how her first days on the line play out. Rachel and I also gave the Blister twins, Ivy and Idina, a major supporting role here, so this story focuses a bit more on the miniature diesels than it does the steam trio. There's also bits of foreshadowing to the events of Engines of the Same Metals in regards to how Sigrid was treated prior to her arrival on Sodor before finally opening up about it.

Upcoming stories:

- Caroline's New Friend - On one of her travels, Caroline encounters an elderly bus named Edgar, who hasn't worked under Sodor Roadways for years, so she tries to find someone who could save him from a worse fate.

- A Kyndley Gesture - When Mrs. Kyndley's cottage needs some repairs, she temporarily moves into Dowager Hatt's house at Maithwaite, but can she put up with the eccentric old lady's antics?

- Mavis and Scarlett - With the workload increasing at Anopha Quarry, Mr. Croarie brings in a new engine to assist Mavis, and she proves to be quite the buffer-full.

- The 70th Between the Lines Story

- Slow Speed Train - Lauren is offended when Pip and Emma make a remark about her living a slow life on the Kirk Ronan branch line, but when the high speed train fails at Kellsthorpe Road, only one engine is close enough to come to their rescue…