Another one of BNSF1995's Tales today. To be frank, I actually think he's a better writer than me (Broa Island)! But we'll let you be the judge of that.
Klondike's Judgement Day
Written by BNSF1995
Proofread and Corrected by Broa Island
The character of 'Klondike' was created by Hufflepuff Batboy
(Special thanks to BNSF1995 for writing this Tale on such short notice)
Isle of Sodor: 1935
It had been a month since the Ballahoo Disaster. The three men who had died in the accident had since been buried, and things were slowly returning to normal. Almost.
Henry had been sent to the LMS works at Crewe after the accident. Nobody knew exactly what was happening to him, and because of this, rumors were everywhere. Workmen even had betting pools on the circumstances of Henry's time at Crewe.
The Welsh Coal had been sold for a tidy profit to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the United States, who were testing different types of coal. The Great Depression was slowly but surely starting to wind down. Unemployment had begun a modest fall in 1934 and fell further in 1935 and 1936, but the rise in employment levels occurred mostly in the south, where lower interest rates had spurred the house building boom, which in turn spurred a recovery in domestic industry. The North and Wales remained severely depressed for most of the decade. In severely depressed parts of the country, the government enacted a number of policies to stimulate growth and reduce unemployment, including road building, loans to shipyards, and tariffs on steel imports. These policies helped but were not, however, on a sufficiently large scale to make a huge impact on the unemployment levels.
Fortunately, employment was also on the rise on Sodor. After the 1935 harvest season, the profits made from the haulage of crops and livestock to market allowed the North Western Railway to begin a large employment drive and several improvements. For one, a new fleet of passenger stock, known as the 1935 Stock, was built at Crovan's Gate to replace the troublesome 1927 Stock, which was an experimental design that was taller than most coaching stock on Britain's railways. As a result, these carriages barely cleared the tunnels, and through curved tunnels, trains had to go slow to accommodate the kinetic envelope.
The newfound money also allowed the NWR to accelerate construction on the Peel Godred Branch Line. By now, Hal and Gilbert had settled into life as dead-towed coaching stock on the mainline, primarily in push-pull services between Knapford and Arlesburgh (and keep in mind, this was before the line between Tidmouth and Arlesburgh was the Little Western).
The engines appreciated the improvements, but all the same, they were feeling drained. Without Henry, they began struggling with the backlog of trains created by the freeze, and because economic conditions on Sodor were improving, trains were becoming longer.
Thomas and Glynn couldn't be spared to help with the mainline goods traffic, as they had their own lines to run. Gordon had finally been put back on express duties, and he, too, was needed on that service. The Red Engines were the ones doing the bulk of the work, and it took a toll on them. Engines such as Edward, James, Ruby, and Yang found themselves being used more and more on goods work and nothing else. Edward and James were used to it, and Ruby had pulled her fair share of goods trains in the past, but Yang hadn't really pulled goods much up to this point. Still, she found it a refreshing change from the express, as stopping goods were quieter and more relaxing than passenger trains.
One day, Yang was marshaling a goods train at Elsbridge. She had just dropped a few 7-planks loaded with coal from the coaling plant for the stations along the Ffarquhar Branchline, and was now picking up the empty wagons, plus a milk tanker from St. Pedroc's Dairy at Toryreck. Once that was done, she took her train to the platform to wait for passenger traffic to clear.
Presently, Thomas pulled in with Annie, Clarabel, and a van with milk churns from Ffarquhar.
"Mornin', Yang." greeted Thomas, "How goes the goods work today?"
"Pretty good, can't complain." replied Yang, "Though it astounds me how much is coming out of the coaling plant. Like, seriously, how big is this coal field?"
"Wish we could use that coal ourselves," sighed Thomas, "but the north needs it more than we do."
"Look at it this way: it's a good, stable source of income."
"Yeah...I guess so."
Then they heard a horn and a revving motor, as a red bus drove away. Thomas grimaced as he did.
"Something wrong, Thomas?" asked Yang.
"It's that bus." grunted Thomas, "A non-faceless one named Bertie. He tried challenging me to a race a few years back, but I said no. He went ahead anyway and tried to beat me to Ffarquhar. Hell, I didn't even notice until I got there. Bloody idiot, putting his passengers in danger like that! And for what? To prove the superiority of busses? Maybe in the cities, but out here in the country, the roads have to go over hills. Meanwhile I have a tunnel through Hackenbeck Ridge. If he wanted to beat me over that hill, he would need wings and become an aeroplane."
"Yeesh, that sounds rough", Yang sympathized.
"By the way," continued Thomas, "how's Ruby doing?"
"Much better," she smiled, "though she's still not on speaking terms with Gordon. James tried talking to her last week, and boy, did she go off on him."
"Ruddy red menace, that bastard." murmured Thomas, "The Fat Controller should've sent him away and made Ruby the new number five."
"Oh, I agree. But with this damn depression, if The Fat Controller sent him to, say, the LMS, he'd probably be forced into retirement."
"Yeah, that's true."
They were interrupted by a shrill whistle and whoosh of steam, as Klondike arrived at the outermost platform from the road with the Round Robin. This train travels on the Loop Line; starting at Tidmouth, it calls at Lower Tidmouth, Knapford, Crosby, then splits off from the Main Line onto the Loop, passing the coaling plant and the yards of the Packard Construction Company, before stopping at Elsbridge, then continuing on the Loop Line to Callendale, than Tidmouth Town Square, before ending up back at Tidmouth, hence the name Round Robin.
"Make way for Number Three!" said Klondike. He was expecting everyone to cheer, but nobody did. They just went about their business as Thomas and Yang looked at him, unimpressed.
"Number Three?" asked Yang.
"Like hell you are!" spluttered Thomas, "Henry's away being rebuilt! He'll be back, mark my words!"
"You pitiful, insignificant Brighton pipsqueak," Klondike said, smugly, "that mongrel isn't coming back. I am the future of this railway, and all of Britain's railways!"
"WERE." insisted Yang, "You WERE the future. Before the turn-of-the-century. And I don't appreciate you calling my cousin a pipsqueak. He may be small, but he's got a big heart."
"What would YOU know? You're just a female. Good for nothing but shunting and pleasuring us important engines."
Thomas and Yang looked as if their jaws were about to fall off!
"How. Fucking. DARE YOU," screamed Thomas, "you little piece of SHIT! You're lucky The Fat Director isn't here, or he-"
"I am above that fat fuck!" Klondike roared, "And soon, you and every other engine on this backwater railway will know your place!"
Klondike's guard blew his whistle, and he clattered away. Thomas glared daggers at him until he was out of sight, then looked at Yang, who looked hurt.
"Don't listen to him, Yang." soothed Thomas, "He's just an engine with ideas above his station."
"It's not me I'm worried about, it's Ruby." Everyone knew how protective Yang was of her self-proclaimed surrogate sister. Nobody knew why they were like this, as the day construction of the railway was completed in 1918, the two just...clicked. If you believe the Revenant Theory for non-faceless vehicles, one could say they knew each other in a past life, something that became even more evident after Blake, Weiss, and Penny joined the railway.
"Ruby is strong," Thomas assured, "and it takes a lot to rile her up. Unless you're a certain red engine on a power trip…"
"I just wish I could've made things right with Henry before…" She trailed off, remembering the crash site from a month prior. Seeing Henry on his side in such a state, then seeing body bags removed from the twisted wreckage of what was once the brake van…
"Henry will return," said Thomas, "and he'll be better than ever."
"Are you sure?" asked Yang, uncertain.
"Does the pope shit in the woods?"
The two Brighton engines broke out laughing. This rhetorical question was something of a running joke amongst all engines of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. Thomas knew it, Yang knew it, and so did Preston, whom the two missed terribly since he was sold by the old human supremacist railway board. Of course, Thomas missed Emily even more, but little did he know they would be reunited one day…
Meanwhile, Klondike had arrived at Knapford with the Round Robin. Doing the same circuit over and over again was starting to bore him, and he wanted a change. Presently, he saw Gordon backing down on the Wild nor' Wester, ready for another trip to Barrow. An idea flew into his funnel.
"Leave those coaches, Gordon. The Fat Director has told me that I'm to take the next express run."
Gordon was confused. "Why wasn't I informed ahead of time?"
"He's been busy overseeing...HHHHEEEEEENNNNRRRRRYYYYYYY'SSSSSS...rebuild." He said Henry's name as if it was syphilis.
"Then what am I to do?"
"You're to take over the Round Robin from me. A trade, if you will."
Gordon, suspecting nothing, swapped trains with Klondike. Eventually, their guards blew their whistles, and they were off.
Gordon enjoyed his run with the Round Robin. He usually didn't see the countryside in much detail, and with a slower train, he could take in the sights.
"Sometimes I do envy Ruby and Yang…" he thought.
When Gordon returned to Knapford after making a full lap, he saw The Fat Director standing on the platform. He did not look happy.
"What are you playing at, Gordon?" he asked, sternly.
"It was your orders, sir! That I take over the Round Robin while another engine takes over the express!"
"Who the blazes told you that?"
"Klondike said he told you everything."
The Fat Director sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose. Klondike was getting out of hand.
"Leave that train there, Gordon. I'll have Eagle take it over. We need to end this before it gets worse."
"What are we gonna do, sir?" Gordon asked.
"You'll see." smiled The Fat Director.
"I don't think I like the sound of that…"
Klondike was having the time of his life speeding down the line.
"One in the headlamp for those harlots!" he said to himself.
The passengers, however, were NOT having a good time at all. Klondike was riding roughly, and the coaches were rocking wildly. Bodies and luggage were being thrown everywhere, tea was being spilled, and the refreshment trolley was in pieces.
But Klondike didn't care. Passengers would just have to learn to cope with true speed.
He got the train to Barrow early, but only because he had completely skipped Crovan's Gate. The irate passengers swarmed around him like angry bees, but Klondike didn't care. He wheeshed steam rudely at the passengers, and shouted insults to get them to go away.
After the faceless LMS engine had taken the express on to London, Klondike took a stopper back to Knapford. While not as prestigious as the express, Klondike couldn't complain. He still rode roughly, and passengers were still thrown around like ragdolls, but again, he didn't care.
Upon reaching Knapford, he went to Tidmouth light engine to rest at the sheds. The only other engine there was Ruby, who was dozing after a long morning with a stopping goods from Tidmouth to Wellsworth. She awoke with a start when Klondike noisily backed down.
"You!" he barked, "Go fetch me some coal."
Ruby stood there with a flat look on her face. "Excuse you? I am NOT at your beck and call."
"Did I stutter, bitch? I said go get me some coal! I'm fucking starved!"
"Didn't you just hear me? I'm not your personal servant!"
Klondike's face started turning red. "Nobody disobeys me, especially females like you! All your kind is good for is shunting our trains and making us feel good at the end of a hard day's work! NOW GET ME MY COAL, SLAVE!"
"I don't have to." Ruby said in a sassy voice. And she left the shed to get ready for her next train.
"YOU LITTLE COCKROACH! I'LL TEACH YOU TO TALK BACK TO YOUR MASTER!"
And Klondike ran after her. Ruby noticed, and quickly accelerated. He chased her through Knapford, over Gordon's Hill, and all the way to Crovan's Gate.
Swerving into a siding, Ruby found herself in a yard, where she ran until she came to a set of buffers. Klondike was right behind her, murderous intent in his eyes.
"Now you shall learn the ultimate lesson: female engines are expendable. I shall destroy you the same way I destroyed Henry!"
Ruby froze. "You WHAT?!"
Klondike realized what he said, and the wicked smirk he was wearing a second ago was replaced by a look of shock.
"I, uh, may have said too much. But nobody will ever know! The secret dies with you!"
And he charged forward to push Ruby off the tracks. He was halfway there, Ruby screaming for help, when he felt something hit him on the right-hand side. He hadn't noticed he was on a crossover track and found himself derailed.
"NOBODY. FUCKS. WITH MY KIN!"
Klondike opened his eyes to see that James had t-boned him off the rails. With him were Thomas and Gordon, who looked equally as pissed at him.
"Whatever!" said Klondike, "When Fat Bastard finds out you assaulted me, I-"
"YOU WILL DO NOTHING, YOU MONSTER!"
Klondike froze. He knew that voice. Standing in front of him was The Fat Director.
"Tricking Gordon out of the express and being generally unpleasant is one thing, but you...not even Alfred or Cecil would never do something as heinous as...MURDER!"
"To be fair, sir," Gordon said, "The Round Robin was quite nice. I wouldn't mind pulling it again."
"Glad to see you branching out, Gordon," smiled The Fat Director. His smile faded when he turned back to Klondike.
"You are a worthless waste of life! A pitiful excuse for a non-faceless vehicle! The only reason I let you live is so I can watch you squirm! If you were a human, I WOULD PAY TO SEE A PILE OF PEOPLE BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU! I WISH YOU WERE DEAD SO MUCH! I-"
He paused when he saw the fear in Thomas, Gordon, James, and Ruby's faces, and composed himself.
"I hope you're happy with what you've done. Not only did you injure many people during your passenger runs today, you also tried to force yourself on a female engine. But ohohohoho, that all pales in comparison to what you did to Henry! I might've known that the crash was no accident, but never, in all my years, did I think you were trying to MURDER Henry! Not only is he at Crewe being rebuilt, your actions caused the death of your crew!"
"Uh...acceptable losses?" said Klondike with a nervous smile.
The Fat Director's face became redder than James' paint, and he screamed to the heavens. After this outburst, he took a very deep breath to calm himself, and regained his composure again.
"I'll see to it you never turn a single wheel under your own power again!"
As he went to the station to telephone the police, Thomas and Gordon stood guard to prevent Klondike from leaving, while Ruby backed out of the siding, stopping next to James briefly.
"This doesn't make up for what you called me," she said sternly, "but...thanks."
And she left without another word. James looked down in shame. He knew his own cousin would never forgive him, nor did he expect her to.
A few minutes later, the police arrived and surrounded Klondike. He was drained of all water in his tender, and what unburnt coal he had left was removed, so he couldn't move anymore. He was moved into the Steamworks by Thomas, where his coupling rods, whistle, and other fittings were removed. Next, his LNER Apple Green livery was scraped off, and replaced with NER Black. Since the Grouping in 1923, this color was used to denote prisoners who had committed particularly heinous crimes, and that one should keep their distance.
Under the cover of night, so none of the other engines would try to carry out vigilante justice, Ruby and Yang moved him to Barrow to be handed over to the LMS, who would then take him to the LNER to face judgement. Ruby was in front, and Yang behind her, with a coach belonging to the Railway Investigative Unit (RIU) and a pair of 7-plank wagons carrying Klondike's fittings, separated the two from the disgraced engine; behind Klondike was the regular Midnight Goods.
Not a word was uttered during the trip from Tidmouth to Barrow. Not when the sisters collected their train from Tidmouth Yard. Not when they picked up additional outbound wagons from Knapford and Wellsworth. Not when they reached Barrow to hand the prisoner off to the LMS. Not when they went to collect the return train. And not when they got back to Tidmouth and retired to the sheds utterly exhausted, both physically and emotionally.
Not a word.
Over the next few days, Klondike would be handed off from train-to-train, line-to-line, en route to his final destination.
King's Cross.
On the way, one of the goods trains he was towed on made a stop at Crewe, right next to the works. He caught a glimpse inside, and saw Henry under heavy rebuild, knocked out thanks to Green Water. Klondike looked down in shame. Thomas was right: Henry would return.
Upon arriving in King's Cross, on his home railway, Klondike was greeted with angry jeers, insults, obscenities, and thrown objects. He had destroyed the LNER's reputation and made the NWR unwilling to do any further business with them.
Before a magistrate, Klondike was subject to a kangaroo court. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder of a non-faceless vehicle and three counts involuntary manslaughter. In minutes, he was found guilty, and handed over to the LNER to decide his fate.
They chose something they had done only once before, with Cecil. They gave him a compulsory Final Firing. As the Blair Water was pumped into his system, Klondike reflected on what could have been. With his dying breaths, he managed one last insult.
"Fuck you...Henry."
After the process was complete, instead of rebuilding him into a regular faceless engine, the LNER decided to simply scrap him, as the C2s were already planned for withdrawal. Klondike, now referred to as No. 3993, was the first C2 to be scrapped.
Ironic. Isn't it?
18 months later, there was a cause for celebration on Sodor. Thousands turned out along the NWR mainline, and the engines excitedly waited at Knapford station.
At noon, an engine rolled over the Vicarstown Bridge. He was a non-faceless engine, with green paint, red stripes, and the number three on his tender. 19 months at Crewe had completely transformed him.
An hour later, the engines were growing restless.
"I see him! I see him!" Kate cried out.
Rounding the curve, there was the engine that had given the railway no end of grief. Now, however, he was transformed. No longer the unholy lovechild of an LNER A1 and LNER C1, he was now an LMS Stanier Class 5, or as they were better known, Black Five.
Once the runt of the litter, Henry was a new engine. He now had a proper firebox, a Caprotti valve gear, and an overall bigger appearance. The Fat Director already knew one modification he wished to make: swapping the Stanier tender with a Fowler tender, as had already been done with every other tender engine on the railway besides Ruby and Yang.
Immediately following his return, Henry took his first train since the accident, that being the express to Barrow. It went off without a hitch, and in the coming days, Henry took a load off the buffers of the engines assigned to goods work, as he was now the single-most strongest engine on Sodor, a title he would hold for the longest time.
Henry is happy in his new shape, no longer the red-headed stepchild of the railway, but its muscle. He strolls away with trains while exerting little-to-no effort, and pulls the express so well, it made Gordon jealous in those days.
But that's a story for another day...