Chapter 50: Carrie's Seventeenth Birthday
(Thursday, September 20st 2012 – 4:05pm, Emily Road Station)
After a very good day out with Simon and her friends in the town of Emily Road, which was one of the two most northern towns to be found on the Island of Sodor, Carrie and her friends were sitting down in the spacious waiting room at Emily Road Station and waiting for the train to come by at around 4:15pm so that they could get back down to Knapford Station.
They had arrived in Emily Road earlier on that morning at about 9:30am on the train from Knapford, and had spent the best part of the day in the town, where they went round and visited some of the different shops in town, as well as taking a walk along the seaside promenade that was right beside the beach there. For lunch, they had visited a café that was at one end of the promenade right beside the beach. From where they were sitting outside on the open decking area, they could look over the calm blue waters of the Irish Sea and eat with each other while listening to the sounds of the calm sea that was lapping against the beach, and the others sounds that would be heard at the seaside, such as seagulls squawking in the sky.
The group of six friends had enjoyed a really good lunch at the café, in fact they all enjoyed fish and chips, which went down really well with them all, and finished it off with ice cream. Once finished at the café, they left and went strolling around the town, as well as down on the beach, until 3:55pm, when they finally arrived back at the station, ready to take the train back home.
The weather for this September day had been very good for the most part, with reasonably warm temperatures, light breezes, and clear skies since morning, but by 4:00pm, things began to take an ominous turn for the worst; very dark clouds were gathering in the sky to the west and south-west, which indicated to everyone that a big storm was rolling in. And just in the previous few minutes, they had seen bright white flashes of lightning within the dark bank of clouds on the western horizon and then heard the sounds of rumbling thunder not too long afterwards, and it meant that once the storm came over Sodor, they were going to be in for a miserable evening.
From inside the station waiting room, Carrie took a glance outside the window as the storm clouds came closer and closer towards them, and then she heard another rumble of thunder pass loudly overhead. It presented quite an ominous scene to anyone who saw it, and Carrie felt herself shiver a little bit after a few moments.
"Looks like we got back here just in time." Carrie said, as she turned to look at Simon.
"Indeed, and I'd say it was perfect timing as well on the part of all of us that we came up here today while the weather was good this morning." Simon said, as he too looked out the window with some concern at the large bank of very dark clouds.
"And I'm glad that its warm in here with the fire." Sophie said, as she looked towards the fire that was burning merrily away in the fireplace. "It's starting to get a little cold out there right now."
"Me too. I reckon it won't be too long before it gets a little colder with each day. And then soon, we'll be on the verge of entering winter." Olivia said.
"I know. And I'm not looking forward too much to the wintertime, as that means it'll be very cold and with heavy snowfall as well." Sophie said.
"And with the trains running much slower as well, due to the snow and the drifts that are created. And that'll cause all the trains to get stuck as well." Saoirse added.
"And that's why I say we should enjoy the weather while it's still good." Alice said, and they all agreed with that statement.
They all sat inside the warmth of the waiting room for a few more minutes before they heard the sounds of chuffing approaching the station, and then the door opened and the stationmaster stepped into the waiting room.
"The train for Knapford is approaching the station now, everyone." he said.
"Come on. That's our train." Simon said, as he stood up and the girls all did the same. They went over to the door and stepped out onto the platform. By now, the wind had picked up somewhat, and it was colder than it had been earlier in the day. In the sky above, the dark storm clouds were now blocking out the sunlight, giving a very ominous sight over them, especially with the thunder and lightning that were rumbling overhead.
"I hope the train comes quickly. I want to get aboard it before the rain comes." Carrie said, as she looked up at the dark, ominous sky.
"Yeah, me too." Simon said, as he also looked up at the sky.
Then, there came the sounds of a whistle, along with the sounds of chuffing, from down the line in the direction of Nort Station just a few miles to the east. A few moments later, the engine came into view as it slowed down on approach to the station with nine coaches coupled behind his tender. The engine was No.833, who was an example of the London and South Western Railway's S15 Class 4-6-0 freight engines (89). But today, instead of hauling freight trains as he usually would do, No.833 was assigned to pull passengers for a change, and he had enjoyed this job until he saw the storm clouds in the distance earlier on. Now, seeing just how dark the sky had become with the storm overhead, he was keen to collect all his passengers and get them all back to Knapford as soon as he possibly could.
(89): The London and South Western Railway's (L.S.W.R.) S15 Class 4-6-0 engines were designed by Robert Urie, and was based off of Urie's previous H15 and N15 Classes. They were intended to be used on the heavy freight traffic that was running on the L.S.W.R. system, as well as on the Southern Railway later on.
During the First World War, there was a need by the management of the L.S.W.R. for a modern standard heavy freight engine that could work on heavy freight trains that ran from the freight yards in London down to the southwest of England, as well as to the south coast ports of Portsmouth, Weymouth, and Southampton. So, Robert Urie took the chance to develop his recent H15 Class 4-6-0 design further into a purpose-built freight design in order to cover this requirement.
In total, 45 members of the new S15 Class were built in three batches at Eastleigh Works between February 1920 and December 1936.
In the first batch to be built, from 1920 to 1921, the locomotives incorporated lessons that were learned from experience with Urie's H15 Class. In order to standardise as much as possible and economise on maintenance, the new S15 Class had many interchangeable parts that could be used on the similar N15 Class passenger design. Details like the boiler design, cylinders, and valve gear were standardised between the classes, although a tapered boiler design was used on the S15 and N15 Classes. The only major difference was the use of smaller diameter driving wheels, which were much more suited to freight work than larger wheels would be.
In 1921, the last engine of the first batch entered service, by which point there were 20 engines of the new class in service on the L.S.W.R., with most being allocated to working around London, mainly with hauling freight trains from Feltham Yard, but were also seen on passenger trains at peak times, and often reached speeds of 70mph. They were the very first 4-6-0 mixed-traffic locomotive to use Walschaerts valve gear, and they were numbered from No.496 to No.515. These members of the class could be distinguished from the later members of the class by having the running plates raised above the cylinders and being paired with eight-wheel tenders. They had 5ft 7in diameter driving wheels, two outside cylinders that were 21in in diameter with a 28in piston stroke, and a boiler that was pressed to 180psi, all of which combined to give the first 20 engines a maximum tractive effort of 28,200lbf.
When the L.S.W.R. was incorporated into the Southern Railway in 1923, Urie retired as Locomotive Superintendent, and Richard Maunsell took over as the Southern's new C.M.E. He decided to make some modifications to the S15 Class, which was revising the cylinder layout of the class. Due to this, there were no more engines built until the modifications were completed, but when they were, it was quite clear that the design had been made even better than it had before. Engine crews were impressed by the changes, and the modified engines were able to undertake all the tasks for which they were built to do.
With the modifications having proved successful, the Southern Railway management gave permission for a second batch of engines to be built, and these were turned out from Eastleigh Works in 1927 and 1928. These engines, which were numbered from No.823 to No.837, differed from the earlier batch of 20 engines in a number of ways; firstly, the boiler pressure was increased to 200psi and the cylinder diameter was reduced by half an inch – which allowed the tractive effort to increase to 29,860lbf – and the footplate was also modified for operations on the Southern Railways new loading gauge, and differed in being fitted with an Ashford-style cab, which was normally only seen on L.B.S.C.R. engines. The new cab was of all-steel construction and had a roof that was flush with the cab sides.
Other modifications made included the lengthening the valve travel, and fitting larger outside steam pipes in order to streamline the flow of steam into the cylinders. Some of the engines were also given six-wheel tenders that carried 4,000 gallons of water for use on the Southern's Central Section, which allowed engines so-fitted to use the smaller diameter turntables on that part of the network. Other members of the class were paired with eight-wheel bogie tenders that carried 5,000 gallons of water, which allowed those members of the class to operate on extended freight routes on the Western Section of the Southern.
The third and final batch of the S15 Class to be built was ordered in 1931, but due to the economic hardships of that time because of the Great Depression and the downturn in freight traffic, the engines of this batch wasn't built until 1936, and again they were built at Eastleigh Works. These engines, which were numbered from No.838 to No.847, had detailed differences from the rest of the class, as well as reduced weight, and being fitted with modified eight-wheel tenders. A final change made was the fitment of smoke deflectors to improve visibility for the drivers on the footplate when the engines were travelling at speed.
Once the last of the modified S15s had entered service on the Southern network, they were highly regarded by their crews as an excellent freight engine for the work they had to do, especially on the heavy night express goods trains that ran between Exeter, Southampton, and Nine Elms in London. The S15s also proved themselves to be very capable engines for working on passenger trains, being able to deputise on passenger trains where there were shortages of express passenger trains during peak holiday periods.
Both the Urie and Maunsell S15s spent most of their working lives on the Western Section of the Southern Railway, although they were sometimes used on inter-regional freight trains. In order to increase the efficiency of maintenance, the Urie S15s, which had the lower-pressure boilers, were concentrated together in at the freight depot in Feltham, London. The Maunsell S15s were also based in that yard at times, and those S15s were also allocated to Exemouth Junction, Hither Green, and Salisbury, which showed the "go anywhere" nature of the class.
During the early part of the Second World War, a few examples of the S15 Class, No.496 to No.499, were loaned to the Great Western Railway to help with moving the increasingly heavy freight traffic on that railway. These engines were returned to the Southern between March and July 1943.
When the railways were nationalised in January 1948, the class were repainted in British Railway unlined black livery and they were renumbered, with the Urie S15s being renumbered from No.30496 to No.30515, and the Maunsell S15s being renumbered from No.30823 to No.30837. For the rest of their time in service, the S15 Class worked very well on the Southern Region of B.R., able to turn their wheels to whatever was thrown at them.
But the end had to come soon, and in 1962 the first four members of the class, No.30502, No.30504, No.30505, and No.30826, were withdrawn from service. The rest of the class followed along over the next three years, with 18 examples being withdrawn in 1963, 17 in 1964, and the remaining 6 in 1965. When No.30512 was withdrawn from service in 1964, it was the final ex-L.S.W.R. locomotive still in service at the time. The final example of the class to be withdrawn was No.30837, one of the Maunsell S15s, and she was removed from service in January 1966 after working a final farewell rail-tour.
Although the S15 Class were only one year newer, they actually managed to last longer in service than their N15 "King Arthur" Class counterparts because of their dual ability to pull both freight and passengers. Due to their similar appearance to the N15 Class, the S15 Class were known by their nickname as "Goods Arthurs."
Thankfully, seven examples of the S15 Class have managed to survive into preservation, all of whom were lucky to be rescued from Woodham's yard in Barry, South Wales. Of the seven survivors, two are Urie examples and the remaining five are Maunsell S15s.
The seven surviving S15s are;
No.499; built at Eastleigh Works in May 1920, she's the oldest surviving S15. Withdrawn from service in January 1964 having having covered 1,241,024 miles in service, she was rescued from Barry in 1983 and taken to the Mid Hants Railway to be used as a source of spares for No.506. However, in 1983 she was bought with the intention of returning her to working order again, but restoration work is still on-going as of 2024. The plan for No.499 is to restore her to her original L.S.W.R. condition.
No.506; built at Eastleigh Works in October 1920, she was withdrawn in January 1964. She was rescued from Barry in March 1973, and then taken to the Mid Hants Railway in 1976 where restoration work could begin in earnest. The work was finished in 1987 and No.506 ran on the Mid Hants for 14 years before being withdrawn for a major overhaul in 2001. The overhaul lasted for 18 years and included replacing the front end of the frames, as well as undertaking major work on the boiler. By June 2019, the work was finally completed, and No.506 entered service again on the Mid Hants Railway.
No.825; built at Eastleigh Works in June 1927, she was withdrawn from service in January 1964. She was rescued from Barry in 1986, she was taken to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for restoration, but in 1994 she was cannibalized for spare parts by both the North Yorkshire Moors and Mid Hants Railways. Her frames were used to restore No.841, resulting in that engine being renumbered as No.825. The boiler and tender now being used by No.825 had been donated by the same engine. No.825 is currently based on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, where she's out of service due to problems with her boiler.
No.828; built at Eastleigh Works in July 1927, she was withdrawn in January 1964 after covering 1,287,124 miles in her career. She was rescued from Barry in 1981 and was taken to Eastleigh Works for restoration, which was completed in 1993 when No.828 rolled under her own power for the first time in preservation. After running in at the East Somerset Railway, she ran on the main line on a number of occasions, including a May 8th V-E Day special, as well as on a commemorative D-Day special. She was taken out of service in 2002 for a major overhaul on the Mid Hants Railway.
No.830; built at Eastleigh Works in August 1927, she was withdrawn in July 1964. She was rescued from Barry in 1987 and was then taken to the Bluebell Railway for restoration, but is currently on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where restoration work on returning her to steam is still ongoing.
No.841; built at Eastleigh Works in July 1936, she was withdrawn from service in January 164. She was rescued from Barry in 1972 and was taken to Chappel and Wakes Colne in Essex for restoration, which was completed in 1974 and she was named Greene King. Since 1978, she's been based on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. In 1994, she was withdrawn for a major overhaul, in which the frames from No.825 were used in the reconstruction, and so No.841 is now identified as No.825. This change was necessary as the original frames of No.841 were found to have been out of alignment. The frames of No.841 are now in Grosmont on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
No.847; built at Eastleigh Works in December 1936, she's the youngest member of the class as well as being the very last 4-6-0 engine to be built by the Southern Railway. Withdrawn from service in January 1964, she was rescued from Barry in 1978 and taken to the Bluebell Railway for restoration. Once the restoration was completed, No.847 entered service in 1992 and ran for a number of years on the Bluebell until she was withdrawn for an overhaul, which returned her to steam in 2013. By December 2023, she was withdrawn from service again, and is currently awaiting another overhaul. This work will include major work done on the firebox and boiler, as well as replacing the tyres on the driving wheels. She's famous as being the engine who appeared in the 2017 movie Goodbye Christopher Robin, and the 2018 movie Christopher Robin.
With a gentle squealing of brakes, No.833 came to a halt at the platform, and then the doors on the coaches were opened.
"Get in quickly please!" No.833 said, as the waiting passengers began to board the train. He was very keen to see the passengers get aboard as fast as possible, as the rain could begin to fall any moment. Taking this advice to heart, and really needing no encouragement, the passengers quickly got aboard the coaches and then sat down at any spare seats they could find in the train.
At the coach they got on, Carrie, Simon, Olivia, Alice, Saoirse, and Sophie managed to find six spare seats at the back end of the coach, and right next door to the buffet coach in the middle of the train. As she sat down right by the window, Carrie looked up to the sky with some concern; the black clouds made everything on the ground seem very ominous and frightening. Then, a rain drop streaked down the outside of the window, followed by another and another; a moment later, the heavens opened and the rain came bucketing down, and heavier than Carrie ever remembered seeing rain come down.
Up at the front of the train, the heavy rain pelted down into the face of No.833, and he had to shut his eyes because of it.
"Ohhhhh!" he went as the rain went all over his boiler, cab, and tender, and poured down his sides. As the rain pelted down heavily upon him, he thought of his nice, dry shed. His driver and fireman were reasonably well-sheltered in the cab, and they had also set up a tarpaulin from the cab roof to the front of the tender to help keep the rain out.
As the rain began falling, the last of the waiting passengers stepped aboard the train just in time, and took their seats. With everyone aboard, the doors were quickly closed up, and the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag. With the signal ahead showing the way clear, and with the signalman having set the points, the driver blew the whistle and opened the regulator, and they were on their way down the line again.
As they set off from the station, Carrie and her friends looked out the windows they were sitting the closest to and watched as the heavy rain streaked down the glass, which soon obstructed their view outside.
"Looks like we got on just in time. I really don't want to be outside in that." Carrie said, as she looked at Simon.
"I know. And I've seen heavy rain like this quite a few times in my life, and sometimes it was exactly like that." Simon said, as he pointed out the window.
"Well, now that we're on the train, shall we go to the buffet coach and get something to eat?" Sophie suggested.
"I agree. With the air outside now a bit colder, I want something to warm up." Saoirse said in agreement.
"So…a cup of tea?" suggested Alice.
"Sounds like a good idea to me! Let's go and get it!" Olivia said, and they stood up and went back one coach into the buffet coach.
"Let's get that hot drink, Carrie!" Simon said, as they lined up behind the other girls.
"Sounds like an idea to me!" Carrie said.
(Insert soundtrack – The Storm Theme – Percy's Promise)
As the passengers made themselves comfortable and chatted with friends or sipped hot drinks, the train made its way along the Northern Main Line heading southwards, being pelted by heavy rain all the while as it went along. At the front, the driver and fireman worked away at keeping No.833 going along through the heavy driving rain, while keeping their eyes out for the state of the signals, as well as any other trains they came upon.
"I wish I could see! I wish I could see!" No.833 said, as the rain lashed into his face, forcing him to keep his eyes firmly closed as he powered on ahead.
"Take it easy, old boy!" the driver called from the cab, "There's plenty of time!"
The fireman shovelled fresh coal from the tender into the firebox to keep the fire burning brightly and make steam to keep them rolling along. Passing through Harwick Station a little further down the line, they came upon B.R. Standard Class 4MT 2-6-4T No.80010, who was standing at the station on the northbound platform and collecting passengers. As the two engines whistled in greeting to each other, No.833 went on past down the line with his train, while No.80010 left Harwick not long afterwards.
The signals ahead were green as they passed on through Heathfield Junction, and the driver, after whistling as they went by the signals, opened the regulator a little more and brought the speed of the train up. Going along down the line, they came upon G.W.R. 10XX County Class 4-6-0 No.1005 County of Devon, who was heading northwards with a long line of fully laden milk tankers behind him, about twenty or so. Some of the tankers had four wheels, while others were running on six wheels, and each of them was quite clean in their appearance.
"Hello, County of Devon!" No.833 whistled as he went on past.
"Hello!" County of Devon whistled in return, as he made his way northwards.
In the coach they were sitting in, Simon and Carrie were enjoying hot tea and chocolate chip muffins at the table while the world went by outside the window. The train was running smoothly, despite the heavy rain, and everyone in the coach seemed to be enjoying the ride along the line.
"We'll soon be home, Carrie. Did you have a nice day out today?" Simon asked, as he took a sip of his tea.
"I did, Simon. And it's a good thing we all went out today while the weather earlier on today was good." Carrie said, as she took a bite out from her chocolate chip muffin.
"Yeah, it would've been a miserable experience if it had rained when we were up in Emily Road." Simon said.
"I agree." Carrie said, as she took a long sip of tea while it was still hot.
"Anyway, the weather tomorrow should be better…hopefully." Simon said.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna be turning 17 tomorrow, Simon." Carrie said.
"Don't worry, Carrie. I haven't forgotten about it, and I was wondering if we could somewhere tomorrow for the day, just you and I?" Simon asked.
"Yeah, I'd really like that, Simon. And where do you think we should go?" Carrie asked, with a smile.
"Well…wherever you'd like to go. After all, it's your 17th birthday." Simon said.
"You know…I think I'd like to go over to Vicarstown in the morning. And if we can go on the first train of the day, that would give us a few hours in Vicarstown." Carrie said.
"I think that can be arranged, Carrie." Simon said, with a smile. Carrie herself also smiled, as she was really hoping that her 17th birthday would be a big success for her. She had never celebrated her birthday before in her life, nor had she ever been invited to any birthday celebration before, all because of her abusive mother's fanatical religious beliefs. Margaret had believed birthdays were sinful things, and so never allowed Carrie to ever celebrate hers or even go to other people's parties, though because of her mother's way, no one had ever invited her to their birthdays.
The train proceeded along the line at a good speed, making two more stops along the way, at Heathfield Station and Tidmouth respectively, before they finally arrived at Knapford Station, bang on time at 5:00pm. As they approached the north end of Knapford and then pulled into the station on the line that ran alongside Platform 5, the heavy rain began to ease off somewhat, though it still kept on falling.
With a gentle squealing of brakes, No.833 came to a stop at the end of Platform 5 and let off some steam after he did so.
"Phew, I made it on time! And despite the heavy rain as well!" he said, feeling pleased with himself.
"Good work, old boy! You did a good job!" his driver said, as he leaned out from the side of the cab.
"Thank you!" No.833 said, as he smiled a little. Despite the heavy rain, he was very pleased to have gotten the train to Knapford Station on time.
As the passengers began to disembark from the train and make their way up the footbridge to leave the station, Carrie, Simon, and their friends stepped off the coach they were on. Looking round as the other passengers left the train, they stayed together and then made their way along the platform, following the other disembarking passengers towards the footbridge. Making their way along up the footbridge and then over towards the main exit for the station, they were still chatting with each other.
"So, both of you are gonna be going over to Vicarstown tomorrow, Simon?" Saoirse said, as she looked towards Simon and Carrie.
"Yes, we are, Saoirse. After all, Carrie is gonna be turning 17 tomorrow, and I want to help her do something that'll make her day a special one." Simon said.
"I think that's a good idea, Simon. I think Carrie really deserves something very special for her birthday, and I think you can do quite a good job of that." Sophie said.
"Thanks, Sophie. And I promise to do the best I can to make Carrie's day out a very special one." Simon said.
But what the group of six friends didn't know as they walked along the footbridge towards Platform 1 was that Irving, one of the officers who came flown over to Chamberlain, was sitting at a table over by one of the coffee kiosks and discreetly watching the group as they descended the footbridge to Platform 1. Irving had a camera with her, and was intending to try and get pictures of Carrie White from a distance when Carrie and her friends were unaware of what was going on.
As the six friends came closer along the platform towards her and then paused briefly by the exit out onto the car park, Irving thought about how she could discreetly get a picture of Carrie without the group seeing her bring her camera up. As she considered this, she clearly overheard one of the girls saying something about Carrie and the boy who was with the group about going over to Vicarstown in the morning. She also heard one of the other girls saying something about Carrie and the boy, whose name she heard was Simon, could go over to Vicarstown on the train at 8:00am in the morning.
As Irving debated on how she could get a few pictures of Carrie with her camera without Carrie noticing, she suddenly received a chance. There came the sounds of a whistle as well as sounds of chuffing coming in along the line towards Platform 1. As Carrie, Simon, and the other four girls turned their heads away to see who it was, Irving lifted her camera, switched it on, and then focused the lens on Carrie, who was giving a perfect view of her left side. Quickly snapping two or three pictures, Irving then took a look at the screen of her camera to check the quality of the pictures; the quality was good and showed very crisp images of Carrie. Feeling herself smile at the pictures, Irving readied her camera to get more possible images of Carrie as the engine responsible for whistling while approached the station finally arrived at Platform 1; it was none other than James the red engine, and he was just arriving in Knapford with a long line of vans behind him.
"And here we are! Here at last!" he said with a smile on his face, as he came to a stop alongside the platform.
"Hi there, James. A good day out today?" Simon asked, as he spoke to James.
"Yes, Simon. A very good day indeed!" said James, with a smile on his face.
As Carrie moved forward to speak to James, Irving, who was still sitting a short distance away, and still completely unnoticed by Carrie or her friends, brought her camera up to her eyes and discreetly snapped a few more pictures of Carrie.
As she lowered the camera from her eyes, she watched for a few moments as Carrie, Simon, and the other girls who were with them spoke to the big red engine that had just arrived on the scene, and then, after she heard them all and the red engine say "goodbye," she watched as the group turned and walked out from Knapford Station. As they did so, she quickly pulled her phone out from the inside breast pocket of her coat.
Making their way outside, Carrie, Simon, and the other girls stood close to the entrance and waited for their rides back home. The rain was still falling from the dark sky, but it was lighter than it had been earlier on. They just stood under the shelter of the canopy and waited for their rides to take them back home. They didn't have to wait for very long, as very soon each of them was on their way home. After getting into the car with her father, Carrie wished Simon a goodnight and that she would see him at Knapford Station in the morning, and Simon, with a smile on his face, wished Carrie a good night too.
As Ralph drove his car out from the station car park, another car, its engine already running, turned its headlights on and also made its way out from the station car park, before turning and following Ralph's car down the street. Irving was in the car, seated in the passenger seat, while King was sitting behind the wheel and driving.
"Did you manage to get some pictures of her?" King asked.
"Yes, I did. And some very good ones too. She never even knew that I was only just a few yards away from her when I took the pictures." Irving said.
"Okay, now let's see who it is Carrie is staying with. But we need to stay well back from them, so as not to get them suspicious." King said, as he concentrated on driving safely.
For two or three minutes or so, King followed Ralph White along the streets towards where Ralph and Carrie lived, while keeping a respectable distance away so as not to alert Ralph or Carrie that they were being followed. As King drove along, Irving got her camera prepared by fitting a special lens for getting pictures of Carrie at a distance, while she braced herself for getting the pictures when the chance came.
They soon came near the White residence, and as King pulled over to an empty parking space at the side of the road a little way down the road, he and Irving watched as the car they had been following turned into the driveway and drove up to the front of the house. Bringing her camera up to her eyes, Irving adjusted the focus of the lens and waited for the chance to take the pictures, as King kept the wipers on the front windscreen to keep the rain off.
Watching as Carrie and her father stepped out of the car, Irving saw her chance and snapped some photos in quite succession, including a few where she got a few good images of Ralph White as well. And she kept snapping more photos of the two until they entered the house, and the front door closed behind them.
"You get the photos, Irving?" King asked, as he looked towards Irving, who was looking at the screen of her camera at the quality of the pictures.
"Yes, I did. And very good quality ones they are too." Irving said, as she looked up at King.
"Good, now let's get back to the hotel and show the others the pictures." King said, and he pulled out from the parking space he had temporarily pulled into and set off back to the hotel.
(A short while later, at the Westbury hotel)
"These are some very good images of Carrie, Irving. Well done." Brian said, as he looked over the pictures on his laptop. All four officers had gathered together in King's room once King and Irving had gotten back to the hotel, and they looked over the pictures of Carrie that Irving had taken earlier on.
"Thanks, Brian. I don't think that Carrie was even aware I was anywhere near her when I got the pictures." Irving said, as she sipped on a mug of hot coffee.
"Now then…let's see the pictures of the man Carrie is staying with." Brian said, as he looked over the pictures that Irving had gotten in front of the White residence. For a minute or so, Brian looked over the photos of Carrie and Ralph, trying to decide who this man was. But there was something that looked VERY familiar about this man.
"Hmm." Brian said, as he rubbed his chin in deep thought while looking at the pictures of Ralph.
"What do you think, Brian? Do you know who this man is?" Spacek asked, as she also looked at the pictures on the laptop screen. For a few short moments, Brian didn't say anything as he looked at the pictures, one after the other…and then it suddenly dawned upon him.
"Oh…my god…" Brian said quietly, his eyes going wide and jaw dropping as the realisation of exactly who he was seeing hit him like a truck going 100mph.
"Who is it, Brian?" Irving asked, as she leaned in a little.
"Guys…I think I know who that man is." Brian said, as he looked at Irving, King, and Spacek with some shock on his face. "It's Ralph White…Carrie's father."
On hearing that, the faces of King, Spacek, and Irving seemed to say "Are you kidding me?" and their mouths dropped and eyes went wide open in surprise.
"Hang on…that...that can't be possible, Brian. Ralph White has been dead since 1995. I know it because after that accident at his workplace back then, his body was never recovered, and so it was thought that his body must have been burned in the fire that resulted from that accident." King said.
"Look King, you can say all you want about that and then some…but I know for a fact that man IS Ralph White, and I know because we went to the same high school together. His face has changed a bit over the years, but I know for a fact that IS him." Brian said, as he looked to his colleagues with astonishment clear on his face. Just to be sure, King looked at the pictures of Ralph White on the screen for himself, one at a time for several moments.
"Well...I'll be...DARNED. It is Ralph White." King said, now fully accepting what Brian had said.
"Well…if that's the case…why is he over here on Sodor?" Spacek asked, in some shock.
"I guess that's something we'll need to find out in the next few days. But then again, there has to be a very good reason why he's over here." Brian said.
"Yeah, but that's another unexpected twist in this whole case that we were not expecting…to find out Carrie's father, Ralph White is alive and well, and has been for all these years." Irving said.
"Indeed…and I wonder what everyone back in Chamberlain will say about this when we inform them." Brian said.
"Well…let's worry about that later. For now…Irving, tell us about what the plans Carrie has for tomorrow." King said, and so without hesitation Irving told them all about what she had heard from the conversations Carrie and her friends had over at Knapford Station earlier.
(Next morning, Friday 21st September 2012 – 7:50am)
The weather this morning was much better than it had been the evening before, with clear skies and bright sunshine, as the sun shone in the sky as it rose above the eastern horizon. The air was a little cooler this morning, but it did promise to be a very fine day for the entire day. At Knapford Station, Carrie and Simon had just boarded the first train of the day that was going to Vicarstown. They were seated inside the First-Class Pullman coach at the front of the train, and the coach was one of 10 such Pullman coaches that made up the train, and the last passengers who had been standing on Platform 3 were boarding the coaches.
Among the passengers who were boarding the train on this fine morning were two of the officers who had come over from Chamberlain, Spacek and King, and they were going to be following Carrie around Vicarstown as discreetly as they could today. The two had been up early this morning and, after an early breakfast in the hotel, had made their way over to Knapford Station so they could board the train they knew that Simon and her boyfriend were doing to be aboard this morning.
Standing at the front of the train was the engine who was going to be taking this train over to Vicarstown; the engine was L.N.E.R. K4 Class 2-6-0 No.3443 Cameron of Lochiel, a friendly engine who liked to just be called Cameron. His fireman had built up the fire inside his firebox so there was a good head of steam in his boiler, with a column of grey-brown smoke rising from his chimney (90). His L.N.E.R. apple green livery had been polished down to a very high standard, so that it shone very smartly in the mid-September sunlight, and he drew the attention of quite a few people who were on the platform to see their friends off on their journey.
"We'll soon be ready to head off on our way, old boy!" the driver called out from the left-hand side of the cab. Looking up at the clock fitted above the platform, he could see the time was 7:52am, and they would be heading off at 8:00am sharp.
"I do hope so! I want to get all these people to Vicarstown on time!" Cameron said, as he waited in anticipation for the time when they could set off. This passenger train, while not the first train of the day to go to Vicarstown, was set to run non-stop all the way to their final destination, with Cameron's fireman topping up the water space in the tender tank using water from water troughs they encountered along the way.
(90): The L.N.E.R. K4 Class 2-6-0 was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, and were intended to be used on the former North British Railway West Highland main line that ran to Mallaig via Fort William. This line presented many operating problems due to its severe curves and sharp gradients, and this was combined with restrictive axle-loading limits which meant that very large locomotives couldn't go along the West Highland Line.
When the L.N.E.R. was formed after the Grouping in 1923, the main engines running passenger services on the West Highland Line were D34 Class "Glen" 4-4-0s, which due to the axle-loading limits, were the largest engines running on the line at the time. Heavier rolling stock had already entered service, which resulted in double-heading of D34s on long, heavy trains. Double-heading was seen as an inefficient way of moving heavy trains along the West Highland Line, and so something newer and better was clearly needed.
An early proposal was to use Gresley's K3 Class 2-6-0 engines on the West Highland to provide additional power in moving the heavy trains on that line, but these engines would have been unable to work down to Mallaig due to their weight. Eventually, this proposal was cancelled due to weight restrictions on some bridges along the route. A proposal for a new 2-6-0 design with 5ft 2in driving wheels, a K3 boiler, and three 18in diameter by 26in piston stroke cylinders was also dropped when the Great Northern section loaned 14 members of the K2 Class for use on the line. These K2 engines proved to be satisfactory, and as more K3s replaced K2s elsewhere on the L.N.E.R., more K2s were moved to the West Highland Line, with the class eventually becoming a permanent sight there by October 1925.
In 1934, there was a plan to develop a 2-8-0 design with 5ft 2in diameter driving wheels for the West Highland Line which would have combined a low axle-loading with the required adhesion, but for unknown reasons it was never developed any further.
In September 1934, Gresley instructed Doncaster to investigate the possibility of increasing the K2 Class tractive effort by altering the boiler pressure and/or the cylinder diameter. Calculations showed that by increasing the boiler pressure to 220psi and the cylinder diameter to 21in would have increased the tractive effort of the class to around 31,351lbf. But it would have also resulted in a reduction in adhesion, which Doncaster recommended against. By 1934, traffic on the West Highland Line had increased, and the engines of the K2 Class were being pushed to their limits, and so a new design was needed as soon as possible.
A proposal for a new locomotive class was made in 1935, but work on the new design didn't start until May 1936. When work finally began, it proceeded quickly with an outline drawing appearing in July, and the construction order signed in September. The design was based on the 1924 proposal for a 2-6-0 with 5ft 2in diameter driving wheels, but with K3 Class cylinders, a K2 Class boiler, and a B17 Class firebox. The frame was 5in longer than on the K3, and a similar pony truck was used, though the K4 Class pony truck had a 6ft 7in radius swing compared to the K3s 5ft 11.5in radius swing.
In January 1937, the first example of Gresley's new K4 Class, No.3441 Loch Long, rolled out from Darlington Works, and was allocated to Eastfield Depot, Glasgow. Once it had arrived at the depot. After five weeks of crew training and being confined to goods work it made its debut on a passenger train on 4th March. After entering traffic, No.3441 quickly showed itself to be more than capable of hauling trains of up to 300 tons in weight to Fort William without any assistance. But one problem it had was that its boiler was pressed to 180psi, which meant it brought little improvement over the earlier K2 Class design, and she also proved sluggish when going up the steep gradients along the West Highland Line.
Once the first reports were made, Gresley reacted by requesting that the steam pressure be increased to 200psi, which increased the tractive effort to 36,600lbf. Once this modification was made, the new K4 engine could really demonstrate its true abilities, and was able to haul 300-ton trains with ease, as well as achieve speeds of up to 60mph when running on level ground. Another advantage was that the new engine used only slightly less coal in working a train of 300 tons than a K2 could do with lighter loads on the same route.
The successful trials undertaken with No.3441 resulted in five more members of the class being ordered from Darlington Works in February 1938, and these five engines were delivered between July 1938 and January 1939. Due to the fact that the K4 Class was a specialist locomotive design, and were intended to be used on a railway line with very specialised requirements, no further members of the K4 Class were ever built.
Apart from the prototype, No.3441 Loch Long, all the members of the K4 Class were named after Highland chieftains and grandees. The numbers and names of the K4 Class were as follows;
No.3441 Loch Long, No.3442 The Great Marquess, No.3443 Cameron of Lochiel,
No.3444 Lord of the Isles, No.3445 MacCailin Mor, and No.3446 MacLeod of MacLeod.
The new K4 Class had three cylinders, which were 18.5in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke, a boiler fitted with superheating elements and pressed to 200psi, and six driving wheels that were 5ft 2in in diameter, which all combined to give the class a maximum tractive effort of 36,600lbf. They were paired with tenders that carried 5.5 tons of coal and 3,500 gallons of water. The cylinders were cast together in a monobloc arrangement, and all three cylinders drove together on the middle driving axle.
Once all six members of the K4 Class had entered service on the West Highland Line, they quickly proved themselves to be popular engines with their crews, being able to handle the gradients and continuous curves with ease. They were able to handle almost any train on the West Highland Line and eliminated double heading, apart from some heavily loaded summer trains which did need some double heading to get them along to Mallaig.
However, the class did have some problems; one was the fact that the K4 Class, like all Gresley 2-6-0 designs, did tend to give a rough ride when operating at high speed, and this was a problem on the 20 miles of level track near Glasgow, as well as on the stretch of 8.5 miles along Loch Eil. The vibration this high-speed running generated caused some problems, particularly when the nuts used on the middle big-end needed frequent re-tightening. On one occasion, the middle connecting rod actually dropped off one of the K4 engines. These issues did result in increased maintenance costs as well as regular inspections being undertaken to make sure everything on the K4s stayed in good order, and reduce the risks of the middle connecting rods falling off.
Some modifications were made to the K4 Class during their working lives; one such modification being the fitment of small snowploughs between 1937 and 1940, which were fitted to special brackets that were fitted under the front buffer-beam.
In 1945, No.3445 MacCailin Mor was rebuilt with two cylinders in Darlington Works as a prototype for the new Thompson/Peppercorn K1 Class, and was redesignated as K1/1. The three cylinders were removed and replaced with two outside cylinders which were 20in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke, the boiler pressure was raised to 225psi and fitted with superheating elements, which gave the K1/1 a maximum tractive effort of 32,080lbf, less than the K4 Class. The rebuilt MacCailin Mor was withdrawn from service in June 1961, after having been renumbered as No.61997 in B.R. days.
Between April and May 1947, the remaining K4s were fitted with spark arrestors in their smokeboxes in order to reduce the sparks flying out from the chimney, and reducing the risk of starting trackside fires.
Once the two Gresley V4 Class 2-6-2s, No.3401 and No.3402, entered service on the West Highland Line in 1941, Scottish enginemen began to prefer the V4s to the K4s as the V4 Class had slightly larger driving wheels which allowed for higher speeds, even though the two V4s weren't as strong as the K4 Class which restricted the use of the later design somewhat.
When the L.N.E.R. began its renumbering scheme in 1946, the K4s were renumbered from No.1993 to No.1998. Upon nationalisation of the railways in January 1948, the K4 Class were renumbered from No.61993 to No.61998, and they were repainted into B.R. lined black livery, though some remained stayed in their original L.N.E.R. apple green livery for some time.
The K4 Class retained their pre-eminence on the West Highland Line until 1947, when the first of the new Thompson B1 Class 4-6-0s arrived and replaced the K4s on the line from Glasgow to Fort William, displacing the K4s on the line to Mallaig. Not long afterwards, Thompson/Peppercorn K1 Class 2-6-0s arrived in 1949 and were preferred due to the fact they had no middle cylinders and thus no problematic big-ends to worry about. And not long after that, ex-L.M.S. Stanier Black Five Class 4-6-0s were moved to the West Highland Line as well, and these engines took over all the work the K4s had previously done since they started working on the West Highland Line.
Once replaced by these newer designs, the K4s were concentrated at Eastfield and were used for moving freight trains around the area. This enlarged their sphere of operations during the 1950's, and they could be seen in places they never visited earlier in their careers, including Edinburgh, Perth, Forfar, Ayr, and Tweedmouth. By 1959, the engines were concentrated together at Thorton Junction in Fife, from where they were used on freight work until 1961.
In October 1961, the first four Gresley K4s were withdrawn from service; these engines were No.61993 Loch Long, No.61995 Cameron of Lochiel, No.61996 Lord of the Isles, and No.61998 Macleod of Macleod. In December 1961, the final original Gresley K4 that was still running at that time, No.61994 The Great Marquess was finally withdrawn from service. The K4 that had been rebuilt to a K1/1 in 1945, No.61997 MacCailin Mor, had already been removed from service in June 1961.
Thankfully, one example of the L.N.E.R. Gresley K4 Class has managed to survive into preservation; this engine is none other than No.3442 The Great Marquess, the very last member of the class in service who was saved thanks to the efforts of the late Viscount Garnock who bought No.61994 from B.R. after she was withdrawn from service. After being bought, The Great Marquess was restored to her original L.N.E.R. condition, and she was used on a series of rail tours on the main line until 1968 when B.R. banned steam locomotives running on the main line, and so from 1972 No.3442 was put into storage on the Severn Valley Railway until 1980 when it was taken in for a major overhaul.
The overhaul was completed in 1989 and No.3442 returned to steam on the Severn Valley Railway in L.N.E.R. condition. She returned to her old haunt of the West Highland Line in July 1989, and in the years since then, No.3442 worked on many main line specials and on many different heritage lines, with her normally being based at Thorton Junction. In her career in preservation, No.3442 has appeared in both her L.N.E.R. condition in apple green with her original number, as well as in B.R. condition with her B.R. number of No.61994 and painted in B.R. lined black livery.
In 2003, she was bought by her current owner, John Cameron, who had her overhauled at Crewe, which was completed in 2005. Once that overhaul was completed, with The Great Marquess appearing in her B.R. condition, she continued to run on main line charters, as well as on heritage railways. In October 2015, No.61994 was taken out of service due to the need to make firebox repairs, but the owner decided to withdraw No.61994 from service and put her on display in a museum, alongside another former L.N.E.R. engine he owns, A4 No.60009 Union of South Africa. As of early 2024, both The Great Marquess and Union of South Africa are on display in the museum in Fife but are not yet accessible to the public.
In this story, two members of the L.N.E.R. Gresley K4 Class will be appearing; these two engines will be No.3443 Cameron of Lochiel and No.61998 Macleod of Macleod.
As Cameron waited to set off on his journey, other activity took place around him in Knapford Station, as a few other engines went through or left the station with their trains. From Platform 1, L.N.E.R. Thompson L1 Class 2-6-4T No.9000 departed bang on time with a train of six coaches full of people bound for Ulfstead along the Ffarquhar Branch line; U.S.A.T.C S160 Class 2-8-0 No.2300 was seen coming towards the station in reverse from nearby Knapford Sheds, having just been turned on the turntable there, to pick up his train that was waiting for him over in Knapford Yards. G.W.R. Modified Hall 4-6-0 No.7917 North Aston Hall was seen entering Knapford Station from the south, bringing his passenger train in right on time from its journey from Vicarstown, and then just before Cameron left, Edward departed Knapford with his train of six coaches bound for Brendam Docks, as he had passengers who were catching the 10:00am ferry that was sailing over to Dublin.
But soon, at 8:00am, the guard's whistle blew, and the signal ahead on the signal gantry dropped, showing that the way ahead was clear. As the guard climbed onto the train, the driver blew Cameron's whistle and opened the regulator. Slowly, they set off out from the station and made their way out along the line and on their way to Vicarstown. Passing under the signal gantry and by the signal box, the driver blew the whistle again as they made their way out.
"This is it. Vicarstown, here we come." Carrie said, as she looked out the window for a few moments, and then towards Simon with a smile on her face.
"Indeed…and Carrie…before I forget, may I wish you a very happy 17th birthday." Simon said, as he reached his hands forward and gently took Carrie's hand in his.
"Thank you, Simon." Carrie said, as she smiled. She was really looking forward to the day ahead of them; having never celebrated her birthday before or done anything special when the day came, she was looking forwards to celebrating her special day with her boyfriend at her side.
"And I promise you that I'll do everything I can to help make your day a very special one." Simon said, being equally determined to see that Carrie really enjoyed her special day. And Carrie smiled a very big smile.
The train slowly sped up as the driver opened the regulator a little more and wound the reverser back towards mid-gear, and soon Cameron was rolling along the Southern Main Line at a good speed of about 65mph with his coaches following along smoothly behind him. Soon, as they went along the tall, wide embankment that went past Knapford Harbour South, they passed by Edward and his train, who whistled cheerfully in greeting, to which Cameron whistled back, they powered on ahead along the Southern Main Line.
Inside the coaches, breakfast service began and passengers looked through the breakfast menus to decide what they wanted to have. At the table they were sharing, Carrie and Simon also looked through the menus given to them.
"So, what do you fancy having, Carrie?" Simon asked.
"Well…I think I might try the Eggs Benedict with Canadian bacon. I think it sounds nice." Carrie said.
"You know…that actually does sound nice. I think I'll give that a try as well." Simon said.
Soon, their orders were taken by one of the stewardesses in the coach, along with their orders for orange juice, who then took them to the kitchen car behind the First-Class coach. While the two of them waited for their food to arrive, Carrie and Simon settled back into the comfy chairs and chatted with each other about what they were going to do in Vicarstown, as well as looked out the window and watched the world go by outside.
Sitting a little way back down the First-Class coach, Spacek and King were at another table not far from where Carrie and Simon were sitting. King was sitting with his back to the couple, but Spacek had a clear view of Carrie from where she was sitting. Spacek could clearly see that Carrie seemed to be so much happier now than in the pictures she had seen of her back in Chamberlain.
"You know…from seeing Carrie with the boy she's sitting with, and seeing just how happy and carefree she is now compared to how she was back in Chamberlain…it seems almost a shame to follow her around and get pictures of her without her or the people she's with knowing about it." Spacek said.
"I know how you feel about it, Spacek. And knowing how happy Carrie is now, as well as what she's doing for a career now…I agree that it is a great shame that we have to spy on her and get photos to show to those back home. But orders are orders." King said.
"I know…I know." Spacek said with a sigh, as she settled back in the comfy seat.
A moment later, just as they went through Henry's Tunnel and out the other side, one of the stewardesses came into the coach, pushing a trolley before her that had two silver pots sitting on top of it at one end, and mugs sitting on saucers at the other end.
"Good morning." she said, as she stopped by Spacek's and King's table.
"Good morning!" Spacek and King said, as they looked up at the stewardess.
"Would you like tea or coffee?" the stewardess asked.
"Coffee, please." Spacek said.
"Yeah, coffee for me as well please." King said. And so, after gently placing the saucers and mugs on the table, the stewardess poured out fresh hot coffee into the two mugs. She also offered milk as well if Spacek or King wanted milk in their coffee.
"Thanks." Spacek and King said, as the stewardess went and served the next table.
"You're welcome." the stewardess said, as she began to serve the people at the next table the hot drinks they wanted. Eventually, she made her way up to the table where Carrie and Simon were sitting at and she served tea to Simon and coffee to Carrie, as those were the drinks they wanted.
It wasn't too long before it was time for the breakfasts to be served out to those who were in the First-Class coach, and the servers carefully brought the food from the kitchen coach to those passengers who ordered them. The stewardess gently pushed a trolley down the length of the coach, carefully moving between the two rows of seats until she reached the table where Carrie and Simon were sitting and watching the world go by outside.
"And I have your breakfasts right here." she said, as she arrived by the table.
"Oh, thank you." Simon said, as the stewardess placed the plate with his Eggs Benedict on the table before him as well as placing a glass of orange juice.
"Thank you." Carrie said, as the stewardess placed the Eggs Benedict and orange juice she had ordered on the table before her.
"Enjoy." the stewardess said, as she moved the now-empty trolley back to the kitchen coach.
Carrie and Simon tucked into their breakfasts, and both of them really enjoyed it, Carrie especially, as she had never tried Eggs Benedict before. In between bites, she would take sips from her glass of orange juice and look outside the window as the world went by. She saw all the different sights she was familiar with go by, and she knew where they were as they went along, particularly as they went along by certain stations.
When Cameron arrived at Wellsworth Station, he had to briefly stopped in order to pick up a banker to help him up Gordon's Hill. L.M.S. Fowler 2-6-4T No.42420 buffered up to the back of the train, and then they set off on their way again, with Cameron pulling very hard at the front while No.42420 pushed as hard as he could from the back. Once they began to climb the hill, the noise of loud chuffing echoed all around the hill as the two engines got the heavy train up the hill, with Cameron calling out "Push hard! Push hard!" at the front, while No.42420 called out "We're doing it! We're doing it!" from the back, as he pushed very hard.
It wasn't too long before they finally arrived at the top of the hill, and as Cameron pulled away after he went over the top, taking up the weight of the train behind him, No.42420 blew his whistle to indicate he was dropping off from the back of the train. Slowly and gently, the Fowler 2-6-4T slowed down and then, as he came by the signal box at the top of the hill, he dropped off the back of the train and watched as the train went off down the other side of the hill, heading towards Maron Station. Then, giving another blast from his whistle, No.42420 slowly reversed over the points to the other line and went back down the hill towards Wellsworth Station.
The rest of the trip along the Southern Main Line went very smoothly, with the weather staying quite nice outside and the passengers enjoying the trip from inside the train. At one point as they went along, the crew on Cameron's footplate topped up the water level in the tender from a water trough set in between the rails along a long, straight, and level stretch of line. Going along at a speed of between 65 and 70mph, the fireman lowered the water-scoop into the trough and water surged up the column and into the tender's water tank, where the water level was topped up to very near the top of the tank. With the tank full, the fireman raised the water-scoop back up once they were past the troughs, and then went back to sit on his seat and look ahead before he had to stoke the boiler again.
Inside the First-Class coach, Carrie and Simon relaxed for the rest of the trip in the comfort of their seats, while they chatted with each other and watched the world pass by outside, as well as other trains heading by in the other direction or waiting in sidings along the line. During the course of the trip, there was still hot tea and coffee on offer, as well as a selection of different and delicious-looking pastries, and the young couple took advantage of this to enjoy hot tea and a Danish custard pastry before they finally arrived in Vicarstown.
From the table they occupied further down the coach, Spacek and King discreetly kept a close eye on the young couple sitting only a few tables away from them while they too enjoyed the trip. At one point during the run, and not too long before they arrived in Vicarstown, Spacek brought up her camera up to her eye, as if to take a picture of King, but turned the camera a little to the right and zoomed the lens in to get a good view of Carrie, and then snapped a number of pictures of Carrie when she wasn't looking.
"Did you get some good images?" King asked, when Spacek lowered her camera and took a look at the images on the camera screen.
"Yes, and very good images they are too." Spacek said, as she handled the camera to King so he could have a look at them.
"Excellent. Those are good images." King said, as he looked through the pictures one by one.
(Very soon, Vicarstown Station)
It was soon journey's end, and they were slowly pulling into Vicarstown Station on the line that ran adjacent to Platform 3. Looking out the window as they pulled in, Carrie could see there were a few other people standing around on the platform and watching the train arrive. Some of these were likely members of station staff who were going to help passengers off the train if they needed any assistance getting off.
With a short blast of his whistle, as well as a loud whooshing of steam, the driver put the brakes on and brought Cameron to a halt near the end of the platform.
"And there we are! We've made it right on time!" Cameron said, as he looked up at the clock fitted above the platform. The time was 9:30, and the time they were scheduled to arrive in Vicarstown Station.
"Well done on getting us here on time, old boy! Well done indeed!" said the driver said, as he leaned out from his side of the cab.
"Thank you!" Cameron said, as he smiled.
In the meantime, the doors on all the coaches were opened and the passengers disembarked from the train, and made their way out from the station. Carrie and Simon were amongst them and, after gathering their things, they disembarked from the train and made their way out together towards Vicarstown where they intended to spend the day.
"Well, here we are at last. So, where shall we go to first?" Simon asked, as they left the station and stepped into the town. Looking around, Carrie decided on what places where they could go to first.
"Let's go to one of the book shops nearby. I want to see if there's any books I might like." Carrie said.
"The book shops it is then! Let's go!" Simon said, and they set off towards the book shops.
As Carrie and Simon set off down the street, they were completely unaware they were being followed from a distance by Spacek and King, who were going along the pavement as discreetly as they could while keeping a close eye on where Carrie and Simon were going to.
"It's best if we keep a close eye on where they're going to here. After all, we don't want to lose them at all." King said.
"I know, and we should also make sure that when they head back to Knapford, we're on the same train as they are." Spacek said.
"Agreed, now let's see where those two are going to first of all." King said, as they went on down the street, keeping Carrie and Simon in sight at all times.
(A few minutes later, one of the Vicarstown book shops)
Carrie and Simon soon arrived in one of the largest book shops in town and went inside to spend some time there. This book shop had two floors and covered quite a large area, with plenty of books on offer, ranging from fiction to military history to transport, cookery, sports, fashion, and travel, with plenty of choices for everyone to choose from. Going up a wide set of stairs to the first floor, there was were plenty more books on offer, as well as a coffee shop with its own seating area where people could buy a selection of hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, pastries, and snacks.
Starting on the ground floor, Carrie and Simon went to look around the different book cases to see what books they wanted to buy. For Carrie, it was completely astonishing to see just how big this book shop was and just how many books there were. There were quite a few other people in the book shop as well, with some of them already having bought the books they wanted in bags in their hands, while others had chosen the books they wanted to buy and were on their way to the checkout.
"So…what to buy?" Carrie said quietly to herself, as she looked around the shelves in front of her. She was in the fiction section and was thinking about buying a novel or two about romance, as it was one of the things she was interested in. For a few minutes, she looked though the shelves, trying to decide which romance novels she wanted, but eventually she chose two; one was about a romance of a young couple in the leadup to Christmas time, and the other book was about a forbidden love between a young man and woman from two different families in different parts of a big city.
In the meantime, Simon went over to a different part of the ground floor and looked through the books that were in the military history section, as that was one of the things he had a big interest in, aside from railways and steam locomotives. He looked through the different shelves, trying to see which books he wanted to buy today, and eventually settled on two, which told the story of the battles that took place in the sky over Germany during the Second World War; one of the books was from the point of view of the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.), and the other one was from the point of view of the United States Army Air Force (U.S.A.A.F.).
Meeting up with each other a few minutes later, Carrie and Simon went to the checkout to pay for the books they wanted to buy. Once they had their purchases in the bags they had with them, Carrie turned to Simon.
"What shall we do now?"
"How about we go to the coffee shop upstairs for a hot drink? They also serve very nice cakes and pastries up there." Simon said.
"Sounds good to me. Let's go up there." Carrie said, and they headed up the stairs to the coffee shop. Getting there, they were both pleased to see it wasn't too busy, with only a few people to be seen sitting at some of the table around the space. The smell of freshly brewed coffee hung about the space, and a very light breeze could be felt coming in from the open windows along the walls. There were still plenty of tables left to sit at, and some of them were by the windows that looked out onto the street as well as the viaduct that carried the railway lines going out of Vicarstown to the west.
"Now this looks like quite a nice place." Carrie said, as she looked around the space.
"I know. This is one of my favourite places to come to whenever I'm in Vicarstown." Simon said.
"Shall we get something and then go over to sit by one of the windows?" Carrie said.
"Sounds good to me. Let's do it." Simon said, as they stepped over towards the counter.
No more than three minutes later, the two of them were seated together at a table by the largest window, from where they could see towards the viaduct and the railway lines it carried, as well as the rooftops of part of Vicarstown. On the street below them, they could see people walking about on the pavements, as well as vehicles going past on the streets to where they needed to be going to.
"Oh, I'm looking forward to enjoying this!" Carrie said, as she sat down, placing her tray on the table before her. She had a cup of coffee along with a slice of apple pie with cream on the side, while Simon also had a cup of tea along with a chocolate brownie.
"Me too." Simon said, as he sat down opposite Carrie. In moments, the two of them were enjoying their tea as well as the food they ordered.
The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of work being done behind the counter as those working behind it prepared hot drinks and food for customers, light music being played from speakers fitted high up on the walls, as well as other customers who were chatting quietly with each other while they enjoyed their coffee and sandwiches, or pastries. Other sounds that could be heard included spoons being touched off the sides of china cups, hissing sounds from the coffee machines, as well as the sounds of vehicles passing by on the street below.
"This is sure a nice place to be. I can really understand why people who come here to buy a book or two also come here to have coffee." Carrie said, as she took a sip of her own coffee.
"Yeah, and it's also a good place to come to in order to see trains passing by on the railway on the viaduct over there." Simon said, as he glanced over towards the viaduct that they could clearly see only a few hundred yards away.
"I can see why." Carrie said, as she took glanced towards the viaduct. Then, as Carrie was about to take in another forkful of her apple pie, she heard the sounds of a steam whistle coming from somewhere nearby. As she and Simon looked towards the viaduct again, they saw who it was who created the noise; it was none other than L.N.E.R. A3 Class No.60110 Robert the Devil, who simply liked to be called Robert, passing by with a line of coaches following along behind him, at the end of his run from Knapford. Each coach was full of passengers, and some could be seen by the coach windows looking out over Vicarstown as they approached the station.
Not long after the last coach of Robert's train went on past, there came the sounds of another steam whistle, and this one was of a train on its way out from Vicarstown. This engine proved to be L.N.E.R. B17 Class No.2835 Milton, who was on his way out with his own passenger train bound for Knapford. With another blast of his whistle, Milton made his way along the red-brick viaduct with his train of 12 L.N.E.R. teak coaches following along behind him.
"I can see why this place is a good place to see trains go on by." Carrie said, as she looked back to Simon with a small smile on her face.
"Absolutely." Simon said, and they continued on with their food. But what the young couple didn't know was that when they turned their heads to see the two trains go on past on the viaduct, they had presented a good view for the cameras of Spacek and King, who were on the opposite side of the street from the book shop. Spacek got a few good shots of the two of them, including where she got a good shot of Simon. Despite the two officers being just on the other side of the street, neither Carrie or Simon spotted them as they were too busy watching the two trains running by on the viaduct.
"Got some good shots, Spacek?" King asked.
"Yes, and each of them looks to be very good." Spacek said, as she looked through the screen of her camera.
"Good. Come on, let's go and get a coffee, and wait to see where those two next." King said.
"Sounds like an idea to me. Let's go." Spacek said, as they made their way down the street.
After spending about an hour or so in the coffee shop, Carrie and Simon decided to leave and go to somewhere else in Vicarstown. After stepping out from the front of the book shop onto the street, they turned left and headed off.
"So, where should we go now?" Simon asked.
"How about we go to the park and walk around there?" Carrie suggested.
"Let's go to the park then." Simon said, and they went off down the street to the park, which was only a few hundred yards away from the combined book shop and coffee shop. Unknown to them both, they were still being followed from a distance by Spacek and King, who were keeping the young couple in their sights while being discreet so as not to let the couple, or anyone else on the street know, they were following them.
Soon, Carrie and Simon arrived at the park and entered it through the main entrance where there was a tall granite arch standing tall over the ground. People could be seen going in and out of the park, and many of them seemed to be enjoying the nice morning. Heading into the park, Carrie and Simon went along the wide pathways and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the park. The leaves on the trees were starting to turn different shades of yellow, orange, and red, showing that autumn was now upon Sodor, and it wouldn't be too long before all the trees would be bare of leaves once winter came upon the island. There were already some leaves spread out all over the ground and pathways, and every now and then, some more leaves fell from some of the trees.
Going along the pathways, Carrie and Simon soon came upon the large lake that was in the middle of the park. The lake was separated into two parts with a stone footbridge crossing over the narrowest part. In one part of the lake was a fountain sitting in the middle that was shooting water into the air, while in the other part was a small island that rose about 10 feet over the water's surface. Ducks and swans could be seen swimming on the surface of the water, and some of the ducks were swimming very near to the edge of the lake and quacking as they went along.
"This is a nice place." Carrie said, as she and Simon went over the stone footbridge.
"It is, and it's nice to be here at this time of day when there's few people about. Most people will be either at work and children will be in school, which means there's plenty of space here to walk around, and it'll also be quieter as well." Simon said.
"And more benches will be available to sit on as well." Carrie said, as she noticed one bench that overlooked the open green space in the park. A children's playground could be seen from there as well, where a few smaller and younger kids could be seen playing on the different things that could be seen, including the see-saw, a slide, merry-go-round, on the swings, different spring riders, the jungle gym, as well as the playhouses that could be seen inside the playground while their parents stood round and watched as their kids played.
In another part of the open green space, Carrie saw a large circular bandstand not too far away from the playground, and a few young kids could be seen playing around in it while the parents stood outside and watched.
Sitting down on the bench, Carrie and Simon settled down to enjoy the peace and quiet while looking over the park and the activity taking place before them. As well as the activity taking place in the playground and bandstand, a few other people could be seen in other activities, including jogging around the park in their workout clothes, going around on their bicycles, as well as the distant sounds of someone playing a guitar from somewhere else in the park. A few others could be seen sitting at some of the other benches and either reading or enjoying food.
"It's nice to be here and to see everything going on here." Carrie said, as she pulled her bag up and looked inside for one of the books she bought earlier on.
"I think you're right. I think we should sit here for a while and just enjoy this peace, as well as read through our books before we go someplace else." Simon said, as he too pulled up his bag and reached for one of his own books.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Carrie said, as she opened up the novel she bought about the Christmas romance. So, for the next while, Carrie and Simon relaxed on the bench and read their books while they watched the activity going on in the park as people went about their business.
But they were unaware of the fact that Spacek and King were on the other side of large and open green space in the middle of the park and observing them from a distance with their cameras. King's camera had a special lens attached to it for taking pictures at a distance, and he was able to get a few discreet shots of Carrie and Simon when he was pretending to take pictures of something else in the park.
"You got the shots?" Spacek asked, as King lowered the camera from his eyes and looked at the screen.
"Got 'em!" King said with a smile on his face, as he glanced across the green towards the bench in the distance where Simon and Carrie were sitting, reading, and talking with each other.
For about another hour or so, Carrie and Simon just sat down on the bench and read their books while enjoying each other's company as well as the fine weather while the world went by in front of them. In between looking through their books, they would chat with each other about things as well as taking in the sights they went by them, including children playing in the playground, on the grass, or in the bandstand, people going by on their bicycles, as well as a group of a dozen women who were having a yoga session together on part of the largest grassy area. For Carrie, it was fascinating to see all the women doing yoga to do the moves in a synchronised way, in according to what the instructor was doing at the head of the group.
But what Carrie and Simon were enjoying themselves and the life in the park, Spacek and King, acting as nonchalant as they could, went about towards the other side of the large green area where they could get more shots of Carrie and Simon, and maybe even overhear what they were saying. They were hoping they could find out where the two were going to be going to next today, as well as what time train they were going to be getting back to Knapford.
They managed to get to a point behind the bench where the young couple was sitting, and there were some bushes and small trees obstructing the view, which meant Spacek and King could stand there and listen to whatever conversation Simon and Carrie were having with each other, yet at the same time they were out of sight of the couple should they turn round to see if any noise took place behind them.
"Now listen carefully to hear what they have to say." King said, as he and Spacek stood side by side on the other side of the hedges and listened carefully…and they didn't have to wait for very long to hear what Carrie and Simon were saying to each other.
"So, what time train are we getting back to Knapford?" Carrie asked, as she turned away from her book to look at Simon.
"Well, we'll be getting the train back at four o clock this afternoon, so we better be back at Vicarstown Station by half past three so we have plenty of time to be on board the train." Simon said.
"All right." Carrie said. When King heard that, he looked towards Spacek who was writing down that information, which she had also overheard, on to a notepad she had with her.
Eventually, both Simon and Carrie placed their books into the bags and stood up from the bench.
"So, Carrie, where do you want to go now?" Simon asked.
"Well…let's see what the time is first." Carrie said, as she pulled aside her left sleeve and looked at her watch; it was 11:56am. Taking a look up into the sky for a moment, Carrie thought about where they should go to next.
"How about we go for lunch? I'm feeling a little hungry right now." Carrie said.
"Sounds like quite a good idea to me. Let's go." Simon said, and then, with them holding hands, they made their way through the park and past all those who were enjoying the nice mid-September day, and out through the very same entrance they had entered the park close to an hour and a half before.
As the two made their way out from the park, Spacek and King followed them from a distance to see where they were going to next.
"You know…some lunch does sound good about now." Spacek said, realising she was feeling hungry.
"Now that sounds like a good idea to me. I am feeling hungry myself." King said.
"But let's see where those two are going, and see if we can get lunch as close as possible to where they're going to be eating." Spacek said.
"Good idea." King said.
It wasn't too long before Carrie and Simon arrived at a place that looked like it might serve a good lunch; it was a small three storey hotel that had a restaurant on the ground floor and that was open for everyone, people who were passing by on the street outside as well as for guests staying in the hotel. From inside the building, the smell of food cooking away in the kitchen drifted out onto the street.
"This looks like a nice place to get lunch." Carrie said, as she looked up at the building and took in the smell of cooking through her nose.
"Yeah, this is a very good place to get something to eat, Carrie. I've occasionally eaten here a few times over the years, the last time of which was in the middle of last November, just before we both met. The food they serve here is very good." Simon said.
"Well, let's go in there and see what they have today." Carrie said, as they both went inside.
After being seated at one of the tables near the window, the waitress gave them each a menu and, after ordering drinks, the waitress went off to get their drinks while Simon and Carrie thought about what to order for lunch.
"So, what do you think you'll order, Carrie?" Simon asked.
"Well, I think I might have the sausages and mash with onion gravy." Carrie said.
"That's one of my favourite dishes I usually get at this place, but I think I'll have the lamb shank for today for a change." Simon said.
"Sounds nice to me." Carrie said.
After Carrie and Simon had placed their orders with the waitress a little while later, the two of them settled back in their seats and chatted with each other while they waited for their food to arrive.
"So, how do you like this place so far, Carrie?" Simon asked.
"I think this is quite a nice place to get a meal. I think this place certainly had a nice comfy feel about it too. It must be nice to be eating here on a cold winter day." Carrie said.
"It is. Maybe if we get the chance to come back here during the winter, we should get a meal here." Simon said.
"I agree. Anyway, would you please excuse me for a moment? I just need to use the bathroom." Carrie said.
"Sure, the bathrooms are just at the end of the restaurant." Simon said, as he pointed in the direction.
"Thanks, won't be a moment." Carrie said, as she stood up and walked off. A moment after Carrie left the table, Simon felt his mobile phone buzz for a moment and he fished it out from his pocket. He saw he had just received a text message from Ralph White.
"Hey Simon, how are you and Carrie doing?"
Simon quickly texted back a reply.
"Hey Ralph, everything's fine. We're just getting lunch in Vicarstown."
"Is everything ready for when we get back later on?"
It wasn't long before Ralph sent back a reply.
"That's good to hear, Simon."
"We've got a bit left we need to do here, but it should be done in plenty of time."
"I hope Carrie will be very surprised when you get back."
Simon sent back a reply.
"I hope she does enjoy the surprise. She's been having a real good time today."
A reply from Ralph a few moments later.
"Good work, Simon! See you later!"
A moment later, as Simon placed his phone back into its pocket, Carrie arrived back at the table.
"Hey Carrie, everything all right?" Simon asked, as he watched her sit back down.
"Yeah, I'm all right." Carrie said, as he reached for her glass of Coca Cola and took a sip from it.
"That's good to hear, Carrie." Simon said, while keeping his little secret about the surprise that he, Ralph, and the others would have for Carrie later on in the day. He picked up his own glass of Coca Cola and took a sip from it as he looked round the restaurant; he could see a few other people sitting at some of the other tables around the space, and some of them were enjoying their meals while they chatted quietly with each other. Over at the long bar, two bartenders were working away at preparing drinks for customers, while the sounds of work being done inside the kitchen could be heard and through the door to the kitchen, the cooks could be seen working away whenever the serving staff when in and out to bring dishes to customers or dirty dishes back to the kitchen.
Very soon, the waitress arrived from the kitchen with the food the young couple had ordered.
"And here's your lunch, you two." the waitress said when she came up to the table, and placed the dishes on the table before Carrie and Simon, along with cutlery and napkins.
"Thank you." Carrie said, as she looked down at her meal.
"Thanks." Simon said.
"No problem. Enjoy your meal." the waitress said, as she went off back to the kitchen.
Simon and Carrie tucked into their food and they really enjoyed it, with both of them being quiet for a few long moments while they enjoyed their food.
"How do you like it, Carrie?" Simon asked, as he looked up at Carrie.
"It's delicious. I think you were right about the food they serve here, Simon." Carrie said, as she smiled back at Simon.
"I told you so." Simon said, as he and Carrie continued on with eating their lunch.
(A little later)
Once Carrie and Simon had finished their lunch, Simon paid for their food and drinks and then they left the hotel. By now, it was 1:30pm and they still had two hours left to go before they had to return to Vicarstown Station to catch the train back to Knapford.
"So, where do you think we should go now?" Carrie asked, as she wondered where they should go next.
"Well…there's a very good ice cream shop not too far away from here that served all different kinds of ice cream. Maybe we could go there and kill a little time." Simon said.
"That sounds like a good idea to me. Lead the way there." Carrie said, and holding hands, they made their way down the street to where the ice cream shop was.
It wasn't too long before they arrived at the ice cream shop, and going inside, Carrie was impressed by it, especially by how bright and colourful the place was. The long counter against one wall had plenty of different flavours of ice cream on offer, and there were machines for serving soft-serve ice cream behind the counter, as well as sodas, candy, and other things too. There were plenty of tables and chairs to sit at, as well as a number of booths where a few other people were sitting at and enjoying ice cream.
"Now this is a nice place." Carrie said.
"Yeah, and you can get almost any kind of ice cream here, including whatever sundaes you want to have." Simon said.
"You know…I think a big ice cream sundae would do today. After all, it is my birthday." Carrie said, as she and Simon went over to the counter.
A short while later, both Carrie and Simon were seated at one of the booths that looked out onto the street, and both of them had a large ice cream sundae in the table in front of them.
"This is gonna go down well with me!" Carrie said, a big smile on her face, as she picked up her spoon and tucked in.
"Same with me!" Simon said, as he also tucked into his own ice cream sundae. Both of them sat in happy silence for a few moments as they enjoyed their sundaes, the creaminess, coldness and sweetness of the different ice cream flavours, the sticky coloured syrups, and the joy that eating an ice cream sundae brings.
Yet, what they didn't know was that sitting in the coffee shop just across the street was Spacek and King, who were watching them from the upper floor of the coffee shop while they sipped whatever coffees they wanted. Their cameras were close to them, and they had already taken a few pictures of Carrie and Simon sitting in the front of the ice cream shop and enjoying their ice cream sundaes.
"It's clear to me that those two really do have strong feelings for each other. It's just really a pity that we have to follow them round and spy on them without them knowing about it." Spacek said quietly to King.
"I know…and what gets me more concerned about what we're doing is that a lot of people will criticise the Chamberlain Police Department for doing something like this. I mean…what we're doing could qualify as stalking…and I'm sure that the Island of Sodor has got rules that frown upon things like that." King said, as the worries of what the future would be for them after he, Spacek, Brian, and Irving returned to Chamberlain to deliver the news.
"Yeah, and I'm not looking forward to seeing what their reaction will be when they get told." Spacek said, as some concern went through her own thoughts as well.
"Speaking of which, I wonder how Brian and Irving are getting on with what their doing today." King said. While Spacek and King were following Carrie and her boyfriend around, Irving and Brian stayed behind in Knapford to do some research about the Island of Sodor, including finding out as many details as they could about the island and its history, its population, size, and area…in fact anything they could find.
"I'm sure we'll find out when we meet them back at Knapford later on. I told them we'd be on the 4pm train back." Spacek said.
"Good." King said, as he took a sip of his coffee.
(Later on; Vicarstown Station; 3:38pm)
After enjoying the rest of their afternoon in Vicarstown, including where they went to a few different shops that caught Carrie's attention, and where she bought a few things that she wanted to treat herself for her birthday, Carrie and Simon arrived at Vicarstown Station to catch the 4:00pm train back to Knapford. After picking up their First-Class tickets, they made their way onto the footbridge over to Platform 5, where they would catch the train back to Knapford. By now, both Carrie and Simon were feeling somewhat tired from their long day out, and were now feeling very keen to get back to Knapford.
"Now where's the First-Class coach?" Carrie said, as she and Simon went along the platform and looked at each of the coaches as they went along.
"I think that it should be up at the front of the train…just like the First-Class coach we were on for the journey over." Simon said. It wasn't long before they finally arrived at the First-Class coach and, after getting aboard, they made their way to their seats. After placing their things on the overhead rack over their seats, they sat themselves down and waited for the train to set off from the station. There was no engine coupled up to the front of the train just yet, but there was no doubt that the engine assigned to take this train was on its way from the nearby depot and would couple up to the front of the train.
"There's not too long left to go now until we leave." Carrie said, as she looked at her watch; it was 3:41pm.
"I know, and I'll be glad to get back before the evening rush makes it difficult to get into Knapford." Simon said, as he settled back into his seat. There was actually another reason why he wanted to get back to Knapford as soon as possible, and it was a final big birthday surprise for Carrie today, and he was hoping that she would be pleasantly surprised when the time for it came.
As the young coupled chatted with each other about their day in Vicarstown, they suddenly heard the sounds of an engine whistle blowing loudly as an engine slowly reversed into the station, followed a few moments later by a very slight bump as the engine gentle buffered up to the front of the train.
"I wonder who it is that's taking the train to Knapford?" Carrie said, as she turned her head to look out the window.
"Not sure yet…but I'm guessing it's going to be one of the faster express engines." Simon said, as he too looked outside.
Simon was indeed right about that. The engine that had just buffered up to the front of the train and was now being coupled up to it was L.N.E.R. P2 Class No.2009 Merrow, the P2 with the streamlined A4-style front end. His L.N.E.R. apple green livery was polished to a very high shine and he looked splendid. He was also keen to get this train to the other side of Sodor as soon as possible, as the lines that went in and out of Knapford would get very busy as the evening rush hour would make the lines in the Knapford area very busy.
As Merrow simmered at the platform and waited for the passengers to board his train, he heard the sounds of a whistle coming towards the station. Then in the distance, he saw another engine arriving with a passenger train of about 8 coaches behind him. The engine was, in fact, No.489 a member of the L.S.W.R. H15 4-6-0 Class, and he was arriving at Vicarstown after a long journey from Knapford along the Northern Main Line (91).
"Afternoon, Merrow!" No.489 said, as he arrived into Vicarstown Station at a slow, steady pace while his driver put the brakes on.
"Hello, No.489!" Merrow called, as he watched the H15 arrive at the station at one of the other platforms and come to a gentle halt.
(91); The London and South Western Railway's H15 Class 4-6-0 engines were designed by Robert Urie for mixed-traffic duties on the L.S.W.R. system. They were brought into service in order to assist with the desperate lack of adequate locomotives in service on the L.S.W.R. that could be used on heavy freight trains. Many of the existing locomotives were also suffering from reliability problems, which were taking their toll on the resources of the L.S.W.R.
Built at Eastleigh Works between 1914 and 1925, a total of 26 members of the H15 Class were built, with the first 11 coming into service in 1914. The new design had outside Walschaerts valve gear which allowed for easier maintenance, with all the moving parts being easily accessible for oiling, compared to other designs for he L.S.W.R. Of the first 11 locomotives to be built, 10 engines (No.482 to No.491) were introduced from January to July 1914 and four of them (No.482 to No.485) were fitted with Schmidt superheaters. Another four engines (No.486 to No.489) were fitted with Robinson superheaters, and the final two (No.490 and No.491) were built as saturated locomotives, with the last two engines having a lighter weight than the first eight.
The first 10 engines had boilers pressed to 180psi, and they had driving wheels that were 6ft in diameter, along with two outside cylinders that were 21in in diameter with a 28in piston stroke, all of which combined to give the class a maximum tractive effort of 26,140lbf. They were paired with unique-looking tenders that ran on eight wheels on external bogie frames and carried 5,200 gallons of water and 7 tons of coal.
In December 1914, the 11th engine came into service; this one was a rebuilt example of a 1905 Drummond L.S.W.R. E14 Class 4-6-0 engine, No.335. It had been earmarked for major modifications by Drummond due to its poor operational performance and heavy coal consumption, but Urie rebuilt it as the 11th member of the H15 Class. It was fitted with Urie's own design of new superheater, known as an Eastleigh superheater, but retained its original boiler pressure of 175psi, which meant its maximum tractive effort was 25,511lbf.
Improvements to the class were made at Eastleigh Works during their construction history. Earlier members of the class had a lower running plate that was raised above the cylinders for clearance, and they also sported a single long splasher over the driving wheels. The later production engines didn't feature this design, as they had a running plate that was fitted higher over the driving wheels, and Urie's later S15 Class also featured this design. Further modifications made to the class later on in their careers was the fitment of smoke deflectors.
The next three batches, which totalled 15 engines, emerged from Eastleigh in late 1924, early 1925, when Maunsell was the C.M.E. of the newly former Southern Railway. Of these engines, 10 were built to Urie's modified H15 Design and were numbered from No.473 to No.478, and from No.521 to No.524. Of the remaining five engines that came out, numbered from No.330 to No.334, all were rebuilds of Drummond's L.S.W.R. F13 Class 4-6-0 engines. These later engines, along with No.335, were paired with eight-wheel tenders that carried 5 tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water.
During their working lives, the H15 Class proved to be very capable locomotives for handling the heavy trains they were expected to haul, especially on fast freights, as well as on heavy stone trains around the Okehampton area. With their free-steaming boilers, they could be kept going for very long periods of time on their heavy train. They were very well-built locomotives; in fact, they were so well-built that on one general overhaul of No.30487 in 1954, inspections revealed that the frames showed little sign of wear from 40 years of hard work.
Those members of the class that had been rebuilt from the Drummond F13s were notable for having very tall cabs, which required members of footplate crews shorter than 6ft in height to stand on improvised stools to reach some controls. Engines in the class with the tall cabs were nicknamed "Cathedrals." The class also acquired the very odd nickname of "Chonkers."
Withdrawals of the class began in 1955, when No.30485 and No.30490 were removed from service, with No.30485 being withdrawn due to collision damage it suffered in an accident at Bournemouth Central Station in January 1955. The remaining engines of the class followed along over the next six years until 1961, when the final 9 engines were removed from service, with the last four engines, No.30475, No.30476, No.30521 and No.30523, being withdrawn in December 1961. Sadly, none of the class were preserved, with none being sent to Woodham's Yard in Barry, South Wales, or any preservation group setting out and buying an example of the class for future generations to enjoy.
The minutes ticked on by, and as soon as the clock over the platform showed 4:00pm, the signalman in the signal-box set the points for Merrow to depart the station and set the signals to clear the line for the train to leave on time. From the guard's compartment at the front of the train, the guard leaned out and blew his whistle loudly while also waving his green flag, showing Merrow's driver he was clear to depart.
"Here we go!" the driver said, as he blew on the whistle for a few moments before he opened the regulator a little, allowing steam to flow from the boiler into the cylinders.
"Come on! Come on!" Merrow said as he started off, while taking the weight of the heavy train behind him. There were 16 coaches in this train, and as it was full of passengers, it weighed well over 500 tons which meant that Merrow really needed to dig his wheels into the rails in order to move the heavy train.
From where they were sitting in the First-Class coach, Carrie and Simon looked out the window and watched as the train moved out from the station and out onto the Southern Main Line. From up front, the driver blew Merrow's whistle again and the loud sound of it echoed everywhere.
"Well…home, here we come." Simon said, as he looked out the window as the sights going by as the train slowly picked up speed.
"Yeah, now let's just enjoy the ride back home." Carrie said, as she smiled and settled back in her seat, eager to rest her feet and enjoy the trip.
Yet what Carrie and Simon didn't know was that the two officers who had been trailing them all day, Spacek and King, were sitting in the same couch as them, only a few rows down from where they were sitting on the same side of the coach. Both officers quietly cursed the choice of seats they had to sit at, as it meant they were unable to see Carrie and Simon only a few rows ahead of them. But there was nothing they could do about it.
"I guess we'll just have to sit back and relax for the trip until we get back to Knapford." King said to Spacek.
"I know…but I'd say we've got enough photos for the moment, and when we get back to the hotel later on, I think that we should email some of these back to H.Q." Spacek said.
"I agree. But I also better text Brian and Irving to let them know we're on our way back now." King said.
"Good idea." Spacek said, as she settled back in her seat and tried to make herself comfortable for the journey back to Knapford.
The journey along the Southern Main Line back to Knapford went very well, with Merrow making good speed as he proceeded on down the line, often reaching speeds in excess of 80mph at times as he made his way along with his coaches following along very smoothly behind him. All the passengers enjoyed the trip every much, particularly by how smooth the ride was as well as how fast Merrow was going along the line. While they were sitting at their table in the First-Class coach, Carrie and Simon really were able to relax and enjoy their trip, and were able to enjoy a few snacks and drinks served from the buffet car along the way there.
By 5:15pm, five minutes ahead of schedule, Merrow was making his final approach to Knapford Station with his train. By now, there were a lot more trains going in and out of the station as people who worked in Knapford were catching their trains home, or were returning to Knapford after finishing work at jobs they had outside of town.
Looking out the window as they slowed down before going into the station, Carrie could only look on in some astonishment at the other trains as they went past them or overtook them on their way in or out of Knapford.
"It's sure getting busy out there now." she murmured quietly.
"I know…but then again, it's to be expected at a busy railway station on a Friday evening, with everyone being very keen to get home so as to enjoy the weekend." Simon said.
"Yeah, I know." Carrie said.
It wasn't too long before they finally arrived at Platform 3 in Knapford Station, and Merrow rolled slowly along the platform before he came to a gentle stop at the end of the line there, with his buffers only a few inches away from the buffer stops at the end of the line. With a gentle wheeshing of steam, Merrow finally stopped, having arrived at Knapford a little early.
"Well done, old boy!" his driver said, as he leaned out from the side of the cab.
"Thank you, driver!" Merrow said, feeling very pleased with himself.
The doors to the coaches were opened up, and all the passengers disembarked from the train before making their way up the footbridge and out of the station. Sitting at the coach closest to the front of the train, Carrie and Simon were able to get off quick quickly and they made their way out from the station.
"Your father will be picking us up here, Carrie. He should be out in the car park right now. He told me in a text message a few minutes ago." Simon said.
"Good, let's get out and met him." Carrie said, as they crossed over the footbridge. As they made their way down the footbridge to Platform 1, they heard the sounds of another whistle; looking behind them, they saw Gordon arriving at Knapford Station with his coaches full of passengers after a long journey from Vicarstown on the Northern Main Line.
"And here we are! I've made it on time!" Gordon said, as he came to a stop at the end of the platform, letting off some steam just after he came to a halt.
As the passengers began disembarking from Gordon's train, Carrie and Simon quickly made their way out of the station and into the car park.
Looking around, Simon saw Ralph White standing by his car a few dozen yards away from them, and he seemed to be looking out for them.
"Over here, Carrie." Simon said, as he led her over to where he could see Ralph White.
"Ah, there you are, you two." Ralph said, when he saw them approach her.
"Hey, Ralph." Simon said.
"Hey, dad." Carrie said.
"Did you both have a good time over in Vicarstown today?" Ralph asked.
"Yeah, we did. And we got a few things over there as well, especially things that Carrie wanted to get as well." Simon said, as Carrie lifted the bags she had with her.
"I see. Anyway, get aboard you two. We've got a place to go to." Ralph said, as Carrie and Simon loaded their things into the boot of the car, and then got into the back seats.
From across the car park, and in view of where Ralph had parked his car, another car was parked in one of the parking spaces and inside it was Irving and Brian, who were there to pick up Spacek and King.
"There they are." Irving said, as she pointed to where Spacek and King were just leaving the station with other passengers.
"And here they come." Brian said, as the other two officers made their way over towards the car and opened the doors to the back seats.
"Hey there, you two." Spacek said, as she got in on the left side of the back.
"Hey, back. And did you stay as close to Carrie and her boyfriend as you could without being caught?" Brian asked, as Spacek and King got in the back, closed the doors, and fastened their seatbelts.
"We did. And we were able to get some good photos of both of them as well." King said.
"Excellent…now let's see where the two of them are going to now." Irving said.
"Is Ralph White picking them up?" Spacek asked.
"He is, and he's parked his car just across the parking lot now." Brian said, as he pointed across the car park to where Ralph had parked his car, and it seemed he was just starting to pull out from his parking space and heading out from the car park.
"Let's follow them and see what they're doing." Spacek said.
"That's what we're doing." Brian said, as he started the engine and then made his way out from the car park as well.
(With Carrie, Simon, and Ralph)
"So, where are we going to, dad?" Carrie asked, as her father drove the car along the streets.
"Be patient, Carrie. You're gonna be surprised." Ralph said, with a smile.
"But before that, Carrie…" Simon said, as he reached to the pocket on the back of the seat before him and pulled out a length of white cloth, "…we need you to put on this blindfold."
"A blindfold? Why do I need to wear this?" Carrie asked.
"Be patient, Carrie. You'll be very surprised when we get there." Simon said, as he smiled reassuringly at Carrie.
"Oh…okay." Carrie said with some uncertainty, as she put the blindfold over her eyes and Simon tied the fold at the back.
"Okay, now just wait for me to give you the word to remove it, Carrie. And then you can remove it." Simon said.
"All right, Simon." Carrie said, hoping that it wouldn't be something very unpleasant.
They soon arrived at their destination, which was a hotel not too far away from Knapford Station, and Ralph parked in the car park in front of the hotel. Getting out of the car, with Simon helping a blindfolded Carrie out, they made their way into the hotel with Simon keeping Carrie close to him and helping her into the building, pointed out where any steps were and telling her when to place her feet forward and when to turn.
For Carrie, it was a little bit nerve-wracking to be wearing a blindfold and to not know what she would see when she was told to take it off. But she kept on going, with Simon at her side and helping her along, while she could hear different sounds taking place around her, which meant there were other people around her.
Then, she heard the sound of what she thought was two doors being opened and she could clearly could feel when she and Simon went through the open doors and into what Carrie felt was a large open room.
"Okay Carrie, you can take your blindfold off now." Simon said. And reaching behind her head, Carrie undid the knot and removed the blindfold. As soon as she removed it from her eyes, there came a loud chorus of voice calling out "Surprise! Happy Birthday, Carrie!" And Carrie nearly jumped back in surprise when she saw what it was and how it was; there were quite a few people she knew there from the apprenticeship scheme, as well as a few other people she knew, including the Fat Controller and his wife Lady Hatt, as well as Stephen and Bridget Hatt. Hanging up on the walls of the large room were coloured streamers and bunting, as well as bright banners which said "Happy 17th Birthday" on them. There were also coloured balloons, filled with helium, that were floating around from weights on the floor.
For a few moments, Carrie stood there in a stunned silence, as if she was unable to believe what she was seeing before her. Then, she turned to Simon and her father.
"Is…is this all for me?" she asked at last.
"Yes, Carrie. You did tell us that you never experienced your birthday back in Chamberlain, and so we all decided to pitch in and set up this very special surprise for you." Ralph said, as he smiled.
"And that's why I took you over to Vicarstown today, Carrie. So that this party could be set up without causing any suspicious for you, as well as the fact that we could have some time alone together today." Simon said. Carrie was silent for a few moments before she spoke.
"Thank you, Simon. I really do appreciate you doing all that for me." Carrie said, as she and Simon gave each other a big hug in appreciation before they went off to enjoy the birthday party with everyone else.
As everyone socialised with each and began to enjoy the party, what they all unaware of was that at one of the large windows in one corner of the room that partially looked out onto the car park, Irving was peeking in, camera in hand, and getting pictures of Carrie enjoying her 17th birthday. She had already recorded the moment when Carrie came into the room with her blindfold on and then removed it to then be surprised by everyone there. A bush was partially obstructing the view outside, and so Irving was able to take cover and get pictures of what was going on inside the ballroom without anyone inside noticing her.
So far, she was getting good images of Carrie and her friends enjoying the party, and had gotten a shot or two of the large three tier birthday cake she could see on the other side of the room, and which certainly did look nice, and reminded Irving of her own 17th birthday all those years ago, though hers had been a somewhat quieter affair than the one she was spying on.
"Hey…Irving!" came a quiet voice from behind her. Irving turned to see who it was, and saw that it was King.
"How are thing going?" King asked, as he approached.
"Fine, I've gotten some good images of what's going on. Turns out…it's Carrie's 17th birthday." Irving said, as she looked at King.
"So THAT explains why we saw her going into the hotel with a blindfold over her eyes." King said, as the realisation hit him like a lorry going through a brick wall. "It was to surprise Carrie after they walked in."
"And she seems to having a good time in there so far. As does everyone else in there." Irving said, as she turned her attention back to the ballroom, while bringing her camera up to her eyes again.
"I imagine so…anyway, I'm going to see about sending some of the pictures Spacek and I got today emailed back to H.Q. You just see about getting some more pictures of what's going on in there, and try to be sure that you're not spotted by anyone. If you feel you need to, don't be afraid to break off and get back to the hotel if you think it's getting too unsafe for you." King said.
"You got it." Irving said, as she carefully snapped another picture. And King turned away, and headed back to the car.
For the next while, Irving stayed where she was, hidden by the bush, and got more pictures of what was going on with Carrie's 17th birthday party, including shots where she saw Simon and Carrie dancing together on the dance floor, as well as Carrie talking with her father, and the girls she was friends with. But eventually though, she felt she got to a point where she couldn't stay where she was for much longer without taking the risk of being caught by someone, either inside the building or outside. So, after managing to get a few snaps of where she saw Carrie standing in front of her birthday cake where the candles were lit and everyone gathered around and sang "happy birthday" to Carrie, and then getting some quick snaps of Carrie blowing out her candles, Irving quickly and quietly pulled away from the window before making her way away from the hotel, pleased with the pictures she had gotten.
(Meanwhile, in Chamberlain; local time, 4:10pm)
With school having just finished up for another day not long before, Sue Snell, her boyfriend Tommy Ross, as well as a few others they knew from school left Ewen High School and made their way along towards the former White residence at 47 Carlin Street. Knowing what the importance of today's date was, they felt they needed to do something that would try, at least symbolically, to make up to Carrie White for what they had done to her over the years. They were going to have a small birthday celebration for Carrie outside her former house, with a news camera present, to celebrate her 17th birthday in the hope that Carrie would see it wherever she was and maybe see that the people that Carrie had gone to school with back home really did care for her.
The whole thing had been Sue's idea, and she had discussed her plan with Tommy and a few other people some days before, including with her parents and Ms Desjardin, to see what they would think about it. Fortunately, they were all for it, and the arrangements for this to go ahead had proceeded smoothly without any issues at all, and with everything having been set, they only had to proceed to 47 Carlin Street for the event to take place.
"I really hope this little thing goes well. I'd hate for anyone to spoil it." Sue said, as she and Tommy made their way over to Carrie's former home in Tommy's car.
"Don't worry, Sue. I'm sure that things will go fine. After all, a lot of people felt that you plan was a good idea." Tommy said, as he tried to reassure Sue.
"I know, Tommy. But what concerns me is that Chris, Tina, or someone might try something to spoil things…and I don't want that to happen." Sue said.
"Don't worry, Sue. Everything's gonna be all right." Tommy said. Sue smiled at Tommy's words, but she still wasn't too sure if things would go well.
They soon arrived and pulled up to the kerbside along Carlin Street close to the house where Carrie and her mother, Margaret, had once lived. There were already a few people there, including some teachers as well as quite a few other students from Ewen High School, most of whom were from Senior Year, but there were also quite a few others there as well from the Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior Years, including quite a few local people, and there were also a few police officers who were there as well to keep a close eye on things and ensure that no one tried to spoil things.
"Well…this is it." Sue said, as Tommy turned off the ignition.
"Yeah, let's do it." Tommy said, as he and Sue got out of his car. Heading down the sidewalk a few yards, they came upon the group of people, and the first people they saw was Heather Shyres and Jessica Upshaw.
"Hey there, Sue, Tommy." Jessica said, when she saw the young couple approach them
"Hey Jessica, Heather." Tommy said.
"Are you both ready for this?" Heather asked.
"Yeah, we are…and I hope it goes well." Sue said, as she looked towards the small crowd of people in front of 47 Carlin Street. Among the people there, Sue could see a news crew, consisting of a female reporter, a cameraman, and a soundman. They had a news van parked just down the street, and they were gathering this story to broadcast on the news in the hope that Carrie would see it and see that those back in her hometown really did care about her.
There were also two or three news photographers here as well, in order to get pictures for the local newspapers, as well as for the news websites, in order for the story to be shown around the world for those who were interested in following the story of the missing Carrie White.
The front of the house of 47 Carlin Street had changed in appearance somewhat since Margaret White had been arrested in front of the building all the way back in December; with the police investigation now no longer needing this house, as the investigators had gone over every square inch of the place, some work had been done to smarten up the front of the house. Among the things which had been included was making some repairs to the structure of the building, both internally and externally, where carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and other tradesmen had gone to the house and set to work at making repairs. The entire roof and every roof tile had been replaced, all the old wiring and plumbing had been ripped out and replaced, new windows and doors put in, replacing the flooring, as well as making repairs to the walls. Once any work on the building had been done, the painters had set to work, repainting interior rooms, as well as giving the exterior of the building a fresh coat of paint, so that by the time all the repairs were completed, the building looked better than it had been when Carrie and Margaret had been living in there. But apart from the memories and a few pictures, there was now nothing to indicate that Carrie or her mother had ever lived there at all for the last few years.
Now though, the front of the house had undergone a drastic change all because of Sue's idea; instead of an empty lifeless porch, there were now inflated coloured balloons, along with streamers, bunting, and coloured banners that said "happy birthday" on them.
Making her way through the small crowd of people, Sue saw the gym teacher, Ms Desjardin, standing and chatting with a few other people not far away from her. Sue was wondering what the gym teacher was thinking, even though she knew that Ms Desjardin had agreed to the idea, along with a lot of other people.
Eventually though, it was time for the ceremony to begin and, as the news crew and the photographers turned their attention to the front of the house, Principal Morton as well as an official from the police department and another official stepped up to the front porch of the house, where they could see over the small crowd gathered before them.
"Well, everyone…we're all here this afternoon to celebrate the 17th birthday of the missing Carrie White." said the police official as he began the process of addressing the crowd, which had fallen silent and turned to look at him.
"Ever since we all found out why Carrie ran away from Chamberlain last November, a few of the students over at Ewen High School felt that having this impromptu celebration here today to celebrate Carrie's birthday. And we'd all like to thank you all for attending this event here today." said the police official. And a few people before him clapped their hands for a few minutes before they all quietened down again.
Then, Principal Morton took position in place of the police official and, after clearing his throat, he made his statement.
"Ladies and gentlemen…by undertaking this little event, I hope that it'll show that things have changed in this town, and that it really does show that we're all very sorry after what we did to Carrie for all these years." said Principal Morton. And as Principal Morton finished speaking, a signal was given and everyone pulled out a party popper that they had been given and pulled on the strings, sending out a pyrotechnic bang and causing streamers to fly into the air over the crowds, causing many people to cheer out for a few moments.
Looking round at the cheering people and falling streamers, as well as the news people getting pictures and gathering images taking place around them, Sue turned to look at Tommy.
"Well…I just hope that Carrie sees this wherever she is, and that she sees we really are sorry for the trouble we put her through." Sue said.
"I know, Sue. I think this was a great idea you had to celebrate Carrie's birthday like this." Tommy said, as he gave his girlfriend a big hug, which helped to give Sue a warm feeling deep inside her and she gratefully returned the hug.
From where she was standing close by, Rita Desjardin took a glance towards where Sue and Tommy were standing. She felt herself smile as she watched Sue and Tommy hug each other, and knew that Sue had been right at doing something like this, as it showed Sue had realised that what had happened to Carrie over all the years was wrong and that she wanted to make up her mistakes. Looking around the crowd, Rita could also see a number of other familiar faces from Ewen High School, including Heather, Jessica, Rachel Spies, Norma Watson and her boyfriend Freddy Holt, the Watson Twins Nikki and Lizzy, as well as a few other familiar faces. But there was no sign of Tina Blake, Donna Kellogg, as well as Chris Hargensen, though that was no surprise really, considering what she was like. Deciding to push those thoughts out of her head, Rita turned back to other people in the crowd and socialised with other people who were there.
From the very far end of the street, in a black and red muscle car that was parked on the opposite site of the street, two figures were sitting in the front and watching everything that was going on in front of 47 Carlin Street. They were Chris Hargensen and her boyfriend, Billy Nolan, and from the look on Chris' face, she wasn't too pleased to see the crowd of people in front of the former White residence and celebrating a birthday for the missing Carrie White. She had, quite unsurprisingly, been against the whole concept right from the start and announced she wouldn't show up for the event, to no one's surprise.
As she watched what was going on from where she was sitting, Chris could only watch with some degree of anger and bitterness, as if she couldn't believe that it was really happening…that people in school and in this town actually CARED for Carrie White now.
"The only thing that I'm glad of…is that…FREAK isn't here to see that all these people are having a party for her in front of her house!" Chris said, as she glared towards the scene with a seething hatred.
"It's not something I'd be that interested in. So, I'm just glad that I'm only seeing it from right here instead of being in it." Billy said, as he too looked towards the scene with more curious interest than hatred.
"I just hope that freak is never found! I've been so used to her not being around the school now that I could never get used to her being around the school again!" Chris said, as she turned to look at Billy.
For another two or three minutes, they watched the activity going on in front of 47 Carlin Street and the people who were in front of the house. Eventually though, Billy reached down for his key in the ignition and turned it round until the engine started.
"Let's go somewhere else. It's getting boring sitting here." Billy said, as he turned to look at Chris.
"Yeah, let's get outta here." Chris said, as she settled back in the passenger seat and then Billy, after putting the car in gear, pressed his foot down on the accelerator and pulled out from the side of the street, before roaring off down the road. After all, they had to meet up with Tina and Donna, as well as their boyfriends Kenny Garson and Jackson "Jackie" Talbot, at the Kelly Fruit Company diner. After all, none of them wanted anything to have to do with this little gathering.
Meanwhile, over at the Chamberlain Police Department's H.Q., the recent information from the four officers over on Sodor was being looked over by some of the other officers on duty in the building, which included quite a number of the pictures that had been taken so far. Among them were some of the photos that had been taken of Carrie's 17th birthday party. Each officer was looking over the pictures with some degree of happiness and relief, especially when they saw just how much happier that Carrie was now, as well as of her socialising with her new friends.
But what really surprised them the most was when they were given the news, as well as the pictures, that proved Ralph White was still alive and had been living on the Island of Sodor for the last 17 years. Many of the officers were now genuinely curious of why Ralph White was over on Sodor, but they all knew there must be a very good reason why that was. As least Officer Bettis had a theory about that, which she shared out to her fellow officers.
"I would say that he took advantage of that accident at his workplace back then to get away from his wife, Margaret. After all, we all know that Margaret did confess to assaulting her husband when they were together, and so I imagine he took advantage of the accident to quickly get out of Chamberlain." Bettis said.
"Yes, well, I think that's a strong possibility. And I wouldn't blame him for doing it either...especially when we all consider just how mentally unstable a person Margaret White is." said another of her fellow officers.
"Well, let's not jump to conclusions just because we all think of something like that. I'd say that we should all wait and see until we get more information from our colleagues over on Sodor before we do anything else." said another officer.
"I agree. I think that's the best thing we can do before we should do anything else." Bettis said. She looked back at the screen and examined a few more of the shots they had just been sent from Sodor, and she still couldn't believe that Ralph White had actually been alive for all this time and had been working on the railways over on Sodor as a driver. But, there was nothing more that they could do except wait until they received more information from the four officers over on Sodor.
And that's the end of this latest chapter, everyone! As we've seen, Carrie and Simon both had a good time on their day out in Vicarstown, and somehow, they didn't know they were being followed by the two officers from Chamberlain while they were on their day out. And we've seen Carrie being surprised with a birthday party, while in Chamberlain Carrie's classmates and a few of the townspeople had a small celebration for Carrie in front of her old house, much to the displeasure of her arch-bully, Chris Hargensen.
I hope to have the next chapter unloaded as soon as I possible can, so until then...enjoy this chapter!