Previously...
Suddenly, a chorus of loud whistles and horns could be heard coming from behind Braedey. He takes notice in some metal to his left, and he could see Thomas, Percy, Diana, Darla, Henry, Gordon, James, Raleigh, Peter, Hayden, Maverick, Bear, Boco, Anna, Shadow, Mack and William charging in. But as they approach, they weren't alone - other engines were arriving on the scene, such as Carol the GWR 'Lady of Legend', Thunderbolt the LNER P2, Eli the LNER A4 Pacific, Evelyn the BR Standard 9F, Mack the BR Class 40, Damien the BR GT3 Turbine locomotive, the LNER A3 Flying Scotsman himself, plus LNER A4 Pacific Mallard, BR Standard 9Fs Evelyn AKA 'Evening Star' and Alexander AKA 'Black Prince', along with other tank and tender locomotives, including Stepney and many others.
"Thought you could use some help." Thomas smiled as he puffs up alongside Braedey.
Braedey smiled back before he stood his ground and glared at the evil locomotive before him and everyone else. A united force now standing behind him, so they now have a chance to fight and survive. Goliath looks on at the many steam and diesel engines before his entire army, then his eyes lock onto Braedey.
"Engines!" Braedey shouted. He clenched his jaw, glaring straight ahead. "Assemble."
With a blast of his whistle, Braedey charged forward, all the other engines charging in full steam ahead, the armies of the railway all charging at full speed with Braedey leading the charge.
The Battle of All Railways has begun.
Both sides of the fighting forces collide with such force, some engines shoving back the diesels with enough force, some steam locomotives to struggling to push forward, with others charging with enough force back. Some tank engines and shunter diesels slam with such forces against one another, some being sent flying off the tracks or even going cab-over-wheels.
Devious Diesel could only look on as he saw the many engines around him, and he attempted to slink away like he would, but Thomas and Lady blocked him. "Where do you think YOU'RE going, Diesel?" The blue tank engine threatened, his eyes narrowed.
"Anywhere but here!" Diesel charged towards Thomas, but he and Lady stood their ground, and they shunted him back. "H-Hey-!"
Thomas and Lady didn't even give Diesel a chance to recover from that, the two pushing him down the tracks with all their might before he slammed into some heavy wagons, the force of the impact shoving him clear off the rails and onto his side with a heavy thud!
Diesel lay there stunned and dazed. "Grease and oil..." He muttered.
"There's more where THAT came from!" Thomas stated back.
"AHA!" Thomas and Lady froze in horror once they heard that voice. They both look back to see who it was. "There's the blue puffball! And look who he brought!" It was Diesel 10 himself rounding the bend, the BR Class 42 with his claw up and ready to attack.
"Go, go, go!" Lady cried.
Thomas immediately put full-steam-ahead, he and Lady now racing through the shunting yard, going around other engines and locomotives, Diesel 10 in pursuit of them, who smashed his way past and also through other engines. The three engines carry on around to the back section of the yards, but Thomas spotted what looks to be some kind of coal chute up ahead. Thomas smirked as he thought of a plan.
"Hey, Diesel 10!" Thomas called out cheekily. "I think it's time for that next lesson! What was it called? 'How to stop being annoying'?" He laughed.
Diesel 10 was now beyond annoyed. "All right! Playtime's over, puffball!" He growled as they were getting closer.
"That's it..." Thomas said softly as they reached the coal chute. "Wait for it..."
"Thomas..." Lady asked in worry, just as she and Thomas now abruptly came to a stop just beyond the coal chute and they looked back. "Uh, Thomas...?" She looks on at the blue tank engine, wondering what Thomas is thinking.
"You wanna know about the next lesson, HUH?! I call that one "How to Stop Being Stupid'!!" Diesel 10 growled, then he came to a stop under the coal chute, and he raises Pinchy to get ready to strike. But before he could...
"NOT THE COAL CHUTE-!!" Diesel called out, but he was too late, as Diesel 10 was being buried under an entire mountain of black coal, as it all poured down on top of him.
Thomas, Lady, even Gordon James, and Henry, who had managed to shunt back some engines away at the time, all laughed at the evil diesel's failure and misfortune, as they saw the entire calamity unfold before them nearby.
After the coal stopped and the dust settled around the coal chute, Diesel 10 was now covered from roof vent to wheel bogie in coal dust, his claw now back on his roof, and he was buried up to his nose in coal dust.
"Now that's gonna ruin my facial." Diesel 10 growled out in a mumble from under the coal, just as one large piece of coal hits him on the roof. "Ouch."
Over with Thunderbolt the streamlined LNER P2, he was pushing back against Fowler, who had Malice, Wicked, 'Arry & Bert behind him. The streamliner was pushing back with all his might, his wheels spinning as sparks fly, the diesels trying to shove forward.
"You cannot win, villain!" Thunderbolt declared.
"All of the D.G.S.S.E shall survive!" Fowler declared. "And all of you shall be scrapped."
Thunderbolt now looked over to his left, and he saw the brown GT3 Turbine locomotive Croghan now charging at him with a blare of his horn! Thunderbolt looks down to see the section of cross-track he's on, so thinking fast and strategically, he immediately shifts into reverse and stops pushing, now letting Fowler and the shunter diesels push him back and away from the cross-track. But before they can react, Croghan slams with full-force into the four shunter diesels, all four being knocked off their wheels and onto their sides with heavy thuds.
"Well, that's one way to cripple a steam locomotive." Thunderbolt commented. He then shoves Fowler back. "Villains, cringe in fear. Mighty Thunderbolt is here!" With that, he blasts two short bursts with his whistle, and a long whistle at the end that echoed like thunder, before he charged full force at Fowler!!!
"Oh, scrap." Fowler could only mutter out.
Over on the other side of the yard, William the Garratt Engine and Maverick the Westerner Diesel both slam in full-force at incoming diesels, sending them flying of being shunted back, the two red locomotives showing the engines of the D.G.S.S.E of who they shouldn't have messed with.
"You wanna play rough?! Well, say hello to my Garratt friend!" Maverick challenged. William charged on and rammed into more diesels, sending them flying away.
"Boom!" William laughed.
At the same time, Diana, Darla, Carol the GWR 'Lady of Legend', BR Standard 9F Evelyn AKA 'Evening Star', as well as Anna, all charge in head-on, all the female engines going full 'girl-power' in charge, Evelyn now up front with a battering ram attached to her front buffers as she slams into the diesels and engines ahead, sending them flying off the rails and tipping over onto their sides.
"Nice one, ladies." Maverick called out. "Talk about girl power."
"Thank you." All the lady engines reply back.
Maverick then charged backwards with a flatbed wagon behind him, slamming it into another diesel that tried to run into the lady engines, sending them flying before they crash cab-over-wheels.
"Oops." Maverick mocked back. "Did I do that?"
Hayden now charges in with a flatbed of steel beams in front of him, him slamming them into a steel pillar, bringing a shed roof down right on top of Roderick, who could only yell out incoherently from underneath, his claw smashing through the roof.
"Ha!! Serves you right!" Hayden laughed. "Bring it on!" Roderick snarled out, just as Hayden knocks over a wagon loaded with steel beams, making them fall on top of Roderick, burying him underneath the rubble, snapping off the claw. "And that was for my friends."
Throughout the whole of the refinery and headquarters of the D.G.S.S.E, the sounds of crashing metal and yells, along with grinding wheels and wheeshing steam, plus bellowing whistles and horns, it all sounds like it's a battlefield of the Second World War. Engines were being knocked about or even derailed on purpose, others being buried under steel and rubble in the whole of the process, with some trying to escape, only to be stopped and sent packing or simply being shoved off the tracks.
But throughout this whole battle, down right in the midst of it all, there was one battle going on, one between Braedey and Goliath. The GWR Hall Class locomotive and the prototype BR Standard 9F both clash with sudden force against one another, the two of them shunting one another back with each hit, both of them giving each strike all they have to try and knock one or the other off the rails.
"You can't win this war, Goliath!" Braedey snapped and shoved back. "You're outnumbered and outgunned."
"The D.G.S.S.E shall prevail." Goliath announced as if he didn't care about what's happening around him. "No matter what happens, no matter how many engines you keep sending, we shall prevail and the railways of the world shall be changed into my image."
"Not until we take the head off of the snake, and send you to the scrapheap." Braedey snapped back firmly before shoving Goliath back.
"You will not prevail." Goliath now shunted back with such force, Braedey sliding down the rails with sparks flying off his wheels in the process. "The D.G.S.S.E shall prevail and press on, a new world order that will bring about the future of all railways."
"Not gonna happen, Goliath!" Braedey snaps back, his whistle bellowing out before charging forward.
Goliath, however, he slinks back and around on a set of tracks, Braedey missing his chance as he skids to a stop before reversing. Goliath shunts his way through some of the other engines, even knocking away any of the members of his own crew, as he made his way off.
"No, you don't!" Braedey immediately shifts himself into reverse, and with screeching wheels in reverse, he races after Goliath! "You're not getting away from me! Thomas! Thunderbolt! Hayden! I'm going after Goliath! You guys hold the line here!" He whistled. "Nobody gets past you!"
"Understood!" Thunderbolt acknowledged back.
"Be careful, Braedey." Thomas called out.
Lady whistles out as she suddenly raced right past Thomas, and she ran right into another diesel that then tried to derail Henry, sending said diesel off the rails and crashing under a huge scaffolding.
"Nice move, Lady." Henry whistled.
"Anything for a friend of Thomas." Lady smiled.
"You're not stopping our leader!" Fowler called, him now trying to chase after Braedey. But before he could even gather past Thunderbolt or Thomas, Hayden suddenly raced in with a snowplow attached, and he rammed into Fowler, sending the LMS 3F tender engine off the rails.
"Where do you think you're going, tough guy?!" Hayden challenged. "Consider yourself derailed!"
"Curse you..." Fowler muttered out in pain.
"Time for the Revolution to-" Croghan didn't get to finish his sentence as he was then slammed right on both sides by Henry and Anna with two long lines of coal trucks, burying him under several tonnes of coal. "Ow..."
"Oh, just shut up." Anna grunted out. "Your revolution is already over before it began!"
"Let's go! Hold the line! For Sodor!" Thomas whistled.
"For Sodor!" The coalition of engines announced in unison, whistling and blowing their whistles and horns.
Out on the mainline, Goliath charged along at speed, trying to make up space between him and Braedey. The BR Standard 9F prototype had chuffed on for a few yards, only for a bellowing whistle to echo out from behind. He looks back, just as Braedey rounded the bend leading off to the D.G.S.S.E Headquarters, a look of unbridled anger on his face, his teeth clenched as he charges full steam ahead at Goliath.
"You're not going anywhere, Goliath!" Braedey yelled out. "You can run, but you can't hide from me!"
"I've been able to hide from the Police and Railways Inspectors Unit for decades." Goliath called back at him. "You think a lowly engine like you can stop me?"
"Oh, really?! Just watch me!" Braedey yelled back, his whistle bellowing like a beast.
The crimson GWR Hall engine opens his regulator to full steam ahead, sparks also flying from his funnel as he charges on ahead. Goliath continued to power on, keeping a good head of steam, all the while with him and Braedey switching tracks left and right. At times, the two of them would clash buffers and their frames, sparks flying from each contact, but they continue on at speed, smoke rising in the air as they charge on, the two locomotives speeding along the British landscape.
"You can't keep running forever!" Braedey yelled out, his whistle bellowing out. "You'll have to stop!"
"Just watch me." Goliath countered back as he then increased his speed, speeding onward.
Braedey blew his war whistle long and loud, as if like it were Morse code, and he yelled as he charged on at Goliath, slamming into his buffers and sides, sparks flying off in the process. In response to hearing this bellowing whistle, the signalmen in the signal-box now started to change the tracks, the two speeding locomotives now racing off the mainline and going down an adjacent line that leads away.
Braedey takes notice that Goliath hasn't slowed down nor stopped in response, and was too focused on him. 'That's it... He's too distracted by me to notice where he's going.' He thought to himself.
The tracks the two engines were now racing on seemed to lead away from the mainline, off to a location hidden amongst a forested area. The rails were also not well-maintained and they looked to be worn-down and rusty in places, and most of the wooden sleepers were rotted away. But both Braedey and Goliath didn't seem to take notice of this as they kept racing along at speed, the tree branches snapping off when the two engines ran into them and sent them flying away. Braedey now took notice, but instead of calling out or doing anything of the sort, he stays silent and he began to slow down, taking note of the opposite track Goliath was on, a wall of fog now surrounding the area.
'Here we go... the final destination...' Braedey thought, now switching onto a different track going further into the fog.
After a moment, Goliath looks back, but he took notice that Braedey was nowhere to be seen. The prototype BR Standard 9F was just about to start slowing himself down, he suddenly felt a sharp jolt from below his front left wheels. He looks down, just as he saw a section of rusted track broken! Goliath then felt his wheels leave the tracks, the ground churning and digging up in the process as he still kept going, the prototype locomotive unable to slow down or stop, his forward momentum carrying him along at speed. He felt himself sliding about the ground, just as his front buffers and his right side began to grind against some stone blocks, slowing him down, just as his tender began to tip and topple over, spilling the coal out, even snapping the drawbar in the process, Goliath eventually coming to a stop with the grinding of steel and stone echoing out around him before it goes silent.
Goliath stays still and silent, looking down to see what has become of him. Then, he saw the fog starting to lift around him, but when it did, his eyes widened. Goliath was stuck in the middle of an old tall viaduct situated within a deep valley, the lakebed below having dried up many years ago from damming, the lakebed lined with clay. The viaduct looked to be up to a hundred feet high from the base of the valley itself, with jagged rocks down below in the old lakebed basin.
'What in the world?' Goliath thought to himself. 'This...' His eyes narrowed as he realised something. 'Wait... He has purposely lead me off the mainline. But out here? On some disused track? For whatever reason-?'
The bellowing whistle of an engine could be heard in the distance, but it was coming in fast. Goliath looks back but can't see anyone. He then looks ahead, just as he saw Braedey charging in at full speed! The red GWR Hall locomotive raced onto the viaduct and slams into Goliath's front, shunting him back with such force, Goliath was wedged into the stone lining of the viaduct.
"You have done enough damage, Goliath." Braedey now gave a darkened look at the prototype locomotive. "All of this death and destruction to British Railways, all for what? A utopia of your design that shall never come to fruition?"
"The idea of a perfect railway utopia will be set in steel and made with the charred remains of you and your friends." Goliath grunted. Even if he couldn't move, he still gave a darkened expression. "You won't be able to stop us. The D.G.S.S.E shall continue on, thanks to us and the great Dr. Beeching-"
"Oh, for the love of British Railways, shut up!" Braedey thundered, steam shooting out of his pistons. "Beeching is DEAD! The D.G.S.S.E is DEAD! He's been dead since 1985! Do you really think that he'll even save you again?! Nobody will help you, nor will let you or anyone else of the D.G.S.S.E continue on. Your days of tyranny have come to a close, you AND the D.G.S.S.E as a whole."
"The D.G.S.S.E will prosper, no matter what will happen to us." Goliath stated firmly. "The D.G.S.S.E shall continue to live on, and we will stand among all."
As this conversation was going on, the viaduct under Goliath and Braedey's wheels was showing signs of weakness, the concrete and brickwork starting to break and fall apart, chips of brickwork falling into the valley below. The viaduct clearly wasn't built to handle a locomotive as heavy as a BR Standard 9F, and the structural integrity of the viaduct was beginning to fail.
"You'll never succeed, Goliath." Braedey stated back. "Everyone is against your ideas of the D.G.S.S.E, and your delusional concept shall fail before you can even advance. It's all over..."
An air of silence seemed to float around the two steam locomotives, the faint sound of snapping bricks barely being heard in the process, the viaduct continuing to break apart under their wheels. Braedey and Goliath both glare on at one another, but the silence was shut off when Goliath began to chuckle darkly, his laughter echoing around the two locomotives.
"You think it's all over... Oh, you are sorely mistaken, my dear engine." Goliath spoke darkly, a wicked smirk slowly forming upon his face. "There will come a time when the world will finally reject the concept of steam locomotion, and all of you will face the prospect of the Final Firing. Once it happens, you, your friends, and the entire North Western Railway, and eventually, the entire world will change for the betterment of the D.G.S.S.E forever. After all is said and done..." His expression now looked much darker. "You shall soon learn... I am... Inevitable."
The sound of breaking stones could be heard, getting the two locomotive's attention. Braedey looks around, and took notice of the viaduct beginning to break apart and collapse in places, falling into the deep valley down below. Goliath also took notice of this, his eyes now widening as he realised where he is now, and he cannot move. The viaduct groaned as it continues to break apart. Braedey wisely retreats away from the collapsing section.
"You might be right about what you say, but we'll face the end when it's our time. And there's also one thing you have gotten wrong about your plans, Goliath." Braedey stated as he stopped. "It won't be MY Final Firing... it shall be yours!"
Braedey blew his whistle long and loud, the viaduct now collapsing and falling apart, the sound of rumbling and falling debris echoing out, swallowing out Goliath's screams as he fell into the valley below with the falling viaduct, a wall of smoke and dust rising up from the collapse...