Chapter 74: A Fun Snow Day
(Saturday, December 22nd 2012 – 1:35pm, Tidmouth Sheds)
In the main crew building within Tidmouth Sheds, Simon, Sophie, Alice, Olivia, and Saoirse were sitting together in the canteen on the ground floor with cups of hot tea in their hands. Amongst them, there were a few other engine crews who were sitting at the other tables and eating their food while chatting with each other about how their day had gone, as well as about what they might encounter when they went out to work after lunch. They were waiting for Carrie to arrive back in the depot on the special visitor who she had mentioned that she was coming in on, and they were quietly chatting with each other. Ralph White was also sitting at one of the tables and he was chatting with some of the drivers and fireman that he was good friends with, and he and them were also wondering who the second special visitor was.
"Who do you think the second visitor is?" Alice said, as she looked towards the windows that looked out over the depot.
"Well…I have some idea of who the visitor is, but I don't want to say who it is yet just in case I'm wrong." Olivia said.
"I think that I know who it is you're talking about, Olivia. But I just want to wait and see if that's true." Sophie said, as she thought about who the visitor might be.
"I also think that Carrie's quite a lucky girl to be working with this second visitor too." Simon added, feeling proud that his girlfriend had been given the chance to work with the visitor. He had been given the chance to work with Stepney and his crew today, and they had worked along Thomas' branch line for the whole morning helping to take passengers and mail along the length of the line. The sight of Stepney going along the line and helping out with moving people, parcels, and mail, as well as his cheerful and friendly personality brought a lot of smiles to those who were travelling along the line in the cold snowy weather. All the other engines working on the line were very pleased to see Stepney and some of them often took the chance to talk to him when they had the chance to do so before they had to get back to work again.
Just before Saoirse could say something, there came the sounds of a slightly unfamiliar whistle from the depot outside and a few people in the canteen turned their heads or looked up to see who it was. A few of the enginemen who were standing by the windows and looking outside stood still for a few seconds, and then one of them turned to those in the canteen.
"Hey everyone! It's Flying Scotsman who's coming in!" he said, as he then began to make his way over towards the main entrance doors. Now realising who's whistle that they had just heard, all of the other enginemen and recruits in the canteen stood up and made their way out of the building to see Flying Scotsman arrive into the depot. Ralph White was amongst those who were heading outside to see, and he was feeling keen to see if Carrie was there.
Outside, with a wheesh of white billowing steam and a gentle squealing of brake blocks on the driving wheels, as well as with a chorus of welcoming whistles from the engines and excited cheers from the gathered crowds, Flying Scotsman came to a gentle halt inside one of the large sheds having just reversed into the depot, with his support coach and two tenders all the way inside the shed. As he stopped, he let off steam and blew his own whistle long and long, feeling very pleased to finally be here.
"I've made it!" he said, as he smiled while the crowd slowly gathered off to his left side, and it included workmen, engine crews, a few railway officials, and the recruits from the apprenticeship scheme. They were all clambering around and trying to get a good view of the world's most famous steam locomotive, now back on Sodor to spend the Christmas holidays with the engines of the North Western Railway.
On the footplate, as Chloe made sure that the reversing gear was in mid-gear, the brakes were on, and that the regulator was fully closed, and Laura made sure that the coals that had been put into the fire a little earlier were fully burned off, Carrie couldn't help but smile a bit at having travelled back to Tidmouth aboard the footplate of Flying Scotsman. She was well aware of the crowd outside, and she knew that her Sodor friends were somewhere amongst them. She was looking forwards to telling them about her trip from Vicarstown, and she was also hoping that she would be able to tell her classmates about the trip as well later on in the day as well.
"Well, I think that I'd better go and get myself cleaned up and then get clocked out for the day. I'm already more than half an hour overtime already." Carrie said to Chloe and Laura, as she stepped over towards the side of the cab.
"All right, Carrie. And many thanks for helping us here today as well." Chloe said, as she smiled and shook Carrie's hand.
"And hopefully we'll see you again in the time that we're here on Sodor. And let's hope that we'll all be able to enjoy a very good Christmas this year." Laura said, as she then shook Carrie's hand as well.
"And are you ladies gonna be running any special trains here on Sodor with Scotty while you're here?" Carrie asked.
"We're not sure about that yet, Carrie. We've not been told about any special trains that we may need to take between now and Christmas. But then again, I'm sure that we'll find out very soon indeed." Chloe said, as she turned and double-checked the controls.
"And hopefully, you may see Flying Scotsman running such special trains if we're asked to take them." Laura said.
"All right…I'll see you two around when I see you. Good luck!" Carrie said, as she went over to the driver's side of the cab and turned around before stepping back down to the ground.
As she put her feet back on solid ground again, she looked up, smiled, and then waved to Chloe and Laura who were leaning out from the driver's side of the cab before she then turned and made her way over to the crew building. She turned her head a bit to look at the crowds of people, including quite a few engine crews, and a few of the apprentices on the apprenticeship scheme who she recognized, and they were gathered round to see Flying Scotsman as a number of the shed staff went up to the footplate to speak with Chloe and Laura to see how their trip had been as well as if there was anything that happened that the run that needed to be checked.
"Hey, Carrie!" came a familiar voice over the sounds of the crowds of the people gathered in front of Flying Scotsman. Looking to see who it was, Carrie was pleased to see that it was Simon, and he was approaching her with Saoirse, Sophie, Alice, and Olivia following along behind him.
"Hey there, Simon!" Carrie said, as she gave a big smile while giving her boyfriend a big hug.
"I see that you came aboard Flying Scotsman this afternoon, Carrie! I can't help but feel a little bit envious of you right now!" Sophie said, as she smiled while taking a look over to Flying Scotsman.
"Well, I'm pleased to report that we had a very good run over from Vicarstown with a good long train. And I'm also very pleased to say that all the passengers seemed to be very pleased as well, judging from what I saw after we arrived at Knapford." Carrie said.
"And let's just hope that we can get the chance to work with Flying Scotsman before he has to go back to the mainland after Christmas." Saoirse said, as she looked over to where Flying Scotsman was standing within the shed and being looked over by the small crowd of onlookers while a few of the crowd took the chance to get some pictures of the world's most famous steam locomotive.
"Anyway, have you guys been back here long?" Carrie asked, as she looked towards her friends.
"We all arrived back here just a little before one o'clock, and as you see, we've already had showers and gotten ourselves cleaned up and changed too. We received your message earlier on, and so we decided to wait until you got back before we all went out together." Alice said.
"And thanks for waiting for me to get back." Carrie said, as she smiled.
"You're welcome, Carrie. Now go and get yourself cleaned up, and then we'll all head out and meet up with your classmates." Olivia said.
"All right, I think that I'd better do that now. I'm more than half an hour overtime already." Carrie said with a smile, as she headed over to the crew building so that she could get herself showered and changed into fresh clothes.
(Meanwhile, along the Little Western)
(Insert soundtrack – Oliver's Theme – Season 3)
Meanwhile, work was still ongoing all over the railway lines on Sodor, as a lot of passengers, parcels, mail, and freight still needed to be moved around and delivered to where they were all needed to be delivered to before Christmas. On the Little Western, there was no exceptions to it either as all the engines still continued working at moving trains along the length of the line from Tidmouth Station all the way to Arlesburgh.
Oliver was one of the engines who was helping out with the work that needed to be done, and at the moment he was heading northwards along the Little Western back to Arlesburgh with a line of six coaches full of passengers coupled up behind him and his brake van, Toad, coupled up at the back of the train. So far, the trip had been running very smoothly with nothing bad happening, although there was a cold wind that was blowing in off the sea which created a windchill factor that made things quite uncomfortable for all those who were outside in the streets and going about their business.
"Oh, this wind is freezing! I hope that the wind eases off soon!" Oliver said to himself, as he went along on the line that passed above the Suddery Coastal Village spread out below him.
"It's not likely to happen anytime soon, old boy! I heard on the weather forecast that the wind won't be easing off until sometime tonight!" his driver called out, as he leaned out from the side of the cab.
"Just my luck! I hope that we can have a rest after this job and spend a bit of time in my warm shed before we have to get back to work again!" Oliver said, as he went down the very slight gradient towards the Fishing Village.
As he slowly came round the bend and rolled into the Fishing Village, Oliver noticed some activity taking place on the long siding that was along the quayside opposite where the village was, and he could see a line of vans standing on the quay and being loaded up with fish that the fishing boats had brought in. Standing at the head of the line of vans was G.W.R. 56XX Class 0-6-2T No.5600, and he was standing and waiting to set off with the vans once they were all fully loaded with the fish.
"Hello there, Oliver!" No.5600 called, when he saw Oliver approach on the main line with his coaches.
"Hello, No.5600! Nearly ready to go?" Oliver called, as he blew his whistle in greeting.
"Not too long left, Oliver! All the fish are nearly loaded up into my vans, and then I'll be on my way with them!" No.5600 said, as he watched Oliver head on past.
"Good luck then!" Oliver said, as he went past and on up the line with his coaches. He was feeling a bit glad to be heading away from the Fishing Village, as it meant that he could be away from the smell of fish that always seemed to hang in the air regardless of whatever time of year it was.
He continued on up the line heading along the long stretch of double track on their final approach to their destination, with tall and steep cliffs on one side of the line and a long stretch of deserted beaches on the other. Oliver was making good time with his train and was keen to arrive in Arlesburgh on time. So far, the passengers had been enjoying the trip ever since the train had left Tidmouth Station a little earlier on with many of the passengers heading up to Arlesburgh to spent Christmas with their families who lived there. Looking up ahead of him as he rolled along on the last few miles of his run, Oliver noticed another engine coming in the opposite direction on the other track beside him, and he could see that it was another G.W.R. 56XX Class 0-6-2T, but this engine was No.6630, and he was rolling along with a long line of heavily laden trucks coupled up behind him, with the train bound for the main freight yards at Knapford.
"Hello Oliver!" he whistled, as he went on past with his slow freight rattling and clanking along behind him.
"Hello there, No.6630!" Oliver called, as he also blew his whistle in return.
(Arlesburgh Station)
With a final blast of his whistle and a clatter of wheels going over the points, Oliver finally pulled in to Arlesburgh Station and right on time too. Pulling up to the end of the platform, the driver closed the regulator and brought the train to a gentle halt, and the porters on the platform opened the doors to the coaches. As the passengers disembarked from the train and made their way out from the station, Oliver sat and waited round for whatever his next job was to be. He was feeling pleased from having gotten this train to Arlesburgh on time, as well as having safely gotten all these passengers to their destinations in time for Christmas.
As Oliver waited, he then became aware of approaching chuffing sounds from the line stretching off to the north as another train rolled into Arlesburgh. Oliver didn't have to wait for very long to see who it was, as a minute or so later none other than G.W.R. 47XX Class 2-8-0 No.4706, and he was hauling a long line of empty milk tankers behind him, as well as a few box vans. As the signal was at red, the driver of No.4706 put the brakes on and gently brought the train to a stop just a little before the station.
"Good afternoon, Oliver! Did you have a good run?" No.4706 asked, as he looked towards the G.W.R. 14XX Class 0-4-2T tank engine (138) sitting at the platform off to his left.
"Yes, I just arrived here. And all my passengers seem to be pleased with the trip." Oliver said.
"Well, that's good to hear, and I think that the Fat Controller will be very pleased to hear it too." No.4706 said.
"And how's things going with your train, No.4706?" Oliver asked.
"Nothing to complain of so far, and I'm to take all these milk tankers from the north of the island all the way back down to the farms along the Southern Main Line." No.4706 said, as he indicated to the long line of milk tankers coupled up behind him.
"And they haven't caused any trouble for you so far, have they?" Oliver asked.
"No, not yet. After all, trucks know full well not to cause any trouble with me." No.4706 said.
"Well, you just be careful about that. I'm sure that the trucks might try and look for any chance to play a trick on you." Oliver said.
"Thanks for the advice, Oliver!" No.4706 said, knowing that it was very good advice to take.
(138): The Great Western Railway's 1400 0-4-2T Class tank engines were designed by Charles Collett and they were intended to be used for passenger work along branch lines where larger, heavier engines were forbidden to go. Originally called the 48XX Class when they were first introduced, they were a modernised version of the earlier G.W.R. 517 0-4-2T Class that had been designed by George Armstrong and first introduced all the way back in 1868.
Totalling 156 engines in all, the 517 Class had been built at Wolverhampton Works between 1868 and1885, and they had undergone many rebuilds during their working lives, including having Belpaire fireboxes fitted to their boilers, new side tanks, and extended coal bunkers. Most of the class covered distance of between one million and one and a half million miles during their careers, with the last example of the class being withdrawn in 1945 when it was 70 years old.
To help reduce costs of maintaining such old engines that were running the branch line trains, Charles Collett set about designing a new class of tank engines to take over from the 517 Class. The new 48XX Class was very similar in many respects to the older 517 Class, the only differences being that a new design of boiler was fitted, as well as a new Collett-style cab and coal bunker. A new three-bar crosshead was also fitted to the motion, based on that which was fitted to the G.W.R 56XX Class 0-6-2T tank engines. The cab featured a standard G.W.R. control layout, and which was comfortable for the crews to ride in.
The 48XX Class had four driving wheels that were 5ft 2in in diameter, a boiler that was pressed to 165psi, and two inside cylinders that were 16in in diameter with a 24in piston stroke, which all combined to give the class a maximum tractive effort of 13,900lbf. The side tanks could carry up to 800 gallons of water, while the coal bunkers could take up to 2 tons of coal. No superheaters were ever fitted to the class as it wasn't though to be necessary to fit the class with them, as well as due to the fact that the smokeboxes weren't large enough to take superheaters.
In total, 75 members of the 48XX Class were built and they were originally numbered from No.4800 to No.4874, but when they were renumbered in 1946 due to the 48XX Series being needed for members of the 28XX Class 2-8-0s that had been converted to oil-firing, they were known from No.1400 to No.1474. They were built in three batches at Swindon Works between August 1932 and April 1936. They were all fitted with equipment in order to work on auto-trains and all of them had Automatic Train Control fitted to them from new. The class were spread-out throughout the G.W.R. system, including working out of Paddington Station in London, and worked well on branch line trains, as well as on light freight work and other various miscellaneous duties. Despite their 5ft 2in driving wheels, they could often reach quite impressive speeds, with rumours of up to 70mph being reported by some crews, although they actually ran at much slower speeds than this.
The 14XX Class often ran distances of up to 40,000 miles a year in their early lives during the 1930's, though after the end of the Second World War and with the closure of many branch lines throughout Wales and southern England, this often fell to as much as 20,000 miles a year. When running along on easy gradients when they weren't in auto mode, they could often haul trains of up to 260 tons in weight, though it would be much less when they were running on steeper grades.
Between January and August 1933, the G.W.R. built the identical 58XX Class 0-4-2T tank engines which were identical to the 14XX Class in all respects, except that these engines weren't fitted with auto-train gear although they were fitted with A.T.C. equipment. Twenty members of the 58XX Class were built in total at Swindon Works and they worked mainly on branch line passenger and freight trains, as well as on shunting work in yards. They were numbered from No.5800 to No.5819. There had been a plan to build 15 more examples of the class, which would have been numbered from No.5820 to No.5834, but this order was cancelled in favour of more engines of the 14XX Class. Due to the fact that the 58XX Class weren't fitted with auto-train working gear, withdrawals of the class began in February 1957 when No.5808 was removed from service, and in April 1961 the final member of the class, No.5815 was withdrawn. None of the 58XX Class have survived into preservation.
In 1952 two members of the 14XX Class, No.1401 and No.1462, took part in the filming of the 1953 Ealing Comedy Film The Titfield Thunderbolt, the filming of which took place in the Limpley Stoke area. For the film, both engines were temporarily assigned to Westbury Locomotive Depot.
All 75 members of the class passed into British Railways hands upon nationalisation in January 1948, and they continued on working on their regular duties in their assigned areas until new diesel multiple units (D.M.U.s) started to come in and take over their usual jobs. The fact that many branch lines within the Western Region were closing in the late 1950's also drastically reduced the amount of work that the class had to do, which meant that withdrawals were inevitable. The first members of the class to be removed from service were No.1404, No.1425, and No.1460, who were withdrawn in February 1956. The rest of the class were gradually phased out over the next nine years until the final examples of the class were withdrawn from service in May 1965. None of the class covered more than a million miles during their careers; only No.1424 came close to achieving this, having managed to cover a distance of 950,721 miles during her career.
Thankfully, four members of the 14XX Class have managed to survive into preservation. These four engines are;
No.1420; built at Swindon Works in November 1933, she was withdrawn in November 1964 having covered over 600,000 miles during her career. She was bought for preservation and arrived on the South Devon Railway at Buckfastleigh in 1965, and underwent a heavy overhaul in 1972 which allowed her to enter service on the railway in 1973. During her time in preservation, No.1420 has carried the name of Bulliver. As of 2025, No.1420 is undergoing a heavy overhaul on the South Devon Railway.
No.1442; built at Swindon Works in April 1935, she was withdrawn in May 1965 as one of the final members of the class still in service. She had spent her last years working between Tiverton and Tiverton Junction and is currently on static display inside the Tiverton Museum of Mid-Devon Life, having never been steamed in preservation.
No.1450; built at Swindon Works in July 1935, she was withdrawn in May 1965 having covered a distance of 823,012 miles in her career. She was bought by the Dart Valley Railway and became a part of the railway's fleet and made many runs along the line until she was sold to the Dean Forest Railway where it spent 10 years before moving to the Severn Valley Railway in 2014. She has also visited the Northampton and Lamport Railway, the Mid Hants Railway, the West Somerset Railway, and the Great Central Railway, as well as the Didcot Railway Centre. She's also worked on the main line in preservation but was restricted on where she could go due to the limited water capacity and its size. As of 2025, having undergone an overhaul from early 2021 to August 2024, No.1450 is in working order on the Severn Valley Railway.
No.1466; built at Swindon Works in February 1936, she was withdrawn in December 1963 having covered a distance of 728,230 miles during it career. She was saved for preservation by the Great Western Society in March 1964, becoming the first member of the 14XX Class to be saved for preservation. In her career in preservation, No.1466 has visited other heritage railways, including the Kent and East Sussex Railway, the Llangollen Railway, the Severn Valley Railway, the South Devon Railway, the Dean Forest Railway, and the Didcot Railway Centre, and even appeared on an episode of the programme Blue Peter. As of early 2025, No.1466 is in the final stages of a major overhaul at the Didcot Railway Centre and should be back in working order very soon.
Just then, the signal for the line that No.4706 was on dropped and showed a green light, meaning the way ahead was clear for him to continue on his way.
"Oh! It's time for me to be off, Oliver! I'll see you later!" No.4706 said, as his driver blew his whistle and then slowly opened the regulator a little, and he slowly moved forwards again, taking up the weight of his heavy train.
"Good luck then, No.4706!" Oliver said, as he watched the G.W.R. 47XX Class 2-8-0 set off on his way again. He stood and waited for several long moments as the train moved on past him through the station, and soon the last tankers in the train and the brake van had gone on past him, heading southwards along the Little Western towards Tidmouth and Knapford.
"Okay, Oliver!" came the voice of his driver. "We need to drop off our coaches in the coach depot and then we'll need to go and get our next train!"
"All right! Let's do that!" Oliver said, as his driver blew his whistle and opened his regulator. Slowly, Oliver rolled forwards out of Arlesburgh Station and up the line to where the coach depot was located.
(In Knapford, at the Christmas Market)
Having left the depot of Tidmouth Sheds not too long before, Carrie and her Sodor friends made their way down to Knapford Station and to the Christmas market there, where the six friends met up with Carrie's schoolmates from Ewen High School. Feeling pleased with herself from having worked on the footplate of Flying Scotsman earlier on in the day, Carrie was wondering how her classmates would react when they saw them face to face once they arrived at the Christmas market. After they arrived in front of the grounds, the six friends didn't have to wait for very long as soon those senior students from Ewen High School came into view along the footpath and they were soon standing face to face again.
"Well, shall we all head inside and enjoy ourselves for a few hours?" Simon said, after everyone had said "hello" or "nice to see you again" to each other.
"Yeah, let's do that. There are a few things there that I want to try and things to buy before the market closes tomorrow night." Sue said, as she and the others looked into the Christmas market.
"Me too. There are a few delicious-looking cupcakes that I want to buy at one of the stands while we're here." Norma Watson added, remembering the variety of cupcakes that she had seen on offer there the day before but had been unable to buy due to a queue that was lined up in front of the cupcake stand. All the others from Ewen High School were also keen to take the chance to get the things that they wanted to get before the Christmas market finally closed the following evening, as the following day was the last day before Christmas Eve.
"Well, come on! Let's go in there!" Saoirse said, and they all wholeheartedly agreed to that idea before they strolled on together.
The activity taking place in the Christmas market was like it had been for the past few weeks, with many countless numbers of people going around and enjoying everything that was going on. A lot of young children could be seen as well, and excited at being here at the Christmas market and getting to try their favourite foods. The familiar sounds of classic Christmas tunes could be heard playing over the speakers, and the delicious smells of food being prepared at the many stands drifted through the calm freezing December air. The buzz of activity that filled the air seemed to bring out the spirit of Christmas in everyone, and many of those within the market were seen with bags in their hands, often full of gifts and other things to give to friends and family.
As the group of friends walked along together through the Christmas market, above the noises that were to be found here, they could also hear the sounds of slight crunching under their feet as they walked along, as the ground had been covered with some grit and salt in order to allow for people to walk along without the risk of falling on any icy patches that might be about. Even though the sounds of people talking, laughing, and the Christmas music filled the air, the sounds of grit underfoot could still be clearly heard by the group of teens as they walked along.
"So, Carrie…" Sue said, as she turned to look at Carrie, "…many of us were gathered together on the road overlooking the lines going into Knapford Station, and we…"
"And we all saw Flying Scotsman coming into the station with his train. And a lot of people were gathered together to watch him come in, and they all cheered out when they saw him." Vicky said.
"And we saw someone leaning out from the cab and waving up to us all as Flying Scotsman went by. Was that you?" Freddy Holt asked, as many of the Ewen High seniors looked towards Carrie. For several moments, Carrie was quiet and then she looked towards her classmates and took in a deep breath.
"Yes, that was me on Flying Scotsman's footplate and waving earlier on." Carrie said, as she gave a brief nod of her head. On hearing her confirm that to them, a few of the Ewen High seniors gathered round Carrie to hear some more of her working with the world's most famous steam locomotive.
"And how was the journey when you were on Flying Scotsman this afternoon?" Rachel Spies asked.
"It was a very good trip to be honest. And I took part of stoking the fire with fresh coal as we went along. And that wasn't the first time I've worked on Flying Scotsman." Carrie said, and this slightly surprised a few of Carrie's classmates when they heard that.
"You mean…you mean that you've actually worked with Flying Scotsman before?" Tommy Ross asked, as if unable to believe his ears.
"Yeah, we've all had a chance to work with Flying Scotsman during the course of the last year. He actually visited Sodor from the National Railway Museum in York earlier this year during the summer, and he stayed on the island for two months until early September." Simon said.
"All those who are on the apprenticeship scheme took a chance or two to work with Flying Scotsman while he was here. And we all loved the experience of working with him, and now that he's back here on Sodor I can't wait to get the chance to work with him again while he's here for the Christmas holidays." Olivia said.
"Well, best of luck with achieving that. Do you even know yet exactly how long Flying Scotsman is going to be here on Sodor for?" Jessica Upshaw asked.
"No, we don't know that yet." Sophie admitted, while she scratched the back of her head.
"But that's no reason not to be hopeful." Alice said, as they stopped in front of one of the stalls; this one sold a wide selection of different cookies, including cookie sandwiches and gingerbread men.
"Wow…and look at what we have here." Tommy said, as he and everyone else looked over the wide selection of different cookies on offer.
"Indeed, and I think that we're really spoiled for choice by what's here." Sue added, as she decided which cookies she should buy. As the Ewen High teens lined up and bought the cookies that they wanted, Sophie turned to look at Carrie.
"Ah, Carrie…have you told Flying Scotsman that your classmates are over here on Sodor?" Sophie whispered.
"No, I haven't yet, Sophie. I had intended to, but I wasn't able to take the chance as a lot of other people crowded around Flying Scotsman after we arrived back at Tidmouth, and so I felt that maybe it could wait until a more appropriate time." Carrie said.
"Well…I imagine that some of the other engines are probably telling Flying Scotsman that news as we speak. After all, when something happens the word of it does go out among all the engines fairly quickly." Saoirse said.
(Back at Tidmouth Sheds)
Saoirse was indeed right about that; some of the other engines who were at Tidmouth Sheds being readied for work or else having a long rest before going back out again were talking to Flying Scotsman about the fact that her classmates were here on Sodor. And they also told him the exact circumstances of how they discovered that Carrie was over here on the Island of Sodor. Once he had been told the story of how everything had happened as well as what Carrie's reaction had been to it all, Flying Scotsman stood there in surprise and unsure of whether to believe it or not.
"Are you all certain of that?" he asked, just to be sure that he hadn't misheard them.
"Yes, we're all very sure of it." said L.N.E.R. K3 Class 2-6-0 No.1935.
"And so far, from what we've heard, Carrie's classmates…or at least most of them, are trying their best to show that they've learned from their mistakes and are trying to make it up to Carrie for what they did." added S.R. U Class 2-6-0 No.31801.
"Carrie's been telling some of us what's been going on between her and her classmates whenever she sees us!" added G.W.R. 42XX Class 2-8-0T No.4230.
"And so far, the news that we've all been hearing is very good! Carrie seems to be getting on much better with her classmates than she did before she ran away. Most of them seem to be keen to make up for what they did, and they're really trying their hardest to prove to Carrie that they've changed for the better." said L.M.S. Princess Coronation Class No.6227 Duchess of Devonshire.
"Well, that all sounds very good to me. But when do you think that I'll be able to see them up close and personal?" Flying Scotsman asked.
"There's going to be a very big Christmas party over at Knapford Station on Christmas Eve. I'm sure that they'll be in attendance there, as will Carrie and her Sodor friends, and so I guess that you'll see them over there." said B.R. Standard Class 4MT 2-6-4T No.80050.
"All right then. I suppose all I need to do is wait until then." Flying Scotsman said, as he thought about what he would say to Carrie's classmates when he saw them for the first time.
(Back at the Christmas Market)
In the meantime, having left the stand where the Christmas cookies were being sold with the purchases that they had made there, the group of teens, including Carrie and her Sodor friends as well as some of her classmates from Ewen High School, made their way along the Christmas market to see what they could buy from some of the other stalls. The smells that drifted through the cold air from the many stalls that sold hot food drifted through their nostrils, and it made them realise that they hadn't had the chance to eat lunch yet.
"I think that I'll go and get something to eat. I just can't resist the temptation." Norma Watson said, as she and Freddy went over to one of the stalls that sold Chinese food.
"Sounds like a good idea to me. It's freezing, and I think some hot food would be good about now." Rachel Spies said, as she went over to a stall that sold Thai food with Jessica Upshaw and Vicky Hanscome following along behind her, as they wanted something hot to eat as well.
"How about we go and get a burger or hotdog? I think that they'll help ward the cold off for a spell." Tommy said, as he and Sue looked at Carrie and Simon.
"Sounds like a good idea to me. Let's go get something hot and then we'll eat inside one of the sheltered seating areas if there's any seats left." Simon said.
"Yeah, let's do that. I'm getting cold right now!" Sue said, as they went over to one of the stands that sold burgers. The smells coming from that stand wafted into their noses and that made them really want a burger, and especially as they were hungry.
A few minutes later, after having gotten whatever hot food and drinks that they wanted to get, the group of teens went into one of the covered seating areas where they could sit in the warmth and enjoy their food. There were still some tables still available to sit at, and so they all sat down at one of the long tables that was closest to the long bar at one end of the seating area. Above the tables were electric heaters that provided a comfortable level of warmth for everyone who was in there, who deeply appreciated it after being outside and walking around in the freezing cold for some time.
"Oh, that's so much better!" Sue said, as she sat down at the table beside Tommy with the food that she bought placed before her. She felt the gentle heat from the heaters mounted over the table, and she felt so much better at feeling it too.
"It certainly is, babe. And I can't wait to enjoy this." Tommy said, as he picked up his burger and took his first bite out of it. All around the table, many of the other seniors from Ewen High, as well as Carrie and her Sodor friends, were sitting down with the foods they wanted to get at the stalls and were tucking into the food while it was still quite hot. For several long minutes, they were all quiet as they enjoyed their food, with the only other sounds to be heard being other people chatting away at the other tables, as well as music being played from speakers within the seating area, people walking by the tables, and of the six bartenders who were busy working away behind the bar and preparing all different kinds of drinks for the customers standing on the other side of the bar.
Once they had eaten through most of what food and drinks that they had bought a short while earlier, the conversations between each other started up again.
"Do you guys ever get the chance to eat when you're on the footplate of any of the engines that you work with?" Sue asked, as she and Tommy, as well as Norma and Freddy, turned their attention to Simon and Carrie.
"Yes, we do, Sue. Each time that we go out to work on the railway, we always have at least two white enamel tea cans along with us with hot tea in them. And we're able to keep them warm on what's known as an oil tray, which is basically a metal plate that's over the top of the firehole doors where the oil cans are kept as the heat from the fire keeps the oil cans warm and the oil less viscous, and which is also very useful for keeping the tea cans warm for long periods of time as well." Simon said.
"Sounds like an advantage with regard to working on a steam engine." Tommy said, knowing how useful something like that would be.
"And not only that…" added Carrie, "…but also many a time before we set off for work, we sometimes have a hot breakfast that's actually cooked on the shovel over the fire inside the firebox."
"Wait…you guys have actually cooked breakfast food on the shovel that you use to put coal into the firebox with?" Norma said, as if she wasn't able to believe that she had just heard.
"Yes, but there's a method in how to do it…" Simon said, "…the shovel is thoroughly cleaned off in hot clean water, or else with the slacker pipes on the footplates, and the coal in the fireboxes is allowed to burn until there's no smoke being given off, as the smoke can affect the flavour of the food." Simon said.
"And what do you guys cook on the shovel?" Freddy asked.
"We usually cook the things that you'd expect to have at breakfast, including sausages, bacon, fried bread, and eggs in whatever way we want them." Carrie said.
"And have you cooked anything else in that way?" Sue asked.
"Yes, we've cooked steaks on the shovel on quite a few occasions, and the heat in the fireboxes can be so high at times that the steaks are cooked in a much shorter time than they would normally be on a frying pan." Simon said.
"You know…cooking breakfast food on a shovel seems a strange way to prepare food in the morning." Norma said.
"Well, at first it might be…but just remember that back in the old days when steam traction reigned supreme on Britain's railways, that sort of thing was done by engine crews all the time. And it's a little tradition that many railway people here on Sodor, as well as those who live on the mainland, are only too happy to honour." Simon said.
"Okay then, if you're so sure about cooking your breakfast in that sort of way." Sue said, as she thought about what it would be like to eat food that was cooked on the shovel that would be used to place coal into the firebox of a steam locomotive.
But then, Jessica turned her attention to Simon and Carrie.
"You know…Chris wasn't too pleased about coming over here to Sodor, as she had wanted to go skiing in Aspen, Colorado. She had been talking about it for a while, and she wasn't too keen on coming over here." Jessica said.
"Well…she mightn't have to worry about waiting until next year to go skiing. For there's a temporary ski slope here on the Island of Sodor where people can go skiing and snowboarding, but only during the winter months when the ground's frozen solid and there's lot of snow on the ground." Simon said.
"And where is it? Is it up in the mountains?" Vicky asked, as she and all the other Ewen High teens around the table turned their attentions towards Simon.
"No, actually. It's on a steeply sloped hill right by Gordon's Hill along the Southern Main Line just a little to the east of Wellsworth Station. There's a fairly popular coffee shop and café very close to the summit of Gordon's Hill, and right by it there's a very large steeply sloping field stretching away from it, and that field is the ideal place. It's very big and open, with the slope of it being very ideal for going snowboarding and skiing on during the wintertime, as well as for families to go picnicking during the warm summer months. It's also a very popular place to be for railway enthusiasts, as that coffee shop and field are right beside the three railway lines going up and down Gordon's Hill, and so trains are constantly going by up and down the hill all the time." Simon said.
"Well, do you think that we could go and try doing that while we're here?" Norma asked, thinking that it might be nice to go skiing before Christmas.
"I don't see why not. After all, it would be a real shame for you guys not to do it." Sophie said, as she took a long sip of her can of Coca Cola.
"Well, I'd like to try it. I've never gone skiing before, and I'd really like to do it." Sue said.
"And where should we get the necessary equipment? Is it provided at the coffee shop, or do we have to go and get it elsewhere?" Tommy asked.
"There's no need to worry about anything, Tommy. Everything that's needed for skiing and snowboarding is provided at the coffee shop for you, but only during the winter months." Saoirse said.
"And is it very popular with people?" Norma asked.
"It usually is, but if you guys get there early there's no issue with getting a chance to have fun on the slope there." Olivia said.
"And how do we get to that coffee shop and café you mentioned?" Vicky asked.
"All we need to do is take a train from Knapford to Wellsworth, and then we take a shuttle bus running from Wellsworth to the coffee shop, and there's a number of buses constantly shuttling people back and forth between the two all day." Alice said, as she took a sip of her drink.
"What do you think guys?" Tommy said, as he looked at everyone sitting around the table, "Do you guys want to go skiing over at that place tomorrow?" And at once, he got a chorus of answers, with them all agreeing to the idea without hesitation.
"That sounds like a good idea to me!"
"I'd love to go skiing over there!"
It won't be the same as it would be in Aspen, but I'd like to try it!"
"It would be a shame to not try it while we're here!"
"I say that we all go for it!"
"I've never gone skiing before, and I've always wanted to give it a try!"
"I say that we go there tomorrow and have a good time!"
"Let's all go over there and have as much fun as we can!"
After hearing all these answers from everyone around the table, Simon turned his attention to Carrie.
"What do you think, Carrie? Would you like to go skiing tomorrow?" he asked, as he looked at his girlfriend. For a few moments, Carrie was silent as she thought about it. She had never gone skiing or snowboarding before, but the chance to go and have some real fun while she had the day off tomorrow was just too good a chance to pass up, and she turned her attention to Simon.
"Yeah, I'd like to give skiing a try tomorrow, Simon. I've never done it before, but I'd like to try it out." Carrie said, as she smiled a little.
"Great! I've done it twice in the past, but that was quite some time ago and so my skills might be a bit rusty." Simon said.
"But do you think that you could teach me?" Carrie asked.
"Yeah, I could do that, Carrie. But there's also people there who'll give you some lessons as well if you feel that you need them." Simon said.
"All right then. I suppose that'll be nice." Carrie said.
(Later that evening; 6:50pm)
After an afternoon together going around the Christmas market, where they went around to the various stalls and trying out whatever foods that they wanted to try out, the group of teens stepped out the front gates of the grounds of the market. They were all feeling quite tired from the day out together, as well as quite cold from the winter weather, and were keen to get back to the hotel or home to their houses. They had already made their preparations and plans to meet up at Knapford Station at 9:00am the following morning so that they could take the train to Wellsworth.
"Oh, I'll be glad to get back to the hotel after today! And to be somewhere where it's warmer too!" Norma said, as they stepped outside the gates.
"Yeah, me too! And I'll be glad to get into bed later on as well." Freddy said.
"Well, I think that we all get ourselves an early night if we're going to be going skiing tomorrow. And I think we all want to get there as early as we can." Tommy said.
"Agreed, Tommy." Simon said, as he looked up into the night sky above; it was still very cloudy above with no stars to be seen at all. It looked like that there would be a lot more snow coming down tonight.
"Anyway, come on. Let's all get home before it starts snowing again. I think that it might." Sophie said, as she rubbed her gloved hands together to try and keep them warm.
"All right. Let's meet up at Knapford tomorrow morning as we planned. See you there and goodnight!" Olivia said, as she made her way down the street.
"Goodnight!" everyone said to each other, and then they all set off down the street to where they would make their way back home or to the hotel.
(Later, at the White residence, 9:20pm)
With a fire burning away merrily within the fireplace and warming up the living room, Carrie and her father sat together with mugs of hot chocolate in their hands while watching the television. Right now, the evening news was on and the segment that was being shown was a bit more about the death of Margaret White, and being presented by two news reporters, one of whom was on the Island of Sodor and the other standing somewhere in Chamberlain, Maine.
The news reporter who was reporting from Sodor had the microphone up to her face and was speaking to the studios that her news channel was based out of.
"…and despite our best efforts over here on the Island of Sodor, both Carrie White and her father, Ralph, couldn't be reached for comment on the death of Margaret." the news reporter said, as the shot then cut back to the main news presenter sitting in the studio. On hearing this segment of the news come to an end, Ralph turned his attention to Carrie, who was sitting on the armchair and watching the news with a look on her face that seemed to of relief.
"Are you feeling all right, Carrie?" Ralph asked, as he looked at Carrie with some concern. Turning her head to look at her father, Carrie was silent for a moment or two before she spoke.
"Yes, I'm all right, dad. I guess that I'm just…relieved to hear the news that momma's gone, especially after what she did to me." Carrie said.
"Well…I guess that I don't blame you for feeling that way for feeling that way. I'm sure that anyone who went through what you went through would feel the same way." Ralph said, as he took a sip of his hot chocolate.
"To be honest, dad…sometimes over the course of the last year when I was asleep in bed, I occasionally had these horrible nightmares where I dreamt that she caught me by surprise and then dragged me to be locked up into that tiny closet again. And now with her gone…I just hope that those nightmares will become less frequent now." Carrie said, as she took another long sip of her hot chocolate.
"I can understand that, Carrie. Just try not to worry about that now. Try to concentrate on the future instead. That's about all anyone can do now." Ralph said, as he tried to reassure Carrie.
"I'll ty to, dad." Carrie said, as she turned her attention back to the T.V., where the news was now over and it showed the weather forecast for the next day. The weather for tonight would be very cold with a lot of snow due to come down over the island, but for the next day the weather would be very cold, with temperatures expected to be well below freezing, but with clear skies. Very light winds were to be expected as well, with delays to be expected on the roads and railway lines due to the heavy snow that had fallen during the night.
"Well…it looks like things are gonna be good for tomorrow." Carrie said, as she smiled a little.
"Yeah, if you and your Sodor friends and classmates are going skiing tomorrow morning, then I suppose that the clear weather tomorrow will be good for that." Ralph said.
"Yes, and let's just hope that the snowfall tonight won't be too heavy." Carrie said, as she looked over towards the window. The curtains were closed so she couldn't see outside, but she knew that there was snow falling outside right now.
(Sunday, December 23rd 2012 – 7:35am, The White Residence)
Slowly stirring from a good night of sound sleep, Carrie opened her eyes and focused them on the curtains. Groaning a little as she sat up in bed, Carrie pushed the duvet aside before she swung her feet out onto the carpeted floor. It was then that Carrie noticed just how chilly it was in the room, and she rubbed her hands together as she slipped her feet into her slippers before standing up. After stretching her arms out and finding her balance, she stepped over to the curtains and opened one of them; her view was filled up with the sight of snow falling heavily from a grey sky above. The ground and the roofs of the houses that Carrie could see were covered with a crisp layer of fresh white. On the other side of the garden fence, Carrie could clearly see the two railway lines which stood out against the snow as four long dark lines standing out against the white snow.
On the horizon in the distance, Carrie could see that the dark snowy clouds in the sky were slowly separating out from each other showing patches of bright blue sky in between the gaps. It looked like the weather report from the night before was going to be quite accurate.
Opening the window, Carrie leaned out and took in a deep breath of the freezing air, before exhaling and watching the white cloud of condensation swirl all around her in the still air. She listened out and for a few long seconds she could hear nothing at all except the slight and distant sounds of a few vehicles moving along on some of the nearby streets within the town. Then she became aware of another sound and it was a very familiar one that was approaching quick quickly from the south along one of the railway lines, quickly followed by the sound of a steam whistle blowing. Turning her attention over to her right to see which engine it was, Carrie saw that it was S.R. Schools Class 4-4-0 No.902 Wellington, and he was rolling along with a line of 10 coaches coupled up behind him. He was on his first train of the day, bound from Knapford to Vicarstown with a lot of passengers aboard his train, and having left Knapford bang on time at 7:30am, he was rolling along and making good time as he gradually picked up more speed.
As Wellington passed by along the line on the other side of the garden fence, Carrie just leaned out and watched him as he and his train went past, oblivious to the cold winter weather. She saw passengers sitting at the tables inside the coaches, with many of them looking out the windows as the train rolled along. Carrie didn't wave, but just leaned out and watched the train until it finally went on by in a fading cloud of smoke and steam that seemed to hang in the air for a bit before it finally dispersed.
Pulling herself back inside, Carrie closed the window and went back over to the bed, before then switching on the beside light. As she placed on her phone to charge up, Carrie checked the time; it was 7:39am, and checking the date just below Carrie saw that it was Sunday 23rd December. She was surprised to see that it was two days before Christmas, and she knew that she had to be back at work tomorrow, Christmas Eve, and she knew that it would likely be a very busy day in moving lots of passengers, parcels, and mail around Sodor. But for today, with a day off, she was looking forward to enjoying a day with her Sodor friends and her Ewen High classmates in going over to the coffee shop by Gordon's Hill and trying out skiing and snowboarding on the slope there.
Now feeling the chill of the air hanging in her room, Carrie rubbed her hands together and then decided to get dressed as quickly as she could. She had already pulled out some clean clothes the evening before and was keen to get dressed so that she could get out from the cold.
A short while later, having dressed into her clean clothes, Carrie stepped out from her bedroom and her nose was instantly filled with the smell of hot coffee being brewed from downstairs in the kitchen. She knew at once that her father was already up and brewing some coffee before he went off to go to work. Making her way downstairs, Carrie went into the kitchen and saw her father preparing his breakfast at the counter.
"Morning, Carrie." Ralph said, as he briefly looked over his shoulder as he stirred his coffee.
"Morning, dad." Carrie said, as she went to one of the cabinets and took out a box of cereal.
"You looking forward to going skiing and snowboarding with your friends on that slope by the Gordon's Hill coffee shop?" Ralph asked, as he picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip from it before he went over to the table, sat down, and tucked into his breakfast.
"Yes, I am. I've never done either before, so I'm really looking forward to trying both out for the first time." Carrie said, as she placed a bowl and spoon, and then a drinking glass, the bottle of orange juice, and then the bottle of milk on the table and then sat down.
"Well, you just take care when you're over there. It can get quite busy over there at times, and the slope can get crowded at times when people are trying to go down it. And it's also especially busy with picnickers during the summertime." Ralph said.
"I will, dad." Carrie said, as she poured some orange juice into her glass and then poured some cereal into her bowl, and then added some milk in before she started on her own breakfast.
(Later that morning, 8:50am, Knapford Station)
Having been dropped off at Knapford by her father not long before, Carrie and her Sodor friends, along with almost all of her classmates from Ewen High School, as well as a few of the adults which included a few teachers and family members of the Ewen High seniors, as well as a few other people from Chamberlain. Having gotten their train tickets over at two of booths at the ticket office just a short while before, the group were standing together on Platform 1 and were waiting for the train that would take them to Wellsworth Station, from where they would disembark and take the shuttle bus up to the coffee shop from where they would try skiing and snowboarding on the slope by Gordon's Hill.
"So, have you guys ever gone skiing before?" Simon asked, as he sipped from a cup of tea that he had picked up from one of the coffee kiosks located along the platform.
"Well, I've never done it before, though I've always wanted to try it." Tommy said.
"Yeah, same here. I've often wanted to try it out as well, especially on that hill. But I've never had the chance to do it until today, simply because the work we do on the railway keeps many of us rather busy." Simon said.
"I suppose that there's a first time for everything. I've done a lot of snowboarding and had a lot of fun on sledges going down along the hills outside of Chamberlain, but I've never tried out skiing before despite the fact that I've always wanted to try it." Sue said, as she sipped from a cup of hot chocolate she had bought.
"I've actually done it twice, and both of which were last December before we started work on the apprenticeship scheme. And it was on the place we're going it, and it was loads of fun too!" Sophie said, as she fondly remembered back to what took place a year earlier.
"Do you think that it'll be busy when we get up there?" Norma Watson asked, as she rubbed her hands together and looked along the line leading out of the station.
"I don't imagine it will be, Norma. But then again, I suppose that's why we're setting off early to get there before it can get busy." Olivia said, as she sipped a cup of tea.
Sue felt herself smile a little on hearing what Olivia had said, but then after a few moments Sue glanced off down along the platform; she clearly saw Chris, Tina, and Donna, standing together and chatting with each other. She knew that Chris had wanted to go skiing this year, and now she was getting the chance to do it, even though it wasn't in the sort of place that Chris had first had in mind when she said that she was going skiing this year. Elsewhere on the platform, Sue could see a few other familiar faces standing around, including the four police officers, King, Brian, Irving, and Spacek, along with their families, some of the teachers including Rita Desjardin and Principal Morton, the parents and family members of many of the Ewen High seniors, as well as a few familiar faces from Chamberlain.
Just then, there was the sounds of a whistle being sounded from down the line and which was then followed by the sounds of chuffing as an engine got closer and closer. On hearing the whistle, many of the waiting passengers on Platform 1 turned their heads to see who it was, and saw it was L.N.W.R. 380 Class 0-8-4T No.7957 who was rolling into the station after a run from the coal mines with a long line of heavily-laden coal trucks rattling along behind him (139). Despite his load of heavy coal trucks, No.7957 was running very smoothly and appeared to be very pleased with himself at having delivered his train from the coal mines to Knapford Yards on time. With the sounds of rattling, clattering, and clunking of the trucks as the train slowed down, No.7957 passed through Knapford Station on the line running beside Platform 7 as he made his way on the last part of his journey to the yards with the coal.
"Did any of you guys ever work on that old engine in the last year?" Freddy asked, as he watched the train go on by.
"Hey, No.7957 may be an old engine, Freddy…but he's still a very useful engine, and he's proved it to us all many times over the years." Olivia said.
"Yes, we've all had a chance to work with him over the course of the last year, Freddy. And he can pull a very heavy train without too much difficulty, as well as stop it without much trouble. However…" Simon said, as he paused for a moment.
"However?" Tommy and Sue said, as they looked at Simon.
"His cab is a little bit cramped and uncomfortable for three people to be in, and the firehole doors are low enough that you normally have to bend over a bit more in order to stoke the fire with fresh coal." Simon said.
"And can doing that give you a sore back?" Heather asked.
"Yeah, it can do. But luckily, it's only for short periods of time each day so I don't have to suffer the pain of it for too long." Simon said.
"Well, at least that's quite reassuring to hear." Brian Maxwell said, as he couldn't imagine how sore that he would be after bending over to stoke a boiler all day.
(139): The London & North Western Railway's 380 Class 0-8-4T tank engines were designed by Hewitt Pearson Beames, and they were a development of the earlier L.N.W.R. 1185 Class 0-8-2T tank engines. However, unlike the earlier 0-8-2T design which had been built primarily with shunting work in mind, the 380 Class were really built to work on very heavy freight trains that ran on the L.N.W.R. network and were basically a tank engine version of the earlier G2 Super D Class 0-8-0 engines. The 380 Class also had the distinction of being the final class ever to be built to an L.N.W.R. design, although they only emerged after the 1923 Grouping meaning they were built under L.M.S. auspices.
The 380 Class were identical to the G2 Class in many respects, including the same frames – although they were slightly thicker – as well as the axle-boxes, horn guides, and horn blocks. The overall appearance was similar to the G2 Class as well, with the only major difference being a pivoting bogie being placed underneath an enlarged coal bunker in order to allow more fuel to be carried.
In total, 30 members of the 380 Class were built at Crewe Works in three batches between March 1923 and January 1924, starting when No.380 entered service in March 1923 hence why the class was called the 380 Class. The class appeared in four different colour schemes including in L.N.W.R. lined black with L.N.W.R. number-plates with L.M.S. on the side tanks, in plain black with L.N.W.R. number-plates, in L.M.S. plain black livery, and in L.M.S. crimson lake livery with gold lining, with six engines being painted in crimson from the start. Under the L.M.S., they were numbered from No.7930 to No.7959.
The class had two inside cylinders that were 20.5in in diameter with a 24in piston stroke, eight driving wheels that were 4ft 8.5in in diameter, and a boiler that was pressed to 185psi, which all combined to give the class a maximum tractive effort of 29,815lbf. Their side tanks could carry up to 2,030 gallons of water, while their coal bunkers could carry up to 3.5 tons of coal. Just like the G2 Class, the 380 Class was fitted with Joy valve gear paired with piston valves.
The class mostly worked on heavy freight and coal trains within the South Wales area, mostly around Abergavenny and at Tredegar, and they proved that they could haul heavy trains of up to almost 400 tons up gradients of 1-in-40 with ease. They worked heavy coal trains out of the various collieries in that area, and also worked on passenger trains that were full of miners to and from the collieries. They also worked on trains to Barry Island in the summer, as well as football specials to Cardiff and Pontypridd. Other examples of the class worked in the Manchester and Buxton areas, where they worked on freight trains, occasional passenger trains, as well as doing shunting work in Buxton. It was initially expected that a few of the class would be based at Tebay where they would be used for banking duties on the run up to Shap Summit, but it's unknown if they ever were used for banking on that part of the route.
Although the 380 Class proved to be very powerful and reliable engines in service, and had good brakes which meant that they would be able to stop heavy loose-coupled freight trains without too much trouble, they weren't very popular engines with their crews as their cabs were quite cramped and uncomfortable to work on. As the firehole doors were also quite low down, it meant that the firemen normally had to bend lower in order to shovel coal into the fireboxes and the firemen could also bump their heads on handles for the firehole doors. The fact that the side tanks had been placed where they on the sides were also contributed to the limited space that was available in the cabs for the crews to work in.
Due to the fact that the 380 Class had a long wheelbase, it also meant that the engines were known to be curve-shy which meant that they couldn't negotiate sharp curves on certain lines or go into sheds that were located along some sidings. There was also a rumour that the engines straightened out curved track in certain parts of Wales, although this is still unknown. In some areas where they worked, members of the Super D class often took over their work, especially when they were withdrawn in order to work in other areas.
Whenever the engines of the 380 Class needed repairs and overhauls, they always went to Rugby Works, but they occasionally went to Crewe Works for repairs as well. The engines changed over time as they went through the workshops and as modifications were made to them, including L.M.S. buffers being fitted, the front number-plates being removed, as well as having the anti-vacuum valves being removed from the sides of the smokeboxes.
Withdrawals of the class began in August 1944, when No.7947 was withdrawn from service, with more of the class being withdrawn as and when their boilers needed replacing. By the time nationalisation of the railways took place in January 1948, sixteen members of the class had been withdrawn, leaving only fourteen engines still in service, of which only two received their B.R. numbers, No.47931 and No.47937. Six engines had been withdrawn by the end of 1948. By the end of December 1951, the last member of the L.N.W.R. 380 Class still running then, No.47931, had been withdrawn from service. Sadly, none of the class have managed to survive into preservation.
After a few more minutes of waiting, they then heard the sounds coming from the station's P.A. system mounted over the platforms.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the next train approaching Platform 1 is the 9:05am train from Knapford to Brendam Docks, with stops at Crosby, Wellsworth, and Brendam Docks."
"Ah! Here's our train to Wellsworth!" Saoirse said, as she and everyone else looked back along the length of Platform 1 to see the train approaching as well as which engine was at the head of it. Carrie felt herself smile a little when she saw which engine it was when the train arrived into the station; it was L.N.E.R. P1 Class 2-8-2 No.2399, who was painted in L.N.E.R. apple green livery. He had a line of 14 L.N.E.R. Gresley teak coaches coupled up behind him, and they looked simply splendid in that form, having been cleaned down and polished to a very high shine.
As No.2399 came to a gentle halt at the end of the platform and let off some steam, the porters standing along the length of the platform opened the coach doors and the passengers stepped aboard the train. When the doors for the forward few coaches were opened, those people from Chamberlain as well as Carrie and her Sodor friends clambered aboard as quickly as they could, eager to get out of the cold winter air.
As Carrie and Simon took their seats inside the front coach, they were feeling much better from the warm air and the fact that they were sitting on comfortable seats instead of on the cold benches out on the platform.
"Oh, it's so good to be back in the warmth. I'm looking forward over to the trip to Wellsworth, and then the skiing on the slopes by the coffee shop beside Gordon's Hill." Carrie said, as she smiled at Simon.
"Yeah, me too. I just hope that there'll be enough shuttle buses to get us all from Wellsworth Station to the coffee shop in one go." Simon said, as he made himself comfortable in his seat.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how busy it is when we get to the coffee shop. I just hope it won't be too busy." Rita Desjardin said, as she sat down on the seat opposite from where Carrie was sitting.
"Let's hope so. I just hope that we won't be held up before we get there." Carrie said, as she rubbed her hands together. She was really looking forwards to trying out snowboarding and skiing today, but at the same time she was hoping that nothing bad would happen, and especially hoping that Chris, Tina, and Donna wouldn't do anything to embarrass her during the day. She wished that her father was here to help keep an eye out for her, but he had to work out on the railway today. She had no idea where he was right now but she knew that he was busy helping to move passengers or freight around the railway.
It wasn't too long before the last of the waiting passengers had boarded the train and then taken their seats ready to go. As the porters on the platform closed the doors along the coaches, the driver leaned out from the cab and looked back along the platform to see the guard's signal. At 9:05am exactly, as the signalman pulled one of the levers to lift the signal to show that the line ahead was clear to proceed, the guard leaned out from the front coach and blew his whistle while waving his green flag.
"All right! Here we go, old boy!" the driver said, as he blew the whistle and then opened the regulator, allowing high-pressure steam to flow into the cylinders.
"Okay!" No.2399 said, as he took up the weight of his long train and moved out of Knapford Station. From inside the coaches, most of the passengers looked outside as they moved off, with those going to Wellsworth feeling pleased that they were now on their way, while those who were going all the way to Brendam Docks just settled back into their seats and relaxed for the journey. Many of those people going to the docks were due to catch the ferry over to Dublin, Ireland's capital, so as to spend Christmas with their families.
The journey ran very smoothly as they moved out from Knapford and out onto the Southern Main Line, and in moments the stewards with the serving trolleys began to go through the train and started to serve refreshments to the passengers, as a few others went into one of the two buffet coaches in the train to get what drinks that they wanted.
In the front coach, Carrie and her friends sat back and relaxed as the train began to pick up some more speed, with the coach moving very slightly from side to side. For Carrie, it felt sort of relaxing to be sitting in a coach while watching the land go by outside, but she knew that once they stepped off the train in Wellsworth and made their way in the shuttle bus to the coffee shop her mood would likely change.
"Hey, don't worry too much about what the future might bring, Carrie." Rita said, as she smiled at her favourite student. "Everything's going to be all right."
"Yeah, I do hope so, Ms Desjardin. Everything's been all right over the last few days, and I'm just hoping that no one will get hurt on that slope today." Carrie said.
"Don't be too worried, Carrie. That slope isn't exactly the steepest in the world, and so people won't be going very fast when they're going down the hill on the skis, sledges, or on the snowboards." Simon said reassuringly.
"All right. I'll try not to be." Carrie said, as she relaxed in the seat.
The train soon passed through Henry's Tunnel, and after passing out through the other side the train made its way along the Southern Main Line towards their first stop of Crosby Station. Not long after passing through Crosby, where the three tracks passed through the same tunnel, the train turned onto the long stretched of the main line before the station and then gently slowed down as they came closer to the station. There were a few passengers standing out on the platform for the up line and waiting for the train to arrive so that they could catch it to Brendam Docks.
With a squealing of brake blocks on the driving wheels, No.2399 came to a gentle stop at the platform and the porters opened the doors to the coaches while the waiting passengers climbed aboard. From where they were sitting in the first coach, Carrie and her friends as well as her classmates felt the chill of the air come into the coach and swirl around their feet as a few people stepped aboard and made their way over to their seats. They were all deeply grateful once the doors were closed up again and the train set off on its way again, as well as feeling the warmth build up again in the coach as a few more seconds went by.
From where he was sitting, Freddy Holt looked outside the window as they went along, and soon his view outside was taken up by the sight of the wide and deep gorge as the train crossed over the gorge on the viaduct, and he was amazed how high over the bottom of the gorge they were. But in a few seconds, his view was taken up again of a raised snow-covered embankment passing by the windows as the train went through a long cutting.
It wasn't long before they were making their final approach to Wellsworth Station, and on being informed over the P.A. system that they were nearing the station that they were to get off at, Carrie and her Sodor friends, her classmates and their families, as well as the teachers with them, got ready to disembark from the train once they pulled into Wellsworth Station. As the train slowed down, many of the Ewen High seniors looked outside the windows as they passed by the banker sidings before Wellsworth; each of them were amazed to see a lot of different engines sitting in the sidings and being looked over by their crews, with smoke rising from their funnels and columns of white steam blowing off from their safety valves. The Ewen High seniors and the others who had come over from Chamberlain saw the different engines who were waiting for the next trains they would help get up Gordon's Hill. Among the engines that those from Chamberlain saw included Bertha, the former Midland Railway 0-10-0 Lickey Incline banker, a number of different tank engines of various different sizes and wheel arrangements, as well as a number of other different tender engines, including three B.R. Standard Class 9F 2-10-0s. They also saw the largest engine that was there for banking duties, L.N.E.R. U1 Class 2-8-02-8-0 Garratt, No.2395, and they were all impressed by the size of such an engine and how imposing his appearance was. They had no doubt that an engine as big as No.2395 could push quite a heavy load before him.
As No.2399 came to a stop at the platform with a gentle motion, and the doors to the coaches were opened and everyone aboard who was from Chamberlain, as well as Carrie and her Sodor friends, disembarked from the train. As they stepped back out into the cold December air, they shivered a little by the cold temperatures, having just gotten used to the warmth inside the train over the last few minutes. But as they all gathered together on one end of the platform after stepping off the train, they all gradually got used to the cold winter air again. Watching as the passengers who had been waiting on the platform stepped aboard the train, the Chamberlain group with Carrie and her Sodor friends waited until the platform was cleared of people before they went over the footbridge to the other platform.
Once the platform was cleared of people and the doors to the coaches were closed, the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag before he quickly stepped back aboard the front coach. Sounding his whistle, No.2399 set off on his way again in a cloud of blowing condensed steam shooting out in front as his wheels slipped a little on the icy rails. But then his wheels gripped the rails, and he pulled out of the station and headed towards the junction not far away that would take him down to Brendam Docks.
Once the last of the coaches had pulled out of the station and made their way along the line, one of the adults in the Chamberlain group clapped her hands together in order to get the attention of everyone.
"Okay, you lot! Let's cross over the bridge and let's catch the buses to the coffee shop! They should be over waiting for passengers behind the other platform" she said, as she looked across the tracks to the other platform.
"Let's go then, everyone! Let's get to the buses!" Principal Morton said, as they all turned and headed up the footbridge to cross over the three railway lines. As they made their way across the bridge, they heard the sounds of a whistle sounding from up the line and they looked over to see B.R. Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 No.92009, as he slowly reversed in along the down line from having banked a very heavy freight train up Gordon's Hill a short while before. He slowly rolled under the footbridge with clouds of grey-white smoke and exhaust swirling around the bridge as they stepped over the bridge and down the other side.
"Wow! I could feel the heat from the chimney from up here, and in the smoke!" Norma Watson said, as she and Freddy watched as No.92009 moved through Wellsworth Station back towards the banker sidings so he could bank the next train up the hill later on.
"Yeah, and that smoke has that real coal smell to it as well." Freddy said, as the cloud of smoke gradually faded away. In the distance, a short freight train of nine box vans and a brake van being hauled by L.M.S. Jubilee Class No.5605 Cyprus came closer and closer, and then he passed on through the station beneath the footbridge on his way towards Gordon's Hill. The train that he was coupled to contained the maximum number of wagons that was allowed for a train to go up Gordon's Hill without any banking assistance, and Cyprus had hauled his share of such trains up Gordon's Hill on more than a few occasions in the time he had been living here on Sodor.
From the platform, everyone in the Chamberlain group watched as Cyprus went on by, blowing his whistle in greeting to them before he passed through the station and under the road bridge before heading towards Gordon's Hill. As the sounds of the train faded into the distance, they turned and headed through the station building to catch the buses to the coffee shop.
Stepping into the car park, they all saw a number of different buses waiting for the first passengers to take up to the coffee shop, and Carrie was feeling very pleased to see that Bertie the bus was amongst them. She could see that Bertie was looking keen to bring these people up the road to the coffee shop so that they could enjoy the snowy slope there.
"Okay everyone! Let's get aboard the buses and we'll head up to the coffee shop!" Ms Desjardin called, as her voice carried over the car park. For all the Ewen High seniors present, seeing the way that the teachers present with them and arranging them to go on the buses, it was almost like they were going on a field trip somewhere back home, and so in that respect it was almost like that they were still in school instead of being on a relaxing Christmas trip in another part of the world.
"Come on, let's get aboard now! In an orderly manner!" one of the other teachers called, as everyone lined up and calmly got aboard the buses. As they did so, a few of them couldn't help but take a glance over to where Bertie the bus was standing and watching them, as Carrie and her Sodor friends, along with a few others including Rita, clambered aboard Bertie.
Taking a seat at the back, Carrie sat down with Simon beside her and all that was left to do now was to wait until all the seats on Bertie were filled up before they could set off. She knew that the roads up the hill may be slippery from ice, and that it would be sensible to go slowly up the hill once they set off. Looking outside the window over towards the other buses, Carrie watched as the others in the group got aboard the other buses in an orderly manner and took their seats.
After a few more moments, Bertie's driver started his engine and it was time for them to be off on the last part of their trip.
"Toot! Toot! Here we go!" Bertie said, as he tooted his horn before he set off out of the car park and headed out onto the main road. As Bertie set off onto the road, the drivers of the other buses started their own engines and followed him out of the car park.
(Insert soundtrack – Bertie's Theme – Season 1)
Heading along the road through the snowy countryside, Bertie went along carefully even though the roads had been gritted with salt and grit not very long before. Crossing over the line going down to Brendam Docks over the level crossing close by, those sitting inside him looked out the windows along the railway lines stretching off to their left or right; no engines were waiting behind the gates while Bertie and the other buses went along towards Gordon's Hill. Despite the slower than expected trip, everyone in the Chamberlain group felt good about the bus ride and they soon began to head up the stretch of road going up parallel to Gordon's Hill with snowy fields on both side of the road.
As Bertie began to climb the grade, his wheels did find it difficult to gain some traction on the road at times, but he touched patches that had been gritted and he made his way along smoothly up the gradient towards where the coffee shop was. They soon approached where the coffee shop was located close to the top of Gordon's Hill, and looking outside the window, Carrie could see the coffee shop from a different angle. Having seen it on more than a few occasions when she was the footplates of engines going up or down Gordon's Hill, it was actually nice to see it from a different point of view for a change.
Bertie pulled in off the road and into the large car park, and came to a stop in front of the coffee shop. As soon as the door was opened, those sitting on the seats inside Bertie disembarked one by one and then stood together in front of the coffee shop in a group.
"Thanks for getting us up here, Bertie!" Carrie said, as she looked at the bright red bus.
"You're welcome, Carrie! It's a pleasure to bring you all here!" Bertie said, as he smiled at Carrie and the others that he had brought here. From a little off to the side, those from Chamberlain couldn't help but feel a little bit glad at seeing that this bus with a face on his front had managed to get them here without a scratch or skidding off of the road on the patches that were icier than others.
"And make sure that you bring anyone else here safely during the day, Bertie!" Simon said.
"I will, Simon!" Bertie said with a smile, as he slowly moved forward out of the car park and headed back down to Wellsworth Station in order to pick up some more people down there to bring back up.
As the next two buses came into the car park after their run up from Wellsworth, the first group that had arrived on Bertie a few moments before went inside the coffee shop. Stepping inside, they were hit by the warm air in the building and then the scent of brewing coffee filled their nostrils as they took in deep breaths through their noses. Taking a look around the space that they were in, they could see a long bar against one of the walls of the space and there were three staff members working away behind it and getting ready for customers for the day of business ahead. At some of the tables that were dotted around inside the space, a handful of people could be seen having hot coffee or an early pastry. Against the wall that was the farthest away from them was a wide window that curved into a bay stretching out from the building and which had floor to ceiling windows, which allowed for very good views of trains that were coming up Gordon's Hill from the direction of Wellsworth, as well as allowing for good views of the trains going past the building. On the outside area on the other side of that wall was an open seating area, where people could sit on the tables that were on the wooden decking area and see the trains go past. Listening to what was taking place, many of the Ewen High seniors could hear the sounds of Christmas music being played from speakers in the corners.
There was also a notice board against one area of the wall close to the bar about renting snowboards and skis for having fun out on the slope that was close to the coffee shop, as well as the prices for renting them.
"Well…shall we rent what skis or snowboards we want and go out to have some fun?" one of the adults said, as she looked towards the slow growing group from Chamberlain as more people came inside from the buses that were outside.
"Yeah, let's do it!" one of the boys said, as a few others also voiced their approval for having some fun on the snowy slopes on this cold and frosty morning.
"Let's go and get what you want to get! And then we'll hit the slope!" another one of the teachers said, as they all went to line up and get what they wanted.
It wasn't very long before many of those in the group had gotten either skis or snowboards, and then they stepped out through another one of the doors and out into the cold air and out onto a wide patio with a few tables and chairs off to one side. Stepping up to the top of the slope, the teenagers took in the view of it; there was a layer of frozen snow that covered the slope, with the ground beneath it likely frozen solid due to the last few weeks of winter having been extremely cold. The slope of the hill was ideal for skiing and snowboarding, and it was a very wide hill with plenty of room for a lot of people to go down. Off to the side of the field to their left was a wooden walkway going along the edge of the field where people could walk back up to the top of the slope after they got to the bottom. Off to their right, upon a raised embankment that went over the field, were the three railway lines that went up Gordon's Hill to the summit a hundred yards or so above where the coffee shop was. There was no doubt that they would see a lot of trains passing by, going up or down the hill, during the time that they were over here.
"Well…it's not quite what Chris Hargensen wanted or had in mind when she said that she wanted to go skiing this year…but at least it also means that her hopes for what she wanted to do this year won't be badly wasted." Norma Watson said to a few of the others. And a few of them couldn't help but chuckle for a few moments, but once they quietened themselves down again before they started off. Sue and Tommy went over first, with both of them going down the slope on skis, and they both managed to stay up on their feet as they went on down, zigzagging as they did so, before they arrived at the bottom. Without any hesitation, and whether using skis or snowboards, or even sledges, many of the other teens, and a few of the adults present, also took the chance to head on down the snowy, frozen slope, often going down quite quickly from the top down to the bottom, and in a cloud of snow that was blown up when they crashed at the bottom. The air was soon filled with the sounds of laughter, whoops, and cries of excitement as they sped their way down to the bottom, before eventually stopping and then getting up and heading up the wooden stairs back to the top before going back down again.
When she first stepped up to the slope to have her first go at going down it, Carrie paused for a moment in a sort of an apprehensive way, as if she was hesitant to try going down the snowy slope on a sledge for the first time. As she turned to look at Simon, he was smiling at her in a reassuring sort of way.
"Don't be afraid of what's to come, Carrie! Go on! You can do it!" Simon said, as he encouraged her.
"All right, Simon! Here we go!" Carrie said, as she worked up the courage and then she pushed the sledge over the edge and then she sped on down the hill to the bottom. For Carrie, this was exhilarating fun, and it was better than any fun than she had ever had in her life before. Simon was close behind her on a snowboard he rented, and both of them came to a stop close together near the bottom of the slope, with both of them failing into a pile of snow after they stopped.
"How do you feel after that, Carrie?" Simon asked, as he looked over towards her.
"I'm feeling great, Simon! I've never done anything like that before in my life! Let's go back up and do it again!" Carrie said with a wide smile on her face, as she stood back up and grabbed the sledge.
"Yeah, let's do it!" Simon said, as he released his feet from the snowboard, stood up, and then picked up the snowboard while tucking it under his arm.
As the two of them made their way back up along the wooden walkway to the top of the slope, along with a few of the other teens or adults who were on snowboards and skis, and children who were on sledges, they became aware of the sounds of the approaching sounds of chuffing and a whistle sounding from close to the bottom of Gordon's Hill. Clearly, that meant that another train was coming by and heading up the hill.
"I wonder who that could be?" Carrie said, as she and a few of the others turned their heads to look over towards the long, raised embankment to see which engine it was.
"I'm guessing that we'll see in a few moments." Simon said, as he slowed down while keeping an eye out on the railway lines, keen to see what train it was and which engine was heading it.
After a few moments of waiting, everyone around the slope watched as B.R. Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 No.92136, with grey-white smoke pouring out from his chimney, rolled on past heading up Gordon's Hill, with a very long and heavy train made up entirely of oil tankers coupled up behind him, and there were around 39 of them in total. It was an astonishing sight for many of the Ewen High seniors and their families to see, as they all stood for a few moments and watched as the train went on by in a slowly fading cloud of steam and smoke that floated over the landscape.
As the back of the train came into view, everyone watching was astonished to see that there were four bankers pushing the train at the back. The four bankers were G.W.R. 94XX Class 0-6-0PT No.9430, No.9429, No.8487, and No.8405, and the sounds of the chuffing from their chimneys echoed all over the area. The four tank engines had clear looks of determination on their faces and it was clear to everyone that they were going to get this oil train up to the crest of the hill no matter what.
From the outside decking that was between the coffee shop and the railway lines, a few of the Ewen High teachers and the family members of those who were snowboarding and enjoying themselves on the nearby slope, as well as quite a few of the younger children who weren't going to be going down the slopes just yet, watched as the oil train went on by, listening to No.92136 moved past and then watching as each of the oil tanker rolled on by, until the brake van passed by with the four tank engines pushing very hard at the back of it. Many of the younger children lined the fence and waved to the train as it went by, with No.92136 sounding his whistle while calling out a friendly "Hello!" in greeting, with the fireman giving them all a friendly wave from his side of the cab.
Taking sips of their mugs of hot coffee or bites out of the pastries that they had bought, the teachers and family members watched as the train finally reached and went over the top of the hill, with the four bankers sounding their whistles as they slowly dropped off of the back of the train one by one after they went over the crest after sounding their whistles to let No.92136 know that they were dropping off the back of the train.
From the wooden decking outside the coffee shop, Ms Drew, Ewen High School's art teacher, sipped her mug of hot coffee as she watched the train went past until it went over the crest of the hill and disappeared.
"Wow…what a sight that was!" she said to the other teachers who were sitting with her.
"Yes, indeed! And I wasn't expecting to see four engines helping that train up the hill either. And the sounds too!" said Mr Lublin, the history teacher as he took a sip of his coffee, with the warming effort of the liquid helping to warm him up.
"Hang on a moment…here come the four tank engines now!" said the Mrs Harrison, the theatre and drama teacher after a few moments as she pointed back up the hill. And everyone on the decking turned their attention to look back up the hill and they saw that No.9430, No.9429, No.8487, and No.8405 were rolling back down the hill together towards Wellsworth on the down line in a single group, with their buffers closed up to each other and the driver on the rear tank engine, No.8405, keeping the group under control as they descended the hill. As the four tank engines went past the open decking area, they all called out "Hello!" in a friendly way to those who were standing or sitting there and drinking their coffee while their drivers waved in greeting. In return, many of those watching in front of the coffee shop waved their arms in greeting and smiled as they watched the four tank engines descend the hill together until they got far into the distance.
The four Chamberlain police officers, King, Brian, Spacek, and Irving stood beside the fence and watched as the four tank engines descended the slope together. They were just as astounded to see what had happened as everyone else was.
"Wow! What a sight that was!" Spacek said, as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Yeah, and no different to what we saw earlier on this year." Brian said.
"And I think that we'll be seeing quite a few more trains going by here before we need to leave." Irving said.
"Of course." King said, as he took a bite out of the pastry he had in his hand.
From near the top of the slope, many of the Ewen High teenagers, as well as Carrie and her Sodor friends, and anyone else who was there, watched as the four tank engines went on by before they disappeared down the hill.
"Wow…what a sight that was!" Vicky said, as she turned her attention to Sophie.
"Yeah, it is…and it's something that I never really get tired of seeing. And believe me…I've seen trains go past here many times over the years that I've been living her on Sodor." Sophie said, as she rubbed her gloved hands together, more from the memories she had than from the cold temperatures.
"You know…from this point of view, the part of the hill that carries the three tracks to the top doesn't appear to be very steep…and yet the trains still need to have help in getting to the top of the hill." Nicki said to Saoirse.
"Yeah, it does, and the angle of the gradient may seem nothing when you're driving in a car or going along on a bicycle. But for the engines of Sodor who maybe going along with several hundred tons of train behind them…it's a very different story." Saoirse said.
"It is…" Alice said to Nicki and Lizzy, "…and almost all trains need to have banking engines helping by pushing them from the rear, as you've just seen."
"And the bankers not only help the trains to climb the hill, but they also help to prevent a runaway in the event of a broken coupling. And that's important, because no brake van would be able to hold more than a few trucks on this gradient." Sophie said.
"And have you ladies been on engines that have gone up that hill over the last year?" Lizzy asked, even though she already knew the answer.
"Oh yes, we have. And we've done it many times over the last year. Sometimes we've been gone up this hill on the footplates of the engines that are taking trains from one part of the island to another…but sometimes, we've also been assigned to working on engines that are assigned to banking trains up the hill." Sophie said.
"And does that kind of work get boring at times?" Nicki asked.
"Yes, it can be a little bit boring at times. But then again compared to most other jobs, when you're working on the footplate of a steam locomotive the landscape outside the cab in constantly changing. And as far as I'm concerned, that's much better than having a desk job in an office building or working in a shop somewhere." Sophie said.
"And also…whenever you're banking the very heavy trains up this hill, the sounds from the engines who are pushing the trains from the rear can be quite incredible when they're working hard. Many people who stand by the sides of the line often pause from what they're doing and then watch as the trains go on by when that happens." Saoirse said.
"And something tells me that we're probably going to do a lot more of that before we're finished up here today." Nicki said, as she and Lizzy looked towards the railway lines and thought about what train might go by next.
Meanwhile, Carrie took another run on down the slope, and she wasn't apprehensive about it this time. She waited until the two people before her, the Thibodeau Twins Danielle and Mary Lila, had gotten out of the way, and then she went for it. She really enjoyed the speed of the run as she sped over the snowy ground on the sledge until she finally reached the bottom. With a big smile on her face, Carrie stood up and picked up the sledge and turned to look back up to see who would be coming down next. She soon found out, as she saw two others come down the slope on skis, with masks on, and wearing one piece ski suits. The two quickly came to a stop beside her once they had finished zigzagging down the hill, and they removed their masks to reveal that they were Sue and Tommy.
"Hey, Carrie! How have you been trying out going down a snowy slope for the first time today?" Tommy asked, as he and Sue looked at Carrie.
"Yeah I am, Tommy. It's a lot more fun than I expected it to be. I hope that I can do it as often as I can while the winter lasts." Carrie said, as she smiled.
"Well, I think that you should do it, Carrie. I've gone skiing a few times in my life before this, mostly in the hills outside of Chamberlain, and skiing here on this slope brings back great memories of those times." Sue said, as she looked round to see people heading down the slope on skis, snowboards, and on sledges. The sounds of laughter and of the sounds of people going down the snowy slope really brought it to them all the joy of enjoying winter sports, as well as of spending fun like this in the company of good people.
"Yeah, I'll keep on doing it while I can. After all, I think that it would be a big shame not to while this cold weather lasts." Carrie said, as she looked around at all the activity taking place around her. Taking a few steps in place, Carrie could feel that the snow-covered ground beneath her feet was frozen solid, and thus ideal for people to go down on snowboards and sledges on.
"Anyway, come on Sue. Let's go back up again! I really want to have a longer run down a different part of the slope on the next go!" Tommy said, as he bent down and removed his skis from his feet before slinging them over his left shoulder while taking hold of his ski poles in his other hand.
"Okay, Tommy! Let's do that!" Sue said, as she also removed her skis from her feet and then slung them over her right shoulder in an identical way to how Tommy was doing it. Then they set off together to get back to the top of the slope.
"Have fun going down the slope again, you two!" Carrie said, as she watched Tommy and Sue head off to head up the stairway so they could go back down the slope again. Then a few moments later, Simon came down the slope on his snowboard and stopped beside Carrie.
"Are you feeling all right, Carrie?" he asked, as he looked at his girlfriend. For a moment or so Carrie was silent, but then looking at Simon she spoke.
"Yes, I'm feeling better than all right, Simon. I think that things between me and most of my fellow classmates from Ewen High School are finally looking up." Carrie said, as she smiled at Simon.
"Well, I guess that's something to be happy about…and maybe it's a sign that things are finally changing for the better for most of you…despite the past history between you and them." Simon said, as he looked down at Carrie and placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. For a few moments, Carrie just allowed herself to be kept close to Simon in this way, and she felt comfortable being close to him.
"Anyway…shall we go back up and get ready to go down again?" Carrie asked, as she looked up at Simon.
"Yeah, let's do that. Come on!" Simon said, as he and Carrie moved over to the stairs at the edge of the slope and slowly made their way back up again.
A little later on in the day, as Carrie and Simon, along with the Saoirse, Alice, Olivia, and Sophie, as well as a few of the Ewen High seniors, having gone down the slope many times over the last few hours, were taking the time to rest from the fun that they had had and were having some hot drinks inside the coffee shop where they could warm up for a little while before they could go up again. With mugs of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate on the tables in front of them, along with plates of whatever pastries and slices of cakes that they wanted in front of them, the teens sat together and just rested while they warmed up. Rita Desjardin was sitting with them at one of the tables, and a few other of the adults and teachers were sitting close by as well.
They were all sitting at the tables that were beside the large floor to ceiling windows that formed a bay where they had a very good view of the three railway lines going up Gordon's Hill, as well as a good view in the distance towards the bottom of the hill. Over the last while, they had seen a few trains head on past either going up or down the hill, including L.N.E.R. O3 Class 2-8-0 No.63493 heading up the hill with a long freight train being banked by two of the L.M.S. Fowler 3F Class "Jinty" 0-6-0T tank engines No.47250 and No.47320. One of the most recent trains that they had seen going along before them had been L.N.E.R. Thompson O1 Class 2-8-0 No.63752, and he had been going down the hill to Wellsworth with a lengthy, but fully fitted, freight train coupled up behind him. Those sitting inside the coffee shop, or standing on the decking or along the fence outside, had watched as No.63752 steadily descended Gordon's Hill with his train, while his driver kept everything under control with the brakes as they descended the hill. It was a bit of a mesmerising sight for the Ewen High teens to see such a train being kept under control as it moved along down the hill, as well as to count each wagon in the train as it went past. By the time that the brake van had gone by, they had counted a total of 50 vehicles in the train.
"I wonder what's being moved on that train." Vicky said, as she looked out the window and watched it get further away from them as it descended the hill with a rising cloud of grey-white smoke to be seen in the distance.
"Probably a lot of things that people on the island will need for the Christmas holidays. After all, Christmas is one of the busiest times on Sodor and the people who live here will need a lot of things for the holiday." Saoirse said, as she took a long sip of hot tea.
"Yeah, probably." Olivia said, as she lifted her mug and took a long sip of hot chocolate.
A short while later, now feeling warm and comfortable as they chatted with each other over their drinks, some of them took a look outside the window to see down the hill and saw a column of white-grey smoke rising over the landscape as another train made its way up the hill. From the rear of the train, another column of white-grey smoke could be seen rising into the air as a banker or more than one banker pushed away at the back of the train.
"Here comes another train, everyone." said Norma Watson, as she looked out the window. As the others turned to see which engine it was, the sounds of the train got a little louder as it got closer and closer. Outside the bay window, those who were still enjoying the cold snowy weather, including quite a few young children of different ages, were lining the fence that separated the grounds that the coffee shop was standing on from the three railway lines and waiting to see the engine go past.
Moments later, with a loud roar of exhaust chuffing from his chimney and his driving wheels moving along on the rails, L.N.E.R. I1 Class 4-8-2 No.8115 City of Perth approached the coffee shop and then went on past with a train of 18 Pullman coaches coupled up behind him (140). From the other side of the fence, all the children there, including some of their family members, a few of the Ewen High seniors, and even two or three of the teachers, and a few of the locals, waved their arms as City of Perth went on past with his long and heavy train. He smiled at the people waving at him, and he blew his whistle in greeting to them as he went past. From inside the coaches, many of the passengers who were looking outside the windows waved to those standing on the other side of the fence and waving to the train.
Inside the window bay of the coffee shop, the group of teens and adults sitting at the tables watched as City of Perth went past with his train. Each of them was amazed to see such a large engine pulling such a long train.
"Wow…now that's a really big engine that!" Heather said in some amazement, as both she and her boyfriend Brian Maxwell, watched the train and listen to the noise that the wheels of the coaches made as they ran along the steel rails.
"Yeah, and we've helped to move our fair share of heavy trains just like that one over the last year. And on a variety of different engines as well." Sophie said, as she sipped her mug of tea while it was still hot.
"And either on the engines who were pulling the trains, or else standing on the bankers who were pushing from the rear." added Alice, as she took a bite out of a rich chocolate brownie that she had in her fingers.
(140): The L.N.E.R. I1 Class 4-8-2 is a fictional class of locomotive that was actually planned to be used on the heaviest express passenger trains that ran along the length of the East Coast Main Line, but it was never built due to the fact that the start of the Second World War – when the development of new heavy express passenger engines was hardly encouraged – and the death of Sir Nigel Gresley in April 1941 brought about an end to this project. However, here I'm going to present a history of the class as if they had been built in reality and the careers that they might have had.
With the success of the A3 and A4 Classes, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the L.N.E.R., Sir Nigel Gresley set about designing the next class of engines for working the heaviest of express passenger trains from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley. Originally, it was planned to build a brand-new Pacific design to undertake these trains, but then the design progressed to a larger locomotive that was based on the earlier Pacific classes, but which had a 4-8-2, or Mountain, wheel arrangement. It was felt that having eight wheels instead of six would allow the weight of the engines to be better spread out over a larger area, thus reducing the overall axle-loading of the locomotives, as well as having a better chance for added adhesion when setting off with heavy trains.
The overall design, called the I1 Class, was based on the A3 and A4 Classes, as well as incorporating some elements from the P2 Class. The I1 Class had three cylinders, all of which drove onto the second pair of driving wheels, that 21in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke, eight driving wheels that were 6ft 8in in diameter, and a large boiler that was pressed to a working pressure of 275psi and had 48 superheating elements, which all combined to give the new class a maximum tractive effort of 50,255lbf, which was more than sufficient to give the class the ability to haul even the heaviest of passenger trains. It also made them the most powerful class of steam tender engines ever built by the L.N.E.R. They were paired with quite large tenders that were much larger than the standard L.N.E.R. express tenders, and they ran on eight wheels and carried up to 9 tons of coal and 6,200 gallons of water, and water scoops were also fitted to the tenders so that the engines could replenish their water supplies from the water troughs set in between the rails when they were on the move.
In total, 16 members of the I1 Class were built at Doncaster Works between October 1938 and June 1939, and they were numbered from No.8100 to No.8115. They were named after the major cities that the L.N.E.R. served along the length of the East Coast Main Line. The numbers and names of the class were as follows;
No.8100 City of London, No.8101 City of Peterborough, No.8102 City of Grantham, No.8103 City of Doncaster,
No.8104 City of York, No.8105 City of Darlington, No.8106 City of Durham, No.8107 City of Newcastle,
No.8108 City of Berwick-upon-Tweed, No.8109 City of Edinburgh, No.8110 City of Dundee, No.8111 City of Aberdeen.
No.8112 City of Cambridge, No.8113 City of Sheffield, No.8114 City of Leeds, and No.8115 City of Perth.
The boilers of the I1 Class were some of the largest that were ever used by the L.N.E.R., with large fireboxes with 50sqft grates and large combustion chambers in order to allow for better combustion of the fuel. The engines had streamlined internal steam passages to allow for the steam to flow smoothly from the boilers into the cylinders, and double chimneys with Kylchap exhaust systems were also fitted in the smokeboxes to allow the engines to steam better as well as to reduce back pressure in the cylinders. A lot of standard L.N.E.R. parts, including horn-stays, axle-boxes, motion parts and such, were used on the new class of engine, including the exact same cab control layout as was seen on Gresley's earlier Pacific classes as well as on the P2 Class.
When the engines first emerged from Doncaster Works, they were painted in the L.N.E.R.'s smart apple green livery with red and black lining which suited them very well. But when the war began in September 1939, the class were eventually painted into plain unlined wartime black livery, like most of the other engines that were running on Britain's railways.
When the prototype of the I1 Class, No.8100 City of London, emerged from Doncaster Works in October 1938, she was sent out on a series of extensive series of tests along the East Coast Main Line. Among the tests that were undertaken was to see just how much the new engine could haul, and in the test in late October No.8100 hauled 20 heavily-laden coaches, weighing well over 700 tons, from London King's Cross along the East Coast Main Line to York. All the tests proved very successful, with No.8100 passing each one with flying colours, and authorisation was given by the L.N.E.R. Board for the construction of 15 additional members of the class to begin as soon as possible.
Once introduced into formal service on the L.N.E.R., the I1 Class quickly proved themselves to be the masters of their trade, easily able to move even the heaviest of express passenger trains along the East Coast Main Line. One of the duties that they were entrusted with were the long-distance sleeper trains that ran from London King's Cross to Edinburgh, and then beyond to Dundee and Aberdeen, with the trains leaving King's Cross late at night and aiming to arrive in Edinburgh early the following morning before continuing on over the Forth Bridge to Dundee and Aberdeen. The I1 Class proved to be the ideal engines for this sort of work as they had a good range and could pull a very heavy load.
Among the other duties that the class undertook on a daily basis was hauling heavy expresses on the East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, including the "Flying Scotsman," and the "Aberdonian." The engines were very popular machines with their crews, and the fact that the engines could reach high speeds also made them popular engines. They could reach speeds of up to 100mph or even over that at times, with one member of the class, No.8111 City of Aberdeen, achieving the highest speed ever recorded by any member of the class when she reached a speed of 109mph in early August 1939 while heading south along Stoke Bank. The engines became very popular engines for train-spotters to see when they were standing by the sides of the line.
When the war broke out in September 1939, the class were initially placed into storage for a time but then they were eventually returned to service in order to support Britain's war effort, particularly as their very high tractive effort would make them valuable assets for moving heavy trains of troops and military equipment. Their smart L.N.E.R. apple green livery was soon replaced by plain unlined black livery, and the hard work that the class did in terms of moving such heavy loads around the British railway network soon began to tell on the engines. The class used Gresley's conjugated valve gear, as did all of Gresley's other three-cylinder engines, and a lack of proper maintenance due to the wartime conditions meant that the class suffered from the valve gear problems, such as the valve events being out in sync, until they could be brought into the workshops to be serviced.
The loads that the class hauled during the war were very impressive to say the least, with No.8105 City of Darlington once hauling a fully-laden troop train made up of 29 coaches from Newcastle all the way down the East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross, with an average speed of 90mph being touched at various points on the journey. Despite the occasional disruption that was caused on the railway by German air raids and congestion with other trains trying to move similar loads, the I1 Class did a really good job of helping to move around the massive numbers of men and enormous quantities of military equipment in support of the Allied war effort, particularly in the leadup to the D-Day landings in June 1944.
Once the war finally came to an end in 1945, work on getting the railway system into a state where it could support the recovering economy began, which included a massive programme of engine repairs, with the I1s finally undergoing serious repairs to get them returned to how they had been before the war. Their black liveries were removed and they were repainted into the smart L.N.E.R. lined apple green livery, but their numbers were changed due to the L.N.E.R.'s post-war renumbering scheme; they were renumbered from No.750 to No.765.
As soon as they were back in service after being overhauled, the I1s were put back into service on the duties that they had undertaken on the East Coast Main Line before the war. Once the railways were nationalised into British Railways in January 1948, the I1 Class were renumbered again from No.60750 to No.60765 and they were repainted into a number of different liveries, including in B.R. apple green, B.R. blue, and in B.R. green, until they were finally repainted into B.R. lined green livery, which was the livery that they stayed in for the rest of their working lives.
Under B.R. auspices, the I1 Class were given the rather unique power classification of 9P, as they were the most powerful class of express passenger locomotives to run on the British railway system. The class worked on many of the heaviest express passenger trains that ran on the system, and unlike in L.N.E.R. days they were given the chance to work on all the regions of British Railways, including on the East Coast Main Line, the West Coast Main Line, the Midland Main Line, as well as on the Great Central Main Line. Just as with the heavy trains that they had pulled during the war, the I1s proved to be more than capable of hauling very heavy trains at considerable speeds. Their original tenders were replaced with corridor tenders in order to allow for the crews to change over while the engines were on the move.
In the exchange trials of 1948, the I1 Class took part in tests on railway lines on different parts of the country, where they proved themselves to be more than capable of hauling any train they were tasked with hauling, and proved themselves to be popular with the crews assigned to drive them.
For the rest of their time running under B.R., the I1 Class worked hard on their normal duties of hauling passenger trains until the 1960's. In April 1964, the first example of the class to be withdrawn from service was No.60753 City of Doncaster, followed in May by No.60762 City of Cambridge. The rest of the class followed along over the course of the next year until June 1965, when the final two examples of the class that were still running at that time, No.60750 City of London and No.60763 City of Sheffield, were withdrawn from service. All sixteen members of the class managed to cover distances in excess of a million miles during their careers, with No.60750 having covered the greatest distance of 1,245,632 miles in her lengthy career.
However, of the 16 engines that were built, a very respectable seven examples have managed to survive into preservation, all of which have been returned to full working order and each of which have seen extensive service running out on the main line and on different heritage railways since being restored.
The examples of the class that have managed to survive include;
No.8100 City of London; the doyen of the class and the oldest surviving example, she was withdrawn from service in June 1965 and was put into storage for a time until she was bought by a group of enthusiasts in August 1966. She was brought to Steamtown at Carnforth and spent nearly twenty years sitting in storage there, until work to begin restoring her to full working order began in April 1985. The work to get her returned to full working order took four years to complete, and it was finally completed by June 1989 when she returned to steam for the first time since 1965. Since then, No.8100 has returned to the main line and has travelled many tens of thousands of miles all over the United Kingdom, hauling many heavy passenger trains and enthusiast's specials from Plymouth and Bournemouth in the south all the way to her old haunting grounds of Aberdeen and Dundee in the north. She was also fitted with electronic devices for running on the main line, including, T.P.W.S., A.W.S., O.T.M.R., and G.S.M.R. radio. As of spring 2025, No.8100 is undergoing a major overhaul at Carnforth to get her returned to working order again.
No.8103 City of Doncaster; after she was withdrawn from service in April 1964, she was bought not long afterwards by a group of enthusiasts who were keen to buy a big express engine to preserve for the future. She was taken to her namesake city of Doncaster where work began to get her restored to full working order, and which was completed by the end of July 1965 when she steamed again and was allowed to return to the main line where she hauled a number of steam specials over the next three years until August 1968 when B.R.'s steam ban forced the owners of No.8103 to withdraw her from the main line. She didn't steam again until 1972, when the steam ban was lifted and she was allowed to return to the main line and haul enthusiasts specials again. She spent many years working out on the main line, and underwent two overhauls in keep her in working order. As of 2025, No.8103 is in full working order and registered to run out on the main line, being based out of Doncaster.
No.8104 City of York; she was withdrawn from service in January 1965 and was taken to York to be preserved in the city that she was named after. When the National Railway Museum opened in York in 1975, No.8104 was taken into the museum to be part of the National Collection and displayed in her pre-war L.N.E.R. condition painted in L.N.E.R. apple green livery. After a number of years on static display in the museum, No.8104 was taken into the museum workshops in 1998 to be returned to full working order, with the work being completed by March 2002 due to the condition of No.8104 being far better than had been expected. After passing her steam test, she finally returned to steam in April 2002 when she hauled a special train, the first one she had pulled in years, from York all the way up to Edinburgh via a water stop in Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed. For the next ten years, No.8104 ran many special trains on the main line all over the U.K., as well as on heritage railways, until the summer of 2012 when her boiler certificate expired and she was withdrawn from service. She spent a number of years on static display in the National Railway Museum until the summer of 2021 when work began on getting her returned to full working order again. By the early summer of 2024, the work was fully completed and then No.8104 finally returned to steam again. As of early 2025, No.8104 is fully registered to run out on the main line, being based in York to run trains anywhere where weight restrictions allow.
No.8109 City of Edinburgh; after being withdrawn from service in December 1964, No.60759 was taken to the city that she was named after and underwent a major overhaul to get her returned to a cosmetic condition for museum display. She spent several years sitting on static display in a museum in her B.R. condition in lined B.R. green livery and carrying her B.R. number. Then in the late 1990's, she was removed from the museum and taken away to Carlisle where work began to get her returned to working order again. The work took five years to complete and was finally finished in March 2003 when No.8109 returned to steam again, and carrying her L.N.E.R. number and painted in L.N.E.R. apple green livery. After a series of extensive test runs on the main line, the first passenger train that No.8109 had pulled for many years was a special of 16 coaches that ran from Leeds to Carlisle via the Settle and Carlisle Line. After 10 years of extensive work out on the national network, where she covered many thousands of miles of trouble-free running, No.8109 was withdrawn from service in the summer of 2013 when her boiler certificate expired and taken to the Tyseley Locomotive Works where she underwent a major overhaul to get her back to working order again. The work took around six years to complete, and No.8109 finally steamed again in the summer of 2019, and as of 2025 is in good working order and registered to run on the main line.
No.8111 City of Aberdeen; after being withdrawn from service in September 1964, she spent a number of years sitting in secure storage before she became a part of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre when in the museum opened in 1969. After spending a few more years in storage, work began to get City of Aberdeen returned to running order in April 1981. Due to the condition of No.8111 being in much better condition then had been anticipated, the work to return her to steam was a lot shorter than had been expected. The work was finally completed by February 1984 when No.8111 finally ran under her own steam for the first time since 1964, painted in her original L.N.E.R. livery and on a very special train that ran from Birmingham up to Newcastle. For ten years, No.8111 ran on the main line and on heritage railways all around Britain until she was withdrawn in the spring of 1994 for a major overhaul, which was undertaken at the National Railway Museum in York and was finally completed in early December 2000, when No.8111 finally returned to steam again. As of 2025, having undergone her most recent overhaul from 2017 to 2023, No.8111 is in full working order and certified to run on the main line.
No.8113 City of Sheffield; after being withdrawn from service in June 1965 as the final member of the class in service, she was bought from B.R. by a wealthy businessman who wanted a large engine to be preserved for the future. Becoming a part of the locomotive collection at Tyseley Locomotive Works, she spent several years in storage there, being brought out for display on open days and other special occasions, before work to return her to running order began in June 1979. By the end of January 1986, the overhaul was finally completed and painted in original L.N.E.R. apple green livery and carrying her original number, No.8113 finally steamed again and returned to the main line at the head of a special train running from Birmingham down to Plymouth. She ran on the main line and on heritage railways for a decade and hauled a lot of special trains the length and breadth of Britain before being withdrawn with boiler problems in March 1996. The overhaul took another six years to accomplish and was undertaken at Tyseley, before finally being completed in May 2002 when she steamed again. As of 2025, No.8111 is sitting in secure covered storage at Tyseley while all the necessary funds are being raised for her next overhaul.
No.8114 City of Leeds; after being withdrawn in November 1964, No.60764 was towed up to Darlington Works and was placed into storage in a siding. After spending several months sitting in a derelict condition in the siding, No.60764 was bought by a very rich business man who wanted to invest in a steam locomotive to preserve for the future. Afterwards, the man brought No.60764 down to Hull where work began to get City of Leeds returned to working order. The work took several years to complete and involved completely disassembling No.60764 down to her frames and then rebuilding her from the ground up. By the end of October 1973, the work was finally completed and painted in her original L.N.E.R. apple green livery and carrying her original number of No.8114, she finally returned to steam, hauling her first train in preservation and starting a new phase in her career. For many years, No.8114 hauled many enthusiast trains all over the U.K., covering many tens of thousands of miles, and undergoing three major overhauls to keep her in full working order. Once the original owner passed away in the summer of 2003, No.8114 was bought by the Great Central Railway and is now based at Loughborough. As of spring 2025, No.8114 is undergoing another major overhaul on the G.C.R. to get her returned to working order again.
They all watched the train go on past them, with them clearly seeing people at the windows of the coaches and looking out at the passing scenery as the train made its way up the hill. By the time the rear of the train came into view with a special observation coach coupled up to the rear, the group of teens and many of the adults in the coffee shop saw the banker pushing very hard and helping the train climb the gradient. They all saw that it was No.58100 Bertha, the former Midland Railway 0-10-0 Lickey banker, and she had quite a determined look on her face as she pushed the train up the grade with the sounds of chuffing from her chimney echoing very loudly all around the area.
"Now that's a rather unique engine." said Danielle Thibodeau, as she leaned a little to her left so as to get a better view out the window as the train made its way up to the crest of the hill.
"Yes, that engine who you guys have just seen go by…" Simon said to the other Ewen High teens, "…is Bertha. And she was specially built to bank heavy trains up the Lickey Incline that runs between Bromsgrove and Blackwell south of Birmingham. And so, she's just doing the job that she was built to do all those years ago. She worked on the Lickey Incline for 37 years, and banked many tens of thousands of trains during those years." Simon said.
"For 37 years?!" Lila Grace Thibodeau said, as she and a few of the others leaned in.
"Yes, and when she was withdrawn from service all the way back in 1956, she was bought by this railway's management and overhauled and put to work helping to bank trains up this hill." Simon said. A few moments later, with the sound of a whistle being blown and the sounds of wheels moving on the steel rails, they all watched as No.58100 Big Bertha rolled in reverse on the line that was the closest to the coffee shop, having just dropped off the back of the train that she had helped up the hill.
"And there she goes…" Sophie said, as she took a sip of her tea.
"Back down to Wellsworth to take her place there and then wait her turn to bank another train up the hill." Alice said.
"And do each of the engines waiting in the sidings down there wait until it's their turn to push trains up the hill?" Vicky asked, as she took a sip of hot coffee.
"Yes, they do. There's a system in place down there so that each of the banking engines takes their fair share of banking trains up the hill." Saoirse said, as she took a bite out of a chocolate brownie that she had.
"And we've all had our share of working on those banking engines at different times during the year, and helping to get trains up this hill going right by this coffee shop." Olivia said.
"And did you all manage to get the trains up the hill without any problems?" asked Rita, as she took a sip of her coffee.
For a long moment, Carrie was silent as she pondered that particular question, but then she took in a deep breath and spoke up.
"Well…for the most part we did…although there was an incident that happened just down the hill a little ways earlier on this year…" and then Carrie told them of the incident that had happened on the hill back in March when No.67925 was banking a heavy iron ore train being hauled by 9F No.92099 up the hill after a heavy rainstorm that had lasted most of the morning and No.92099 ended up stalling on the hill on the slippery rails after he lost steam pressure, which resulted in No.67925 pushing the train far too hard from the back and crushing the brake van under the pressure. When she finished telling the story, her classmates and the teachers present were stunned to hear it.
"Was anyone hurt in the accident?" Tommy asked.
"No, but the guard was shaken up a bit by the accident after he bailed out from the brake van, but he was otherwise physically unhurt. And No.67925's pride was hurt for a little bit after the accident, but he's all right now." Carrie said.
"Well, at least that it was nothing worse than that." Rita said.
"And the slope that we were skiing on outside…is it always used for that in the winter?" Sue asked, as she looked at Simon.
"Yes, it is. But during the summer months when there's no snow, the slope is always used for people having picnics. And the people are usually those who are on holiday and come here to see the trains hard at work as they climb the hill." Simon said.
"As we've seen quite a few of today." said Heather, as she sipped her hot chocolate.
A short while later, as they finished up their hot drinks and refreshments and were making their preparations to head outside again, they heard the sounds of yet another whistle sounding as another train climbed Gordon's Hill. Some of them turned their attentions out the large windows again to see which engine it was, and were slightly astonished to see an American-style steam locomotive puffing up the hill with a heavy freight train coupled up behind him. The engine didn't have a cowcatcher fitted to the front like most North American steam locomotives had, but instead had a buffer-beam fitted to the front. And just like the other engines that they had seen climb the incline in the last while, this engine had a very determined look on his face as he climbed with his train.
"Hang on a second…an American engine here on the Island of Sodor?" Heather said, as if she was unable to believe her eyes.
"Yes, Heather…your eyes aren't deceiving you at all." Olivia said.
"That's No.2300, and he's a member of the United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class, and one of a number of examples of that class that are here on Sodor." Simon said.
"These engines were built during the Second World War to help in moving the men and equipment that was necessary to help our boys win against the Germans." Sophie said.
"And many of them also saw extensive service in the years after the war too." added Alice.
They all watched as No.2300 got closer and closer, and as he passed them by, he blew his whistle loudly in greeting to them, and in a cloud of steam and swirling smoke he powered on up the hill with his train. The freight train then went on past them with the sounds of the trucks and wagons going "Oh! Oh! Oh!" as they rolled along the line, and not long afterwards came the two engines who were banking the train from the back; they were L.M.S. Fairburn Class 4MT 2-6-4T tank engines No.42050 and No.42075, and the two tank engines were pushing as hard as they could to get the train to the top of the hill before they had to reverse back down to Wellsworth and wait for another train to bank.
"Come on. Let's go outside. It's getting a little bit crowded in here." Freddy Holt said, and most of them turned, left the tables, and headed out one of the doors.
Stepping outside, many of them were somewhat relieved to feel the cold December air on their faces and they were keen to get back to skiing and snowboarding on the slope. As they all reached for their snowboards, skis, and sledges, more than a few of them couldn't help but take a glance or two up into the sky to the north and north-east; by this point, dark grey clouds were rolling in and they were sure to bring a lot more snow with them once they came over the area. But then again, more fresh snow on the ground would mean that enjoying the snowy slope would be a good thing.
A few moments later, as the two Fairburn 4MT 2-6-4T tank engines descended the incline on their way back to Wellsworth Station, a few of the jocks from Ewen High couldn't help but look around.
"Is something wrong, you lot?" Rita asked, noticing the jocks looking around.
"Yeah, where are most of the adults and some of the kids?" one of the jocks asked.
"Well, I saw quite a few of them head up to the lookout point at the crest of the hill. Do you guys see that footpath running along the fence going up to the top of the hill?" Simon said to the jocks as he pointed to the footpath.
"Yes?" another one of the jocks said.
"Well, the footpath goes a few hundred yards up to a lookout point at the crest of the climb. From there, there's a good view for people to see trains going past after they've climbed the hill. And I think that I can see quite a few of the adults and some of the kids up at the lookout point right now." Simon said. Looking up the path, many of the teens could just about see people up at the lookout point, with a few others to be seen dotted at different points, either in small groups or as individuals who were leaning on the fence and waiting for the next train to come by, either heading up or down the hill.
"And is the lookout point a popular place?" asked another of the jocks.
"It usually is…especially with the many railway enthusiasts who want to take pictures of the trains as they make their way past on their way up the hill with the bankers pushing hard from the rear of the trains." Simon said.
"Well, I suppose that some of us might have to go and have a look up there a little later on. It should be interesting." said the jock.
"Yeah, but that can wait until later on. Come on! Let's hit the slope again!" one of the teachers said, and with that they all did hit the snowy slope, with them speeding down it on their skis, snowboards, and sledges.
(Meanwhile, back inside the coffee shop)
Sitting at one of the tables in one of the corners of the coffee shop, Chris, Tina, and Donna were still sipping on the drinks that they had ordered sometime before. They had distanced themselves from the rest of the group for the last while, clearly as almost everyone else was more interested in chatting with Carrie and her Sodor friends than they were in joining up with them at their table.
"At least they're all gone for now." Tina said, as she finished off the last of her hot chocolate.
"Yeah, and thank goodness for that." Chris said, as she frowned towards the large bay window where the rest of them had sat for the last while.
"When do you want to go back out and go back onto the slopes, Chris? It would be a real shame to not fully take the chance to ski and snowboard while we're here." Donna said, as she finished off a Danish custard pastry.
"Maybe in a little while, Donna. I just want to sit here for a bit longer before we go back outside." Chris said. She was feeling somewhat better in that she could at least go skiing this winter, even though it wasn't in Aspen, Colorado like she had originally expected it. But what she wasn't too pleased about was the fact that Carrie White was enjoying herself outside right now, and having Carrie being here and enjoying the snowy slope. If Chris had been given her way, then she would be over in Aspen right now and skiing down the slopes there or else having good food or hot chocolate in one of the large chalets over there.
"I just hope that we never get to work on any of those engines again while we're over here for the next few days! That was just a horrible experience! And I never ever want to do it again! And nor do I want any of the engines blasting lots of hot ash and soot all over us either!" Tina said, as she settled back into the armchair that she was sitting on. The suddenness of when Henry had blasted a lot of soot and ashes from his smokebox at them through his funnel when they tried to dump a bucket of water on top of him was still fresh in her mind.
"I don't think that there's much chance of that happening, Tina…as I just want to relax and wait until Christmas arrives." Donna said, as she finished off the last of her hot chocolate.
For several minutes more, the three just sat down and rested together in the warmth and comfort of the coffee shop, while listening to the baristas working away behind the long bar at preparing coffee for a few customers who had just arrived. Outside the large windows that overlooked the three railway lines going up the hill, another train went on past on its way to the top, which was a lengthy mixed freight train that was being hauled by L.N.E.R. Q7 Class 0-8-0 No.63465 and banked from the rear by L.N.E.R. J50 Class 0-6-0T tank engines No.68896 and No.68975.
But eventually, Donna took a breath and stood up while grabbing her coat.
"Do you girls want to go back outside and go back on the slope?" Donna asked.
"Yeah, come on! Let's go out there and enjoy the skiing and snowboarding." Tina said.
"Might as well. Let's go." Chris said, as she and Tina both stood up from the table and grabbed their coats.
(Outside the coffee shop)
Having swapped her sledge for a pair of skis and ski poles, Carrie had just gone down the slope again, but by the time she arrived at the base of the slope she was a bit shaken from having used skis for the first time. But even so, she was very pleased with herself from having taken the plunge and used the skis. With a smile on her face, Carrie turned to look back up the slope and saw Alice, Sophie, and Olivia go down the snowy slope together on skis or sledges, and the three girls came to a stop near to her.
"How did you find the skis, Carrie?" Olivia asked, as she looked at Carrie.
"It's a bit strange to use them to be honest, but I think that I've gotten the hang of using them." Carrie said, as she smiled.
"We found it a bit strange to use them as well when we first tried it many years back…but we all got used to it after a while, just by trying it again and again until we finally got it right." Sophie said.
"And I know that if I try it more and more often too, then I'll get better at it too." Carrie said, with a smile.
"Of course you will, Carrie. Just keep trying until you get it right." Alice said, as she smiled.
For the next few hours of the day, they all enjoyed themselves on the snowy slope with many of them going down the slope numerous times on either on skis, sledges, or on snowboards. For all of them, it was great fun and many of the teenagers and kids wished that they could keep on doing this without stopping. But at the same time though, many people present, both teenagers and adults alike, couldn't help but take a glance or two up to the sky every now and then to see the growing bank of grey clouds getting closer and closer. The wind also picked up a little bit at one point, creating a wind-chill that drove a few people inside the coffee shop for a while.
At the same time, the cold wind caused many people who were up at the lookout point to make their way back down the pathway to the coffee shop to take cover from the wind and the cold. Freddy Holt and Norma Watson had been among those who had been up at the lookout point to see the trains go by, as well as for Freddy to get a chance to use his video camera and record the trains. They had spent some time up there with quite a few others they knew from Ewen High School and Chamberlain, while watching a number of different trains going on up or down Gordon's Hill which included watching the banking engines dropping off the backs of the trains going up the hill and then reversing over the points to go back down the hill to Wellsworth. For Freddy and Norma, it had been fascinating to see the banking engines blowing their whistles before slowly reversing over the points until they went back downhill, sometimes in groups of up to two or three engines going along buffer to buffer.
But when the cold wind blew up and chilled them, Freddy and Norma decided that it was time to leave and head back downhill to the coffee shop. They made their way back down as quickly as they could, as all the others who had been up there with them followed along close behind them. Before Freddy and Norma left the lookout point, they had seen two more trains going on by; one of which was a long freight train being hauled up the hill by L.M.S. 8F Class 2-8-0 No.48600, and it was a mixed freight but which also had a few blue covered hopper wagons (Covhops) at the back with "Sodor Sugar" to be seen on their sides in bright orange lettering. As they watched No.48600 climbed over the top of the hill in front of them, Freddy had been recording everything with his camera like he had been doing for the past few minutes. When the two bankers who were pushing the train from the back came into view, it turned out to be G.W.R. 94XX Class 0-6-0PT No.9430 and No.8487, the young coupled watched as they blew their whistles and then gently eased off from the back of the train one at a time until they came to a halt a little beyond the signal box before they reversed over the points and then made their way back down the hill again. Then as the cold wind picked up a few moments later, they watched as L.N.E.R. V4 Class 2-6-2 No.3407 Centurion slowly went along the down line with a line of 13 coaches behind him and then he descended the hill, with his driver keeping the speed as close to 25mph as he could. Freddy and Norma were amazed to see that Centurion's L.N.E.R. apple green paintwork still looked smart and shiny despite the grey smoke pouring out from his funnel as he went on past them and then made his way down the hill to Wellsworth, as he needed to make a stop down there and collect some more passengers.
"Oh! It's getting colder out there!" Freddy said, as he and Norma stepped back inside the coffee shop and into the warmth in there. Inside, there were quite a few people who they recognized in there and keeping warm as well. A few of them were gathered together around the fireplace, where a roaring fire was burning brightly and keeping everyone warm. At the same time, the sounds of Christmas music could be heard still being played over the speakers in the room. A few people were even gathered together and having some more hot drinks at a few of the tables that were near the large decorated Christmas tree sitting in one corner, with its brightly coloured light twinkling and providing a soft glow of colour.
"Well, with it getting colder and with the chance of there being more snow on the way…do you think that we should think about getting the buses back down to Wellsworth and catching the train back to Knapford?" Mrs Snell asked, as she looked round.
"Yeah, that's probably not a bad idea there. If it's going to snow again very shortly…then I'd say we should think about getting back down there as soon as possible." said Freddy's father.
"And the sooner that we get going, the better I'd say." said Ms Drew, as she turned to the large bay windows and looked outside them anxiously at the dark grey skies above the landscape.
"It's already just after two o clock…so I think that we should get back as soon as we can. After all, the Christmas market is closing for the year tonight and I want to spend some time there before it closes up." added Mrs Watson, who was the mother of Nicki and Lizzy.
"I agree. I want to go to the Christmas market and get a few things there while there's still some time left today." Rita Desjardin added.
"Me too!" Sue Snell said, as a few of her fellow Ewen High seniors agreed with her. They felt that it was important to take the chance to go to the Christmas market before it closed for the year and enjoy the festive atmosphere there, and not to mention the food that was sold from the many stalls.
"Well then…let's all wait for the next buses to arrive here, and then we'll take them all back down to Wellsworth Station." Principal Morton said, as everyone agreed with him. Even though they had all had a really good time up here today, with the weather starting to change for the worse and with more snow due to come down very soon, they needed to get back to Wellsworth and get the train back.
While they waited for the buses come back up the hill, many of them just stood around or sat at the tables and chatted with each other. A few took the chance to use the toilets as well, while those who had ordered hot drinks took them in takeaway cups so that they could drink them on the buses. Over at the bay window, Carrie and Simon, along with Alice, Saoirse, Sophie, and Olivia, sat together with a few of Carrie's classmates and they chatted together while they waited. They still had a good view of any trains that were coming up the hill, and the bankers that were pushing from behind.
"Hey, just take a look at that one!" Danielle Thibodeau said, as she noticed another train coming up the hill. Everyone sitting in the bay turned their attention to see which engine it was, and then they saw L.M.S. Garratt 2-6-00-6-2 No.47988 coming up the hill with dark grey smoke chuffing out from his chimney, and a long line of heavily-laden trucks following along behind him. Seeing this unique engine pass by in front of them, the Ewen High teens couldn't help but gasp in amazement at seeing the engine go on by with such a heavy train.
"You know…Carrie and I first worked on that engine together a year ago this month." Simon said to the others. "And it was on a day when we were being given a taste of working on the railway before the apprenticeship scheme started earlier this year."
"And how did you guys manage working on that engine together?" Sue asked.
"Well, we did all right, with the driver and fireman guiding us and telling us what to do and when to do to. We managed to get to our train to its destination without too much trouble." Carrie said.
"Well, that's a good thing to hear." Tommy said, as he smiled a little.
"And here comes the banker now!" Sophie said, as she pointed outside the window. Looking out to see, the Ewen High seniors were astonished to see another similar Garratt-type engine pushing hard from the back. It was No.2395, the sole L.N.E.R. U1 Class 2-8-00-8-2 Garratt who was pushing the train up the hill.
"Goodness me! What a sight that is!" Heather said, as she and her boyfriend Brian watched the enormous engine go on by with the smoke from the chimney rising high up over the line as No.2395 help to push the long and heavy train up to the crest of the hill without any apparent effort at all.
"Carrie and I worked together on the footplate of that enormous engine…No.2395…earlier on this year. And we helped to keep the firebox stoked with fresh coal in order to help get the trains up the hill." Sophie said.
"And how was it?" Mary Lila Grace Thibodeau asked.
"It was very hard work, I'll be honest!" Carrie said. "That big firebox is a bit of a nightmare for one person to keep stoked with coal when a lot of steam is needed to keep a big engine like that moving."
"And so, we had two shovels on the footplate that day so that both of us could stoke the boiler at the same time, while the fireman supervised us as we worked, so that we placed the coal to go where it needed to go to in the firebox." Sophie said.
"By the end of that day, both of us were absolutely exhausted from shovelling all that coal. And I was glad to get into bed by the end of that day." Carrie said, as she remembered just how much work that was really needed to keep an engine as big as No.2395 running.
"I don't know how I'd be able to keep an engine that size going if a lot of coal shovelling is needed to keep such a big engine like that one going." Sue said, as she thought about how sore she could easily be if she had done such hard work like Carrie had done.
"Ah, here comes that engine again, guys!" Tommy said, as he looked out the window. And they all watched as No.2395 slowly descended the incline, having succeeded in helping No.47988 to the top of the hill. They saw one of the crew leaning out a little from the side of the cab and watching out behind as No.2395 rolled on down the hill.
A short while later, one of the adults called out so that everyone could hear him.
"Okay everyone! The buses are here! Let's get aboard them!" he called out, and so everyone stood up from the tables or moved out from where they were standing to the main entrance of the coffee shop. Outside in the cold, everyone could see the same red buses that had brought them up a few hours earlier on. Among them, everyone could see that Bertie the bus was amongst them, and he seemed eager to get these people back down to Wellsworth Station.
"All aboard, everyone! Let's get you all back down the hill!" Bertie called out, as he smiled.
"Sounds like a good idea to me!" Simon said, as he looked at Carrie, and she just smiled up at her boyfriend as they both got aboard Bertie. They sat down on two seats at the back and just sat back and waited for everyone else to board so that they could set off. Looking out the window, they watched as the others boarded the other buses and took their seats.
It wasn't too long before all the buses were full and everyone had taken their seats, and then the drivers shut the doors and started the engines. Slowly, each of the buses turned through the car park and made their way out and turned right onto the road and headed down the hill. In the seats that she and Simon were sitting in Bertie, Carrie looked outside the window as they made their way along; she looked up at the dark grey sky above and the white snowy landscape below. She could see the branches of the bare trees move in the wind, and hoped that the waiting room down at Wellsworth Station would be warm enough while they waited for the train to arrive. She knew that it would snow again sometime soon, as the clouds overhead promised to do so at any second.
The trip back down the hill to Wellsworth only took a few minutes, with the drivers having to go slowly due to the icy roads and occasionally having to stop at times in order to allow the occasional vehicle to pass, but they made it down to the station all in one piece. And it wasn't a moment too soon either, for as soon as Bertie entered the car park to Wellsworth Station it started snowing again, and it didn't come down slowly but quite hard. The wind also helped to carry the snow down, blowing it into corners and up against the walls.
"Oh, it's getting bad now!" Bertie said, as he looked up into the sky with some concern as the snow came down very hard. As everyone got off Bertie and the other buses, many of them couldn't help but pull up the collars of their thick winter coats and pull their hats down over their heads a bit more before they made their way over to the entrance to the station as quickly as they could. Stepping off of Bertie, both Simon and Carrie were only just used to the warmth they had been sitting in and were rudely shocked by the sudden onrush of freezing air.
"Come on, Carrie! Let's get inside quickly!" Simon said, as they made their way into the station.
"You don't need to tell me twice, Simon!" Carrie said, as they rushed through the falling snow and inside the building with a few of the others following behind them. As everyone of them had bought return tickets when they had gotten them at Knapford earlier on that morning, they didn't need to waste any time in lining up at the ticket office to get their train tickets. Most headed into the waiting room so as to wait for the next train to get them back to Knapford, and all those who entered were pleased to see that there was a hot fire burning brightly away within the fireplace at one end of the room and keeping the room warm.
"Thank goodness that there's a warm fire in here!" Mrs Snell said, as she sat down on one of the spare seats that was near to the fireplace.
"Yes, I was afraid that we were going to be standing out on the platform and waiting in the cold and the snow for the train." said Mrs Shyres, who was the mother of Heather. As many of the adults sat down in the waiting room and chatted while they warmed themselves by the fire, a few of the teenagers stood outside on the platform and waited to see when the train would arrive. Some of them took the chance to get a hot drink from the station café, as that was somewhat better than standing out in the cold. A few even went into the waiting room for a time to warm near the fire, and once they were warmed up they would then go out onto the platform again and allow a few others to step in and warm up.
Standing close to the station café, Simon and Carrie stood with Tommy and Sue and talked quietly while they waited for the train. According to the electronic timetable board, the next train to Knapford was due to arrive in about 10 minutes, and so they didn't have to wait for very long until the train arrived. In the meantime, they stood out and watched as a few other trains went by in front of them, either passing by the station on their way to Knapford or along the line towards Brendam Docks, or else pausing just a little before the station and picking up a banker or two before then proceeding towards Gordon's Hill. One of the trains that they saw making their way through Wellsworth without having to stop for a banker was L.M.S. Princess Royal Class No.46205 Princess Victoria, who was on her way with a long train of 16 coaches on her way to Brendam Docks. The teens, adults, and kids from Chamberlain who were standing on the platform stood and watched as Victoria went on by before them and listened to the sounds of the chuffing from her chimney as well as watched the Walschaerts valve gear moving on the driving wheels as she went on by them. Looking over to those on the platform, Victoria smiled and called out "Hello!" as she puffed on by while blowing off her Caledonian-style hooter in greeting.
"Did you get the chance to work on Princess Victoria over there?" Tommy asked to Carrie and Simon, as they watched the coaches roll on past.
"Yes, we did. We've both worked on her footplate on two occasions during the past year." Simon said.
"And I've found the work on her to be fairly easy to do, especially as the control layout in the cab is identical to other L.M.S. engines." Carrie said.
"And can she go very fast?" Sue asked, as she took a sip of a coffee she bought in the café.
"Oh yes, Princess Victoria and her fellow classmates on Sodor can go at very fast speeds. And I've seen them go at some impressive speeds in my time here on Sodor." Carrie said.
"And on the two occasions that I worked on Victoria during this year, we had some fast runs on her with the trains that she pulled." Simon said.
"I wonder if we'll ever get to see something like that while we're here." Tommy said, as he looked at Sue.
"I guess that we'll just have to wait and see." Sue said, as she took a sip of coffee as she looked back and forth along the lines to see the different trains. Among them was Gordon, who was seen heading by towards Knapford on a non-stop express from Vicarstown. Giving a loud blast on his whistle, Gordon went on by with his train of 12 coaches coupled up behind him.
A few more minutes went by until, as those waiting on the platform all watched L.M.S. Fowler 7F Class 0-8-0 No.49624 head on past them and going towards Gordon's Hill with a heavy freight train coupled up behind him with 9F No.92079 pushing the train very hard from the back, they overheard an announcement from the station's P.A. system.
"May I have your attention please? The next train approaching is for Knapford Station, with a stop being made at Crosby Station along the way." And on hearing that announcement, all those who were waiting inside the warm waiting room stood up from the chairs and made their way outside back into the cold again, and quickly a crowd formed on the platform as they all waited for the train to arrive. It wasn't very long before they finally saw the engine approach the platform as he slowed down; it was L.N.E.R. V4 Class 2-6-2 No.3410 Conqueror, and he had a long line of 10 coaches coupled up behind him. All those who were on the platform were pleased to see him arrive, and they were keen to get onto the train and get back to Knapford as fast as possible. Looking onto the platform at all the passengers waiting for him, Conqueror couldn't help but smile and say "Hello!" to them all as he slowed down and then came to a gentle stop.
With a squealing of the brakes on the six driving wheels, Conqueror came to halt, and then the doors to the coaches were opened and everyone on the platform started to board the train. While there were already quite a few passengers on the train, there were still quite a few empty seats available and they all sat down at whatever seats were available. In the front coach of the train, Carrie and Simon were able to sit beside each other at one of the tables together.
"Oh, I'll be glad to get back to Knapford after today's events." Carrie said, as she settled back into her seat and made herself comfortable.
"Me too. I'm also looking forward to getting a last chance to visit the Christmas market when we get back. After all, today's the last day that it's going to be open…until it comes back next November." Simon said.
"Yeah, me too." Carrie said, with a smile. Then she heard a sound as another person got aboard the train, and she turned her head to see Rita Desjardin sitting in the seat on the opposite side of the coach from her.
"Did you have a good day skiing and sledging on the slope today, Carrie?" Rita asked, as she made herself comfortable.
"Yes, I did, Ms Desjardin. I hope that I can do it again before the winter is over." Carrie said, with a smile.
"Don't worry, Carrie. If you can get the chance to do it again, just take it. After all, I certainly had a lot of fun there today." Rita said, as she smiled.
It wasn't long before the last of the passengers were finally aboard the train, although with the number of people who had been on the platform, there were a few on the train who were going to have to stand for a while, or at least until a few of the other passengers got off at Crosby Station. The porters on the platforms closed the doors one by one and then, once the signal showed that everything was clear, the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag. From the footplate of Conqueror, the driver acknowledged the signal and released the brakes, blew the whistle for a few seconds, and then opened the regulator a little. Slowly, while taking up the weight of his heavier train, Conqueror moved forwards out of the station, with his six driving wheels slipping a little on the icy rails as he made his way out.
"Come on! Keep moving! Come on! Keep moving!" he called to his coaches, as they rolled along out of the station and through the heavy snowfall and cold wind towards Crosby, picking up more speed all the while.
And we'll bring the chapter to an end right here, everyone! As we've seen, Carrie and her Sodor friends, and her classmates from Chamberlain have had a great time out on the snowy slope by Gordon's Hill, skiing, snowboarding, and sledging. Now for the next chapter to come, we'll be seeing Carrie and everyone else enjoying some time at the Knapford Christmas market before it closes for the year, and I hope to have that uploaded as soon as I possibly can. This chapter is also the longest one that I've written to date for the story, with 30,400 words in it, and I don't know if I'll ever upload a chapter as long as this one again while the story runs. Please enjoy the chapter ahead, and good reading...and I'll see you all next time!