Word Count: 2,137

As James lined up with the other engines, he was pumped with confidence. Pulling coaches and trucks was what James did for a living. This is easy, he thought, distracted enough that he was startled when a diesel shunted an extra set of coaches behind him.

With an "Omph!" James was reign back from his mind, and that's when he heard him.

"James?"

With a quick hum and his attention caught, James peered to his left and saw Edward on the other side, at the very end of the line of engines.

"It was you!" Edward exclaimed joyfully.

"I did!" James replied with surprise. He didn't recall Edward saying he was joining the competition among the many things they'd talked about two days ago.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines, the North Westerners were nervous. Though they wouldn't dare admit it to the red engine, they knew James had it. They were just concerned about James' tendency to mess up at any point.

"Come on, Jimmy," Emily whispered hastily. "You've got this! If there's any-engine that can win this, it's you."

Back in the arena, the engines and coaches just had their couplings checked over, making sure they weren't weak. When the yardmen gave the ready signal, the announcer spoke.

"Let's give one final round of applause to the participants of the first Mixed-Traffic Challenge!" the announcer exclaimed, followed by loud cheers and roars from the crowd. "Engines and crew, are you ready?"

Whistles of all different tunes shrilled throughout the arena, overpowering the obnoxious hollers that some of the crews bellowed out.

"Ready!"

James wheeshed heavily, ready to loosen his brakes.

"Set!"

His driver released the brake, along with the other drivers of other engines. All eight engines slowly crept forward, some slightly farther than others.

"Go!"

Regulators were open and the engines were off. Some had a slow start while others had a quick one. James started right smack in the middle, quickly catching up to the ones up ahead. He surpassed two engines as the engine furthest away, the Caledonian Railway Single No. 123, pulled ahead the curve and stopped once their train went past the first line, followed by a blare of a horn.

"The Caledonian Railway's ex-Number One-Twenty-Three has finished first in heading a passenger train! An impressive performance from a single!" the announcer exclaimed, his voice booming in the area. "Who will roll in second and third?"

And as soon as he finished that sentence, Edward rolled in, his line right next to the Caledonian, and came to a halt.

"One-Twenty-Three has been followed by the Furness Railway's ex-Number Twenty-One, taking second place for the Furness Railway Trust! A grand example of what 'shy steamers' are capable of!" he announced, running on the adrenaline from The Great Race and The Shunting Competition. "Followed by in-service BR Number D-S-Two-Thirty-Nine, the Southern Eastern and Chatham Railway's ex-Number Five-Twenty-Nine, taking third place for the Southern Region of British Railways! Looks like the four-leader-four-driver engines are taking their title as the most powerful engines once again!"

The announcer continued to ramble on, announcing each engine's arrival. James had landed fourth place, four spots away from last place.

"Ladies and gentlemen, that's the first section! Engines, leave your passenger trains and get your goods trains ready!" the announcer exclaimed, followed by the sound of points switching in unison.

The referee of the first checkpoint blew his whistle and waved his flags forward, walking towards the engines. All eight engines eased backward, all pumping with adrenaline.

"Ye're catching on!" hollered Edward once he set his coaches on their designated track. The Furness fella pulled forward and switched points. The exhaustion could already be heard in his voice.

"I'll catch up to you!" James exclaimed proudly amongst the noises of couplings clanking and buffers bumping into one another.

"Like tae see it!"

Quickly and smoothly, the engines were coupled to their goods train. A repeat of the callouts and signals happened, and the engines soon stormed down the tracks again.

The distance was greater than the first section, allowing slower engines to catch up to others who were pumping their pistons fast as their boilers struggled to continuously steam so strongly. The Caledonian had fallen behind quite quickly, letting James and DS239 push ahead, along with Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1223. A New South Wales Z26 class and a Bavarian G 3/4 H, both still in service, were falling behind with Edward, though the latter was able to retain fourth place when all eight engines crossed the next finish line.

The crowd roared as the voice boomed throughout the speakers. "First is D-S-Two-Thirty-Nine, followed by James and Twelve-Twenty-Three taking second and third respectively! What a fallout for One-Twenty-Three and Twenty-One, dropping four places! But, oh dear! One-Twenty-Three has dropped another placement, losing to Twenty-One. Here comes the Australian engine in sixth place, followed by the Bavarian G in seventh and Five-Twenty-Nine in eighth!" As soon as the announcer spoke his last word, DS239 whistled brightly as it began to pull its train backward, having gotten into position as swiftly as possible.

James was thrown off, having expected to wait as they did first. It was enough leeway for the other engines to take advantage and get ready. By the time James was coupled up, the Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1223 and Edward passed by.

"Keep goin', James! It's a race!" huffed out Edward as he passed by hurriedly and left James confused by the last sentence. Though the other red engine had gone by quickly, James noticed Edward's freckled cheeks burn. The words "shy steamer" rattled around his smokebox as he reversed with his train once he was ready, quickly catching up to the Furness fellow.

"Meet you on the other side!" exclaimed James.

"Soon enough!" huffed out Edward. "I will!"

As they stormed closer to the finish line, an air horn went off. "Stop the race!" exclaimed the announcer. The engines immediately pulled on their brakes, buffers bashing against one another as they came to a stop. "We have a-!"

BANG! went the first truck of the Caledonian's goods trains once a Canadian engine bashed it aside as it chased a tiny yellow boxcab diesel.

"Help!" cried out Philip as the referees started waving their red flags and blowing their whistles frantically.

James hollered out, flipping his smokebox door open. "Philip, what is wrong with you?"

"Ask that guy!" cried out Philip once again as he passed by James, being chased by Vinnie, the massive Canadian engine. The points had immediately been switched to direct to the center area, where a radio tower was located. Both engines headed straight for the turntable near it, where it hadn't been set and ready to use.

"Philip!" exclaimed James as the yellow boxcab diesel tettered over the edge and Vinnie closed in on him.

Philip was frightened as Vinnie neared him, rearing his front end, ready to shunt him off into the space of the turntable. But then Vinnie stopped as James jerked forward, lassoing his coupling onto Vinnie's back buffer beam.

"You better not go a single inch towards him, you Pacific bullhead!" James hollered out furiously as he reversed, only to struggle to pull the heavy streamlined Canadian Confederation engine.

Vinnie laughed mockingly, holding onto his brakes. "So… wanna play tug-of-war, don't cha?" he asked slyly.

Suddenly, Edward lassoed his coupling onto James' read buffer beam and hollered out, "Aye! Pull, James!"

Despite being startled, James pulled with all his might with Edward. Both engines were able to pull Vinnie far away from Philip. The former was still startled by the Victorian Scottish engine's sudden appearance, so he was surprised even more when he was quickly hauled away.

"Points!" hollered James. One of the signalmen, confused, changed the points as the two engines continued to pull Vinnie back. "Go, Philip! Go, go, go!" yelled James as his chubby cheeks began to burn once Vinnie pulled back.

Philip quickly scuttled away, though not without taunting Vinnie.

The strain became too much so James' front coupling snapped, letting Vinnie send himself rolling forward, derailing on the set of points, and crashing into the radio tower with a BANG!

"Take that, big bully!" yelled Philip.

James and Edward were shocked but they smiled at each other until Edward noticed something. With a gasp, Edward immediately pulled James backward, startling the slightly larger red engine.

"Whoa! What-?"

BANG! The radio tower collapsed to the ground, right in front of James, who almost jumped off his chassis. As quickly as the nearby yardman could, he shut off the power before anyone could get hurt.

"Thanks," James huffed out.

"N-No need tae thank me. It's whit friends ur for," Edward replied cheerfully before fully realizing what he said. "T-Thon is if we ur!" he stammered. "...Ur we?"

"Of course-!"

"Hey!" interrupted the Canadian engine, getting the other two's attention. "Can somebody get me some help?"

As quickly as help arrived, the arena was cleared of intruders, and James' coupling was promptly replaced, the race resumed. The engines stormed down the final stretch with James overtaking Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1223, Edward, and British Rail No. DS239. DS239 began falling behind, allowing Edward to steam past and fall behind James. The "break" had done him some good, allowing him to rest his aching pistons.

James laughed joyfully. "You're catching up!"

"I am!" replied Edward.

The two red tender engines strayed further away from the others, nearing the finish line and laughing about. They pushed along and before they knew it, both engines passed the finish line, one mere seconds before the other.

"What a close call!" hollered the announcer. "Ex-Furness Railway Number Twenty-One has finished first place for the tender-first section, with North Western Railway Number Five right behind! Judges, it's time to start calculating those points!"

"No!" huffed Emily with a pout. "He was winning!"

"I knew he was trouble," said Philip.

Meanwhile, Edward's eyes snapped open in shock, having shut them from laughter. "I-"

"Congrats!" hollered James as they both came to a stop.

"But-!"

"And here comes the Pennsylvanian, followed by D-S-Two-Thirty-Nine, the Australian, the Caledonian, Five-Twenty-Nine, and the Bavarian G Three-Sub-Four! Folks, now we wait for the final results!"

The audience went silent as the judges mumbled to one another, mics having been turned off, and calculating the points. Steam wheeshing was the only sound that could be heard across the arena as both engines and people held their breaths.

After what seemed like ages, it took a few seconds for one of the judges to turn on their mic. "Ladies and gentlemen, engines and crews, we would like to announce the top three winners. Our first place winner, overall, goes to the Furness Railway's ex-Twenty-One, with twenty-six points."

The crowd cheered, the engines whistled, and the crews hollered. Edward's face burned with embarrassment from the sudden attention.

"In second place, we have the North Western Railway's Number Five engine, James, with twenty-five points."

The other North Westerners whistled sharply, the sound shrilling throughout the arena.

"Let's go, James!" hollered Thomas. "Top three, top three!"

"That's my little brother!" exclaimed Emily.

"Aw, by just one point!" pouted Philip.

"And taking third place is British Rail's D-S-Two-Thirty-Nine from the Southern region, also with twenty-five points," finished the judge. "Ladies and gentlemen, this has been the Mixed-Traffic Challenge!"

Cheers roared from the audience and whistles shrilled from the engines surrounding the area.

"Congratulations!" exclaimed James to the flustered Furness fella.

"T-Thank ye!" Edward managed to huff out. "Congratulations tae ye, too, James!"

"James!" exclaimed the Fat Controller as he approached the two engines. "What were you even doing here in the first place?" he asked.

James had seen this coming. It was a continuation of his conversation with his controller before the competition. "I came with Gordon's safety valve, sir. It hadn't been reassembled properly. That's why his boiler burst."

"Ah," replied the Fat Controller. Thank goodness the burst hadn't been worse, ending as a full-out boiler explosion. "Now that is being a really useful engine, James. I'm proud of you for doing so for your fellow engines. Even more with you joining the competition, because you've taken a top three!"

Just then, the rest of the North Westerners approached them from outside of the arena, on a set of tracks much closer to it. Cheers and whistles roared from the group, cheering their friend on.

"He was just doing what he does best, sir!" exclaimed Emily.

"Being the best Mixed-Traffic engine of the show!" huffed James with pride. "You're not that bad of an engine. There's more than what you can see~" he sang, peering over to Edward…

Only to see the space next to him empty.

"...Edward?" James was confused. Edward was just there moments ago. "Where did he go? He didn't even say goodbye…"

Originally posted in 2023.