Chapters Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 1-A (Possibly) Great Discovery
It was a calm afternoon in Falmouth. It was also the weekend, which was a good reason for why it was so calm. Sundays were a good day to catch up in things that needed doing, as the traffic was much lighter than normal. Those who knew of this were sure to take advantage of this state of affairs to do things that they had not had much time to do during the week.
Izzy was one such person. There had been some reading she had wanted to do, but had sadly struggled to find the time to do so, and had taken now as the opportunity to do it. The light was on- Izzy would have preferred to use natural light, but her bedroom was on the wrong side of the house. She usually got a face full of sun in the morning, but by the afternoon it was round the other side of the house, which was inconvenient for light purposes. Not to mention heat. Like many properties in Britain, the house wasn't air conditioned, so it was very hot during the peak period when the summer temperatures went a bit crazy.
Unlike Sunny. Her home was in a sheltered spot at the bottom of a cliff, so it avoided the worst of the daily sunlight. The sunsets from it were unbeateable, though, and the six of them enjoyed gathering at the top of the lighthouse and standing on the outer railing around the lamp room as the sun went down in the sky.
Izzy turned her mind back to her book. Sunny had recommended this one to her. Sure, it was a little old, but it contained interesting information, and that was all that concerned her. Besides, a text published in 2008 can hardly be that out of date, right?
As she dug deeper into the pages, her eyes flowing over the words, she spotted something interesting in the passage she was reading.
"Ooh!" she said. "Something about a lost engine?"
She continued reading. The book stated that something that archeologists had been trying to solve for decades was a missing engine. Accounts appeared in differing parts of Britain about a 'lost engine'. These weren't unheard of, but not as common as you might think. Britain isn't the largest of places, after all.
But as she went on to read, establishing this was considerably harder than people had thought. Indeed, researchers had found identifying where it was remarkably hard, and had no clue where it was. Izzy looked at the bottom and spotted a footnote at the end of the chapter, identifying the author of the information as one A. K. Yearling.
"Isn't that the person who wrote those children's novels?" Izzy thought. "The ones about the archeologist?"
She pulled out her phone and typed a message. Hey guys! I've got something interesting to show you! See you at the Magnolia Tearooms!
She then got a flurry of responses from her friends, confirming they would be over.
The six poured over the information at the Magnolia Tearooms whilst enjoying a various supply of cold drinks. Pipp glanced over to somebody else and shrugged. "How can they think of drinking hot drinks in weather like this?" she said. "We're already sweating buckets as it is!"
"Makes you glad more modern buildings have climate control, eh?" Hitch said.
"The logic behind it is that hot drinks make you sweat, therefore cooling you down." Misty had suddenly entered the conversation.
"So you make yourself hotter to cool yourself down?" Sunny replied. "That seems counterintuitive. Why not just cool yourself down first and skip the extra step?"
"Besides, we live in an air conditioned house, Pipp," Zipp said. "Not everybody has that luxury." She turned to Sunny. "How's the new blend going?"
"Oh, the Alicorn?" Sunny said. "It's flying off the shelves faster than I can make it. Turns out blending grape, banana, and raspberry works really well."
"Anyway," Izzy said, "what do you guys think about this lost engine business? Or A. K. Yearling?"
"Based on our prior experience with missing things and magic objects it's worth pursuing," Hitch said. "No doubt our friend Opaline will want it as well."
Pipp's phone suddenly beeped, and she checked it. "Chaos and smoothies? What's this?"
"They really did use that headline, didn't they?" Hitch groaned. "Are they ever going to let us forget about that job switch?"
"But there's something else on the town Facebook page!" Pipp added. "There's a speaker coming to visit, a guy called Firelight, about something called the Lost Engine. That's convenient. Zipp, can you check for tickets? The link is broken on my end."
Zipp took a look. "Nope. Looks to be sold out. Then again it is in a few day's time, so it's hardly surprising."
Sunny then had an idea. "He's an academic? Perhaps I'll have more luck."
Argyle was putting the last of the cups away (with Sunny's help of course). He glanced over. "Sunny, you have the 'can I ask you something' face on," he said.
Sunny nodded. "When in town earlier, we saw somebody called Firelight is coming to talk at the University."
Argyle's face lit up. "I haven't talked with him in years! It was a few decades back, but he and I did several photography trips into Eastern Europe to photograph some of the last steam locomotives. What's he coming to speak about?"
"Something about a lost engine being lost somewhere."
Argyle nodded. "That is a mysterious case. I've been trying to unpack it myself. No success yet, but perhaps if he and I combine our information we may have more success. Any spaces left?"
"No. It's all sold out, at least according to Zipp."
"Well, there is a way around that," Argyle mentioned. "As I am on the university payroll, I think I can pull a few strings that will get us into that talk. They usually set aside a considerable number of seats for staff and group. I think I can exploit the loopholes they left in the system."
Author's Note
Welcome back to another adventure! This time around, I take inspiration from the pulp adventure stories of the 1930s and 1940s to bring you an exciting tale of exploration, of treasure hunting, and thrilling adventure!
And we are officially on our way, with the introduction of the mystery and our heroes assembled.
The Magnolia Tearooms are a nod to the Marigold Tearooms, an important location in the British comedy series Dad's Army , as it serves as an impromptu meeting point for several members of the cast. The name 'Magnolia' was partially picked as a nod to the character of Dahlia; both are flowers encountered in the American Southeast.
There are also a scattering of TYT references in there too.
Finally, the photography trips Argyle allude to are based on real ones conducted in the late 1990s and early 2000s to both Eastern Europe and China, the last parts of the world to use steam locomotives in daily service (a flag now flown solely by Woltzyn in Poland).
Next time: We do need an education!
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
The main ballroom at Falmouth University was packed. Despite its name, the ballroom served more functions than just hosting dances, but also hosted other functions, such as dinners, speeches, and even fairs where people exihibited things that they had made.
And today was one such day, as of course there was a speech being delivered. The crew had already arrived at the ballroom and were preparing to take their seats. Naturally, Pipp had other things on her mind.
"What is up, Pippsqueaks?" she asked to her phone. "We are live at Falmouth today, showing you the inside of the university ballroom. No, I'm not here for a dance- though there is that new dress I'd LOVE to try out at one of these. We're here to hear somebody speak! Totes try saying that five times fast with a mouth full of marshmallows!"
Zipp leaned over her shoulder. "Less streaming, more looking where you're going," she suggested.
Pipp glanced up and swerved to the right, narrowly avoiding hitting a table. "Thanks for the heads up," she said.
"Besides, the formal events are usually for faculty, staff, and their families," Sunny explained. "I've been to them before, mainly because either there weren't any babysitters available or my uncle couldn't get down here to keep an eye on me."
Argyle rolled his eyes. "And let me tell you know those sorts of events are incredibly boring. It's not like in the films- it's mostly just people in very uncomfortable clothes standing around talking about academic things with the odd dance interrupting those conversations."
"I second that," Goldie said. "I always looked ridiculous in a gown."
"Not to me, you didn't," Argyle said quickly.
"Aww, thanks."
"We just passed our seats," Hitch said quickly.
"Hello!" called a familiar voice. Lord Haven had already taken his seat, with the Moonbows sat next to him. Izzy was already in position, already exhibiting her trademark difficulties with sitting still.
"Hi guys!" she called. "Glad you all made it! We still got some time before we start, so we can chat!"
"I've got programs that contain useful information on this topic as well," Isaac said quickly. "I imagine Zipp will want to look at them."
Zipp leaned over and took one. "Thanks."
Sunny leaned over as Zipp skimmed through the booklet. "So, any information about this guy?"
"He's got a pretty impressive resume," Aurora mentioned. "He's a graduate of the University of Reading's archeology department, and has overseen several dig sites across Britain and Europe. Currently teaches at York, according to this."
"Detailed notes in here," Zipp finally added. "Not sure we needed a blow by blow list of all the Roman aqueducts he found, though."
"And lots of long words as well," Pipp added. "Research into antidisestablishmentarian architecture?"
"People who are opposed to people who opposed to the establishment," Hitch explained. "Artificially long word invented for a joke."
And he did research for the Do- do... Dough- Now- Dampf- She- OK, that's ridiculous," Sunny added, giving up on the word. "Was the spacebar broken that day?"
"Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft." Zipp rattled the word off flawlessly.
"What?" Hitch asked. "How do you know that?"
"We have German family, and both mom and dad speak the language. In case you're wondering what it means, it translates as 'Danube Steamship Electricity Main Plant Construction Suboffice Company.' One of the longest words in existance, incidentally."
"And that's not the most common one," Goldie added. "In my line of work I frequently have to work with foreign languages, so I'm very used to dealing with extremely long words."
"I had to learn a bit just to get about when photographing railways," Argyle added. "Trying to figure out what some of them meant was always fun, such as the food intolerance one. I got a photograph of it once."
"It wasn't this one, was it?" Pipp turned her phone screen to him.
"Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit? That's the one."
Just then, the lights dimmed down, indicating the speech was about to begin.
After it was over, Argyle went to the stand where Firelight was doing book signings. Firelight was a man with purple skin and brown eyes, coupled with green hair with white streaks which certainly looked like he'd been out on a dig. His attire consisted of black pants, a pair of shoes, a strange yellowy shirt, a yellow tie, and a red jacket. In short, he resembled a walking jumble sale. Having said that, Argyle was hardly the image of formality himself.
He stopped in front of the table, just as Firelight was handing off the book. "Good afternoon," he said, trying to attract Firelight's attention.
Firelight glanced up from the table and smiled when he saw Argyle. "Ah, Argyle!" he said. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" He reached out to shake his hand. "How are things? Still chasing trains across Europe?"
"I haven't really had the time," Argyle admitted. "I have a job, a wife, and a kid these days. Sunny? Could you come over here for a moment?"
"Sure thing dad!" Sunny bounded over and stopped. "Good afternoon, Mr Firelight," she said.
Firelight smiled. "There's no need to be so formal. Enjoy the talk?"
"Yeah!" Sunny replied.
Argyle leaned in. "It was a little light on information in places. What was with all the confidential stuff?"
Firelight leaned in closer. "I cannot disclose that here. Travel to York to my office and we can talk further."
Argyle nodded. "Thanks." He then backed away and called over to his family. "Sunny? Goldie? Fancy an ice cream?"
"That's a nice thought," Goldie said, and made her way over.
"Can I have a few more minutes?" Sunny asked. "We're currently engaging in Freundsch... Freundscha... Zipp, how do you say this?"
"Freundschaftsbeziehungen," Zipp quickly corrected. "It means friendship relations. Oddly formal way of saying friendship, but there you go."
Pipp leaned over. "And the next language lesson with Professor Zipp will be on Tuesday! I'll be showcasing my new brand of shampoo on Monday. Where did you say the secret ingredient came from, Izzy?"
"A bog."
Pipp's mouth dropped open. "A bog? You said it was a spa!"
"No, I said Sbog. Special bog."
As Sunny headed away from the group, she didn't notice somebody dropping something into her bag.
A few days later, the assembled team made the journey to York. It was a rather bumpy ride with the new trains, and they were glad to get off.
"I must say," Lady Haven said, "that modern train travel continues to get more and more uncomfortable. Whatever happened to properly cushioned seats and headrests that actually work?"
"It's all a mystery," Lord Haven admitted, as the University hoved into view. It mostly consisted of very ugly concrete buildings, so figuring out which was which was a bit of a challenge.
At last, they found the archeology department, and walked down the corridor to find the right office. "Department of Railway Archeology?" Sunny said. "These guys dig up old railways for a living? This would be right up our street!"
"The degree didn't exist when we were at university," Argyle joked. "Besides, photography posts tend to pay better."
They arrived at Firelight's office, and knocked on the door.
"Enter!" said a familiar voice.
They entered a room filled with charts and old maps, not disimilar to Argyle's study. Firelight was sat at his desk, consulting files. "I hope the journey wasn't too rough?" he asked.
"Tell me about it," Pipp said. "Trying to talk with that level of noise was impossible!"
"What do you have to tell us?" Isaac asked. "It's a good thing we travelled on a day when I'm not required at work."
Firelight nodded, and motioned to shut the door. "As you probably know, much of the evidence was collected by a woman called A. K. Yearling. The only problem is nobody knows where she is. From the information she has disclosed, there is a repeated clue that comes up over and over again- 'stoke the magic that lies beneath the mountain'. It's clearly a riddle of some description, so it shouldn't be taken too literally. Something that Yearling did leave, however, is coordinates to potential locations." He swung his monitor round. "Based on the information, there are three locations to investigate. The first is the Jungfrau in Switzerland."
"That's a mountain, I guess," Hitch said.
"Isn't that the mountain on the chocolate bars?" Izzy asked.
"That's the Matterhorn."
"The second is the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. This is a rock formation made thousands of years ago and looks like lots of large stepping stones. The last one is Huascaran, in Peru, which is a very remote mountain in South America. That's all I've been able to pin down, and unfortunately I cannot spare the time or resources to go off on digs in different parts of the world based on riddles."
"That is a lot of ground to cover," Zipp said. "Perhaps we should split up to cover more ground and investigate each site seperately?"
She was joking, of course. She had no clue they would take her suggestion seriously.
Author's Note
Well, here we are, second chapter! I guess this story technically qualifies as my second adaptation of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, seeing as I've drawn material from it, but I aim to make the plot a bit less meandering this time around.
The German words mentioned above are all real, and are a consequence of the way the German language is structured. Rather than lots of words, German tends to string lots of nouns together into a single word, producing classics such as Rinderkennzeichnungsfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz (Delegation transfer law for cattle labeling and beef labeling supervision duties) and Massenkommunikationsdienstleistungsunternehmen (Mass Communications Services Company). Zipp having a working knowledge of German is a reference to this story:
TEquestria Girls: A New Generation
Having received her teaching degree, Sunset Shimmer is back at CHS to help guide along a new generation with the lessons she's had to learn about magic and friendship.
Naughty_Ranko ·
39k words
· 117
2 ·
2.2k views
Finally, York University is real- but in terms of buildings it's a bit of a dump.
View Online
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 3-Where there's a Mine or a Hole in the Ground
Falmouth Dockside once again hummed to the sound of industry, as equipment was being shunted about. Porter was being used to move some heavy equipment to the outer jetty. "What on Earth are they moving in those huge ships?" he asked Izzy, as they rolled along.
"Oh, those two transport ships?" Izzy replied. "The Havens are using that to move the equipment they need for their big expedition overseas! Including a helicopter, for some reason. Seriously, how do they have all this stuff?"
Two large transport vessels were docked at the outer quay, where the heaviest cranes were mounted. Huge amounts of kit was being lifted into them, and large objects were still yet to be loaded.
Four trucks and two carriages were currently being loaded, with Charles and Sophie lined up in the queue. Porter came to a stop with his cargo and laughed. "You going on holiday, you two?"
Charles grumbled. "Being taken to a steaming jungle does not count as a holiday. Besides, these cranes are most undignified."
"How else are you meant to get onto the boat?" Izzy asked. "And why are you taking two Pullman cars with you?"
"The Havens are taking a reminder of home with them," Sophie explained. "Air conditioning, climate control, a space to prepare meals, and proper beds. Sadly we can't take a shed with us."
"And to answer your first question, Izzy," Charles said, "there is such a thing as a Roll On, Roll Off ferry. They use them from Calais."
"Don't they flood?" Porter asked.
"You're thinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise," Sophie replied. "That was caused by some idiot not shutting the front door, and nobody thinking to check if it was actually shut."
Porter's cab radio suddenly buzzed, and Izzy picked it up. "Hello?"
"Izzy? When you're done loading the stuff can you come back to the port? We have things to discuss."
"Sure thing, dad!" Once the truck was uncoupled, Porter was quickly reversed through the dockyard, and stopped at the entrance to the yard, where an impromptu table and several people sitting around it.
"Good luck," Porter said, as his driver hopped off.
Isaac looked up. "Good to see you, Izzy," he said. He indicated to the map on the table. "We've decided to split up to find the clues we are looking for. If you'd be so kind as to explain, Argyle?"
"Sure," Argyle explained. "My family has decided to take on Switzerland as our destination, as me and my family have a good working knowledge of the geography of the country."
"Several photography and business trips tends to have that effect," Goldie added.
"But we won't be bringing Salty with us, as diesel locomotives are not permitted to operate on much of Switzerland's rail network, and some of it is metre gauge anyway."
"We're taking on Ireland," Aurora said. "As you know, Izzy, we have family there, and that will make travelling about the country easier. We can't take Porter though, as the track gauge is also wrong."
"Meanwhile," Lady Haven interrupted, "we shall tackle South America with our resources and equipment, as we anticipate problems. You probably noticed we're loading a lot of rolling stock today."
"Including two Pullman cars," Porter added. "You posh folks think of everything!"
"No point in throwing away the comforts of civilisation," Pipp said. "I hope I packed enough sunblock. I sunburn easily."
"Anyway," Lady Haven continued, "we'll be making our trek through the Amazon, as we know there's rail access through that section of land. The country in question is Peru."
"If that's all sorted," Argyle said, "we beg-"
"Wait a second," Porter interrupted. "Who's looking after us whilst you're all gone?"
"I arranged for Jazz and Rocky to keep an eye on Salty and Porter whilst we're gone," Lord Haven said. "What could possibly go wrong?"
"Anyway," Argyle said. "We begin our journey at 05:00 tomorrow morning. Be ready for action."
The Moonbows had arrived at Glasgow as part of their journey to Ireland. They planned on travelling up to Stranraer to reach Belfast, as a handful of the boats still travelled there. But they had a place to go first.
"Glasgow Riverside?" Izzy said. "That is one weird building."
"The architecture is meant to reflect the Clyde River," Isaac explained. "I can remember the days when the museum was still at Kelvinhall. It was a lot better back then, in my opinion. Much more focus on displaying things, less on social history that has nothing to do with the historical artefact. The only upside is it's free. Besides, we need to ask the engine the Havens rescued back in South Africa for clues."
They entered, and walked past the tramcar. "Hello!" said the tram.
Isaac pointed to a sign. "Case in point. That board has ten sentences, and only one of them actually talks about the object in question. The rest of it focuses on dances. I know that's socially important, but who goes to a transport museum to learn about dances?"
"Consult the touchscreen!" said a nearby steam car. "Provided it isn't broken."
The trio walked past the car wall, and finally reached what they were looking for. A large steam engine was on display in the centre of the next gallery, and he seemed to be cheerful enough. "Hello," he said. "What brings you to Glasgow Riverside today?"
"You're name's Nelson, right?" Izzy said. "Remember the guy who saved you?"
"Robert?" Nelson said, his eyes lighting up. "How could I forget the people who saved me from scrap? Are you related?"
"I'm best friends with their daughters!" Izzy replied. "How does life treat you here?"
"Pretty well," Nelson replied. "But I wouldn't mind turning a wheel every now and then. I know the track gauge is wrong around here, but a short demonstration line would be better than nothing."
"We also have a question we'd like to ask," Isaac said. "There's something out there we're looking for called the Lost Engine."
"Which one?" Nelson replied. "There are many throughout history. There are five in my native South Africa. Well, sort of native, as I was built here, but let's not split hairs."
"Clues in Northern Ireland and Switzerland," Aurora said. "Is that one familiar?"
Nelson thought for a moment. "Nothing I can immediately think of, but the story does ring a bell. Perhaps check with David. He's the Jones Goods in the main gallery."
Isaac nodded. "Thanks for the info. It was nice to finally meet you, Nelson."
"You too," Nelson replied. "Good luck."
Meanwhile, at Heathrow Airport, the Starshines were gathered round a table in a cafe, waiting for breakfast to arrive. Argyle had a laptop open and was showing his wife and daughter a map.
"That's our planned route?" Sunny asked.
"From Zurich, yes," Argyle replied. "Getting to the Jungfrau should be a doddle with this lot." He glanced up as the first of the three breakfasts arrived. "Bacon, egg, and black pudding. Great way to start a long journey."
"We apologise for the delay, sir," said the waiter. "We're having a few staff shortages. Your other plates should arrive shortly."
"The flight won't be long either, as it's not that far," Goldie said. "It's also only an hour change. Not to brag but I'm used to jetlag."
"I'm not," Sunny said. "I've never left Britain!"
Just then, the airport public address system piped up. "To all passengers travelling on SwissAir Flight 164, we have a last minute change of itinerary. Owing to a runway closure at Zurich Airport, the flight will now be operating to Milan instead. To confirm; owing to a runway closure at Zurich Airport, the flight will now be operating to Milan instead. We, on the behalf of SwissAir, apologise for the inconvenience."
Argyle sighed. "Well, that's mildly inconvenient. But we can work around that."
"Isn't Milan in Italy?" Sunny asked.
"Northern Italy, to be precise," Goldie explained, as she stirred her coffee. "Went there once a few years back. Nice city, if a bit crowded with tourists."
"Besides, we can pick up the Swiss rail network in Tirano," Argyle explained. "RhB operate from there into Switzerland. We can catch the Bernina Express to Samedan, transfer to the Glacier Express to Brig, take an SBB service to Interlaken, and then catch a BOB train to Grindenwald. From there we'll take the Wengernalpbahn to Kleine Scheidegg, then the Jungfraubahn up to the Jungfraujoch."
"Maybe I should ask Zipp how to say half those words," Sunny said. "Foreign languages aren't exactly a strong point of mine, and I'd probably make a fool of myself trying to speak it. That's German, right?"
"Swiss German," Goldie explained. "And don't worry; many German speakers find Swiss Germans hard to understand."
A few minutes later, they had finished with their food, and began to head for the gate. Goldie looked about when she saw a figure standing a distance away. "Huh?"
When she looked their way again, they were gone. She shook her head and dismissed it as her eyes playing tricks on her.
The two cargo ships plowed their way forward through the seas, moving across the Atlantic towards the American landmass. The seas were a bit choppy, but they could easily have been a lot worse. Unfortunately, not everybody was enjoying the trip. Charles was grumbling as the ship pitched about. "This is most undignified," he said. "Why don't they just build a railway across the Atlantic?"
"Dingifried?" Sophie asked, with a smirk on her face.
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Charles replied. "If they can build a railway under the English Channel they can build a railway tunnel under the Atlantic! It's only, what, 3,000 miles across?"
Charles wasn't the only one who wasn't enjoying the trip. On one of the higher decks, Pipp was looking pretty ill. Her face had gone green from the repeated rocking.
"Sea sickness?" Zipp asked.
"Yeah," Pipp nodded. "This is worse than that ferry to the Isle of Man! Or that trip we took to the Isle of Wight!"
"You'll get your sea legs eventually," Zipp said, trying to be helpful. "I can help, if you'd like."
"A bucket would be a good start. I might be sick at any moment."
The ship's intercom rumbled into life. "Could Zipp and Pipp please report to the mess hall?"
"No wonder they call it a mess hall," Pipp said, wobbling about as the ship pitched about. "There must be a constant mess to clean up!"
"Feet apart," Zipp explained. "If it helps, walk the same you did when our clothes got mixed up."
Pipp pouted at the memory, but took Zipp's advice nontheless. After a difficult walk, they arrived at the mess hall to see their parents already there, looking at a map.
"Hello, you two," Lady Haven said, and gestured for them to sit. The two girls did so.
"This is the plan," Lord Haven said. "See the point here?" He pointed at a bit of land at the bottom end of Peru. "Once we're through the Panama Canal, that is where we're heading. That dock is the starting point of the Trans-Amazon Railway, an ambitious railway built by the British in an attempt to beat the Panama Canal. We'll travel along it and that will get us to a good launching point to reach the mountain."
"Didn't guerrillas blow up the middle portion?" Zipp asked.
Lord Haven nodded. "They did. We'll have to rebuild it ourselves. But I brought a very large support team along."
Pipp's eyes widened. "I'd been wondering what all that steel was about!" she said. "Where did you get all those bits and pieces from?"
"We borrowed a few bridges from a supplier," Lady Haven explained. "We'll need to take them back with us, of course, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it- pun not intended."
Two figures entered, dressed in blue uniforms. One had blue skin and purple hair, and the other had green skin and dark green hair.
"Ah, Thunder, Zoom. They'll be leading our security unit in protecting our operation. You can never have too much security, after all."
Author's Note
And so, the great adventure is at last underway! Our team is now in different parts of the world, and clues are already being collected.
Having been to the Glasgow Riverside museum, I wouldn't recommend the experience. The galleries are a bit jumbled and confusing, not to mention the museum has a rather curious definition of 'transport'; one of the exhibits is an otter, which is not a method of transportation.
I would, however, recommend a trip to Switzerland. I cannot speak with any authority about South America as I've never been, but the Trans-Amazon Railway is, sadly, made up. It is, however, based on the Trans-Africa Railway, an ambitious project to connect the north and south of Africa by rail. The project fell apart after the death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902; about half of it remains in operation today.
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 4-Pushing Forward
The journey had been long and difficult, but at last the ships docked at the harbour in Peru. It seemed as though the dockside crew had been awaiting their arrival, as they almost immediately swung into action with their cranes. The ship crews opened the access doors to the hold and readied the chains for unloading the vast quantities of equipment they had brought with them. Large boxes, containers, entire rail vehicles, and sections of rail soon began to accumulate on the dockside.
A veritable army of supplies soon emerged- construction equipment, rails, sleepers, more ballast than they knew what to do with, support vehicles, and some sleeping coaches for them to rest in.
Pipp glanced about. "Signal's poor," she said. "Not that surprising, seeing as this is the middle of nowhere."
"Probably also for the best," Zipp noted.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"We wouldn't want any streams giving our location away, would we?"
Pipp huffed. "I'd put a filter on it! Nobody would be able to tell where we were!"
"You do have a habit of announcing where you are on a stream, though."
"Girls?" Lord Haven called. "If you're quite done bickering we have a railway to build. Come here and take a look at this map."
As the yard crews martialled the rail vehicles into a logical order, Lord Haven, now dressed in the style of a Victorian explorer, pointed on the map. "This is us," he said, pointing to the dockside. "And the section we are going to need to rebuild is here. The section inbetween, according to what research I was able to do, is still in usable condition. And I discovered there's a passing loop for us to stable our equipment in before we head into rebuilding the line."
Lady Haven, who was dressed similarly to her husband, spoke up. "Now then, you three," she said. "It's going to be hot and humid out there, and as such you will need to drink plenty of water to avoid getting dehydrated."
"What about you two?" Zipp asked. "We'll be driving, I assume."
"Correct," Lord Haven said. "We'll be joining the clearing team, leading from the front. Thunder! Is Purbeck 1 ready for takeoff?"
"Yes sir!" Thunder replied. "I'll scout from the skies and look for any obstructions!" Minutes later, an ex-RAF Sea King lifted off and flew towards the jungle.
Minutes later, the train joined it, the glorious roar of twin Crompton engines sounding through the dockside as they started down the Trans-Amazon Railway.
"This is very wobbly!" Charles complained. "There's also a big tree overhanging onto the track!"
The train was forced to stop as the advance crew got out and began hacking their way through the undergrowth with machetes. After what felt like hours, the line ahead was finally clear enough to navigate, and the train began to move off once more.
"Stop!" Pipp called, and the train screeched to a halt.
"What's wrong?" Zipp radioed.
"I left my phone back at the dock!"
Sophie rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"
"I'll send somebody back to go and get it," Lord Haven radioed. "But please don't do it again. We're supposed to averaging 90 miles a day, and we've only done 5."
Things weren't going much better in Milan. "I'm convinced it said baggage handling was this way," Sunny said.
"We need to go to baggage reclaim, not baggage handling," Argyle pointed out. "Baggage handling is for people who load things onto flights, not return them to passengers."
Sunny went bright red. "Sorry."
Argyle rubbed her head. "Not to worry. It's an easy mistake for first time flyers."
"And probably last time as well," Sunny replied, looking at the floor and wobbling a bit. "That was really rough."
"Just be glad the flight was that short," Goldie said. "You were spared the horrors of airline food."
They reached the baggage carousel, where a message had appeared on one of the screens. The following passengers have had their baggage loaded onto another flight due to delays.
In that list was their names. "Really?" Argyle asked.
"Looks like we're filling out a baggage transfer form," Goldie sighed. "Where did you say our hotel the airline had booked us into was?"
Argyle handed her the address, and Goldie went off to fill out the forms.
"What's going on?" Sunny asked.
"The short version is that the airline loaded our bags onto the wrong flight, and we'll need to get them delivered to the hotel. Your mom's dealing with that as she speaks a bit of Italian and I speak none at all."
Sunny nodded. "Another reason to travel by train, I guess. Your bag is always with you."
"Unfortunately, Eurostar doesn't run to Milan."
Goldie came back a few minutes later, looking exhausted. "Well, that was more of a hassle than it needed to be," she said. "The language barrier really didn't help either. The good thing is the hotel is only a few blocks down from here, so how about we go get something to eat?"
"Perhaps we should wait until evening," Argyle said. "It's only 4 in the afternoon now- time zones are confusing, I know."
"I meant something like a coffee and ice cream or similar," Goldie explained. "That's often quite good to keep you going in a new place with partial jetlag."
"That sounds great," Sunny said, who was beginning to feel a bit off from the jetlag. "I could do with a boost."
"Remember your body thinks it's an hour earlier than it actually is," Goldie explained. "There used to be this old trick where you could travel from France to Britain by ferry and arrive before you'd left."
As they exited the airport with what little baggage they had, none of them saw Opaline observing them from nearby with a pair of binoculars. "Perfect," she said. "They've arrived." She picked up a radio. "Ready the assets for action. Attach unit 3503 to the Bernina Express at Tirano. I shall be in position to support you shortly."
Things were going a bit smoother in Northern Ireland. The Moonbows had arrived and were driving across the top end of the Emerald Isle. "Well, new territory for all of us!" Izzy said, excitedly. "I've never been here before!"
"I went through Belfast on my way to an oil rig once," Isaac said. "There's quite a bit of oil in the North Sea."
"Remember why we're here, though," Aurora said. "Focus on the task. We're not on holiday."
"I know," Isaac replied. "All I need to do is follow the signs for the Giant's Causeway and we should get there."
Izzy smiled. "How about we sing? Sunny and I found that was an efficient way of skipping the boring bits of travel."
"The island isn't really big enough for that exploit," Aurora explained. "It works with England as that's huge, but the same can hardly be said for Northern Ireland."
The crew rattled along when they suddenly found themselves near the coast. "Ah! Bushmills!" Izzy said. "I saw that on the map for driving to the Giant's Causeway! Not far to go!"
"There's no need to get so excited," Isaac said. "Seriously, where does she get her energy from?"
After a few more minutes, the car arrived at a car park, with the Giant's Causeway stretching before them. But the place was rather busier than they were anticipating.
"Is it normal for guys in uniform to be walking over them?" Aurora asked.
Large numbers of soldiers seemed to sweeping the surface of the rocks to find something. Isaac got out a pair of binoculars and took a closer look. "That's surprising," he said. "They're from PHALANX."
"PHALANX?" Izzy asked.
"They're a private military company. They did security on a fracking plant I worked on once. We'll need to move carefully to avoid being spotted."
They left the car and split up, figuring it would be harder to find them if they were split up, and made their way across the causeway. Luckily, most of the men in uniform were clearly meant to be looking elsewhere before they were hunting. One man shouted something and it caused them to head away from the scene.
That was their chance. The trio made their way across to a point where they had been previously looking. Izzy was first to get there, and spotted a box at the bottom. She began to whinch it up with a rope before depositing it on the side of the rocks. She waved her parents over.
"What could be in it?" Aurora asked.
"I don't know, but if there were mercernaries looking for it the object inside must be valuable," Isaac said. "Let's get it back to the car."
"I don't think so," said a voice. The trio looked around in surprise when a red dot suddenly appeared on Izzy's chest.
"Don't move," Aurora whispered.
"HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD!" bellowed a voice. The trio did as ordered.
Several men stormed over, and cuffed them. "You three won't be causing any more trouble."
Author's Note
This story draws on elements of my own personal experience with travel. Particularly the incident with baggage being loaded onto the wrong flights (I've had that a fair bit when going back and forth across the Atlantic).
There's also a hidden Top Gear reference in there.
PHALANX is a Private Military Company from the cinematic universe of Alton Towers, a theme park in the United Kingdom. They're not exactly the most moral of people, if (as seen above) they're prepared to shoot children.
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 5-Through Mountain and Jungle
The next day, things were going decidedly better for the Starshines. The luggage had been succesfully delivered to their hotel without any real trouble, and they had been able to secure a booking for transport to their next stop. Now, they were travelling along the road with their stuff in tow. It was all loaded into the cargo hold of the bus they were taking from their hotel in Milan to Tirano, which was where the next stage of their trip began.
"I take it you guys have been here before?" Sunny asked.
"Switzerland?" Argyle asked. "Yes, actually. I first travelled to Switzerland as part of a photography trip organised by myself and a friend- not Firelight, in case you're wondering. We explored a good amount of the country back in those days, and I imagine it's changed a good deal since then. One thing that certainly hasn't changed is the scenery around here." He smiled. "The Alps certainly never cease to take your breath away."
"Strictly speaking, these mountains are part of the Bernina Range," Goldie explained. "This is the Bernina Pass, after all."
"Gotcha," Argyle replied. "I've never done this trip in summer, come to think of it. I last did it in winter, which made getting to St. Moritz an interesting experience." He cleared his throat. "But we're going off topic, I feel. We need to focus on what is going on and what the plan is for today."
Goldie pulled out an itenerary on a clipboard and consulted it closely. "Well, that part is pretty simple," she said. "We need to board the Bernina Express before it departs, which is at 14:00 exactly (the Swiss are extremely punctual). We will then travel on the line as far as Samedan. Clearly Dan hasn't changed since we last saw him."
"Eh?" Sunny asked.
Goldie tilted the clipboard so her daughter could see.
"Oh. I get it now."
Goldie then resumed reading the clipboard. "Once there, we transfer to the Glacier Express, which will convey us all the way to the standard gauge interchange. I feel it would make sense to discuss the rest of the journey whilst on the Glacier Express, and take the opportunity to soak up the scenery as we travel along."
"Good idea," Sunny said, and looked up. "I thought the Snowdon Range was huge. But these mountains are something else!"
"Everything's bigger in Europe," Argyle laughed. "And just wait until you see the Rockies! Those are in the USA, by the way." He glanced over to Goldie. "Can you corroborate that claim?"
"Not really," Goldie replied. "I grew up in Rhode Island. That place is pretty flat and small. The smallest state by landmass, incidentally, but who set it was a competition for the biggest things?"
"It isn't!" Sunny noted. "Falmouth isn't the biggest of places, but it'll always be home to me."
"I'm not so sure I can feel the same way," Goldie admitted. "I've travelled so much I don't really have a concept of home anymore. One of the downsides of regular travel, I guess."
With a roar, the bus pulled up into the parking lot outside Tirano station. The three, alongside the passengers, got off and collected their luggage before heading to the baggage car at the back of the train. Argyle was first to arrive. "Wo sollen wir im Zug nach Samedan sitzen?" he asked the guard. ("Where should we sit in the train for Samedan?")
The guard, who was handling the bags, immediately switched to English. Somewhat broken English, but English nontheless. "You will to need to in the front carriage with your family and carry on bags be sitting."
Argyle nodded, but looked puzzled. "OK."
Sunny was equally baffled. "Why was the verb at the end?" she asked.
"German word order," Goldie explained. "Verb goes at the end. It's why some of the sentences are hard to understand."
They decided to see what was pulling the train up to Samedan. To their disappointment it was a modern EMU coupled to the coaches, and he didn't seem to be especially talkative.
As they waited for departure, a goods train rattled into the other platform and stopped. It was pulled by a boxy electric locomotive. Argyle smiled as he saw it. "I photographed that unit when I was last here," he explained. "Only it was red last time and not green. It appears to be part of the heritage fleet now."
"Ladies and Gentlemen," said an announcement, "we will shortly be departing for Chur. Please ensure everything is properly secured before departure. RhB welcomes you onboard the Bernina Express- the greatest railway journey on Earth."
As the Bernina Express pulled out of the station, a figure was watching from a nearby clock tower. "They're on the move," he said.
"Excellent," Opaline said. "Notify me when the train passes Pontresina."
"How can it be this hot at midnight?" Charles complained. "How's that possible?!"
The formation continued to trundle forward slowly through the jungle. They were going very slowly, with the poorly laid track and the plants all around not helping the situation at all. Although both diesels were fitted with high intensity headlamps for this operation, they barely cut through the gloom, and all around the jungle seemed to be threatening. Almost... alive, and wanting to gobble them up.
In the cabs of both diesel engines, the windows were all the way down to let some air in, but the intense heat was stifling. Zipp's face was drenched with sweat as they pushed onwards into the night. "How we're still going I have no idea," she said. "I had no idea it was going to be this hot."
She stopped as she heard the sound of water being consumed. "Hey, leave some for me, dad! That's your third bottle in about an hour!"
"Sorry," Lord Haven replied. "I'd forgotten how hot this part of the world is. It's been a long time since I lived outside of a temperate country."
"Yeah, and Charles' temperature gauge is running at the top of the yellow," Zipp answered. "At this rate we might be topping up the radiator with water."
"Are you two alright up there?" Lady Haven asked over the radio. "It's quite hot in here. These engines were not exactly built for hot weather running."
"Try wearing short sleeves tomorrow," Lord Haven suggested. "And some cargo pants will help with the heat."
"I may give that a try, actually."
Suddenly, there was a loud shriek over the speaker.
"What was that?" asked Sophie. "Was it the Wandering Penguin of Peru?"
"There aren't any penguins in Peru!" Charles snorted.
"Yes there are," Sophie said. "They live on the coast."
Just then, the voice on the radio spoke again, revealing them not to be the Wandering Penguin of Peru, but Pipp. "There's something in the cab with us and it's squeaking at me!"
"Don't turn the cab light on, as that may attract it," Zipp offered.
"I couldn't if I wanted to! It's amongst many things in here that have stopped working in the heat," Pipp replied. "How did people survive before air conditioning?"
"Ice boxes," Lord Haven said. "That's what my family used.
More squeaking could be heard over the radio, before some ribbeting, and something bouncing about.
"Agh! It's in my hair now! Get them off! Get them off!" There was another pause. "I can't take this any longer! I've got to get out of this thing!"
"I'm not a thing," Sophie complained.
Lord Haven consulted his map. "There's a passing loop about a quarter of a mile from here," he said. "We'll make camp there."
Once they had arrived (the generator for the coaches had been started up to power the AC and climate systems), the four retreated to the first carriage. Lord Haven pointed to the map. "We've not progressed forward as much as I'd hoped," he said. "We were supposed to be averaging 90 miles a day. We've done 10, and we've still got 40 miles of jungle to cover before we start climbing out of the Amazon."
"We'd probably best turn in," Lady Haven said. She turned to Zoom. "Are the bug zappers running?"
"Yes, your ladyship," Zoom replied. "We should be safe from small bitey creatures in here."
A few hours passed, and Zipp got up to use the bathroom. A foul thunderstorm raged outside, more intense than any she had known. As she made her way back to her bed, she suddenly spotted Pipp, sitting bolt upright and looking quite frightened.
Zipp spotted this, and sat down next to her. "Your brontophobia playing up?" she asked.
Pipp nodded. "It really startled me. How can it be so loud and noisy?"
Zipp chuckled. "Everything's bigger in the Americas. But you don't have to face it alone, Pipp. I'll stay with you."
"Really?" Pipp asked.
"Sisters are meant to look out for each other. I'd be an awful big sis if I didn't."
Pipp hugged her. "Thanks, Zipp."
Author's Note
RhB is known for its highly exotic rolling stock, and two examples of it are seen in this story. The ABe 8/12 Allegra is a modern EMU which is powerful enough to haul freight and passenger coaches (Swiss railways frequently operate mixed trains as it reduces the number of engines given on a given day). Whilst a bit bland compared to our next engine, the views from the carriages are unparalled.
The other locomotive is a GE 6/6 II. These machines were built in 1965, and were once the pride of the RhB network, pulling passenger and goods trains. The bulk of the class now works goods trains, but the entire class is still in service-not bad for a loco approaching its 60th birthday.
Pipp being brontophobic (fear of lightning) is a nod to this story:
EBig Sister Pillows
A teenage Zipp Storm reads her sister a bedtime story.
NavelColt ·
1.4k words
· 111
3 ·
1.4k views
Next time, we shall see the return of an old friend.
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 6-Lost in Translation
It was a dark room that Izzy found herself in a few hours after capture. The lights were swaying and swinging about, which made seeing what was going on rather difficult indeed. She blinked a few times to try and figure out where she was. But the room itself was yielding no clues whatsoever. They could be anywhere in Britain. Or maybe outside Britain.
"Strictly speaking, Mr. Narrator, Northern Ireland isn't in Britain. It's in the United Kingdom."
Isaac looked over in confusion. "Izzy, who are you talking to?"
"The narrator," Izzy replied. "He claimed we might be anywhere in Britain or outside Britain, but Northern Ireland isn't in Britain."
Aurora sighed. "Not exactly helping, Izzy. Perhaps cut back on the random humour and focus on trying to escape?"
"That won't be an option," said a voice, and a group of men walked in. Each of them clad in the same uniforms as before. "We saw what you were trying to do. Quite how you managed to slip through our security ring I don't know, but it also doesn't matter. PHALANX has been ordered to hold this area, and when people want something done they hire PHALANX."
"You really must be desparate if you're stealing old boxes," Isaac said sarcastically. "Not enough oil rigs to guard?"
The lead speaker leaned in. "Don't speak unless spoken to."
"But you just spoke to him before he spoke!" Izzy said.
"That applies to you as well."
"As you never said whom you were addressing, that could theoretically apply to all of us."
The lead speaker sighed. "Not important. What we want is those documents. What was in the box?"
"I don't know," Isaac said. "Your men found us before we could open it. Besides, I'm pretty certain shooting children is a crime."
"It's not a crime to line up a laser sight on them," said a soldier in the background.
"Implied force is sometimes more effective than actual force," said another.
"I'll do the talking from here," said the lead speaker. "What were you doing in the Giant's Causeway?"
"You answered your own question a while back," Aurora replied. "The box. Which none of us have looked in."
"That's useful," said another voice. "Boomer will like this. These three did our work for us."
Suddenly, there was a noise from the door, and a group of people broke into the room. The range was too short for the guards to use their weapons, and so they resorted to hand to hand combat as their attackers closed in. Three of them went for the trio tied up and sliced open their bindings before leading them away. "This way! We have the element of surprise!"
Those who were engaging in close quarters broke off as alarms began to blare throughout the facility. They were led down a series of featureless, identical looking corridors, probably designed to make escape hard as all the routes looked the same. At last, though, they exited into a vehicle bay, where several large offroad vehicles were waiting.
Izzy recognised the markings on the side. "Hey! It's the LLF!"
The crew scrambled onboard, and drivers and crew took their positions and reversed out of the facility at speed, before racing along and crashing through a fence. They flew along country roads, with the coastline opening up on their side.
"Do we have the package?" asked one of them.
"Yes," said another. "Box and Moonbows are secure and safe."
After a bit more driving, the vehicle pulled up at a building, and the cars were unloaded. Everything was taken inside and placed safely and secure. The Moonbows were directed to sit, and they did.
"Can somebody please explain what's going on?" Aurora asked.
One of the men then removed his helmet and visor. He smiled as he adjusted his beard. "Feels good to get those off. Concealing my identity is vital, but it is a pain at the same time."
Izzy's face lit up. "Alphabittle!"
Alphabittle smiled. "Hi Izzy. Looks like you and your parents got yourself into a bit of a sticky situation." He turned to address Isaac. "You three looking for the Lost Engine?"
"How did you know?" Isaac asked.
"We have a good network of connections," Alphabittle replied. "The LLF is interested in finding it too. We've got a team working on decoding whatever documents we can find on the Lost Engine, and this is rather personal too."
"How?" Aurora asked.
"Because Boomer wants it himself. I assume you three have had run-ins with him?"
"One of the people back at the other place mentioned a Boomer," Izzy said. "I take it he's a bad guy."
"Yes," Alphabittle replied. "He's trouble. Back in the day he caused havoc on the railways, and with the Lost Engine's power he'd be virtually unstoppable. We're working on finding the engine as fast as possible, but we've hit a stumbling block. The documents found in that box you found have been recovered and scanned, and we're currently trying to decode them."
"I'm assuming there's a snag," Izzy said.
"Correct," Alphabittle sighed. He showed them the scan. "The document is in Sudric. That's the native language of Sodor, a goidelic language that's a close relative of Cornish and Welsh. If we can translate it that would be really helpful. The only problem is none of us speak it, and the number of Sudric speakers is in decline. It's not like Welsh where you can find large numbers of fluent speakers. This is a real pickle."
Izzy had an idea. "What about Argyle?" she asked.
"He's a photography professor, not a linguist," Isaac said.
"When I first visited Falmouth, I noticed his study was absolutely full of things related to Sodor. It's possible that he has knowledge of the language as well, seeing as he seems to know everything else there is to know about Sodor."
Alphabittle nodded. "It's worth a shot. Get logged into your email and send the scan to him as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, the Bernina Express pulled into Samedan after a long journey from Tirano. Sunny, Argyle, and Goldie all got off and collected their baggage from the baggage car. "Thanks for the trip," Argyle said to the guard.
"Thank you for travelling with RhB," the guard replied. "I wish you a safe onward connection to wherever you are travelling."
Sunny dragged her rolling case along the platform, stunned at how busy this station was. "How many trains are there?"
"This is the junction for lines to St. Moritz, Scuol-Tarasp, and Brig. We'll want the last of those for the Glacier Express."
There was a loud crack as the engine of the Bernina Express pulled away to be replaced with another, and a local train for the Engadine Line rattled past and onto the main. It seemed very busy here. All they had to do was wait for the Glacier Express to arrive and they could get on their way to Brig.
Suddenly, Argyle's phone buzzed. "Just a second, I've got an email." He flipped through his apps until he had it. "Ah, it's from Izzy, and it's a scan of a document... in Sudric."
"Izzy's found something?!" Sunny said.
"Sure looks that way. I need to translate this, so hold on a moment."
There was a whistle as the new Bernina Express engine was attached to the train, and it pulled away towards Chur. Moments later, another horn sounded and a passenger train pulled by a large red box pulled in, with large panoramic passenger cars behind it. The side boards and markings proclaimed the service to be the Glacier Express.
"That's our train!" Goldie said quickly. "Hurry, Argyle!"
Argyle put his phone down. "We need Coach D. That's right next to the dining car if that helps." The trio scrambled onboard after the train stopped, with more passengers boarding.
Sunny had dropped off their bags before getting onboard, and walked back up the train to rejoin her parents before departure. She found them jokingly consulting the menu and seeing what was on it.
"I'm not sure what many of these things are," Argyle admitted. "Local delicacies, perhaps?"
"Plausible," Goldie replied. "The descriptions sound nice though."
There was another horn blast. "Could all passengers for the Glacier Express to Zermatt please board now. We are booked for departure."
A few minutes later, the train was on the move. Argyle had been working for a bit longer when he finally decoded the message.
"I've got it!" he said. "The document contains some numbers, which won't be of any use as I can't make sense of them. They also contain a clue as to where to go next."
"And that is?" Sunny asked.
"Australia," Argyle replied. "I'll notify the Moonbows and update them on the situation. We might need to send some more people there before we do anything else, though."
Little did he realise, another figure was watching from the mountains. "Are the assets in position?" he asked. "We spring the trap at Landwasser."
Author's Note
Samedan is indeed a real place in Switzerland, and is RhB's main rail junction as the confluence of their main line, the Bernina Line, and the Engadine Line. I have been trainspotting there many times, and I can assure you it's a marvellous place to be. Though perhaps wait for exchange rates to stabilise before visiting, as currently the country isn't cheap.
The Glacier Express is advertised as 'the World's Slowest Express', and is the flagship service operated by RhB. It is an express in the sense you purchase a ticket and seat for the full trip rather than operating at high speed. The service runs over some pretty spectacular scenery as well.
The traction on the Glacier Express is a GE 4/4 III, one of the most up-to-date electric locomotives in service in Europe. Their four powered axles are capable of handling anything that Switzerland can throw at them.
Next time: The game is on!
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 7-Hellhound on my Tail
Hitch's phone buzzed as the next phone call arrived. He picked it up and took a look at the number. "Hey, it's Argyle!" he said, so he flicked the call button to the left and answered it. "Hello, Mr Starshine. Have you had a nice trip so far?"
"Got some important information for you," Argyle replied. "There's more clues relating to the Lost Engine. Somebody needs to head to Australia, and as I can't get back in contact with Izzy or her family that's going to be up to you and Misty."
Hitch sighed internally. "I'll check when the next flight is." He ended the call, then dialled Misty. "Hey, Misty?"
"Hi Hitch!" Misty replied. "Got any news from our friends?"
"It turns out we need to go to Australia for the next clue."
"Australia?"
"Yes, Australia. I'm currently looking at flights, and there'll all pretty long. Most have layovers- the one that stops at Singapore looks the most reasonable."
There was a pause over the phone. "That might be a bit of a problem. I'm a little afraid of flying. Partly because I've never done it before."
Hitch was silent for a moment. "It's not that different to travelling by train over a long distance. I'll be with you the entire time, so I can explain what it all is and how to get there. Do you have any paperwork required for flying?"
"Well, I did have a passport in case Opaline needed me to do anything overseas, but I can't remember if it's in date."
"I'll come over and take a look."
Back in Ireland, the Moonbows were having the same conversation, after Argyle had sent the translated document back to them. "Australia?" Aurora said. "It's very far!"
"It's a very long way indeed," Isaac said. "And I somehow doubt walking five hundred miles, followed by another five hundred on top of that, will get us there."
"Not even close," Izzy said, as she looked at a map. "We'll need to fly." She looked at anything relating to an airport. "Though we are in luck. There are flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Australian airports. Any suggestions as to where the clue should take us?"
Aurora looked closely at the document with her glasses on. "Well," she said, "the document contains a reference to Paraburdoo, which I've never heard of and I have no idea where it is."
Izzy did some googling. "It's a mining town in the Pilbara Region. The closest major airport is Perth, but even that's a long distance away from the settlement. We'll need another car."
Isaac glanced at the map himself. "Let's hope the parking tickets at the airport car park are cheap," he said. "We may otherwise find ourselves out of pocket and with a lack of a car. Alternatively, we could ask Goldie's family to foot the bill. Last I heard they were loaded."
"If that's all good, we can probably book?" Izzy said. "The internet seems stable around here, and the website for Quantas looks good. Plenty of things to do during the flight."
Back in Switzerland, the Glacier Express was slowing down a steep hill as it prepared to make a booked stop at Tiefencastel. The Starshines were momentarily distracted by the scenery, and were a little surprised when they saw and felt the train begin to slow down before the next stop.
"Are we booked to stop here?" Sunny asked, as she brought up the timetable on her phone. "This complimentary Wi-Fi is really handy."
Suddenly, as the train rolled to a halt, a person walked down the aisle and handed Argyle a message. His eyes widened in surprise as he read it.
Goldie noticed her husband's sudden shift in mood. "Argyle, is something wrong?"
Argyle turned the notice around so his wife and daughter could read it.
Trouble on its way.
You need to leave the train now.
There's a car in the car park with plenty of fuel. It's a Black BMW M3.
Sunny nodded. "Who gave you this?"
"I don't know, but we have to go," Argyle said, and stood up, heading for the door, followed by Goldie and Sunny gathering up their belongings.
As they were doing this, a group of figures in armour and carrying weapons stopped at the front of the train. The leader held his pistol to the driver and barked instructions at him, whilst the rest boarded the open the coaches and began to search.
The passengers were, understandably, terrified. They thought the train was being hijacked by terrrorists (and for all intents and purposes it basically was). These men swarmed the train, searching every inch of it for their targets.
A few moments later, a chopper touched down near the station, and Opaline got out. She and her guards strode over to the train. "Any sign of them?" she asked.
One of the soldiers walked back over. "No sign of them," he said. "They must have bailed earlier."
Suddenly, a black car tore out of the parking lot and down the road. This caught the troops by surprise.
"There's your answer," Opaline said. "Take the Humvees and chase them by road. I'll follow from the air." She smiled as she looked back to the helicopter that was touching down nearby. "I've been wanting to test our new Alligator for a while."
Little did she realise, but a locomotive had overheard the conversation, and made a fateful decision. "Befestige mich an diesen Ersatzwagen!" she said. ("Attach me to those spare coaches!") "Jemand ist in Gefahr, und er wird sehr nützlich sein!" ("Somebody is in danger, and they will be very useful!")
Argyle was driving down the road, strictly holding to the speed limit. He went into a tunnel, and as a BMW M3 does not have a funnel we cannot do the obvious joke. But when he emerged from the other side, he had a nasty surprise waiting for him.
A heavily armed gunship was waiting for them outside. It swung around and began to chase them.
"You really think I would let you run away, Sunny?" a voice mocked.
Sunny looked about in confusion, but the car radio seemed to be off. "Who just spoke?" she asked.
"I didn't hear anybody speak," Goldie said.
They had no time to say anything else as the chopper opened fire. Based on observation, the chopper had a front mounted gatling gun which allowed it to pepper the ground with lead. Argyle swerved back and forth across the road to avoid the firepower of the chopper, but was stunned when the bullets didn't go through.
In the chopper, Opaline growled. "They must have refitted the car with armour plating and bulletproof glass. Ready the missiles."
The gunner glanced over. "Ma'am, in these mountain valleys the missiles cannot lock the target. We'll have to dumb fire."
"Do what you need to," Opaline replied, as she flipped up the fire button.
The car raced into a tunnel, and Opaline swerved to avoid having to fly down it. For a brief moment she was flying sideways, and once they were at the other end of the tunnel they waited for the car.
The road and the railway run parallel around Landwasser viaduct, meaning two tunnel portals sit side by side. Argyle had settled on driving fast in order to avoid the firepower of the chopper, and was now speeding towards the end of the tunnel.
"It's a good thing there aren't any speed cameras on these roads!" Goldie joked.
"I think they'll understand given the circumstances," Argyle replied, as they approached the exit. The car popped out of the tunnel portal.
Opaline saw the car. "FIRE!"
The chopper unleashed a barrage of rockets at the road- only for a train to suddenly appear in front of them. Most of the rockets slammed into the train's coaches, which mercifully were empty, and avoided the car. Unfortunately, some also hit the bridge the train was travelling over. And it began to collapse.
The engine seemingly detached from the train as the bridge collapsed, the burning coaches falling with it into the ravine below. The chopper suddenly got a lock on the car.
Then there was a loud explosion.
Sunny looked up after hearing the explosion. To her surprise, it wasn't near them. Instead, flames were shooting out of the chopper and it was spinning out of control. "I don't think the chopper's a problem anymore!" she said.
Moments later, a jet aircraft flew nearby. The pilot gave them a thumbs up before pulling away. "Viper to Starshine. Threat eliminated. Good hunting."
Argyle, amazed this car had a radio, replied. "Uhh, thanks for saving our bacon, Viper. I owe you a lot of beers."
"Thanks for the offer, but I'm on duty right now," the pilot replied. "Good hunting, and best of luck."
Sunny noticed the aircraft's markings. "What's an RAF Tornado doing out here?"
None of them noticed Opaline and her copilot landing on a nearby landbank. "Should we call for backup?" the copilot asked.
"Obviously," Opaline replied. "Direct force didn't work. Time to try and more subtle approach."
Author's Note
Firstly, the engine that collects the empty coaches is a GE 4/4 II. This was an earlier version of the engine seen in the previous chapter, and is of a similar era to the GE 6/6 II. Like it, the entire class is still in service-not bad for an engine that is now 50 years old.
A familiar sight to anybody who has watched an action film in the last 30 years, the KA-52 Alligator is a chopper model developed in Russia in the 1980s. It is commonly used as a 'bad guy' helicopter if the film-makers are unable to acquire an MI-24 Hind.
Another machine familiar to anybody in the aviation world, the Panavia Tornado was the result of a joint-military project between Britain, West Germany, and Italy. An icon of Cold War deterrant, they became a household name in the 1990s when they were used to conduct airstrikes during the Gulf War. Although the aircraft has since been retired from RAF service, many remain in service with other countries. The example seen in this story is the F3 version, designed for interceptor duty.
Next time: Welcome to the Jungle (again)
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
The combined roar of two Crompton engines was clearly audible in the Amazon as a heavy train rolled to a stop in the middle of the jungle. After an incredibly long journey, the formation had finally located its stopping point in the heart of the Amazon, and the furthest point they could reach whilst running on conventional rails.
The formation had stopped in a loop at the end of the line, so to speak. Charles, who was leading the formation, was thankful they had reached the end of the line. "It's all far too hot out here," he said. "All those stops- my cooling fans were having to work overtime in this heat."
"You're not exactly making it cooler with all the hot air you're putting out," Sophie replied.
"I have a lot to say, that's all."
As the sun continued to set behind them, Lord Haven glanced forwards and backwards from Charles' cab window. "We begin work tomorrow," he said. "We'll need to get all this stock rearranged as well. The supplies for rebuilding the bridges are currently at the back of the train, and we need them at the front so they can be quickly conveyed to the bridge sites."
"Sites?" Pipp asked.
"We have several to rebuild, the first of which is located about half a mile up the track," Lord Haven replied.
"Bet you're gonna enjoy that work," Zipp said. "I'll go set the other switch." She opened the door, climbed down the steps, and walked over to the next switch in order to change it.
She paused when she saw it, seemingly surprised by the site of this switch, before starting to make her way back up to the others. "Guys? Something's not right here."
"Is the switch broken?" Lady Haven asked.
"No, it looks new," Zipp replied. "And that's precisely the problem. Dad, I thought you said this line was abandoned in the 1950s."
"It was," Lord Haven said.
"The point motor is a model from the 1960s, a power assisted example to be precise. If the line was abandoned then, why would a point motor from a decade later be fitted to the track?"
Charles snorted. "What sort of nerd would find that sort of thing interesting?"
"Charles, this is serious," Zipp said. "It suggests somebody has been here more recently, somebody before us."
"It also means we're being followed," Lord Haven said. He turned to Zoom. "I want patrols around the clock, Zoom. Ensure that the security detail is vigilant and watching for any signs of suspicious activity. This is important as we'll be vulnerable when reassembling the train for unloading."
"Yes sir," Zoom replied, before turning to her troops. "You heard the man! Sentry duty! Get the .50 cal set up and watching the river! Watch all sides! Pick up that litter!"
Zipp reboarded Charles' cab as Pipp uncoupled Sophie and the coaches from the trucks. With a fresh rumble the formation moved forward, ready to move the coaches into the main to allow the trucks to be brought ahead.
"Well, new country for all of us," Izzy said, as they exited the airport. The landscape stretched out before them, blue skies with some clouds welcoming them to one of the most southerly countries on Earth.
"Yeah," Aurora said. "I've never been to Australia before. I'll have to see if I can cope with being upside down for prolonged periods!"
Isaac smiled at his wife's joke. "Well, it doesn't quite work like that, but I get what you mean. We'll need to get a road vehicle to drive to where we need to go, as our ultimate destination is a long way away, and furthermore is only accesible by rail."
"Rail?" Izzy asked. "I'm liking the sound of this already!" She glanced about. "Can you hear the thunder?"
"No, as it's not thundery weather conditions," Aurora replied. "But if I did, we'd better run and take cover in that event."
Isaac retook control of the conversation, as they had gone off on a tangent. "We need to get to Paraburdoo by rail, as the region has very poor roads which will make driving their very difficult indeed. The rail line that serves the region is the Hammersley and Robe River Railway, a mineral line which serves several mines in the region."
"That's very far from here," Aurora noted, as she checked a map on her phone. "Several thousand miles, as a matter of fact."
"We'll have to fly from Perth, which is where we are, to Karratha, which is near where the line starts. It's about a two hour flight, which may seem rough given we've just been on a flight, but the alternative would be driving for fifteen hours, which frankly I don't fancy right at the moment."
"So, by plane it is," Izzy said. "Tomorrow, presumably?"
"That would be a good idea," Aurora said."We can go to a hotel, rest overnight, and get the worst of the jetlag off before beginning our travels towards... what did you say it was called again?"
"Karratha," Isaac replied. "It's, as I say, a long way from here. Let's find transport to a hotel."
As the three moved off, none of them were aware they were being watched. Yes, their situational awareness was becoming a bit of a problem at this point, but the fact remained that they were on a mission.
A mysterious man was watching them. "They're here, in Australia," he said. "Are you guys ready for the arrival?"
"Indeed we are, mate," said somebody on the other end.
The man sighed. "You'll stick out like a sore thumb if you insist on talking like Crocodile Dundee. Most Australians are nothing like that in this bit of the country." He put the radio down. "Time to see if the others are ready as well. With all these assets we've got a lot of ground to cover in the desert. And just our luck it's one of Asia's biggest countries."
He paced away to a nearby car.
The top of the Jungfrau was bitterly cold. Whilst not the tallest mountain in Europe it was one of the most accessible, which meant that it was very popular with tourists. And today, Argyle, Goldie, and Sunny were joining that list of tourists who had glimpsed the beauty of one of Europe's last remaining alpine wildernesses, complete with snow.
Sunny was fascinated. "There's so much snow!" she said.
"It's a lot better here than back in Britain," Argyle mentioned. "Normally we only get that slushy stuff- if it snows at all- which ends up clogging drains and blocking pipes."
"We also have some clues to follow," Goldie said, picking up the pace across the snow. "Based on our most recent encounter it appears those who are also searching for the clues are prepared to use force to get what they want. So let's go."
"Of course," Argyle said, who was struggling to maintain the pace. Sunny, likewise, was slipping and sliding about uncontrollably.
"Big strikes, feet far apart," Goldie advised. "That way you avoid slipping and sliding."
"How do you know this trick?" Argyle asked, as he finally caught up.
"I grew up in New England, remember?" Goldie said. "Heavy snow there is a yearly ritual, so I learned how to cope with it pretty quickly. Up here it's no different, in fact it's probably a little easier as there's no blizzard."
"The more you know," Sunny added, as they strode across the snow like three explorers cresting the edge of the known world. Which they weren't of, course, because they were only on top of one of Europe's most well settled mountains in a popular tourist region, but we can't afford to be technical around here.
Sunny was still pretty amazed at what she was seeing. The towering mountain peaks and snow were a totally alien world to her, having grown up in a seaside town. She had only previously seen this sort of thing in books, and was amazed by it all. The walk suddenly stopped when one of her boots bumped into something. "Guys, I've got something!"
Argyle and Goldie turned back to Sunny's location before starting to dig through the snow. "There's something down here!" Argyle called. "Get digging!"
After a few minutes of digging through solid snow, they had found what they were looking for. A chest. "Mission accomplished!" Goldie said. "We've found one of the boxes. Should we look at it here or in the hotel?"
"Definitely back in Interlaken," Argyle replied. "I have my equipment there so I can properly analyse this thing." The pair took the chest between them, and began to take the box down the mountain to be looked at.
Sunny started to follow, but she was suddenly overcome by a bout of dizziness. "Huh? What?"
The world seemed to be swimming around her, and as the light began to shift she suddenly fell over backwards into the snow.
"Time to speak, little one," said a mysterious voice from nowhere.
Author's Note
More discovery, and the second clue. But it is clear our heroes are being watched. And what fate has befallen Sunny?
View Online
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 9-So Hush, Buddy, Just get Lost in the Rush
Sunny awoke in the middle of a snowstorm. The sky was invisible, turned white by the intensity of the snow particles whirling around here, and the environment she found herself in was similarly hard to see. The sheer power of the storm made spotting where to go incredibly difficult.
"Hello?" she called. "Guys? Where are you?"
She started to make her way forward through the storm, the bitter cold biting at her face and threatening to blow her over. Sunny fought onwards despite the weather conditions. Even though she was fully clothed in warm winter gear the temperatures were so low they were beginning to get to her.
Suddenly, the world around her began to shift and distort. "Huh? What's going on?"
The storm seemed to be fading, but the walls of white all around seemed to be changing too. It looked like they were turning to... stone and concrete?
Before long, Sunny found herself in a vaguely gothic looking chamber. The chamber had vaulting walls on either side made of stone, and a long walkway from one end to the other. A large pit full of bubbling liquid sat inside the room, and three large stained glass windows stood at the end of the room. Beyond that was a door to the right, and underneath the stained glass windows was a throne so tall it seemed to scrape the ceiling.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" said a voice. "It's the fitting dwelling for the rightful monarch, don't you think?"
Suddenly, there was a jet of flame in front of Sunny, who pulled her hand over her eyes to avoid being blinded and to shield herself from the heat. When the flames dropped, her eyes widened in surprise.
A figure in a grey business suit stood on the other side. She had purple skin, piercing blue eyes, and white hair with blue streaks within it. "Hello, Sunny. I was wondering when we would meet at last."
Sunny blinked. "Who are you?"
Suddenly, music started up as if there was an invisible orchestra behind her. And the woman started to sing.
"You could call me evil, but/
"So hush, buddy, just/
Suddenly, jets of flame roared from torches on either side of the room. Which seemed to be in sync with the words the woman was singing.
"I've got the power! (power)
The woman didn't even stop to take a breath, instead continuing into the next verse.
"You might think I'm wicked, but/
Much like last time, more flames roared into the air, illuminating the room and allowing Sunny to pick out more details of the room.
"So hush, buddy, just/
"I've got the power/ (do you hear me?)
Sunny blinked.
The woman noticed this. "That's strange. You must have a strong constitution. You don't seem at all scared."
"I'm more confused than anything else," Sunny admitted. "I don't really know what you were singing about."
The woman snorted. "Truly a fool. Well, I guess an introduction is in order. I am Opaline."
Sunny's eyes widened. "You're the monster who tried to kill Misty!"
This seemed to trigger Opaline's bezerk button. More flames roared into the room as she leaned in. "That useless wretch! That incompetent buffoon couldn't tie her own shoelaces without falling over! And I had to do almost everything for her! Couldn't she see how much better things will be when I have returned to my rightful place in the world?" She paused. "And I have another thought for you, Sunny. What makes you think you can speak to your Queen like that?"
Sunny, now rather intimidated, looked surprised. "Britain has a King, not a Queen. Besides, if there was an Opaline of the House of Windsor I think we would know."
Opaline snorted. "Those imposters. That group of Germans have been keeping a throne they stole warm for the eventual return of the true rulers of Britain. For you see... I am a descendant of James Francis Edward Stuart. The traitors refer to him as the Old Pretender."
"Who?" Sunny asked.
"He was the son of James II, who was removed from power in an illegal power grab by some Dutchman," Opaline explained. "We, of the house of Stuart, fought to get our throne back, but the imposters held onto their power through violence and dark magic." She paused. "I will reclaim my birthright as Queen of Britain, and show the world why they were wrong to remove us from power! People should fear their rulers, as we only want the best for them! And when I am back, I shall restore British Railways to its rightful place in the United Kingdom and save the public from the drudgery of overpriced train tickets and badly maintained coaches!"
Sunny was shocked. "That doesn't give you the right to use violence! What makes you think you're better than any of us?"
"You're better than them," Opaline said suddenly. "You have magic coursing through your veins. You are destined to rule over them. You failed to claim your birthright, but I shall make sure that mistake is corrected." Opaline backed away, the flames roaring into the sky. "REMEMBER THESE WORDS, SUNNY! ONE DAY WE SHALL MEET AGAIN, AND I SHALL FINISH WHAT I STARTED!"
Sunny shook her head as the imagery began to fade from her vision. She was in the station at the top of the Jungfrau, and glanced about. "Huh? Where am I?"
"You're on top of the Jungfrau," said a voice, soon revealed to be Argyle. "You must have spaced out for a moment."
Sunny needed a second to process what she had just seen.
Things were considerably less peaceful in the Amazon. Thunder roared along the river in a Cobra Gunship, flying in on several boats. They had unloaded men and were attacking the train.
"Purbeck 2, move in and attack the boats!" radioed his boss, Zoom. "They're putting down heavy fire in our position, and I'm not sure how much longer we can hold!"
"Understood," Thunder radioed back. "Loading rocket pods." He flew in over the boats and lined up his reticule before locking each target. "Target lock confirmed. Rockets away."
A storm of missiles flew from the rocket pod and slammed into their targets, blowing open their hulls and sinking them in the drift. Unfortunately, Thunder hadn't considered their location, and the boats sank in shallow water, meaning all the stuff in them was still intact. Seeing another set of boats incoming, he spooled up the front chopper gun and opened fire.
The spray of bullets peppered one of the hulls with rounds whilst the rocket pods reloaded. The chopper thundered over and swung about to find the rest of its targets, only to find the boats were seemingly driven off.
"Purbeck 2 to Zoom Actual, targets driven off. Enemy forces appear to be retreating, over."
"Understood, Purbeck 2. Dispatching small force for recon."
Later on, after Thunder had landed Purbeck 2, he joined his colleagues in a security debrief. Zoom was leading it. "Well, I've got good news and bad news," she said.
"What's the bad news?" asked one soldier.
"The bridge we'd build? It's been damaged, so we'll need to repair it. Not only that, most of the attackers escaped."
"So, what's the good news?" Thunder enquired.
"The good news is that nobody was injured. Quick thinking drove that attack off. We also know who sent them to attack us, based on some tapes we found on one of the boats." She pressed play.
A man in a leather jacket appeared on screen. "You must incapacitate and slow down the Havens," he said. "Opaline's plan will struggle to succeed unless you do. Time to show those aristocrats that money doesn't save you all the time."
Zoom glanced back at them. "As you can see, we're up against a wanted criminal. None other than P. T. Boomer."
Author's Note
Well, this was a turn for my writing! Firstly, Opaline's backstory is based on real British history. The Stuarts were indeed booted from the throne by the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and then spent much of the next 100 years trying to get it back (one such effort included the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, which is the time period in which the TV series Outlander is set). Where I deviate from history is where the family tree went; the current claimant of the Stuart throne is a German prince, not a British person (although there is an Earl Stuart related to him).
Purbeck 2 is a retired USMC AH-1 Super Cobra, allocated to the family as part of the security detail. Predominantly a ground attack machine, it has served in a variety of roles in history, being favoured by the USMC over the later AH-64 Apache.
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 10-Wrong Place, Wrong Time
Hitch checked his GPS module on his phone. "Misty, we've made a bit of an error," he said.
"What's that?" Misty asked. "All I can see is desert and sand. This place looks flat and desolate to me!"
"We've arrived in the wrong place entirely," Hitch explained. "We were supposed to be sent to Karratha, but we're miles from there. Hundreds of miles, as a matter of fact." He showed her the display. "As you probably know, the local area is absolutely chock full of mining operations, and we seem to be standing right above one of these operations right now." He began to walk forward to where some smoke and noise seemed to be being produced, before stopping. "Don't look down if you don't like heights," he said.
Misty, luckily, wasn't too bad with heights provided she remained on solid ground. She glanced down and almost immediately stunned at the size of the operation below her. The open cast mine extended for hundreds of feet below them, and seemed to run onwards for miles. Each roadway for machinery collecting supplies and equipment seemed to be hundreds of miles wide, and the vehicles lumbered about, transporting heavy cargo to the loading dump nearby to be taken elsewhere by rail.
"We need some form of transport," Misty said. "I'd suggest we don't travel to Paraburdoo in a fried out combi."
"Well, I'm hoping to go into law enforcement, so following a hippy trailhead full of zombie would probably not be advisable," Hitch mentioned. "Not to mention the risk of running into strange ladies who make us nervous."
They decided to try and find a way down, but soon found that was easier said than done. There were no obvious ladders or ramps to use in order to get down from the top of the mine to the bottom, where the railway equipment was. And the fact the mine was packed to the brim with heavy machinery didn't exactly help navigation, as huge machines lumbered about like dinosaurs, their machinery hacking away at the earth itself to extract the useful things that they found. But they were not in Wimbledon.
It was then Hitch spotted something. "Anchoring cables," he said, pointing to them. "Those run from the top of the mine to the bottom, but nobody has thought to use them as transport." He collected some pieces off the floor. "Time to fabricate a harness."
Within a few minutes, he had two ziplining harnesses assembled and set up, and helped Misty into hers before setting up his own. "Are you sure this is safe?" Misty asked.
"The Special Forces do this sort of thing for traversing buildings," Hitch said. "We should be fine." After a few moments, they set off down the hill and into the mine. The cables seemingly ended quite abruptly, and they tumbled out of the sky and bounced on some matresses.
"How did those get there?" Misty asked.
"Plot convenience," Hitch replied.
Then spoke a voice. "Are you vandals? Driver says vandals break in and smash things."
"Well, this day keeps getting weirder," Izzy said, as she checked the GPS and speed tracker on the laptop. To say they were going slowly was a bit of an understatement. In fact, the freight train they had borrowed was going very slowly, not exceeding 30 miles an hour. In a country like Britain, this would be less of an issue. But the issues here constituted distance. It was like travelling from London to Newcastle by road, only it was incredibly dusty. And the slow speeds would only continue, as this was as fast as the engine could go.
"I wonder how Misty and Hitch are doing," Aurora said.
"You could always ring them on the satellite phone and find out," Isaac suggested.
So this is exactly what Aurora did. There was a few minutes of beeping as a connection was made, The beeping soon stopped, and a voice spoke up on the other end. "Good afternoon, Mrs Moonbow. I haven't heard from you in a while."
"Hello, Hitch," Aurora replied. "May I ask where you are right now?"
"Well, that's a bit of a challenge to pin down right now. The GPS can't make its mind up as these hills are causing all sorts of interference around us. It's an interesting challenging environment to operate in, but luckily we were able to secure some form of transport across the Outback."
"Are there any signs telling you where you are?" Aurora asked. "Hopefully you'll be able to pin down where you are from signage alone."
"In theory," Hitch replied. "Hold on, there's a notice here now. "Ah! You are now leaving Mesa A. I can figure out where I am!"
There was another brief pause as Hitch checked something. "Perfect! We take a right at West Creek Junction and follow you guys to Paraburdoo! Our method of transport might be unconventional, but it's gonna get us there."
"What exactly are you travelling on?" Aurora asked.
"An old steam locomotive we found inside the mine. His name's Pendennis Castle. He's been out in Australia for a few years now, but he's still fully functional and can take us there. He even asked me if I knew somebody called Scotsman. Not sure what that's all about, but oh well!"
"Hopefully we'll see you soon," Aurora said. "Bye!"
"Are they safe?" Izzy asked.
"Yes, and not only that they're only a few hours behind us. If they can work their locomotive and try to catch up, we should be able to get to Paraburdoo together and on time."
"We've still got another three hours to go," Izzy replied. "Who fances a board game whilst we wait for our destination to arrive?"
"No," Isaac said. "We need to stay focused on the task at hand. The enemy could be anywhere, and could attack us at any moment. The outback is perfect in that regard, as it provides limitless places for a foe to hide from the enemy."
Back at Pendennis Castle, things weren't going too well. The train had been forced to stop for water, and Hitch was trying to scrounge water from the landscape whilst Misty managed the boiler. "These controls are more complex than what I'm used to!" Misty said.
Moments later, Hitch returned with some water and a truck. "This should keep us going," he said.
"You're not going anywhere!" shouted a voice. Hitch turned to see troops surrounding them.
"Oh, hello Sprout," he said. "Still playing at being a soldier?"
"You'll stop making wisecracks if you know what's good for you!" the former Generalissimo of Falmouth replied. "Cuff them!"
Hours later, the Moonbows finally arrived at Paraburdoo, and followed the instructions to what they hoped was the thing they needed to find. They dug in the ground and pulled out an old box, before retreating back onboard the train to examine the contents.
"Some paper, with some numbers on it," Izzy said. "Could they be a code?"
"There's no obvious pattern to them," Isaac said, looking closely at them. "These may need decoding by an expert."
Suddenly, a large diesel hoved into view, a massive hydraulic claw on the top snapping at them. "Looks like you three found yourself in a place you shouldn't be."
Argyle was having similar trouble with the fragments they had found on top of the Jungfrau. He shifted the numbers back and forth, but no matter what he tried he couldn't get something that made any sense. "I've studied a lot of strange things in my time but this makes no sense," he admitted, sighing as he did so. "These numbers and letters seem to have been picked at random."
Sunny took a glance. "Perhaps it's a code, like a Ceasar shift?" she suggested.
"Number codes are notoriously hard to break, as we know. Virtually any symbols can be assigned to a number, whereas a Caesar shift is a case of working through all the possible combinations as there's only 25 possible options." Argyle glanced to Goldie. "Any thoughts?"
"Map coordinates, maybe?" Goldie suggested. "Incomplete ones at that, but map coordinates. It could be worth running them into Google maps and seeing what comes up as a result,"
Argyle carefully reproduced the numbers in the search engine, and then took a look at what the system suggested. "It's pointing me to somewhere in Britain," he said. "But it can't complete the location find as lots of digits are missing."
"See? We're one step closer now."
Argyle glanced to his books and directory, on which he had scribbled some notes. "This is more complex than anything related to Sodor I've ever researched." He stopped. "I think we need to call in some extra help in this field, somebody who knows this sort of thing better than anybody else in the world."
He looked over. "Get me Firelight!"
Sunny opened the door, revealing Firelight to be standing on the other side. "Sure thing!"
Argyle shook his head. "Not that quickly, Sunny!"
Author's Note
As crazy as the idea of a GWR locomotive in Australia might seem, this is actually true. 4079 Pendennis Castle was purchased by the Hammersley and Robe River Iron Company and operated on their network working railtours. Although the engine is now back in the UK (and will soon be working its first trains since the 1990s at time of writing), I thought it would be good to acknowledge this curious piece of railway history.
I also hid a reference to Monty Python in there. See if you can spot it.
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 11-Brute Strength and Force
The Moonbows soon realised something, given that this large diesel was looking at them. It soon became obvious to all three of them of the course of action they must take in order to escape with the box with the paper in it.
Izzy was the one who said it. "RUN!"
And run they did. They scarpered to another train which was sitting nearby and was fortuitously facing the other way. There was no way the train they'd arrived on would be able to reverse down the line at any sort of speed. Aurora was the first onboard, and got the control system and mechanisms fired up in preparation for movement. "This might take a few moments, so hang on!"
"I don't think we have a few moments!" Isaac shouted. "That diesel is now following us!"
Izzy's radio then crackled. "Hello, Izzy," said a familiar voice. "You might want to look up."
A helicopter had just buzzed into position overhead, and leaning out of it was none other than Sprout Cloverleaf. "How did you survive the explosion at the steelworks?" Izzy asked.
"I wasn't in the building at the time," Sprout smirked. "Now then, give me the box or else they fall off the side of the train! Nothing could survive a fall of this height."
Izzy saw Hitch and Misty, bound, and about to be pushed over the edge. "Don't give it to them!" Misty shouted.
Izzy got out of the cab and nodded to her father. She climbed up without the box, and clambered onto the roof of the locomotive just as it began to move away. The engine roared as she decided to confront Sprout directly. "Give me my friends back!" she shouted.
"Well then, you'll have to give me the box, won't you?" Sprout replied.
Izzy smiled. "I'll give you something better. NOW!"
Just then, something slammed into the chopper, knocking off the rear rotor. "I've lost all control!" the pilot radioed.
Hitch and Misty jumped on the cue, and as they dropped something became clear. "What happens if we hit the ground?" Misty asked.
"The fall isn't the fatal bit," Hitch replied. "The landing usually is."
Luckily, it wasn't to be their end. Their fall was suddenly broken by a pair of mattresses that had been put there quickly by Aurora.
"I can see where Izzy gets her resourcefulness from!" Hitch said, as the pair made their way back over to the train.
The chopper continued to spin about wildly, and flew off in a random direction. "This isn't the last you'll see of me!" Sprout shouted. "The box will be mine, and we shall rule this world the way we are meant to! It shall be your ult-"
"Sir, is it possible if we could less monologing?" the pilot asked.
As the heavy iron train got underway, the now five man team opened the box and looked at the contents inside. They were pieces of paper, as previously established, and Izzy got the scanner and satellite laptop set up to send them to Argyle.
Argyle finally had the video call set up. He waited for the connection to finish, but then at last the familiar face of Firelight appeared on the screen.
Or rather an extreme closeup of his left eye. "Hello Argyle!" he said. "How are things?"
"You're sitting rather close to the camera," Argyle replied. "You wouldn't mind backing up a little bit?"
Firelight laughed. "Oh, sorry. I'm not entirely used to the new webcams the department requires us to use." He scooted the chair back, revealing his full face to the camera. "So, how has your globetrotting trip gone so far? Found anything exciting?"
"We travelled through mountains, got shot at by a chopper, and found a box on top of a mountain. Inside the box were some pieces of paper with numbers on them. I was wondering if you could take a look?"
"Of course!" Firelight replied, and took a closer look. "Hmmm. Interesting. If these scans are showing what they think they do... then I have absolutely no idea what any of this means. It's a series of random numbers and letters, it seems. A code, perhaps? Number codes are notoriously hard to crack."
Argyle sighed. "Well, thanks for helping Firelight."
Suddenly, another caller popped into frame. "Hi Argyle! Hey Sunny! How are things?"
"Oh, hi Izzy!" Sunny said. "How are things in Australia?"
"Oh, they've been crazy," Izzy said. "We got fired upon by people and we just rescued Hitch and Izzy! What could be in these boxes that they want them this badly?"
"Beats me," Sunny replied.
"Do remember this is an important call, not a social call," Argyle patiently, but firmly, reminded them. He glanced back to Firelight. "As I was saying-"
"Wait," Firelight said. "Did Izzy say boxes? Did these boxes have paper in them?"
"Yes," Izzy replied. "What a funny coincidence. I'll send the scans through now."
A few minutes later and the scans arrived on the monitor, which Argyle forwarded to Firelight. After a few moments, they got their reply. "I've tried fitting the numbers together," he explained. "And it's very good news indeed. I have found out they are coordinates to a place!"
"As opposed to what else?" Argyle asked. "Can you get a sense of where it's meant to be?"
"Unfortunately, no," Firelight answered. "There are critical digits missing, which I suspect was done on purpose to prevent those who didn't have all three pieces of paper from actually figuring out where the objects were located. We need a third set in order to locate where the object is."
Goldie looked over. "Well, the Havens have been oddly quiet for the last few days. Maybe we should contact them and find out where they are up to?"
"Great idea!" Argyle said. "Sunny, can you get either Pipp or Zipp on the line? Pipp's most likely to answer her phone, isn't she?"
"Probably," Sunny replied, and set the dial tone running on her device.
In South America, the team cheered as the final bridge was lowered into position. At long last, the exhausting work of rebuilding a railway line was done, and they could move forward at a reasonable pace.
"That's the first new bit of railway in these parts in quite a long time!" Lord Haven said, wiping his brow from the accumulated sweat.
"And it only took restarting the industrial revolution to pull it off," Zipp said. "I don't think Pipp is enjoying it, though."
"I'm gonna have so many bugs to wash out of my hair when all this is done!" Pipp replied. "#Hot, #Jungle, #CreepyCrawlies, #WouldNotRecommend..."
The other three momentarily tuned her out as they discussed the game plan. "I've just run the weight calculations," Lady Haven said. "With the equipment we have, we'd be wisest moving the train across in sections and then joining them together on the other side."
"Good idea," Lord Haven replied. "Zipp, you're up. Take the trucks attached to the front and push them into the nearby loop to be shunted."
Zipp nodded, and headed away to Charles to fire him up.
A few minutes passed, and after some uncoupling was done Charles began to push his heavy train over the gap. The bridge wasn't exactly the strongest of things, but then again it wasn't exactly designed to carry big express engines either. A small diesel was ideal, though. The locomotives rolled over the bridge with the trucks and eventually reached the other side, leaving them in the siding.
"Well, that wasn't too bad," Zipp said. "Good work, Charles."
"My genius got us through that one," the diesel replied. "Now let's see if Mrs Demanding can get her lot across."
Further back, Sophie had the job of moving the coaches across the gap. Pipp was pretty nervous... and hot. Both windows were down to increase air flow into the cab, and the bridge ahead looked shaky. She nervously opened the throttle as Sophie started to roll down the track.
They eventually reached the bridge. It wobbled a bit, and groaned slightly, but at long last they were safely over and on the other side.
On the other side, the train was reassembled, with the goods at the back and the two engines at the front coupled to the coaches. After that, the run was relatively easy, and they eventually reached the marked spot for the ascent to Huascaran.
"Wait, we're going hiking?" Pipp said.
"Looks that way," Zipp replied over the radio. "Besides, you could use the exercise."
"I heard that!"
"It's a bit far to walk, you two," Lord Haven pointed out. "The mountain is very high, and to start our ascent we'd need to walk a long way in the wrong direction."
"Instead, we have a faster method for getting up there," Lady Haven pointed out. "A helicopter, remember?"
Zoom looked to Thunder. "Get Purbeck 1 ready to fly up to the top of the mountain," she said. "We've got a long flight ahead of us."
Author's Note
Another chapter down! Many sources of inspiration should become clear in this chapter. See if you can spot the TATMR reference.
The concluding section of the chapter is loosely inspired by the ending of Top Gear's Burma special, which features a nerve-wracking sequence of the trio driving their heavy lorries over a rickety bridge-which miraculously doesn't collapse.
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 12-Defying Gravity (and Logic)
As the train continued to rattle through the outback, the crew came across the damaged Pendennis Castle, who had been left in a siding. Thankfully, most of the damage seemed only to be to the paintwork, as there were no obvious steam leaks or anything like that.
Misty hopped out of the cab to check the huge engine was OK. "Sorry for leaving you like that!"
"Well, in fairness, I don't think anybody would have reacted differently to a situation like that," Pendennis Castle replied. "It could always be worse, remember that."
"We tried that," Hitch said, who had joined Misty outside. "And sure enough things got worse. But we need a new game plan, and fast."
Izzy leaned out of the cab of the iron ore train. "Should we switch engines? I suspect Sprout will be hunting for an iron ore train like this. They aren't exactly hard to spot!"
"Good idea," Hitch said. "It might be a bit of a squash in the cab, but driving one of these large engines isn't that different to a Light Pacific."
"Those rolling spam cans?" Pendennis Castle snorted. "As if. I, a refined engine of the Great Western, am far better to drive than one of those crude tins of lard."
The others ignored this as they transferred their gear onboard the train, and soon enough they were back on their way and off out of the outback. As they rolled along, backwards this time, Izzy continued to scan the skies, as well as make use of water as the heat was getting to be a bit stifling.
"It rather goes without saying we're in danger," Isaac said. "And I think this calls for an urgent change of game plan before we get caught up in anything else potentially life threatening."
"Agreed," Aurora said. "I don't really know Sprout but he seems pretty unpleasant based on that one interaction."
"You don't know the half of it," Misty replied, shuddering as she remembered that day at the steelworks. "Flying back to the UK should be safest, because it's far away from him and we can get back into contact with out friends in Falmouth."
After more conversation, Hitch checked the signals up ahead. "We should be clear to return to Perth," he said. "I'm not sure where we're going to take this engine, though. I doubt he'll fit in the hold, and a boat journey would take days. Not fast enough I suspect."
"There is a flight direct to London," Isaac said, glancing at the laptop whilst his wife continued to be a lookout. "It's about 24 hours."
"WHAT?" said the assembled crew.
"That's an entire day in an aircraft!" Misty exclaimed. "That's a long time to be sitting on a plane."
"The only alternative is hopper flights, which is slower."
"Err, guys?" Hitch said. "Don't want to spoil the conversation, but the ground had turned a rainbow colour."
The light grew to fever pitch, and suddenly the engine and the humans vanished in a flash of light.
Alphabittle fired up his communication software to see if any other LLF units were on station. He had some news, which was probably good.
"Receiving you loud and clear Alphabittle," said one of the other operators.
"I've got good news for you all," Alphabittle replied.
"Is it about the Dacia Sandero?" another voice asked.
"No," Alphabittle replied again. "It's about the Lost Engine. A while ago, I rescued a family who had been captured by Phalanx after looking for a box with clues in it. I've done some looking, and I think I have a clue. There's an old document which makes reference to 'the land where the skies are darkened with smoke'."
"That could refer to just about anywhere," said another voice.
"I know," Alphabittle said. "That is why I've done some digging. I have reason to think the engine is in the United Kingdom, but we cannot be certain. But there is one part of the country which seems to match the description quite well.
"Namely?"
"It's the area around Birmingham, UK. Not Birmingham, Alabama, which I know is confusing but try to keep pace."
"Of course, boss," said another of the voices. "So, what's the game plan?"
"Deploy to Birmingham as fast as possible and try to start the search," Alpabittle made clear. "I'm packing up my operation in Ireland and heading for Britain as fast as possible. I'll meet you there."
He closed down the call and looked over his shoulder. "You guys ready to play to win?" he called.
Elsewhere, work was continuing inside another building. Argyle was currently not looking at the documentation surrounding the lost engine, but was busy wrestling with a booking website. "If these trains are meant to appeal to tourists, why is the English on them often so bad?" he asked rhetorically.
Sunny looked over his shoulder. "Something the problem?"
"Yes," Argyle said. These booking websites are for an overnight train. I know you're not the biggest of fans of flying, so I've decided we should travel by overnight train back to Britain. It should be harder for whoever also wants the Lost Engine to track us that way. The only problem is I'm struggling to understand the interface."
Goldie stepped over. "Switch it over to German," she said. "I think I can back translate what is meant if I see the original."
Argyle nodded, and switched the language display on the SBB website. Sure enough, it was soon in German.
Goldie directed her husband as to what to do, and soon enough they were booked on a train due away from Interlarken to London, with the first stage of the run starting at nine the next day with a running time of about 10 hours.
"At least that will give us a chance to look around this place rather than racing between places like a weasel on soda pop," Sunny said.
None of them knew of the tracking device in Sunny's bag. In another room, Opaline grinned and rubbed her hands together. "Have an agent trail them. We must know what they have discovered."
Author's Note
Again, more references to spot for you guys. Indeed, the Birmingham of the UK is the city which Birmingham, AL, is named after partly owing to the latter sitting in the middle sitting in the middle of a giant iron ore deposit.
Overnight trains from Switzerland to other parts of Europe, whilst not as common as they used to be, are still a common feature of European rail travel. It can be a nice way to rack up the miles whilst resting before arriving at your next destination. It's now even easier thanks to the Channel Tunnel.
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 13: The Last Clue
With a whirr of rotor blades and a humming of a familiar engine, Purbeck 1 took to the skies once more with its passengers onboard and secured safely in the passenger hold. They gradually gained elevation as they flew along.
"Good afternoon, everybody," Thunder said over the radio. "This is your captain speaking. Thank you for joining us onboard this flight, operated by Dorset Airways. As I speak, we are currently climbing to our cruising altitude. For all further safety information, please consult the information boards over the doors. I must apologise in advance for the failure of the in flight entertainment system, but this is not anticipated to be a long flight. Finally, I must request you keep your seatbelts and harnesses on in the event we encounter any rough air. Once again, I would like to welcome you onboard this Dorset Airways flight, and hope you have a pleasant journey."
The radio line closed as they buzzed along well above the treetops. Pipp looked out, surprisingly in her element. "It's a bit loud in here!" she shouted.
"It's a helicopter!" Zipp replied. "They're loud! Not exactly designed for luxury or comfort! Especially when you consider this one's a former military example!"
The chopper continued to thump along the river with the passengers looking out and commenting on the view. "I think I can see something in the air over there," said Lord Haven, pointing.
"I can't," Lady Haven replied. "There's a lot of mist over there. Could there be an island out there that's unknown?"
"Why would there be an island out here that's unknown?" Lord Haven asked. "This is South America, not Antarctica!"
"What if it was always covered in mist?"
"That would certainly be, shall we say, 'misterious'." There was a brief bit of laughter at the joke, even though it wasn't hugely funny. The chopper continued to rattle along, the familiar thud of the rotors soon becoming background music.
Suddenly, another chopper roared past, althogether far too close. Zoom glanced over. "What was that?" she asked.
Thunder glanced down at his RADAR screen. "Object detected behind us," he said. "Checking IFF signal." He flicked a switch and looked closely at the monitor. "No response. They must have a damaged IFF system."
"Or it's been turned off," Zoom suggested. Suddenly from behind there was the roar of a chaingun.
"We've been bounced!" Zoom shouted. "Get us out of here!"
Thunder adjusted the radio. "Taking evasive action. You might want to hold onto something, everybody!"
Thunder kicked the pedals and pulled the stick over. Purbeck 1 pulled off a barrel roll to the side which got it out of the line of fire. He then checked the radio to spot the pursuing chopper was pulling off the same move. "Unidintified target, please respond, over."
"Inform me of where you're going and I might spare your life," the pilot replied.
"Wait? That's the guy we heard the sound recording of," Thunder said.
"P. T. Boomeer," Zoom replied. "Keep moving. Hopefully we can shake this guy."
Suddenly, the cockpit lit up with lock tones. "DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!" Thunder shouted, and started a dive towards the river level as the chasing chopper did the same. The change in altitude confused the missiles at first, but they soon got a new lock tone.
"Dumping flares!" Zoom shouted, flicking a switch.
Thunder got on the radio. "Dear passengers, we apologise for the rough air. We'll hopefully have the bandit off our tale in a few moments."
Just then, the mountain loomed above them. Thunder decided to try something risky. He pulled up and began to climb rapidly whilst pushing the engines as far as he could. The engines roared and whined as the chopper gained height rapidly, with the chasing chopper struggling to maintain the same angle of ascent.
More rockets continued to fly, which some precision flying saw off. "Bad news!" Zoom said. "We're out of flares!"
Warning lights were coming on throughout the dashboard. "I've got an engine temperature warning," Thunder added. "Slowing her down."
The chopper levelled off and slowed down as the chasing chopper overshot and flew higher, before dropping down to their level.
"Give it up," said Boomer. "Or else I may blow you to bits."
"Seen these evasive moves?" Thunder replied. "I can keep this up all day."
Suddenly, the other chopper exploded, the machine going into an uncontrolled spin. Moments later, a jet fighter roared overhead before climbing out of the area.
Zoom saw somebody jumping out of the burning chopper. "Looks like Boomer ejected," she said.
They suddenly got a radio call. "Purbeck 1, I overheard the commotion," said the voice, revealing them to be an American. Presumably the jet was an American one as well. "Good hunting. God Save the Queen and all that."
Thunder switched the radio to reply. "Thanks for the help. By the way, we have a King right now."
"Muscle memory."
At the top of the mountain was a small plateau, which allowed Purbeck 1 to land on top of the mountain. On landing, Zipp and Pipp hoipped out to proceed to a small mound of earth marked with a rock. "Should we try digging there?" Pipp asked.
"Yes," Zipp replied. "Shovel, please."
Moments later she had her shovel, and they began digging through the ground to reach the target at the bottom. Sure enough, at the bottom of the hole was a big box, which the pair pulled out.
Well, when I say the pair pulled out, Zipp did most of the heavy lifting. Her sister wheezed at the strain of trying to move the object upwards out of the ground. "Why... are boxes... so... heavy?" she asked.
Zipp snorted. "Easy load. Perhaps you should try working out more."
Once the box was back onboard the chopper, they flew away to the train. "Once we get back onboard," Lord Haven said, "we must transmit the information to Argyle as quickly as possible. After that, we need to begin the return trip to the docks."
"And I could do with a shower," Pipp added.
Meanwhile, it was well into the night on the train to London. The service from Interlarken had departed late and was about half an hour behind schedule thanks to a slow goods in front. Argyle had stayed up in order to try and make sense of the fragments, but it was proving hard with the low light and his tiredness.
"Just one more try," he said to himself, as he heard the train stop. They must have halted somewhere for an engine change. He brought up the data one last time, noticing that Goldie and Sunny were already asleep in their bunks. He couldn't afford to join them. Not just yet.
Suddenly, he got a ping on his email, and checked it. "Who's this?" he asked. "RubySparkly01@Gmail.Com ?"
Just then he got a clarifying message. Apologies. I accidentally sent the email from Pipp's account; she'd logged in to check her social media. This is the fragment recovered from the Mountain in South America. I look forward to seeing you again, wherever we may meet again.
Robert.
"Finally," Argyle thought. "Time to mix it up and put it all together." He looked closely at the scan, and then noticed something interesting with the way the numbers were written on it. "Those spacings look a little bit strange," he noted to himself. "Perhaps if I were to move them a little bit, or maybe overlay them with one another..."
He brought up the other two scans and began to move them about on the screen, trying to find a pattern with the figures and numbers so he could try and understand what was going on with this set of displays and messages.
It was then he had a bright idea. "Stoke the magic that lies beneath the mountain." Next to him was a box of Toblerone, which he picked up and held to the light. The light beams flowed down onto his screen, revealing something that lay on the back.
"The numbers produce coordinates," he realised, and when he had that he knew how to fit them together. This worked! It denoted a place!
The coordinates read 52°31'11.0"N 2°04'34.8"W. Argyle punched this into Google maps and found where this was. He penned a new email to both the Havens and the Moonbows.
Good news. I have figured out the hidden message on the fragments we've recovered. The coordinates given are 52°31'11.0"N 2°04'34.8"W, which is close to Dudley in the West Midlands. We should rednezvous there and try to find the object.
He then sent the message before closing down his laptop. There is always an immense sense of satisfaction to solving a puzzle, and this was what Argyle was feeling. As the engine change was completed, he could finally get ready for bed and relax a bit. He did so, clambered into his bunk, and fell asleep, ready for whatever challenges might come their way in the search for the Lost Engine.
Author's Note
The opening chopper sequence is an homage to numerous classic films (jungle films always have a chopper chase for some reason). What's perhaps more impressive is that Thunder was pulling off moves the Sea King wasn't designed to do!
Pipp's email handle being RubySparkly01 is a reference to the French dub of My Little Pony: a New Generation , where the character is called Ruby instead of Pipp (owing to Pipp sounding like a vulgar word in French).
Next time: Lost and Found!
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 14: Race to the North
If you had been in Wembley on a Spring morning one day in May, you might have noticed something highly unusual happen had you been looking in the right direction.
Well, when I say Wembley, I technically mean the goods yard at Willesden Junction which is nearby. However, I used the name of Wembley as it will allow international readers to more easily place precisely where this event took place. But onwards we must go with our story, and it shall not disappoint, I hope.
Had you been there on that morning, you would have observed a bright light appearing over one of the sidings, and moments later an engine would emerge from it and roll to a stop. The light then faded from behind it and the lighting levels in the region returned to normal. The engine was, of course, Pendennis Castle.
Hitch leaned out of the cab and looked around. "It's suddenly fallen cold!" he said. "And I have no clue where we are. Any station running in boards at all visible around here?"
Aurora suddenly spotted one. "Well, there's the Underground station for Willesden Junction," she said. "That's near London, I think."
"It's right in the middle of London, not far from Euston," Isaac pointed out. "I'm not entirely sure how, but we're on the opposite side of the planet somehow. And I don't feel upside down anymore, so that's always good."
Misty was equally baffled. "We seem to have violated all known laws of space and time," she said. "How in the world did we get from the Australian Outback to here? Surely we didn't teleport?"
"It seems as though that may have happened," Izzy chimed in. "Warp theory and all that."
Suddenly, Isaac's phone buzzed, informing him of an incoming email. He pulled it out of his pocket and took a look at it. "We have the last clue!" he said.
"What is it?" asked Izzy.
"The coordinates from the document are near Dudley, which is near Birmingham, West Midlands."
"As opposed to where?" Izzy asked.
"Birmingham, Alabama?" Misty suggested.
"Seems that way," Isaac finished, as he glanced out of the cab behind Hitch. "And if we're in Willesden Junction, it means that we're on the West Coast Mainline. And this in turn means that it's a straight shot to Birmingham from here! How very convenient."
"Slight problem," Hitch said. "Steam locomotives are prohibited from running on the West Coast Mainline south of Crewe, so we won't be able to run there under our own power."
Izzy chimed in. "Remember when we were on our quest to find the crystals? You got a tow through the Ordsall Chord as Rebecca had broken down."
"Don't remind me," Hitch replied.
"Why don't we secure another tow to Dudley? Diesels can operate south of Crewe. In fact, there's one right there!"
Hitch nodded, and yawned. "I'll notify the local box that we need a tow," he said. "And I could do with a coffee. I suspect our body clocks are going to be pretty messed up for the next few days."
Meanwhile, the train from Interlarken was just pulling into St. Pancras. Without a moment to spare, Argyle, Goldie, and Sunny all hopped off when the doors opened (after the train had stopped, as getting out whilst the train is still in motion is generally not a good idea). They walked quickly down the platform.
"Where did you say Firelight was meeting with us?" Goldie asked.
"Next to the statue of John Betjeman," Argyle replied. "This way."
He walked quickly across the platform with his luggage, quite refreshed despite getting to bed later than the others. They walked quite quickly, and before long they spotted Firelight standing next to the statue.
"Hello!" he said. "So, the Midlands awaits us! I have to admit a city so close to my place of work being the hiding place of the Lost Engine was hardly what I was expecting, but life has a habit of doing funny things. Besides, I imagine you had fun finding the things, right?"
"Fun is an operative word in that sense," Sunny replied. "Still, that's another country ticked off the list."
"Now we just need to make our way to Euston and get on a train to Dudley," Goldie said. "And that means braving the Tube at this time in the morning. You'd best be on your guard, as things can change suddenly and without warning."
As they went along, they continued to talk. "I wonder how the Havens are getting back?" Argyle wondered. "It may take them a while, seeing as they are the furthest away from our current position."
"Whisky Sierra Delta Two Zero Two One, this is BHX Tower. You are cleared for landing. Use runway approach Four Zulu Eight Seven, over?"
Lord Haven adjusted his radio. "BHX Tower, this is Whisky Sierra Delta Two Zero Two One, instruction understood. I am cleared for landing to use runway approach Four Zulu Eight Seven. Runway is on approach guidance system, over."
"Whisky Sierra Delta Two Zero Two One, this is BHX Tower. Confirmed: have a safe landing. Out."
The plane touched down on the runway and soon rumbled to a stop, before moving towards a hanger for unloading. Lord Haven removed his earpieces and placed them down. "Thank you for flying Air Haven," he said. "Now comes the hard part- getting to the coordinates."
As the four exited the plane, followed by a small security detail, Zipp raised the obvious question. "When did you learn to fly a jet?"
"It was a useful skill to have when I was living in South Africa," Lord Haven replied. "It's a pretty big place."
"We must remember to thank the pilot for flying the plane over for us," Lady Haven added. "That has saved us a lot of journey time, whilst our engines and other equipment are shipped back to Falmouth."
"Buses to various places are this way!" Pipp called. "Next one to Dudley is in 10 minutes!"
"How convenient," Zipp noted.
After a few hours, the three groups were reunited after what felt like years away from each other. Firelight soon took up the lead. "According to my calculations," he said, "the coordinates are within the grounds of the Black Country Museum. So it makes sense to head in there. Onwards to adventure!"
"We've had quite the adventure already!" Pipp complained, as they went off in the direction of the museum. "I haven't showered in days!"
"There'll be plenty of chances to shower later," Hitch said. "Let's focus on completing the mission right now."
The crew soon made their way into the museum (Firelight had used his pass to get them in, claiming they were there for a conference), and down into the property towards the marked location. Eventually, they found a building covered in strange moss.
A bit of pulling soon got the door open, and they stepped inside to find a sight that amazed them.
Within it was a steam engine. It was a large tender locomotive, with four leading wheels, six driving wheels, and a low tender, handy if you ever found yourself driving backwards. Not only that, its paintwork was green with elaborate lining.
The tender bore the legend Great Western Railway.
The engine stirred, and spoke with a female voice. "Excuse me, are you vandals? Driver says vandals break in and smash things."
Firelight spoke up. "We're not here to vandalise anything. We're here to save you! They said I was crazy, but we have done it! We've found the Lost Engine!"
"Well, it has been a while since I last went anywhere," the engine replied. "I'm Lady of Legend if you need a name. Lady for short, I suppose."
"Now, how are we going to move her to safety?" Goldie asked. "It's not exactly the sort of treasure you can stick in a backpack and flee whilst running through a collapsing temple."
"But she can be driven out," Misty suggested. "Let's get these cylinders and axleboxes lubricated, and then we can get on our way!"
It took several minutes of work, after Misty had vanished to get Pendennis Castle, Lady of Legend was fully greased and lubricated in preparation for movement. Hitch was already working on getting Lady of Legend's fire up to temperature, which would take a few hours. But after those few hours had passed, the engine was ready to move. Those still there climbed onboard, and Firelight sounded the whistle.
"Lights are green!" he called. "Green for glory!"
"Green means go," Lady of Legend replied.
Those who had visited the museum that day were rather astonished to see a steam locomotive rolling across the grounds. But what a magnificent sight it was. They eventually joined the mainline, where Pendennis Castle was waiting.
"Never thought I'd see a working saint again," he said. "Welcome back, Lady."
Just then, a swarm of helicopters appeared on the horizon, flying towards them. Jet fighters were with them as well. Opaline looked down. "There it is!" she shouted. "Capture the Lost Engine at any cost!"
Author's Note
Well, here we are, nearly at the end of the story. The gang are reunited for one last battle against the villains.
John Betjeman was a British poet who is often regarded as the voice of old England. His role in saving railway lines and preserving a world no longer with us in lines of verse means he is something of a cultural icon. His greatest achievement was convincing British Rail to retain St. Pancras station (the plan had been to shut it and reroute Midland Mainline traffic into King's Cross), hence why the station has a statue in his honour.
The callsign of the Havens' private jet contains references to various different roles that both Richard E. Grant and Jane Krakowski have played over the years. Tell me in the comments if you can identify any of them.
But most importantly of all:
2999 Lady of Legend is another real locomotive. Built at Didcot in 2019 as the newest member of the Saint Class, 2999 is a much needed asset for railway preservation. In terms of role in these stories, she's the rough equivalent of Lady.
And tomorrow: the final chapter!
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Chapter 15: The Last Battle
Upon hearing Opaline's words, Argyle had only one instruction for the assembled crew on Lady of Legend's footplate. "RUN!"
Hitch wound the engine into forward gear and applied as much regulator as possible, with Pendennis Castle following a few moments later. Both engines blazed down the line as Opaline's forces chased them down with helicopters and aircraft.
Opaline switched on the loud speakers to address the crowd. "Give up, already!" she shouted. "I will have the Lost Engine! She is mine by right!"
Argyle looked back. "No you won't!" he shouted. "Because the magic you refuse to believe in will get the better of you!"
Opaline looked confused. "Getting the magic back is the entire point," she said, looking confused.
The choppers continued to blaze along, with periodic gunfire echoing from the choppers as they sped along at speed. This was proving to be quite dangerous. "What we could do with is a distraction!" Pipp shouted. "This footplate is getting extremely crowded!"
Just then, as they joined the WCML, Charles and Sophie appeared on one side on the fast line. "This the sort of thing you were looking for?" Charles asked, with a mirthful grin.
"How did you two get here?" Misty asked from Pendennis Castle.
"We travelled from Liverpool!" Sophie replied. "Now are you going to hop aboard?"
Hitch matched his speed with Charles, and Zipp hopped from one locomotive to another. He then repeated the process with Sophie and Pipp.
The two diesels slowed down to provide some of the enemy a distraction as they flew along. Suddenly, another unit joined the battle. Another set of jet fighters flew in, trying to engage them, but the pilots were flying too quickly and struggled to hit anything.
Seconds later, another jet aircraft flew in and buzzed Opaline's own fighter. "Who are you to fire upon me?" Opaline demanded.
"I think 20 years in the RAF gives me the authority to be a decent pilot," Zoom replied over the radio, trying to distract Opaline as best she could. She used every move in the book to drag the insane monarch to be off the tale of both her boss and her friends, determined at any cost to prevent them from being squished.
The sets of engines flew through Kilsby tunnel, and one of the choppers had the bright idea of flying down it. Unfortunately, this was not Mission: Impossible, and the chopper exploded inside the tunnel, blocking the access that particular tunnel mouth.
Passengers were utterly baffled by what was going on, and looked in surprise. Meanwhile, in the air, Opaline finally secured a missile lock and downed Zoom's jet- only for her own to suddenly take a hit.
"What?" she said. "Where did that missile come from?" She punched the ejector seat and flew into the air just as a Tornado flew past.
The pilot of the Tornado switched frequencies. "Glad to be of service, my fellows," he said, before his jet climbed away.
Sunny recognised the voice. "Hey, that the fighter pilot who saved our bacon in Switzerland!"
Suddenly, Diesel 10 roared in from the Northampton Loop, cackling maniacally. A quick look revealed Boomer at the controls. "Time to even the score," the man said.
"Oh, look at this," Diesel 10 sneered. "Piles of scrap iron unable to harm a fly. Good thing Pinchy's hungry!"
He roared over the lines, much to the frustration of oncoming trains, and began to snap at the two engines. Thankfully, he was unable to hit anything.
"This claw is such shoddy engineering!" Boomer complained.
Several lorries raced in from the side, having seemingly bounced off the motorway to get there. Sprout was standing in one of the trucks. "Time to finish what I started!" he shouted. "The Lost Engine will be mine!"
But just as his forces closed in, a familiar whirr of rotor blades could be heard. Lord Haven looked behind him. "Thunder?" he asked.
Thunder then came on over the radio. "Not if I blow you to kingdom come first!" he said, and released a barrage of rockets, blowing up the trucks. They bounced along the lineside and came to a sudden stop, with a series of bangs.
Misty cheered from the footplate of Pendennis Castle. "We did it!"
The two engines whistles loudly as they continued on their way down the West Coast Mainline."
After all that was over, the families and Firelight gathered at the Haven residence. "Well," Izzy said, "that was quite the adventure, wasn't it?"
"Some of it was more perilous than others," Argyle admitted. "But we made it home, and more importantly the Lost Engine is safe."
"Thank goodness you spotted that piece on that book," Pipp said to Izzy. "Or else we'd probably never have found the Lost Engine!"
"Speaking of the Lost Engine," said Firelight, "what's the plan with caring for her? Or Pendennis Castle for that matter?"
"Sadly, we don't have the facilities at Falmouth to care for three large steam engines," Zipp explained. "Lady of Legend has already been sent to Didcot to be looked after, and Pendennis Castle is going to Tyseley, near Birmingham. That way both of them can get the proper care and maintenance they need."
"I say a celebration is in order," Isaac said. "Is that a good idea?"
"I say we have a meal to celebrate," Lord Haven suggested. "We've been saving something for a special occasion, haven't we dear?"
"Great minds think alike, it seems," Lady Haven smiled.
As the assembled crew dug into a nicely cooked meal, they reflected on the adventures of the last year or so. The unlikely journey across Britain that brought them together and brought the magic back. The scrapes and thrills that living in Falmouth brought. And, of course, meeting Misty, whom they now regarded as basically family.
As merriment and laughter flowed, there was no doubt their lives had changed dramatically in that time. But it was for the better.
They all had each other. And they wouldn't have it any other way.
Author's Note
Well, there you have it! The end of another story. With a rather different tale now under my belt, this marks the formal end of Phase 1 of the FalmouthVerse. But never you fear, for the next phase will begin in June.
But certain traditions will always endure, and as such I say: ROLL CREDITS!
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
CAST-IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Kimiko Glenn - Izzy Moonbow
This story is dedicated on memory of Level Dasher, Fimfiction user, writer, editor, and friend. We miss you still.
Thomas and Friends: New Frontiers
Fimfiction Proudly Presents
A Story by The Blue EM2
Sponsored by the Guild of Equestrian Railroaders
And Based on an Idea by Thomlight Sparkle
Starring the Voices of:
Vanessa Hudgens
Kimiko Glenn
Sofia Carson
Liza Koshy
James Marsden
Jane Krakowski
Michael McKean
Bahia Watson
Keith Whickam
Rachel Miller
Theresa Gallagher
Richard Hammond
Jeremy Clarkson
Donald Sumpter
Richard E. Grant
Athena Karkanis
And Geoffrey Rush
Animation by Boulder Media and Arc Productions
Model Effects and Sequences recorded at Ellstree Studios
A Hasbro and Mattel Co-Production, Copyright MMXXIII
