It was a lovely summer Saturday. The sun shone and the birds sang, and all seemed well in Falmouth. Behind the lighthouse complex that the Starshines called home, there was an old quarry. This had operated until somewhat recently, then closed when the stone became economically unviable to extract. The last train had left Lighthouse Quarry in 1987 (Argyle had found a photo of the last train pulling away from Falmouth Yard), and since then the track had been simply left in place.

The old engine shed had also been left, as the cost of dismantling it was greater than any potential profit from doing so. The structure had proven convenient, as for some reason it had been included in the land package for the lighthouse complex, and Argyle had stored Salty in there whilst working on him.

And today that was precisely what he was doing. Veronica had popped over to help, and Goldie had taken Sunny out for the day to Penzance. This gave Argyle plenty of time to focus on Salty.

Today, he had replaced some of the electrical systems, and had done some work on the roller bearings. Veronica had helped him see what bits needed replacing, so Argyle's next job was to see if he could source any replacement parts.

"Where will you find them?" Veronica had asked, putting down an oil can.

"I'm in contact with the Diesel Shunter's Alliance," Argyle replied. "They sometimes put in bulk orders for parts, so I may tag along with those."

Salty looked over. "Thanks for your help, mateys!"

"No problem!" Argyle replied.

Salty smiled. "If this be the end of the work party, I wish to perform an old shanty, or at least part of one."

"How does he know so many shanties?" Veronica asked.

"He worked on a dockside, remember?" Argyle pointed out.

Salty then drew in some breath, and started to sing. The many years sitting in a siding out of use had affected his voice not at all, and it was almost a shame there were no trucks to join in with the harmony.

"Kind friends and companions, come join me in rhyme!
Come lift up your voices in chorus with mine!
Come lift up your voices, all grief to refrain/
For we may or might never all meet here again!

"Here's a health to the company and one to my lass!
Let us drink and be merry all out of one glass!
Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain/
For we may or might never all meet here again!"

Veronica looked over. "I'll need to be on my way," she said. "My train leaves in about half an hour, and I've got a date tonight."

"Good luck!" Argyle smiled. "The same guy as before?"

"You bet," Veronica said. "We're off to the Admiral's Head tonight. Looks promising too!"

Argyle then closed the shed up. "See you soon, Salty!"

"See you later, matey!" Salty said. "Smooth seas and clear skies!"

Once the work was done, Argyle began to make his way back towards his home. Goldie and Sunny were supposed to be back at six or so, which gave him an hour or two to get other things done.

Just then, he spotted something odd coming from a cave. He looked in confusion. "Does light normally come from caves like that?"

The Cornish coastline is dotted with many caves, which were historically used by pirates to store loot when on the run from either the police or the Royal Navy. Many of these caves were long since empty, much to the relief of Salty. Ironically, despite talking like a pirate he was terrified of meeting real ones.

But, truth be told, Argyle didn't think being fearful of being robbed was too strange a fear. He walked along the old line towards the cave. He looked towards it- and suddenly his sense of apprehension was replaced with one of curiosity. What if there was some great discovery sitting in there? What if a legendary pirate captain had left his loot in there, for somebody else to find?

The chance was too good to pass up, and he stepped inside the cave. It was cold and dank, but Argyle figured he'd only be in there for a few moments.

As he made his way inside, he suddenly saw the source of the bright glow. A large glowing circle was sitting there, which was what was producing the rather strange light he had seen outside the cave in the yard.

Suddenly, the light grew in intensity, and before he could react Argyle was pulled in.

The next thing he knew was landing on the floor, and he stood up as quickly as he could. "Where am I?"

Where he was now bore little resemble to Lighthouse Quarry. A massive harbour stretched out before him, with vast dock cranes and heavy machinery moving goods. Warehouses were stocked full of goods, and engines were at work on the dockside.

But what caught his attention was the fact the engines were all talking to one another.

Argyle walked back a bit, and then saw a sign

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING TIDMOUTH PORT AUTHORITY CONTROLLED LINES.

SWITCH TO RADIO CHANNEL 045 AND AWAIT INSTRUCTIONS.

"Tidmouth," Argyle said to himself. "Wait a second... I'm on Sodor!"

"Hey! You!" shouted a voice.

Argyle looked over to see a man looking at him. He looked very officious and a bit annoyed. "Were you talking to me?"

"Yes! I was!" said the man. "Don't just stand about there staring! Get to work! We've got some trucks that need shunting! Ring Haw's over there!"

Ring Haw was a large saddle tank with inside cylinders, with his smokebox and chimney clear of the saddle tank. He was painted green with black lining, combined with red connecting rods, and a set of nameplates that red RING HAW in block capitals.

"You good to go to work?" he asked. "I assume you're new?"

"I guess you could say that," Argyle said, hopping onto the footplate. "Now then, let's see if you can remember how to do this."

Truth be told, he had some familiarity with these engines. When he was growing up, an industrial line backed onto his home, and a small saddle tank had worked the line there. Argyle had gotten to know the engine, Brookes, very well. He wondered what had happened to him, but safe to say Ring Haw was very similar. Just a big bigger.

The driver and engine got to work, moving trucks from siding to siding, and marshalling loaded vehicles into larger trains ready to go to places far away. The narrator then resisted the urge to make the obvious joke.

"Mr Narrator, you're not supposed to break the fourth wall!"

"Izzy, you're not in this story!"

"OK! See ya!"

The work continued for over an hour, until at last the cleaned sidings were filled with trucks, and stock was pushed into other sidings and locations.

"You're not bad for a landlubber," Ring Haw replied.

Argyle parked Ring Haw on another siding, and simply looked out in wonder. After so many years, he had found it after all these years.

Those blue skies were Sudrian. The clouds were Sudrian. The soil beneath his feet was Sudrian. He was breathing Sodor's air.

He had achieved the dream of so many railway enthusiasts worldwide and actually gone to Sodor. But how was he going to get back to Cornwall? His wife and daughter were due home in an hour or so, and he needed to get the water primed for the shower- seeing as they'd gone to the beach, they'd undoubtedly want to shower.

Just then, he saw another portal nearby, and headed for it. Hopefully that would be his route home.

Another portal, another series of bright flashes, and Argyle was back in Lighthouse Quarry. He checked his watch, and noted he had about fifty minutes to get the house ready.

So, he got to work, cleaning things up a bit and setting the water heater to have the shower water heated for about an hour from now. He worked closely and smartly, making sure to keep things in order, and his mind focused.

He was done sooner than expected, and so went back to his study to fish out a book he'd been reading. He'd wait in the kitchen and greet them when they got in.

Sure enough, he heard two familiar voices from nearby.

"Can we go again?"

"Of course we can. But we'd probably best wait a bit. After all, if we did it all the time, it wouldn't be special, would it?"

Argyle got up and opened the door. "Greetings, you two! How was it?"

"It was great, dad!" Sunny said excitedly. "I've never seen so much wildlife! And there was so much stuff parked at the depot!"

"You'd probably best be getting your shower," Goldie said.

As Sunny disappeared off, Goldie smiled at her husband. "Anything interesting happen?"

"Nothing beyond the usual," Argyle said, suspecting his wife wouldn't believe him even if he told her.

Author's Note

This chapter is very, very loosely based on the Tell your Tale Tiny Trot, reusing the episode's basic premise of a portal to another place. Otherwise, the episode's content has entirely been replaced, as to be completely honest by that point the age regression storylines Tell your Tale was fond of had grown very, very stale. The title is taken from a sea shanty recorded by Colm McGuinness in 2022.

The sea shanty near the beginning, Health to the Company, is a very old one. The oldest known written version of it dates from 1875, but other sources claim it was first performed in 1836. Most people are familiar with the version recorded by The Longest Johns in 2020, and their version was used as a reference point for the lyrics.

Ring Haw is another real locomotive. Built by Hunslet in 1940, it spent its entire working career in an ironstone quarry near Peterborough, before being retired in 1970. Purchased by the North Norfolk Railway the same year, it returned to service in 1972, and has rarely been out of traffic since. If the silhouette looks familiar, Ring Haw belongs to the same family of locomotives as Brookes, the only real difference between the two engines being that Ring Haw's cylinders are 2 inches wider in diameter.