The Sudrians: The Salvation Collection

Old Colleagues

July 1976

The engines on the mainline were struggling greatly. Goods and passenger traffic had increased significantly, the Fat Controller tried his best to keep the trains from being too long and heavy for the engines, but no matter what, the engines would still have to work extra hard. Not only that, but it also affected branch lines too, with heavier trains, mainline services were often late and not only did it cause disruption on their own line, but branch lines would be late due to guaranteed-connections or shunting in the yards. The summer holidays were right around the corner too, and with workload inevitability going to increase, the engines were soon losing patience.

"Disgraceful!" Gordon huffed one day, "if the Fat Controller does not bring in another engine anytime soon--"

"We will be worked off our wheels!" Henry finished crossly.

"If we have wheels at that time," James said wearily, "begging it for being a steam engine again, we seem to be getting a lot of those at the moment and none of those ghastly diesels."

"Yes James," Bear said, annoyed, "thank you for that statement."

Before the red engine could respond, they heard the footsteps of a familiar man walking straight up towards them. "For the past few months," he began, "you all have been working hard with extra traffic being put onto your trains, now we're coming to one of our busier seasons I have no choice but to buy another engine."

"And what'll that be sir?" asked Gordon.

"Surprisingly, the board have agreed on Stephen that we should buy another steam engine to help bring in tourism for the summer season," the Fat Controller replied, "I'm going to start looking at available heritage railway engines as soon as possible."

The announcement was met with a welcoming sigh of relief.

***

The Fat Controller sat at his desk, looking through his notes, he felt a little hopeless at the moment, for once the board wanted a steam engine and it was so difficult to find one that was preserved and in operation on a heritage railway. The Fat Controller was considering just loaning one at one point and later get a diesel after the summer season.

'It could work,' he thought to himself, the Fat Controller went to look at another file of engines on the side of his desk, he opened it and his eyes scrolled down, looking at engines that were working on preserved railways in the rest of the United Kingdom. He then noticed an engine's file case and read it, he then grinned in excitement, this engine seemed to be perfect for the work on the mainline! They were strong, capable and highly rated by previous owners, but then the Fat Controller noticed something at the end of the report talking about the engine, in a disgraceful manner. And the report came from Sir Bertram Topham Hatt, the first and previous Fat Controller.

Re-reading the file of this engine, the Fat Controller's eyes narrowed and looked carefully. He then tried to look at other engine's reports, trying to find another engine instead of that one, but there was no one else that was perfect as a choice to that engine. The Fat Controller sighed, he knew he had to make the decision quickly, but he did not know if he could. After half an hour of looking through the files, he eventually gave up and decided to look into it tomorrow, he left his office with a heavy mind.

***

The next morning, Edward was sizzling at the station, ready to meet Henry's connection as he was returning with a passenger service from Vicarstown. The Fat Controller came strolling into the platform as peer usual to catch his train. "Hullo Edward," he greeted warmly, "ready as per usual."