The Sudrians: Henry and the Lost One

Chapter 5

Gordon and Arthur.

Those were two engines Henry could think that had ever been to Crewe properly, Henry remembered that Gordon had gone to Crewe one time in the late 1950s and told them about Reginald, a once regular visitor to their railway had been withdrawn and scrapped there. And Arthur was rescued there as well, he would obviously know what was there as well.

Henry first went to Gordon at the sheds that night and asked about the shed at Crewe to Gordon. The big engine paused. "That's a strange question," he said, "mind if I ask why?"

"I can explain later if that matters," replied Henry, looking over at Simon on the other side for a split second, "do you remember anything there?"

"Yes I do," Gordon said, "when I went there in 1959, I met Reginald there, I vividly remember going to that shed before seeing Reginald, it was Reginald himself to tell me to stay away from the shed."

"Reginald told you to stay away from it?"

"Yes he did, that's really all remember about that gloomy thing, perhaps Arthur will know more than me," Gordon said, "he was there for quite some time, he might know more about it than I do."

"That's what I thought," replied Henry, as another engine rolled into the sheds for the night, "I'll ask him tomorrow, thank you, Gordon."

The turntable moved and stopped right at the birth next to Henry. The green engine looked up to see the Thompson B1 moving into that birth. Samuel said nothing to Henry as he stopped next to him, who looked closely at the other engine. "I thought your trains began at 5 PM," questioned Henry.

Samuel looked over to Henry. "Not until the timetable is completed," he replied, "I don't know when but until then, I'm doing other services on the mainline during the daylight."

"Good for you," Henry said, a little dark in tone, even though he was a little stunned by his own tone. But Samuel remained unfazed and went to sleep.

***

The next day, Henry arrived at Vicarstown yards and found Arthur, shunting trucks like he normally would when not taking other trains on his branch line. Henry stopped next to him with his own goods train. "Morning Arthur, can I have a word?"

"Of course Henry, what about?"

Henry then explained the same thing he asked to Gordon, now to Arthur and once he finished, Arthur looked thoughtful. "I do remember that shed, yes," he said, "it right near me in fact."

"Really?" said Henry, "do you know anything about it?"

"When I asked the workmen, all they said about it was that the shed was put into Stannier's Will, ordering nobody to open until a certain date when it will be demolished," explained Arthur, "no one has seen the inside of the shed and if they did, the consequences would've been great."

Henry blinked in astonishment. "Are you sure?" he quizzed.

"Certainly," replied Arthur, "the workmen didn't have much to talk about to an engine like me."

The large tank engine's words were strangely what Simon said as well, with Stannier's Will and no one allowed in the shed. If Arthur is saying this, then it had to be right, Simon is right about the shed. "Thank you, Arthur," Henry said, and he quickly moved off. Arthur was left a little puzzled.

***

Henry arrived back at Tidmouth, thinking about the situation. Gordon and Arthur had made valid points on the shed, Gordon was a trustworthy friend, he maybe a boastful prick at times... rare times nowadays, but Arthur never dared tell a lie without good reason, even he did lied, the large tank engine was very easy to read when he was telling lies.