#scrapyard museum

[afeatherypileofjunk]

Pressure went public again recently. So have an old WIP of mine that I never really got the motivation to finish

!! REBLOGS APPRECIATED. THANK YOU !!

[rhiaarrow]

Ramon's comment abt being able to see in HD again once he could put on his Create goggles made me realize.

They put that kid's glasses, that he's worn for almost a year, behind a paywall!

We watched today as he ran face first into a GLASS DOOR at the museum. What else has that kid been doing for the past couple weeks?

Could he even see the fireflies he was befriending or were they just glowy blobs in the sky to him?

Is that why he's just been spending the days farming away at the scrapyard, because it's easy to see the crops change color when they're grown?

This kid has just been unable to see since they arrived in this part of the island because his glasses were blocked behind a fucking paywall xD

[cupids-scream-queen]

❛ the wax muse ❜

Vincent Sinclair x f!reader

Summary: The muse of Vincent Sinclair.

(If y'all want a part 2 lmk!!)

ততততত

If there was one thing that Vincent Sinclair did not like about corpses, it was the fact that he couldn't have them stand there without an exorbitant amount of work.

That was why he had you, his beautiful (albeit, strange) girlfriend, who was the only person willing to stand in front of him for hours, striking the most obscene and downright confusing of poses.

He'd always considered you the most beautiful person to step foot in Ambrose, with your patchwork skirts and your pen-drawn tattoos, your seven suitcases and Ford pickup truck that Bo swore should've been sold to a scrapyard fifteen years ago. From the moment you entered that town, you were his, and it was only a matter of time before you'd get to see that.

You met Vincent in a more pleasant way than the majority of people. Bo took you to the museum, where you promptly observed that the wax figures had something inside of them that wasn't quite right, but nonetheless the figures were beautiful. You asked Bo if you could meet the artist (Bo said he didn't come out for people) because you sculpted wax, too, and Vincent overheard and was nearly overjoyed. Another artist was a treat--much less one that worked on the same thing he did.

And you were an artist, though one of many trades. You couldn't pick one to focus on, so your portfolio was filled with many craftsmanship trades, including wax sculpting and glass blowing. Traditional art was fun, but you'd grow bored of it quickly--forging was one of the ones that kept you busy for three years.

"Are you sure I can't meet the artist?" You asked again, and Bo shook his head. You weren't buying it. No artist that you'd ever met refused to see someone that was going to compliment their work. Artists relied on compliments.

"No, sweetheart. Ya can't. He ain't open for talkin' with strangers, ya hear?" Bo's voice was obnoxiously sweet, and you could feel him trying to pull you in, but you stood your ground. Firm in what you believed you were going to do.

"I refuse to leave unless I meet him. He's got to be around here somewhere. Can't I just tell him he's good?" You were practically yelling, which was a reaction Bo hadn't seen before. Usually, girls were so enamored by him they'd forget all about the figures. Except you, who seemed to have more of an interest in piles of wax than him. It annoyed him, to a certain degree.

"Jesus, can't you just quit? He ain't gonna come out, so you can shut yer pretty little mouth and--" A door shut, causing Bo to stop mid-sentence. The sounds of shoes shuffling against the wooden floor, and a man appeared in front of you and Bo, wearing a wax mask.

"You're the artist?" You asked, your eyes wide. Not with fear, which was what Vincent was used to, but with admiration. "You're very good, you know. I do wax sculptures myself but they aren't nearly as good as this."

The man nodded, and gave you a little thumbs-up, which you thought to be adorable. Bo looked pissed, grinding his teeth together, trying to form some semblance of a plan to continue to lure you to your fate as a figure yourself.

"That's...Vincent. He does the sculptures," Reluctant to introduce you two, and even more pissed when you two became an item, Bo was against your relationship with his brother as long as you could remember.

Even now, your naked form on a stool, a candle in your right hand and a skull in your left, Bo was cursing up a storm at Lester, trying to understand why his brother of all people got a girl. Not just any girl, he yelled, but a pretty one.

Lester would always assure you that Bo's anger was because he hated the rivalry between him and Vincent, something that you weren't even sure existed. If it did exist, it was in Bo's head, which was a dangerous place not even you were brave enough to venture into.

[greatwesternway]

Do war machines have a higher threshold for trauma than their civilian counterparts? Do engines in general have higher thresholds for trauma than humans?

It's less that engines have a higher threshold for trauma than that they don't consider bad things that happen to them to be traumatic. Most of the worst things that have happened to our machines are still accepted aspects of their lives. Every engine knows they'll end up in the scrapyard one day; war machines have every expectation of being destroyed in battle or having to destroy others.

It's also that they are, the vast majority of them, creations of times and places where the way you dealt with trauma is by getting over it and getting back to work. The idea of addressing trauma at all, let alone healing from it, is quite modern.

Beyond that, we very purposely do not put much emphasis on dialing up the drama on events in our engines lives that could be spun as traumatic because we're just not interested in it.

In 2020, my husband was killed in a car accident. I think that event could be construed outwardly as traumatic, yeah? I expected to feel that way about it when it happened. But I don't. It was horrible, it changed my entire world and expectations for my life. I had to deal with so many things immediately when all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and debate the merits of throwing myself off my balcony. Then when all the immediacy was dealt with, there was the years long wait for the legal matters to be settled.

My husband's death informs my life now, of course, but it's also not a looming shadow lurking behind every moment. I am moving on (literally). And I am not interested in writing about trauma. It feels melodramatic to me now.

Personal tragedy aside, I think Ray and I both are also just exhausted with the state of the world. I mean, is not being alive in this time kind of an ambient collective trauma? I am thirty-six years old and it seems every year since 1999 the world has been determined to one-up itself in shittiness.

The great appeal of this project to us is that these trains have this magnificent history, with both good and bad in them, that they can only look back upon now because their story didn't end when they thought it did. Not only that, but their history is still being built upon to this day. They remember the past, but they don't dwell in it. Their lives go on; they are good to each other and they are living well. Maybe the world at large is insurmountably dogshit, but that doesn't matter in our letters because our trains love their museums and they love their friends and they love each other.

It's hopeful. It reflects the way I am living now and it's what I wanna put out into world.

[hazel-of-sodor]

The Q2 Tank was a proposed Southern Railway Tank Engine version of the Bulleid Q1 after the war, but irl they remained unbuilt. These are how they appeared in my AU. Who can pick the odd engine out before reading the list?

02C1 (33041) was the class prototype. Intially preserved by a private engine, she was donated to the National Railway Musuem upon their passing in 1978.

33053 (02C13) is preserved in a Musuem in Ashford, Kent

D39 (02C39/33079) is in service with the Denbigh and Wrexham Railway.

33047 (02C7) is in service with the Chester and Holyhead Railway.

02C34 (33074) is preserved on the Spa Valley Railway.

02C20 (33060) and 02C26 (33066) are both preserved at the Sodor Railway Museum. When 02C20 was bought from BR, 02C26 was included as a source of spares. however when the pair arrived it was found both engines were largely intact, and the musuem decided to keep both.

33078 (02C38) is privately owned, but leased for Heritage service with South West Trains.

02C16 (33056) is preserved on the London New Eastern Railway, and has recieved a GCR tribute livery at their request.

33050 (02C10) and 33063 (02C23) are both in service on the North Western Railway's Norramby Branch Line.

33077 (02C37) is also on the North Western, allocated to Tidmouth.

33080 (02C40) , the youngest member of the class, is preserved at the Krestaen Railway Museum.

33009 (C9) Violet was one of the Bulleid austerity 0-6-0 tender engines. She would serve her entire working life as a Q1, until being sent for scrap in 1965. She was sent to Cashmore's Scrapyard in Newport, and she would remain there until fire broke out during a protest. The protesters blames Cashmores, and the yard blamed the protestors, but either way the blaze raged out of control and destroyed part of the yard. 33009 was very nearly caught in the inferno, and her tender was destroyed as protesters worked to drag her away from the fire. A picture of her after the fire graced the newspapers announcing the fire, and a small preservation line named the lloches Hertiage Railway noticed her. The line had been looking for a steam engine to restore and felt drawn to the stricken engine. They visited her at Cashmoores and bought her from the yard for less than scrap price the same day, as the yard thought she was more damaged then she actually was. As her tender had been destroyed and the line had no turntable, it was asked if she would mind being rebuilt into a tank engine. She agreed and Violet emerged in 1969 as the 41st member of the Q2 class. She has remained the lines pride and Joy ever since.

[lonestarbattleship]

The incomplete HAWAII (CB-3) being moved to a berth, likely on her way to the scrapyard. Photographed on either May 20 or June 20, 1959. Likely the latter since the Navy Heritage and History Center has a better track record with dates.

Note: her 12 inch/50 caliber Mark 8 gun turrets have already been removed. They were removed in preparation for Hawaii would have become an Aircraft Carrier Task Force Command Ship, under SCB-83 and her hull designation changed to (CBC-1). Unlike the proposed ballistic and guided missile conversions, this conversion was budgeted in 1952.

Painting by Wayne Scarpaci

"This was as parallel to this program was a project to convert the unfinished Oregon City class heavy cruiser NORTHAMPTON (CLC-1) (later CC-1, ex-CA-125) to a National Emergency Command Post Afloat (NECPA). The NECPA program command ship (NORTHAMPTON) was where the US President and his Staff would direct US Military Forces during a nuclear conflict."

"Command and control of USN carrier forces during WWII was generally conducted from a standard vessel of the Task Force, with either a battleship or a carrier usually designated as flagship. But the presence of the force commander and his staff aboard was disruptive and resulted in overcrowded conditions, which impacted the combat effectiveness of the assigned ship. But with the superiority of the dedicated Amphibious Command Ship (AGC) concept for command and control of assault forces repeatedly demonstrated during WWII. Serious postwar consideration was given to the concept of a similar dedicated type of ship for Command and Control of Carrier Task Forces. In keeping with this concept in 1952 the USN developed the SCB-83 project to convert the HAWAII into a dedicated Carrier Task Force Command Cruiser (CBC-1). This design was strictly intended as a single mission ship featuring extensive flag facilities for command and control of carrier task forces, but no accommodations for amphibious or other types of operations.

The ship would have been armed with six 5 inch/54 caliber guns in single mounts, shipped three forward and three aft, with eight 3 inch/70 caliber guns in four enclosed twin mounts amidships. It would have fitted an AN/SPS2 radar atop a forward tower and an AN/SPS8A height finder on the aft superstructure. There was to be an SK-2 parabolic dish for tropospherical backscatter communications mounted atop short tower aft of the stack, forward of the AN/SPS8A. Two Mk37/directors with Mk25 fire control radars were provided on the superstructure fore and aft. The superstructure was built up amidships to accommodate the flag staff facilities and the single stack of the original CB design retained."

Work was halted after the turrets were removed and would continue after experience was gained from the conversion of NORTHAMPTON. However, it was discovered that it was easier and cheaper to convert USS WRIGHT (CVL-49) into the second Command ship without the loss of capability and HAWAII was sent back to the reserve fleet in Philadelphia Navy Yard.

The hull remained in the reserve fleet for 12 years before it was finally scrapped along with the incomplete hulls of KENTUCKY (BB-66) and ILLINOIS (BB-65).

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 89293

Mariner's Museum and Park: P0001.014/01-#PN4850, P0001.014/01-#PN4858, P0001.014/01-#PN4853, P0001.014/01-#PN4847, P0001.014/01-#PN4848, P0001.014/01-#PN4849

Information, diagram and painting from "USN BATTESHIP CONVERSIONS PROJECTS" by Wayne Scarpaci: link

source

[usafphantom2]

Tap pictures to enlarge

☝️ to Habu.org in fact, the first 6 SR-71As were retained by the US Air Force (USAF) and Lockheed (3 each) as flight test aircraft, where new systems and configurations would be tested before being applied to the rest of the fleet. The next two aircraft produced (#956 and #957) were both SR-71B trainers, and were never flown outside of the US.

So SR-71 #955 was a test bird destined to spend her flying career in the US, primarily in Southern California.

But this Blackbird had a secret life. #955 in fact was used overseas on one occasion.

Equipped with The Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System [ASARS-1] (is a real-time, high-resolution reconnaissance system carried on the SR-71 with all-weather, day-night, long-range mapping capabilities. ASARS-1 detects and accurately locates stationary and moving ground targets).The system can survey more than 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface in one hour. The US Navy needed a way to photograph the Soviet Union’s submarines that were carrying ballistic missiles capable of flying over the North Pole and hitting targets in the US. What they needed was high resolution radar. The #955 was flown to Beale and repainted with the tail number #962… this was to not alarm the tail watchers that would surely notice a new tail number over in Europe. She departed on Jul. 9, 1983 from Beale Air Force Base (AFB) in California. Before arriving at RAF Mildenhall she flew across the Barents Sea. The SR was able to photograph and tag the Soviet submarines. After two more missions in Europe she return to Beale on Jul. 20 where she was repainted with tail number #955 and returned to Palmdale Keeping her secret life to herself.

The mission was such a success that it regenerated the SR-71 program. More and more requests came from Navy and the CIA. The result was that on Apr. 5, 1984 Det 4 was given blanket clearance from the United Kingdom government to permanently assigned two SR-71s to RAF Mildenhall.

The SR’s stayed there until the end of the Cold War, a true statement can be made that the SR-71’s helped win the Cold War.

Is there might be a connection between this flight to Europe and the Rudder painted #955 with the Skunk Works logo for sale for $1 million on eBay! It is now on display at the San Diego flight Museum.

This is the answer I found. There were a stack of old SR-71 rudders in the DRMO (Scrapyard) at Norton AFB to be sold off for scrap when the program closed down. A few made it to private hands. The majority of them were composite rudders that had a limited lifespan compared to the metal rudders used for most of the program. The one in San Diego likely came from this selection of scrap rudders.

Linda Sheffield Miller

[klein-sodor-bahn]

Abandoned and disgraced

Charlie for 12 long years was stuck as a generator to heat office buildings. A fate many DR engines suffered beside scrap. There were three conditions:

The engine was able to move under its own power, it can’t move under its own power but still recognizable as an engine and the last one is that there’s only the boiler left.

It was the roughest time of Charlie’s life. On some days she wished she had followed other engines to the scrapyard. She had no purpose. But then in the 1990s a group of West German railway enthusiasts found her. She was restored. But now she’s stuck inside the museum roundhouse and wants to haul enthusiasts trains again. She wouldn’t have been able to be restored without the parts of one of her sister engines. And she feels like she owes it to her dead sister that she’s still around.

[beardedmrbean]

A large Chinese-registered barge was detained by Malaysian authorities after it was found carrying massive piles of steel ship parts and old artillery shells believed to have been looted from a pair of British battleships wrecked during World War II.

The Malaysian coast guard initially detained the vessel — a large bulk carrier ship — for illegally anchoring in Malaysian territory in the South China Sea, but opened an investigation with police and heritage departments after the artifacts and materials were found onboard.

It is suspected the metal was stripped from the nearby wrecks of the HMS Repulse and the HMS Prince of Wales, two ships sunk by Japanese torpedoes in 1941 just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The attacks killed 842 sailors and the shipwrecks have since been designated as war graves.

The large Chinese-registered barge which was detained by the Malaysian Coast guard and suspected of looting wrecks. MALAYSIAN MARITIME ENFORCEMENT A/AFP via Getty Images

The deck of the barge was piled high with pieces of rusted steel believed to have been looted from the battleships.AP

Looters have been known to target WWII shipwrecks for their raw materials. Known as “prewar steel,” the metal the ships were built from was untainted by radioactive elements created and spread across the world by the detonation of the first atomic explosion in 1945, making it extremely valuable for use in sensitive medical and scientific measuring devices.

Photos from the barge showed towers of rusted metal, cables, and maritime refuse piled high on the deck, with an excavator and large crane stationed nearby. There were 32 crew members onboard the vessel, including 21 Chinese individuals, 10 Bangladeshi, and one Malaysian.

The same ship had previously been fined for operating without permission in Malaysian territory in 2017, and before that was chased into international waters by the Indonesian Navy after it was caught looting, according to Al Jazeera.

The HMS Repulse is one of the British battleships the barge is suspected of looting. It was torpedoed by Japan in 1941.Getty Images

A large number of rusted artillery shells were found among the scrap metal on the Chinese-registered barge.AP

Malaysia’s maritime agency said the most recent suspected looting is likely linked to a recent case in which police found numerous rusted artillery pieces and maritime artifacts at a scrapyard in the country. Those shells were detonated after being discovered.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom said it was “distressed and concerned at the apparent vandalism for personal profit.

[locomotiveoftheweek]

This week's Locomotive of the Week is Southern Railway Merchant Navy 4-6-2 No.35029 "Ellerman Lines". 35029 was built in 1949 at Eastleigh and allocated to Dover Marine depot. In 1955, it was reallocated to Nine Elms. It was rebuilt at Eastleigh in 1959 and withdrawn 7 years later in 1966 from Weymouth depot having run less than 800,000 miles in service. The engine was sold to the Woodham Bros' Scrapyard at Barry in Wales. It stayed there until 1974 when the National Railway Museum decided to use it to display the inner workings of a steam locomotive. It was sectioned at Sewstern and had final touches placed on it at Market Overton before being delivered to the NRM's York site, where it remains today as object 1975-7021 in the collection.

[togepies]

Background 13 for all 3? 👉👈

thank you thank you!!! cyberpunk oc questions

background 13: what is their happiest memory?

wren

when she was younger (and even early teens), she, her dad, and her brothers would play baseball by the camp! they would make bases out of whatever they could find- tires, old rags, car parts, you name it. The games would usually be Robin & Lark vs. Finch & Wren, with their dad as the designated pitcher. Lots of fights, arguments, etc etc as siblings do, but it's one of her favorite memories.

finch

getting his first car! the thing was a complete piece of junk ofc, he found it in a scrapyard. BUT he worked on it with the rest of the mechanics at camp- tuned it up, painted it, got it running pretty smoothly! he still has it though it doesn't run as well, it was ancient when he found it but he just keeps it parked like something in a museum. Its name is Fritz!

vex

deciding to go by Vex instead of their given name (they have not officially changed their name, nor will they, but everyone who is still in their life embraces the change, and anyone new they meet only knows them as vex, so it's nbd to them). it was their opportunity to shed their old identity and become someone that they could be proud of. vex has never, ever looked back: since the name change they have become perfectly comfy with themselves, happy(mostly), and confident.

[afeatherypileofjunk]

New rot in my head. Welcome to the Let-Vand zone.

[meanscarletdeceiver]

78018 and 78019: 2MT Twins

"78018 was built in 1953 at Darlington North Road Works at a cost of £14,809. It entered traffic in March 1954, at West Auckland Shed (County Durham). This was soon followed by a move to Kirkby Stephen, where it worked trains from Tebay to Barnard Castle on the Stainmore Railway. It was while on this line that 78018 became famous by getting stuck in a snow drift during February, 1955, which resulted in the film Snowdrift at Bleath Gill. (This film is shown at Locomotion which is the National Railway Museum at Shildon.) At the time it was hauling a Kirkby Stephen to West Auckland goods across the bleak and steeply graded line when it became stuck in the snowdrift. It was not reached by the snowplough until two days later by which time it had become frozen solid.

The engine which rescued 78018 was 78019 which was also based at Kirkby Stephen and both locomotives have since been preserved. [...]

78018 was withdrawn from service in November 1966 and sold for scrap. It arrived at the Woodham Brothers scrapyard at Barry in June 1967 (along with 78019) and remained there until October 1978 when it was purchased and moved to the Market Bosworth Railway at Shackertone in Leicestershire (now the Battlefield Line Railway)."

[text * image]

[greatwesternway]

what does U-505 think about the IRM? has he ever been there or is he not allowed to leave?

He's never been.

He's been invited, as everyone else at the MSI has been, but for a number of reasons, he's never taken them up on it. His diplomatic reason to refuse is that he is still technically a prisoner of war and thus is meant to stay where his wardens can keep track of him. While U-505 does genuinely believe his circumstances imply he shouldn't leave the property, it's also a very convenient excuse.

His experience with steam engines thus far has been that his presence is problematic for them (and not unjustifiably so). He'd expect he'd not be welcomed warmly among much of the IRM's stock. He knows he'd not be welcome by a Certain Engine living there now. Even if 2903 still comes back to the MSI to visit, U-505 does not feel he has the same right to intrude on 2903's new home.

For what it's worth, the museum itself would let him go if he wanted to. While U-505 considers his disposition to be an obligation and consequence of being captured, the museum has never thought of him that way. When he arrived at the MSI, the war was ten years over and the general attitude was that we wanted to move on from it. He's therefore treated with the same regard and care as any of their other exhibits. That he has such a spartan existence is his own doing. Indeed, the museum would give him anything he wanted, if only he'd ask. Everyone who learns about him properly - from museum visitors to Captain Gallery himself - comes to love him.

Speaking of, another reason he never goes to the IRM is that 727 never goes either. She's had forty years of traveling nonstop and prefers not to spend her retirement traveling too. (To be fair, all the stock at the IRM also have a standing invitation to visit the MSI, but most of them don't for the same reason.)

727 is also - as we once saw described in some article - "married" to the building. She's perfectly whole while human, but she doesn't really care to leave the building now that she's been welded to the railings. So nowadays, U-505 has the better excuse that the gentlemanly thing to do is stay home with her. He gets fewer pitying looks and attempts to negotiate with that answer. It's hard to argue that he should let a day with fewer little planes buzzing about go to waste.

Together too, neither of them are that keen on terrestrial travel. Locomotives are obviously built to navigate land. They and their rails were integrated into the world around them. Even the little planes are used to being moved about on trucks or trains from time to time. U-505 and 727 are so large that, with the exception of their arrival at the museum, they almost always operated in places specifically built for their use. They just look at riding the train a lot more dubiously than smaller engines do since they lack the experience of it.

That said, if there was an event important enough, they would go. They have friends there and if their presence was requested, they'd make the effort. It's just hard to think of something the IRM is doing that seems that necessary.

Despite having never been there, U-505 thinks it's good for Pioneer to get to visit his letter friend in person and to visit other engines again. He's not sure what the value of a place that keeps retired trains en masse is exactly, especially if they are all just common stock like 2903 with no story and most of them don't even run. He knows better than to say as much, but it sounds like a scrapyard behind on its work. But it's a place that took the effort to preserve Pilot, who he likes and who makes Pioneer happy, so it's the rare time when U-505 will let inefficient means to justify valuable ends.

[ramarailway]

Introduce. this is Rama the CC200 08 :D (my OC)

Rama is the first type of Diesel locomotive owned and purchased by DKA (Djawatan Kereta Api) which is now PT.KAI, The CC200 was made in 1953 by General Electric in partnership with Alco.

This locomotive was made as many as 27 units and came in waves from 1953 to 1954.

And the special thing about this locomotive was that it was inaugurated directly by Indonesia's first president, Ir. Soekarno and also in 1955 this locomotive became the locomotive that attracted a series of high-level Asian-African Conferences.

but unfortunately these locomotives had to collapse massively since 1986, due to the arrival of new diesel locomotives and it was getting worse because of rare spare parts.

after they fell, it didn't take long for them to be crushed and stripped down, until finally only 4 units were still operational, namely CC200 08, 09, 15 and 26.

In November 1999 the CC200 26 locomotive was also Scrapyard because of miscommunication. Even though 26 themselves are the healthiest locomotives, until finally the remaining 3 units are still left

After that, 2 CC200 units also died because they were damaged, CC200 09 died because of its spare parts for 15 while CC200 08 fell because the cylinder was broken after being forced to pull JSO751 Argo Lawu ( Well 08 accident was make me Angry cuz He is Sick Idiot!! )

Until finally only CC200 15 was still alive and survived until possibly 2013 after finally dying too because of a broken cylinder too, and luckily 15 were preserved at the Ambarawa Railway Museum while their 2 siblings, CC200 08 and CC200 09, were dried in the sun at Yogyakarta Train Workshop

[hazel-of-sodor]

Day 3-Owl:Owl by Night

Day 3-Owl

Other Stories

Owl by Night

August 1963

Tyto sat shivering in the cold night air. The longer she had been in the scrapyard, the more the cold had seemed to seep into her very frames, never quite leaving even in the daylight. Now in the middle of the night, it was a constant ache that kept her from sleep. It left her bored, lonely, and so so tired. Luckily Eagle had managed to fall asleep for once. Her older sister had found it harder and harder to sleep the longer they had been at Cashmoore's, and Tyto wasn't about to wake her when she had finally fallen asleep. 

The scrapyard had been their world for nearly a year now, the oldest and youngest of their class. Eagle had asked the shunter to push them together until it was time, and Tyto was very grateful the diesel had agreed.

Tyto's musings were interrupted by the hoot of an owl, hunting for mice in the piles of scrap.

"If only I could fly away like you." Tito whispered with a sigh. The whisper was the loudest she could manage. The lack of steam and cold had long stolen her voice.

She then jumped as the owl landed right on her running board, so close that she could almost feel the feathers brush her chin. 

"Hello." She said in askance. The owl hooted cheerily in reply, its golden eyes almost seeming to glow.

The 4700 snorted, "it must be a good night for you if I'm more interesting then your hunt."

The owl stared at her for a moment then hopped forward and pressed calmly against her face. 

"Oh..." The warmth of the owl against her was an unexpected shock to the long cold engine and before she even realized it she was crying, sobs racking her frame.

The owl cooed comfortingly and nuzzled further in, ignoring the great tears falling around it.

"Sorry," Tyto apologized long minutes later when she had regained control of herself. "It's just, it's been so long since anything touched me and I forgot what it was like to be warm..."  The owl gave a demanding bark when she hesitated. 

"I'm being cut up tomorrow," she whispered, "the foreman made sure I knew so we could say goodbye. She looked over to her sister, " I'm the youngest of our class but I'll be the second cut up." Tears fell again at her bleak situation.

"I kept hoping someone would come, that someone would want me but..."

Once more her tears dissolved into sobbing as the owls leaned into her, the first kindness she saw since being brought to her current hell. 

Suddenly the owls paused and tilted its head as if listening for something.

"Its okay," Tyto's voice came out far more horse then she expected. "I'll be fine if you need to..."

The owl cut her off with an aggravated bark then hopped over to the side of her running board to look behind her. It started bouncing excitedly calling excitedly to whatever it saw.

"What is it?" But even as Tyto asked she heard the unmistakable sound of a steam engine moving quietly through the yard. Listening intently to the exhaust, her eyebrows shot up. What was a Gresley doing here?

"There!"

 "That must be her. "

"Quietly now."

Voices whispered behind her as a work coach and truck rolled past, leadened with tools and workmen, followed by a corridor tender in LNER Apple Green.

"Scotsman???"  Somehow the pacific heard her.

"Tyto? Is that you?"

"Yes, what are you doing here? You're preserved!"

Scotsman rolled to a stop alongside the sleeping Eagle, a fond, if smug, smile on his face. 

"Pendennis sends her regards, we're here to get you out."

"Not without her."

As badly as Tyto wanted out, she knew she could never live with leaving her sister to die.

"I don't know if.."

"Of course!" Flying Scotsman interrupted firmly. 

"Mr. Scotsman, Sir I..." The crewman trailed off as the A3 Pacific silenced him with a glare. 

"You seem to have forgotten I am a Gresley Pacific, not a museum piece. I am perfectly capable of pulling two engines without trouble."

As the crewman quailed, Tyto was forced to admit that LNER or not, Scotsman was every bit as intimidating as a king class.

"I see five engines, sir," the crewman swallowed nervously.

"8428 is one of 94s, he's been here over a year now," Tyto said quietly. "9700 and 9704 are 97s. An 08 blamed 04 for an accident they caused, so she was withdrawn early. 97 proved her innocence so Br withdrew him as well." She was unable and unwilling to hide the bitterness in her tone. The owl, seemingly unbothered by the pacific's presence, nuzzled back into Tyto.

Scotsman stared at her with an unreadable expression for a long moment.

"We'll take them all." 

Immediately the workers around broke out in protest.

"Enough" even though the A3 hadn't raised his voice, it still cut through the crewman's protests like a cannon shot and they all fell silent.

He surveyed them for a moment then, "I understand we cannot save every engine. No matter how dearly we wish. But we can save some, and I will not be so cruel as to uncouple an engine, leaving them to such a fate, when I am well capable of pulling them as well." 

From Scotsman's other side a man stepped forward, wearing an all blue suit with a conductor's hat, a greying mustache and hair. He placed his hand on Scotsman's bufferbeam, causing the engine to look over at him.

Alan Peglar met his engine's eyes for a long moment, "Are you sure old boy?"

"Yes sir, and even if I wasn't I'd still have to try."

Peglar nodded.

 "Someone get on the points and oil those engine's bearings " he called.

Scotsman rolled forward with purpose, and soon Tyto heard him reverse onto their siding. The crew with him ran up and down the line, oiling the wheels and bearings of all the engines, reading them for the pull. Tyto felt the coupler connect to her tender. She would be facing backwards, but that didn't stop hope from slowly rising on her.

Peglar stood to the side, "Ready? 1,2,3!"

Scotsman rolled forward slowly and with a firm pull Tyto felt her wheels begin to turn for the first time in months. The other engines were slowly woken by the movement, all looking bleary eyed and far more asleep than awake. As they moved out of the siding, Tyto saw the night guard next to the yard shunter, purposefully looking the other way. Scotsman stopped at the gates long enough for Peglar and the crewmen to climb back aboard the work coach. Then they rolled out onto the railway proper

"If you want to stay you need to go now," Tyto whispered to the owl. Rather than leave, the owl settled down further, seemingly settling down for sleep. 

They soon reached the junction to the mainline. "We've got a long run ahead of us," he called back as he pulled to a stop at the red signal, "but you'll be at your new home by dawn." 

"Where is our new home?" Eagle spoke up as best she could.

"The North Western Railway"

The signal dropped and Scotsman pulled onto the mainline. The powerful Gresley pacific soon had them up to speed. Tyto swayed back and forth gently. The rails hummed beneath them in the pale moonlight and the wind swept soothingly through their frames, wiping away the dust and grime of Cashmoore far behind. Eagle and the owl soon were lulled to sleep by the motion of their strange train. Tyto tried to stay awake, but she was finally safe with her sister after so long. So she let herself fall asleep to the sound of Scotsman's whistle echoing triumphantly across the valleys.