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weirdowithaquill · 6 months

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Traintober 2023: Day 23 - Big World

The blue tank engine pulled into the Big Station with his coaches, spotting the Fat Controller standing on the platform. “Ah, Thomas! Thank you for sorting out those vans earlier – I can’t believe they missed those on this morning’s Kipper.” “Not a problem sir!” Thomas said, an idea bubbling in his boiler. Surely he’d be able to convince the Fat Controller that a grand trip around the world was a perfect marketing strategy! Sir Topham Hatt was always looking for new ways to bring tourists to the railway after all.

“I’ve had an idea! How would you like it, sir, if one of your engines could be the very first to go right the way around the world?”

As Thomas prodded the Fat Controller for an affirmation, he didn’t notice a certain Great Western engine at the other platform, listening in closely.

***

Thomas thought he’d made a safe getaway, right up until he heard a pointed cough from behind him. “Well, Thomas, what’re we doing now?” “Duck?!” The Great Western Pannier tank sat in the hold behind the blue tank engine, with a pointed eyebrow raised. “What’re you doing here?!”

Duck coughed pointedly. “I came to stop you. You can’t go galivanting off across the planet! You need to let Carly lift you back onto the dockside this instant!” “Um… Duck…” “What?” “The boat’s moving.”

Duck went a very interesting shade of red, and said nothing for a little while. Then…

“We’re going back as soon as we reach Dakar.”

Duck raised an eyebrow at Thomas as he was rather coldly rejected by Ace. As much as he wanted to go home… or maybe hop on that ship bound for Italy… he knew rather well that if someone didn’t chase after the idiot they called a Number One tank engine, Thomas would inevitably end up down a mine, white water rafting his way towards certain doom.

And once was enough.

“Thomas, how about we just… go to Dar-es-Salaam. We can maybe catch a boat back to Sodor from there.” “No Duck, we’re not going back now! We’re going a trip around the world – or at least, I am. You can go back to boring old Sodor and you’re little forgetful branchline.” Duck hissed crossly. “Forgetful! Says the engine that forgets his passenger trains every day and needs Stanley to pull Annie and Clarabel. At least I remember to do my work, instead of wandering off to freaking Africa!”

Thomas raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Oh? So why’re you here?” “Stopping you from doing something stupid. Again.” In lieu of a reply, Thomas puffed away, asking aloud whether or not it was possible to reach Dar-es-Salaam from Senegal. Duck wondered if Thomas had ever seen a map – there were no railway lines across the Sahara! And yet, the blue tank engine seemed to believe that if he just asked loudly enough, some random shunter would couple them up to a line of trucks and send them across the continent!

“Dar-es-Salaam? Are you going to Dar-es-Salaam?” Duck looked over, and saw several trucks all beam at the tank engine. “Oh no… oh no, Thomas—” “We’ve been waiting for you!” The trucks were hooked up to Thomas by a little shunter with side tanks and a stove pipe funnel. Duck watched on with interest. These trucks didn’t seem like the ones on Sodor.

“So you are the new engine?” asked the foreman, striding over from his office. “Well… I…” “We, are the new engines – sir,” Duck interjected. “But only for this run. We’re being transferred down to Dar-es-Salaam, so the railway thought it best we take the trucks with us.” “Two of you?” he asked slowly. “You are both so small though!” “Little engines can—” Duck cut off Thomas again.

“We are small, sir. But I’ve got plenty of water, and Thomas here is full of plenty of hot air.” “Hot air?!” “Oh! Like steam,” said the foreman. “It is… one of your…” “English jokes, sir,” Duck replied sweetly. Thomas went red in the face, and let out a great cloud of steam. Duck just sidled away to couple on behind.

***

The two quickly discovered just why the foreman had been so sceptical. They had been put on a slow pick-up goods, being halted at nearly every station between Dakar and Abuja to pick up and put down trucks. Thomas continued to watch in shock as five trucks became eight, then thirteen, then thirty!

Duck quietly uncoupled when the last lot were shunted onto the back of the train, and sidled up alongside.

“We’ll not make it across the rest of the continent with just the two of us.” “Yes we will!” spluttered Thomas. “I don’t even need you back there! All you’re doing is slowing me down!” Duck rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll find a brakevan for you, and you can continue alone.” “A brakevan? We haven’t needed one yet! The land is flat, Duck – the trucks can’t roll away!” Duck rolled his eyes. Every wise engine knows that brakevans aren’t just for runaway trains.

Nonetheless, Thomas did wait for the Great Western Pannier to find a brakevan, before heaving and groaning loudly as he tried his best to drag the heavy train away. Duck’s driver just shook his head in disbelief.

“First I let you talk me into this, then I let you talk me into not helping that struggling fool – I’m so losing my job.”

To his credit, Thomas did make it to the next shunting yard – but there, a large orange tank engine shunted ten more wagons onto the back of his train. Thomas winced as he felt them being coupled up.

“Um…” “Your face!” cackled the orange engine joyfully. “You really shouldn’t look so surprised – there are always a lot of trucks for Dar-es-Salaam, you know,” she added. Duck chuckled. “Oh, he knows,” he said with a smirk. “He’s just stubborn.” “I don’t need any help!” “See?” Thomas hissed steam at Duck, who puffed backwards to avoid it. “Well, I can help you,” offered the orange engine. Thomas glared. “No! I just said I don’t need your help - just watch me! I can do this… by myself!” The orange engine looked rather hurt. Duck sighed.

“Come on, he’ll wind up in a mess in a moment, and then he’ll change his tune. He always does.”

And Duck was – inevitably – right.

The orange engine’s name was Nia. And having saved Thomas from derailing (and then horrifying Duck by suddenly rushing backwards down a hill), she was easily accepted by the Pannier into the little group. Thomas, meanwhile, just sniffed.

“Couple up while you can,” Duck advised. “He’s a loose cannon, this one – he’ll have run off on you in a puff if could. Trust me.” Nia took the Pannier tank’s advice, and the pair helped push the heavy train up the rest of the hill – and then along the beautiful scenery of the Sahel region. Duck was enamoured with everything.

“I’ve always wanted to sail away and see the world,” he admitted to Nia quietly. “Just… to see what it’s like for myself.” “Oh, me too!” grinned Nia. “There’s one place I’ve heard of in China, called the Rainbow Mountains.” “Wow…” murmured Duck. “That would be incredible to see… Personally, I’ve always wanted to see Greece, or Italy. They say the views over the ocean are some of the best in the world.” The two smiled – perhaps, their journey wouldn’t be so bad after all…

And then Thomas spoke up.

“Will you two shut up! I’m going to be the first engine to travel around the world!” “Circumnavigate is the right word,” muttered Duck. “Well, you’ll need our help to get to Dar-es-Salaam at least,” smirked Nia. “Cause it’s 5000 miles away.”

Thomas spluttered and coughed for several minutes. “5000 miles?!” “Well, at least the trucks will help you,” hummed Nia. “Trucks? Helpful?! When pigs fly!” “The trucks back on the Great Western used to be helpful,” said Duck. “But that was because they knew the importance of being really useful.”

Thomas just rolled his eyes, and let the pair – and their ‘useful trucks’ start a sing-along.

***

Duck chuckled as he and Nia greeted Kwaku warmly. Behind them, Thomas tried to butt in and ask about Ace – but instead, Duck decided to indulge in the local greeting himself. “And how are you, Kwaku? How are your wheels, how is your boiler, how are your pistons? Have the tracks been taking you where you wish to run, and have the other engines been good to you?” Kwaku beamed.

“Now you! You understand the importance of knowing your fellow engines.” Duck chuckled. “Oh thank you. It’s similar to a greeting we had back on the Great Western – though, we just liked to ask: has all been well with you and your shedmates?” Kwaku and Nia both looked intrigued; Thomas blew his whistle loudly to get their attention.

“Excuse me! Have you seen a yellow rally car named Ace?!” “So rude!” sniffed Duck. “Interrupting a conversation like that.” Nia and Kwaku agreed. “Most disrespectful,” muttered Nia. “His designer would be ashamed,” agreed Kwaku. “Ashamed of every insult he makes against both his class and his home.” Duck sighed.

“Our railway is normally much nicer than the blue puffball makes out – he’s normally too. But recently… he’s been foisting off his duties on other engines so he can go galivanting off to my branchline to mess with the little engines.” “Little engines?” asked Nia. “They cannot be much smaller than Thomas, right?” Duck laughed; Thomas glowered.

***

Amazingly enough, Nia joined the pair on their next ship – this one bound for Rio de Janeiro. “Hopefully we’ll catch up with Ace there…” murmured Thomas. Duck grimaced. “I don’t like this Ace,” he said. “He seems like a bad influence. If such a car had come round Paddington…” “Then he’d have been the most interesting vehicle there,” snapped Thomas. Duck glared. “How dare you—” “I didn’t want to bring you, Montague. I wanted to be the first, I wanted to see the world! But you just had to come and ruin it.” Duck went silent, and both he and Nia went unhappily to sleep.

Pulling coffee from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to San Francisco in the USA was yet another job that seemed impossible. “There can’t be a railway line through the Darien Gap!” huffed Duck. “It’s impossible! Not even the road goes through there.” And yet, they were loaded up with coal and water and shown the entrance to the Pan-American railway (which Duck had rather… mixed feelings about).

Nia, on the other hand, was excited!

“We’re going to be able to see monkeys, and panthers, and—” “Snakes.” “Thomas, seriously? Snakes? Are you just wanting to frighten poor Nia?” Thomas didn’t reply, just chortled up front.

It took all three engines several moments to heave the heavy train into motion. Most of the train was made of covered vans filled with sacks of coffee, however a couple flatbeds had been coupled up between Thomas and Duck, to hold the coffee beans that didn’t fit into the vans.

With Thomas in front, it wasn’t long until both Duck and Nia grew bored. The blue tank engine was off in his own world again, fantasising about racing Ace. “Hey, look!” exclaimed Nia excitedly. “It’s a toucan!” Duck gazed over and gasped in amazement. “I’ve never seen a toucan before!” he said. “Oh, I wish I had a camera.” “My fireman has one!” Nia replied. Her fireman leaned out of the cab to photograph the toucan; and then he was taking photos of the parrots, of the capybaras, of monkeys and even a panther that stalked by the lineside.

“How incredible!” murmured Duck. “The scenery here is just…” He and Nia both gazed up at the tall trees that swayed in the breeze above them, practically dripping with vines and vibrant flowers in almost every colour of the rainbow. There were also hundreds of insects, and it wasn’t long before all three crews were putting up fly nets.

They’d just started off again when a certain blue pain-in-Duck’s-bunker spotted his new best friend Ace, and they were speeding off suddenly without stopping for water.

***

Once again, it was Nia who saved them, when Thomas ran dry, and they almost had to dump his fire. Had their crews not used the giant leaves from some nearby shrubs to create water funnels for all three engines – which was Nia’s idea – then he may have had to have his fire dumped.

Rain fell hard in the Amazon jungle – though Duck wasn’t quite sure where they were. “Perhaps we’re nearly in Colombia?” suggested Nia. “It is getting warmer.” “We might even be on the equator right now!” exclaimed Duck excitedly. “No we’re not!” snorted Thomas. “If we were on the equator, we’d see a big dotted line!” “Thomas, you dim-witted blue puffball! That’s a marking on a map, not a real thing!” spluttered Duck.

Thomas sniffed. “Oh please! You just want to stare at the trees. We need to get moving to get Ace to his next rally!” Ah, yes. Ace. They’d found him upside down on the side of the line some miles back, and already Duck wanted to shove him back into the undergrowth.

“You tell him Thomas!” cheered Ace. “We’ve gotta go fast – there’s no time for this sightseeing. I might be out of this race, but I can still make it to North America – continent number three!” “We have coffee to deliver,” Duck reminded sternly. “Which means we’re going to San Francisco. Unless your race starts from there, you’re out of luck. It’s a miracle we’re even helping you in the first place! It’s not the Great Western—” “Oh shut up!” groaned Thomas. “Don’t you have anything else to justify your ridiculous rants, Duck? Great Western this, Great Western that – the Great Western Railway is gone!”

Duck didn’t reply – instead, he went silent, and just glared at Thomas’ bunker.

Which was of course the exact moment that the tracks began to sink into the mud and ooze beneath them.

Both Nia and Duck were all too happy to split the train and ‘race’ through Mexico and Arizona. The two took one track (and the majority of the trucks), while Thomas got Ace, the flatbeds, two vans and the brakevan.

“On your marks!” called Ace. “Get set! Go!”

And with that, the three were thundering along, Nia and Duck working in tandem to draw ahead of the blue tank engine. “This is better!” cheered Duck. “No Thomas, no Ace, no worries!” “You shouldn’t talk about your friend like that,” Nia huffed. “Friend?!” spluttered Duck with a laugh. “Please! You heard him – we’ve never been friends, Nia. Mister Number One doesn’t like me, and there’s nothing I can do about it. At least with him gone, we can finally go see those Rainbow Mountains you were talking about, instead of being dragged after the Blue Puffball.”

“Why do you call him that?” quizzed Nia. Duck laughed. “Oh, it’s a nickname a diesel with a giant claw gave him a while back,” he said offhandedly. Nia gaped at Duck in shock. “What?!” “Ah, now this is a fun story…”

And so, even though they were still racing Thomas through the Arizonan desert, Duck and Nia took the time to share stories about their home railways, as well as marvel at the sublime scenery that surrounded them, including the Grand Canyon itself.

***

Thomas didn’t come. He had ditched them to play ‘rally car’ with Ace. So, Duck and Nia didn’t wait. Instead, the pair boarded the next ship bound for China, excited to go and see the famous Rainbow Mountains in China. They were located at the Zhangye National Park in the north of the country, so the pair had plenty of time to see some of the other wonders of the ancient nation on their way, from the bustling city of Shanghai to the Grand Canal to Jiuzhai Valley National Park. It was gorgeous!

Better yet, they met Yong Bao on their way. Duck had previously met the gentle giant back when Britain had hosted the Great Railway Show, and the Chinese engine had spent some time at the Big Station helping out Henry, Murdoch and Hiro on the heavy goods trains.

“The Rainbow Mountains are beautiful this time of year,” Yong Bao grinned. “It is such an honour to be able to share them with you. Thank you both for finding the time to come all this way to see our sights.” “I’ve always wanted to see the world,” said Duck with a smile. “I remember once talking to Percy about it back on Sodor, during a regatta. He said it was impossible because engines can’t float…” “Really?” hummed Nia. “I used to stare at the sunset and wonder what the world looked like!” “Me too!”

Yong Bao chuckled.

“Well, we can go see the Rainbow Mountains together – and then is there anywhere else you want to go?” “Italy,” Nia replied. Duck’s eyes widened. “You said you wanted to go there, right?” “I… you remembered?” “Of course I did! We’re friends,” said Nia. “And you remembered that I wanted to come here.” Duck beamed. “Oh yes!” Yong Bao chuckled at the pair. “Come on, we had best get moving – you need to see the Rainbow Mountains, then head towards the Himalayas so you can start on your journey to Italy.” Yong Bao coupled the pair up to a passenger train he was pulling in that direction, and the three set off.

“I… I don’t have many friends,” Duck admitted quietly to Nia after a few minutes. “Most of the other engines think I’m a bit… too uptight.” “Being proud of your work and heritage is important,” said Nia. “You should not be ashamed of it. You just prefer to get all your jobs finished before relaxing – it is honourable.” “Agreed,” chimed in Yong Bao. “You have a friend in me, Duck.” Duck smiled a watery smile – he felt close to tears.

“Thank you. Thank you both.”

Yong Bao left them at the base of the ‘railway through the clouds’, and the two continued onwards up the highest railway in the world on their own. It wasn’t easy going. The lack of oxygen made their fires burn cooler, and each puff was a pant – but still they kept on going, spurred on by the scenery that they were seeing. They could see the Himalayas stretched out in front of them, the roof of the world covered in ice and snow.

Both engines talked in hushed voices, both so not to disturb the animals dozing by the line in certain areas – and to not trigger a landslide in others.

That was when they heard a loud, shrill whistle. Duck and Nia both looked back – there was Thomas, speeding up the side of the mountain and whistling fit to burst, calling out their names. Both of them sped up, eyes turned upwards. They were wary of triggering an avalanche.

A tunnel loomed ahead. Nia and Duck puffed in just as there was a deep, dangerous rumble above them. The two slammed on their brakes as a giant avalanche came roaring down the mountainside. The whistles cut out – then started again, only this time alarmed.

“Help! Help!” Duck’s eyes were wide. “Come on, we have to rescue him!” he exclaimed. The two raced back out the tunnel, to find snow everywhere. They charged down the line, and found Thomas off the rails near a sharp bend. He was tilting over the edge of a cliff face, his front buffers hanging over nothing.

“You secure him,” Duck said to Nia. “I’m going to find help further down the mountain.” “Got it. But hurry!” Chains were secured between Thomas and Nia, while Duck sprinted back down the mountain.

“I’m sorry,” Thomas said after a moment. “I was stupid to listen to Ace – he just seemed so cool… and it made me lose sight of who my real friends were.” “I think,” said Nia, “that you need to save your apology for Duck.”

The two sat there for several moments – and then Nia felt herself slipping. Snow was shifting under Thomas, dragging him further over the cliff edge. Nia strained against the weight of the blue tank engine – but it was a losing battle. Just as she felt her trailing wheels lift up off the rails however, Yong Bao and Duck steamed up behind her, buffering up and pushing forwards with all their might!

“Yong Bao!” cheered Nia. “Duck, you found him!” “I heard the avalanche and came right away,” Yong Bao replied. “Whoever was dumb enough to whistle so loudly in an avalanche zone put everyone in danger.”

Thomas blushed, and looked at his buffers in disgrace. “I… I’m sorry Duck,” he said eventually. “I shouldn’t have been so mean. I�� I don’t know why you’ve put up with me so far.” “Well, it wouldn’t be very good if you went and rolled down a mountainside,” smirked Duck. “It’s just not the Great Western Way.”

Yong Bao smiled, listening to Duck’s roundabout forgiveness of his friend.

“Here, I will guide you the rest of the way,” he offered. “It is safer.” “Thank you,” said Duck. “We’d really appreciate that. And… maybe our drivers could exchange email addresses?” “Sounds wonderful,” grinned Yong Bao.

***

There was just one last place to go before returning to Sodor.

Duck gasped in astonishment, gazing out over the city of Venice. Thomas and Nia sat on either side of the Pannier tank, all three staring out across the lagoon to where the ancient island city lay, great buildings made of limestone rising up out of the sea.

“It’s incredible,” Duck managed to say, tears in his eyes. He’d actually fulfilled his dream. “I… I never thought I’d ever come here.” “And I never thought I’d leave Africa,” Nia added. “But I got to see the Rainbow Mountains.” “And I never thought I’d leave the yard,” Thomas finished. “But I got to see the world, and I’m glad I got to see it with you both.” “Thank you,” murmured Duck. “It… wasn’t too bad seeing the world with you either.”

They still had a long way to go to get back home to Sodor – a route filled with gorgeous scenery, incredible cities and a trip through the Channel Tunnel – but they weren’t in a hurry. Perhaps there was something to leaving for a little while to see the world, mused Duck.

And as the sun set over the water, the three friends stood on the pier and let the world pass them by, content to spend time together.