Chapter Text
Adam’s wheels furiously pounded the rails as he raced down the line. He didn’t know where he was going, but he did know that it had to be somewhere away from Crewe, away from Sodor, even. As he raced along, he cursed the railway that had cast him aside like that. The Express engine, just thrown off to the scrapheap in such a way? The prospect infuriated him to no end.
“Oh, we’re so sorry about your accident! We know that you’re not too badly damaged, but we can’t afford to pay for your repairs! It would be much easier and cheaper to just scrap you instead!” Adam mocked, doing his best impression of The Fat Director. “Like I would ever believe that.”
“Now now, I think you’re being a little bit irrational about this, Adam. He probably did only have the money to repair Lily-”
“In that case, why would he send me off for scrap instead of placing me in the back of The Works until he could afford it?”
His driver went silent. He didn’t have a response to that.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Perhaps…” began the fireman, “It wasn’t because they couldn’t repair you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Perhaps he didn’t want to. I’m thinking he didn’t want an engine that killed over 120 people and injured around ninety more around on his railway.”
Adam hummed thoughtfully; somehow, that hadn’t come to mind. He thought back to the accident, and the few days afterward, that had sent him to Crewe five long years ago…
……………
At this point in time, being the middle of 1918, Adam was the fastest engine the North western Railway had, which was partly because The Fat Director did not have the sufficient funds to purchase any of the bigger engines any of the other rail companies had been pumping out. Naturally, being in this position meant he got the prestige of running the Tidmouth to Vicarstown Express, which he was very proud of.
This particular day in the middle of July was going exceptionally well. On the departing train, Adam had been a few minutes early to both Crovan’s Gate and Vicarstown, and he had been early to the former once again on the way back. However, just after passing that station was where it all went wrong.
At Maron, Lily was waiting with a short, 4-coach local train for the signal to turn green so she could move and get out of The Express’ way. However, after twenty minutes and nothing at all, her crew hopped out and walked into the signal box to find… a very unwelcome sight. The normal signalman had fallen ill and a replacement had to be called. This replacement was, to say the very least, not very competent. He had managed to sneak an entire case of beer in with him to work, and was now passed out drunk with bottles all over the floor. Lily’s driver groaned.
“That’s just perfect! They chose a raging drunkard as a replacement-”
“Nevermind him, we have to get the hell out of here! Adam’s coming through with The Express and he’ll be charging through here at any minute!”
“Oh my- you’re right! We have to go, quickly!”
And they raced out the signal box, ran up to Lily and jumped into her cab, slamming the regulator open just as Adam’s shrill whistle rang out in the distance. Lily was horrified, not just from the whistle but by the way she was now lurching forwards and slipping a bit as her wheels gained traction.
“Woah! What’s going on?!”
“We have to get out of here, now! We’re on The Express’ path, our train will be completely destroyed if we don’t leave!”
“But the points! You didn’t change the points!”
Both of the men’s hearts stopped at this realization. Said hearts then went into panic mode as they frantically tried to speed up their engine as much as they possibly could… but it was all in vain. As, just over a hundred feet behind them, was Adam, racing along with The Express. He rounded a corner, he saw the back of Lily’s train, and he hollered to his crew to “STOP!! STOP US NOW!!”
The crew slammed on the brakes, closed the regulator, and jumped clear, receiving little more than a bruise or two as they landed on a flat patch of grass. Adam shut his eyes in horror, and slammed into the back of Lily’s coaches with an almighty CRASH!!! which knocked him unconscious after he ploughed through two of them. The jolt at the front snapped the coupling between Lily and the first coach, and sent her careening off the rails and into a ditch.
It was an awful, awful sight, one that got even worse as smoke began to rise from Lily’s coaches… and then flames, and then screams. Adam’s driver and fireman were stunned for a minute, but quickly came to their senses and ran back to the signal box to phone both the breakdown train and the fire department.
…
In the end, 126 people were killed, and another eighty-seven were injured. All but one of the casualties were from Lily’s train, with the one outlier having been a man in Adam’s first coach who was thrown clear from the impact and landed on his head, breaking his spine. Around sixty-eight deaths and forty injuries were from the fire that started soon after the crash, which was revealed by a survivor’s account to have started when a cigarette had been lit in the back of the third coach. Smoking in the coaches was banned from that day onward, a ban which still persists into the modern day.
The replacement signalman, who had reportedly not spent a single day on the job fully sober, was sentenced to life in prison without a chance of parole for 126 counts of negligent manslaughter and a charge of drinking on the job, which was unacceptable on Sodor even back then. Even though he had no part in causing the accident, Mr. Blue, the regular signalman for Maron, resigned out of guilt and never worked on a railway again. He left Sodor later on in September of 1918, and never returned.
As for Adam and Lily, the two of them were taken to Crovan’s Gate to be assessed and repaired. But, as the railway was in a bit of a bad spot with having to pay compensation fees to all of the families who had lost loved ones, Sir Derek Topham Hatt I had to make a very difficult decision, one that he would break once both engines finally came to. That was the next day.
“Good morning Adam, good morning Lily. I have come to make an unfortunate announcement.”
Both engines shared a look.
“We can only afford to repair one of you, and the other will have to be… sold for scrap, I’m afraid. I truly wish this wasn’t what the situation came to, but we are on the verge of going bankrupt and selling one of you is the only way we can recover.”
Lily stared at her controller, mouth hung open in a half-finished gasp, while Adam just looked away with a frown, seeming to already know what was coming.
“I can assume,” the Radial Tank started, “That you intend on keeping Lily and sending me away?”
Sir Derek was taken aback by this. “We- y-yes, we are… how did you know-”
“The men got here before you did, sir. They told us that I'm in significantly worse shape than Lily is, and it would be almost twice the expense to fix me over her.”
The Fat Director sighed mournfully. “Yes, it’s true. I really would keep both of you if I could, but that would be too much of a burden on our already crippled finances. I hate to admit it, but in this situation keeping the railway afloat always comes first.”
Adam stayed quiet for a moment, before uttering a simple: “When do I leave.”
“Tomorrow morning. The workmen told me that you can move under your own power, so you will have to drive there yourself.”
“Good to know," Adam muttered through clenched teeth, before sighing in defeat. “I’ll go say my goodbyes now, just to get it over with.”
His crew, who had been waiting for a signal like this, hopped into his cab and drove him away. Lily watched him go, and looked over to Sir Derek.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to keep him instead of me? I’m sure the engine that runs The Express is more valuable for the railway than a smaller engine like myself, is it not?”
“To tell you the truth, Lily, this is for the good of the railway. Not only has he not been able to keep up with the increasingly tight timetables of The Express, I highly doubt people would want to travel on a train headed by the engine which killed and injured over 200 people. Would you?”
“Don’t they know that it wasn’t his fault?”
“That’s not what the media said. Look at this headline!” he exclaimed, pulling out a cut-out newspaper headline from his back pocket. The headline read, in big bold letters, “RECKLESS, OUT-OF-DATE ENGINE CAUSES HORRIBLE CRASH, OVER A HUNDRED KILLED AND NINETY INJURED.” Lily was speechless!
“Please tell me that isn’t what they actually said…”
“It is. And I have been told, by multiple people, that the only way to salvage this railway's credibility would be to… sell Adam off for scrap. Then the public would be happy that he’s gone, and our reputation will, hopefully, be fixed.”
“I… suppose I understand. It’s just a question of whether or not Adam will…”
…
Adam went about saying his goodbyes to everyone he knew throughout the next few hours, before coming to his final stop: fittingly, Crovan’s Gate. There, he saw Lily again, though no Sir Derek. Not that Adam wanted to see the man’s face again anyhow.
“Oh, back again so soon?”
“Yes indeed. I’ve said my goodbyes, so I have nothing left for this island.”
Lily sighed. “I’m sorry about all of this. Let’s hope for the best, or that another railway buys you?”
“Unlikely. I’ve overheard from some engines at Vicarstown that they’re already withdrawing some of my class, so why would any railway want to buy one off the scrap heap?”
“That’s… more true than I would like it to be. But hey, try to be optimistic! You never know what could happen!”
“Right. Well, this railway no longer holds any value for me, so I’m off I suppose. Farewell, Lily.”
“I’ll miss you, Adam!”
“I would say the feeling is mutual, but… I think you get the issue with that. Tell Sir Derek that I’ll haunt him for the rest of his life, why don’t you?”
Lily, against her better judgment, got quite the chuckle out of that. “Goodbye!” she called, getting a mutual response from Adam as the Radial Tank reversed out of the workshop sheds for what both assumed to be the final time. After she was sure he was gone, she sighed mournfully.
“This railway’s not gonna be the same without him, that’s for sure…”
……………
“ADAM!!” His driver shouted, shaking the engine from his trance that he had been stuck in for much longer than anticipated.
“GAH- What? What on earth are you… oh- oh!”
The radial tank looked around, noticing a yard with nothing but an old-looking shed with a few rotting faceless trucks under it, a water column, and a coaling station. None of it looked like it had been touched since the turn of the century.
“Ah.”
“Took long enough. You would think it would take less than three hours to find something other than just flat bland railway lines, but I suppose that is too much to ask.”
“Hold on…” the fireman thought out loud, “is there even any water or coal in those facilities or are they just facades?”
“There… should be?” Adam replied, though he didn’t sound sure. “I think it’s best to go check.”
And that’s exactly what the fireman did, and he came back five minutes later with very unpleasant news.
“Well, I’ve checked the towers, and the trucks, and in total there’s a fair bit of coal, but only about three buckets worth of water. We’ll have to find some elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?! Where else can we look?!” Adam exclaimed.
“I’m not sure, but if we do find something we’ll have to find it close by. You’ve only got one-third of a tank of water left from all of that running about!”
“Bother! Everything just has to go wrong recently, doesn’t it?”
“Unfortunately, that’s how it seems to be… God must not be happy with us. But either way, we can’t stay in one place for long. After all, Crewe must have noticed that their next scrap victim has gone missing, and I’m sure they’ll have your smokebox the second they find you.” Said the driver.
Adam scoffed, knowing he was right. “Too true… but we can’t dwell on it. Can we fill up on coal and the little bit of water left there before we leave, just for the extra precaution?”
“That was my plan exactly. Let’s fill up and get out of here - this yard gives me a very bad feeling.”
…
Unfortunately, they didn;t find anything other than a few passing trains that didn’t give them the time of day. That is, until they found a signal box, sitting alone in the emptiest part of the line there was.
“This is it? This is the big grand destination we’ve been looking for for the last four hours? A signal box?!” Adam questioned, growing angry.
“Calm down! You never know, it could still be in use!”
“Oh, I’m sure. How many signals have you seen for the past ten miles?”
“There have been plenty! There was the one we saw by that massive tree, there was one near the forest area, one by the lake we passed, and… oh. Those were the only ones…” The driver murmured, losing hope as he continued through the sentence.
“Exactly! So what makes you think there would be someone in this box?”
“It wouldn’t hurt to try! And hey, if we aren’t successful, then we’ll just have to keep going!”
“We can’t do that much longer. Adam’s only got one-sixth of his water tank left!” The fireman, who had been incredibly conservative with how much water and coal was being used, reminded. “It’s either here, a station in the next three-and-a-half miles, or being stranded.”
The driver sighed. “Well isn’t that reassuring. But still, no point in not trying!”
So, that’s what the two men did: climbed out of Adam’s cab, walked up to the signal box, and knocked. And…
Nothing. So they knocked again…
An old-looking man threw open the door in annoyance. “What’re you two doing here? Nobody’s passed through this line in ages!”
“That explains the lack of maintenance. As we passed over one of the rails it snapped in half!” The driver exclaimed.
“But your engine looks fiii- ooh, well, fine ain’t exactly the right word. He looks like he’s been in some sort of horrible accident!”
“Don’t remind me.” Adam remarked, having heard that last sentence. The man was confused, but decided not to press the subject. In fact, the fireman was the next to speak up.
“Would there be any way that you could phone a station or a workshop that’s nearby?”
“I’m afraid not. You’re actually on the coastal area of the… LMS, I believe it was called? And this entire line was abandoned from the merger, which was eight months ago.”
“Then why are you still here?”
“I was never fired! I was told by the superiors to stay at this box just in case an engine passed by, so I have! I’ve essentially been gettin’ paid to do nothin’ all day for over eight months now!”
“Uh… good for you, I suppose. But is there any way we could find some form of civilization? I don’t exactly fancy leaving a damaged engine on an abandoned line.”
The old signalman thought for a moment. “Hmm… can you travel three miles?”
The crew shared a look. “Yyyess…? Why?”
“Well, that’ll be how long it is until you reach a station that hasn’t been out of use. I think it was called… Curt’s Peak? At least, that’s what I was last told…”
The crew could have jumped for joy right then and there! “Oh, that’s fantastic news! Come on, let’s get going!” The fireman exclaimed to the driver, and both men practically ran down to Adam’s cab and got the radial tank started up, much to the latter’s surprise.
“Woah, woah! What’s going on?!”
“We’re going to Curt’s Peak, that’s what’s going on! It’s a station that hasn’t been abandoned and is close enough to get to without you running out of water!”
“Oh, that’s excellent news!” Adam rattled, his fire burning just a little brighter. “Let’s get a move on, then!”
“My thoughts exactly. And, erm, THANK YOU!!” The fireman called out to the old signalman as Adam sped off to the next station. When they were out of earshot, the man sighed in amusement.
“City folk…” He murmured, before heading back inside his box.
…
Unfortunately, Adam’s crew had been so excited that they had forgotten to carefully monitor his fuel consumption, and as a result, just fifty feet away from the junction that led into the station… he ran dry. The junction was massive, and the line they were on was tucked far away from all those currently in use at the furthest corner of the yard. Not only that, but the line was covered by tree branches and various foliage, which Adam most likely wouldn’t have been able to break through anyway. Still, that didn’t mean it was any less infuriating to the old engine, who complained about it as his crew dropped his fire to prevent his boiler from exploding.
“What kind of sick joke is this?! Why, oh WHY, has fate decided to DESTROY OUR HOPE AND RESOLVE AT EVERY TURN?! Can we please catch a damn break even ONE time throughout this godforsaken fiasco?!”
“Normally,” grumbled the driver, “I would say something like, ‘shouting about it won’t get us anywhere’, but this time I’m honestly with you. We’ve tried so hard, gone so far and for so long, and this is how we’re stopped? Fifty feet away from a yard, all because we used three too many milliliters of water across a three-mile journey?”
“No. No, it is not. Adam may not be able to move, but the two of us can. Come on, let’s go find help on foot.” The fireman encouraged, and he almost dragged the driver out of Adam’s cab and towards the wall of plants. “We’ll be back soon, Adam!” He called. “Try not to go too far while we’re gone!”
“Oh, isn’t that hilarious.” Adam grunted, but neither man paid attention to what he was saying. In fact, they were already both gone, having disappeared amongst the trees and bushes. The radial tank sighed.
“And now, we play the waiting game…”
…
He played said waiting game for over an hour, having fallen asleep at a certain point and waking up to the sound of his driver, getting his attention.
“Wh… huh? How long has it been?”
“Too long, quite frankly, but we found someone!”
Adam wasn’t impressed. “What, like the lunatic over at that empty signal box?”
“No, you dolt, We found a controller!”
“What?!”
“Yes! A controller! And, even better, one who’s been looking for a new engine for his region!”
Adam couldn’t believe what he was hearing! He simply sat there in shock, until the sound of several axes hacking away at the branches that sat over the old rails, which excited the driver.
“Ah, there they are! Don’t worry Adam, soon you’ll be free from this siding!”
As if on cue, the bushes and branches began to fall, and as they did the face of an engine became more and more visible. The engine looked fairly young, though its face was withered and dusty from an apparent lack of washdowns. It studied Adam for a few seconds, before speaking.
“Oh, a radial tank? You’re a long way from home, aren’t you?”
“Long way from home? What do you mean?”
“Oh, don’t you know? Your class is supposed to be in the southern region!”
“Is that so? Then I suppose I’m just an outlier. Such is the case with most Sodor engines, I suppose…”
“Sodor? You mean that island that connects to Barrow?”
“Why- why yes. I was sent off after causing an accident, went to Crewe Scrapyard for over four years, then ran away from Crewe for around a day, and now I’m here. I’ve also been told the controller of this region would like to own me?”
“Caused an accident? Oh dear… I suppose that explains your condition then.”
“Yes, the accident was… very bad. Not something I like to remember… but, I’ve also been told that your controller is interested in acquiring me for his region?”
“That lines up perfectly with how that man operates… but nevermind that, we have to get you to our workshops!”
A short, yet awkward silence followed this.
“...I can’t move.”
“What?”
“Exactly what it sounds like: I can’t move. I’ve run out of water and have no more steam.”
“Oh, oh! I see now! No matter, I can just couple up with you myself and bring you there that way!”
“That would be much appreciated, if you please. Besides, it’s not like we know what goes where, we just got here!” The driver exclaimed, lightly smacking Adam’s running board to emphasize the “just” in that sentence. The other engine smirked, and began moving forwards through where the foliage once stood, revealing his dirty black paint, large size and nameplate, which read “John”.
“Not to be rude, but I was honestly expecting a more fancy name for a large engine such as yourself. From what I heard, most of them were named after kings, queens and other powerful figures or what have you.”
“Well clearly you haven’t heard much, as those names are only given to the most important and specially graced engines of them all. As you might be able to see, I am… not one of those. I thought John was a suitable name, so I took that one.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t know about any of that. I’ve never left Sodor once in my life… at least, not until a few years ago when I was cast out…”
“Oh? Do tell.”
As the engine brought Adam along the section of line to the workshops, Adam spoke of many stories, not just that which had sent him off Sodor. He got so wrapped up in telling tales that he failed to realize that they had already stopped in the sheds, a fact which John had to remind him of.
“Adam.”
“Yes?”
“I have to go now. You’re already at your destination.”
“Oh, really? That didn’t take long.” Adam observed, before surveying the building as John secretly departed. It was a very large facility, much larger than Crovan’s Gate, with more tracks, sidings, and even a whole other area that led off to lord knew where. Adam’s eyes stopped on a man, dressed head-to-toe in black with a comically small top hat adorning his head. The hat did little to hide his grayed-out receding hairline.
“Are you Adam?” The man asked.
“I am indeed.” Adam responded, with slight hesitation in his voice.
“Brilliant! In that case, I would like to introduce myself. I am Mr. Metalicap, your new controller. And welcome…” He paused, before making an exaggerated gesture as if he was forming a rainbow with his hands, “to the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway! I’ve heard of your troubles to get here, and obviously I couldn’t turn down giving you a new home. So, as you haven’t been adjusted to our new grouping standards, we will be giving you a complete overhaul, replacing any and all damaged parts you have, which appears to be… quite a few.”
Adam would have rolled his eyes, had he not been so excited at the prospect. A full overhaul! As he daydreamed about it, Mr. Metalicap continued.
“The men will give you some green water in just a moment to put you under, we just need to get the barrels ready. It shouldn’t take more than a few moments.”
“Thank you, sir, thank you so very very much. I don’t think you understand how much this means to me.”
“Oh, I think old Sergeant Alexandria has told me quite enough about that.”
“That’s quite a name. Who’s that?”
“Another engine I acquired a few months ago, who actually had a similar escape story to yours, only she wasn’t… stuck in a scrapyard for five years. I’m sure you two will get along splendidly, but for now… the green water is ready. Have a nice rest, Adam!”
Upon saying this, he gave the workmen atop Adam’s bunker the command to pour the green water, and the last thing he felt before he went under was the thud of the barrel on his back end, and the sedative liquid pouring into his water tank as sleep overtook him...