Chapter Text
As the sun rose over the horizon, drivers and firemen made their way to Tidmouth sheds to wake their engines for the day. The first were to arrive were Edward’s crew, driver Charlie Sand and fireman Sidney Hever. Opening the door to the roundhouse, the two walked through the dark shed amongst the shadowy shapes of sleeping engines. It was very quiet, more so than usual. Several of the engines were known to talk, or even whistle, in their sleep and nearly all of them snored to some degree, but this morning it was completely silent.
Reaching the stall where Edward had spent the night, fireman Sidney climbed up into his cab and stopped short at the sight of an unfamiliar man curled up on the footplate. People sneaking into the sheds wasn’t completely unheard of, but this man didn’t look like a drunkard or homeless person. He appeared to be in his late 40’s or early 50’s, clean shaven with neatly cut short grey hair, and perfectly tidy blue clothing.
“Oi, up you” Sidney gave the man a nudge with his foot, “What are you doing in here?”
With a soft groan, the man slowly stirred and looked up at Sidney with bleary eyes, “Fireman? Is it morning already?”
“That’s right, I’m the fireman of this engine. You’re gonna have to move. What’s your name, and what are you doing in here?”
“What. Are you talking about?” The man looked very confused, “I’m Edward.” He shifted and pressed a hand to his head. “I. Feel a little funny.” He caught sight of his hand and yelped in surprise. Trying to get to his feet, the man bumped against Sidney and fell out of the cab to the gravel floor of the shed.
“Edward?” That voice did sound very familiar, one that Sidney heard every day. He stared at the man sitting on the floor, who was looking at his hands with a kind of mute horror.
“Sidney! We’ve got a problem,” Charlie called from the front of the engine. The fireman hurried over to see what the driver was so worried about and gasped. The front of the smoke box of the blue engine was a plain, sooty black with no adornment. The familiar, smiling face of their friend was not there. “Edward is gone.”
“I don’t think he got very far,” Sidney responded, looking back at the older man still sitting on the ground. Now, he was looking up at the engine in front of him with wide eyes.
“What is going on?” Edward exclaimed, fear in his eyes.
Across the shed, the same scene was playing out as other drivers and firemen arrived to wake their engines. Soon, the shed doors had been opened to let the light in and a motley group of humans had been gathered in the middle of the shed. For some unknown reason, all the engines on the shed had been turned human.
It was, at least, fairly easy to tell who was who after a moments consideration. For one, they seemed to all be dressed in clothing that matched the colors of their livery. Then it was just a matter of matching them up. Gordon, as the strongest and largest engine, was built like your average lumberjack, while at the other end of the spectrum Thomas was very slight and looked to be no older than a college freshman.
No one really knew what to do, so they stood around and waited. Soon enough, a car’s horn sounded outside the shed and they heard the sound of gravel crunching underfoot. The Fat Controller had arrived.
Sir Topham Hatt walked up to the sheds, a smile on his face as he went to greet his engines for the morning. Upon seeing the blank, featureless boilers lacking the friendly faces he was used to, the man stopped short. “What is going on here?”
Charlie, the oldest of the drivers, was the one to step forward. “We were hoping you could tell us that, sir. We got here this morning and found the engines like this.” He gestured to Edward, who was standing next to him rubbing his hands together self-consciously.
“Like what?” The Fat Controller peered closer, then his eyes widened in surprise. “Edward?” He looked at the others standing there in front of him and, after a moment, recognized them too. “Thomas? Gordon, Henry, James, Percy, Emily? What happened? You’re all-“
“Human, sir. We noticed.” Edward finished.
A lot of strange things happened on Sodor, it was considered to be a part of life on the island. But this took the cake. What was he supposed to do with seven humans instead of seven engines? Work couldn’t be stopped, there were deliveries to make and people to transport no matter what kind of chaos was happening behind the scenes. With this in mind, Sir Topham Hatt made a decision.
“Drivers, firemen, I need you to take the engines out today regardless. Please light off the fires and start getting steam up, I will assign you your jobs in a minute. As for the engines,” He looked over the assemblage and sighed. “You. You will spend the day in Tidmouth until your drivers return. I’ll give each of you a bit of money for food and such. If this isn’t figured out by sundown, meet back at the station and go home with either your driver or fireman. Now, I have some phone calls to make.”
This was going to be a terrible idea, but what else could he do? All the drivers and firemen were busy, and he didn’t trust anyone else to look after the engines. Hopefully, they would be able to conduct themselves properly until the crews returned. Though, he wasn’t going to hold to hold out hope for that.
Assignments were given out, and phone calls made to the other sheds around the island. Whatever had happened here had happened everywhere else as well. All the engines on the island had been turned human by some unseen force. Only the engines, though, oddly enough. He gave instructions that the newly turned humans were to be looked after, then thanked god it was a Saturday and at least there weren’t as many trains running as usual.
The crews tried their best to at least give their engines a little preparation. They told them about eating, drinking, and why it was considered impolite to scratch oneself in public. Out behind the sheds was a washroom for the human crews, a perfect venue for explaining the very human act of using the restroom. Much embarrassment ensued, especially when the men realized that Emily was part of the group. Charlie rolled his eyes and took over. He had two adult children, a daughter and a son, and had seen pretty much everything.
With the basics covered, each engine was given a billfold and strict instructions that it was to be used for food and other such needs, then one of the drivers took them into the town center of Tidmouth. Hopefully, the town would still be standing when they returned that evening.