Changes in the Wind - Part III: Gordon and the Extinct Ones

Prologue

1938

Steam engines, roaming the rails, the previous rain had stopped and now clouds were parting to show the blue sky, with the sun giving its light and reflecting it in the puddles on the ground. The water stirred though, as the engines moved around at the sheds. Tank engines lined up at the water column and big tender engines sat dozing in the sun, waiting for their next train of the day. A big tender then rumbled in, his face bright and cheerful. His eyes were a deep, rich purple, a rare eye colour for engines, but quite fetching. He smiled cheerfully as he puffed through. A tank engine whistled to him cheerfully. "Hey Papyrus!" they called to him.

"Morning little Kenny!" winked Papyrus, "glad to see the weather ran off south just before I arrived!"

"One of your brothers wasn't so lucky!" chortled the little tank engine, "he wasn't the best pleased, but he's most looking forward to seeing you!"

"Ahh, poor engine," grinned Papyrus, he was ready to tease him all the way to Edinburgh if he had to, "which oath is it then?"

"The oath is me, little brother."

Papyrus' smile dropped and he quickly looked to see the engine sitting with a wide smirk on his face. It was one of his many brothers, but he differed from the rest. For one, he had a weird valve gear system, not like the Gresley one. A big Fowler tender that was bigger than its usual size. Weird, square buffers and paint that could match the sky's brightness. With the noticeable number four written on his tender's side.

It took a couple of blinks for Papyrus to believe who was there at their sheds. "Gor--Gordon?" he stammered.

"Who else would it be?" laughed the big engine, "how's my dear Papyrus doing? Broken any more records?"

"Oh please," scoffed Papyrus, "I'm not even the world record holder anymore, that goes to Mallard. Wait... are you here because of her?"

"No no no," laughed Gordon, "I had a rebuilt at Crewe you see."

Papyrus glanced at his oldest brother and looked at the changes he had noticed earlier. He looked back up at Gordon, who looked a bit sheepish. "Crewe, you say?"

"Indeed," said Gordon, "it serves, but not a proper Doncaster built."

"Of course!" agreed Papyrus, "but why are you at King's Cross? Surely you would've returned to Sodor after your rebuild."

"I will," smiled Gordon, "but my Fat Controller kindly had me come here instead, just to visit my old stomping grounds."

Papyrus grinned. "You came here to see us?" he quizzed.

A pause came between each other and Gordon made a face that looked as if he was sort of offended by that. "Of course I did," he said, "I'd never miss an opportunity to see the young ones."

A brief chuckle came from Papyrus' lips. "We're the same size," he said.

"I need to keep you in check," Gordon replied in a bemused manner. Both engines glared at each other in a cheeky manner and both then chuckled.

Papyrus beamed back at the big engine. "I missed you brother," he said happily.

Gordon smiled back happily. "Yes, I did too," he said gently to his younger sibling.