The Abandoned Island

A Little Grudge

The next morning, Zeph woke up before the sun was even up. Having found and rescued Stanley, the plan to find Smudger was basically in place. The only difference being where he was supposedly located, but everyone who was going was already chosen, and now they had low-loader wagons to transport more of the crew at once. After several long stretches, she quietly padded over to Arry and Bert and softly woke them up. They yawned and groaned awake but were soon ready to get going. So, they fired up their engines and rolled out of the Works, backed up to the train, and coasted down the line a little to where Kelly, Monty, Oliver, and Byron were. The quartet were just beginning to wake up under the temporary structure Zeph and them had built, so they had somewhere to rest and keep dry. Zeph went through her routine of giving them all a thorough check over to make sure there was nothing wrong with them, then she would oil and grease them, and finally top off their fuel. They appreciated how thorough she was, and she constantly reminded them that if they ever felt any pain, to stop immediately and go rest till she came back.

This morning, however, she told them of the plan to go find Smudger, so Byron, Monty, and Oliver could have the day off if they wanted. She needed Kelly, who happily started up his engine and drove over to the Ironworks Brothers. With practiced ease, she loaded him onto one of the low loaders and strapped him down before they headed down the mainline as the sun began to warm the sky. They sailed down the line with ease, making it to the Depot at Knapford with no issues. Once there, Zeph unloads Kelly and then helps Arry and Bert back into the small shed near the station. "It feels weird not seeing the giant glass canopy over the station," noted Bert as he backed into the shed. Arry chuckled, "It looks like a completely different station." The young girl smiled as she looked between them and the station, "Well, maybe later down the line, when I'm not the only human here, we can build a new one." All three of them pictured a different canopy over the station, but they all liked the idea of the station having one. Zeph would close the doors and jog back to the Depot, where Kelly was waiting with a smile.

Once she opened the doors, she bustled about Madge, Nelson, Terrence, and Butch, getting them ready for the day. As soon as she finished, she helped Terrence onto Nelson's trailer with his bulldozer blade attached. Only then did the group head out onto the roads and followed the Ffarquhar branch line. This time, instead of moving everyone to Ffarquhar by rail first and then setting out, the group would drive the whole trip there. That way, they could clear the road of any obstructions, and it wouldn't take as long. By the time the sun was high in the sky, the group had made it all the way to Ulfstead, the town where they had diverged from to head up to Cas-ny-Hawin to find Stanley. Today, however, they would take a left out of the town and head North North-West towards Arlesdale. Duke's village and the Old Station, as they were marked on the map, were nearby. Duke had told her that that would be the most likely place to find the old engine. Despite Duke feeling bad for his past behavior towards Stanley, he had felt slightly less bad for hit attitude towards Smudger. From what he told her, Smudger purposely rode roughly and came off the lines almost as much as Stanley. However, unlike the American locomotive, Smudger had been built from the start for their gauge. He was apparently similar to Rheneas in build, but unlike Rheneas, he had a brash attitude and had little respect for anyone or anything. That had caught up with him after one particularly bad derailment where an entire trains worth of valuable slate had been broken. That was the straw that broke the camels' back and got him his new life as a generator behind the engine shed.

By the time the group reached Arlesdale, it was a couple of hours past noon. They took a break, which allowed Zeph to check everyone over and refill their fuel tanks. Thankfully, they had made it hear without incident, and the fact that there was no other traffic meant they could drive as quickly as they dared. After refueling and checking over everyone, Zeph decided to explore Arlesdale a little bit. She noticed a water tower and a small station nearby, and, at first, she thought it was part of the old Mid Sodor railway. As she wandered closer, though, she saw the severely overgrown area was newer, and digging through the tall grass revealed miniature gauge tracks. Glancing around, she didn't notice any sheds, so she guessed the engines, if there were any, were somewhere else. She headed back to the rescue team, brushing her jeans off, before climbing in Butchs' cab and Butch leading the team through the town. It was only a few minutes before they would arrive at the outskirts of Arlesdale and would find the remnants of a station. Surprisingly, the station wasn't collapsed and rotting, but instead, had been repurposed into a bus stop. They would drive past it into what looked like hills tight behind it. This puzzled most of them till Terrence spoke up, "I've done surveys around here. The winter snow melts in spring and washes dirt and soil down from the hills, and it builds up around here. So, in all honesty, we might be unburying a little engine again."