The Other Railway Series (Not Canon)

The Fogman

A/N: This won't be updated as much as TRS. This was just made so to get motivation to finish off the special I'm making. Enjoy the rebooted The Other Railway Series!

January 27th 1938

In the chilly mornings of Thesang. Fog would come from the north of the island and roll into the heart it.

Ashfull, the Class 7F was pulling a usual heavy goods train through the mountains. But like all engines, he had to be careful going through the section of the mainline that ran from Telmouth, to Nithsdale, since there was high risk of rocks coming loose and coming onto the tracks.

A man named Cyril, who lived nearby the railway would always come to this section of track and would put detonators on them, so to warn engines and their crews that fog was nearby.

That morning, Ashfull ran over a detonator which made a loud bang. The 7F jumped slightly. "Woah!" he said, "That made my axels tingle!"

"That must've been Cyril," said his driver, "Fog has to be up ahead then."

Ashfull's driver then grabbed the regulator and the train's speed went down. Ashfull then saw Cyril, about to climb the steep sloop back to his house.

"Thanks Cyril!" he called.

Cyril smiled and waved as the train went slowly by.

Once Ashfull arrived at Carrag Docks. He met Chronkton, who was waiting for him.

"You just got here on time," smiled the J50, "Good thing too. You know what the Dock manager is like when engines are late, even when it's seconds!"

"Sorry. I had to slow down around the mountain section, fog was up ahead. You know how it is when you go through their in winter mornings?"

"Well I've only been up once in a winter morning," replied Chronkton, "And I don't want to experience that again."

"You can only rely on Cyril when there's fog," agreed Ashfull, "And he's very reliable."

"He is indeed."

Both Ashfull and Chronkton looked over to see Javilling puff up near them. "You don't know what to do when he's not there and there's fog," continued the C class, "You could actually hit rocks and derail... or the rocks go under your undercarriage."

He shivered at the thought. Ashfull, sighed. "I wouldn't think that rocks can go under your undercarriage!"

Javilling scowled. "I think so too!" he argued, "Maybe you go flying over them enough for your pistons to get caught into it."

Ashfull chuckled. "Whatever," he said, clearly not convinced, "I'll see you two later!"

And he puffed away.

That night at Camford sheds. All the engines had returned from work, and soon their controller arrived. He was an old man, clearly fit for retirement, but refused too. His name was Mark Lang. But the engines and railway staff call him, The Old Controller.

The Old Controller was standing next to a massive, silver box with red horns on top. It looked very new and had controls on it too.

Once the last engine had made themselves comfortable in the sheds. The Old Controller finally spoke. "This here is a foghorn," he started, "It is a new type of technology. It runs automatically, and has special sensors to measure fog or when engines come."

A quite mumble came from the sheds. King Callum II, one of the oldest and wisest there looked at the foghorn with a raised brow.

"What does it do when an engine come sir?" he asked.