Come the next day, 25025 was still thinking about the night's events. He didn't even realize he had arrived, until his driver braked him to a stop. "Here we are..." he said "Vicarstown yards! Now, I've been told to leave our trucks here, and sidle up to the diesel shed for another tune-up... They're taking good care of you here, old boy..." He hopped out from the cab, and began to make his way to the first truck. "...Don't know why you wouldn't want to stay." The diesel exhaled. "It's just not my place to stay." he replied, coolly. His driver just shook his head, and engaged in a chat with the shunter, as they disconnected his engine from the train. While waiting for them, 25025 looked around. As the mainline renovations have been completed here before he came here, he had little to do around the eastern side of the island. The yards looked far more modern than they did on the rest of the island, and aside from the grand building of Vicarstown station itself, it seemed like
While the weather remained as capricious as it was, the diesel - now with a bit more spring in his roll, thanks to the tune-up - took more part in the regular services. He primarily worked BoCo's trains, while the Metrovick was under repairs. This meant he would spend most of his time with Edward and Molly, who welcomed him warmly. Unlike the others, they didn't have any friction between them and the visitor, so the three enjoyed working together, or side-by-side, as it were. It was never particularly windy, and the cool drizzles where otherwise welcomed alongside the surprisingly strong sun. "It gets more and more capricious each year." Henry lamented internally. Through his driver, the big green engine was aware of effects of the changing climate. Certainly, Sodor did not escape meteorological oddities, but a snowless winter still felt rather alarming to him. As reconstruction efforts puttered out, while their workloads increased with the coming tourist season, their visitor seemed
With the snowmelt, work on the main line's refurbishment could continue. The old ballast was being dug up and replaced by a fresh one, the gangers would cut the grass and weed on the lineside, and a special weedkiller train, consisting of a single engine - usually one of the Iron Twins - and an old, modified coach with the spreading equipment on it - would follow suit to get rid of any that remained. For this reason, vegetation seemed to give an unusually wide berth to the tracks. As did the trainspotters, who knew well enough to stand back whenever the weedkiller train would crawl past them, what, with the associated workmen all wearing hazmat suits. Children who usually stood by on overpasses would be ushered away by workmen or the police, lest a stray gust of wind carry some of the wet, powdery aerosol towards them. "It will be a silent spring..." Henry thought grimly, although a familiar racket would soon change his mind. As promised, 25025 returned to the railway, clattering to
It was a cold autumn morning on the island. The leaves have long since turned yellow, and were now growing ruddy and withered, falling off the trees like large, colourful feathers. Henry usually admired the changes in nature, but still scoffed at the sight - the falling leaves left behind the skeletal trunks of trees, gnarled and twisty. They looked like clawed hands grasping at the sky. "I do wonder what's in the soil to make them grow like that." the green engine muttered. He was bored. He, Gordon and James had managed to find some time to rest together at Vicarstown, while they were waiting for the next trains. However, as the minutes dragged on, they found themselves quickly exhausting the topics, and soon, his friends descended into a rambling argument about luggage vans, of all things, leaving Henry to stare out into the yard, looking for something to take his mind off of the other two. It was then that he heard the distinct sound of a diesel engine... And frowned. Visiting
Thomas and Friends Alternate Universe V by SONBoomer, literature
Literature
Thomas and Friends Alternate Universe V
And now, the Mountain engines.
The Culdee Fell Railway was intended to be a mountain railway and tourist attraction. Completed in 1900, it was expected to become a favorite among tourists, both Sudrian, British, and foreign. However, tragedy struck on the opening day: a maintenance train broke away from its engine, No. 1 Godred, near final station, Culdee Fell Summit, and collided with an oncoming passenger train, pulled by No. 4, Culdee. This derailed the engine, and caused him to tumble down the side of the mountain, along with the trucks, ending up completely destroyed, his crew killed. The coaches, with their brakes damaged from the coll
Sonic OVA - The Series II by SONBoomer, literature
Literature
Sonic OVA - The Series II
It is true, that once Pierrot Co., Ltd., left the animation team, things changed dramatically.
4°C Studios essentially revamped the series, trying to make it appeal to a slightly older audience. While it still retained some of the charm and humor of the original (thanks to Ankama's and Pannónia's work), it also became gritty, more openly grim. It tried to maintain a careful balance between the more whimsical nature of the previous seasons, while also, slowly adapting the more serious tone of the new one - a fine, delicate balance that was often broken by plot elements.
Some cues were taken (which many fans disliked) from the failed
The 1996 Sonic the Hedgehog animated movie was released to a mixed success: it had a lukewarm welcome in the United States, which, at that point, was spoiled with three different cartoons series based on Sonic, but became an instant hit in Japan and Europe, which didn't have their own adaptation.
Fledgling, downsized animation studios, born out of the breakup and privatisation of larger, state-owned ones in Easter Europe, such as Se-Ma-For, Pannonia, Animafilm, and so on, along with French and British ones, such Cosgrove Hall Films and Alphanim, jumped on the occasion to turn the two-episode "TV special" into a full-fledged cartoon series, wi
The precedents elude me, but I know it started with a family.
They owned the factory-fields, which kept the workers under their heels.
There are several people working by the assembly line. One of them has to copy and check documents, written with graphite, when something catches his eye. He had mindlessly scribbled over it, so now, he couldn't check the date - the other pages have it written with pen, and he can't decide if the date's the same, or it was earlier or later. It's 1999... Something.
He stops as he looks up.
A little girl, no more than 6, who had terrorized them for years, stands before him - better clothes than him, and with a
Thomas and Friends Alternate Universe III by SONBoomer, literature
Literature
Thomas and Friends Alternate Universe III
Continuing, once again, where we left off...
The Sodor China Clay mine had gained notoriety by being one of the most hellish places for an engine to work in, as it is located in "the Drain", an area of swampy lowlands that tends to suffer from flash floods, and the mines themselves are rather unstable, on account of frequent washouts, blastings, and sinkholes. The sun beats down heavily, there are no crosswinds, just a nightly cold and wet draft coming in from the sea, so everything is coated with a layer of fine clay dust - which gets into EVERYTHING.
On average, the mine used to chew through one or two engine per year, many of whom were la