And after forever, here’s the full story with Tornado. Complete with Scottish-ness, Andrew drinking too much coffee again, Gresley arguments, and Hammy being a sly dog. Not proof read the whole thing yet, but enjoy!
He was sitting in the shed that morning, still half-asleep as he was cleaned before he was suddenly so rudely awakened. Groaning softly, he slowly opened an eye, greeted by the dark green streak. She visited York and the National Railway Museum often, as she was prepared for many of her railtours there, so he wasn’t exactly surprised to see her.
“What is it, Union?” he grunted, closing his eye again and frowning deeply.
“Ah’ve got some big news for ye!”
“Can it wait until later?” He had no idea how she always had so much energy, especially so early in the mornings. When he opened his eyes a little, he could see Union’s frames quivering with excitement, which meant that whatever she wanted to tell him must be quite important. “Oh, go on then…”
“Alright. Listen carefully, Eyebrows, ‘cause ah’m only gonna say it once: Tornado reached one hundred!”
His eyes suddenly snapped open, staring at his cousin in disbelief.
It had been hard, so hard, to keep this a secret, but at last, the night had arrived. The days leading up to this moment had been daunting for herself and her support crew; making sure there was extra effort into making sure she was cleaned properly, passing her fitness to run examination, and making sure everything was running absolutely perfectly.
The sun was beginning to set below the skies of Doncaster, where she patiently waited for people to join the small crowd gathering around her. Finally, the driver and fireman arrived and greeted her.
“Right, does anyone have any questions?” a man asked the rest of the crowd after giving a briefing, smiling after a brief silence. “Good, that’s the right answer. Good luck!”
The support crew, special guests and the press took their seats as Tornado had one final check done by her driver, who paused briefly to look up at her.
“How are you feeling about this, girl?”
“Um… a bit nervous, I guess,” she answered as he climbed up onto her frames, starting to shake a little. “I don’t want to let you guys down after all this effort...”
Her driver smiled at this, leaning forward so that his forehead rested against hers and gently stroking her cheek as he tried to get her to relax. “Don’t worry Tornado, I know you’ll do us proud.” She smiled at that, and he got down to finish the check before climbing into the cab. With a toot of the whistle and a loud hiss of steam blowing from the cylinders, she was on her way.
The first parts of the run were not to include an attempt to hit the ton, but were just to see how she would fair at 90 miles per hour. She left Doncaster behind and steadily accelerated, her breath hitching slightly when her driver alerted her to the fact that she was passing her usual maximum speed of 75. With the fireman furiously shovelling coal and the pressure in her boiler rising, she pushed herself to go faster… and faster…
Before she knew it, she had arrived at York to take on water. Her driver and fireman got out to see how she was and do a quick check of her bearings.
“That was a very smooth run up girl, well done,” said the driver, gently patting her buffer. “I think we’ve got this in the bag.”
With everything in order and with a tender full of water, she set off once more, running smoothly up the East Coast Main Line to Newcastle, where she took on more water before heading a bit further up the line to be turned around. The moment was near.
“Alright, girl, we’ve got three chances to hit the ton,” the driver explained. “We’ve asked Network Rail for a clear road ahead so there shouldn’t be any setbacks. Let’s go and make history!”
With a whistle of agreement, she pulled onto the mainline again, and her passengers were getting their timers and speedometers ready. She spotted the odd photographer at stations and by the line, the word of the run already out among the railway enthusiast community. However, those people and stations soon became a blur as she focused on speeding up again, wheels pounding against the rails as her speed hit the nineties.
“Ninety-six, girl, nearly there!” she could hear the driver shouting in the cab, and she was determined to give it that final push, but suddenly, she felt herself being eased off. The driver explained that there was an upcoming speed restriction on the line that they had to slow down for. “Not to worry lass, we still have two tries left!”
Determined not to be disheartened by the first disappointment, the apple-green locomotive pushed on through, her fire raging like it had never done before as she prepared to speed up again.
However, this time she only slowed more.
“Double yellows, sir!” she called to her driver, frowning softly as she looked up at the signals. Were they not supposed to be given a clear road? “I think we’re being sent through Darlington rather than around it!”
“Dammit,” the driver muttered, looking out of the window and pulling a face at the caution signal. “Well, there goes our second chance…”
Tornado’s frown only deepened, but was now more determined than ever to give it her all when she had cleared the remaining speed restrictions and had one final chance. “Third time lucky, right sir?”
“Absolutely!” he called back, opening her regulator all the way and letting her show off just what she could do. With another long blow of her whistle, she pushed herself like she had never pushed before. The beat of the exhaust could be heard all around as she tore through towns and villages, her wheels were battering the rails, sparks and steam blasted out of her chimney.
Ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven…
Those three words repeated endlessly in her mind as she picked up speed, so close to breaking that record.
Ninety-eight, ninety-nine…
Come on now, we’re running out of track, and time! Do them proud! Faster! Faster!
Faint cries of joy could be heard from the carriages behind her, and against the cold wind whipping against her face, she grinned and let out a victorious laugh.
“Well done girl! You’ve done it! You’ve done it!” the fireman yelled, patting the side of her cab before going back to shovelling.
She was flying! Well and truly flying! It suddenly felt so easy to keep up the speed, keeping her eyes on the tracks ahead as she savoured this glorious moment, almost unable to catch the usual landmarks she spotted on her previous trips down this line. It felt like it would last forever, but soon enough she had to slow once more and pull into York station.
Passengers flew out of the carriages to congratulate the driver and fireman, while the men with the cameras immediately headed to the front of the train to take photos of Tornado to put on the front page. When things finally settled and it was almost time to move on again, the driver went to see how Tornado was doing.
She greeted him with a grin. “Have I done you proud, sir?”
“Oh, Tornado,” he sighed. “You’ve done us proud since the day you were built.”
“But I’ve done you… extra proud today, right?”
“Of course you have,” he chuckled. “Come on, let’s get you home and get you some well-earned rest.”
“Okay… Hey, I can see Scot over there!” she suddenly exclaimed, spotting the fellow Eastern pacific sleeping soundly in the shed. “I wonder what he’ll say when he finds out…”
“Unbelievable! How come she gets to go one hundred and I don’t get the chance! How come the newbie gets all the glory?”
Scot had been ranting for the last three hours, and the museum was about almost about to open. Andrew was already on his sixth cup of coffee, not having the patience to deal with him, whilst Adelaide was sat next to Mallard with a bag of popcorn, finding this all too entertaining not to miss.
“Oh come on, you big baby,” said Mallard, looking mildly amused. “Like you haven’t had any glory since you somehow managed to start functioning again.”
“Very funny, Quackers,” he muttered, making the streamlined blue engine roll his eyes in reply. “At least my glory is deserved. I worked damn hard to get to where I am.”
“Ah yes, being given a corridor tender by Sir Nigel Gresley and reaching a speed I and my siblings could beat in a heartbeat is totally ‘working damn hard’,” Mallard retorted, a smug smile on his face as he could tell he was winding Scot up more.
“Ah thought ye liked ‘Nado?” Adelaide questioned, shoving another handful of popcorn into her mouth.
“I’m not saying I don’t, but…” Scot sighed, not quite sure how to finish his sentence.
“I think someone’s jealous~!” Mallard teased.
It carried on like that for another long while. The Gresleys quite often clashed but for once it looked like Mallard was about the win the argument, until there was a familiar whistle heard from outside.
Mallard’s grin only grew at that. “I take it you’re going to say all that to her face, then.”
“Watch me!” Scot scowled as Tornado headed into the great hall.
“Hey Scot!” she greeted enthusiastically, looking tired but ecstatic. “You’ll never guess what I did last night!”
“Oh, I heard,” Scot replied, a small smile hesitantly appearing on his face. “Union couldn’t wait to tell me this morning. Congratulations!”
“Y-you mean it? Aw, thanks Scot, that means so much!” Tornado exclaimed, not noticing Mallard chuckling to himself. “Hey, let’s go outside. I’ll tell you all about it!”
“Sounds… sounds good,” Scot said, trying to ignore Mallard’s glance as he got himself turned around and lead the way out of the Great Hall.
“Chicken!” Mallard called after him, earning a confused glance from the younger engine.
“Just ignore him,” Duchess of Hamilton suddenly intervened. “Just Gresleys being Gresleys, that’s all.”
“Oh… okay,” Tornado replied, looking more confused.
“Anyway, you’d better not keep Scot waiting,” the Duchess said with a wink. “He’s been waiting all morning to hear about all about it!”
“Okay, I’ll see you guys later!” Tornado let out a loud whistle and left them to it. When she had gone, Mallard looked over to Hammy, raising an eyebrow at her.
“You’re just as bad as I am, you know that?”
“You’re rubbing off on me, dear,” she chuckled, as Adelaide finally got up with a yawn and went over to Andrew, giving his shoulder a sympathetic pat and wishing him luck.
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll be moodier tonight, so you’d better get some rest and prepare yourself,” he answered, laughing as she just scowled at him before heading home. “At least Truro’s not here as well…”
“Oh don’t get me started on how he’d react,” Mallard snorted, having overheard the conversation. “Andrew, be very grateful that it’s going to be my brother dealing with him today, and not you.”
“Already ahead of you by thanking the heavens,” Andrew replied. “Right, I’d better go and see how they’re getting on out there...”
“Don’t forget to take pictures,” Mallard reminded him. “I want to see his face.”
Andrew just rolled his eyes at him before heading outside, preparing himself for another eventful day at the museum.
