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English
Series:
Part 47 of The Extended Railway Series
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Published:
2023-11-10
Completed:
2023-11-13
Words:
3,626
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4/4
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26
Kudos:
36
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Arthur the Midland Engine

Summary:

Dear Friends,
Arthur is a large, red tank engine who was recently given his own freight branchline. He takes trains south from Barrow-in-Furness to the seaside town of Norramby on the east coast of Sodor, as is very proud of his line. His daily duties range depending on what the people of the towns along his line want, but one thing that is a constant is the rivalry he has with the engine from the Other Railway who runs the passenger services on behalf of his company. The two would not stop getting into rows! These stories will tell you all about these two petty rivals.
The Author.

Notes:

Please do not put this story into an AI for any reason or copy it elsewhere without my permission. Thank you.

Chapter 1: Daniel

Summary:

Arthur meets the new DMU assigned to pull passengers on his freight branchline. It doesn't go well.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Arthur was settling in well to his new job as the dedicated goods engine for the Norramby Branchline. He loved pulling trains along the pristine coastal line, getting to see all the gorgeous views that running right along the cliffs gave him. 

He wasn’t the only one. The passengers loved the scenic views of the Norramby branch. And when Sir Robert the Earl decided to open a pirate-themed amusement park in the village that bore his family’s name, First Northwestern - which ran the passenger service on the line - decided to bring in a dedicated engine. 

Now, Arthur didn’t really understand why Sir Robert had built a pirate-themed amusement park in a village known for its Viking history, but he did like that it brought more people to the little line. He didn’t like the engine First Northwestern sent though. 

The diesel’s name was Daniel. He was a truly ancient railcar from back when British Rail had still run steam engines - a Metro-Cammell Class 101 DMU. He was still painted in a BR livery! And Arthur’s first impression of him was as bad as his peeling paintwork.
“Oh, I’ve been sent to this island,” sneered Daniel as he grumbled into the yard. Arthur didn’t reply. “It’s not right,” continued Daniel. “I have served my country for decades, and in return they send me to this backwater island.”
“Served your country?” snorted Arthur. “You barely managed to serve Manchester!”

The DMU snarled angrily.
“I’ve pulled more passengers in my life than you’ve had lumps of coal! And I’ve never broken down.”
“You’re also old,” Arthur noted, ignoring the diesel. “How did a relic like you–”
“Relic?!” spluttered Daniel. “I can’t believe–”
“You are,” Arthur went on. “Aren’t you an earlier build? A 1957, right?”
“Well, yes but how–”
“Our Murdoch is younger than you,” Arthur hummed. “And he’s a steam engine. Some relics we are, we’re younger than you!” And with that, Arthur puffed away. 

The next morning, Arthur was shunting some trucks at Ballahoo station when Daniel arrived. The large red tank engine looked over, preparing for an argument - and not looking where he was going. The points weren’t set right, and he pushed his trucks right the way through the buffers and onto the gravel behind. 

“Heh,” sneered Daniel. “Of course a steam engine like you can’t shunt trucks properly.” Arthur was about to retort when the guard’s whistle blew. Daniel blew noxious fumes at Arthur, and oiled away. Arthur set about cleaning up his mess, knowing that the Fat Controller would not be pleased. 

And he wasn’t. 

“You’re normally better than this,” the Fat Controller said that evening when Arthur returned to the sheds. Jinty and Pug listened in unashamedly. “I gave you this line because I thought you would be responsible. Don’t let it happen again.” Arthur felt very embarrassed - and worse yet, Daniel the DMU was laughing at him from the other end of the sheds. Sir Stephen noticed. 

“Don’t mind him,” the Fat Controller sighed. “He’s one of the lot from Manchester - they were never told their class had been withdrawn elsewhere, so they still think they’re the kings of commuter trains. Don’t let him get to you.”
“I’ll try sir,” sighed Arthur. But it wasn’t easy - many of his class had been replaced by Daniel and his class in the 1960s, even though they were almost the same age. Arthur fell unhappily to sleep. 

The next day, Daniel didn’t sound well. He coughed and he spluttered as he groaned into the platform.
“Are you alright?” asked Arthur, who was shunting nearby.
“I’m fine!” snapped Daniel, though he began coughing halfway through, garbling the sentence.
“Alright…” hummed Arthur, puffing away to collect some more trucks. 

Daniel rumbled along the coastal line, coughing and grumbling to himself.
“Relegated to a nowhere line… forced to work with steam kettles…” he muttered. He stopped at the middle station, but when he tried to start again, his engine groaned. It sputtered. And then it died. 

Daniel’s roars of rage were so loud that they frightened the seagulls into flight! 

“That’s torn it,” sighed the driver. “We’ll have to ask Arthur for help.” Daniel had some choice words for that too. 

Arthur was thankfully not too far away, and it wasn’t long before the tank engine was dragging the DMU along the rest of his route.
“Don’t think this makes me like you,” hissed Daniel.
“The feeling is mutual,” Arthur retorted. "Pain in my bunker." 
"Oh, really? Pain in your bunker? How are the trucks you shunted through a bufferbeam?" 
"How's your engine?" 
"How're you not deaf from the racket you make, steam claptrap?" 
"How've you not made everyone else deaf from your grating voice?!" 

Life on the Norramby Branchline was about to get much more interesting. 

Notes:

I swear, this entire fic is just me trying to think of witty insults. I'm not good at it, but this entire fic is just them arguing.

I'm having the time of my life writing it.

Chapter 2: Stinky Steamer

Summary:

Arthur and Daniel have devolved from a bad meeting to being somewhat obsessed with each other.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Once a week, Arthur would collect vans of fish from along the Norramby branchline to add to the Flying Kipper, and bring them up to Jinty at Barrow. It’s one of his favourite jobs, running along the coastal track with the smell of the sea dancing in the breeze. There’s rarely any other engines around at that time of the evening, giving Arthur some freedom from Daniel the difficult DMU. 

“Sometimes, I wonder how bad Daisy was when she arrived, considering Daniel,” he grumbled to himself. Their relationship had not improved since their introduction to each other. Daniel considered Arthur to be old-fashioned and simple-minded for enjoying freight work over passengers, while Arthur thought Daniel was stuck-up and obnoxious for his constant tirade of insults. The two couldn’t even be shedded together, for how often they fought! 

“Enough,” groaned Arthur’s driver. “You haven’t stopped complaining about that diesel since he arrived. Why not talk about something else?”
“What else is there to talk about?” asked Arthur. “That diesel makes every conversation a chore!” Arthur’s driver decided to ignore the red engine. He wasn’t the only one - Arthur and Daniel’s argument dominated Barrow sheds and kept everyone awake; Pug had run into the buffers at the docks thrice in as many days, he was so tired. 

“Jinty! Did you hear what that DMU said to me the other day?”
“Yes.”
“He called me a–”
“Piece of rusty red scrap iron, I know. Neither of you are very original, please .” Arthur, whose entire life had been altered by this extremely rude diesel, did not hear Jinty. Instead, he explained to Jinty every reason why Daniel the DMU really should go back to Manchester and fail his passengers there. 

Jinty wondered if he could go back to living in the back of Carnforth sheds. 

***

One evening, the fishing trawlers arrived back at the village early - far earlier than anyone had expected. There were no vans ready for them, so the fish had to be kept on the deck. 

By the time Arthur managed to bring enough vans down to Norramby, the fish already had begun to smell. Even he thought the smell was strong! 

“What a pong!” groaned Daniel, rumbling into the station. “Is that you, Stinky Steamer Artie?”
“It’s Arthur,” ground out the red tank engine. Daniel ignored him, smirking to himself as he shot an amused look at the steam engine. 

“You smell like a rubbish dump - though I suppose that is where you belong.”
“There’s less than three years between our ages!” Arthur exclaimed.
“Well, it would appear one of us has aged more gracefully than the other,” Daniel said smarmily. “You smell like the aftermath of an industrial accident - stinky steamer - while I smell as fresh as a daisy!”
“That’s an insult to daisies,” grumbled Arthur under his breath, snorting away with his trucks. 

Daniel just rolled his eyes, calling out one last insult before heading off to be refuelled. 

Daniel’s trip back up the line, however, was not as smooth as the ride down. A mother with her infant child had boarded the train, and the baby cried for the entire route from Norramby to Barrow! Poor Daniel wished he had arms, just so he could try and hold his ears - not that he had those either… 

Most of his passengers had transferred out of his front coach and into the rear two to get away from the child, leaving the mother alone. She figured out that the baby was unhappy because she’d soiled herself, and changed the baby. That, finally, got the baby to stop crying, not ten minutes before they arrived at Barrow-in-Furness. Content with having stopped her baby’s crying, the mother disembarked, leaving the dirty nappy under the seats. 

Neither Daniel nor his driver noticed. But all too soon, the nappy began to stink. The passengers in the front coach quickly began to complain. Worse yet, it was the school run! So all the children from the local schools began to loudly complain and call Daniel a ‘dirty, dinghy diesel.’ Daniel was horrified! 

“Find the smell!” he whined. “It has to be somewhere!” Now he could smell it too - it was horrific! All of his passenger fled the front coach and crowded into the rearmost coach. No one wanted to be anywhere near that putrid smell! 

Arthur was waiting at Ballahoo for Daniel to arrive. He still smelt vaguely of fish, and was waiting for the torrent of insults he knew Daniel was going to throw. Only, when Daniel did arrive - he smelt worse. A lot worse. 

“What have you done?!” exclaimed Arthur, unable to decide whether he thought this was funny or revolting.
“I don’t know,” complained Daniel.
“It smells like you rolled around with Farmer Trotter’s pigs,” sniggered Arthur, only to retch a moment later. “Or maybe passed through a burst sewer pipe-”
“Oh, like you smell any better? Did you take a swim in a brining factory, Artie?”
“Depends, did you unclog the station toilets with your seats, Dannie?” 

Daniel’s driver stepped out of the cab and walked through the first coach, checking each compartment. He found the nappy - and he was not pleased.
“That woman left this on the train!” he snapped furiously, holding up a plastic bag. Everyone flinched away - the smell was awfull! 

“Who’s stinky now,” Arthur asked smugly as he got the clearance to leave. Before Daniel could retort, Arthur sped away, wanting to put as much distance as he could between him and the dirty diesel. 

That night, both engines were given a thorough scrub by the cleaners - but it didn’t stop them from using their new insults for each other: stinky steamer and dirty diesel. 

Jinty and Pug slept under the station canopy. 

Notes:

Were this not a series about talking trains, Arthur and Daniel would have an enemies-to-lovers arc. Or an enemies-and-lovers arc. They give that energy. Also, poor Jinty and Pug; the world's most unhappy captive audience to their friend's weird rivalry with a DMU.

Chapter 3: Obsessive

Summary:

These two are just full-speed crazy now. I really hope they figure themselves out soon.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Arthur grinned at the creepy delivery sat in front of him. The Earl may have been insane - this giant monstrosity of an attraction was evidence enough - but he certainly knew how to give an engine an evil idea. And after Daniel had hidden all of the flatbeds on the branchline for a week and then told Arthur he was hallucinating and then not gotten in trouble because he had a different owner… This felt like a good revenge. 

Pug, shunting trucks on the next track over, wondered just how Arthur had gone from slightly shy and polite to obsessed with a DMU. 

Daniel was resting after a long night of hauling trains up and down the Cumbrian Coast. One of the other DMUs that usually served the Cumbrian line from Barrow to Carlisle had broken down, and Daniel had been drafted in to cover the loss. There were more of these failures recently - the entire fleet desperately needed maintenance, not that any seemed forthcoming from their owners. The new DMU classes were no better - the Pacers had proven to be an abject failure compared to his era, while the others were few and stretched thin. 

“I’m exhausted,” he groaned to his driver. “Why can’t someone else take the passengers?”
“Who else is there?” asked his driver grumpily. “Arthur? You want a Nor-Wester to take the passengers?”
“We’re also Nor-Westers,” reminded Daniel. “Our brand is literally ‘First North Western’. Bit presumptuous, but that doesn’t change who we are.”
“Well, if you don’t want to be first on the scrap heap, you’ll take the train,” grunted the driver. Daniel grimaced - as much as he enjoyed working for his new company and being really useful (and showing up those steam antiques), he was less pleased with his driver. 

Still, Daniel obediently rumbled to the station platform to wait for his morning passengers, yawning as the usual trickle of workers wandered in, boarding either his train or the steam-hauled equivalent on the next platform over. The big green steam engine ignored him, and Daniel ignored the engine… who must’ve been Henry, based on the ‘3’ on his sides. 

Daniel wondered if he could get a rise out of the engine by mentioning the now infamous tunnel. 

Jinty passed through, hauling a line of trucks bound for the docks. The old steel mill may have closed, but the chemical plant that replaced it was an even bigger customer, and the long line of tankers dragged by the steam kettle reflected the sheer size of the orders they filled. 

Daniel was a little jealous, thinking that the rival company was allowed to pull freight and passengers. No other railway company in the entire British Isles had the same rights as the North Western Railway, and it really needled at him

He was just about to set off when the single changed again. 

“Is it that other dockyard mite?” wondered Daniel aloud, thinking of Pug. Instead, he heard an almost ghostly wail. 

Steaming past him was a giant, horrific, grotesque clown on a flatbed; reflected badly in the early morning sunlight. Daniel jumped in fright, juddering frantically.
“Peep, Peep! I’m going to destroy you!” wailed Arthur, pretending to be the clown as he wheeshed steam at Daniel and huffed past. 

“That’s not funny!” snapped Daniel. “Insufferable engine!” Arthur blew more steam at Daniel as he puffed past, clearing the station throat with his unusual cargo. 

“That steamer really gets my oil burning,” growled Daniel.
“Stop complaining,” snapped his driver. “We gotta live with that steamer ‘til he’s gone or we’re gone, so keep your eyes on the rails and listen for the guard or I’ll belt you one!” Daniel shut up, and waited patiently for the guard’s whistle. He’d get his own over Arthur, he was sure of it. 

The guard’s whistle blew.  With that, he grumbled out of the station in pursuit of the red tank engine. 

He didn’t have to go far to find him. Arthur had somehow managed to derail on the points just beyond Henry’s tunnel, where their (unfortunately) shared branch split from the mainline. It looked like the points had changed under Arthur and his truck, sending one bogie one way, and one the other, derailing the poor engine but thankfully not blocking the other line.
“Why does Sir Robert even need clowns? It’s a pirate themed park!” Oh, oh this was just great. 

“Oh my,” sniggered Daniel. “Did you get frightened? Sure, it was ugly, but crashing is not the way to get rid of it. Oh… and the clown’s pretty bad-looking too.” Arthur scowled at the DMU, but Daniel couldn’t care less. 

It felt good to get one over the uppity red tank engine. 

Notes:

It's tit-for-tat with these two now. Daniel hides all the flatbeds on the branchline, Arthur scares him with a creepy clown, then Daniel makes fun of Arthur for derailing, and so on...

Please, pray for their sanity.

(And yes, I will address the insane obsessiveness in the final chapter).

Chapter 4: Arthur Gets It Right

Summary:

The fallout finally arrives.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

After six months worth of antagonising each other, Arthur and Daniel had grated on everyone’s nerves. So it was a great delight when harvest season came - Daniel was kept busier than ever with his trains, and Arthur was always rushing about collecting produce from the farms. 

“Maybe,” murmured Jinty to Pug. “They’ll wear themselves out, and the sheds won’t be a battlefield.”
“We can only hope,” sighed Pug. 

Arthur was indeed too tired to argue, and the two dockyard shunters got their first full night’s sleep in a long time. But as they slept, it began to rain. 

It rained for several days, making everyone miserable. It made everyone more irritable too - Daniel and Arthur began to sleep at opposite ends of the line. This was useful, as Arthur’s first train of the day usually left from one of the farms near the coast. He was pulling one of these trains when he came across some unsafe rails. 

“What’s happening?” he asked.
“The rain’s loosened the earth, and high sea winds aren’t helping,” his driver replied. “We’ll warn the others at Barrow.” 

But when Arthur tried to tell them, none of the others would listen. 

“You’ve pulled too many pranks for us to believe you now!” snapped Pug. “Remember the clown?”
“But I’m telling the truth!” exclaimed Arthur.
“Right, just like when you told the truth about the diesel pump being broken?” snorted Jinty. “Poor Bear had to be dragged all the way to Carnforth!”
“In my defence, that was Henry’s idea.”
“Don’t drag me into this,” grumbled Henry. “I said you should maybe trick Daniel into running out of fuel after he pretended to break the water tower.” 

Both Jinty and Pug groaned at the reminder.
“We were the ones who suffered from that! We had to get our water from a hose at the docks!”
“Besides, then you got your driver to repaint Daniel’s coaches in NWR livery.”
“He repainted my bunker orange! ORANGE!”
“And you shunted carriages around him and trapped him in a maze in our yards .”
“He hid all the brakevans on the branchline!”
“And you both came up with the same story about faulty points - separately I might add - and told each other at the same time !” 

Arthur blushed - as much as he hadn’t noticed, he and Daniel really had gone a bit far. 

“Oi, sleazy steam kettle!” snapped Daniel, rolling up alongside. “Where’s the mail van? I need it for my next run.”
“It’s already at the platform,” huffed Arthur - who, despite all their arguments and pranks, had never let it distract from his work - “and you need to be careful. The tracks near the coast aren’t safe.”
“Pah!” snorted Daniel. “I’m wise to your tricks now, farty Artie.”
“You’re the one who belches out noxious gases,” snapped back Arthur. “And that isn’t even a good insult. Try harder.” 

Daniel growled away, Arthur following to collect his next train. 

“Again, be careful,” Arthur warned. “The coastal run is being worn away by the rain.”
“You can just drop it,” huffed Daniel. Arthur sighed, and watched Daniel rumbled away - he was beginning to regret having gotten so caught up in it all. 

Daniel sped along the line, wanting to get the run over quickly so he could take shelter in a shed and get dry - his new paint (Artie’s fault) was just too nice for it to get ruined by rust. 

The track was even more unstable from the heavy rain. As Daniel rounded a bend, a landslide appeared, blocking his way.
“Stop!” he shouted. His driver applied the brakes, but it was too late. 

Daniel hit the landslide, and derailed, ploughing through the dirt before falling onto his side. Thankfully, he hadn’t had many passengers, and they were alright - unfortunately, he was derailed, and the rain was only getting worse. 

At the station, Arthur was worried. 

“Daniel’s probably derailed,” he said. “We should go investigate.”
“I thought you hated Daniel?” quizzed Henry.
“He has passengers, Henry,” huffed Arthur. “And… this might be partially my fault too. If I hadn’t sunk down to his level, he wouldn’t be in this mess and I wouldn’t have… probably… ruined my friendship with Jinty and Pug.” 

Henry sighed. 

“Don’t worry about those two - it’ll take a lot more than this to ruin your friendship. Trust me, we big engines used to be horrible to Edward, and he still considers us friends. What you need to do is make it right. Grab the breakdown train and go look.” Arthur smiled up at his friend.
“Thank you,” he said, and hurried away. He didn’t have to go far - Jinty and Pug had already brought the breakdown train over. 

“Thank you!” exclaimed Arthur. “And… I’m sorry. I’ve been a nightmare to be around, and it’s really hurt you both. I know I don’t deserve forgiveness… but I am sorry.”
“It’s fine,” snorted Jinty.
“If it were an 08, we’d do the same,” agreed Pug. “Daniel managed to trigger something, and you acted cause you finally had the power to, right?”
“Well… sort of, yes,” Arthur admitted. He didn’t want to particularly admit he had fun arguing with Daniel.
“We get it,” said Pug. “Just… tone it down. Please?”
“I will,” promised Arthur. He was really beginning to regret the way he’d acted. 

Daniel was beginning to regret everything too. 

“If I’d listened to Arthur, I wouldn’t be here,” he groaned. “Perhaps… I was a bit rude when I first arrived.”
“Pah!” snorted his driver. “If anything, you weren’t harsh enough. You let that steam engine have enough freedom to get back at you. You should have put that red pillarbox–”
“Enough!” hissed Daniel. “I’m lying on my side, with my passengers stranded , because I didn’t listen to him.” The driver scowled.
“Control will be hearing about this insubordination.” Daniel said nothing - he didn’t need to. Because at that moment, Arthur arrived. 

“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine… but please help the passengers back to the station…”
“Right.” Daniel’s passengers piled into the works coach, and Arthur hurried back to Ballahoo. Then, he returned to help Daniel. It took a long time to clean up the mess, but eventually, Daniel was back on the rails. 

“I still don’t like you,” sniffed Daniel as Arthur buffered up.
“The feeling is mutual,” Arthur retorted. “But… maybe we should be a little less… er… antagonistic? We’re just making everyone unhappy.”
“Agreed,” said Daniel. “Stupid steamer, making me agree to something.”
“Dirty diesel,” replied Arthur. 

Somehow, I think they’re going to be alright, don’t you? 

Notes:

Will they stop bickering? No. Will they tone it down enough for everyone else to stop giving them death glares? Yes. And just in time too! Sooner or later someone was going to lock them in a shed together until they figured it out!

And yes, Jinty and Pug were a bit too easy going about making up - but they would like me to tell everyone that they got the last laugh when they secretly had both engines repainted into bright pink one week later as payback. Daniel's owner left him like that for nearly a year, because it brought in the tourists.

Series this work belongs to: