TGR but There's a Roleswap (2x5)

Chapter 10 - The Mixed-Traffic Challenge

Word Count: +1,640

edit - 04/18/2025: revised. scene was cut out. more explained down below in author's notes.

As James lined up with the other engines, he was pumped with confidence. Pulling coaches and trucks was what James did for a living. This is easy, he thought, distracted enough that he was startled when a diesel shunted an extra set of coaches behind him.

With an "Omph!" James was reign back from his mind, and that's when he heard him.

"James?"

With a quick hum and his attention caught, James peered to his left and saw Edward at the very end of the lineup.

"It's you!" exclaimed Edward joyfully.

"It is!" replied James, and he was surprised. He didn't recall Edward saying he'd take part in the competition among the many things they'd talked about two days ago.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines, the North Westerners were nervous. Though they wouldn't dare admit it to the red engine, they knew James had it. They were just concerned about James' tendency to mess up at any point.

"Come on, Jimmy," Emily whispered hastily. "You've got this! If there's any-engine that can win this, it's you."

Back in the arena, the engines and coaches had their couplings checked over, making sure they weren't weak. When the yardmen gave the ready signal, the announcer began.

"Let's give one final round of applause to the participants of the first Mixed-Traffic Challenge!" the announcer exclaimed, followed by loud cheers and roars from the crowd. "Engines and crew, are you ready?"

Whistles of all different tunes shrilled throughout the arena, overpowering the obnoxious hollers that some of the crews bellowed out.

"Ready!"

James wheeshed heavily, ready to loosen his brakes.

"Set!"

His driver released the brake, along with the other drivers of other engines. All eight engines slowly crept forward, some slightly farther than others.

"Go!"

Regulators were open and the engines were off. Some had a slow start while others had a quick one. James started right smack in the middle, quickly catching up to the ones up ahead. He surpassed two engines as the engine furthest away, the Caledonian Railway Single No. 123, pulled ahead the curve and stopped once their train went past the first line, followed by a blaring horn.

"The Caledonian Railway's ex-Number One-Twenty-Three has finished first in heading a passenger train! An impressive performance from a single!" the announcer exclaimed, his voice booming within the area. "Who will roll in second and third?"

And as soon as he finished that sentence, Edward rolled in, right next to the Caledonian, and came to a halt.

"One-Twenty-Three has been followed by the Furness Railway's ex-Number Twenty-One, taking second place for the Furness Railway Trust! A grand example of what 'shy steamers' are capable of!" he announced, running on the adrenaline from The Great Race and The Shunting Competition. "Followed by in-service BR Number D-S-Two-Thirty-Nine, the Southern Eastern and Chatham Railway's ex-Number Five-Twenty-Nine, taking third place for the Southern Region of British Railways! Looks like the four-leader-four-driver engines are taking their title as the most powerful engines once again!"

The announcer continued to ramble on, announcing each engine's arrival. James landed fourth place.

"Ladies and gentlemen, that's the first section! Engines, leave your passenger trains and get your goods trains ready!" the announcer exclaimed, followed by the sound of points switching in unison.

The referee of the first checkpoint blew his whistle and waved his flags forward, walking towards the engines. All eight engines eased backward, all pumping with adrenaline, except for Edward. Instead of energy, he felt exhaustion throughout his body. He hadn't run this fast since his express days. Hell, when he did his trial runs back home, after restoration, he never went that fast.

He couldn't give up however. He couldn't let the Furness Railway Trust down. He couldn't let down the people who brought him back, pouring all their resources just so he could steam once again. Not when another engine deserved this second chance more than he did...

The sudden CLANK! startled him, grounding him back to reality.

Quickly and smoothly, the engines were coupled to their goods train. A repeat of the safety checks and signals happened, and the engines soon stormed down the tracks again.

The distance was greater than the first section, allowing slower engines to catch up to others who were pumping their pistons fast as their boilers struggled to continuously steam so strongly. The Caledonian had fallen behind quite quickly, letting James and DS239 push ahead, along with Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1223. A New South Wales Z26 class and a Bavarian G 3/4 H, both still in service, were falling behind with Edward, though the latter was able to retain fourth place when all eight engines crossed the next finish line.

The crowd roared as the voice boomed throughout the speakers. "First is D-S-Two-Thirty-Nine, followed by the North Western's Number Five and the Pennsylvania's Twelve-Twenty-Three taking second and third respectively! What a fallout for One-Twenty-Three and the Furness' Twenty-One, dropping four places! But, oh dear! One-Twenty-Three has dropped another placement, losing to Twenty-One. Here comes the Australian in sixth place, followed by the Bavarian G in seventh and Five-Twenty-Nine in eighth!" As soon as the announcer spoke his last word, DS239 whistled brightly as it began to pull its train backward, having gotten into position as swiftly as possible.

James was thrown off, having expected to wait as they did first. It was enough leeway for the other engines to take advantage and get ready. By the time James was coupled up, the Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1223 and Edward passed by.

"Come on, James!" huffed out Edward as he passed by hurriedly and left James confused by the last sentence. Though the other red engine had gone by quickly, James noticed Edward's freckled cheeks burn and frazzled eyes.

"Keep going, Edward!" exclaimed James, as he reversed with his train, quickly catching up to the Furness engine.

Edward could only smile, forcing it as he tried to stay positive. The comment about his "shy steaming" was getting to him. It wasn't his fault that as the first of his class, he started out with issues. Those issues were quickly remedied but they stuck to his reputation for many years. At one point, he even believed it to be true.

"Come on, Edward!"

Not anymore.

Just the little bit of encouragement was enough to push him. As James overtook Pennsylvania Railroad No. 1223, DS239 began falling behind, allowing Edward to steam past it and No. 1223, falling behind James.

James laughed joyfully. "You're catching up!"

"I-I am!" huffed Edward, a genuine smile showing this time.

The two red tender engines strayed further away from the others, nearing the finish line. They closed their eyes, laughing about, yet every so often peeked at each others' eyes. James and Edward pushed along and before they knew it, both engines passed the finish line, one mere seconds before the other.

"What a close call!" hollered the announcer. "Ex-Furness Railway Number Twenty-One has finished first place for the tender-first section, with North Western Railway Number Five right behind!"

Edward squawked at the mention of his number.

"Congrats!" laughed James as they both came to a stop.

I won? "But-!"

"And here comes the Pennsylvanian, followed by D-S-Two-Thirty-Nine, the Australian, the Caledonian, Five-Twenty-Nine, and the Bavarian G Three-Sub-Four! Judges, it's time to start calculating those points!"

The audience went silent as the judges mumbled to one another, mics having been turned off, and calculating the points.

After what seemed like ages, one of the judges walked up to the mic, holding a clipboard. "Ladies and gentlemen, engines and crews, we have our top three winners."

Steam was the only sound that could be heard across the arena as both engines and people held their breaths. "Our first place winner, overall, goes to the Furness Railway's ex-Twenty-One, with twenty-six points."

The crowd cheered, the engines whistled, and the crews hollered. Edward's face burned with embarrassment from the sudden attention.

"In second place, we have the North Western Railway's Number Five engine, with twenty-five points."

The other North Westerners whistled sharply, the sound shrilling throughout the arena.

"Top three, top three!" hollered Thomas.

"That's my little brother!" exclaimed Emily.

"Aw, by just one point!" pouted Philip.

"And taking third place is British Rail's D-S-Two-Thirty-Nine from the Southern region, also with twenty-five points," finished the judge. "Ladies and gentlemen, this has been the Mixed-Traffic Challenge!"

Cheers roared from the audience and whistles shrilled from the engines surrounding the area.

"Congratulations!" exclaimed James to the flustered Larger Seagull.

"T-Thank ye!" Edward managed to huff out. "Congratulations tae ye, too, James!"

"James!" exclaimed the Fat Controller as he approached the two engines. "What were you even doing here in the first place?" he asked.

James had seen this coming. It was a continuation of his conversation with his controller before the competition. "I came with Gordon's safety valve, sir. It hadn't been reassembled properly. That's why his boiler burst."

"Ah," replied the Fat Controller. "Now that is being a really useful engine, James. I'm proud of you for doing so for your fellow engines. Even more with you joining the competition, because you've taken as part of the top three!"

Just then, the rest of the North Westerners approached them from outside of the arena, on a set of tracks much closer to it. Cheers and whistles roared from the group, cheering him on.

"He was just doing what he does best, sir!" exclaimed Emily.

"Being the best Mixed-Traffic engine of the show!" huffed James with pride, aware of the way some of the others' rolled their eyes. "You're not that bad of an engine. There's more than what you can see~" he sang, peering over to Edward...

Only to see the space next to him empty.

"...Edward?" James was confused. Edward was just there moments ago. "Where did he go? He didn't even say goodbye..."

this is actually the longest chapter. oops- (Edit 04/18/2025) This statement is no longer true. Chapter 7 is now the longest chapter by almost 100 words.

So, what gives? Why the revision?

Looking back through the chapters recently, i definitely do believe they could use some work but not enough for me to justify going back and reworking them. Except this chapter.

This chapter, compared to others, is notably the most laziest one (imo) when it came to how Edward and James interacted. Their interaction and personality did not align with their previous interactions. It was "too soon" for them to already be getting along so well enough to banter, especially for Edward, so I dialed it back. The idea is that they're comfortable but they're barely there. They just met and have trust issues for different reasons. This has bothered me for a while. I was going to leave it but I came across another issue: Philip's scene.

This scene did not make sense and shouldn't have been there in the first place. This is another example of me being lazy and just going for the typical character swap, where nothing changed but the character roles. James was OOC for my taste and the scene didn't make sense. I wrote it as if the Shunting Competition didn't happen or that Ashima wasn't present. Ashima is present but she isn't mentioned (because she's not important).

So with that in mind, i went in, cut the scene out, reworked Edward and James' dialogue, as well as other things. This doesn't affect anything else, thankfully, but it was something that kept bothering me.