Tender Moments of Tender Engines

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***Tender Moments of Tender Engines*** is the fourth episode of the third series of *The Dark Railway Series*.

## Plot

257 Squadron quickly becomes a success on the Dark Railway, and becomes fast friends with all the engines. Unfortunately, Eustace quickly becomes jealous of him, feeling that the engines are starting to push him out in favour of his older brother. This culminates one night when, while 257 is telling the other engines different stories, Eustace suddenly bursts into a tirade of 257 always being better than him, and declaring that he wouldn't care if he was scrapped due to the way he treated him in the past, upsetting 257 greatly.

The following morning, Eustace is at the Junction when he suddenly sees three men approach him. The men tell him that they are looking for 257 Squadron and are intending to withdraw him if they find him. Still sore over the night before, Eustace tells them where he is, and the men proceed up to Merecombe with their diesel, Howard. Following up behind them, Eustace suddenly realises what the consequences of his actions will be if 257 is taken away and races after the men.

257 is just about to leave Merecombe when he finds his path blocked by Howard. The men reveal Eustace's betrayal and set about making the arrangements to take him away. Fortunately, Eustace, who has found Mr. Dark at Upway and explained everything, arrives just in time and blocks Howard's path. Mr. Dark confronts the men and offers to purchase him right there. The men head into the office to speak to Dr. Beeching about the sale, and while they are gone, Eustace and 257 apologise to each other for their past treatment of each other. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Dark emerges from the office and announces that the sale has been made and 257 is officially part of the fleet, delighting the Bulleid brothers. Enraged, Howard attempts to take 257 away anyway, but suddenly fails right then and there. Laughing happily, the two engines take him and the men down to the Junction.

That night, Eustace and 257 Squadron are at the Junction, joking about the day, and properly making amends with each other before Eustace launches himself into an explanation about Howard's failure.

## Characters

* Brian
* Raymond
* Theo and Otto
* Sir Eustace Missenden
* Colin
* Eddie
* 257 Squadron
* Ryan
* Allan
* Howard
* Mr. Dark
* Mr. Littlewood
* Mr. Davies
* Mr. Sims
* Owen (*cameo*)
* Dave (*mentioned*)
* James (*mentioned*)
* Tangmere (*mentioned*)
* Sir Keith Park (*mentioned*)
* Anti Aircraft Command (*mentioned*)

## Locations

* Merecombe
* Merecombe Shed
* Galen Junction
* Galen Junction Shed
* Upway
* Soma (*mentioned*)
* Bournemouth (*mentioned*)
* Exmouth Junction (*mentioned*)
* Salisbury (*mentioned*)
* Dover (*mentioned*)

## Trivia

* This episode is named after a YouTube Poop of the same name created by user KeeperOfPorridge, who Dark DJ is a fan of.
* 257 Squadron's story about stealing someone's wagons and selling them back to him is a reference to *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, in which the character Mundungus Fletcher tells a similar story.

## Episode

* Tender Moments of Tender Engines on YouTube