Spectre

**Spectre** is the sixth episode of the second season of the Stories of Sodor and the twenty-first episode overall.

Spectre/Transcript

## Plot

Despite the strikes being very unpleasant, they did highlight the fact that the infrastructure at Brendam Docks wasn't sufficient enough to handle heavy periods of shipping. Mr. Zorro organised for an upgrade of the harbour so that his engines wouldn't be barraged by so much work again. Extra berths and sidings were added on the western side of the docks as well as numerous new warehouses. A dedicated passenger terminal for visiting cruise liners was also built on the eastern side, along with its own station. This was perhaps the most important component of the project as now much of the key side was now free to exclusively handle cargo ships. The installation of more cranes also meant that goods could be loaded and unloaded much more quickly. The upgrade had considerably increased the overall efficiency of the docks and so that the Midis could handle their workload better. The Nor'easters were also no longer tasked to help the Midis, which both sides found very agreeable.

One day in November, Adam is talking to Diesel about what happened at Wellsworth between him and Thomas and Percy. The two Nor'easters had harassed him and Adam reminded them that the only reason they needed their help in the first place was because the workers at Knapford went on strike first. Diesel remarks how great it is they don't need their help around here anymore, something Lily also agrees with. Diesel is surprised to hear this coming from Lily, since she and Gordon were talking on several occasions, and they were both smiling in each other's presence. Lily then asks Adam and Diesel if they feel jealous, and although Diesel pretends he and Adam didn't hear her, Lily pretends that they did and they are jealous, and leaves. Adam and Diesel actually aren't jealous of Gordon and they don't really fancy Lily at all.

Presently, Lily meets up with Douglas, who is in a bad mood because he had just heard an emergency broadcast over the radio that there have been massive pogroms against Jews in Germany and Austria. Lily sighs, remarking that as the days go by, it seems more and more likely there will be another war. Douglas also remarks that if it doesn't happen, he would repaint himself blue. Lily had wanted to tell Douglas about how her turnover on Adam and Diesel's attempted insult, but she needed to get a move on, and promises to tell Douglas about it later.

That evening, Lily meets up with Colin who had heard about her conversation with Adam and Diesel earlier that day, from one of the workers who had overheard them and he had told Colin. Richard walks up to the two tank engines, feeling extremely happy because his wife is pregnant, and will be having his first child and have already been thinking about names. Richard is also going to be Lily's guard for her train, much to her joy. She soon departed from Brendam and was making good time until just before Wellsworth, a sudden wail is heard and braking sounds are heard, as well as couplings breaking. Lily brings her train to a stop. Her crew gets out and inspect the train, and find out that four sets of couplings have been destroyed. They also find out that their brake van is gone. Lily and her crew reversed back down the branch in search of the brake van, but she never found it. She stopped at various signalboxes and stations, where the staff had seen her pass with her brake van. She made it back to Brendam and still didn't find her brake van. Donald told her that they didn't find her brake van at Brendam either. Colin then suddenly realises something: What was applying the brakes to Lily's train if her van was gone? Lily doesn't know, since she had no non-faceless trucks in her train.

The next morning, Trevor is happily chuffering around the Vicar's Orchard when he suddenly sees the charred remains of a brake van, and soon, the Vicar and some police officers take a look at the scene. One policeman finds a skeleton, which happened to be the dead body of Lily's missing guard. The Midis were mortified and saddened when they heard the news, as were the Nor'easters and the rest of the island. Richard's mysterious death had been perfect for the newspapers. The incident had become a media sensation, and while the best criminal investigative minds in Britain were called to solve it, but they couldn't, and Richard's cause of death remains unknown, even to this day.

About a week after the incident, Thomas, Percy and James are at Elsbridge Harbour where Percy informs the other two that the police have called off the investigation. Percy does agree with James that it's all they can do when they're clueless. James tells the two that he has to deliver some coal to Brendam since he volunteered for the job and Mr. Star said it was a request from Mr. Zorro to help the Midis get better after their loss. That evening, James is on his way to Brendam with his coal train and was just about to turn onto the branch line to Brendam when he suddenly hears the same sudden wail, braking sounds and couplings breaking that Lily had heard. James' crew goes back to see what happened, and just like Lily, James' brake van has disappeared too. James then suddenly hears someone coming, Peter, with a very long and heavy goods train. By the time he had seen James' coal trucks, he braked as hard as he could, but it was too late. James tried to get Peter to respond to him, but Peter doesn't reply. James' crew quickly goes to get help, and then they and James suddenly see something that makes them turn cold... Dominick's ghost! James hurried down to Brendam with the remainder of his train and told Lily, Adam and Douglas about what he had seen and what had happened.

James' guard, Charlie Green, who was to going to be married in the following month, had been found alive, but mentally broken. The charred remains of James' brake van were discovered in a field, just like Lily's. Charlie had been found roaming near a church, where he had smashed out a few of its windows. Charlie's sanity had been destroyed by the ordeal he had gone through. The specifics of which would never be known and he would spend the rest of his life in a mental institution. Peter had been sent to Crewe for repairs, and despite serious injuries, his driver and fireman had miraculously survived. Mickey helped to clear the line and James quickly returned to Knapford and told the rest of his colleagues about his encounter and they all believed him, along with the rest of the island and the police, but they couldn't do anything because they had no idea how to arrest a ghost.

Once again, the engines would have to devise a solution to the supernatural problem. Edward, Lily, Toby, Diesel, James, Douglas, Reginald and Henry have met up at Elsbridge. Toby says that they need to find out why Dominick has only started appearing, and Henry points out that he had started appearing after the accident with Duck and the brake van on Gordon's Hill. While Diesel is wrong in blaming Duck for starting the whole ordeal, he did bring up something about Dominick. He had become much more violent then Arthur was, who only did as much to give the engines a good scare. Edward thinks they could try to reason with Dominick, since it worked with Arthur beforehand. Toby instructs that they will go out in pairs that night to try to find Dominick and if they do, they should be calm and persuasive, and shouldn't try to provoke him.

That night, their plan is put into action. Lily is talking to Gordon about the dilemma Richard's child will face growing up without his/her father and that he/she might not be able to handle the truth when he/she asks how his/her father died, which Gordon cannot find an answer to. Lily hopes they don't find Dominick since she doesn't trust herself not to say or do anything to the spiteful ghost. Gordon then promises Lily to keep Dominick safe from her, and Lily thanks Gordon for listening and they head off to the crossing near Wellsworth where James and Douglas should be approaching. When the latter two engines arrive there, they meet up with Edward and Reginald. Since they haven't seen Dominick yet, Edward decides to take a moment of silence for Peter since they are at where he crashed. Reginald says that Mr. Zorro had gone with Peter to Crewe and that they should hopefully learn about something within a day or two. Presently, they hear the horrific wail James and Lily had heard before and Dominick suddenly appears. Dominick is about to get revenge on Douglas but he interrupts him and tells him that he would have given him an apology instantly if he had gone to him and demanded one, but he instead terrorised his friends and murdered innocent men and Douglas now doesn't regret what he had done to Dominick. Douglas tells Dominick that if he doesn't leave at once, he would give him another thrashing. Douglas then gives the ghost two choices: leave and never return, or stay and risk another hiding. After seeing the engines giving him angry stares, Dominick decides to go. All the engines are impressed by Douglas' gumption and courage, especially Lily.

The engines had never seen Dominick's ghost again, but for a while thereafter, they did hear him, as every so often, he would let out his haunting shriek to let them know he was still around. It did stop eventually, either because he thought it was no longer worth it or because he had finally moved on. Peter had suffered harshly from Dominick's presence and his repairs would take months to complete. Mr. Zorro couldn't afford to be without a dedicated goods engine, he would have to find a replacement, which turned out to be an unlikely source...

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Toby
* Donald and Douglas
* Diesel
* Reginald
* Colin
* Lily
* Adam
* Trevor
* Jem Cole
* Policemen
* The Vicar of Wellsworth
* Dominick *(as a ghost)*
* Peter *(does not speak)*
* Mickey *(does not speak)*
* Mr. Zorro *(does not speak)*
* Geoffrey *(does not speak)*
* Eric *(cameo)*
* Neil *(cameo)*
* Wendell *(cameo)*
* Oliver *(cameo)*
* Drollan *(cameo)*
* Troublesome Trucks *(cameo)*
* Workmen *(cameo)*
* Express Coaches *(not seen)*
* Duck *(mentioned)*
* Arthur (Original) *(mentioned)*
* Mr. Star *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* The events in this episode take place in November 1938.
* This marks Trevor's first apperance since the Season 1 episode Scrap.