Secrets

**Secrets** is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the Stories of Sodor and the fifty-seventh episode overall.

Secrets/Transcript

## Plot

Sodor benefitted heavily from Royalty Trekking's visit of the Culdee Fell Railway. This boom was repeated during the line's grand opening. During the first month, several reporters who visited published reviews, turning Sodor into a tourist hotspot, bringing more tourists than ever before, giving shops and towns huge surges in business and its engines became busier than ever. The branch line engines managed, but those on the main line had troubles because of BoCo. While he was always willing to do his jobs, his motor made his performance inconsistent. BR claimed these were teething troubles and kept BoCo in service. The Class 28 always tried his best and always felt guilty whenever he broke down, but the engines who rescued him understood his situation and didn't mock him, all except James.

One day, James grumpily collects his train and complains about BoCo and diesels. Eric gets confused by James saying things about "pigs", and he finally tells him he's using figurative speech and abruptly leaves without explaining.

Later, he arrives at Brendam, still feeling puzzled. He tells Edward about what the others say to him when he doesn't understand something, which makes him think he's too stupid to understand. Edward advises him to ask for explanation about something he doesn't understand and that asking questions is a way of learning. Edward tells Eric the definition of a figure of speech and gives him examples on how it's used. Just then, Bill and Ben show up and tell Eric to bring a train of steel girders down to the pits, but he refuses to fall for their trick again. Bill and Ben wonder why, and Edward orders them to shut up.

Meanwhile, BoCo had broken down while taking the express and Henry had arrived to help him. Henry sympathises with BoCo's problem and explains to him about his own design flaws which were fixed after his rebuilt. BoCo decides he could be a study for the revenant theory if he doesn't get an overhaul. He tells Henry that  earlier some people asked him some strange questions and he answered no to all of the questions. Suddenly, Henry slams on his brakes close to Maron. At the station is a Stirling Single named Emily. She had been on a rail excursion bringing tourists to Sodor and had been on the island for a few days, and hadn't expected to see Henry. She feels eager to catch up with Henry soon as she departs. Henry's driver then reminds the green engine about the Express and he quickly gets moving again.

Later, Henry had arrived at Barrow-in-Furness, and starts arguing with Sheffield. Just then, Eric arrives, whom Sheffield nicknames "Witless Wonder". He tells Eric to take his train to the back of the yard where he'll shunt it soon. After more words from Henry, Sheffield mutters about no one being pleased in being either too fast or too slow. Eric is puzzled by this, and Sheffield barks at him to go away.

That night, Eric tells Gordon, James, Henry and Emily about his conversation with Sheffield at Knapford Sheds. Gordon remarks how Sheffield's outburst sounds like a voice of experience. Emily reveals that she knows Sheffield from working with him in the Midlands. He would act as a shunter or take local passenger trains and some of the workmen called him 'Lightning' due to his speedy pace. She also remembers him as very kind and helpful and decides to talk with him. James advises her not to do so, but she can't, because of Henry. Emily was who helped him get through his troubles, mainly being the engine who came to his rescue whenever he broke down. Emily also remembers Henry hissed steam at a man who insulted her and refused to take his next train to comfort her. Henry reveals that he and Emily are married, to their complete shock. He and Emily were always together, and so they naturally fell in love. They had a Vicar officiate their marriage ceremony in their shed with their crews as witnesses. After Henry was transferred to Sodor, Emily was moved to Glasgow and worked at various locations in Scotland before going to the Midlands, where she left four years earlier to run goods trains between London and Brighton in the Southern Region. A few months ago, she developed steaming problems, which limited her strength and pace, so she now does rail tours. While she enjoys them, there are no challenges to them and desires being back in normal service.

Sir Topham Hatt had wanted to keep Emily as a surprise from Henry, though he himself was astonished to learn about their marriage, as were the other engines. This became a very common conversation between them, some more awkward than others. Due to a shortage of replacement parts, BoCo's repairs took longer than expected, so Sir Topham had Emily fill the vacancy on the main line. She proved to be a really useful engine, and Sodor's relatively short Main Line didn't make her steaming problems an issue. While she did meet up with Sheffield, she didn't have much luck being friendly to him. Since Sheffield had taken over as Barrow's station pilot, the yard's performance decreased significantly. He moved as slow as a snail, with trains not organised on time and some sidings weren't available to bring in incoming trains. When the situation got at its worse, some of the engines had to stay in the yard for days to get it back in order.

One day, Reginald and Diesel are at Barrow with Sheffield. Diesel had managed to prepare three sidings worth of trains in the time it took for Sheffield to marshal just one train, making him think the green austerity is being lazy instead of slow, and he claims to be careful. Diesel also proves more that he's been doing Sheffield's job, as he already had prepared a siding for the express, by putting together two incoming goods trains. Reginald then reminds Sheffield to move off so he can leave with his goods train, as he's already late and needs to make up for lost time. Sheffield warns him to not go fast, which makes Reginald wonder why the green austerity is so slow, and Diesel and Sheffield exchange insults.

Later, Reginald talks to Eric and Mickey about the conversation between Diesel and Sheffield. He wonders what Sheffield would know about moving fast, remarking "the pot calling the kettle black". Eric asks what the meaning is, and Reginald tells him it's an expression that describes someone being hypocritical. Mickey points out that good advice cannot be hypocritical, since Reginald had arrived on time after leaving late. The Fire and Rescue Chief advises Reginald that a schedule is no excuse for reckless speed and doing a Sutton. The word "Sutton" is a new term in the service used to describe when a speeding train derails, coming from a bad accident near the Midland town of Sutton. Realisation strikes Eric and goes to talk to Sheffield.

Later, Eric arrives at Barrow. Diesel and Sheffield are arguing over which train James is to take. Eric then asks Sheffield about if he had an accident in the Midlands because he was speeding. Diesel doesn't believe this until he notices Sheffield's frown. He doesn't want to talk about it, but after coaxing from the others, he starts his story.

Four years earlier, Sheffield was working in the Midlands. One morning, he arrived at Rosworth Vale Station six and a half minutes ahead of schedule. Emily was at the station with a passenger train and comments it'll be raining later in the day. Emily is happy to get the chance to say goodbye to Sheffield as she had been transferred to work on the line between London and Brighton. Presently, the guard on Emily's train blows her whistle, waves his green flag and boards her train. Emily departs, hoping to see Sheffield again one day. Just then, the yardmaster tells him to help organise three trains to go out due to the main shunter being out of action. Sheffield gets to work, organising the trains with his usual swiftness. He gets the third train ready and Wendell arrives, who is having boiler-ache. He had no choice but to work as he knew there was no one available to take the train. Sheffield offers the task, which is to go to the harbour and delivered by noon. Confident he can make it time, Sheffield is all for it.

Sheffield soon departs while Wendell is having his boiler cleaned out. As soon as he left, thunder is heard, and soon afterwards, the rain began pouring down. Sheffield continued on at his brisk pace, while the other engines reduced their speed due to the slippery rails. As he passed Sutton station, he saw he only had six minutes left to make it to the harbour and picked up even more speed. He was so focused on getting there in time that he didn't see the yellow danger signal. A short distance after, Sheffield derailed, rolled onto the road and collided into a car, killing the driver and seriously injuring his crew. Sheffield pleaded guilty to the crimes he was charged with and was sentenced to thirty days in Rail Gate Prison. After his sentence, Sheffield was terrified of returning to work. He began moving and working slowly and carefully, much to the frustration of staff and engines and they didn't want to listen to Sheffield's reasons. Sheffield was angered from his feelings being ignored and started lashing out, driving away his friends and was transferred from place to place, unable to change his attitude. He couldn't break out of his slow speed no matter how hard he tried, and he never wanted to risk killing a person again.

James expresses his sympathy with Sheffield, remembering  when he unintentionally killed forty-three people and his girlfriend back when he worked on the Lancaster and Yorkshire Railway. Sheffield protests that James can't know how he feels, but he agrees when James points out how he knows what guilt feels like. The memories still haunt James, but he's learned to live with it thanks to the support of his friends. Eric then offers for him and the others to be friends with Sheffield and while he is conflicted at first, he decides to agree. He then asks Eric how he found out about his accident, to which Eric says he put the pieces of the puzzle together from what he learned from the others, to Diesel's amazement.

The news of Sheffield's past soon spread, amazing the engines of such a revelation. Sheffield apologised to the engines and started seeing Mickey for counseling. Soon, his work ethic improved significantly, as did his pace, restoring the efficiency of Barrow's yard. While he became a lot less rude and abrasive, he was still rather blunt and grumpy and the engines have learned to accept his way.

Meanwhile, BoCo would be repaired back on the Mainland and was soon after reassigned. However, his performance was still mixed. The Class 28 locomotives were seen as a humiliation for British Railways, as well as several other units they would later build. Emily, in the meantime, became a permanent addition to Sodor, much to the delight of her and Henry, who have remained together ever since. They were and are a loving and friendly couple, despite some occasional quarrels. Emily continued to be a big help, but her steaming problems began to start up later in the year and  would almost cost the railway a vital job…

## Characters

* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Eric
* Diesel
* Reginald
* Sheffield
* Mickey
* Bill and Ben
* BoCo
* Emily
* Wendell
* Glenn *(does not speak)*
* The Fat Controller *(does not speak)*
* Thomas *(cameo)*
* Percy *(cameo)*
* Toby *(cameo)*
* Whiff *(cameo)*
* Donald and Douglas *(cameo)*
* Samantha *(cameo)*
* Geoffrey *(cameo)*
* Molly *(cameo)*
* Kate *(cameo)*
* Duck *(cameo)*
* Neville *(cameo)*
* Winston *(cameo)*
* Murdoch *(cameo)*
* Spencer *(cameo)*
* Alice *(cameo)*
* Charles *(cameo)*
* Barry *(cameo)*
* Derek *(cameo)*
* Annie and Clarabel *(cameos)*
* Ernest *(cameo)*
* Wilfred *(cameo)*
* Harry *(cameo)*
* Alaric *(cameo)*
* Amanda *(indirectly mentioned)*