#i've always had trouble coming up with ideas for the skarloey railway

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Something Old, Something New

Skarloey has been away serving as part of a good luck package. But when he finally comes home, the other little engines are surprised to find that he wasn't just something old.

“What’s taking Skarloey so long?” Duncan groused one day. “He goes gallivanting off on holiday and leaves us to do his work!”

“Nancy already explained it,” Peter Sam said patiently. “Her cousin is getting married, and they asked for Skarloey to be part of the good luck package.”

“I know that!” Duncan snapped. “Why does he get to go up to Duck’s branch line, hmm? Why does he get to be repainted? I work hard enough to deserve a new coat of paint!”

None of the other engines mentioned that Duncan had just been repainted a month ago.

“Speaking of which,” peeped Sir Handel, “did anyone notice how secretive everybody was about Skarloey’s repaint? They even took him to the big engines’ workshop for it. The rest of us always have ours here.”

Rheneas chuckled ruefully. “I’m not sure, but I know Nancy is behind it. She was in a right state when they came to take Skarloey away. Apparently, she suggested something as a joke, and Skarloey and the bride decided to go with it.”

“Do you think they painted ‘Just married’ on the back of his cab and rode away with him and that old haulage wagon of his?” Rusty joked.

“Not quite,” came a voice.

The little engines couldn’t believe their eyes as Duck pulled into the yard. Behind him, he had a coach full of happy wedding guests, and behind that was the flatbed carrying Skarloey, who looked a very different engine indeed.

Instead of the red paint with white lining they were used to, Skarloey was painted a bright shade of blue. It wasn’t so light as Thomas, Edward, and Gordon’s paint, nor was it quite as dark as Sir Handel’s.

“Do you like it?” he asked, chuckling at their expressions.

Soon, Skarloey was loaded back on the rails, and Rusty shunted him into the shed next to Rheneas.

“What’s this about, then?” Rheneas chuckled.

“Ask Nancy,” Skarloey answered. “It was her idea, after all.”

The girl in question leaned against the shed wall, wearing a red dress with a blue ribbon around the waist.

“I meant it as a joke,” she said, fighting off a grin. “I said since Skarloey already fit as something old and something borrowed, we may as well figure out how to add something new and blue to the mix.”

“Thus the change in color,” Peter Sam surmised. “An old and borrowed engine in a new coat of blue paint!”

“A four-in-one good luck package!” Rusty laughed. “Clever thinking, Nancy! Though, I don’t think Sir Handel likes it very much!”

Sir Handel eyed Skarloey’s paint critically. “It isn’t bad, I suppose. But I had better not hear any passengers getting us mixed up!”

“Don’t worry, Sir Handel,” Skarloey said innocently. “We can just have you painted red to balance things out!”

Sir Handel’s reply was drowned out in a chorus of laughter.