Starlight Express - The Novel

The Future is Diesel

As Rusty grew up, his yard slowly began to fill with diesels. The years went by, the steam engine champions of the past became old and worn, scrapped and replaced by new technology, new power— the future was diesel.

The diesels that arrived looked to the now-champion Greaseball, who had grown up to be the top dog of the yard and world racing champion winner. They followed him around as his gang, forming a tight-knit bond with each other and chasing all of the other steamers from the yard until Poppa and Rusty were the last steam engines left.

Diesel replaced steam as the majority, leaving the steam engines to do the yard's dirty work rather than racing like the old days. Rusty's dream of becoming a champion engine slowly vanished and was replaced by the harsh reality of grueling work in the yard, assembling trains and shunting freight and rolling stock all day while the diesels sat back in luxury.

The now grown Rusty worked away in the yard, struggling to push the cars that were thrice his size. His eyes were caught by the diesels that sat at the end of the yard, relaxing and laughing amongst each other as they refueled and restocked before their duties, which involved pulling mainline coaches and freight across the land and racing each other in their free time.

Rusty was somewhat angry at them for replacing what used to be the steam engines duties. Proper duties—like hailing express trains and racing— not low-life dirty work— like shunting freight. But what could he do? He was way too little to do any good. They would beat him to a pulp if he even approached them. Either that or they would relentlessly taunt him or force him to run errands for him, which is why he hardly ever approached them. 'Rusty, could you start the tea?' 'Rusty, my dining car is out of food!' 'Rusty, I need my stock assembled!' 'Rusty, Rusty, Rusty!'

He shook the thoughts from his head as he continued the grueling work in the yard, sweat accumulating on his forehead as he pushed the rolling stock together.

"Whatcha thinking about, Rusty?" Rusty was snapped away from his thoughts by Buffy, a buffet car, one of the three coaches getting prepared to be taken across the eastern seaboard on a round trip by Greaseball. "You always make that face when you're thinking." Rusty turned to look at her. She and the other coaches were watching as he pushed the freight together. "Huh?" He blinked. Buffy laughed. "You're thinking about racing again, aren't you?" She playfully said, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, no, not at all." He mumbled.

"You wouldn't stand a chance," Ashley, the smoking car, butted in. Buffy elbowed her, giving her a glare. "What? He would never win, even if he was able to enter." She said. "Control would never let a steam engine enter." Buffy rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to her, Rusty." Buffy smiled. "You totally could if you really really wanted to!" Dinah the dining car jumped in. "Okay, okay—-guys? I wasn't thinking about racing." Rusty stopped them. "My days of dreaming about racing is long behind me," he quietly added. "No—I was thinking about the new coach I heard was coming in today!"

He bit his tongue with the lie. He was thinking about racing, but he actually had heard from Poppa earlier on in the day that Control had mentioned getting a new coach.

"New coach?" The girls questioned in unison. "That's right," Belle appeared from between the stock, "And you girls better be nice to her." She raised an eyebrow at them. "Mama!" Rusty choked, "What are you doing here?" He seethed through clenched teeth. "Coming to tell you that lunch is ready," she smiled to him. "Charred coals, your favorite," she nudged him. "Okay, I'll be there in a bit," Rusty scooted to move her out of the way in attempts to look tough in front of the coaches, who just giggled. "Oh, that must be her!" Dinah interrupted, pointing to a coach that was pulled by a diesel.

The diesel dropped the coach off in front of them, before rolling away with a cloud of black smog. When the smoke cleared, there stood a pink and white coach with "OBSERVATION" engraved into her side in gold lettering. She smiled warmly, her long lashes fluttering. "Hi!" She beamed, her polished paint glittering in the bright sunlight. "I'm Pearl!" She rolled up to them. "Hello!" Buffy smiled. "I'm Buffy, and this is Dinah and Ashley," she pointed respectfully. "You look... new," Ashley looked Pearl up and down. "I am! Fresh off the lot!" She grinned. "So, where do you guys go? West coast, east coast? Back and forth? Both? North coast? South? I'm so excited to travel with you!" She bounced excitedly. "I hope we all become best friends!"