Goodbye, Stephen the Green Engine!

"Goodbye, Stephen the Green Engine!" is the 6th episode of The British Railway Series: The End of the LNER.

Plot
The year is 1952, and the Modernisation Plan, the plan to replace steam engines with diesel engines, is already underway. One autumn day, Stephen is talking to a visiting Standard 4 engine about the Modernisation Plan. The Standard 4 tells Stephen that he might be up first for scrapping, as he is a pre-grouping engine, and when engines break down, they are simply cut up. The engine then leaves, leaving Stephen feeling worried.

Later that afternoon, the weather is worsening just as Allen returns to the shed. Stephen tells Allen that he has to go out in the appalling weather, as he needs to take Herbert's goods train for him as he is running late. Allen warns him to be careful, and Stephen leaves the yard.

Further up the line, a Midland Region engine has had to stop his train due to some faulty points. Stephen, meanwhile, has started along the line with the goods train. The Midland engine is then held up again by the brakes on some of his vans coming hard on. He becomes concerned about another train in the area, so his driver quickly starts to help check the brakes. Unfortunately, by the time he is ready to start, Stephen is almost right behind him, and he is unable to start quickly enough. Stephen rounds the corner, and sees the brake van of the Midland engine's train much too late...

Back at the yard, Allen and Sir Ralph hear an emergency bell sound, and then they see Nigel head past the yard with a breakdown crew. They wait to tell Stephen about the news, but Stephen does not come home...

Next morning, Allen wakes up to see the Midland engine involved in the crash back down into the yard. Sadly, the engine tells Allen and Sir Ralph about the accident, and then the 3 engines watch as Stephen's battered tender is brought into the yard. The Midland engine apologizes even more unhappily, and Sir Ralph assures him that it wasn't his fault, and then he tells him to head home. As both the Midland engine and Sir Ralph leave the yard, Allen simply feels empty, as he continues to stare at his friend's lonely wrecked tender.

As the weeks pass, the tender disappears from the yard, and 2 new engines arrive: Tavish, a Scottish J39, and George, an on-loan Midland engine who quickly becomes friends with Nigel. Allen tries to spend a lot of time away from the yard, but one morning, he finds himself there with all of the other engines. Nigel explains that the Foreman has let the engines stay for 5 more minutes, as he wants them to see something. At that moment, a whistle is heard from the junction, and an engine backs down into the shed. Allen is amazed, and even more amazed when Stephen backs down next to him, no longer in apple green, but in BR Express Passenger blue.

Stephen explains that the Foreman was kind enough to repair him, and when he asks the engines if they like his new paint, Sir Ralph lets out a delighted speech about how the engines that wear Express Passenger blue should stand together. Tavish then comments that Stephen probably should have stayed at the Works.

Characters

 * Allen
 * Stephen
 * Sir Ralph
 * Nigel
 * Tavish
 * The Midland Engine
 * Jerry (not named)
 * Herbert (does not speak)
 * George (does not speak)
 * Scott (cameo (late 1960's condition and early preservation condition))
 * Evening Star (cameo)
 * A BR Standard 5 (cameo)
 * The Blue Pullman train (cameo)
 * Other diesel engines (cameos)
 * Gadwall (mentioned (not named))

Trivia

 * This is the first episode to feature diesel engines (albeit in the black and white sequence only).
 * This episode marked the first appearance of Tavish.
 * Scott's face is used on 4 engines in this episode: Scott himself, Evening Star, the Midland engine and George.
 * A remastered version of this episode, which included music seen in the more recent episodes, was released on October 30th 2011.
 * Jerry (the standard 4 Stephen speaks to) was named in a deleted scene from this episode.