#... honestly

Lowtone: FR 122 as of Re-Grouping (LMS 10132 after). Outgoing, popular, and, notably, “the normal one” of the four… until WWI, perhaps.   

Thoroughly enjoyed the adrenaline and drama of war work. “Hot” trains, scary? Pah! More like awesome! Since Armistice, has found it hard to find much interest in his days. Then add the FR’s closure and Re-Grouping. Like many of his contemporaries, he was just Not About the corporate takeover life.

Within the first six months of LMS management, Lowtone sustained some mild-to-moderate damage after a signal mix-up. Resignedly told the managers to not bother mending him (managers, basically: ‘well. glad you said it. makes things easier all around!’) but requested to wait at his current depot until Nought’s time was also up. Nought: FR 120 at time of Re-Grouping (LMS 10130 after). Anxious and very shy. Had an infamous Noodle Incident when first turned to freight that was immortalized on three railways in a funny and innuendo-laced song. (Stack helped to ‘write’ said song, and it took Lowtone fifteen years to even begin to forgive him.) After this experience, went from ‘shy’ to ‘as close to a hermit as a working engine can actually be.’   

The LMS had pegged him from the start as ‘we definitely aren’t seeing much of a future for him with us,’ and predictably Nought offered little resistance to his proposed timeline for withdrawal. Especially when it was arranged that he and Lowtone would be sent off to scrap together. They had always, in an ‘opposites attract’ sort of way, been exceptionally close. Patch: FR 121 as of Re-Grouping (LMS 10131 after). Reserved, worldly, and dry. Also, probably low-key depressed for years now.   

Engines generally expected Patch and Stack (‘the other pair’) to last significantly longer than the first two. They are regarded as intelligent and canny and tough—none too easy to push around. But, although inseparable, they have a blow-up after Lowtone and Nought depart. Stack was incredulous and really angry at them, far too angry to ‘respect their decision.’ Eventually, Patch gets ‘round to revealing that… look, the idea of doing the thing on one’s own terms doesn’t actually sound crazy to him at all.   

Still, he sticks things out (and works through considerable pain due to lack of maintenance), unwilling to abandon Stack. However, a boiler fault eventually decides things more-or-less for him. More-or-less—because shed staff don’t see any problem. Patch, however, is positive that he’s on the verge of a boiler explosion, and refuses his next job rather than put his crew at risk. The predictable result is that he’s sent off immediately, without a chance to say goodbye to Stack.   

(After his firebox is cut out, the imminent fault is confirmed by the scrappers. Patch’s long-time driver is deeply rattled by all this. Stack finds the poor man’s guilt Really Useful when he is fundraising for his illicit revenge campaign on “the red berk”!) Stack: FR 123 as of Re-Grouping (LMS 10133 after). Skeptical, sharp-tongued raconteur with a taste for grudge matches and keeping score.   

Smarter Than You, and absolutely not about to let you forget it.   

Lowtone and Patch eventually attempt to heal the longstanding Seagull-Sharpy clan rivalry through diplomacy. You can goddamn guess which 'Gull was Not On Board with this. (That said, Stack himself gets on very well with the Sharps, these days.)