Please consider, a model railroad Dark World.
On the surface it might sound like a fun idea, but it would probably turn out to be a dreadfully boring place to anyone that isn't into trains. The person who built this particular layout constructed it to be a scaled down version of the surrounding counties. As such, the Dark World is, at first glance, a minimally stylized recreation of real life, with almost no fantasy elements to speak of. It is the single most plain looking location of all of the Dark Worlds encountered so far, and as far as Susie's concerned, she just wants to get the fountain sealed and be done with it. The only problem is the fountain is conveniently located at the opposite end of the basement, which in Dark World terms is either a day's walk away...or a two hour train ride if they could convince someone to help them.
There is exactly one element of fantasy in all of the dark world, and it's that the trains that run the railroad are alive. Turns out talking trains aren't exactly as whimsical as one would expect. Steam locomotives, big ones especially, are conceited machines with bad temperaments and opinionated outlooks on anything outside of their immediate perview. The locomotives' ringleader, No. 7000, is probably the most insufferable of them all. The finest and most detailed you could possibly ask for from a model locomotive, with a hefty price tag to match. It's 7000's very purpose to imitate a real locomotive, and operate by a real railroad's procedures. He will stand for no less under any circumstance.
As far as he's concerned, the railroad company doesn't give taxi rides to anybody, and he's not about to bend the rules for a bunch of "hooligan kids." Put simply, no one is willing to give the Fun Gang the time of day, and they tell them to get lost.
Enter Comet, a vintage tinplate toy locomotive stowed in an abandoned maintenance shed at the back of the railyard. He spent his early years with a kid who'd spend hours watching him go around in circles with his coaches. It was simple, but it was the one thing Comet did best. When the boy grew older, Comet got put into storage, and there he languished for over 60 years. When Comet next he saw the light of day, it turned out his owner's son had inherited him and had pulled him out of storage at last...to fill a vacancy in an empty work shed. The other locomotives went out of their way to make it very plain to him that tinplate is 'gaudy' and 'out of fashion' now, so out of sight is where he belonged. In the grimy, industrial setting of the railyard, his whimsy was unloved.
"Ralsei. I’m gonna spin around in a second. Before I do….Is that another God?!#% talking train behind me?"
"I dunno. Is that a talkin’ punk in front of me?"
Out of every single other locomotive in the yard, Comet was the only one willing to run "off the schedule" to get the Fun Gang to the dark fountain. Not out of the kindness of his heart, mind you, but rather because he wanted to get one over all the wretches that put him down before. As far as he's aware, these kids just want him to get them from point A to point B, and don't care two hoots about him otherwise. Fine by him. Not like he'd ever let himself be fooled again....If only those darn kids weren't growing on him a bit.
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