"If there were a record of the humans having to leave due to a disaster, where would that be stored?"

"Probably in Sir Topham Hatt's office at Knapford Station. He was the main railway controller for the island."

"Then that's where we'll look next..."

Walking to Knapford Station felt long, but Edward's head was swirling with enough questions to keep him occupied for a bit. What Boulder had said about the humans evacuating made sense- if something dangerous had been coming, then the humans would have fled as fast as they could, leaving behind anything they didn't need. The other engines probably would have worked to help haul the humans to safety, but not all of them could have been transported at the same time.

Cranky would have had to have been left behind- he was a crane that bolted into the docks, after all. Moving him in a quick process would have been near impossible- but it was still puzzling. Why hadn't the rest of them been warned? Was it possible that they'd somehow gotten lost in all of this? Had the other engines been unable to find them and then time ran out and they had to leave them behind?

And the biggest question... what could have happened? What had struck Sodor that was so bad, that not only did the humans have to run away, but they had to abandon the island entirely and never return, even a hundred years later? Nobody came back to rebuild? To search for survivors?

To search for the engines of Tidmouth Sheds?

It couldn't have been a storm. A storm would have been here and gone, allowing the humans to return at least a few days later.
Edward had memory of The Great War between humankind that had occurred, but little of it had reached Sodor, thank goodness. Somehow they'd managed to avert events, but things had been... tense after that. Edward had to wonder if something else had happened. Had war struck again, and this time Sodor hadn't been so lucky?

"Boulder..." He whispered as he caught up with their host, "...Could the cause have been... war?"

Boulder raised a brow, "What do you mean?"

"I mean... The Great War happened shortly before we arrived here from nineteen-twenty-five... Could something similar have happened to cause the humans to leave?"

Boulder nodded in understanding, his expression looking thoughtful, "Well... There was another war like that, yes... but from what I can tell, none of the land or buildings were damaged like they'd been attacked. I don't think that was the cause for this instance."

Edward nodded, "...I wish we had more context about what happened all these years."

"If we can find a way to get you back to where you belong, then you will be able to experience history for yourself. I wouldn't want to spoil the good things that happen too, you know?"

Edward nodded, and then looked ahead of them. "...There! Knapford Station's just ahead."

"Or... What's left of it." Henry mumbled.

Just like everything else, Knapford Station was in a state of decay. Broken glass, rusting metal, and crumbling brick walls lined what was left of the old railways passing through.

"Knapford was one of the busiest stations on Sodor," Emily mumbled, "I don't think I've ever seen it this quiet and empty, even at night."

"There's Sir Topham Hatt's office." James pointed.

Fortunately, it appeared that the part of the building where the office was located was still relatively intact. As they approached, they peered in the window, which miraculously was one of the few glass objects here that was still not shattered.

"You're up, tiny engines." Diesel remarked, looking down to Thomas and Percy.

"Hey!" Thomas complained, "Just because Percy could fit in the shop doesn't mean we could fit in the office!"

"Right." Percy agreed, though sounding not quite as annoyed. "The shop was more open, probably because you were supposed to have lots of humans in it at one time. Between the desk and table and everything else, I don't think we could fit in this one."

Gordon crossed his arms, "It's too bad we didn't bring a human here with us."

"Say Boulder, maybe your driver could help us!" Emily suggested.

"Graham? Maybe, but I don't want to pull him away if an emergency comes up..."
The green mosaic then began to mumble to himself, "I mean... I could project my holoform, I guess, but... Nah, I don't want to overwhelm them-"

There was then a chirping sound that appeared to be coming from Boulder's ear, and he perked up and tapped it. "Boulder here..." His eyes then widened and he gave a nervous smile, "Hey, Blades...!" He sang, "...Great, great. How's 'Bee?"

"Who's Blades?" Cranky whispered as he leaned down to Henry. The green engine shrugged.

Boulder side-eyed the engines for a second and then shook his head, "...No, not really. Nothing too out of the ordinary for us... Yeah, you just focus on what you're doing there. Have a good time, and I will let you know if something comes up. I mean, it's only been what, maybe twenty-four hours since you left? Catch up with everyone and then... oh. Wow. Yeah, I'll bet seeing him was a shock. What did he think when he saw you?... Yeah, that sounds about right. Okay, I'll talk to you later, alright? Boulder out."

"Uh... What was that about?" James asked.

"Well, one of my brothers is out on vacation right now. He was just checking in and letting me know how things were going on his end."

Cranky crossed his arms with a smirk, "Aaaand you decided to omit telling him about us, huh?"

Boulder shrugged, "I'll be honest, you guys showing up like this really isn't that weird for us these days. He needs the break he's getting visiting friends, I don't wanna make him worry. Now, back to the matter of getting into the office."

"Would any of your... Earth Mosaic stuff be helpful?" Percy asked.

Boulder was still for a moment and then smacked his forehead. "Duh... I've only done it once before, so bear with me..."

"Uh..." James mumbled as Boulder stepped back, as if to get a running start. "If your plan is to turn into rocks and bust the wall down, I don't think that's-"
He silenced as Boulder rushed forward, but rather than smashing into the wall, their host suddenly poofed into a cloud of glowing green dust, which then slithered under the door and reformed as a smaller, almost ghostly version of him on the other side. "...Whoa!"

"That was so cool, Boulder!" Thomas hollered, and Boulder just waved. Could he hear them from inside?

"Can we all do that?" Emily murmured, "I mean, James and I probably would just turn into big bodies of fire-"

"James already did that once today." Diesel remarked, getting a tongue stuck out at him by the red engine. "What!? You did!"

"Yeah, but you don't have to bring it up!"

"Oh, I really do. It was hysterical watching you be hysterical."

"Enough." Edward hissed, "We can't risk being mean to each other anymore,  we need to keep ourselves in Boulder's good graces if he's going to keep helping us."

"Edward's right," Henry whispered, "If we keep fighting like this, he might not think we're worth keeping around."

"You really think he'd just abandon us?" Thomas worried.

"Hey, everyone else did." Diesel muttered, and then rubbed his arm. "He told me earlier that where he's from, if you didn't do a good enough job at what you were supposed to do, they'd make you fight each other to the death for other mosaics' entertainment."

The other engines all shuddered, looking to each other nervously.

"Even so," Cranky mumbled, "If we can't be useful engines or cranes around here, we need to try to be useful mosaics, and that means no fighting anymore."

The Sodorians all nodded, and silence washed over the empty station as suddenly any further words were held back...

...Nobody knew what might be the last straw.

_________________________________________________________

Boulder was grateful he'd figured out how to shift into his elemental form before he just slammed into the door, because that would have been very embarrassing and painful otherwise.

Slithering under the door, he'd reformed inside of the building and found to his relief that other than an obvious leak in the back corner, the interior was still well-preserved. Maybe those records would still be untouched after all.

"That was so cool, Boulder!" he heard Thomas holler, and he waved to the engines before overlooking what all was in the office itself. 

A desk with an upholstered chair. 

A large table showing the entire island's rail system and dotted with dozens of tiny wooden engines, obviously for keeping track of where every train was headed and located.

Several large cabinets that surely must hold documents and papers within them all along the edge of the room. The engines were right, it would hard for even one human to navigate the space between everything, let alone an entire mosaic in physical form.

Boulder hovered over to one of the cabinets. Opening it took some work considering the track for the drawers were rusted and dirty, but it opened. Empty. Next one, a few random receipts, but nothing substantial. Next drawer, finally, some folders and papers. "Okay okay okay..." He whispered to himself as he pulled them out, pushing the wooden engines aside to lay the papers out on the table. "Let's see here... manifests, load orders, invoices... aha! Personal records...!"

He looked up briefly towards the window again as he heard some bickering outside, but it quickly quieted again, and he resumed his search. "Okay... Sir Topham Hatt... Hmm, there were three of them... storm reports causing delays in nineteen-twenty-nine... bridge collapse... bridge repaired... Come on, come on... Give me something... What's this?"

He pulled out a small piece of paper tucked into one of the folders with the latest date, close to when the public records had ended. Scribbled onto the paper were the words Strange New Mineral found in southern mine shaft. Investigate further. - Hatt

A strange mineral? That sounded promising.

He flipped through the folder, but there was no further suggestions to the mineral being investigated- at least, not in this folder.

He opened the next cabinet, searching through those drawers... then the next... and then the next. He'd known checking an official's office was taking a chance at best, most of the paperwork would have left with the man. Finally, in the bottom of the last cabinet, he found what appeared to be a diary. He opened it, looking at the last page.

We have been forced to evacuate the island following the incident. It has been determined the threat is too great to remain until further study can be made. All inhabitants and possible equipment is to be shipped off by the end of the week. An unfortunate development, but the lives of the island are more important than risking them for the sake of scientific progress. Bless us all as we try to integrate back into Mainland society. - Hatt

"Hmm..." Boulder closed the diary, setting it into his cab. He needed to keep looking...