The Lion King III: Battle of the Rails

[Zaphod Scotsman]

Note: This story is actually in planning, but the original didn't get any responses, so, as the rules allow it, or at least to my point of view, I decided to bring it here.

My own idea of a sequel to Simba's Pride would involve a group of people trying to restore a railway line that once ran through the pride lands for tourism, without thinking of the animals. But I might as well get to the summary:

The Pride Lands are in a field of excitement: Kiara is pregnant with her first cubs! Unfortunately, a group of railway enthusiasts want to restore an old railway line that once ran through the Pride Lands, without even thinking of the animals, and the owners refuse to give up, even if it means animals will be harmed. Kiara is now worried about the survival of her children, as the trains running through, especially the steam locomotives, could suffocate her children and kill them. It's up to Simba to figure out a solution for both sides of the story. However, one of the locomotives, a newly-built tank engine named Jonah, dislikes the idea of harming wildlife, and joins up with the Pridelanders as a result. But will a solution to satisfy both sides be found?

Well, there's the summary. Now, for the list of characters:

Characters

Simba: The king of the Pridelands and initially pleased when he hears about his daughter's pregnancy, his pleasure soon turns to worry when a railway is being rebuilt in the Pridelands.

Kiara: Simba's daughter, pregnant for the first time in her life. However, the new railway has made her worried about the survival of her offspring. She soon starts refusing to trust anything related to the railway, even a certain steamer that the other locomotives look down upon. She also starts refusing to listen to her father's orders to calm down, too concerned about the life of her own kids to care about the other lions of Pride Rock.
Note: Kiara is out of character to some degree, but this is due to her pregnancy. I mean, seriously, no mother would want their offspring to die.

Sarabi: Simba's mother, who Simba and Kiara often turn to for advice, due to her being more serious and saying more sensical things than Rafiki. She also takes the lead when the lionesses go hunting for food.
Note: At first, the contents of this may not make any sense. However, Rafiki has been known to be more silly than serious at times, not what you'd expect from an elderly being, even a monkey. Also, you may be wondering why she's a major character. Well, the fact that her original voice actress died still isn't a good excuse for her absence in Simba's Pride, as they could've just hired somebody to replace the original actress.

Nala: Simba's queen, who keeps an eye on the Pridelands while Simba deals with the conflict between both sides.

Zazu: Simba's majordomo, who for the first time ever, finds a girlfriend. However, he still retains his old personality. Zazu also has constant chats with Jonah, who also has a crush on a female steamer. His catchphrase in this story is, "SIIIIIIIMBAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" He says this when he needs to see Simba, or when he's annoyed with Simba, even when he doesn't have to. Sometimes, Zazu also does this on purpose, just to make Simba annoyed. (He considers it payback for when Simba was a cub and threatened to fire him once he became king.)

Frida: A female hornbill who becomes Zazu's girlfriend. She is very curious and playful, the opposite of Zazu's seriousness.

Timon: The wise-cracking meerkat has not lost his seriousness and remains Pumbaa's best friend. Unfortunately, while Pumbaa usually gets unharmed, Timon is always injured in certain situations, even non-dangerous ones. Despite this, he remains loyal to Simba and Pumbaa, refusing to turn his back one either of them.

Pumbaa: The idiotic and stinky warthog remains loyal to Timon and Simba. Pumbaa never gets harmed. But at one point, he fights with another male warthog, who is older, over a female warthog which both are attracted to. During the fight, Pumbaa forgets about his friends, only focusing on his instinct to fight his older rival for the female.

Hailey: A female warthog who Pumbaa falls in love with. She is very kind and caring, and she finds Pumbaa's actions hilarious.

Rafiki: The wise, old mandrill remains an important advisor to Simba and his wisdom remains intact. However, in order to make the character's age more believable, his silliness has been toned down a little, as old beings are not usually silly. However, Rafiki still has a little silliness inside of him, and he still sings his famous catchphrase, "Asante sana, squash banana, we we nugu, mi mi apana." He also plays practical jokes on some of the other animals.

Kovu: Kiara's mate doesn't play much of an important role. However, he is frequently seen throughout the story. As a result of his limited appearances, his personality isn't explored much this time.

Vitani: Kovu's sister, who is involved with hunting as well. She is very serious in everything she does.

Jonah: A tank engine that was built in 2010, and loves animals. Due to this, the other engines find it hard to like him, since the tank engine refuses to harm animals. Seeing an advantage on teaching the villains a lesson, Simba gets Jonah onto his side. Kiara, however, refuses to trust him, due to the fact that, since he's a steam engine, he makes tons of smoke.
Prototype: Though South African in origin Jonah is based on a British steam locomotive design: the 0-6-0 London Midland and Scottish 3F tank engine built by Henry Fowler. 442 members of this historic locomotive were built by the LMS from 1924 to 1931, with the year 1930 being skipped for some unknown reason, and sadly, were withdrawn from 1959 to 1967. However, 9 3F tank engines have been preserved, though the individual Jonah is based on, 7409, isn't among them

Leah: A female 0-4-4 tank engine, a year younger than Jonah. Jonah has a crush on her, but she rejects him, due to his love for animals, which, like the other locomotives, she doesn't share at all. Leah can be somewhat bossy and temperamental. She has a soft side, but doesn't always show it. Over time, however, she eventually realizes that animals are actually very special and slowly joins sides with Jonah.
Prototype: Leah is based on a North Eastern Railway O class 0-4-4 tank engine built from 1894 to 1901. The G5s were used on suburban passenger services and provided excellent service for their task. When the NER was grouped into the London & North Eastern Railway in 1923, along with all of the other railways on the East Coast Region, the O class was reclassified as G5. The G5s continued well and all of them even survived into Nationalization in 1948, when the LNER, LMS, GWR, and Southern railways were merged to form British Railways. Unfortunately, with the rice dire of the Modernization Plan from 1954, the G5s were withdrawn from 1955 to 1958, and sadly, none were preserved. However, a replica is currently under construction by the G5 Class Locomotive Company and is planned to be finished sometime during the 21st century.

Jerry: An old steamer who agrees with Jonah that animals shouldn't be harmed. He is with Jonah from the start, but has difficulty convincing he others to agree with Jonah, as he's the only one who does.
Prototype: Jerry is based on a New South Wales Government Raiłway Z12 class 4-4-0 tender engine. The Z12 Class (formerly the C79 class) was the first class of locomotive on the New South Wales Government Railways to be built in relatively large numbers. They hauled all express passenger and mail trains for some 20 years. The Z12s were built from 1877 to 1882. 23 were taken out of service between 1928 and 1933, but many others survived hauling branch line trains into the 1950s. 3 have been preserved: 1219, 1243, and 1210, the third of which had been used for rail tours around New South Wales ever since retirement. Jerry's real-life individual, 1213, was sadly not preserved.

Barry: A Garratt who is proud and arrogant, thinking being up-to-date is best. Barry is also rather high, looking down on his other railway-mates. He is also pompous, though he does have a caring side that he rarely shows.
Prototype: Barry is based on a South Australian Railways 400 class 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt-type locomotive. Though many Garratt-type engines exist, only 10 400 class Garratts were built, of which only 402 and 409 survive, at the Zig Zag Railway Cooperative in Lithgow, NSW in the case of the former and the latter at the National Railway Museum (No, not the one at York in the UK: no Garratts live there) at Port Adelaide, South Australia. This type was used in Australia, but many Garratt-types of various wheel arrangements were used all around the old world, or at least in Africa, Great Britain, and Australia. However, all were built in the UK.

Robert: The main antagonist, a diesel engine who hates nature, and agrees that it shouldn't stand in the way of the project. He is cold hearted to animals and hates anybody telling him to be kind to them.
Prototype: Albert is based on a Spoornet Railway 34 class diesel engine, but unlike the others, this one actually worked in South Africa!

Albert Randoga: The owner and controller of Jonah, Leah, and Robert, Albert is also the main antagonist. He is in charge if the project and cares nothing for wildlife. He will stop at nothing to achieve the goal of restoring the old railway that once ran through the Pridelands.

Well, there ya go. What do you think?

[Arbystrider]

Hold on -- Jerry and Jonah are on the lions' side? Are they genuinely willing to sacrifice themselves for the lions' well-being or do they have another reason?

Seems like a pretty unique story with that one plothole...

Also, it would be helpful if you could ease off the technical terms.

[Zaphod Scotsman]

[quote="Arbystrider"]Hold on -- Jerry and Jonah are on the lions' side? Are they genuinely willing to sacrifice themselves for the lions' well-being or do they have another reason?

Seems like a pretty unique story with that one plothole...

Also, it would be helpful if you could ease off the technical terms.[/quote]

Well, both Jerry and Jonah agree that the animals shouldn't be harmed. But it's actually only Jonah who is invited by Simba to join the lions.

Also, many prototypes of the characters have probably not been seen outside of their respective countries.

Speaking of prototypes, the railway line was originally going to be standard gauge, but then I decided to make it narrow-gauge. Why I did so, well, to be honest, I don't remember. However, I've now been thinking about making it a standard gauge railway again. Should I make it standard gauge, or keep it narrow gauge?

It's unlikely that everybody will know the difference, so here's a link to a video (Warning: It features Thomas the Tank Engine) explaining the difference between standard gauge and narrow gauge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJbRvwn4dok

[Arbystrider]

[quote="Zaphod Scotsman"]Should I make it standard gauge, or keep it narrow gauge?[/quote]

[quote="Arbystrider"]Also, it would be helpful if you could ease off the technical terms.[/quote]

I doubt such a technical detail like that would affect the story very much, but if you had to choose, pick standard gauge, larger trains use more fuel. More fuel usage means more pollution.