Title: The Railway Man
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: G
Length: 450
Summary: Dr Watson explains how Holmes adopts a new character.

I have written elsewhere of Holmes’ ability to transform himself into other characters, such as Captain Basil or an elderly parasol bearing woman.  Whilst it might be assumed it was an easy matter for Holmes to perform the transformation, and indeed, once he had undertaken the role a few times it was, to start with there was a great degree of preparation.

Holmes had decided it would be useful to include a railwayman in his repertoire, for many of his cases involved the railways in some form or other.  My suggestion it was purely because he wished to travel for free was met with a ‘Really, Watson’, although I did notice a certain gleam in his eyes at that point.

Since he had very few cases at hand, he insisted we visit a number of the main railway termini, to enable him to observe the various workers.  Accordingly we spent the next few days visiting Kings Cross, Euston, Paddington, Victoria and Waterloo stations.  I lost count of the number of times I walked to and from different platforms.

Throughout the time, Holmes would copy the mannerisms of the workers.  He was careful not to mimic too exactly any one person, but took a little from each.  And there was nothing exaggerated, but solely the general bearing.

Once he had developed his character he began to put it in practice, seeing if I could spot him amongst the work force and passengers.  He was extremely put out when part way through the third afternoon Lestrade accosted him as he was scurrying round as a porter.

“What gave me away, Lestrade?” Holmes demanded.

“I saw Dr Watson looking at you fixedly,” Lestrade replied.  “He either knew who the porter was, or he believed you had stolen his luggage.  Either way I felt entitled to accost you.”

“Hmph.”

As for clothing, it was easy enough for him to obtain suitable working clothes, and conveniently placed soot smudges were sufficient to obscure any potential company insignia.  In addition, the soot was useful for subtly changing his face, so it was not long before his transformation into a railway worker was complete.

The final test was whether Holmes could fool Mrs Hudson.  A few days later I heard a voice saying, “I need to see Mr ‘Olmes.  I’m just off the GCR and have a message for ‘im.”

Mrs Hudson let him in, saying, “Mr Holmes is not back yet, but Dr Watson is there and you can leave your message with him.”

All went well, until Holmes must have straightened up halfway up the stairs, because I heard Mrs Hudson shout, “Mr Holmes, I have just cleaned the stairs.  Don’t you dare drop any soot.”