Troublesome Trucks

Arc 6 The Branch Excursion

A few days of pretty much the same back and forth with no updates indeed began to wear on me. I tried to stay positive, I even tried faking illness or holding back and pushing engines on at Gordon's hill. I didn't cause any accidents or anything, just a little irritaton amongst some of the bigger engines. But even that became difficult to remain entertaining as days turned to weeks.

One day I found myself going down the Farquhar branch line with Break. After being bumped into Knapford by the Black Weasel, I was surprised to see Gordon's tender backing down on us. "Ooo what do we have here lads?" I taunted. "Looks like Sodor's main express engine got a demotion." The silly trucks giggled, Gordon responded with a mighty biff. The pain was immense, no one spoke, nor made any noise once we left the station. Splitting from the mainline some ways up, we picked up great speed as we passed a bus station, crossed over a level crossing, and thundered through the green countryside.

During this time I called back to Break. With his high speed and loud puffing, it was hard for Gordon to hear any conversation. "Has Gordon always been like this?" I asked.

"Y-yeah, f-for the most part. C-can't say where it comes from though." Break's stutter concerned me. 

"Are you scared Break?" I asked, 

"Wahda-what do you mean?" Break asked back,

"I mean, are you scared of the big engines?" I pried. Break didn't speak for some time, once he did, I could hear the emotion in his voice. 

"Yes I am scared, of Gordon, of James, of the Fat Hatt, of the Smelters. There's too much here not to be scared of. The engines and humans simply don't understand how this stressful this can be sometimes." He finished, his voice cracking. I knew he was in a very emotional state but I just had to say it, "To them, all they see is some rollingstock causing a disturbance right? A machine malfunctioning?" Break began to quiver. 

"It's okay Break, it's okay" I reassured "I understand how you feel. To feel like a waste of space, to not feel treated like a real person. I get it." We rolled along in silence, listening to the wind whistle past and the rails hum beneath our wheels. "You aren't alone there, pal" spoke a truck further up the line, "We've all been there. You've just got to find a way to cope with it. It just is what it is."

We soon pulled into Ellsbridge, A little station with yards off to the side of the main track. As Gordon angrily began shunting us into our proper sidings, I thought I heard Break wince. 

"You alright?" I calledback, Break winced again. 

"My wheels hurt, it feels like something's grinding." He strained. Immediately I shut my brakes down for an emergency stop. Our short row of trucks ground to a halt.  

"Whoever did that, release your brakes now." Gordon scowled. I plucked up courage, "My friend thinks something's up with his brakes. I don't want him to get hurt more than he already is." 

"Enough playing around, I've had enough of you dirty trucks for one day." Gordon growled. He then began to force the train into the sheds.  As we were slowly being pushed back, the pain in my brakes was so great that I screamed. Gordon did not let up however. Break, now in agony, was beginning to get red in the face, same with me. There was then a crack and the train stopped. One of Break's brakes had gotten jammed during one of Gordon's mighty biffs. The grinding resulted in parts Break's undercarriage cracking apart. Now screaming, Break had "broken." A breakdown crew was sent to bring him to the works, he wouldn't be back for a good week or so. As I glared at Gordon, he simply scoffed and rolled away. "YOU SON OF A BITCH! GET BACK HERE YOU GODDAMN TYRANT!" I blurted out, but my cries only fell on deaf ears.