WWII: A Railway Series Tale

Chapter VII - The Flood

Four years had passed since Bridget had arrived on the island of Sodor. Her hard working attitude and wits made settling in with the other engines as easy as pie. However, with the ongoing war came her worries. The Fat Controller had assigned her to work on the coastal line from Tidmouth to Arlesburgh West with her sister Lily. There, the two worked alongside the narrow gauge Mid-Sodor railway, whose mineral mines were the only economical asset to the harbour, which lost its passenger services in 1936. Even still, the summer season had seen lots of rain and lots of passengers.

    One evening, Bridget met Lily at the junction. She wasn't too early, which gave her just enough time to chat with her sister. However, Falcon was already waiting on the tank engine.

     "What took you so long? You're late." Falcon snorted. For a little engine, he had a lot of nerve, as Bridget observed. "I'm not late! I'm early!" she answered. Falcon sighed, realizing that she was right, and harrumphed to his coaches. Bridget went back to her conversation with Lily as the guard gave Falcon his 'all-clear' whistle.

    The Mid-Sodor Railway is one of two narrow gauge railways on the Island of Sodor. Has two terminus stations, one at Arlesburgh on the west coast, and the other is at Skarloey on the Skarloey Railway, where both lines share a slate quarry, which is not well kept and true to its gauge. Nonetheless, work was carried out perfectly, despite the decrease in traffic. Falcon worked with five other engines - Duke, Stuart, Jennings, John, and an unnamed engine who took on all the work in the lead mine at Cas-ny-Hawin.

    "We used to have more engines on our old line," Duke told me years later, "but they were sold off, probably scrapped by now, in the late 30's."

    Anyways, as Falcon made his way to the sheds, dusk had fallen and a light drizzle began to fall. "Still in a bad mood, are we Falcon?" Jennings teased.

    "Bug off."

    "Don't get mad at him, youngin'." Duke scolded. "It's not his fault you derailed earlier." Falcon was disarmed and ashamed. He sat quietly until he fell asleep.

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    The next morning, the rain had gotten heavier, but it was supposed to break up around lunchtime. "Good morning, engines," the manager walked up to the sheds. "I've just received word that a storm is coming after the break at lunch. We need to make sure that all our passengers get home safely. Falcon, I want you to pull the boat train that departs around teatime. We've adjusted our schedule to fit the forecast, so make sure you are on time. One of the Skarloey engines will take over at our terminus." the manager added, and moved on to his other tasks for the engines. When he left, Stuart grinned. "Be careful, Falcon. Don't want you to slip and fall off a cliff." he teased. This wasn't funny at all to Falcon. "Your smokebox is cracked, be quiet, Stuart." Falcon muttered. "Nevermind eem', Falcon," smiled the Mine Engine. "Juz' make shoor you stay.. Uh... how you say.. Safe." his French accent made it hard to understand. "Thank you." Falcon said as he departed.

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    The rain had stopped for a short time by early afternoon, but by tea time, dark clouds loomed above. Falcon was coupled to his coaches, just as the rain began again. The passengers got on quickly, and the guard blew his whistle. "It's so cold." Falcon said to his crew as the rain poured. "It's coming down in buckets!" his driver shouted through the howling wind. "I hope the track by the lake doesn't flood!"

    Falcon charged past Ulfstead, where he saw Bertram, a privately owned saddle tank engine. He whistled from his siding in the gold mine as the blue engine passed by. Falcon's line runs through the mountains, where a small lake at Hawin sits. It's a quaint little cottage village during the spring and summer months, but has suffered from flooding in recent years. Today, it had flooded at an alarming rate, and the old rails sank into the wet waters just before the level crossing. Falcon, who was blinded by the fog and rain, went right into the sunken rails. "Oh!" he shivered as the water lapped his footplate and running board. He wasn't too deep, and his fire did not go out. But Falcon struggled through the muddy floodwaters. "I must get the passengers to their destination. We can't stop here!" he called out to the fog. He knew that passengers were crucial to the railway, and was afraid that if he didn't make it, the line would close down. Falcon struggled on until he reached the station, where Rheneas waited anxiously for him. The old engine looked on into the storm as a shadowy silhouette emerged from the fog. Falcon bustled into the station, where the passengers got off. They saw how tired Falcon looked, and promised to tell all their friends at home what a wonderful railway they travelled on was. Tired, but triumphant, Falcon backed into a nearby shed, where he fell asleep at once.

    Falcon didn't realize that his actions might have just granted a few extra years to the Mid-Sodor Railway's service life, but he did know that he had a long way to go until the war was over. He dreamt that he lived with Duke and Stuart for eternity. But that would be too good to be true. I won't tell you what happened, that might spoil the rest of the story.

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