the tales of the Coaldai railway

crossed tracks

One foggy morning Nick woke up to see Lord decal in front of him.

"morning" greeted lord decal.

"morning sir" greeted Nick nervously.

"Let's get straight to the point" said lord decal bluntly.

"ok sir" responded Nick.

lord decal announced "I have decided to send you to shunt at seldon junction to test if Colin has taught you well. Clear?"

"Clear" Nick responded.

"good day" said lord decal as he left.

Colin spoke up" Be carful when shunting bogey wagons in fog"

Nick responded "sure... whatever you say" 

Nick's engine started up as he began to leave. He found it very hard to see due to the fog but He managed to arrive at seldon junction without incident and began to talk with the signal man.

 " can you take the well wagon in the siding up the line into the yard?" asked the signal man.

" I guess I could do that" Answered Nick.

"when you get to the siding there is a switch you can pull to switch the points; when you get back honk and Ill switch the points to the yard." commanded the signal man.

Slowly, Nick began to roll backwards towards the siding. carefully, his driver hopped down from his cab and pulled the switch. he climbed back into the cab and drove nick into the well-wagon. A nearby workman grabbed a shunter's pole and coupled Nick up to the well-wagon. after Nick exited the siding the workman switched the points and nick began to drive to the yard.

 But this is where it all went wrong:

As Nick approached the points He found that he couldn't see where the points were; he decided to honk his horn anyway and hope for the best. Nick honked his horn loudly, Nick moved forwards and felt himself turn to the right and go into the yard; but as he drove forward he felt the well-wagon derail to the left. Nick stopped instantly.

when the fog cleared what happened became clear: the well-wagon was half way across the points when Nick told the signal man to change the points. half the well-wagon went one way the other half went towards the yard  causing it to inevitably derail. Suddenly lord decal arrived.

"Nick I am very disappointed in you" started lord decal "I am beginning to question weather buying you was worth it. Nick you are on thin ice"

"I am sorry sir" whimpered Nick.

"I should hope So" said lord decal.

 Lord decal left as Nick looked down at  his buffers.