the tales of the Coaldai railway

number 2136

Later that night Colin and Mark reversed into the shed at coaldai after the days events; Nick was also there and greeted them warmly:

"hello Colin, hello Mark" greeted Nick.

"hello Nick, great to see you" replied Colin happily.

"hey Nick" called mark

"so Colin how you feeling" asked Nick.

"much better thank you" replied Colin.

"so what about the story?" asked Mark.

"of coarse" replied Colin.

"what story?" inquired Nick.

"I told him I would tell him a story" replied Colin.

"about what" asked Nick.

"how about I just tell the story" announced Colin.

"ok" agreed the other engines. 

"this story really happened and I still feel guilt over it so let's begin:

It was a cold morning in October 1934 and I had just awoken to see to see my friends  Joshua and Janet (a 4f and 3f respectively) arguing over politics.

"I am just saying I have a bad feeling about the new chancellor of Germany" spoke Janet.

"oh come on Jany he can't be worse than that one in ww1" replied Joshua " and you know I hated the leader of Germany in ww1"

"morning" I greeted.

"oh morning" greeted Janet "I didn't realise you were awake Coly"

"Morning sleepy" called Joshua.

"ha ha Joshua ha ha. so what you two talking about?" I inquired.

"just some politics Coly" replied Janet.

"I see Jan" I said.

Just then the manager arrived:

"Hello engines" greeted the manager.

"hello sir" greeted Janet and I.

"hello dummy" greeted Joshua.

"For that Joshua you are pulling the last train today" retaliated the manager.

"can't you take a joke, man" groaned Joshua.

"No, Number 2136 you need to learn how the chain of command works" commanded the manager.

"but" complained Joshua.

"Enough" announced the manager "Janet, Colin regular duties and as for you 2136 you will do a double shift"

with that the manager departed.

"you brought this on yourself you know" I said calmly.

"quiet sleepy" said Joshua irritated.

"come on my friend, calm down, I was joking" I said.

"I guess your right mate. thanks" replied Joshua.

we all departed and worked hard all day and at 19:44 I pulled into coalden and saw Joshua in the opposite platform:

"hey Josh, how you doing" I asked.

"fine, I guess" replied Joshua.

"what is wrong?" I asked.

"drop it Colin" groaned Joshua.

A few seconds after he finished saying that his guards whistle blew and he departed."

Colin stopped telling the story so Nick and Mark looked at him to see he was staring at the ground.

"what's wrong Colin" asked Nick kindly.

Colin regained his composure "he... he was.. he was a brother to me and that was our last conversation"

After a pause Colin continued:

"According to numerous station staff Joshua's trip after that was pretty normal until... until he got to glan y mor station. he was supposed to stop there... but... but he didn't. Instead, for some unknown reason, he.. he sped up. No one knows why but only one man saw him crash, a dockyard worker, according to him Joshua... Joshua's face was blank as he plunged of the pier ending up as a wreck of scrap metal. It goes without saying the crew.. the crew died as well as Joshua. Strangely, the one man who witnessed it died a week later under the wheels of Janet it is unknown weather accident or suicide but this caused Janet to be.. to be labelled a death engine. The crews refused to go near her so the manager was forced to transfer her away to another line so she could remain in service but she wasn't in service for long. so in less than a fortnight I lost all my best friends"

This was too much for Colin and he stared at his buffers mornfully.

"you know we are here for you Colin" comforted Nick.

"indeed my friend" consoled Mark.

"and you want to know the worst part" mumbled Colin "today marks 26 years since then."

"I am very sorry to here that" comforted Nick.

"Is there anything we can do to help" asked Mark.

"no.. it's fine it has just been a long time since i have even mentioned it to anyone" replied Colin sadly. 

With that the mark and nick remained respectfully silent until slowly both engines fell asleep. Colin looked up at the moon and stared until quietly falling asleep.