the tales of the Coaldai railway

blasting

It was two days after lord decals announcement and Nick had been sent to help with the coal mine because it was the mine's annual time for blasting. It was dangerous work but Nick and the coalmine workers all knew to be very careful with explosives. It was around ten and the sun was high in the sky, the workers were busy setting up the dynamite in the blasting zone but they soon were running out of explosives.

"hey Nick" called the mine's foreman" can you get more explosives from the yard?"

"sure, yes, of coarse, anything to be useful" replied Nick exited to get something to do other than moving empty vans.

"head up to coaldai and check the goods yard there should be a line of 4 vans marked with caution decals, bring them here" instructed the mine's foreman.

"sure thing, anything you need" called Nick as he raced away to coaldai.

Nick travelled up the line at a steady pace and soon he reached the yard when he got there however he could not find the vans he searched and searched until going down the line to seldom junction where he finally found the vans. Strangely, the vans had been left in the coach sidings but Nick didn't pay it much mind as he coupled up to the vans and pulled carefully out of the yard. he didn't seem  to notice an engine watching him as he left. 

It took Nick a while to get to the coalmine, due to Mark passing him with a passenger train, Nick's journey was uneventful and soon he arrived at the coalmine.

"put those vans in front of the abandoned mine shaft" instructed the foreman.

"yes sir" replied Nick swiftly as he carefully shunted the trucks in front of the old mineshaft.

The workmen continued to lay the explosive in the blast zone opening each van one by one until they were unloading the second from last van and a workman suddenly called out:

"THE VAN IS ON FIRE!" yelled the workman" EVERYBODY RUN!"

All the yard workers ran for their lives but Nick didn't; the points were still set towards the vans so nick shouted at his driver:

"DRIVER WE NEED TO RAMM THE VANS INTO THE OLD MINESHAFT!" 

Focused, Nicks driver ran back in his cab and without a word rammed Nick into the vans. The vans careened through the boarded entrance as Nick halted and the vans continued to race down the sloped track before finally, at a tight curve, derailing and exploding. the workmen, Nick and his driver were silent for a moment, before the workmen erupted into cheers congratulating Nick and his driver. Only Nick wasn't cheering he was wondering why the vans were on fire, he brought this up with Colin at the sheds that night: 

"how did the van catch fire|?" asked Nick "I mean how... there wasn't any flames nearby and I don't have a fire... how"

"it was probably sparks from faulty brakes or something I wouldn't worry about it." responded Colin" why don't you get some sleep and we will wait for the investigation to finish, alright?"

"alright fine" agreed Nick "night"

"night" replied Colin.

Nick slowly fell asleep but Colin didn't; he realised something didn't add up:

"how did the vans get to seldom junction and why did they catch fire" he thought to himself as he stared at the moon.