Tales from the rails

Downtown Smash

Tatum is a Scottish engine, and she has an accent. Most people can understand her after a little while, but newcomers have trouble understanding her so her driver has to say what she said. Her Firewoman is also Scottish, and she speaks very fast so it is almost impossible to understand her as well. Though, her driver was sick for a while, so she had to take some time to get better. In the meantime, Tatum was not really out of the sheds, until her firewoman came in and talked to her. "We have to teach a new girl how to drive an engine, we're bound to get into slight mishaps so be prepared!" Said Samantha on morning. "I hope you're ready." She then went to get her gloves that were covered in coal dust and start a nice fire as they would then wait for Christina to arrive. After about 30 minutes of waiting, Christina walked in, and she looked very smug. "Hello everyone. Why are you all so early?" "You're late." Mumbled Tatum as Christina hopped in her cab. "What was that?!" She yelled. Tatum mumbled, "Nothing, nothing." As she puffed onto the turntable. She knew this was going to long day.

Tatum had to take a stopping passenger train that day, she loved these jobs because everyone was so nice to her on these runs. She went to pick up some bogie coaches. These coaches have springs to make them run smoother. However, bumping and banging the coaches will break the springs, making the coaches tilt. Tatum was backing down on some coaches. She has the ability to brake on her own, all engines do, but it's a hard process. As you all can expect, she had to do this. Now, this all could have been avoided if Christina was paying attention to the coaches. Tatum then puffed away, but she felt something off with her brake shoes after that. Christina was definitely good at watching the speed, but she failed to keep the train under the limit. All she would do was stare at the speedometer, and not watch for the number signs. Fortunately, she did stop at all the station. Though the passengers were getting angry, though they knew it wasn't Tatum's fault.

At this point, Tatum's Firewoman was doing all the brakes for the passenger run, but afterwards, she had to use the bathroom. "I'll be quick!" She said as she jogged to the Signal box. Christina pulled out her phone and leaned on the regulator. The reverser was on and the brake was off. The regulator began to open, and then Tatum began to move! Christina didn't know what was happening so she just watched as the train picked up a little more speed. Samantha came out of the signal box and could only watch what unfolded. Tatum tried to stop, but her brakes wouldn't work! "Driver, do something!" She yelled in panic as the buffers came closer and closer. Then, CRACKK! The buffers didn't stop her from pressing onwards towards the road! She then hit the wall that prevented engines from going into the road! Luckily, the wall behind the buffers stopped her from going into the road.

Hercules was called to action. He raced down the branchline, thundering round the curves. The big tank engine raced down the track, and was soon at the sight. "How did this happen?!" Demanded the controller, hopping from his cab. "I-I-I'm sorry sir!" Started Christina, "I-" "Yeah right! You sat on your phone as I pleaded with you to stop, but no!" Tatum yelled, bricks on her bufferbeam and dust on her paint. She was luckily in tact, she just needed a touch up. "This wall was old, it needed to be rebuilt, now you've given me a reason to!" The controller laughed. "AS FOR YOU! I should have never hired you Christina, especially after the stunt you pulled at Matt's wedding!" He turned around and boomed at his daughter. "But dad! I was trying to show why DD, Rhys, Emma, and Mia shouldn't be crews, they sit on their phones and don't pay attention as I've demonstrated!" She tried to argue. Tatum's firewoman jumped in, "Yeah right, I wish I could be like them! Sure, they crash from time to time, but they try their hardest to prevent it and save their engines, passengers, and rolling stock. And they take account for their actions!" Christina was soon silenced, and was sat in the works coach, later being fired that night. "Come on! Come on! Boy I've never had to do this in Paddington!" Hercules weashed as he pulled the tender engine back into the line. Tatum was back on the rails after a little while, and was being taken to the works to be examined and repainted. Though she didn't mind, the workers there were much nicer than Christina. Though friends, I'll tell you this much, hee story still isn't over.