the tales of the Coaldai railway

Snow

It was the morning after Christmas and not a sound was heard at the shed except for Mark asking a drink of water and asking for everyone to be quiet. Soon Lord Decal trudged through the snow to give the engines the orders for the day.

"Hello engines" greeted lord Decal at a normal volume.

"morning sir" greeted Nick, Colin and David whilst Mark just groaned at the noise.

"As  you engines probably know it snowed very hard last night so the stretch between Coalden and lakeside has many large drifts. So David you'll need to get the snowplough, a coach and for better fuel storage the tender round back of the sheds" explained lord Decal a bit more quietly.

"What tender?" asked David confused.

"back when a black 5 worked on the line they damaged their regular Stanier tender while we were building the military base" said Colin "So they were assigned a fowler tender while their one was being repaired. In the end the tender was shunted behind the shed and left there."

"what if I get stuck in a drift?" asked David.

"Good... question" replied Lord Decal "I know, Mark can top and tail it with you so he can pull you out of drifts. This will also mean you wont need that old tender."

"Wait... what's happening" asked Mark who was very confused. 

"Nick pull freight between here and the junction and Colin shunt here and wait for the line to be cleared" instructed Lord Decal "Have a good day engines."

"goodbye sir" responded Nick and Colin.

"so... what am I doing?" asked Mark who was very drowsy.

The engines got to doing what they were supposed to; Nick took some tankers and vans to the junction, David had the snowplough fitted, Colin shunted their trains and Mark had a nice drink. David coupled up to the coach and Mark was turned around and Coupled to the back of the train. David and Mark puffed down the line plunging through the first few drifts easily until they were about a quarter of way along when they reached a particularly high drift; when they rammed the drift David came to a stop. Mark pulled him out but it took a while:

"There you are" grunted Mark "Let the men do their work then we try again."

"I hate snow" grumbled David.

"Why do you complain so much?" asked Mark.

"hmm?" replied David taken aback.

"You heard me" said Mark "ever since you got here here      have always been annoyed at something"  

"No I haven't" Said David defiantly.

"yes... you have" said mark slowly "think about it, the coaches, the lignite, the snow. lots of things"

The two fell silent...for a brief moment; there was an audible noise as a particularly large drift fell down from the embankment . Neither engine was fully covered  since the snow only reached the height of their footplates. No-one  (except for a worker named john who cut his leg) was hurt but David and Mark were unable to move as the snow had frozen around their valve gears and wheels.

"scheise" swore Mark.

"well we are gonna be stuck for a while" Said David clearly stating the obvious .

"no scheise sherlock" replied Mark.

The workmen tried for hours to get them out but the workers eventually gave up and went for lunch leaving the two engines to themselves. their fires were put out hours ago and they felt cold and miserable. All was quiet until David spoke to Mark:

"You asked why I complain so much"

"yes, I have known you for years and while we used to bicker you never complained as much as you have been" replied Mark.

"yes.. well something has been playing on my mind" said David " whilst normally I wouldn't confide in you, you are the only engine here I know properly" 

"indeed" replied Mark.

"you know my brother Jeffery?" asked David.

"of coarse" answered Mark.

"well he and I were withdrawn together and while I was sold here his fate is unknown to me" said David sadly.

"I'm sorry to here that" comforted Mark.

"well since you two have finished that heart-warming conversation can I tell you the good news" said lord decal sarcastically.

"ahhhhh" yelled the two engines as lord decal had appeared almost out of nowhere.

"good news?" asked David as if he hadn't just been terrified.

"yes we have some bags of salt coming to get you out" said lord decal "then you can get back to clearing the snow, we can't afford to have the line blocked, can we?"

"no sir" said the engines.

With that lord Decal trudged through the snow to find the workers and tell them to get the salt. The workers soon returned while dragging large amounts of salt and began to melt the snow, it took a little while but soon David and Mark were free and back in steam and continuing their journey and within the hour they managed to reach Lakeside  and services all resumed shortly.