Tales from the rails

The Old Harbour

Ryan had been sent out of the steelworks with a train of I-beams and rails. He was delivering them to Pleasentville before headed back to Levi Station to return to his piloting duties. As he rolled down the line, he was passed by an electric engine, its engine roaring past. His eyes watched as it passed. "I thought electrics were meant to be quiet." Ryan said to his driver. "They're quieter than the diesels, they're far too quiet on the mainland. So when they come here, their engines are remodeled so they can be quieted down but still audible at railway crossings or stations." His driver explained. "That's stupid, you would think BR could do it themselves." Ryan said to himself as he continued down the line. As he made it to Pleasentville, a man was waiting for him. He spoke fast, "We need you to take the trucks to the harbour. Take a left outta here and just follow the line." He said and he walked away. "This place has a harbour?" Ryan asked his crew. "I guess. I heard about it shutting down when I was a boy, but that was about thirty odd years ago!" His fireman said. The went down the line and hurried along some rusty rails on an overgrown line: he came upon a bridge that felt like it was about to collapse. "I can't believe they left the cranes like this." Said a voice. "I know, makes no sense. This place used to be so profitable for the railway." Said another, sounding quite older. It was Dan and an old man. The man looked like a sailor from an old cartoon, think blue trench coat and a white sailor cap, white beard to boot. Dan looked and saw Ryan, "Hey Ryan! Took you long enough, this is Sailor Jack. Jack, this is Ryan." "Nice to meet you sir." Ryan replied. "Oh, cut the sir, everyone calls me Jack." He said as gave a wave. "So what's the plan?" Asked Ryan, "Well we're going to replace all the rails and rebuild some of the buildings. And we have to use pulley systems because all the rail cranes here are busted." Jack explained. "Dan brought a train of wooden planks, bricks, cement mix, and metal roof tilings, and you should have the I-beams and rails." "I do have those." "Then let's get to work guys." Dan said, Ryan went to shunt his trucks in an empty siding, Jack went to fetch some workmen to begin building a shed, and Dan went to get a truck of bricks and cement.

The workmen were working hard. They had some little cement mixers spinning around, and every few minutes they would pour into buckets. They would swap the buckets with empty ones and lay the wet cement on the laid down the pale yellow bricks. The concrete would dry overnight. The main frame was done by sundown and they began to rip up some of the rails that lead to the port. All the crews had left for a prepaid hotel for a few weeks. Dan and Ryan were covered up under some tarps for the night before the workmen left. "So this is what it's like lying under a blanket." Said Dan. "I figured it would be more fluffy." Chuckled Ryan. The two chuckled as they went to sleep. When they woke up, the tarps were taken off the tank engines, and the shed was already completed. It had two berths and all the rails had been removed. The workmen and engine crews were puzzled by this. "It's the town's blessing, so come on now, back to work." Said Sailor Jack. The workmen shrugged it off and began to work. "What's this, 'Town's Blessing'?" Asked Delilah. "I dunno." Said DD. "Do you two remember that statue Tatum was delivering not to long ago?" Asked Dan. "Uh huh." The two replied. "Well, the statue is the man who is known as the Town Blessing. Without him there would be no town." He explained as he pushed around some trucks. He got some trucks of rails and some with wooden planks do they could replace the ripped up rails. "Though if something bad happens, it's know as the Blessing's Wrath. So best be careful with what you do in this town." Dan warned as he moved the trucks around. "Pah! Stuff and nonsense! I bet it was that Sailor Jack man who did it last night!" He brushed off. Ryan set off with a group of workmen along with some wooden planks and rails to start construction at the start of the line, a breakdown crane was waiting for them at the station. Ryan went around, getting the cranes and the workmen started laying down rails.

Ryan was enjoying the slower paced work. The workmen were replacing the rails until they came across the bridge. They were planning on rebuilding the bridge and then laying the rails, so they had to go back to collect another truck of wooden planks. Suddenly, there was a loud creaking sound from the wood. "Faster Ryan!" Yelled his driver, the bridge began to give way! Ryan had pushed all the trucks and the brake van that the workers were in to safe grounds, but Ryan came up short. He tried to move, but the ground wells wet by the river banks, so he sunk into the ground and slowly rolled into the river. "I want to stop! I want to stop!" He yelled as his brakes came on and his eyes squeezed shut. His wheels stopped moving and he was buffer beam deep into the river. "Oh, I have stopped." He said, looking around. The workmen felt the ground around the bridge. It was wet and muddy, the crane could set down and they could try to pull him out, but that was a big risk. A few began to walk back to the harbour, to fetch Dan and help pull Ryan out. The rails to the ports had been relaid, and the switches were being installed when the group of workmen arrived, their boots caked in mud. "What are you doing here?" Asked Sailor Jack as he stopped them. "Ryan crashed, the bridge is down." One said as he gasped for air. While they had walked, they kept a fast pace. "We're scared to use the crane. The ground is too soft." Another added. Once Dan and his crew heard this, Dan's crew went to his toolbox behind his bunker and took out a big, mechanical winch. "Want to use this?" Asked Delilah as she and DD attached it to his front buffer beam. Dan, his crew, Sailor Jack, and the three workmen who came with the news all clamored into or onto Dan, his paint getting mucked up by some of the mud. Dan set off down the line, he puffed a little bit where he saw the train, the broken planks of wood from the little trestle was built up along the banks of the river. Ryan was beginning to sink a little more, when small waves came in, the water would climb to his chin. "If we don't act fast, they high tide'll roll in." Sailor Jack assessed. "Get the cranes ready to pull him out, the winch won't do a thing for him." Dan was prepped for the recovery. The crane began to move its arm and the hook was lowered down. They fastened chains to Ryan's buffers, his buffers were barely above the mud, and the water began to rise again. The salty water was splashing onto Ryan's cheeks as he began to rise from the cold water. The crane, even with all its safety features, was unstable and would shake when wind blew through the forested line. Dan held it steady though, and Ryan was soon out of the water! But then the crane's weight shifted. It began to drag Dan along the line. "WE'RE SORRY!" Dan yelled, as if he was apologizing to someone on the other side of the bridge. "Please! Don't do this!" He added. The crane suddenly stopped moving, when the wind picked up, it didn't falter. Ryan was put onto a flatbed and was taken back to the docks. He was then taken on a truck to the works to be repaired. Dan was alone at the docks, he rolled under the sheds that were warm and cozy the other berth was empty, Dan shut his eyes as his crew shut the doors to the shed.

As the two shut the doors, a think fog began to roll in, though this was normal for the town as they lived by the ocean. "AHHHHH!" Dan screamed as his crew were walking away. They threw the doors open and they saw a pale man standing in the other berth. "You ruined this line. You will suffer the price." He said as he walked over to Dan, he wore an old D&D scrapyard's uniform. He held a cutter's torch, and he approached the tank engine. Sailor Jack walked into the shed behind the two and reached out to the man. "Samuel, stop this madness. It's time to move on, it's not their fault this happened to you." He patted the ghostly figure on the shoulder and the ghost turned away. He looked at the kids, and then walked right past them. They were stricken with fear. The man continued into the fog until they couldn't see him. "What was that all about?" Asked Delilah, shivering in her shoes. "Well, that was Samuel. The Blessing of Pleasentville." And he began to tell the tale about of Samuel.

Long ago, when Dan wore black and red stripes, Pleasentville was a bustling harbour town with even a little smelting business that would later turn into the D&D Scrapyard Co. Lots of engines were on loan at that time, a 3F class was shunting trucks around in the busy harbour. "Move those to siding 3, then take the scrap truck from siding 2 and move it over to the cutting line." Said a worker to the engine. "Yes sir." The Jinty said, and he began to marshal the trucks around. The coupling was rusty between the engine and truck. As the Jinty rolled down the line, he began to break lightly. The coupling snapped and the truck rolled on down the line. A man was standing on the track, with a cutters torch in hand. He didn't hear the truck rolling along the line. "Look out!" Yelled another cutter, but it was too late. The rusty hook made contact with the man's head. The workers fell silent as the truck came to a stop. When the mess was finally cleared, the Jinty was sent to his shed, through his regretful tears. The next morning, the crew went to the shed where the Jinty was. What they saw shook them to their cores, the fireman almost threw up. They saw the engine, cut to shreds. The lines were inconsistent. His face was hung up on a wall, and he was still alive. The crew took him off the wall. No one knows what happened that night besides the engine, but he refuses to talk about it. "I wouldn't blame him." Said Dan as the story wrapped up. The three were able to leave the sheds and made sure the door was left locked. From that night on, no more blessings occurred in the town, and no serious problems happened in the town either. The rails were done, along with part of a new station for passenger ships. The work would continue, but Dan wasn't required there anymore. Some say that it was just a myth, a story to spook children, though others say that the stories are true. What do you think?