Tales from the rails

Jojo and the Old Harbour Station

Every good Harbour has a station where passengers can get from boats to trains and trains to boats. Blue Harbour even has a hotel where you can stay at for a few nights if you must. Levi has one too, just a two lane platform with a small waiting room and benches to wait on outside. Pleasantville has one that beats the other two however. They have a massive four lane station that could fit two ranks of express coaches and the engine. It was very long, but also very dull. No canopy, no windows, nothing! It was just a massive shed. The express never went down to the harbour, however, there is a small tank of coaches that are used to bring people to the express. There is also another Boat Train that starts here, red and white coaches with light gray roofs. Jojo was at Pleasantville Station one day when he was waiting for the train with his passengers from Pleasentville Harbour to arrive. "They might as well make part of the loop connect to that line." Jojo muttered to himself, but his driver heard him. "Where would we run around down there?" He asked Jojo inquisitive. "Well, I could be turned round on a turntable and pull the train by the brake coach down the line." "Ahhh." His driver said mockingly. Finally, a Great Western 2-6-2 tank engine rolled into the platform next to Jojo. His cheeks were pink, and his breathing heavy. "So... Sorry. The Harbour... is super busy." He said as the passengers disembarked from his carriages. They got into Jojo's coaches and the tender engine was ready to set off. "It's fine, let's just try and keep this to a minimum." Jojo said as the guard's whistle blew. Jojo whistled and departed the station.

Jojo continued with the express and Hudson, the 2-6-2 that was late, brought the coaches on time every day after that. But one day, Jojo was called to take the Boat Train as Josh, who was planned to take it, had woken up to find out that he had been vandalized by a group of young men overnight and some very nasty things had been written on him. Jojo agreed to take the train and set off down the line and headed for Pleasantville Harbour where they would tour the island and return to the station later that day. "I'll do you proud sir." Said Jojo as he was steamed up. "That's a good engine. Oh, uh, one more thing before I go. Be careful in the harbour, the rails are slippery all the time and you could easily lose control." The controller warned, and he walked away. Jojo went onto the turntable and rolled off down the line. When he made it to Pleasentville, he used the turntable to turn around and then went to the station. He slowly backed down onto the coaches. They were recently built, with smooth axles on even smoother bogies. "Oh, we're being pulled by an express engine, I didn't know this railway had such elegance!" Said one of the coaches. "Yes indeed!" Said another. "And a steam engine too, you know he's wise!" Said the brake coach. Jojo blushed at this but remained silent, a big smile on his face. The guard's whistle blew and he whistled a, "Peep Pop PEEP!" And left the station. Hudson watched as he departed from the station. The big tank engine shunted the yard into order and waited for trucks around. Some oil tankers had been dropped off later that day, Hudson took them away and put them onto separate trains, a few having the oil pumped into a cargo ship to fuel the ship so it could carry on to America. "Alright, we're good to go." Said the ship's Captain. "Seems a little under, don't ya think?" Asked one of the ship's crew. "Ah, we probably used more than we thought we did." The captain brushed it off and the ship blasted its horn as it left. They didn't mention the missing oil to anyone else at the Harbour. And no one knew that the missing oil had spilt onto the track, which made them even more slippery than usual. JOJO meanwhile was enjoying his time with the new coaches, thundering down the line with the speed of a top link express engine, "Come on, Come on! Come on, Come on!" He puffed as he thundered over The Grand Gap. "We're coming along, We're coming along!" They flattered as they followed him. Climbing up the Lickey Incline and then thundered down into the station. "WHEEE!" Cheered the coaches as they rolled round the bend going down the hill. They shot past Liz who was taking the express up the hill with a new banker who looked like she could do the job with ease. "Oh yeah, work those piston rods babe!" Yelled Liz as Jojo shot by, whistling a, "PEEP PEEEEEeeep!" As he disappeared in the distance. Jojo was proud of himself and went faster and faster. He was approaching Drenk Station as Bryce flew by with a goods train, he was with another engine Jojo had never seen before, which he thought was odd. He made it to Levi Station, running around the loop as he slowed down, decreasing speed until he made it to the station platform.

Before he left, a 0-6-0 tender engine departed the station slowly. Jojo had never seen this engine around either! The engine looked like a diesel engine, with a boxy shape, but she had a funnel and a tender! The engine had a 78 on their tender side and was painted in grey. It looked like the engine had a few trucks, but as the engine continued, the line of trucks grew larger and larger. Finally they could see the end of the train, and Jojo was impressed. "Not even a banker." He muttered to himself as the guard's whistle blew. He set off down the line and his wheels slipped as he began to ascend the little hill outside the station. Jojo pressed on down the line as he thundered past green signals. He passed the grey tender engine again along with her long train of trucks. Jojo whistled as he passed the engine. The engine whistled back as she began to fall behind. Jojo thundered through Drenk Station and rattled around the bend. He continued down the line and came upon the Lickey Incline. He began his ascent, but he came to a stop and the coaches were saddened by this. "Aww man!" "It was so fun!" They said as Jojo reversed down the line. He stopped at the station. The grey tender engine stopped and looked at Jojo. The engine watched as Jojo charged at the hill again, and he slid to a stop again, and rolled back down the hill. "Do you want help?" Asked the grey engine. "Huh? Are you sure? You got your own train to take." Jojo said as he looked at the line of trucks behind the grey engine. "It's fine. Just get on my line to make things easier." She said and Jojo obliged. "So what's your name?" Asked Jojo as he crossed over the points. "I'm Jamie, and don't worry. I know you, Jojo." She smiled. "You know me?" "Yeah, it says it on your nameplates, duh." She chuckled as the brake coach was put in front of her. "Right. Ready when you are Jamie!" He whistled, and Jamie whistled back an, "I'm ready!" The two began to move up the line. As Jojo began to ascend, Jamie picked up more speed, and the coaches squeezed together between Jamie and Jojo. "We're doing it! We're doing it!" Jojo yelled with a big smile on his face. "We are! We are!" Jamie called up. Jojo crested the top of the incline and he took off. He whistled loudly and called out, "Thank you!" As he puffed away. Jamie climbed the incline, as she made it to the top, she watched Jojo rocket down the Lickey Incline. As Jojo pressed on, he picked up speed, faster and faster! The coaches were cheering on, the train had made up for lost time. They rocketed past over The Grand Gap and through Vale Station. Jojo was having a grand time as he passed another station as passengers looked on. After going through a few more stations, Jojo arrived at Pleasantville Station. He went down the line to the Harbour and began braking, but he began sliding on the rails! "What the- the tracks weren't this slippery!" Jojo called out as he watched in horror as he kept sliding down the line. Jojo locked his brakes on and kept sliding along the line. The train was sliding at a worrying 85 miles an hour, the coaches too put their brake on, but it was useless. The train rocketed into the harbour and shot down the line towards the station. Finally Jojo's wheels gripped the rails, but it was too late. The station was empty. Jojo approached the buffers way too fast and plowed through them, hopped onto the platform, and smashed through the wall. His tender coupling snapped, in which his tender caught on the wall and the coaches stopped, the first bogie was derailed. Jojo however rolled down the little hill and stopped in the water. "Ow." He said as he finally came to a stop.

Jojo had been fetched out of the water and dragged back up to the rails with a winch. Hudson had towed him back to the rails where Sir William V was waiting. "I'm sorry sir, I started stopping where I should have, but I couldn't get grip of the rails until it was too late." Jojo explained. "This wasn't your fault Jojo, some oil tankers came in and one of them was leaky. Though I do highly suspect that it was another case of vandalism, or maybe... sabotage." The controller said, reassuring Jojo that the controller was not mad at him. "Sir, uh, a moment of your time?" Asked one of the workmen who was overlooking the damage to the station. The two walked away from the engines as Eddy arrived. Jojo was loaded onto a flatbed under the massive blank canvas that was a station and was taken away. Jojo was sat in the works, covered in mud, dents, and very sad. He knew he would be at the works for a long time before he could get back out on the line.