Tales from the rails

Dan and The Electric Engines

As the railways on the mainland continued to innovate with electric engines, other railways like the North Western Railway or The D&D Railway had to catch up. While the Kirk Rowan Branch on Sodor is purely electric, with no steam or diesel engines that are kept there permanently. The D&D however are a little different, they own one electric engine, Bryce. He's solar powered, with a battery that can lasts days and can even switch into lunar panels to collect moonlight. Sir William V one day decided it was time that he purchase a few more electric engines. In the middle of March, two new electric engines arrived on the island painted in BR Blue. One was a girl and had her makeup done up and the other was a boy and had a bit of beard stubble. The two arrived at Lickey one morning where they met the controller. "I am Sir William V, the controller of this railway." Introduced the controller to the new engines. "I'm Debra." Said the first electric engine. "And I'm Carl." Said the second electric engine. "You will be located at Levi sheds until further notice." Said Sir William V and the engines left. The engines arrived at the sheds to find Josh, who was still vandalized, Tracey, and Bryce. The two engines sat at the far left of the shed where they were rested, it had been a long trip. "Good to see you all are still clean. Most of you that is." Said Carl as he stopped in the berth, eyeing Josh. "Excuse me?" Asked Tracey with a look. "Carl, cut that out!" Debra said as got onto the turntable. She was turned around and parked in the shed. Tracey and Josh were skeptical about these new electric engines. They were questioning whether or not they would be a good fit for the railway. The engines all began chatting about the other railway and the D&D engines were caught up, the electric engines soon falling asleep. Later that night, Lizzy and Blake returned to the sheds and were parked on the right side. "Who are the new engines?" Asked Blake as he got onto the turntable. "Carl and Debra. Carl's a bit rude but Debra is nice." Josh said. "Well, maybe he's like you Bryce. I remember you were a tad bit rude when you first arrived, but you quickly wizened up." Lizzy suggested. "Let's just hope this Carl engine is like you Bryce, otherwise I really don't wanna be in this railway." Said Josh as he tried to fall asleep.

Debra woke up in the dead of night to hear the sound of a steam engine puffing down the line, it was pulling a train of vans with a flatbed at the front of the train. The engine gave a ghastly whistle as it passed the sheds. "PHEEEEEOP!" Debra watched as the train disappeared and the scent of raw fish filled the air. She went back to sleep when the smell passed. The next morning, she awoke to Josh being scrubbed down, the workers had been working on him for some time. "You're probably going to need a new coat of paint." Said one of them to Josh as they tried to wash the paint off. "Oh dear, so I guess I'm off to the works then, huh?" Asked Josh sadly. "Tomorrow. We're going to take off as much paint as possible and then we'll take you to the works." Said the workman. They began to dry off Josh's tender as the engines began to talk. "I saw something last night." Said Debra, trying to start a conversation. "What did you see?" Asked Bryce. "An engine with a purple tarp on it. It gave a ghostly whistle as it passed by, and I could smell fish in the air." The steam engines looked at each other. "So you saw The Engine Who Pulls The Flying Kipper." Said Lizzy after a small pause. "The Flying What?" "The Flying Kipper. It's a real train, an express fish train that starts here and ends at Pleasantville Harbour. On Sodor it's known as The Sudrian Kipper." Tracey explained. "Aye, the engine is a small tank engine. No one knows who it is though." Josh added. "Though, it's rumored to be a ghost who takes it." Bryce finished. Debra was silent, and then a Cocky Carl spoke up, "A load of rubbish! A ghost that takes a smelly fish train? You all are daft!" "And you can prove he isn't real?" Asked Bryce asked. "I guarantee it isn't real." "Shut up, Carl." Said Debra, "You didn't see what I saw." "Uh huh, whatever. I'm going to do some work instead of sitting around." Carl then rolled away, but before he did, the engines were met by the controller. "Good morning sir!" Said all the engines simultaneously. "Good morning everyone. So, Josh, as I can see you're being shaved down, your work will be offloaded to Carl and Debra. "Aye, yessir." Josh said sadly as they began to take the paint off his tender. "Lizzy, you're going to be taking the express in Jojo's place." "How is he doing sir?" "He'll be out in a week or two. Don't worry, he's going to be okay." He said warmly. "Bryce, I want you taking stone trains from the KQC to the brick factory and bricks to Pleasantville Harbour, they're going to rebuild the station from the ground up." "Yes sir." "Carl, I want you taking Josh's goods trains and Debra, I want you taking express commuter trains along the line." "Yes sir." "I'll do my best sir!" "And Tracey, your usual goods trains are awaiting." "Yes sir." "Alright, good luck and good day everyone!" He said and he walked off to his car, driving off down the road. Josh was the first engine to leave once his paint was gone from his tender, headed for the works. Then Carl left bound for the station to get a list of jobs for the day. "A coal train to Drenk... A stone train to Levi... A stopping mixed goods train to Vale Station. Okay, we'll learn the northern part of the railway with these trains." Said Carl's driver as he read the piece of paper. He got into the cab and Carl sped off down the line.