Tales from the rails

Sally and The Crazy Coach

Sally takes the Deedburg Express. It's a branch line express train that goes from Drenk to Deedburg, the coaches she often uses are bogie mounted and run smoothly along the line. However, one day, Fred, the first coach, ran a hot box, it was so bad his axle literally warped because of the heat. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" He whined as the train came to a stop one evening. They had stopped at Deedburg so at least the passengers weren't stranded, though some had to take the bus back to Drenk. The crew inspected the damage, Fred wouldn't be able to make it back to his carriage shed with his siblings. Eddy came with the breakdown train, and the cranes lifted Fred on a flatbed and he was taken away. "We coaches were packed with him! We'll be bursting at the seams without him!" Said one of his brothers. There were only the four coaches with Fred. "Don't worry everyone. I have a plan." Said a voice. It was Sir William V, with a plan in his head. "I plan on dispatching several new coaches along this branch line, they will be working alongside our passenger trains to lighten the load for everyone." The controller explained. The coaches seemed a little worried, "What if the new coach replaces Fred?" They all thought, but the controller saw the worry in their eyes. "Don't panic, once Fred is back he'll be at the front of your train once again." Sally took the other coaches back to their carriage shed at Deedburg and then departed for Drenk Sheds. When she arrived home that night she had a worried look on her face. "What's wrong honey?" Asked Rhys as she rolled onto the turntable. "Fred ran a hotbox, it was so bad he warped his axle and needs repair. We're getting a new coach for the time being." She explained as the turn table spun around. "Oh I feel bad, I heard a batch of these coaches were used on the mainline, they're nasty!" "Well we all ought to feel bad, because each passenger train is getting one." Rhys groaned at this, his trains were rarely ever full, not to say he had no passengers but instead there were enough coaches to space everyone out evenly. Adding another coach would just put more unnecessary weight on the train. And both engines could agree, their coaches surely weren't going to be fond of these newcomers.

The next morning, Ryan puffed into Drenk Station with the new coaches. Rhys was at the station when Ryan arrived. "Morning Ryan." He said. "Morning Rhys. Good luck with them." He said as he was uncoupled from the coaches. "Uh, say, where's the turntable?" He asked. He was trying to find Drenk sheds but couldn't see it. "Outside the sheds." "Outside?" "Yep, just take this switch here and then a left and you'll see it." "Okay, oh, and my driver has a list of the coaches names and who they'll be going with for your driver." The two crews looked both ways before getting out of the cab and stepping onto the express line. Ryan's driver hand Rhys, the driver, the paper and they hurried off the line. The coaches were listed on the paper, with arrows pointed to the names of the engines on the branch line. There were five coaches, one each for Dan and Sally, and the other three were for Lydia. Ryan puffed off with a whistle towards the sheds, and Rhys went to shunt one of the coaches with Dan's coaches and leave behind the rest in the siding right outside the carriage sheds. Rhys placed them just out of the way of the sidings so he could get his coaches, and he scurried off to the station to begin his day's work. Lydia slowly awoke and rolled onto the turntable. She was turned around, and saw the three coaches. She ran over a few switches and waited for the one to the carriage yard to switch over and let her in. She waited for about a minute until the points changed and she buffered up to her coaches. She was coupled up and she took the three away. As that happened, Sally and Jeff awoke. Sally used the turntable first, turning around and then hurrying off to get the coach. She crossed over the points, the points switched as she gave a loud whistle which woke everyone in Drenk up, and then hurried to the carriage shed and took the coach, who was now angry. "Ack Aye! You Fusspot!" He yelled as she puffed up, a little harshly. "Sorry. Not the best shunter." She tried to joke, but the coach wasn't having it. "Oh, well I can see that! Why not be patient when it comes to waiting for a switch?!" The coach, which was a London Brighton South East Coast four wheeled coach painted in a bright white with a royal blue just like his siblings, and they all had Scottish accents to boot. Sally just silently rolled away with the coach, out of the yards and onto the mainline. She hurried onto the Deedburg branch and raced down the line silently with the coach to the carriage shed at Deedburg. As they slowed into the small yards, the coaches watched as the blue and white coach was attached to the other three. It was so odd, they all had the same body type, however their paint schemes were so different that it didn't make sense coupling up the four all together. Sally however didn't have time to bicker about the ride, however the coach had a thing or two to say about it. "Why you ought to be ashamed, calling yourself an express engine?! Roughest ride of my life!" He kept babbling on but Sally just puffed away. Her coaches were astonished at the coach, they were literal speechless. Sally went carefully onto the tramway to use the runaround so she could take the express smokebox first. She ran into Jeff as she was leaving. "Hey Jeff, how are things?" She asked as she stopped at the platform. "When all the coaches woke up, I swear to you, they all started wigging out." He said, in the most monotone voice, with the look of pain in his eyes. Sally had a suddenly worried look on her face. "Well, maybe we can help to fix them as time goes on." She switched over the points to let Jeff onto the tramway with a bit of a nervous smile on her face, not sure of what to say. "We better hope so, because I don't want that to be the standard of this branch line, think of our reputation." Jeff said as he gave a farewell whistle. Sally returned his whistle and looked back at the coaches. The new coach, while painted blue, was red in the face! The coach seemed like he was going to jump off the rails if her had the chance he was so furious. Sally buffered up to her coaches as the coach began to go off again, "Took you long enough! Aye, keeping us and the passengers waiting like that?! A turkey could have made it here before you and have us waiting at the station before you!" It yelled at her as she buffered up. She tried to pay him no mind as her driver coupled her up to the train. Sally pulled the train to the platform and sat there waiting for the passengers to show up and board the train. The passengers began showing up to station and boarded the train. The coaches gave smiles and Sally just looked away. Finally the guard's whistle blew and Sally whistled back. She began to drive out of the station, preparing to hurry down the line.