Tales from the rails

Rhys and The Scrapyards

Engines often hate going to the scrapyards. It's full of what seem to be husks of old engines and trucks that were a little too troublesome. But that's not all true, the main scrap metal is from old car parts and older engine parts that needed replacing. But even still, it's a scary thought to be in the scrapyard, especially at night. Rhys along with his friends were resting in the sheds one morning, when the controller came up to the engines. "Good morning everyone!" Said the controller as he walked up to the turntable. "Good morning sir." The engines all yawned in unison, all quite tired from their work the previous few weeks. "Now then, Dan, you have your normal job with David, Clara, and Henry. Sally, express duties as always. Lydia, you're taking coal trains from the colliery around the island. Edward and Jeff, your normal tramway jobs as per usual. Tatum, I want you on the mainline helping your brother Josh with the goods trains. And Rhys, first some goods trains and then the late night scrap train. That'll be all now. Good day!" He said as he departed. The other engines got ready and were getting ready for their day. Rhys just had a mortified look on his face. He had had bad experiences in the past on a different railway and the scrapyard. He was the last engine to leave the sheds that day. He went to the carriage sheds, where some extra sheds were being built, one for Lydia's coaches and one for the brake vans. Walter was asleep in front of Rhys' coaches in the carriage sheds, and woke up slowly as Rhys gently buffered up. "Is it morning already Mr. Rhys?" He asked with yawn. "Yep, come on now Walter, we got to work to do." Rhys said as he was coupled up by his driver. The two set off to the yards to get their jobs from the yard manager, who normally had their schedules. The four waited for the yard manager. The yard manager silently handed over the paper and then went to go deal with some paperwork. Rhys began to move as his first train was at Levi, bound for Vale. Rhys, who normally loved conversing with his friends as they puffed around with his trains, was silent. Everyone could tell something was wrong. "What's the matter Mr. Rhys?" Asked Walter as they coasted down the little hill into Levi. "I'm don't want to go back to the scrapyards." He muttered, and his crew were puzzled. "What do you mean by going back?" Asked Emma. Rhys sighed, and he thought if whether or not to tell his friends about it. "Alright. I'll spill." He said and this was the story he told.

Back when Rhys was painted black with red stripes and numbered 2007, he worked on a small branch line with a quarry and several stations along the way, like the Deedburg branch line. But also on this line was a scrapyard. He normally had no problems with the place, taking scrap trains to and from. He worked with a smaller engine, a 2-4-0 tank engine that ran the quarry. The branch line led to a harbour where the 2-4-0 often took trains to and from daily. The two loved their life, and it was good for a while. Then the work became too much for the two. Two more engines, an engine like Sally and a small diesel shunter, came to help. The diesel often hung around the scrapyard and the engine like Sally worked the line with Rhys. One night, Rhys had to take a scrap train to the smelters to be melted down. He set off that night, it was foggy and cold as the branch was next to the harbour. The wind blew through the trees along the line and through the rusted metal in the trucks. Rhys made it to the switch that went off to the smelters. Rhys saw the red glow of the smelters shed. He was tired and his crew lived in the next town over, so they parked him in a nearby sheds next to a scrap train, this wasn't his first time doing this and was a common thing he would do before the new engines arrived. Rhys soon drifted off to sleep, and waited for the his crew to return the next morning. But Rhys woke up to the loud bump of the scrap trucks and the clattering of the scrap metal within them as the little diesel bumped them. Rhys calmed down and shut his eyes again. Then he was bumped hard! The trucks were now in front of him! "What's going on?!" He asked as he began to panic. The diesel oiled backwards into the smelters shed and stopped under a moving crane. The crane was more like a grabber, and Rhys watched as it crunched each truck's load as it got closer and closer, it was slowly moving and dumping the scrap into a molten vat of metal, where it slowly sank in. It raised up and down slowly, but the grabber was swift as it got another load of scrap, "CRUNCH!" The metal screamed as it was ripped from the truck. Then it was above Rhys. "Stop! Stop! This engine isn't for scrapping!" Rhys felt a bump from behind, the quarry engine banged the trucks forwards and Rhys too, everyone moving out of the danger of the grabber. The quarry engine's driver uncoupled Rhys from the trucks and coupled Rhys to the quarry engine. The two left as the diesel engine watched from the door, starring at the two engines. They made it back to the quarry, both silent as they were parked in the sheds. Both engines didn't sleep or talk that night, and didn't talk about the events of the night for a good while. Soon the line closed and the scrapyards within, but the little engine never forgot.