Tales from the rails

Josh, Tatum, and The Trap Points

Josh and Tatum are sibling. They are Caledonian Railway 812's, Tatum is painted pink with gold lining while Josh is painted blue with red lining. They can normally be seen hauling goods trains on the mainline or on the Deedburg branch line. Sometimes they can been seen double heading trains as well. Tatum was sent to the mainline to help Josh with his work for a bit, and they mostly double headed trains, making good timing every trip. One morning, Josh and Tatum had to take a long goods train from Levi to Lickey, and they were making good time. Josh was taking the lead while Tatum pushed behind. They whistled through Drenk Station and rattled around the bend. They puffed past Maddox and were about to round the bend. Unknown to the two siblings was a derailed goods train, which had broken away from a long coal train, caught by a trap points and still being dealt with by the breakdown gang. Dexter was pulling the trucks and trying to unstick them from the mud. Josh rounded the bend and saw the trucks, a couple hundred yards away from his buffers! "Stop! Stop!" He cried out as he slammed on his emergency brakes. Tatum slowly started to brake but it was too late. Josh was whistling loudly, getting the attention of everyone up ahead. The workmen jumped clear of Josh and Dexter was uncoupled from the trucks. He got out of the way just in the knick of time! Josh crashed into the trucks, tilting onto his side and being covered in coal. Tatum fortunately stayed on the line, but she too was also covered in coal. The trucks were smashed and broken. "Ooooh." Josh said. His crew climbed out of the wreckage slowly, mostly unharmed and safe besides some minor bumps and bruises. Josh though was in a bit of pain, plowing into the rear end of a goods train is not fun after all. Josh didn't understand how it happened. The signals were green and it didn't add up. Dexter hurriedly off to fetch the cranes, which he fortunately brought along and left at Lickey Station. He returned with the cranes and set to work helping Josh back onto the rails. Tatum began apologizing to Josh for pushing too hard, but Josh was still in shock from the crash, trying to figure out what went wrong. Josh was lifted onto a flatbeds and his tender was coupled up to the end of the breakdown train. Tatum watched as he big brother departed down the line bound for the works station. Once the wreckage was cleared, Tatum departed down the line again and finished the job, a little late. Tatum took the next train and pressed on with the day. Tatum arrived back at Drenk sheds that night, dirty and weathered with coal dust. "Good lord, what happened to you?" Asked Jeff as Tatum rolled onto the turntable. She gave a heavy sigh as the turntable began to spin. "I got into a little crash. Josh might have gotten really hurt." She explained, trying to hold back her emotions. "That's horrible!" Sally said, "How do you feel?" Asked Lydia. "Is Josh alright?" Asked Hanna from behind Edward. "I don't know, I've been so busy with his jobs I couldn't visit him and check in on him." She explained. "Are you okay?" Asked Edward. "I'm fine, it's just a little coal." She said. "No, I mean, mentally. You aren't blaming yourself, are you?" "Oh, I haven't been thinking about me this entire time, I've been thinking about my brother." "Well remember this, it wasn't your fault." Rhys said. "Yeah, accidents happen, and it's not like you were trying to have this happen." Dan added. "Yeah. You're right." Tatum agreed, this sort of cheered her up. The seven engines and tramway coach soon fell asleep in the sheds, to be ready and awake for tomorrow.

During that night at the works, Josh was fast asleep. He had been repaired with new parts and new paint. It was dark, the shed lights were off and the moon was covered with clouds. "It's her fault." Said a voice. Josh still snored away. "It's her fault." The voice said again, closer and louder. "Wh-wha?" Mumbled Josh as he slowly woke up. "The reason you're here, it's her fault." The voice said again. "Who's there?" "Think of it Josh, you wouldn't be here if she wasn't on the train pushing you into the crash." "You aren't supposed to be here! Now scram ye bing bong!" Josh yelled out into the darkness. He looked around frantically. He couldn't see. "Just think Josh, you would have been on time if your sister didn't push you into those coal trucks, now everyone is mocking you." "I said leave!" Josh yelled out in anger. The voice stopped talking, but now Josh was left with the thoughts of the previous day. "It wasn't her fault, was it?" He thought to himself as he went back to sleep. The next morning, Josh left the works bound for Levi station. He still had the thought on his mind when Tim and Tom were making jokes. They burst into laughter as Josh entered the yards. He thought they were laughing at him. They were just joking about each other really, but Josh didn't know that. Josh just puffed sadly away to find the yard manager to get his jobs for the day. He was confused, why would his own sibling, his own steam and steel, try to hurt him? The thought was racing through his mind. Then he heard the trucks laughing and taunting him about the crash. "I hope the coal was good quality!" One yelled. The others laughed along, and this set Josh off. He ran up to the truck that had made the joke and bumped him hard. "Why'd you do that?!" "Don't make fun of me! I ain't afraid of givin' all of you a bump into the sea!" Josh yelled angrily at the trucks until Tatum arrived. "Everything alright?" She asked, trying to defuse the situation. "No, why did you push me?!" "I didn't push you, I don't just stop dead!" "Ye did!" "I didn't!" "Did too!" "Did not!" "Too!" "Not!" "SILENCE! You two have work to do!" The yard manager at the two, annoyed at their bickering. "Take those trucks and take them to Drenk! God!" He handed Josh's crew a paper with jobs on it and a copy of that work to Tatum's crew. "I'll do it alone! I don't need someone who's trying to sabotage me working along side me." "What?! I'm not!" Tatum said in defense of herself. "Well I am working alone, and you can't stop me!" Josh said, and he began to shunt the trucks, a little roughly as he was having trouble controlling his emotions. Tatum's crew just started up for the next station, Drenk. They were going to do every other job to still technically work together with Josh and his crew. The two crews made the plans over both driver's phones and they soon set off to work. Tatum hurried off to Drenk to help her brother. She was seething with anger as she puffed along the line. "I'll show him, I'll show him!" She weashed as she picked up the trucks and started off again.

The next few days went on like that, whenever the two engines saw each other, they argued over whether Tatum caused the crash. But the two began to feel bad about their arguments. But neither one of them wanted to admit they were wrong. By the end of the week, Sir William V had to intervene. "Listen, the crash is over and done with! You two are going to take this train and get along with each other!" He boomed on Thursday morning. The two Scottish engines looked at each other and then down at their buffers. "Yes sir." They said out of sync. The controller then walked back to his office to get some work done. The two engines made their way into the yards to see a massive train waiting for them, neither Josh nor Tatum could take it on their own. Josh was finally breaking, "Tatum, I'm sorry that I kept saying you pushed me on purpose." "And I'm sorry I've been fighting you!" Tatum said, the two engines began to laugh. "What were we even fighting about?" Asked Tatum. "I think you pushed me while we was working." Josh laughed. The two began to take the train down the line. They passed Drenk and kept going. The train was running smoothly, Tatum taking the lead. The two headed down the line to Vale, then she saw something up ahead. A train of steel was barreling towards the two engines. "LOOK OUT!" She screamed as she pinned her breaks. Josh too came to a stop, and the engines had horrified looks on their faces. Tatum saw the trap points and hoped they would activate and save them. The trucks rattled on past and straight towards Tatum. She shut her eyes and screamed in terror as the trucks smashed into her! Steel bars were flung into the air and the trucks slammed into her, they crashed down on the two engines and shook the whole train. They got dents in their boilers and one even punctured Tatum's boiler, steam shot out into the air and her pressure dropped instantly. "OW!" She yelled as the steel pierced her metal body. Her crew cut off steam pressure and Tatum was done. They had to call for help. Josh began to pull his sister back down the line, out of the way of the crash. They got onto the express line and passed the accident scene. Josh made his way to Vale and stopped, letting his crew get out and call for help. Eddy arrived a few minutes later, the controller also arrived from the other direction. "What happened?" Asked the controller. "A steel train came barreling towards us sir." Said Josh. "The trap points didn't go off." Tatum added. The controller pondered for a moment. Drenk had been called in to take the goods train the rest of the way, the big blue tender engine weashed as he arrived. He was silent as Eddy went to the flatbeds to inspect the damage. Josh and Tatum were uncoupled from the train and they left the station for the works station to get repaired. When they arrived, Tatum was asleep. Josh and Tatum were parked in the sheds and workmen began to inspect the damage. "Well this sucks, back in the works again." Josh muttered. "At least you ain't alone this time." Tatum said, she was barely awake. "I suppose." "I'm going back to sleep. Good night." She said, and she drifted back off to sleep. Josh followed suit, and the two tender engines went to sleep.