A new ballast pit, by the name Maesteg Ballast Co, had opened on the town of Maesteg next to Maesteg Quarry, the pit men were getting a bit concerned, as there weren't any vehicles to transport the ballast to and from the pits, then 8572 and his crew went up to the ballast pit with some empty JNA wagons. Mr Griffiths, the railway director, had told the pit men that they're expecting 3 brand new ballast transportation trucks to help with the ballast. Mr Griffiths was also the temporary owner of the Maesteg Ballast Co, until the new owner arrives, "I'm choking!" Groaned Mr Griffihs, "It's going to be hell, working at this pit, thank goodness it's only for a day". About an hour later, 3 old dirty 1955 Dodge 100 series 'Parrot Nose' tippers came to the pit; they had numbers 1, 3 and 13, all former Bartlett's. 1 was driven by Oliver Holden, 3 was driven by Ian Riley and 13 was driven by Michael West. All 3 tippers remained in the Bartlett blue and yellow livery, but had all their vinyls removed.
By the time it reached half-day, the new owner came, and he was as strict as strict can be, his name was Thomas Moore, he always liked a bit of drama. He went to meet the drivers he was working with, "I'm Thomas Moore, but you can call me Mr Moore, your new controller of the Maesteg Ballast Co, now I expect you to go to the ballast hopper, to collect the 5 tonnes of the ballast, then you take it to Cardiff Network Yard, and you keep doing that over until it's time to finish, which is 7pm" Mr Moore stated, their engines were hard to start at first, because it was such a cold morning. Then, Ed Edwards, who worked in the breakdown department, showed the driversthe route, and they got to work right away. Ed reported back to Mr Moore, they both agreed that it was a successful career, so they thought, at first, the workers were behaving, but as time went on, Oliver started being mischievous and started messing around, only one truck could load up with ballast at the hopper at the same time, so the others had to wait, but Oliver was up to his tricks, he would stop right in front of the truck at the hopper, and would reverse, tooting his horn, he would just bump the bumper of the truck, and he'll have to move out the way. The others were fuming, Oliver was doing this as he was a very mischievous kind of person, and there was a bonus waiting for him at the end of the week. Mr Moore didn't even care, like I said previously, he loves a bit of drama.
At the work yard, the trucks, full of ballast, would arrive at Cardiff Network Yard, the drivers would reverse up to one of the tips, their drivers would open up their tailgates, and then raise the flatbed, and the ballast will pour out onto the tips, then a digger would scoop the ballast up and place into 8572's JNA wagons, which the ballast will be used for stuff like; the rocks that you see on the bottom of the rail tracks, construction, and for decor, but we need to get it to the factories, that's where we meet 190, a GNR Class N2 with his driver Jim Bagnall. 190 is just small enough to do the ballast runs from Cardiff NY to other ballast terminals around the area such as Margam TC, but we can save all of that excitement for another story.
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The Wales & Borders Railway
Short StoryBased on Thomas & Friends, but is in wales with different characters, engines and vehicles still talk, but don't have faces
