It was an ordinary day on the Wales & Borders Railway. Andrew Field, bus 68 driver and bus 68 hadn't been seen for some time, everyone was most worried. It wasn't until a few hours later, when Lilly saw Andrew at Alfie's Garage, "I'm having 68 completely refurbished" said Barry cheerfully, "it failed its recent M.O.T test, and they saw it as a great opportunity to smarten it up, it'll have new brakes, seats, doors, lights and even a newly fitted engine, it'll look like a totally new bus, and won't be overheated on the big hills", "That's wonderful news" said Lilly cheerfully, "I'll be sure to tell the others right aw...", she was cut short by the arrival of a certain single decker bus, Malcolm Moss with 512, "I'm back to do what I do best, transporting passengers" he said, "No funny business, or you'll be sent elsewhere and 512 will return to the Cardiff Transport Preservation Group, where you won't be transporting any passengers" Lilly snapped. Andrew was soon sent out to work, the news of him coming back to service soon spread, but not through Lilly, but because 68 is a double deck bus, he couldn't be missed. Back at Canton Depot Sidings, 1211's driver Arnold Yates, raised his concerns to Les Stone, Yard Manager at Cardiff Canton,"He's a mean-scarlet-deceiver" snorted Arnold "I don't trust him, you're much more experienced in this field than I am, Les, please keep an eye on him" he asked, Les agreed, and he went off to inspect a freshly repainted 60103, he was fresh out of Alfie's Garage.
At first, Malcolm was as good as gold, surprisingly, he worked cooperatively with the railway, and didn't cause any trouble, "If i change the bus route" murmured Malcolm under his breath, "I could take the passengers to their houses, there'd be no need for the slow railway now, it'll mean more money in the bank for us" he agreed, and so Malcolm diverted himself from the authorised bus route and, without telling the bus company, secretly started making request stops outside passengers' houses. No-one knew until Leyland arrived at Llanelli to collect his passengers for the service from Llanelli to Chester, when nobody boarded the train, confused and worried, Tim hurried along the line, it was the same thing at every other station, too. Then, at the other end of a tunnel, a local homeowner had stopped the train, "Is everything alright?" asked 8572's fireman, Gordon, "No I'm afraid not" the homeowner said, worryingly, he had seen Malcolm in the village and told them he had offered a ride straight to his flat, "He wasn't just being polite, he was doing the same for all the passengers", "THE VILLAIN!" snorted Leyland "no wonder there hasn't been any passengers! Thank you for informing us, Mr uhh...", "It's perfectly fine, I'm Varley, James Varley", "Thank you, ever so" answered Leyland & Gordon, "I'll never turn my back on the railway" James said, and 8572 puffed away, proudly.
The crewe were cross in the staff room in the depot that evening, but Barry kept calm, "He can't keep this up for long" he said, plainly, "What if he can?" asked Ieuan, "He won't" answered Barry "we just have to stay quiet and wait for him to slip up". The crew found it hard to hold their tongue, when Malcolm was in the yard, filling up with passengers, "You're a mean-scarlet-deceiver!" shouted Halton, "I've heard that one before" Malcolm mumbled. 512's engine was struggling because he was carrying too many passengers, which was applying too much pressure on his engine, wheels and axles, conveniently he broke down on the bottom of the hill, right beside a railway crossing, the passengers waited for the local, a whistle could be heard in the distance, it was 8572 with the local, the passengers were over the moon, they boarded the local and headed to Rhymney, Mr Griffiths, the railway director, found out about what happened, and 512 was sent back to the National PSV Museum, and Malcolm was sacked on the spot, but I think he deserved his punishment, don't you?
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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
