One day Neil was impatiently waiting at the Port with some empty trucks. A ship beside the deck was being unloaded of it's cargo.
"Hurreh up!" Neil shouted. "I'm usually patient but dis ees ridiculous!"
"If I were you, lad," a nearby Dock Worker said, "I'd zip my lips shut."
Neil blew steam from his cylinders at the Dock Worker, who reluctantly walked away. Finally when the ship was unloaded of it's cargo, Neil blew his whistle, then, he rattled away with his trucks as quickly as his Driver and Fireman allowed him too. He soon reached the hill, and his wheels slipped on the steep gradient.
"I need sawnd!" Neil shouted.
His Driver opened the sanding gear, and two golden pipes on Neil's right side sprayed sand onto the rails. Neil gripped the gradient at last, and quickly rushed down the other side. Unfortunately he was going too quickly and too fast. The rails near the trestle bridge spanning over a nearby waterfall were bent, and Neil couldn't stop. His crew heard a bumping noise, and saw Neil, with his front wheels off the rails and the fence beside the line broken, handing near the hill.
"Help!" cried Neil. "Heeeelp!"
Some soldiers and their sergeant camping nearby saw the situation, and safely got the crew out of Neil's cab. Then, they placed chocks in front of Neil's wheels to keep him from slipping, and the sergeant grabbed a red flag to stop the next train. Time by time Neil felt the chocks falling loose from his wheels, and the roaring water of the falls did no good to comfort him. It was fortunate for him that Campbell was coming down the line from the Port and flagged down by the sergeant.
"What are ye doin' here?" asked Campbell.
"I decided too smull duh roses!" Neil said sarcastically.
"Well, alright," Campbell replied. "But ye're in my wai, I'll hawv to moove ya."
Neil felt Campbell's buffers nudge the rear truck just lightly, and he began to scream.
"Stoop!" he said. "I'm goin' too fawl!"
But Campbell was coupled up to his trucks, and he pulled the train backwards, and slowly, pulled Neil back to safety.
"Thank ye, Campbell," Neil said thankfully. "Ye saved me from fallin' too my doom."
"Welcome," replied Campbell. He then shunted Neil to Rolf's Castle, and went on to the Wharf Station light engine.
Soon the rails near the bridge were fixed.
"Manager says the bridge is safe now, we can cross it now," Neil's Driver said.
"Uh, yeah! Dat's, wunderful!" Neil said. But secretly he was a little afraid of crossing the bridge again.
One day he was shunting near the engine sheds at the Wharf, when the engines began to mock him.
"Don't worry engine much bigger and older than me," Rheneas laughed. "I'll comfort you across that scary bridge."
"You're acting foolish, Rheneas," Angus said, pretending to be strict. "He just needs some time to grow a bigger safety valve."
Neil scowled angrily at the two engines. "I'm noot scurred," he said. "I'll show ye." He reversed quickly, and ran into Campbell, who reversed into his own trucks and broke some of the slate slabs.
"Watch oot!" Campbell said crossly. "You clumsee fool!"
"Watch oot yeself," Neil muttered under his own breath, inaudible for the other engines to hear.
He then puffed away back to the bridge to prove to his brothers and Skarloey and Rheneas he wasn't a scaredy engine. When he approached the bridge, the waves of the waterfall splashed fiercely against the sharp, jagged rocks, as if it were meant to break the rocks apart.
"Come on," said Neil's Driver. He grasped the throttle, and made Neil steam, only a few feet.
Neil stopped sharply. "Maybeh I wun cross," he said, and he rushed to the next station light engine.
"What's wrong with you?" asked the Stationmaster. "You go to Kirk Ronan light engine, and return here light engine. Are you forgetting something?"
Neil didn't say a word. The Stationmaster told the Manager, who had Neil taken out of service for a while and had Campbell do his work in his place. Day by day, Neil watched as Angus and Campbell did their work, cheerful, content, and happy. He wished he has the rivets to cross the bridge.
One morning, he was still in the sheds, when he saw Campbell stop near the coal stage and water tower. Campbell was filled on water, but the coal stage was empty.
"We'll have to go on without the coal," said the Driver. "We'll use some broken branches near the line."
They stacked some wooden tree branches into the cab, and Campbell steamed off once more, but the branches burned easily, and by the time Campbell was halfway across the bridge, he ran out of wood and coal to burn.
"Well drat," muttered Campbell.
There wasn't enough space on the bridge for Campbell's crew to get across to the other side, so the Guard was told to tell the Stationmaster at the nearest station for help. The Stationmaster told the Manager.
"Angus is taking a passenger train to Norramby," said the Manager, "so that means the only engine we have is Neil."
At the Sheds, Neil was still there, when his Driver and Fireman arrived, much to his surprise.
"Campbell is stuck on the bridge, he needs help to get across," said the Driver.
Neil was glad he was being let free again, but why did he have to go across his worst fear after being in the Sheds for so long? He soon made steam, and rattled off. At the bridge, Campbell was still on the bridge, when he heard a whistle similar to his: It was Neil.
"Aboot time," grumbled Campbell.
Neil didn't say anything. He was coupled up and he pushed the train across the bridge. Slowly, but steadily, Neil made the train cross halfway across the bridge, and finally, he steamed across, safe and sound. His fear was gone at last. He rushed down the hill and arrived at the Port, where the trucks were quickly unloaded and the cargo was loaded onto the ship. Then, Neil shunted Campbell to the water tower and coal stage for refueling.
"Noot bad, eh?" Neil asked, laughing.
Campbell examined Neil's paint coat. "Hmm... nah, could use a bit of a touch-up there," he said. He then raced off, laughing, and Neil happily followed after him.