Two Engines and a Half-Ton Freight.
It was a calm, sunny day on the island of Sodor. The engines were working hard for Sir Topham Hat's railway for this day was the first of a busy season. Many visitors came to the island for its most memorable and exciting places to see. Sir Topham Hat made sure that Gordon pulled the express for the sights that were on the other side of the island. James, Emily, and Boco handled the local main line trains. Thomas, Duck, and Oliver handled the branch lines.
The passenger system was well taken care of, but one obstacle remained: the freight. The branch line freight was easily solved with Toby, Percy, and Mavis. But the mainline had more freight to deal with. Sir Topham Hat sent Henry and Murdoc to deal with the freight. At first it seemed this task would be easy. Henry and Murdoc worked side by side pulling the freight trucks where they needed to be, but when they reached Knapford yards, the lines were filed with heavy freight. Murdoc said to Henry that he could do it. So Murdoc backed into one line and coupled himself to the trucks. The trucks, who loved their rest, didn't want to go.
"No no no...," they said, "we won't go."
This made murdoc furious as he pulled hard.
"Yes yes yes, enough of your rest," Murdoc said but to no avail.
He could not pull this heavy train. Henry thought of an idea and coupled in front of Murdoc. Together they were able to pull the line of trucks and had to do so for the next line. They couldn't do it one at a time or otherwise the sir topham hat's freight will be far behind on schedule. As the two engines finally backed into the last line, the two together were off. They huffed and puffed and pulled their heavy load as they trundled down the line. However the load was so heavy that the engines were pulling harder than both could take. The drivers on both engines saw this and bellowed, "HOLD STEADY BOYS!". The engines couldn't hear as they were determined to get the freight on time. They reached Gordon's hill and then it happened.
The hill did not help the engines and the freight train pulled back with both engines attached to them. They sped backwards down the line, a runaway train call was notified as the switches were made for them. The trucks ran down as they headed towards a large and unoccupied siding. The siding only had a buffer at the end. There was a mighty bang. The buffers went flying as the freight was off the rails, and so was poor Henry and Murdoc. The two engines and their freight slid and crashed below the small hillside. Edward and Molly arrived with the breakdown train as soon as they heard the incident. The drivers and firemen were alright and had minor injuries. They jumped out before the engines crashed.
Sir Topham Hat was there a few minutes later. He was angry at the engines, but when the drivers explained the cause, he had a sad expression on his face.
"I see...Henry and Murdoc. I have to apologize for the trouble that the trucks were too heavy for you. But instead of pulling the freight like you did, you should have pulled it row by row."
"Yes sir..., Henry said.
"We are sorry sir," Murdoc said.
"Sorry is not enough to explain that we have now more freight to deliver and two engines out of commission. You must go to the works to be repaired. This looks like to be some time before you can run again so I must bring a substitute in. I need to find an engine who can handle long freight trains easily," replied Sir Topham Hat.
With that he leaves as the engines were taken away. Let's hope he finds that engine