Another request from tate310, this time it's "Salty's Secret" from Season 6. Enjoy and comment.
All the engines on the Island of Sodor love their work, but sometimes, there is too much work. That's when Sir Topham Hatt brings new engines to Sodor.
Salty, the dockyard diesel, is one of these engines. He loves to tell tales about the sea.
"We heaved until the old freighter finally caught the tide. Arr, it's good to be useful!"
Salty is excited about coming to the Island of Sodor. He loves islands, and he loves the sea.
Soon, Salty arrived at his new job.
"Ahoy there mateys!" he announced. "I'm Salty, pride of the seven seas. I'm a new diesel and here to give you some help."
Bill and Ben didn't think they needed any help, especially from a diesel.
"Welcome to Center Island Quarry!" Mavis said proudly.
Salty looked all around. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but rock.
"A quarry?!" he cried. "There must be some mistake. I'm a dockside diesel!"
"You're a quarry diesel now!" Mavis said, and she explained that they had to complete an important job for Sir Topham Hatt.
Salty was sad that he wouldn't be working by the sea, but he knew what it meant to be a really useful engine. He set off to work at once.
"Oh well." Salty said, "at least there will be trucks!"
"You better be careful!" Mavis said. "They cause trouble!"
"He won't last five minutes!" said Bill.
"Those trucks will trip him up, soon enough!" said Ben.
But to everyone's surprise, the trucks seemed to give no trouble at all! Salty sang a tune along the way.
"Yo ho ho and a bucket of prawns. The tiller spins, and the captain yawns!" sang Salty.
The trucks loved the song, and they started to sing along.
"Yo ho ho and a bucket of prawns. The tiller spins..."
"And the captain yawns!" sang the trucks.
Thanks to Salty, Sir Topham Hatt' important job was almost complete.
That night, Salty came back from shunting the freight trucks. Ben scoffed when he saw him.
"Here comes Mister Show-off!" he grouched.
"Don't be silly Ben!" chuckled Mavis. "You have to admit he's got a knack with those trucks!"
"Driver says he'll bore the bolts off with his stories!" huffed Bill.
Salty arrived at the sheds, watching the two engines argue. He didn't come near them at all.
Mavis decided that she had enough arguing with Bill and Ben, and had to help Salty. She rolled up alongside and asked what he was doing on his own.
"Oh I thought I might catch a bit of sea breeze." he said sadly.
"You must really miss the sea, don't you?" asked Mavis.
"Aye." sighed Salty. "I do."
But Salty knew the quarry work was important.
The next day, he tried to show Bill and Ben the secret to keeping the trucks in order.
"I like to sing a song." he said, "and so do the trucks. Why don't you give it a try?"
Bill and Ben began to sing to the trucks.
"Here we go, here we go, here we go, go, go!"
"No we don't, no we don't, no we don't, don't, don't!"
They tried as hard as they could, but Bill and Ben could not move the trucks the way Salty did!
Later that day, Sir Topham Hatt came to the quarry. He was surprised to see that the job had been completed.
"Well done!" said Sir Topham Hatt.
"All thanks to Salty!" said Mavis. "We couldn't have done it without him!"
"Then I've got a bigger job for you Salty!"
"Aye aye sir. What kind of quarry is it?"
"Quarry? I'm sending you to Brendam Docks!"
"The docks!" exclaimed Salty. "The docks are right by the sea. Oh thank you sir! In fact, this reminds me of a time in Bimini..."
Salty loves Brendam Docks. He gets more work done than three engines combined! He feels very useful and only the trucks know his secret.
"Yo ho ho and a bucket of prawns. The tiller spins, and the captain yawns!"