Dear Readers,
One of my friends is a porter on the Peel Godred branch line. I have been talking to him recently, and he says that the line has gotten a new but strange engine. Last summer I came over to visit him and he showed me the new engine. It was a very peculiar looking engine, like a Class 71 in shape, but was a dark gray and erupted steam from the middle of his body. My friend has told me some very interesting and funny stories about this engine, so I would like to share some with you.
-The Author
It was a particularly sunny day on Sodor. Trains were very busy during this time of year, taking passengers up and down lines, to the coast and to nearby towns and cities. However, on the Peel Godred branch line, a few engines were fuming.
"A steam engine!" One shouted, cross. "Of all things, why a steam engine?" Another groaned. Groaning and complaining are just a few things you hear on Peel Godred. Now, Peel Godred was a special line built with electrical wires hanging over the tracks, as most of the engines there are electrical. The engines were all cross, as they knew they had to deal with steam and loud noises in their shed, as if Culdee Fell wasn't enough.
"We have to deal with the clanking and wheeshing of a steam engine, not to mention that he'll have a rather bad attitude." A third one chimed in. All of the engines worked nearby Culdee Fell, and very rarely heard nice things coming out of the mouth of Lord Harry and Alaric. They were usually grumpy engines and had tendencies to complain a lot, almost identical to Gordon. Since Culdee, Ernest, and Wilfred were off to Sweden when they arrived, they had all thought and learned that steam engines were grumpy and a pain to deal with.
A small blue car soon appeared near the shed, and a large man walked out. This was none other than Sir Topham Hatt, head of the railway. He had just returned from a long trip from Ireland, inspecting a steam engine for use on the railway. The engines all stopped fuming when he turned towards them. "As you may know," he started. "A steam engine will be working on your line from now on. He has a good work ethic, though has to learn a few things about trucks and goods trains, as well as shunting. He is an experimental engine of Irish design, burning peat as his fuel. He has barely worked with other engines, so please be kind to him on his first few days. Thank you." Sir Topham Hatt walked away to his car and drove off.
The engines were left confused, asking various questions to their drivers, such as 'What is Peat?', 'What does he look like?', and other things their drivers could not answer. Still fuming and wondering about the new engine, they went to sleep.