Just as a point of reference: I have included many of the TV series characters into my world to a general liking of some of them and for storylines. I plan on doing a series of rewrites of their introductory episodes in the future in order to show how they came to be in my version of Sodor.
A Push in the Right Direction
While Duck was at Crovan's Gate having all the concrete removed, a delicate and time consuming job to make sure it was all clear, Oliver and Molly were left to run the line alone. Donald, Douglas, BoCo, Bear and Arthur helped with delivering supplies for the construction work and taking Duck's passengers, but Oliver and Molly still had a lot of work to do.
Due to Oliver's bad history with the trucks, Molly was given the task of taking the ballast trains while the others were busy. Despite being on the Island of Sodor, Molly still wasn't sure if she fitted in with the other engines. She had been extremely nervous at first of working here, as she had heard Duck only liked engines from the Great Western Railway, but soon learnt it was just a joke and Duck, Oliver and all the other engines were very friendly, and Molly was accepted in warmly.
Despite all of this, Molly still didn't feel that she had a place. She mostly did odd jobs and helped with larger trains a tank engine couldn't manage, but she wanted to have a specific role and have a chance to prove herself and show what she could do. With Duck away at the works, Molly hoped that she could show Oliver and the engines helping out what a vital and hard working engine she was.
A few days after Duck had gone to the works, Molly rolled into the sidings behind the shed. She had been assisted by Donald and Douglas the past few days, but they were needed to bring in some pieces for the bridge and she was on her own. Molly felt rather excited as she passed by the Arlesdale Railway, whistling to Bert and Jock as they went by. She felt rather important being trusted with the trucks on her own, and was happy by the time she'd reached the trucks she would have to shout.
However, once Molly came to a stop, the job in front of her suddenly dawned on her.
There were rows and rows of trucks, many of them ballast trucks but also ranging from vans to tar wagons, most of them empty but all of them making a great deal of noise. Molly winced at the screeching and calling coming from the rolling stock as she rolled forwards, and found the trucks jeering at her as they passed.
"Lookie here fellas: they sent a bundle of sunshine to shunt us!" One truck sneered.
"How is a lady engine supposed to control trucks as powerful as us!" A second called.
"That's not very nice of you," Molly snapped, a bit offended by their name calling. A lot of engines got upset when they first dealt with the insults of trucks, but overtime they built up a resistance to it that Molly hadn't quite reached it.
"Come on Molly, let's just collect the new hopper trucks and be on our way," her driver said, though Molly was confused.
"What do you mean by hopper trucks?"
Due to the large amount of accidents on the Sodor Railway, the Fat Controller and the various companies that worked with the railway had invested in a new fleet of wooden hopper trucks to take things such as coal, ballast, sand and rock. They were less likely to get damaged in an accident yet could be repaired, better than the wooden trucks which mostly just broke apart.
As Molly's driver explained this, the yellow engine could see it as a good idea as she moved through the sidings and towards the back where they were. The trucks continued to yell at her, but Molly ignored them and instead focused on how she was being trusted with the new trucks.
They soon approached them, and Molly was surprised to see they were almost as big as her. There were five of the trucks currently, all painted black or grey, and their main bodies looked to Molly like upside down triangles with the point made flat. The hoppers seemed to come up around her tender, possibly even higher, and stretched out to the same length as Duck or Oliver.
"Those are some very big trucks," Molly said with a gasp. Things were quieter here, so Molly could here a specific laugh nearby.
"Looks like they sent a little flower to take you big boys out!" The voice sneered, and Molly found the hopper trucks were all beginning to laugh at her. Molly stared at the rude truck, ready to say something, but saw the outlines of where letters should have been on his mouldy body: S..
"Your name sounds familiar," Molly said, trying to distract them, but the aging truck simply stared grouchily at her.
"Good for you," he snapped. "Now why don't you run along and take those trucks, if you can actually manage them past the sidings!" The hopper trucks began to laugh once more, and Molly felt rather upset as she rolled forwards and a shunter came over to couple her to them.
"Your in for a fun ride," the lead hopper jeered, and his fellows boomed with laughter behind. Molly saw the old truck laughing at her as she reversed away with the trucks, and she tried to keep her eyes away from the laughing trucks as she struggled not to get upset at their abuse.
A short time later, Molly was resting in the siding having a long drink of water. The hopper trucks were under the ballast hopper, which had stopped working due to a jam. Molly was glad to have the short rest: the journey out of the sidings had been difficult, with the hoppers bumping viciously against her as the other trucks continued to laugh and call out names. Molly could see the lead one staring pointedly at her, and she wished that she could just leave the trucks and find another task to do: she didn't care about proving herself at all, simply about getting rid of the nasty trucks.
"Is something wrong Miss Molly? You don't look very happy."
"GAH!" Molly cried, rolling backwards in fright and nearly tearing the hosepipe out of the water tower. She hadn't noticed that a train had appeared at the station, and Toad the breakvan was now next to her. Molly quickly recovered from the shock and began to feel relieved: Toad was the friendliest breakvan she had met, and he regularly was used between the Little Western and by Donald and Douglas on the main line.
"Sorry for the fright," Toad said calmly. "Douglas had to reverse: another problem on the line up ahead, some load got spilt."
"Don't tell Duck about it, he'll have a rant for weeks," Molly said jokingly, and she and Toad laughed lightly. But the humour was cut short as a shout rang out from the hopper, and a groan and a clank signalled it was back to work. Molly let out a sigh, not ready to head back to her train.
"You never answered my question Miss Molly," Toad said, looking a bit seriously towards Molly and glancing over at the trucks. "Are those new hoppers being troublesome?" Molly didn't want to let the others know the trucks were bothering her, but Toad was kind hearted and she gave a little nod.
"There were spurred on by another truck though," Molly added. "S.… is that the truck Oliver crushed?"
"That was his brother," Toad explained. "After the old Scruffey got scraped, the company sent that one down to take their supplies, but they went bankrupt shortly after and left the truck there. This Scruffey is very rude and bitter, and always gets the engines riled up. The workers want to use him as scrap, but his wood is too rotten now for anything, and the Fat Controller and the stationmasters have more important things to worry about than a crappy old truck."
"Well, I think something should be done!" Molly huffed as the hose was pulled out and her driver and fireman climbed back into her cab. "Those hoppers are all riled up because of him, and I don't want to have to take troublesome trucks!"
"Just give them time," Toad said with a warm smile. "Stand up to them and show them that you aren't afraid of them! Get Hector to help you as well, he seemed nice when Donald and I brought the hoppers in from the harbour." Molly didn't know who Hector was, but didn't like the idea of telling off the trucks in case they laughed at her or get angrier. A whistle sounded next to her as her brakes came off, and Molly saw Toad was beginning to move off.
"Good luck with them!" The breakvan called as Douglas whisked him away.
"Thanks," Molly called out, "I'll need it," she added in a whisper, and reluctantly moved back towards her train.
Things didn't get better for Molly.
By the time she reached Tidmouth Station, the yellow engine was ready to take the hoppers and push them right off the rails. They had been insulting her for the entire journey and kept bumping furiously into her. Their heavy metal bodies combined with their ballast loads made it much more painful that the old wooden trucks, and Molly felt as if her back buffer beam was going to fall off. She was tired and upset, the heat and slow pace of travelling through the construction not helping, and all Molly wanted to do was go into a nice cool place and stay there.
Moving into Tidmouth was just as tricky, as Molly couldn't see the path ahead as she was travelling backwards. However, the usual noise was coming out of it and Molly was nearly deafened as soon as she rolled in.
"Hello there Molly," Henry said wearily as Molly pulled up alongside. Molly thought for a moment he was annoyed at her, but saw a lot of passengers milling around his coaches on the platform. "There have been delays all week and the passengers keep complaining, and I just have to sit here and stew!"
"You could be dealing with these trucks," Molly said as she continued to leave the platform, and Henry managed a laugh that continued until he was out of sight. Molly rolled over a set of points before stopping as the points were switched, allowing her to shunt the trucks into a siding where they would be picked up later by BoCo as part of a goods train. The lead hopper didn't look very happy, and Molly realised that the joke must have angered them. She wanted to stand up and tell them that it was true, but the hoppers gave her an almighty push that caused the train to roll backwards.
"You don't want to make us angry!" The hopper growled, and his cronies behind cheered. Molly was shocked, and she wanted nothing more but to be rid of this train. Fighting back tears, Molly shunted the trucks into their siding and waited to be uncoupled. Henry whistled friendlily at her as he went by, but Molly didn't return as she reversed from the siding and began to speed off, not wanting to stay near the trucks any longer.
"Don't let them get to you," a voice said alongside, and Molly came to a halt as she turned to her left. One of the hoppers was staring at her, shunted so that it faced the breakvan and not the other way round like the others. It had the letters HECTOR written on its sides in large white letters, and Molly remembered what Toad had said.
"Your one of them though," Molly said uncertainly.
"I know, but I don't think that being abusive to the engines is right," Hector explained. "I've done some work on many lines since I was built, and I think most trucks don't understand we need to respect engines as you have the power to truly tell us of, and we would be nothing without you pulling us." Molly had never seen things like this before and was a bit thrown, but could see that Hector was supportive and his face appeared genuine.
"What do you suggest I do then?" Molly asked nervously, and Hector replied with a sly smile.
"Don't worry, I do have a plan," he said, and quickly began to explain.
Early next morning, Molly once again had to take trucks, this time to collect supplies from Tidmouth Station needed for the construction. It was only early yet the sun was already scorching: workers at the station to the Arlesdale Railway were already mopping their brows and leaning tiredly against spades and wheelbarrows. It was going to be a hot day, but Molly entered the sidings completely ignoring it.
She was worried about what was going to happen: her crew had spoken to the yard manager and he had agreed, up for anything to get the trucks to behave, but Hector's plan still had Molly concerned. All night she had been asking Oliver for advice, voicing concerns about wheter the plan could go wrong or not, but the Great Western engine simply told her to go through with it and see what happened.
Now that Molly was here, surrounded by all the trucks jeering and shouting insults, she felt more nervous than ever and had to take several deep puffs and ask her driver for water to calm herself down. It is necessary, Molly told herself. The trucks can't walk all over you – Hector is right, they need us and need to see that.
"Good luck," Hector whispered as Molly passed, having been shunted separately so their plan could go ahead. Molly simply smiled back as she came up to a clear area ahead: the four hoppers were there for her, with Scruffey on the nearby siding with a clear view.
"Look who came back!" The old truck sneered. "You boys must not have scared her off properly yesterday!"
"We'll do a better job today," the head hopper snarled, and they all laughed cruelly as Molly rolled up, reminding herself to stay confident and not let them get to her yet. A shunter came forwards and did the couplings, though the trucks didn't notice it had been left deliberately loose.
"Come along boys, we've got a lot of work to do," Molly said, rolling backwards and smiling warmly at the head hopper. He didn't like her optimistic nature, and smiled as he gave her an angry bump. Molly shuddered backwards, but she didn't care this time and remained smiling as her crew slowed her down and sounded her whistle, attracting all attention towards them.
"What's going on, why have you stopped moving?" Scruffey called out. The hoppers wer thrown by the events, and hadn't noticed the couplings had come loose from the bump. Molly rolled backwards, getting more excited as she knew the good bit was coming.
"I don't appreciate being bumped," she said firmly, "and I think it's time you know that!" The hoppers all looked shocked as Molly reversed quickly and than began to speed forwards as her driver rapidly pulled levers. The hoppers gasped as Molly bashed into them with such force they rolled backwards. Molly, her crew and Hector all cheered at the apparent success, but only the hopper kept cheering when Molly realised the hoppers were turning.
The shunter had been watching from the side, excited about what was going to happen, but in his haste to avoid getting hit he had ran clumsily into a switch to change the points. By the time he realised, the hoppers were already speeding into the siding. It seemed for a moment that the curve might cause them to tip over, but the trucks kept rolling, nothing to stop them except for…
"GAAAAH!" Scruffey yelled as the hoppers came his way. Molly gasped as the truck disappeared, his shout stifled by a sickening crack, and they all watched as the hoppers kept rolling until they struck the buffers, and for once the sidings fell silent.
"Whenever I come by these sidings, it always seems a truck is being taken away, though I don't usually find trucks being crushed."
An hour after the accident, the Fat Controller had stopped by after being taken on a tour of the Small Railway's extension by the Small Controller. He had been informed of the accident and came to see Molly, who rested in the siding with Hector, Oliver nearby at the station. A lorry taking rubble from the construction sites to a rubbish tip had taken away Scruffey's remains, leaving only scared trucks behind.
"I am very sorry, I didn't mean it to end this way," Molly said nervously as the Fat Controller stood between her and Hector, looking rather grave.
"It is all my fault, I suggested it all in the first place," Hector added, but the Fat Controller raised his hands. Molly was expecting him to be angry with her, but was stunned to see a smirk across his face.
"The stationmaster told me how this particular truck has been a bit of a nuisance for a while and was heading for scrap anyway," the suited man explained. "We didn't have to pay the lorry anything to take the rotten pile of wood away, and as long as your train is completed on time, I don't think any harm has been done." Molly was shocked, and exchanged wide beams with Hector. "However, don't think you can just go around destroying my trucks," the Fat Controller warned as he began to walk back to the station. "If it happens again, I may not be so lenient." Molly was a bit worried, but Oliver and Hector simply began to laugh.
"I don't think you're going to have to worry about that Molly," the green engine called. "The trucks are so afraid they'll probably be begging not to let you take them." Molly looked over, and saw that indeed the four hoppers were silent as they sat under the ballast chute, waiting to be taken away
"Well, I guess this is a positive after all," Molly chuckled. "Thank you for your help Hector, I couldn't have done this without you."
"I am happy to help," the truck replied with a grin. "Shall we get back to them?"
"Why not – I am looking forward to this," Molly laughed.
From that day on, no truck ever crossed Molly. Even though it had been one moment of confidence, fear fell across the sidings whenever Molly came their way, and every truck remained on their best behaviour. Molly always tried to take Hector with her for support, and they became such as legend that engines on the Main Line would always say: make sure you stay on your best behaviour, or I'll get Molly and Hector to sort you out.
It was always guaranteed to work.