The Sudrian Saboteur
Chapter 6: Trouble
The morning after Kate was assigned to fill in for James saw soft winds, but grey clouds.
"Looks like might be in for some bad weather," she said, looking up at the sky.
"It makes no difference to us," Gordon huffed importantly as he made his way onto the turntable, "As the main line engines, we rise to whatever challenge the weather may present us."
"Here, here!" Peter grinned as his crew climbed into his cab and began steaming him up.
"Once, an engine attached to a train..." Carol grinned playfully.
"Oh, ha, ha, ha," grumbled Henry.
"Aren't you going, Dominic?" Kate asked, noticing that the Class 40 was already fueled up and purring comfortably, but was making no moves toward the turntable.
"I'm on relief duty today," he answered.
"Ah," Kate nodded before looking around, noticing two engines already absent even as Gordon left to collect the "Wild Nor' Wester."
"Where're Maggie and Murdoch?" She asked as Henry rolled onto the turntable.
"Maggie's left to pull the Vicarstown Comet, Kate," the green engine answered, "and Murdoch's taken the early morning goods train."
"I'm sure he's enjoying the peace and quiet," Hugo sniggered.
"Indeed," Reginald smirked, making his way onto the turntable, then leaving for the station once it aligned with the correct track.
Just then, Kate's driver and fireman walked up, carrying their timetable for the day.
"Good morning, Fred. Good morning, George," she smiled.
"Morning, old girl," Fred and George replied in unison as they climbed into her cab.
"It's mostly commuter runs for us today again," Fred said as Kate's fire was lit and built, "Unfortunately, we've also been slated to pull a football train."
"Must we?" Kate moaned. She'd heard about football trains, and didn't savor the thought of pulling one herself.
"Sad to say, we must," George sighed as he threw a shovelful of coal into Kate's fire.
The Lancashire & Yorkshire engine sighed as she left the sheds and made her way to the station.
Once she arrived at Knapford, Kate backed down onto her coaches and waited for her guard to blow his whistle and wave his green flag. Gordon, who was taking the Wild Nor' Wester, was on platform one. Reginald, who was pulling a stopping train, simmered on platform two, and Alice backed down onto the Branch Line Flyer on platform four.
"Good morning, Kate," Alice greeted warmly, as Daisy, Duck and Thomas arrived with their first passengers of the day, some of which boarded the Atlantic engine's train.
"Morning, Alice," Kate sighed as Reginald snorted out of the station after the guard blew his whistle and waved the green flag.
"What's the matter? Are the main line duties getting to you?"
"Oh, no, it's not that at all! I love working on the main line," Kate explained, "It's just that I have to take a football train later today."
"Oh, dear. You poor thing," Alice frowned sympathetically. She quite understood the unpleasantness of football trains.
Gordon left soon after with the express and it wasn't long before Alice was given the all clear as well. Blowing her whistle, Alice set off down the main line.
The Branch Line Flyer is a special semi-fast passenger service that stops at all the interchange stations along the main line. Alice usually took this train, and was quite proud of it.
Elsbridge was her first stop, making a connection to Thomas's branch line.
Arriving at the station, Alice whistled to Toby, who was waiting on the branch line side of the platform with Henrietta and a blue coach and brown luggage van she didn't recognize.
"Hello, Toby," she called as the tram engine rang his bell back.
"Good morning, Alice," he smiled.
"How're things on the branch line?"
"We're doing well. I'll tell you one thing, Lily's mood certainly improved when Douglas came back," Toby chuckled, earning a giggle from Alice and Henrietta as well.
"By the way," Alice said, addressing the blue coach and brown van behind Henrietta, "who are these two? I don't recall seeing them before?"
"Pardon me, I'm Victoria," answered the blue coach with a grin.
"Uh...hi...I'm Elsie," whispered the van.
"Oh, don't mind her," Henrietta soothed, "Our Elsie is quite shy, but she's a dear."
"That's quite alright," Alice smiled.
"How about you lot? How are things on the main line?"
"We're doing as well as we can, I suppose," Alice answered earnestly, "The Fat Controller's had Kate fill in for James until he's repaired."
"Ah. And how is she handling it?" Toby asked as the last of his passengers boarded.
"Very good so far," Alice replied just before her guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag.
Alice set off down the main line with a whistle goodbye and made her way to the next stop on her run, Wellsworth. The Atlantic engine arrived without incident and took the chance to make small talk with Edward as her passengers disembarked.
"Good day, Alice," Sodor's number 2 smiled.
"Good day to you," Alice returned, "How's your branch line?"
"Excellent, actually," Edward grinned, "Adam and I have passenger traffic well-managed, April and BoCo have the goods work locked down, Eric is a splendid banker, Rosie and Salty are keeping Brendam Docks in top form, and, if you can believe it, Timothy is actually able to make Bill and Ben listen to him now!"
"No! Really?"
"Indeed," the blue engine said, "BoCo was especially impressed when Timothy told the twins to organize his train, and they did without fuss."
"Well, I'm certainly proud of that little oil-burner," Alice smiled.
"As am I, Alice," Edward agreed.
The sound of the guard's whistle brought a frown to Alice's face as she remembered that her next stop was Killdane.
"Lord save me that I have to put up with the Peel Godred engines," she groaned, giving a farewell toot of her whistle.
"Best of luck, Alice," Edward called as Sodor's number 14 vanished from sight.
It wasn't long before he heard the whistle of his own guard and set off down his branch line. The countryside almost seemed to open up to welcome them as they made their way to Suddery, and Edward whistled as he passed by Adam trundling up the line with his own passenger train, who whistled back before disappearing around the bend.
Arriving at Suddery, Edward gently braked to a halt and those who got off at the island's capital thanked him for the ride as others boarded. Soon enough, the guard's whistle blew and Edward was on his way to Lower Suddery.
"Penny for your thoughts, old boy?" Edward's driver asked.
"Oh, I'm just enjoying the scenery, Charlie," Edward reassured, "I'm quite lucky to work on this branch line."
"Your shed mates could say the same," the fireman added, throwing in a shovelful of coal.
"Indeed they could, Sidney," Edward agreed, "and I'm grateful to have them."
Stopping at Lower Suddery, Edward and his crew observed the passengers. As he was pulling the school train this morning, the first coach on the train was reserved for the children going to Brendam Girls School, while the typical commuting passengers and tourists would ride in the coaches behind.
Finding that the passengers were aware of this arrangement as they filled in, Edward soon set off. Crock's Scrapyard soon came into view, where BoCo was having some of the trucks in his long goods train filled with the broken and rusted metal. The diesel gave Edward a cheerful toot of his horn as he passed, receiving a whistle in reply.
Edward arrived at Upper Brendam to pickup the last of the children, as Bertie would bring the rest up from Brendam itself. Setting off, the blue engine noticed something unusual.
"That's odd. April should have come through with her empty vans by now."
One of April's jobs on Edward's branch line is delivering lines of empty wagons to Brendam Docks, and the Class 15 was usually quite punctual with her delivery, but today, she was late.
"Perhaps her driver dawdled when fueling her up?" The fireman asked.
They soon got their answer as they pulled into the small hault that served Brendam Girls School, and the children disembarked just as April tore down the line with her train of empty vans.
"Careful, April!" Edward called.
"I know! I know!" April called back, disappearing down the line.
Edward felt concern for the diesel as he chuffed out of the hault as Bertie arrived from Brendam. The two exchanged a whistle and a honk as made his way to the last town on his branch line before he would head to the docks.
Dropping off and picking up passengers at the town of Brendam, Edward then made his way down to the bottom station at Brendam Docks. When he arrived, there was a loud crack and then a crash. Edward was uncoupled from his coaches and ran over to see what caused the commotion even as Rosie dashed off in the opposite direction.
It wasn't a pretty sight. April had burst through the buffers on one of the pier sidings, and was now laying cab-first in the open hull of a barge.
Emily, the diesel tugboat from Halifax who worked at the docks and was notable for always wearing a large blue fishing hat, had attached her tow rope to the barge to keep it steady.
"Good heavens! What happened?!" Edward exclaimed.
"Argh, April was bringing in her load of vans fer me an' Rosie to shunt, but the lass couldn't slow down in time, burst through the buffers and tobogganed right down into the barge's hull. Rosie's gone to fetch Rocky from the rescue centre," Salty explained.
"Easy, April, I've got you," Emily reassured the Class 15, who was in a state of hysteria.
"This barge won't hold for long! It's hull will crack, and then it'll split open and we'll both sink!" April cried out, shaking fearfully.
"Salty, lets you and I move the vans out of the way. Give Rocky more room to work when he gets here," Edward said.
"Right ye be, shipmate," Salty agreed as they set to work.
They had moved the last van out of the way just as Rosie returned with Rocky, who quickly set to work. The Fat Controller arrived just as Rocky had lifted April out of the barge and away from the water.
"Are you alright, April?" He asked.
"M-my n-n-nerves are sh-shot, S-s-sir," April stammered as Rocky gently lowered he onto the tracks. She was quite shaken from the calamity.
"Why didn't you slow down?" Rosie asked.
"M-my brakes j-j-just gave out," the diesel tried her best to elaborate as a quick inspection was conducted on her, "I w-was b-braking as I p-pulled into th-the docks, but then-then I f-felt this pain in-in my brake pipe and-and next thing I know, my brakes blow out and-and I'm running through the buffers!"
"She's right!" called the inspector, "There's a hole in her brake pipe. Looks like it was a man-made hole, too."
"Quite unsettling," the Fat Controller muttered to himself before turning around, deep in thought.
"Sir?" Rosie asked.
"I believe that this may be yet another attack by the saboteur that's been plaguing the railway as of late," he stated, "April, you'll be sent for repairs, but a more thorough inspection will be needed to confirm whether or not my suspicions are correct. Edward, could you take care of her goods duties for the rest of the day?"
"Of course, Sir," Edward said, and set to work.
"Now, April," the Fat Controller said, turning to the Class 15 diesel, "I want you to know that this wasn't your fault, but an engine should always be mindful of their speed."
"Yes, Sir," April sighed.
The Fat Controller walked into the dock master's office and used the telephone to make a call.
"Hullo. Yes. No. No. Yes, unfortunately. Is he there right now? He is? Good. I need him to come down to Brendam Docks. Yes, I know, that's why I'll be assigning another up there in his place. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Good day."
He hung up the phone and massaged his temples before making one more call, this time to the Dieselworks.
It wasn't long before Derek arrived at the docks with a concerned look on his face.
"Now, Derek, April needs to go to the works to be mended, and I need you to take her there," the Fat Controller said, "Once you've done that, you'll be assigned here to cover her duties until her repairs are finished."
"Yes, Sir," Derek replied, "but who will look after the coaling plant?"
"I've already assigned Sidney there. He'll be less likely to get lost and forget where he is if he stays in one area."
"Of course, Sir," Derek agreed as he backed down and buffered up to April, who looked quite downcast.
"There, there April," Derek soothed, "I'll get you to the works, and they'll fix you up in a jiffy."
And with that, Derek set off toward the Dieselworks.