A Bridge Over Troubled Water

It was near Midnight, but the museum's exterior lights were not on. In fact, none of the lights in the museum were on as a snowstorm had knocked out the power for the town of McKenna. The five locomotives; Nickel Plate 773 and 580, New York Central 5300 and 5344, and Pennsylvania 6200 could only look outside as the world outside turned, once more, into a frozen wasteland.

"At least we're in here and not out there," commented 5344. "Mind you, weather like this never really stopped us before, we'd carry on despite it all. Uh, not meaning to sound like I'm bragging."

"It's alright," smiled 580, "it's the spirit of every reliable locomotive that rolls down the track."

The howling wind outside picked up, making a terrible whistling noise through the air vents. Night-shift security guards shivered as they kept watch over the museum's interior, "blasted winter weather, I can't wait for spring to return," commented one.

"Don't we all," sighed 6200. "It brings to mind of what other locomotives might join us in the future."

"Well hopefully we'll get some more nice and friendly locos, and not troublemakers," said 5300. "I hate to point fingers, if I had any, but some railroads had a lot of bad locomotives."

"Indeed you are right 5300," said 773. "I've met many in my lifetime, and I know for a fact that railroads, or railways as they called in other parts of the world, can have bad locomotives. One I remember my old engineer told me about."

6200 raised an eyebrow, "and which locomotive would that be?"

"It was an engine from the New Zealand Railways department, one of their KA class nothern types."

"I know of those locos," said 580. "My old crew used to speak highly of them, though I don't recall ever hearing about any of them being bad locomotives."

"Well there was one, and she was numbered 949. She's also known as the sole loco of her class to be involved in an accident."

The locomotives gasped hearing this and begged all at once, "please tell us about that engine."

"Very well, but I have to start at the beginning." 773 cleared her throat and began her story, "the New Zealand Railways Department were highly impressed with their previous batch of locomotives, known as the K class, that they ordered for a newer locomotive that could do just as good, if not better than the previous batch. Thus the KA class was born, carrying the 900 numbers. Each one that rolled out of the workshops looked like a masterpiece, many carrying streamlining to make them look grander than ever, although some said it was to hide their feedwater heater systems."

"The only exception to the rule was 949, who upon leaving the workshops showed that she was a difficult one. She thought highly of herself and believed that only the finest should travel with her. She was also rude to any of the other locomotives, even her own classmates. Was her crew spared you might be asking? Well sad truth is, they weren't. 'Make sure you polish me until I shine like gold, and I don't care if you have families to go home to, I come first!' But that's not the worst part, if you can believe it."

"949 also didn't follow alot of the rules on the railway and she'd often ignore others, like her conductor, or guard as they are called over there. Her manager, the Department Controller as he was called, often spoke with her about her poor behaviour, 'I do not approve of my engines sticking their noses in the air and thinking they know better than anyone else. Hey! Are you listening to me?' "

" 'Hmm? Oh no sorry, I was thinking about my next grand passenger run'."

"The Department Controller shook his head and pinched the spot between his eyes, 'listen to me 949, if you don't start changing your ways and follow the rules, then one of these days, you'll really end up in trouble'. But as you can guess, 949 refused to listen to him."

"Surely, she didn't really disobey her manager, right?" 5300 asked with hope.

773 stared firmly at the hudson, "oh she did. The following morning after that talk, she left the station before it was her time to go, and worst still, she nearly had a head-on collison with 935, another KA steam locomotive."

" '949, you need to wait your turn, think of the passengers and your crew!' "

" 'My crew mean nothing to me, and as for the passengers, I'm just making sure they get to where they need to go, earlier than anyone else. They are very important you know, just like me, so stay out of my way!' "

"935 gritted her teeth, 'one day that locomotive will be taught a lesson she'll never forget'."

" 'But at what cost?' Her engineer, or Driver as they called over there, asked, 'she could hurt her passengers, or worse.' 935 really hoped that wouldn't be the case, but with all the close calls her sister had made, she knew it was only a matter of time before disaster would strike. And it would."

"It was Christmas Eve, and about 285 passengers were waiting for the Three P.M. train. Many groaned upon seeing 949, but it was she who made the loudest groan, 'I should be hauling only first class coaches, not second class, luggage and a guard's van, it's not fair!' "

" 'Oh quit your whining,' snapped her enginner, 'Department has made it clear that you are taking this lot, and no whining is going to make him change his mind'."

" 'Wanna bet?' She snarled at her crew. Luckily, the station staff were more friendly and offered to help the many passengers on board."

"As they did this, 935 called out to her, 'take care out there 949, and please don't disobey anymore warnings or instructions'."

" 'You know what 935, just shut up and let me do what I do best!' Once all was ready, 949 pulled out of the station, grumbling like anything. This would be the last time 935 would see her sister in one piece."

"Despite 949's grumbling, the run was quite smooth and they were making good time. Passengers on board the train sat back and relaxed as they took in the view of the countryside around them."

"Up the line however, there was trouble. A man named Cyril Ellis was driving his truck along the road when he came to a sudden stop. The reason for the stop was simple as the Whangauhu River at Tangiwai had flooded the bridge. Just as he was beginning to wonder what to do next, he saw a terrible sight. The river was smashing huge waves of water aganist the supports of the railway bridge, making them move away from their original spots. Then came the big one. It washed away the supports, destorying a large portion of the bridge and leaving a huge gap in the bridge."

"It was at that moment that Cyril saw the head-light of the express train."

" 'Cor blimey, I got to stop that train!' he cried. He grabbed a flash-light, or torch as they are called over there and started running down the tracks. He shouted at the top of his lungs 'Stop the train! Stop the Train!' But 949 wouldn't slow down, she thought instead of stopping, it'd be better to go fast and force him off the tracks. Cyril shouted until he jumped out of the way and into the bushes."

" 'What was that?' asked the enginner."

" 'A stupid fool, don't waste time with him, we have a timetable to keep to'."

"So they did, with Cyril still shouting for the train to stop, but of course it didn't. It was only less than a minute after the encounter that the engineer noticed the raging Whangauhu River, and through the cab windows, he saw the gap in the bridge."

" 'We need to stop!' he shouted to the fireman. He shut off steam and applied the brakes hard, while the fireman shut off the fuel supply for 949. 949 didn't understand what was going on until it was too late. There was nothing they could do. They reached the edge of the now damaged bridge and flew off into the river. The second class coaches followed them right into the river with passengers screaming in terror. The first coach of the first class section stopped, but being dangerously balanaced at the edge."

"Cyril ran up to the train, and after informing the conductor of the sitation, they went to the coach to try and get the passengers out. Despite their efforts, gravity won the battle and the coach fell into the river. Passengers gasped for air and screamed for help. Cyril and the conductor, with some additional help were able to break their way out and lead almost all the passengers out of the coach."

580 gulped as the dreaded question was asked, "what do you mean almost all of the passengers?"

"One didn't make it," 773 said in a somber tone. This was followed by silence from the other engines, and even the night-staff.

"In total, the wreck at the Whangauhu River Bridge cost 151 people their lives, which included the crew, who fought to the end to save the train, but to no avail. One of the deaths was the fiancée of the famous cricketer; Bob Blair. Needless to say, no one wanted to celebrate Christmas after this disaster."

773 went quiet, as did all of the museum. It was 5344 who broke the silence after two minutes, "what about 949?"

"Well they sent 935 with the Department Controller and a works train to the scene to help with the rescue and recovery, and as expected, he was not happy with 949, 'you always did have a habit of not listening to instructions or warnings, and now look where it's left you.' "

" 'Okay, this was a minor slip-up...' "

" 'Minor?' 935 spluttered. 'You stupid moron, you killed 151 people because you wouldn't listen'!"

" 'Now now 935, it's hard to say right now if slowing down would've helped, based on what I heard about that man Cyril's attempt to stop the train. However, you disregarded the warning and sped up, and now here you are, stuck in the embankment'."

" 'Well it won't happen again Sir, I can assure you of that'."

"The Department Controller stared coldly at her, 'indeed it will not 949, for we are not going to repair you. Instead, you are to be taken apart and scrapped.' 949 looked horrifed, 'I warned you of what could happen if you didn't change your ways, but you wouldn't listen. At least now we won't have you to cause anymore trouble, and it'll show other engines of how stupid it is to think you're too important to listen to warnings'."

" 'No please Sir, give me another chance!' "

"But he refused and as the new year began, 949 was indeed taken apart and disposed of. The bridge was soon mended, the company apologized for the loss of life, and new measures of security were put into place to ensure that another incident like the 949 crash never happened again."

As the story came to a close, the power was restored and many of the lights turned back on, but it didn't cheer anyone up. There was silence from the other engines, until 6200 broke it.

"Do you think she would've learned her lesson from the accident if they did repair her?"

773 sighed, "it's hard to say, she could've, but she might not have. We can only hope though that no one sees another bad mannered engine like 949 again." And on that note, all the locomotives agreed.

This story was based on the real tragic story at the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai. Much like in the story, Cyril Ellis, a passerby cried out a warning, and the crew attempted to stop the train, but it was too late as 949 and her train flew off the bridge and into the raging river. Like in the story, 151 lives were lost and 949 was scrapped after the accident.

The End!

Intense story at the end eh? To be honest, Story 4 was the whole reason this book took a year to put together. Not because of the idea, but because I had nothing to present as a story one of the museum locos could tell. That changed though when Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions posted his wreck documentary on the accident itself on his youtube channel, and that finally got me out of the jam I was in. Story 2 was actually re-written due to the original being too short and didn't really have a story leading to the actual incident with Alison. As for Story 3, well that was a tough one too as I wanted to have a story about Mak, but in the end, I opted to have Farmer Brent and his horses take the spotlight, mostly due to him not having any major roles in the series thus far. Still, I'm glad I got to write this book, and as stated before, this will be the last book to feature no new locomotives. As Book 8, which is going to come out faster than this one, there will be some new locomotives arriving on the island. But which ones, I won't say yet, cause that would only spoil the surprise. Till then, stay safe out there, look out for one another and keep your requests coming. See you next time with Book No 8.