A Beer Load of Problems

"Well Brook, I hear you had a run in with the Phantom Lights." Brook looked nervous as Robert stepped up to the sheds the following morning. "And you damaged a Jeep in the process."

"I'm sorry Robert, I just..."

"It's quite alright dear engine," he said, holding up his hand for silence. "I can understand where the fear is coming from, but as far as anyone knows, old 178 has been scrapped and remained lost forever, with no lights shining or whistle blowing."

"I did tell ye so," added Warren. "Tis just a folk's tale where I used to live."

"And any rate, it'll teach those little punks to stay out of our yards and off our lines, for a little while," he said, muttering the last part. "You got Freddie to the Little Haulers safe and sound, and that's what counts, so I won't punish you. Just advice you to be more careful in future, okay?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good, now I have a new announcement for you all. A new beer company has set up in the town of McKenna, and we are going to help them with deliveries. You will be taking tankers full of their goods to the end of the line in Big Jim's Town, and bring back more empties. If all goes well, we'll have a new customer and be able to afford more locomotives to add to the fleet."

The engines all promised to do their best to help.

Rebecca was the first engine to couple up to the white tankers. They had been cleaned inside and out, and all were looking forward to their first run. Nearby, Brook was arranging a train of her own.

"Mr Mason says my coaches are still in too bad of condition to run right now, so I've been given a freight to pull," she said to Rebecca.

Rebecca though could see an uneasy look on the new loco's face, "you're not used to pulling freight trains are you?"

"Not really. I always pulled my train; the Blue Comet along the Central of New Jersey lines. My old manager stated that it was our only job as there were other engines that could handle freights."

"Sounds to me like your manager sought you as a high and mighty engine."

Brook looked down shamefully to the ballast and rails.

Rebecca softened her approach, "sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sure he had his reasons, and don't worry, you'll get used to freights around here. Heck, even Jessica takes freight trains, and she was designed as a passenger engine."

"Do you often miss it?" Brook asked suddenly.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow, "miss what?"

"Your home, your old job, your family. Don't you miss it all?"

Rebecca sighed, "I do miss it all, and even my many cousins who I don't know the fate of, but I know somehow, someway, they will be saved from the cutting torch. But I'm grateful for this chance, and being given the chance to work on a wonderful railroad."

A whistle was heard from behind Rebecca's train.

"That's for me, got to be off. See you later Brook, and don't worry, you'll get used to everything around here." With a couple of blasts from the whistle, Rebecca set off down the line.

Brook watched as the 'Beer train' left the yards.

"I do hope so," but she said it to herself.

Rebecca's journey was uneventful and she reached the brewery in no time at all. The manager looked at his watch, "I see we've made the right choice in picking the Freedom Railroad," he said to Rebecca. "Keep this up, and we'll pay you guys double."

Rebecca beamed, "all in a day's work Sir."

She shunted the tankers, thirty four and all into a siding to be loaded up. As she did so, her radio crackled into life, "this is Robert calling Niki, come in Niki. Over"

"This is Niki, over. What's going on boss?"

There was silence, "you know how I feel about being called 'Boss'. Anyways, Mr Ingram called cause there's a shortage of supplies at the end of the line. Please take Rebecca back to the yards and collect the rest of the load. Over."

"We love to Sir, but we have to wait for the tankers to be loaded. Over."

"I already phoned the manager and explained everything. By the time you finish your delivery to the end of the line, you'll be back in plenty of time for the beer train. Over."

"Roger that, we're on our way, over and out." She hung up the radio and looked to Wendy, "better get her uncoupled, we have another job to do. Oh and put the brakes on those tankers, just to be safe."

Wendy nodded and climbed down from the cab. She uncoupled Rebecca, then set as many brakes as she could along the train.

"There we go, no chance of these going anywhere until we get back."

With her work done, she climbed back into the cab and Rebecca puffed off, light engine.

In over an hour, the workers had loaded the tankers. Rebecca however had not returned. Some decided to wait patiently, but there were a couple of workers that were getting impatient.

"Where is that blasted engine? This load needs to get to Big Jim's Town fast," grumbled one worker.

"Oh you know steam engines, they take forever," added another. Then a thought came to the worker, "and they'll be later still with those brakes set on the tankers."

The first worker kicked the ground angerily, "all our hard work gone to wa..." but then a thought came to him.

"Care to finish what you were saying?" asked the second worker.

"Why don't we just undo the brakes, then once the silly engine gets here, they'll move out in no time at all."

This was a really bad idea, but the second worker agreed with him, and so they set out to undo the brakes. They were just getting to the last set of brakes when their manager came out. He was shocked, "what are you ding-bats doing?"

"We're helping speed things up," called the first worker. He suddenly turned his head as he heard Rebecca's whistle, "and not a moment too soon, the engine is back."

The manager was about to shout when suddenly, the tankers began to move. The brakes on the first tanker squealed, but didn't help. Instead, the tankers picked up speed and hurried down the line.

Rebecca came to a stop, just in time to see the tail end tanker rattle out of the siding with the rest.

"Did you guys undo the brakes?" Wendy asked. Both workers nodded, feeling quite proud.

"You idiots!" shouted the manager, "those brakes were set because the siding is on a short incline, and without them, the tankers could, and have rolled away."

"Opps," groaned both workers.

Niki grabbed the radio and called to the yards, "this is Niki calling from the Beer Run, I'm reporting a runaway train. I repeat, I'm reporting a runaway train!"

Word soon spread down the line and in McGinnis, police stopped everyone from crossing the tracks. They watched on as the freight cars rolled down the line, gathering speed as they did.

In the yards, Brook was finishing the last of her shunting when the call came through.

"Runaway train! Runaway train! Get out of the area! We have a runaway coming this way, and no engines to stop it!"

Brook looked back as best as she could. She knew that if she got out of the way, those tankers would cause damage, including to the break rooms the workers had, which were located at the end of her siding. She spoke to her crew, "change those switches to my line, I'll stop them."

"But then you'll be damaged!" cried Lauren.

"It's either us, or death for those workers! Now hurry!"

Without wasting another second, the fireman ran down from the cab and changed the switches. He was just in time as the tankers rolled into the yards, going over 40. Lauren climbed down from the cab and ran off for safety. Brook could only shut her eyes.

There was a loud crash of metal on metal, which echoed for a mile or so. Then silence fell over the yards. As everyone looked, they could see Brook off the rails, but still upright, but her cowcatcher had been dented, and her funnel cracked. The tankers had suffered damage, with many spilling their load all over the yards. It was quite the mess.

Ace was the only engine close-by, so once he was fired up, he went down the line to collect the cranes. Meanwhile, workers began the task of cleaning up the mess. Robert had come to see Brook, "I had to stop the train Robert," she groaned, "I couldn't let it hit the workmen's break rooms."

"I'm well aware of what you did Brook, and I have to say, I'm proud of your selfless acts," he smiled. "Your actions show that I did indeed make the right choice when I picked you. After all, not many engines can say they will stand in front of an entire Beer train and take the hit."

"I guess not Sir," smiled Brook. "But what caused this runaway?"

"Some ding-bats over at the brewery, who I will be having a severe talk with about this." Robert sighed and pinched the spot between his eyes, "first runaway log cars, and now beer tankers. The last thing I need is for people to think we're only good at causing runaways."

"I doubt that," said Mr Mason as he walked up, "they know it's not our fault, it's the fault of the stupid morons involved. At least our engines prove to be heroes when the day is over, eh?"

Robert had to nod to that, "how is she Bryan? Is it bad?"

"The dents you see are nasty to look at, but nothing too serious, and certainly there is no chance of the boiler exploding like it did with Andrew, thank goodness," he sighed as he said the last part. "We'll have her up and running in no time, though this will mean that other project will be on hold for a few weeks at least."

"Do what you have to do Bryan, let's get our new hero repaired and have her running again. It wouldn't do us or her any good to keep her sidelined."

Mr Mason nodded and with Robert walking behind him, they joined the workers in cleaning up the mess. It was dark by the time Brook had been lifted onto the tracks. As her fire had been put out, Ace towed her to the workshops.

"You know something Brook, I've learned one important thing during this decade."

"What's that?" Brook asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well you can't really call yourself a Freedom engine if you haven't been involved in a major incident, or accident in your case. We all have had one at some point, either here or elsewhere."

"Perhaps," she sighed. As they neared the shops though, she found herself being cheered by the workers and many of the townsfolk, who heard by the accident. She smiled at this sight, "well even if I do get involved in an accident like this, I'm still proud to be a Freedom engine."

As this was going on, Robert was having a talk with the manager of the brewery. Seems though that the manager had already punished the two workers who caused the runaway. What did he do? Well he demoted them to Junitors, and their first job was to clean the employee's washrooms. Needless to say, they wouldn't be coming up with anymore bright ideas anytime soon.

This story is based on the real life Denver Yard accident where Coors Light Beer tankers rolled away due to not settling the brakes on the cars, and smashed into a switchjob in the Denver Yard. No lives were lost, but one of the switch engines was scrapped while the other was rebuilt and put back to work.