The Trouble with Cocoanuts

"The Cocoanut Palace?" Freddie asked in confusion. Work in Betsy had progressed quite well, and by this point, Freddie was in the town with a train full of rails, ties and sleepers. Near to where he stood was a resturant with an odd name.

"Yeah it's Betsy's pride and joy," said Karen, his fireman. "They sell one thing and one thing only; Cocoanuts. I went there a few nights ago, and let me tell you, they make some great treats. And the drinks, they're delicous."

"But where do the cocoanuts come from? I'm not sure this island has perfect weather for growing Cocoanut Trees."

"They're imported," answered John the Engineer. "But the owner has recently bought some land where they will grow some Cocoanut trees in a greenhouse. From what I heard, it's perfect for the trees."

"STUPID! That's what they are! STUPID!" shouted an angry voice.

Freddie looked and saw a McKenna Truck driving away, grumbling loudly. It didn't take long for Freddie to figure out that the Truck Company had lost another contract to the railroads. He said nothing, but showed a little smirk to the truck.

Later that evening, Freddie returned to the Warehouse where he found the others simmering down for the night.

"We must've laid down the longest section of track this year," said Alison. "According to the foreman, we'll be done within two days."

"My gosh, that is fast," said Freddie. "We're into the town of Betsy right now, and currently our tracks stop at a place called the Cocoanut Palace."

"Cocoanuts?" Alison gasped. "Don't talk to me about Cocoanuts!"

Rayne and Mak raised their eyebrows at Alison, "why...do you...er...uh...hate...them?" Rayne asked with some trouble.

"It all comes down to one run on my old line," Alison grumbled. "I was puffing along with a long train. We were making good time, but as we approached an open strecth of track, we found ourselves being hit by Cocoanuts. Some stupid kids had stolen them from a local store in town, and decided to throw them at us."

"Was anyone hurt dudette?" Luna asked as she oiled Alison's joints.

"I got dents, and my fireman got hit in the right arm, but that was nothing compared to our load. The force of all those Cocoanuts hit the logs so much that they moved and breaking the ropes, they fell off my train. One got stuck in the ladder of the flatcar and was dragged along the line. It almost derailed us, but thankfully we stopped in time."

"Please tell me that those idiots were dealt with," pleaded Lori from the cab.

"Oh they were. My Conductor and engineer went after the little buggers while my fireman inspected the train. They got in serious trouble with the police, and while we were fine afterwords, it made me hate Cocoanuts."

"Well then, I guess I know which engine won't take them to Betsy," said a voice. Everyone looked to see Mr Harrison. He was coming into the workshops, "first off, I want to thank everyone for doing their part, and Mak, keep up the good work on teaching Rayne. Now, the main reason I'm here is because the Palace wants us to deliver Cocoanuts to them. Freddie, can you take some to them while bringing your extension train?"

"I can do that Sir, no problem."

"Mind how you go with them, they can leave a nasty dent if you're not careful," advised Alison.

Freddie understood, but didn't think the Cocoanuts were going to be a problem.

Over the next few days, the Freedom Railroad brought in the Cocoanuts from the docks and delivered them to the Little Haulers. Freddie delivered them with almost no trouble, though John did notice that going down Clover's Hill, the wheels would slip. Nothing serious like what happened with Alison, but it was still worrying.

"I'm worried we might be overdoing it with the loads we have," he said to the foreman. "I know the palace needs their Cocoanuts, but if we get too heavy of a load, then Freddie will run out of control."

"I understand your concern John, and rest assured, we'll never take a bigger load than what we're carrying."

But Karen wasn't so sure as she saw lots of people heading over to the Palace. "With the large amount of people going into the resturant, I have a feeling the amount we bring may not be enough."

Karen was right in that statement. As time went on, more and more cocoanuts were brought to the Little Haulers and Freddie often found himself struggling to keep the train in control.

"Who would've thought these things would be this heavy," he said to his crew.

On the sixth day following the start of the deliveries, John spoke with Mr Harrison about the situation. He completely understood, "Rayne's training is almost done, so Mak can take the Cocoanuts and you guys can go back to the regular extension trains."

This brought about a sigh of relief to John, but it would be short lived.

On a sunny morning, Freddie puffed over to the Transfer point and spotted the box cars being loaded with Cocoanuts, and behind them were flatcars being loaded with the first of the Cocoanut trees.

"That train must weigh alot with that kind of load," commented Karen. "I feel sorry for Mak."

"Hey! You there!" called a voice. Freddie was stopped and everyone looked to see the owner of the Cocoanut Palace waiting with the train, "this Cocoanut Train needs to be delivered to Betsy right away, can you take it?"

"You must be joking, this load added with our own will be too heavy to take," grumbled John. "Mak will be along in a few..."

"Sorry, but that won't do," said the resturant owner. "We need those cocoanuts and our trees delivered now!"

John sighed, "we'll have to leave our train for Mak and take this load alone. No way I'm taking both loads together."

But there was a problem. Mak wasn't steaming properly, and both Rayne and Alison were busy with their own jobs. In the end, the foreman agreed to wait for their return. And so with that confirmed, Freddie was coupled up to the train of Cocoanuts, and once all was set, he set off for Betsy.

All went well at first, then came Clover's Hill.

"Easy now, easy," groaned John as he opened the brake handle. The sounds filled the area, but looking at the gauge and outside the cab, John noticed the speed wasn't going down, it was steadily increasing. He knew why, "dang it, that load is too much, more brakes then." So John applied the brakes even harder, and that did the trick. The train slowed down to a nice gentle speed.

"That was too close, but I'll make sure to tell that resturant owner to really consider the idea of two trains, rather one heavy one."

Little did they know that trouble was coming. The hard application of the brakes had worn the brakeblocks down, which meant Freddie had less braking power than ever.

They rolled though Glbert's Lane with no trouble, then at last, they reached Betsy. As they came into the town, John applied the brakes again. They slowed, but not by much. Freddie was still going fast, "oh no, we're not slowing down!"

"Reverser! PLEASE!" cried Freddie as he could see the end of the tracks coming up.

Karen jumped into action and as the reserver was opened up, she reduced the steam pressure. Despite their efforts, it wasn't enough as Freddie ploughed through the barrier at the end, crunched the road and slid along helplessly. His cars bounced through the grooves, and as they did, many of the doors burst open.

After much sliding, Freddie came to a grinding hault. This resulted in more bumping, forcing Cocoanuts out of the box cars and to fly everywhere, including all over Freddie and his crew. Worse was to come as one of the trees suddenly snapped free and flew straight towards them.

"GET DOWN!" cried Karen as she and John hit the floor hard. The tree hit Freddie hard, denting his front dome, smashing his windows and breaking off the funnel before hitting the ground with a thunderous crash. When the noise died down, everyone could see the area in a terrible mess. Roads were destoryed, glass had been shattered and Freddie was now missing a funnel. Luckily, the tree had missed Karen and John, but they were annoyed.

"Did you even tie down the tree before we left the yards?" John asked the resturant owner.

"Of course I did, I'm not stupid."

"Did you use ropes or chains?" Karen asked.

The resutrant owner didn't answer. Grumbling, John went back to the flatcars and checked. What he saw made him angry. The owner had used cheap style ropes, rather than strong ones or chains.

"Oh you son of a..."

"Explain to me again how this mess even happened," Mr Harrison said as he spoke with Freddie that night.

"Excatly as I told you, my brakeblocks were worn down and we crashed, and one of the trees hit my funnel. The tree is alright from what I heard, but now I'm in a sorry state."

"I told you that could happen," said Alison. "Though I was only talking about Cocoanuts themselves, not a whole tree."

Mr Harrison pinched the spot between his eyes, "well at least we have three other engines to pick up the slack, but one thing is certain, that resturant owner will be paying for the damage done to you Freddie."

Mak piped up, "I'm sorry I couldn't help, I just couldn't get started right away. Worked a late shift you know."

"It's alright Mak, these things do happen to steam engines. But there is something I will say."

"What's that?"

"I hate Cocoanuts."

At first, the owner of the Cocoanut Palace refused to pay for the damage, but in the end, Mr Harrison won the battle and the owner payed up. Needless to say though, once his trees were in place, he never bothered the railroad again, but he would help when, but that's for the next story.