Smudger's eyes blinked as sleep slowly evaded him. All was quiet, except for the birds chirping. Blinking again, he could see the ruins of the railway in front of him, as well as the animals hurrying about outside his prison shed. In the distance, a faint roar of a motor could be heard. He perked at the sound, wondering what it could be as it slowly became louder.
The sounds engines could be heard as a couple of flatbed lorries came into view, along with several construction vehicles secured to their beds, consisting of a red front loader and a green excavator. Behind them was a blue crane vehicle. The lorry came to a halt and the workmen began helping to unload the machinery. The front loader's bucket waved excitedly.
"Hurry everyone! We've got an engine to rescue!" he honked as they made their way to Smudger's shed.
"Hey Smudger!" called the green excavator, "we've come to rescue you! Now then…" he turned to the front loader. "...how are we going to get him out?"
"Uh….hmm…." the front loader pondered, studying the shed. It was quite dilapidated and getting Smudger out was going to be a challenge.
"We could break down the brick walls and tow him out."
"Or we could blast him out with dynamite!"
"We're NOT going to do that Alfie! You wanna get him blown up?"
"Of course not!"
Kelly then spoke up. "First, we'll have to break open the roof and create an opening. The workmen will attach some chains to him and I'll lift him out and onto the flatbed with my crane. You two will need to remove the rubble around the entrance so we can get in. Can you do that?"
"Yes yes! Let's get to work!" The rest of the Pack shouted.
The rescue operation soon started. Jack and Alfie began scooping away the rocks and bricks surrounding the old shed, and Kelly carefully removed the shafts from the roof, which had almost completely collapsed at this point. Soon the roof was gone and the workmen set out placing chains around the green engine and cutting away the vines that had grown around him.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" asked Smudger worriedly.
"Yes, we can get you out without a hitch!" Jack seemed confident enough.
Soon Smudger was secured, and the chains were attached to Kelly's crane. Very slowly, he began to lift the little green engine out of the shed.
"Whooaaaaaaa!" called Smudger as he was lifted into the air.
"Steady now," said Kelly as he started to rotate. Smudger fidgeted nervously.
"I can't feel my wheels! I can't feel my wheels!" he cried.
"Stay still," ordered Kelly. Soon, Smudger was out of the shed and Kelly carefully eased him onto the flatbed.
"You'll be sent to the repair works before going to your new home." Kelly told him, "Soon you can give your wheels a good run!"
Smudger's eyes glanced around the area. For the first time in decades, he could feel the sun shining down upon him, the breeze brushing past his funnel, and see everything around him in a near panoramic view. "I….I don't believe it….I don't believe it!" he exclaimed, "I'm out of that shed! I'm finally free from that silly old shed!" he laughed.
The Pack exchanged looks.
Smudger blushed and quickly composed himself. "T-Thank you so much," he stammered, "for getting me out of there."
"No problem!" gushed Alfie, "We're just happy to see you out and about again!"
"I owe you!" Smudger called as the lorry roared to life. The vehicle surged forward, and Smudger felt a jolt of excitement run through him as they made their way down the narrow winding roads. Smudger couldn't recall the last time he had felt any movement of any kind, and it was thrilling. He didn't even need to move his wheels! He couldn't help but smile as the wind brushed past him and he glanced about at his surroundings. Oh how it felt so good to be moving again!
Some time passed and they soon reached the works. The workmen carefully unloaded Smudger onto a flatbread with a crane. An engine came to shunt him into the shed, and coupled up to the flatbed, pushing him into the shed. The workmen looked him over.
"Goodness!" one of them exclaimed, "look at all that rust! You'll definitely need a lot of your parts replaced. Your insides will have to be completely refurbished. But once we get you fixed up, you should be good as new."
"How long will it take?" asked Smudger. He was indeed excited to get mended, but he was also eager to get back onto the rails as soon as possible.
"Well considering the extent of the damage….I would say at least a month", one of the workmen stated. "Probably much longer as we'll likely have to order several parts."
Smudger held back a groan. He hated the idea of being stuck here for a month or more! But at least it was better than being locked in that horrible generator shed.
The workmen wasted no time getting to work on fixing him up. They cleared away all of the vines from his body and began cleaning out his interior as well as working on removing his rust. The workmen were incredibly busy, but also very kind to Smudger and asked him many questions, such as where he came from and where he was going. Smudger was very happy to have the workmen to talk to and eagerly engaged in their conversations. Soon night fell, and it was then Smudger realised how tired he was. His eyes grew heavy and his vision blurred, and soon he drifted off into sleep as the workmen continued working on him.
Several miles away, situated in a small part of the countryside, was a little railway. This was the Skarloey railway, which was run by a group of little engines. Much like the Northwestern Railway, they offered both passengers and good services. Usually the little railway was a common visiting site for tourists, but today the passenger services were slow. Goodswork, on the other hand, remained high in demand, and all engines were needed to shunt and pull trucks to and from the slateworks and quarries. However, the workload was heavy and the engines were older now, which made work more difficult for them. Even Rusty, the small diesel, struggled to maintain the schedules their controller had issued for them. The Thin Controller realised this, and on this particular evening, he went to the sheds to visit the little engines.
"Good evening," he greeted.
"Good evening Sir," they murmured back in unison.
"It has come to my attention that the schedules are not being met. I know you are all really useful engines and are all doing very well, but you need help. In a couple of months I have arranged for another engine to come and help us. I trust you will welcome him to our railway and show him the ropes. Can you do that?"
"Yes Sir!" they cried.
"We really need the extra help," said Skarloey, "I've about worn my wheels into the ground."
"We'll show him how our work is done!" piped up Peter Sam.
"It will be so good to see another face," agreed Rheneas.
Duncan snorted. "Thank goodness for that! Maybe I'll finally get some rest! All this work and barely any time to sleep!"
"We'll do our best Sir," promised Sir Handel.
The old engine next to him snorted. "Assuming you all don't go lollygagging!"
"Aw come on Grandpuff! We'll show him how to be really useful!" protested Peter Sam with a grin.
"I think Peter Sam is right, Duke," said Mr Percival, "I'm sure you will all do very well. Well then, I will see you tomorrow." With that, he hopped on his bike and left.
"I wonder who the new engine is," muttered Rheneas.
"He didn't say," said Skarloey, "but we mustn't fret about that now. It's going to be a couple of months before he arrives. I just hope he'll be very useful indeed."
The little engines continued to chatter quietly until they fell asleep. Little did they know a huge surprise would await them in the next couple of months.
Alright that's the next chapter! I apologise that it took me awhile, I recently started university again and therefore haven't got as much time to write. But no worries, the story shall go on! I'll try and get around to Chapter 3 as soon as I can.