OLIVER TAKES THE POST
Based upon "Oliver's Find" by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton
Adapted by Zack Wanzer and Rachel Ravens
The coal mines being shut down wasn't a massive blow for the North Western Railway, but a measure of relief came when the coal shipment from the mainland finally arrived.
"Thank goodness that lot is…" Duck coughed from the coal he had taken on from the mine. "…finally here."
"Yes indeed," said Oliver, wincing from his cousin's coughing. "At least we don't have to deal with that rotten lot anymore. The last time I had to deal with bad coal was when I was making my escape to Sodor."
"That's th' wirst time tae tak' oan bad coal," sighed Douglas with feeling. "Ah'm juist thankful Donnie 'n' Ah didnae hae ony while we wur comin' 'ere."
"Aye," agreed Donald. "'N' Ah'm juist thankful none o' us hud ony trains that cuid gang aff wi' sparks fae oor funnels."
"Perish the thought, Mr. Donald," Toad said quietly.
"Duck, I think you'd better get your firebox cleaned out before you do any more jobs today," said Oliver. "I'll take the first passenger run of the day."
"Good… idea," Duck agreed, coughing again.
Oliver buffered up to Old Slow Coach to take her out, along with a couple of ordinary coaches, and the two started making good time along the track.
"It's so good to be on a railway that will treat us engines right," Oliver smiled.
"It wasn't always that way, dear," said Old Slow Coach. "Sodor wasn't always in the hands of Sir Topham Hatt."
"I don't believe I ever asked about that," said Oliver. "Who was in charge before him?"
"Alfred Wiltshire Dry was in charge of the railway before Sir Topham took over," explained Old Slow Coach. "While he was a good man, he was a bit of a pushover when it came to the railway board under the hand of Albert Regaby."
Oliver winced. "He sounds downright cruel. What exactly did he do?"
"I wouldn't go so far as to say he was cruel," said Old Slow Coach. "But rather, Regaby didn't have the best contingency plan. Just as soon as new engines arrived, he'd dispose of older engines."
"By 'dispose', you mean…"
"Yes, dear. I'm afraid so."
"Lack of a contingency plan or not, taking someone's life is cruel!" snapped Oliver. "How many… how many lives were lost on this railway, before Sir Topham Hatt took control, humans excluded of course?"
Old Slow Coach paused, trying to collect her thoughts. "As far as I know… nine engines. The box tank engine trio vanished just before the other two railways were merged together. Maurice, the second Coffee Pot, disappeared through unknown circumstances before Edward arrived. Phyllis and Leslie were in a crash which got the railway board to withdraw both of them, according to what Edward told me. Billy ended up in a mine but could not be dug out, and Tasha and Glynn… I don't know anything more about them. There was also Helena and Victoria, two coaches, going missing, but I don't know about them either. Albert and Mildred, the last two Wellsworth and Suddery engines, and Samson, the one box tank not related to the other three, were lucky to have been at a factory on the mainland."
Oliver's eyes started to burn up with tears. "Why was fate dealt so cruelly to all of those engines? What had they done to deserve it?"
"That's just life, I'm afraid, dear…" Old Slow Coach said sadly to herself.
Later, Oliver got back to Arlesburgh yards and was due to arrange a goods train. Toad, however, couldn't help but notice that his friend wasn't feeling his usual self.
"Excuse me, Mr. Oliver, but it seems to me that things are not well with you, if you forgive me for mentioning it," he said gently.
"Oh, yes, Toad," said Oliver. "I just heard some very upsetting information from Old Slow Coach on my passenger run this morning." He summarized it, trying very hard not to cry.
"Oh, by Brunell's name!" exclaimed Toad. "That is horrific!"
"If that Mr. Regaby was here now, I'd give him an earful!" Oliver growled. "Doesn't he know that scrapping is the equivalent of killing for an engine or brake van?"
"It's alright, Mr. Oliver," assured Toad. "Mr. Regaby's not in charge of the railway board now, so he's got no power over Sir Topham Hatt."
"I know," sighed Oliver. But all the same, his temper still grew worse, and he began being rough with the trucks.
"You're no good, Oliver!" snapped the orange coal truck.
"You're dangerous!" added the Bennett and Co. truck.
"We want Duck!" put in the teal truck.
"Pah! Duck's too busy to be bothered with the likes of you!" retorted Oliver, and he bumped the trucks hard.
"Mr. Oliver!" cried Toad. "You might want to watch out for the…"
CRASH!
"…turntable," sighed Toad. Three trucks, those being the orange truck, the teal truck and the Bennett and Co. truck, had ended up in the turntable well, and two more – one of them being the ULP van - had derailed in front of Oliver, who simply stared in shock at what he had just done.
"Er… oops," he said meekly.
"You silly engine!" scolded the turntable operator. "It'll take a long time to repair the turntable, and that'll cause problems for Donald and Douglas!"
"Not again…" sighed Oliver.
"Ye destroyed th' turntable again?!" snapped Donald when he and Douglas got the message.
"Not intentionally," Oliver admitted. "I… I had a talk with Old Slow Coach about what happened on Sodor prior to us coming here and… it was a lot heavier than I was expecting."
"Whit dae ye mean?" asked Douglas.
Oliver, still shaken from the day's events, ran down the whole discussion he had with Old Slow Coach that morning.
"Losh sakes!" exclaimed Douglas once Oliver had finished. "Na engine, coach or brake van shuid ever hae tae be under ony controller lik' that."
"Indeed not, Douglas," said Sir Topham Hatt; he had just shown up in his car. "Oliver, while I can't blame you for feeling this way, having worked with Albert Regaby myself in the past, this accident with the turntable has caused some disarray for the Little Western."
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry sir," said Oliver.
"I'll be sending Donald and Douglas over to the main line and the Brendam branch line for a while, and Bear and BoCo will do their work here," Sir Topham Hatt explained. "As the two diesels have a cab at each end, they won't need the turntable. Do you two understand?"
"Aye, sur," the twins chorused. Oliver felt a bit disappointed by this announcement, as it was his fault this had happened.
"As for you, Oliver," said Sir Topham Hatt, "I think you need to clear your smokebox. Thomas and Percy are backlogged with extra post trains, and Duck's offered to help. Would you like to help too?"
"Er, alright, sir," said Oliver, a bit surprised by this announcement. "I'll do my best."
"Ah may pass ye oan th' Midnight Goods run th' nicht," said Douglas.
"Let's just see who passes who," chuckled Oliver, feeling more confident already.
Soon, Duck, Oliver and Toad arrived at the post depot. Thomas and Percy were already there with their respective trains.
"Good to see you three here," smiled Thomas. "You all remember what to do, right?"
"I sure do, Thomas," said Duck; he had to cover for both Thomas and Percy on numerous occasions when they were either being mended or were busy with other jobs.
"Er, actually, I don't know what to do," Oliver admitted. "This is my first time with the post train."
"Oh," said Percy. "It's not too hard, Oliver. You just have to wait for the porters to load and unload the vans at the stations and the depot."
"But don't whistle loudly," added Duck with a laugh. "I think I woke up some of the neighbors on my first time doing this."
"I'll try and keep that in my mind," chuckled Oliver. He shunted Toad to the back of his train before coupling up in front. It wasn't long before each of the guards' whistles blew one by one.
"Okay, Toad, here we go," said Oliver when it was his turn.
The little autotank slowly started to bring his train up to speed as he headed into the night.
"It's beautiful out here," he breathed. "The stars are very bright tonight."
"It's nice to be able to be out on a night run without our lives hanging in the balance, Mr. Oliver," Toad noted.
The two maintained a good speed until they had to collect some mail from Mr. Tipper.
"Where could Mr. Tipper be?" asked Oliver to Toad.
"Maybe he's had a flat tire or something," Toad suggested. The pair waited for a long while, but at last, they heard the tooting sound of a van's horn.
"Sorry I'm late," panted Mr. Tipper. "There was a bit of confusion with some smudged addresses on the parcels. You know how it is."
"We know that we'll be late with Oliver's first run," muttered Oliver's guard.
"Oi, Mr. Rodgers," grunted the tank engine. "Sorry about that, Mr. Tipper. He's not used to getting up early. New trainee guard, I think."
"Quite alright, Oliver," said Mr. Tipper warmly as he loaded his post bags in the vans. "You and Toad are doing splendidly for your first time, and I do apologize for contributing to your delay."
"Thank you, Mr. Tipper," smiled Toad. "Now, Mr. Oliver, we should try to make up for lost time."
"Indeed," said Oliver. "If we're lucky, we may get to see Douglas when he passes by with his return Midnight Goods."
"He's the one who saved you both, isn't he?" asked Mr. Tipper.
"It's not just that," said Oliver. "We just seemed to have clicked when we first met. Neither of us can really explain it."
"Probably just common ground," Mr. Tipper suggested. "You both-" He got cut off by the guard's whistle. "Oh, see you both later. Take care."
"See you later, Mr. Tipper!" both Westerners called.
"Yes, that's it," smiled Oliver. "Douglas and I have a lot in common. That's why we get along so well."
Toad, however, was chuckling to himself.
"Oh, Mr. Oliver…" he said quietly. "You really don't know…"
The two started coasting down the line once more, Oliver keeping a close eye out for the signal changes.
"All green so far," he called to Toad. "With any luck, we'll be done just before sunrise."
But Oliver had spoken too soon; the next signal they came across was red and they had to stop.
"Oh, bust my buffers," grunted Oliver. "Me and my big mouth…"
"Don't worry, Mr. Oliver," said Toad. "Maybe Mr. Douglas has yet to pass."
A few minutes went by.
"Oh… forgive me if a few neighbors wake up," sighed Oliver. He blew his whistle, hoping the wind would carry it over to the signal box further down. "Excuse me, can you set the points and signal to green, please?"
But there was no answer. What Oliver and Toad didn't realize was the signalman had fallen asleep on the job.
"Maybe the signal's broken," suggested Oliver's driver. "We'd better go slowly and stop by the signal box."
"Oh, not more delays," moaned Mr. Rodgers. "I just want to finish up so I can get back to the beach tomorrow."
"Do you think we're happy about this?" grunted Oliver. "We can't delay the mail any longer than we already have."
Oliver carefully moved forwards, but what he and Toad didn't notice was that they were going the wrong way.
"I didn't know the island looked this different at night," Oliver said to himself.
"Lots of shadows cast by the moonlight indeed," replied Toad.
"We'd better find a water tower soon," cried Oliver's fireman.
"I thought I felt a bit thirsty," Oliver gasped. "I didn't realize my tanks were that low."
That was the least of their problems, however, as they passed by some strange rock formations, and then found an old shed at the end of the track.
"Driver, fireman!" cried Oliver. "Brakes!"
The driver quickly applied the brakes, but it wasn't soon enough to prevent Oliver from hitting the buffers with a hard bump. Miraculously, he stayed on the rails.
"Ouch…" he muttered. He glanced back. "Toad, are you alright?"
"Just a bit shaken, Mr. Oliver," Toad called. "What about you and your crew?"
"We're alright," called the fireman. "But now we need to call for help. I'd like to give that signalman a piece of my mind…"
"You and me both, Walter," nodded the driver.
Meanwhile, at sunrise, Sir Topham Hatt was looking worried. Thomas, Percy and Duck had finished their mail runs safely, but…
"Oliver has not returned," said Sir Topham Hatt.
"Oliver's whit!?" gasped Douglas, having just returned with the Midnight Goods to Knapford. "Och, whit if he ended up at Barrow by mistake?"
"Douglas," said Duck, his voice sharp but calm, "let's not jump to any conclusions."
"Duck is right, Douglas," said Sir Topham Hatt. "We'd better send out a search party and hope that he and Toad haven't gotten into trouble."
"Maybe he was tired and spent the night at the Steamworks," Percy suggested. "Isn't that what you did when you first found him?"
"Aye, 'twas," said Douglas.
"I'm sure Harold will find Oliver and Toad in a jiffy," said Thomas. "If not, one of us will find him on our daily rounds."
Soon, Sir Topham Hatt was on board Harold; it was much easier to find the missing engine and brake van from the sky.
"I thought I saw Oliver on his rounds with the mail train on my night patrol," Harold explained. "He was heading down this way." He then saw something strange. "Is that signal supposed to be red right now, sir?"
"No," Sir Topham Hatt admitted. "In fact, the track down that set of points isn't being used at all."
Harold flew down the unused track to investigate. Down below, Toad looked up to see the white helicopter flying above them.
"Mr. Harold!" cried Toad. "Are we glad to see you!"
"Toad!" exclaimed Haorld. "There you are, chap. Where's Oliver?"
"I'm here too!" the little autotank replied.
"Thank goodness," sighed Harold as he landed nearby.
"How did you two end up down there?" asked Sir Topham Hatt.
"If any of us had to guess, sir," said Oliver's driver, "a signalman fell asleep on the job."
"I shall be having a word with him later…" muttered Sir Topham Hatt. "Still, I'm just glad that you're all safe. Oliver, can you get back to the nearest water tower and coal bunker on your own?"
"No, sir," Oliver admitted. "My water supply was running low when I was diverted."
"In that case, I'll send Douglas to help you," Sir Topham Hatt told him. "He's been in a bit of a panic earlier."
It wasn't long before Douglas arrived to help Oliver and Toad finish their mail run.
"Thank th' Great Railway ye baith ur okay," Douglas sighed as he buffered up to them.
"I'm just glad we ended up stuck there for the night," said Oliver. "There are plenty of worse places to get lost…"
"Daenae remind me," shuddered Douglas. "If that signalman comes 'ere, Ah swear Ah will pat him in his place."
Douglas didn't need to do that, as Sir Topham Hatt had spoken severely to the signalman first. Needless to say, it was not very polite, and I daren't repeat what he said.
What I will recount, however, is what Sir Topham Hatt discovered on the old track that Oliver was diverted onto.
"Is this… an old quarry?" he gasped. He was even more surprised to find a narrow gauge track running alongside the standard gauge track.
"I'll have to call Mr. Percival about this," he said to himself.
The two controllers met up at the old quarry later that day, both having arrived onboard Harold.
"Do you know anything about this quarry, Peregrine?" asked Sir Topham Hatt.
"Only the odd tale from the previous controller," Mr. Percival replied. "It used to connect up with the three pre-grouping railways from the Skarloey Railway. A lot of rock was mined from here. When I was guard, it wasn't used as much, and when I was controller, I all but forgot about it." He paused. "Our slate quarry isn't doing as well as it used to, and we do need another source of income."
"We just lost our coal mine," said Sir Topham Hatt. "While this won't replace it, it will provide business for the engines of both railways."
"Well, I do like our railways working alongside each other," smiled Mr. Percival. "I think we should open up the quarry."
"My sentiments exactly, Peregrine," said Sir Topham Hatt. "I know some of the engines would be thrilled with this arrangement."
Sir Topham Hatt then reported this news to Oliver.
"Oliver," he said proudly, "you have found a new source of income for both the North Western and Skarloey Railways in that old quarry."
"Oh, by the Great Western!" gasped Oliver. "I wouldn't have seen that coming. Getting lost is interesting, but being found is much nicer, especially when it makes an engine feel really useful."
"Bit please dinnae mak' it a habit," sighed Douglas. "It'll send a' body intae a frenzy."
"I'll try not to in the future," chuckled Oliver.
"We wur a' worried," said Donald, "bit Ah'm pretty sure that wis juist ye that wis in a frenzy, Douggie."
"Ah wisnae in ony panic!" Douglas shot his twin a look.
"Och, dinnae try tae deny it," smirked Donald.
"I saw it back at Knapford too," added Duck.
"Maybe they took on bad coal again…" Oliver muttered to Douglas.
"Aye," Douglas grunted in agreement as Donald and Duck laughed.
THE END
Author's Comments
Here's the nineteenth episode of Series 5 Redux, based upon Oliver's Find! The official episode's ending with the abandoned house being restored was never followed up on, making it a meaningless find in the long run. Rachel and I decided to change it up to the Boulder Quarry, and that will actually lead up to something in the long run. Not much else to comment on here, other than that we've decided to hint at something going on between Douglas and Oliver.
Upcoming stories:
- Make Someone Happy
- Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday
- Henrietta and the Naughty Coal Truck
- Happy Ever After
- Bye George!