Welcome to the second chapter of my Island of Sodor Remake. This chapter will be less storyline filled and more character development based. I hope you enjoy it.
Island of Sodor Remake
Chapter 2-A Passenger Service Problem
The next morning was an eventful one for the engines. Usually they woke up with their drivers and firemen and got their work instructions for the day, but today they got a surprise.
Sir Topham Hatt.
He walked over to Knapford Sheds from his car which he had driven up to the sheds. Everyone was shocked, even the workmen, since he rarely arrived at the railroad so early or addressed them all together. Looking at his face they couldn't determine if he brought good news or bad news.
"So you all have been on this railway for an impressive nine months. I am proud of you all but." He paused and turned to Ellkan. "I heard about your tantrum yesterday and how you disobeyed orders about what jobs you are supposed to do." Ellkan looked amazed.
"But Sir, the steel train was going to take a long time to get delivered and I wanted to make sure I got it delivered in a timely manner. All my other jobs were just getting in the way." The other engines flinched knowing that Sir Topham considered every job important.
"Ellkan, that is not how you do your goods runs." He said sternly. "You do the jobs you are given when you are given them. I heard that Nadir had to take tar tankers in your place because you were a whole hour early to the docks. Thank goodness Nadir is reliable."
Nadir beamed and the other engines looked over at him happily.
"Sir I am reliable. I'm trying to be as efficient as possible." He was going to say more but Sir Topham put his hand up for silence.
"You've been making work difficult for a lot of workmen. You couldn't even be allowed to take passenger trains since you upset them so much. For the foreseeable future I am assigning you to shunting duty here at Knapford." The engines were stunned. This was a large punishment. Two things engines hated the most was being forced to stay in a shed as punishment and being forced to stay in a station yard to work. Ellkan tried to reason with him but it was no use.
"Claudimir I want you to do the western branch line runs. Atul, you will be doing the eastern branch line runs. Lynge, you'll be doing the main line run. That leaves, Nadir and Guapo with the goods duties." Ellkan tried to say something else but Sir Topham just gave him a stern look. "Go. Now." He said pointing towards the yard. Ellkan slowly puffed towards the yard, grumbling. He gave a nod to the other engines and walked away.
Claudimir was the first to speak up. "So that's going to be a problem for however long he's in that position."
Nadir spoke up next. "I don't know if I should be happy then for him getting in trouble because it gave me a chance to leave the yard."
"Of course you are allowed to be happy." Lynge stated to Nadir. He turned his attention to Atul. "You should really talk to him. You are the only engine that he actually listens to." When Guapo, Atul, and Ellkan first came to the island it was just a given that Atul was the leader of the group and so when Ellkan was being difficult Atul came in and talked to him. The leader role stayed with Atul when the next three engines came and so Atul was the only engine that Ellkan listened to when he was in one of his controlling moods.
"I can try but I don't think he will want any of us to talk to him. He's being punished and probably isn't happy with anyone right now, even himself." They talked for a few more minutes and then it was time to go. Claudimir was the first to leave the sheds. He puffed into Knapford station and coupled up to his four yellow branch line coaches at Platform two. He looked up towards the sky and saw that dark clouds had rolled in. His driver had told him that rain was due for the western part of the island that morning.
Unlike Lynge and Atul who were facing towards the east, the western branch line run started with the Arlesburgh Branch Line and thus the train had to go to the west and so Claudimir was facing the opposite direction. His passengers got in, the guard blew his whistle, the signal dropped, and Claudimir was leaving the station.
He puffed through Knapford Yard first in order to get to the branch line. As he went through he saw Nadir coupling up to some trucks and gave him a polite whistle. But he looked across the yard and saw Ellkan pulling some trucks out from a siding and did not look one bit happy. Ellkan once again gave a polite whistle but Ellkan didn't return it.
"Perfect," He thought. "Ellkan's already in a bad mood."
After only a few minutes of traveling, Claudimir arrived at the first station on the branch line, Tidmouth. Tidmouth was a large town like Knapford but its station didn't show it. The station has three tracks, two platforms, a glass ceiling and an extensive yard right beside it. Claudmir pulled up to the station to allow the passengers to get on and off. He was still thinking about Ellkan and what was going to happen with him. The guard blew his whistle and, startled, Claudimir started off again up the branch line.
"Penny for your thoughts." His driver said to him.
"I'm worried about Ellkan's situation. He's in such a bad mood that it might not be good to put him in a punishment like this."
"He did it to himself though. He's to0 confident that he knows the right way to do things on the railway. He needs to do yard work to teach himself that he's not in charge around here. Sir Topham Hatt is. Now enjoy the coast. You deserve it."
His driver was right about him enjoying the coastal route. If there was one thing that Claudimir enjoyed it was the quiet of the branch lines. While during the summer times the Arlesburgh Branch Line was extremely busy with people wanting to go to the beach, he always enjoyed the Ffarquhar Branch Line since it was small towns and farm land and it wasn't exceptionally busy. If he had to choose a place that he wanted to stay for his whole time on the island the Ffarquhar Branch Line was his choice. But for now, till they got more engines, having their own branch lines was out of the question.
Before he knew it he was at Arlesburgh. The town was separated in two sections. The upper section held the station for Arlesburgh, while the lower section held a through line towards Harwick and the harbor. He had more than just a few minutes before he had to make a return journey to Knapford. He waited happily just listening to the sound of the ocean that was nearby. Soon enough he heard the whistle for his train and pulled out of the station towards the line that brought him to the lower section and would loop him around from where he came. He was on his way down the line when he felt the first drop of rain hit him.
"There's that rain I told you about." His driver said to him.
"No problem with rain." He replied.
They continued on making a couple of stops at stations. They were close to to Haultraugh and were going smoothly. Claudimir could just see the station when he noticed something before the station.
The level crossing.
And the gates were closed.
And there was a car on the tracks that wasn't moving. A man close to the crossing was waving his arms to alert them.
"Driver. Brakes!" Claudimir yells. His driver looked ahead and seeing what Claudimir saw quickly applied his brakes. His brakes screeched and people on the platform gasped. In a loud screeching and swift stopping, Claudimir stopped a foot away from gates. The people on the platform, the man, and Claudimir and his crew all breathed a sigh of relief. His driver looked out at the man.
"What is going on?" He asked.
"My car broke down. I only managed to get out before I saw you coming. Thank goodness you stopped." The man seemed relieved that his car wasn't damaged. Claudimir though wasn't too happy at having to stop so suddenly but didn't say anything.
The man, his driver and the guard on the train all got out of the train to push the car off the tracks, in the rain. Before they got it off the tracks, Guapo pulled onto the other side of the platform opposite the gates, pulling three vans that were giggling at what was going on.
"Well Claudimir, I didn't realize you were a fan of getting into such predicaments." Claudimir wasn't happy at the comment. He hated being late with his passenger trains. His passengers relied on him.
Soon after the car was pushed off the tracks and the gates opened and allowed Claudimir and Guapo to move on.
"Hey don't worry about this. It's not your fault. You couldn't have avoided the delay." Guapo said with a smile.
"I know you are right but I don't enjoy that I was delayed." Claudimir said back as he pulled into the station and Guapo went off up the line.
Claudimir let off and took on passengers and left Haultraugh.
It was late at night when Claudimir pulled into Knapford yard after finishing his final Ulfstead Branch Line run. He was uncoupled from his coaches, allowing for Ellkan to put them away, and he went directly to the sheds.
He was the second to last one to arrive and backed into his spot in the sheds. The other engines were talking about their day. What Claudimir didn't realize was that they were talking about his day.
"So you nearly hit a car today, didn't you?" Atul said to Claudimir. Claudimir really didn't want to have to revisit it.
"I hear that you were able to stop just before the gates. Good for you. Glad you didn't get hurt." Lynge said to him.
"I'm glad it didn't delay you to much. I know how you feel about delays." Nadir put in.
"I didn't see the actual stopping but I saw enough to know that you handled yourself amazingly." Guapo finally said at the end. Then they heard an engine puffing and looked up to see Ellkan pulling into the shed, but not near the other five engines.
"Hey, Ellkan did you hear about Claudimir's passenger run?" Atul asked. But Ellkan didn't say anything to the other engines. He stayed silent as he went to sleep for the night.
Thank you for reading and please review and tell me what you thought about it. Sorry that it is slightly shorter than the one before. Hopefully future ones will be longer since they will be more storyline filled. If you have any questions for me feel free to message me and ask. I am happy to talk to anyone about any of my stories.