TOBY, PERCY AND THE GRUMPY BARGE
Based upon "Bulstrode" by Christopher Awdry
Work on Thomas' branch line was getting busier and busier by the day, and the harbor at Knapford was no exception. Percy and Toby mostly worked there, but sometimes Thomas is called in if the work becomes too much.
"I'm glad to get out of the quarry," smiled Toby to Percy. "Whenever I'm down here, it reminds me of my young days at Yarmouth harbor."
"Who did you work with, Toby?" asked Percy.
"I worked with my brothers and sisters down there," explained Toby. "Some of us were better behaved than others, but we were a close-knit group."
"I'm glad you had a lot of close friends on your old railway," sighed Percy. His expression became saddened when he thought back to his own past before Sodor.
"Oh, Percy," said Toby quietly. "I'm very glad you were able to come to Sodor, and that I was able to meet you. We're very tight-knit now, right?"
"Right," said Percy, smiling again. "Come on, let's get these trucks in line. You take the left of the harbor, I'll tackle the right."
Percy and Toby were soon hard at work shunting the trucks to where they were needed.
"This is the life," Toby hummed to himself. "Second favorite job on the island. Of course, nothing beats taking Henrietta, but this is a good job nonetheless."
As the tram engine finished arranging the trucks into place, he looked over at the horizon and sighed wistfully.
"I only hope my siblings survived…" he said quietly to himself. He started to think back to his days at Yarmouth harbor.
Toby was younger and feistier than he is now, and was dashing around.
"Oh, Holden," called Toby. "You got the trucks out for Stanford to take out later, right?"
"I sure do," replied the other tram engine. "Have you sorted out the coaches Marvin was due to take out?"
"Of course I do," Toby replied. "Like I'd forget his passenger train."
"Holden, you forgot the brake van for Stanford's goods train!" called a female tram.
"I'm onto it, Flora!" sighed Holden. "Anyway, are you going to do your job yet?"
"Don't fuss," sighed Flora. "I'm taking on water, and then I'll get the trucks over to the ship once I've got a full tank. We'd run out of water if we're not too careful."
"Nonsense," laughed Toby. "That won't happen to us. We're some of the most reliable engines in the harbor."
"How wrong was I that day," laughed Toby. "I learned that lesson the hard way…"
"Oi!" snapped a voice. "You get that load over here!"
Toby snapped out of his reminiscing and looked over at who had barked that order at him. There, on the water, was a black barge with a cream colored cabin; Toby could make out the word "Bulstrode" on the barge's hull. He had a very grumpy look on his face.
"Well? Are you gonna bring my load over here or are you gonna gawk at me all day?" Bulstrode snapped. "I wasn't built yesterday, you know!"
"Alright, okay," groaned Toby. "I'll get the load for you; keep your anchor on."
"And make it quick!" snapped Bulstrode. "I don't have all day, you know!"
"I'm not as young as I once was," muttered the tram engine. "I can't be dashing around all day like I did at Yarmouth…"
No matter how fast Toby arranged the trucks so that the barge could be loaded up, Bulstrode complained incessantly, and Toby's patience was getting worn thin. Even the trucks were getting sick of the barge's moaning.
"Come on, come on!" Bulstrode grunted. "I can't wait all day!"
"Who does that grouchy old boat think he is?" grumbled Old-King Coal.
"Yeah!" agreed the Bennett and Co. truck. "He's more likely to put himself in the wrong place than us. He can move, but we can't without an engine."
"No… kidding," muttered Toby, running out of breath. It was rare for an engine to agree with trucks and brake vans - besides Toad, of course.
Just then, Percy came over to Toby, looking excited. "Toby, you won't believe this; there's an old tool shed that's…" His expression changed when he saw his friend looking exhausted. "Is there something wrong, Toby?"
"Bulstrode…" Toby panted. "He's been… wearing me down… all morning."
"Who's Bulstrode?" wondered Percy. He had just found the old tool shed not two minutes ago and now he had two puzzles to sort out.
"He's… down there…" Toby glanced in the direction of the water. Percy looked over to see the ill-tempered barge, still bossing the workmen to load him up faster.
"Hurry up!" Bulstrode was shouting. "I've seen tortoises swim faster than this, you know!"
"Aren't tortoises faster in the water than they are on land?" asked Percy.
"That's… turtles…" Toby corrected. "They have… flippers to… help them swim…"
"Toby, you get a drink and some coal," said Percy firmly. "I'll handle this grumpy old barge! When you're rested, you take my side of the harbor for the rest of the day."
Wearily, Toby puffed away to the nearest coal bunker and water tower while Percy set off to finish the tram engine's shunting.
"You've been bullying Toby all day!" Percy snapped to Bulstrode. "I will not tolerate rudeness to my friends!"
"What are you gonna do about it, green caterpillar?" snapped Bulstrode. "I'm on the water while you're just stuck on two rails, going only where they take you."
For once, Percy wished he was a boat too, just like how Duck was imaging himself to be during the regatta. "How am I supposed to teach this barge a lesson?" he asked himself.
The little saddle tank engine had this on his mind as he carried on shunting, and it was still on his mind when Toby came back feeling refreshed.
"You feeling better, Toby?" asked Percy.
"Very much so, Percy," smiled Toby. "How's the shunting going here?"
"Not too great," sighed Percy. "That Bulstrode is insufferable!"
"Took the words right out of my mouth," agreed the tram engine. "We can only run on rails, not the water. It's not like we'd be able to float if a bit of bridge broke away or something."
"Oh, perish the thought if that ever happened," Percy commented. "And we can't fly like Harold to teach Bulstrode a lesson either."
Neither tank engine nor tram engine could come to any definitive conclusions. But it turned out neither had to wait too long. Percy was shunting another line of trucks.
"There has to be some way we can teach that barge a lesson," he muttered under his breath, getting the trucks into position on the siding. Unfortunately, the tank engine should have realized that there was a loose coupling near the tail end of his train.
"Er, fellas?" said the truck. "I'm feeling a bit funny here."
"What do you m-" Before the other truck could finish his sentence, there was a loud snap.
"Uh oh!" cried Percy. "Hey, come back!" He chased after the runaway trucks.
"Oh dear," gasped Toby. "They're heading straight for the quay! Percy, stop!" Percy did so, and all he could do was watch helplessly as four runaway stone trucks rolled closer and closer to the buffers.
"The buffers will stop them," said Percy. "That's what they're for; to stop engines and rolling stock from crashing."
Indeed, that was what buffers were designed to do. But unfortunately, these buffers were quite old, and the trucks were going much too fast.
"Hmm? What's going on up there?" Bulstrode muttered grumpily. "Is that garden shed slacking off again?"
"Gangway!" cried the lead truck.
"What does that mean… oh, horrors!"
Before Bulstrode could say anymore, the four loose trucks landed right into his hull, their loads spilling not just into the ill-tempered barge, but some of it fell into the sea as well.
"Ooh!" cried Bulstrode. "I'm sinking."
"Serves you right!" laughed the teal truck still on the rails.
"You were always barging in and moaning," added the orange truck.
"And now you're getting that sinking feeling!" laughed Old-King Coal.
Percy and Toby glanced down in deep shock. Sure, Bulstrode needed knocking down a peg, but this wasn't what they had in mind. Fortunately for the barge, the tide was out, so he didn't sink.
"Percy," said Toby quietly, "you're closer to the quay than me. Are the trucks that landed in Bulstrode… you know…"
"I doubt that they'll be repaired after that," sighed Percy.
"I suppose it's off to Crock's scrap yard for that lot then," Toby said mournfully. "We'll need some empty trucks to take them…"
The salvage operation took a very long time, both in water and on the rails. The trucks were upset at losing some of their friends, but they were relieved that Bulstrode had stopped complaining.
"I'll take the broken trucks to… you know where," said Toby. "By the way, what were you going to tell me about that tool shed?"
"Oh yes," said Percy, suddenly remembering. "That tool shed is actually a coach from Sir Handel and Peter Sam's old railway. We've managed to track down - er, no pun intended - three of them so far, and they said there were eight scattered around Sodor. Oliver and Duck say that Dilly found the second one at Haultraugh station on their branch line."
"And you found the first one at Terence's farm," smiled Toby. "Good job. Why don't you take down the third one to the Skarloey line now?"
As soon as the rescue operation had been completed and Bulstrode towed away, the tool shed was loaded up onto a flatbed and Percy began his journey to Crovan's Gate. As he passed the beach near the harbor, Percy couldn't help but notice something different.
"Driver, fireman," said Percy, "was I imagining things, or was that Bulstrode on the beach?"
His driver quickly glanced back. "No, that was definitely Bulstrode."
Down at the beach, a foreman was talking angrily to the barge.
"There you are!" he snapped. "You can just stay here. Children can play on you all day starting tomorrow, and at long last, you'll be useful."
"Ch-ch-children?!"
"Yes," said the foreman. "They always come to the seaside, especially in the summer. They will enjoy pretending to be sea captains and sailors. I know my daughter loves playing mermaids." He gave a fond chuckle, imagining his daughter in a mermaid costume.
Percy eventually got to Crovan's Gate and met up with the little engines, who were getting ready for a good night's sleep.
"Evening, everyone," Percy said cheerfully. "You'll never believe what I found at the harbor."
"What is it?" asked Rusty. Percy proudly rolled forward.
"Another one?!" cried Peter Sam. "These coaches are popping up all over the place!"
"They certainly seem to show up in the most unlikely of places," chuckled Percy.
"Well, thank you, Percy," smiled Sir Handel. "That makes coach number three."
"You may as well make a scavenger hunt out of this, Percy," remarked Skarloey.
"I think that's what my friends and I are doing at this point," Percy joked. "Goodnight, everyone."
When Percy and Toby got back to Ffarquhar sheds, they told Thomas everything.
"Yikes," shuddered Thomas. "I feel bad for those poor trucks. And did you say Bulstrode was on the beach?"
"That's it exactly," Percy explained.
"Sounds to me he'll be a special attraction… for the children," Toby chuckled. "Too bad he's not a cheerful sort. My driver tells me that we, in our own way, are special attractions too. Every time we go down our own line."
"What do you mean?" asked Thomas.
"Well," Toby grinned, "all we have to do is smile and blow our whistles, or ring our bell, at everyone."
The tank engines laughed at Toby's remark, and he laughed too.
As for Bulstrode, he still remains at the beach near the harbor, where children play around on him on warm summer days. If he's still complaining, as I expect he is, the children take no notice of him.
"I wonder if Stephen and Bridget will play there at some point," Henrietta wondered as she and Toby passed by.
"Perhaps," Toby chuckled. "We'll have to let Sir Topham Hatt know. Maybe Bridget will mistake Bulstrode for a pirate ship."
And both laughed as they headed on their way.
THE END
Author's Comments
Here's the latest one-shot story to Classic Sodor Adventures, this being based upon Bulstrode, but without Toby's Seaside Holiday. Yeah, Special Attraction was a very clumsy meshing of the two stories and Toby's appearance felt very shoehorned. While there are references made to Toby's Seaside Holiday, the Bulstrode portion is given a greater emphasis, showing how the barge's complaining is testing everyone's patience, even Toby's, so the tram engine now has a reason to be there without feeling shoehorned. Had more emphasis been put on how Bulstrode's complaining was affecting everyone's mood, it might've been a much stronger episode, and I think we showed that pretty well.
More stories to come!