Sodor 1925

Edward the blue engine enjoying his life on The Farquhar branchline, The Fat Director had given him two new coaches called Annie and Clarabel to help him run the line.They were a bit on the older side of coaches but Edward treated them like royalty and for that, they are kind towards him in return.

While everything was going great for the most part their was some ruff patches.

Many of the branchline's water towers were in a very bad state with the likes of holes and dirty water all around, the railway inspectors agreed that all of them were to be replaced and rebuilt at once, Because of this Edward would have less places to stop for water.

Edward didn't notice this at first, but as time went on, he saw more and more out of order signs on water towers as he passed by with his trains.

"I hope the towers i fixed soon" Edward said to Annie and Clarabel one morning as his firemen started to fire him up.

"Im sure it will be fine dear" Annie replied, "No need to worry".

"Im not worried" Edward replied, "Im concerned".

Clarabel chuckled, "Our Edward can be such a worrier at times, can't he Annie?".

"Most certainly Clarabel" Annie replied.

Edward grinned at this,"At least i don't start singing very time i leave a station" he chuckled.

The three friends laughed and soon began work.

A few hours later, Edward was at Elsbridge with his afternoon passenger train.

He was slightly low on water, so his driver went over to the water tower to get it ready to fill his tank, unfortunately a large sign lay on the tower.

"Out of order" his Driver sighed.

"Oh dear" said Edward,"Where will we find water now, i don't think i can make it to Farquhar without getting some"

He and his crew thought for a moment, until his firemen grinned.

"How about we get some water from the river?" he asked.

The driver stared,"That's your idea?".

"Well it's are only opinion, unless you want to sit here and wait until a water tower gets fixed, which could take a few days" the Firemen replied.

The Driver sighed in defeat and agreed, they grabbed an old bucket and some rope from the stationmaster office and headed along the line.

They soon stopped at the river and made and told the passengers about the situation and began to fill Edward's tank.

The bucket was old and had about 5-8 holes, and after a long while of the driver costantly having to try and fix the holes in bucket, Edward's tank was full.

"How do you feel old boy?" asked the driver.

"Much better" said Edward.

"Right then, we best make up for lost time, come on" and with a whistle and a wheesh, Edward was off.

He puffed along nicely and Annie and Clarabel sang happily behind him, all seemed be going well, but that wasn't the case.

Edward soon began to feel a pain in his boil and was starting to go slower and slower.

Suddenly steam began to hiss from his safety value in sn alraming way.

"*cough* There's to much *cough* steam" coughed the Firemen.

"Owww!" Edward yelped,"I feel like im going to burst".

His driver damped down his fire and he struggled on.

"And we were going so nicely too" Edward spluttered.

Soon they reached Farquhar, they uncoupled Edward from Annie and Clarabel and put him on a siding out of the way.

The guard called for a bus to take the passengers home, the driver telaphoned for The Fat Director and an inspector and Edward's driver got some of the nearby workmen to put large signs infront abd behind Edward which read "DANGER KEEP AWAY".

Soon enough The Fat Director and the inspector arrived and the driver told them what had happened.

"Mhm, so the feed pipe is blocked" said the inspector,"i'll just look in his take".

He climbed up and looked in, mumbled something and then climb down and turned to The Fat Director.

"Excuse Sir, please look in the tank and tell me what you see".

"Certainly inspector" replied The Fat Director.

He climbed up onto Edward's tender,looked in and nearly fell off in surpise.

"Inspector" he whispered,"can you see, Fish?".

Everyone gasped while The Fat Director laughed,"Godness me, how did the fish get their driver?".

The driver scratches his head and then his eyes widened,"We must have fished them up from the river in our bucket".

The Fat Director turned to Edward,"Well Edward, it seems you and your driver went fishing, but fish don't suit you, we must get them out".

The four men grabbed some fishing poles from the station shop and all took turns fishing in Edward's tank, The Fat Director taught them how to do it.

When they caught all the fish, they had a lovely picnic supper of fish and chips.

After they had finished, The Fat Controller spoke to Edward.

"Your feed pipe has been damaged due to your um, friends in your tank.As a result you'll have to go to the work to have it mended".

"Yes Sir" Edward replied,"But who will look after the branchline?".

A few hours later

"HA HA HA, imagine getting fish stuck in your tank!" laughed James at Tidmouth sheds that evening.

"Im sure it wasn't his fault" Alysaa,"Things like this can happen".

"I don't think finding fish your tank happens often Alyssa" Douglas chuckled.

James and the scottish twins chuckled to themselfs while Alysaa and Thomas comforted poor Edward, who was waiting to be taken to the works.

They all stopped laughing and talking when a familar ahem caught their attention.

"Good evening engines" said The Fat Director,"Now as you all know Edward will be out of action for the next few days and as a result i need an engine to run his branch while he's away".

"I can do it Sir" Thomas peeped.

"That's very kind of you Thomas, but your needed here in the yards" The Fat Director replied as he turned his attention to James.

"James i would like you to run the branch for the next few days" said The Fat Director.

"ME?!" James spluttered,"B-but, what a-bout my work on the mainline?".

"I'll rearrange the schedule so Alyssa and the twins can handle your work while your away, they'll be able to manage for the next few days" The Fat Director replied.

"B-but Sir, im a mainline engine,i-".

"Really useful engines don't argue" said The Director sternly.

James grumbled into submission as The Fat Director left while the other engines chuckled.

The next day, James headed to Farquhar to start work.He hated it, he thought the line was too short and complained about it as well as the water towers being out of order.

"If you don't stop complaining, you'll end up in trouble" said Annie.

"Indeed Annie" said Clarabel,"Deep trouble indeed".

James didn't listen, he was to busy complaining, in hindsight he really should have.

Now the other engines thought that the reason James hated trucks was because the engines on his old railway's opinion on them and as a result, he followed in their example, but it wasn't just that.

When he was being build, The LMS gave him wooden brake locks instead of the more modern ones other engines nowdays had.As a result, his braking power was very weak, The Fat Director couldn't afford proper brakes at the time of his arrival and had to put it on hold at the time.Unfortunately he had been quite busy recently and had forgotton about it, this would cause problems.

James's mood was slightly sour when he woke up one windy morning, it got even worse when James was told he had to collect some trucks from the quarry and take them to Knapford.

He puffed towards the quarry grumbling as he went.

"Of all the days i have to pull goods, it had to be on a day like this" he moaned, "at least i won't be swimming with the fishes like Edward did".

James was only teasing of course, but he would soon get his compupance.

He soon arrived at the quarry and began to shut the trucks into a line.

"Come on you horrid lot, no nonsense" he barked as he bumped them hard, the trucks were annoyed.

"This is Edward's place" said one.

"James has no right, to poke his funnel in here and push us around" said another.

They whispered and passed the word.

"Pay him out, knock him off the rails, pay him out, knock him off the rails" they chanted to each other.

"Come on you alot, i want to get this over with" James snapped as he bumped into the front of the train.

Once the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag, James set off.

Now if James's brakes were one receipe for disaster, the weather was another thing, the wind was howling furiously as James puffed along the branchline, bits of debris were flying everywhere and James was struckling to gain grip on the rails.

At one point he reach a medium sized gradient, the trucks saw their chance and began to hold back.

"Driver" he called out,"I need some sand please".

His driver agreed and used James's sandbox to pour some sand on the rails as James gained grip, the trucks struck.

"GO ON, GO ON" they yelled as they bumped James forward.

"STOP, STOP!" James yelped as he was shoved along.

He soon began to pick up speed, his driver applied his brakes and his brake locks screeched violetly.

"DON'T WORRY OLD BOY" his Firemen called,"WE'LL SOON-".

James's Firemen paused as the smell of burning started to fill the air.

"Oh no" said James, he knew what that was, it was his brake locks.

It wasn't long before his brake locks caught fire, now he couldn't stop and the brakevan wasn't strong enough to stop him and the trucks, he whistled franticly as he rocketed down the line.

Up ahead was the bridge that Edward had stopped at a few days before hand, a tree had fallen onto the tracks and was now blocking the line.

When James and his crew saw the tree ahead, they knew they couldn't stop, his crew jumped clear as James ploughed into the tree.

When James opened his eyes, he found himself laying in the river, with fish swimming around his front.

Luckly no one was hurt, but James's front was badly damaged from the impact and the front half of his train was in the lake.

His driver went up the line for help and sure enough, Thomas arrived with the breakdown train, when he saw James, he could only laugh.

"Well, well, well" Thomas chuckled, "Playing with the fishes i see, sensible engine, take my advice, turn yourself into a boat and then you'll be able to see them more often".

James wasn't amused.

He was less amused when a familar face climbed out of Thomas's cab.

James gulped as The Fat Director spoke to him servealy.

"James while this accident wasn't your fault, but i heard about the way you teased Edward and im not pleased, my engines work hard and support others" said The Fat Director.

"Yes Sir, im sorry Sir" James said sadly.

Soon James was rescued from the river and was taken back to Knapford station which was where he was loaded on a flatbed and was coupled on to Edward's goods train which was bound for Crovan's Gate.

Edward gave James a sympathic look while the red engine looked down at his buffers.

"Im sorry" James mumbled.

Edward smilied,"I know you are James and i know you were only teasing".

James gave a small smile back,"Can we be friends again?".

"Of course" replied Edward.

The two engines smiled and soon set off for Crovan's Gate.

The Fat Director watched them go until they were out of sight, he sighed and wiped his brow.

"Since James out of action for the next while, theres now a gap in the roster" he said to himself,"And with all the jobs beginning to pile up, i'll need another engine to help with the workload".

He decided to think about what to do later as right now was lunch time.

He walked over to MCbuns grinning,"Time to try thoses new scones" he said with a smile.

But before he could step inside, his assist called out to him.

"Excuse me Sir!" His Assist shouted.

The Fat Director groaned in Furstation,"Yes?" he asked.

"Someone's on the phone Sir, saids he wants to talk to you" the Assist replied.

"Oh and who might that be?" The Director asked.

"It Sir Nigel Gresley".

The Fat Director's eyes widen, but i musten say anymore, or i shall spoil the next story.