Old Dogs, New Tricks

Bill and Ben were being mended at the steel works. The recent accident with the Workman's Hut had caused damage to their frames and parts. Luckily the damage wasn't severe so the work went on easily without a hitch. Edward stayed behind to look after the twins. He was a kind old engine, but he was still cross with the twins and stood for none of their nonsense.

"You two have caused such a mess with your antics!" He scolded them.

The twins felt bad for themselves.

"We're sorry Edward." Bill said.

"We were only having fun." Ben said.

"Fun is fun. But rough housing the trucks certainly did not make it fun in the end." Edward said. "You could have caused a serious accident."

The twins looked downcasted. Edward knew the twins were just playing innocent games and meant no harm. But he still had to discipline them since their antics were getting out of hand.

"I know you two meant well." Edward said kindly. "But there comes a time when you can play and a time when you need to work. I hope this incident will make you more mindful of the consequences."

The twins didn't reply. But they didn't have to. Their guilty faces were all Edward needed. This incident certainly made the twins think about their actions.


Back at the quarry, Toby was dealing with the trucks. Many of the trucks were laughing at their own handy work of the twins. But they weren't laughing anymore when Toby biffed and bumped them.

"Shut up!" Toby shouted.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Cried the trucks.

"Serves you right!" Toby scolded. "You lot could have caused a serious accident!"

"Who cares!?" Cried the trucks. "Those little demons got what they deserve!"

"Honestly, you troublesome trucks are more trouble than you're worth! You've always acted childish!"

"Any engine who mistreats us gets what's coming to them!" They argued. "One engine is as good as another!"

Toby was getting very furious with the naughty rolling stock.

"Oh really? And what about Donald and Douglas, Duck, Edward, and me?" Toby inquired.

"You five no better! That's why we like you! You're all the exception!"

"Oh really? Like what happened with Duck and the Barbershop?" Toby said.

Suddenly the Trucks went silent. There were others who laughed at the memory of how they crashed Duck into a Barbershop. Toby noticed this and was cross.

"So do you think it's funny that people almost were in a serious accident!?" Toby boomed.

This shut the trucks up as the very thought of people getting hurt was starting to settle in. Toby, however, continued.

"And what about that time you bumped me and almost made me fall off a collapsing bridge!?" Toby sneered.

The trucks gawked. They all tried to pin the blame on Mavis, but Toby's glare indicated he knows already but was standing no nonsense. The trucks were once again shut up. Mavis blushed from guilt and embarrassment but kept to her work.

"While it's true that some engines needed to learn to treat you trucks right, bumping and causing accidents in retaliation doesn't help the situation!" Toby scolded.

Toby went on listing all the times the troublesome trucks caused serious accidents with the other engines. Thomas' first goods train, three times on James, twice on Percy, Oliver, Diesel, and more. Now the trucks' laughter changed to that of guilty silence.

"You all have been nothing but bullies to the other engines! Worse and worse you could have hurt civilians too! This kind of behavior must stop! If you don't stop and change your ways me and the others engines will teach you a lesson in manners!" Toby scolded.

And with that, the tram engine rang his bell and reversed away from the trucks out of the yard. The trucks were left alone, pondering about the ramifications of their actions.


A few days later, the twins Bill and Ben were all repaired and returned to Sodor. They were happy to be back and in working order. But they were, however, wiser twin tank engines. When they arrived back at the quarry they made sure to apologize to Toby, Edward, and Mavis for being cheeky. They also apologized to the staff, workmen, and the manager too. And most of all, they apologized to the trucks for playing those silly games. Surprisingly all of the trucks apologized as well for also playing that trick on Bill and Ben. Both parties said their apologies and accepted them.

Now the twins are mature when they do their work. While they do still play games from time to time, they now play innocent and harmless games. However they now take their work very seriously and never play tricks on the other engines, staff, passengers, and especially the trucks. The trucks however on their journey's would pass the word along to other trucks outside the quarry whenever they were taken out. They told the others of Toby's words and soon the effect of his words spread. Soon more and more trucks were starting to rethink their way of handling grievances.

Should any engine mistreat them, they never play their tricks on them in retaliation. Instead they voice their concerns to the other engines. If the concerns fall on deaf ears they instead voice it to the Fat Controller himself, who was happy and willing to set the record straight. Even if they wanted to play tricks out of sheer enjoyment, they now know such tricks are now dangerous. This surprised the engines as they have all known trucks were troublesome. But they weren't troublesome anymore and that made the engine very happy.

The Fat Controller was also happy as he was proud of his two wisest engines Edward and Toby, who were also very proud too.