THE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY SERIES No. 4

DUCK THE GREAT WESTERN ENGINE

Based upon the original episodes by Michael White and Lee Pressman

New material by Zack Wanzer, James Riddle and Rachel Ravens


Foreword

Greetings, fellow readers. Duck speaking.

It's been quite a while since us at the Little Western have had some stories to tell, hasn't it? Even with the recent extension up north to Harwick, many of them focused more upon the likes of Ryan, Daisy and Skiff, and even Donald and Douglas have had a few stories of their own out on the main line. Recently, however, Oliver and I have had a few more stories to tell, such as reuniting with a few familiar faces…

But why don't you read these stories for yourself? After all, there's never a dull moment on the Little Western!

Montague a.k.a. Duck


FREE THE ROADS

Based upon the episode by Michael White

Bulgy is a double-decker bus who operates road services near the Little Western. He's had quite the history, to say the least; years ago, when he first arrived on Sodor, Bulgy had gotten stuck under a bridge trying to steal Duck's passengers and he had later ended up stuck in a field as a henhouse. Several years after that, he had been put back into service, only to shortly afterward be converted into a mobile vegetable stand. Bulgy then returned to running passenger services years after that, briefly taking over for Bertie on Thomas' branch line before being rerouted to run on the Little Western again alongside Algy.

Neither bus has managed to get along at all because of their differing views on the railways. Algy's first run was up to either Tidmouth or Knapford while Bulgy's run was all the way up to Harwick. One afternoon, Bulgy had stopped at Harwick station. He could see that it was full of passengers, and hoped he could convince some of them to travel on him instead of the rails.

"Psst! Is your train running late, ma'am?" he asked a passenger. "I'd be more than happy to give you a lift."

"Sorry, Bulgy," she replied. "But I prefer to take the train."

"But roads are much better than rails," Bulgy protested. "We never have to stop at signals, and we're free to go wherever rails can't go."

"Does that include getting wedged under a bridge?" retorted another passenger.

"What-" But before Bulgy could say anymore, he heard a horn, and Daisy the diesel railcar rolled up alongside the platform.

"Oh, it's you, Bulgy," she frowned. "Still up to your old ways of causing trouble for my friends? If only you could grow up and learn that without railways, you wouldn't have as many passengers as you do."

Bulgy didn't say anything, but he looked on enviously as the passengers began to board Daisy instead of him.

"Free the roads from railway tyranny!" he shouted, but Daisy just rolled her eyes. As soon as the guard had blown her whistle, Daisy set off again for Arlesburgh.

"Free the roads!" Bulgy bellowed again.

"Has it ever occurred to you that no one takes you seriously?" retorted Daisy. "You act as if we're deliberately stopping you from making your travels!"

At that moment, Algy rolled along. He had heard about the commotion.

"Oh, come on now, Bulgy," the blue bus sighed. "You were brought back into service so you could help me with passenger services."

"Exactly!" said Bulgy. "And yet the passengers still insist on going by train rather than by bus! It must end."

"Oh, a-and just how can that happen?" chuckled Algy. "Stop all of the engines from operating?" The blue bus had meant it as a joke, but unfortunately, he'd forgotten who exactly he was talking to…

"Precisely…" pondered Bulgy as soon as Algy was out of earshot. "Then the buses can finally save the day…" He chuckled darkly to himself as he had a fantasy of his own…


Atop a hill, a pair of buses rolled to a stop. It seemed to be Bulgy and Algy, decorated with paintwork and masks to look like a pair of superheroes.

"Great steaming radiators, Bulgy!" gasped Algy. "Look over there!"

Down below was Ryan, but his face was painted to resemble that of a clown, and his grin looked wider and more sinister.

"Muahahahahaha!" he cackled to the passengers on the platform. "You have no choice but to travel by train!"

"Help! Help!" the passengers wailed as Ryan's crew, also with face paint, forced them into the coaches. "Let us go! Save us!"

"Have no fear!" bellowed Bulgy. "The buses are here!" Quick as a flash, Bulgy and Algy raced down the hill and stopped in front of Ryan. Seeing that they were freed, the passengers cheered and raced towards the buses, much to Ryan's displeasure.

"Foiled again!" he scowled. "Why so serious, buses?"

"Oh, Bulgy, our hero!" a female passenger swooned, kissing him on the face and giggling before running off after the rest of the passengers. Bulgy blushed and beamed with pride until…

"Oi! Watch out, Bulgy!"


Bulgy snapped out of his fantasy to see George the steamroller up ahead, doing some road maintenance. He swerved quickly to avoid a collision, but he was unable to avoid hitting some oil barrels, knocking all of the tires off of them except for one which stood up spinning in place before bouncing onto a wooden plank, sending a bag of soil flying high into the air and into a nearby water column, contaminating it.

"Uh oh…" said Bulgy worriedly.

"Gee, what was ya, raised on a farm?" snapped George. "Oh, dat's right! You was stuck in one fer years!" The steamroller chuckled at his wit as he carried on his way, while Bulgy just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Just then, Ryan had pulled up alongside the water column with some trucks in tow. The purple tank engine had had a busy morning, and was feeling rather exhausted.

"Hello, Bulgy," he greeted. Bulgy was about to warn Ryan about the contaminated water, but then he had an idea. With Ryan out of service, there would be one less engine to "steal" passengers from the buses.

"Ah! Hello there, Ryan," said Bulgy casually. "Enjoy your water."

"Er… thanks?" Before Ryan could say anymore, Bulgy had rolled away.

"Hmm, this water tastes a bit funny," said Ryan as it began pouring into his tank. "Ah well. Better than nothing."

"Maybe that'll block their boilers…" Bulgy chuckled to himself.


Later that day, as he pulled into Haultraugh station, Ryan was beginning to feel sick in the boiler. His smoke seemed thicker than usual and very dirty and brown.

"We'd better pull over into a siding and see what the matter is," his driver suggested. No sooner had Ryan rolled into a siding when Douglas came up with some empty ballast trucks.

"Losh sakes, Ryan!" he exclaimed. "Ye keek as sick as a parrot."

"I felt fine until I took on water," coughed Ryan. Then suddenly, before anyone could say anymore, boiler sludge had flown out of Ryan's funnel and splashed all over the purple engine.

"Och!" exclaimed Douglas in disgust. "Looks lik' yi'll need tae hae yer boiler cleaned oot."

"Once you finish with your train, could you please take me to the Steamworks?" asked Ryan.

"Na trauchle at a', Ryan," smiled Douglas. "Ah will be back in a few minutes."

And with that, Douglas puffed away. After dropping off his trucks, he turned around and made his way back to Ryan. Unfortunately, he was running a little low on water. So Douglas pulled up to the contaminated water tower, unaware that he was about to make the same mistake as Ryan…


When Sir Topham Hatt heard about what had happened with Ryan and Douglas today, he called for a meeting at Arlesburgh sheds. Duck, Donald, Oliver and Daisy stood to attention.

"We're now two engines down, and this just had to happen at the peak of the summer rush," Sir Topham Hatt explained. "How could this have happened?"

"I'm just as puzzled about this as you are, sir," said Duck. "That water tower seemed just fine yesterday."

"Until it is cleaned out properly, no one is to use it," instructed Sir Topham Hatt. "I'm afraid until Ryan and Douglas are back, you four will have some extra duties to pick up on."

"What?!" gasped Daisy. "B-but sir, I don't want to pull trucks! Think of my poor swerves!"

"I'm sorry, Daisy, but we'll have to make do until then," said Sir Topham Hatt. "Donald will help out as often as he can, but he'll be needed on the main line sometimes."

"Er, excuse me, sir," came a voice. Sir Topham Hatt turned to see Bulgy roll into the yard. The engines glared at the double-decker bus.

"Ah, Bulgy," said Sir Topham Hatt. "Do you think you and Algy can help out with passenger services while the engines help out with extra goods?"

"Oh, of course, sir," grinned Bulgy. "We buses are always happy to help!"

"This is just what we needed…" groaned Oliver.


The next day, Bulgy was full of passengers, and he couldn't resist rubbing it in the engines' faces.

"Allo there, Quackers!" he called out to Duck, who was helping with one of Ryan's usual goods trains. "Aren't I a splendid sight today?"

"More like an eyesore," grunted Duck. "Is that a mobile hen house that's just left his field without permission?"

Bulgy just grunted at that remark while Duck smirked. But Bulgy's scowl didn't last long when he saw Algy coming up the road in the opposite direction.

"What do you think of this, Algy?" the double-decker bus called. "Now we don't have to worry about the railways stealing passengers from us anymore! We buses have finally won!"

"What do you mean, we?" asked Algy. "It's only you that's got a vendetta against railways, Bulgy. This is just a temporary arrangement until Ryan and Douglas get back from the Steamworks."

"But who's to say another engine won't find themselves breaking down?" insisted Bulgy. "What if Daisy blows a fuse out of deliberate refusal to pull trucks? Or Oliver gets pushed down another turntable?"

"They're not foolish enough to repeat those mistakes," insisted Algy. "You, on the other hand…"

"Hey-hey-hey!" Bulgy interrupted. "That'll do, mister. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to keep the buses' reputation up." And he rolled away.


Later that day, Algy came to see Duck at Arlesburgh yards. The Great Western engine was waiting for his trucks of ballast to be loaded.

"Hello there, Algy," Duck greeted. "You're looking rather put out."

"It's that Bulgy," explained Algy. "He's acting as though this increase in passenger traffic is the greatest thing to ever happen to us. I, on the other wheel, am feeling rather overcrowded."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Bulgy was the one responsible for all of this in the first place," insisted Duck. "This isn't the first time he caused us grief."

"Indeed not," sighed Algy. "If he doesn't watch himself, he could end up getting into trouble again."


Over the next few days, Algy began to feel more and more exhausted at having to handle the passengers without any engines to lift some of the weight off of his wheels. Bulgy, however, ignored any feelings he had of being overworked.

"It'll be worth it so long as those silly engines stay out of the way," he insisted.

But up ahead, Bulgy could see Algy stopped alongside the road, with black smoke pouring out of his engine.

"What- Is everything alright, Algy?" asked Bulgy.

"It's all these passengers," moaned Algy. "Trying to handle them all was too much for my engine."

"Have no fear," said Bulgy proudly. "The buses are here!"

Algy, his driver and the passengers simply looked at the double-decker bus with confusion.

"Ah, er, I mean, don't worry, Algy," said Bulgy, gathering himself. "I'll take your passengers. After all, we buses must stick together."

"But you're already almost full with passengers, Bulgy," protested Algy. "Won't that be too much for your axle load?"

"Nonsense!" laughed Bulgy. "I've got plenty of room! After all, the more, the merrier!"


It wasn't long before Algy's passengers had boarded Bulgy, but there was barely any room for anyone to move. And poor Bulgy himself felt himself leaning on one side and he was moving slower than he'd usually like.

"Oooh… Ouch!" he wailed. "My axles have never felt this sore before… But I must… keep… going!"

Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound, and Bulgy felt himself skidding onto the side of the road and coming to a complete halt.

"Ouch!" he wailed again. "Oooh, my axle!"

The passengers were very cross with what had happened as they began to unboard Bulgy.

"This wouldn't have happened if we'd travelled by train," moaned an elderly gentleman.

"Oh, that's just brilliant," a female passenger said sarcastically. "Now I'm going to be late!"

"Didn't you pay attention to your loading capacity?" added a gentleman with a suitcase.

Poor Bulgy felt very silly; this was not how it was supposed to end up!

"Why did I ever let that bag of soil contaminate the water tower?" he groaned. Unfortunately for Bulgy, a certain gentleman coming out of a blue car had overheard this remark.

"Bulgy!"

"Oops…"

"I thought you were trying to help the passengers out," said Sir Topham Hatt crossly. "But now I see that you were the one responsible for causing so much confusion and delay!"

"Y-yes, sir," said Bulgy nervously. "I'm sorry, sir."


Thankfully, Oliver soon arrived with some empty coaches to rescue the passengers.

"Well, well, Bulgy," he chuckled when he saw the broken down bus. "I didn't think you'd almost live up to your name by overloading yourself with passengers!"

Bulgy didn't answer to that; he just looked down at the road and sulked as the passengers boarded the coaches.

"Ah well. We live and learn," smiled Oliver. "Ryan and Douglas will be back to work soon, and now we can take the weight of the passengers off of you and Algy now!"

As if on cue, Butch had rolled up alongside with Algy in tow.

"Oi! Do I at least get a tow as well?" Bulgy called over to the breakdown vehicle.

"Oh, I don't think you'll have to worry too much about him," chuckled Oliver. "Sir Topham Hatt's arranged for another way for you to be taken back to the bus depot."


To Bulgy's dismay, the arrangement included being transported on a well wagon pulled by Duck.

"Oh, lighten up, Bulgy!" smiled Duck. "At least you can agree that there are some things railways are good for!"

"Hmph," muttered Bulgy. "Still think the roads are better…" He remained quiet the whole journey back to the bus depot.


Author's Comments

After a lengthy hiatus, The International Railway Series finally returns! We're kicking off this comeback with not only the first story of Duck the Great Western Engine, but the first episode of series 23 as well as one of the best from said season. Aside from changing up the location to the Little Western as well as the cast of characters to go along with it, not much has changed from the official episode. It seemed to make sense to put Bulgy on the Little Western to play off against his enemies Duck and Oliver and co., and it makes for an enjoyable experience.

Next time, we see the impact of Bulgy's trick in Clear as a Bell!