CLEAR AS A BELL
Written by Zack Wanzer and Rachel Ravens
With Algy and Bulgy both out of action, the engines of the Little Western and the Harwick extension had to carry more passengers to their destinations.
"Gives us more of a chance to stretch our wheels," Duck commented to Alistair, Mirabel and Benjamin.
"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that," said Alistair.
"Indeed," agreed Mirabel. "Though can we really carry all these extra passengers at once?"
"At any rate, we may need Dexter and his brothers back here," sighed Benjamin.
"Or Gladys," agreed Duck as the group came into Haultraugh. He chuckled as a memory came to his mind. "Did I ever tell you three the story of when Donald and I pranked each other with ducklings?"
"More times than we care to remember," remarked Alistair with a slight chuckle.
"Dilly and Dallas were so cute back then," said Duck wistfully. "Their descendants all live in that pond over there."
"Gladys mentioned that she saw them when they were grown up ducks too," said Mirabel. She sighed. "If only animals could live forever like engines and coaches."
"If we didn't," said Benjamin, "we wouldn't have reunited a few years ago."
The quartet gave a contented sigh when they heard a familiar whistle.
"Hey, you lot," called Oliver. "Quite busy lately, wouldn't you say?"
"You sure said it, cous," sighed Duck. "Though I'd much rather have more passengers on our trains than deal with that Bulgy again."
"I wonder if there's another farm somewhere that needs a henhouse," chuckled Oliver.
Duck and the slip coaches couldn't help but laugh too. Just then, the guard's whistle blew.
"Oh, that's us," said Mirabel. "We'll see you later, Oliver."
"Yeah… see you all later," Oliver trailed as Duck started away.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Duck, still going slowly enough to hear him.
"Er… it's nothing, cous," Oliver replied. "Just a bit busy-" He was cut off by his own guard's whistle. "See what I mean? Bye!" And he was gone before Duck or the coaches could ask anything else.
"Doesn't sound like nothing to me…" muttered Alistair, and his brother, sister and Duck could only agree.
That afternoon, Oliver was still acting peculiar when he arrived at Arlesburgh to take a goods train.
"Penny for your thoughts, Mr. Oliver?" asked Toad when the autotank shunted him to the back of his train.
"Just… thinking, Toad," sighed Oliver. "It's been a few years since the slip coaches were reunited with Duck, and… Well, I know he lets me run with them occasionally, but…"
"Seeing Mr. Duck with his coaches makes you long for Miss Isabel and Miss Dulcie, doesn't it?" finished Toad. "I know the feeling, Mr. Oliver. I haven't seen them in ages either."
"Isabel and Dulcie? Who are they?" asked a voice. Oliver and Toad looked over to see Jock, the newest engine of the Arlesdale Railway, who had just arrived with some ballast hoppers.
"Oh, Jock, Isabel and Dulcie are… er… were, my autocoaches," Oliver explained. "I guess I should start from the beginning…"
Years ago, I ran an efficient operation with my cousin, Katrina - she's also Duck's cousin as we were all designed by Charles Collet. She and Toad ran the goods traffic while Isabel, Dulcie and I took passengers.
"Okay, girls," I called. "Let's make up for lost time."
"So long as we're not racing again," sighed Isabel.
"Oh, come on, Is," grunted Dulcie. "Where's your enthusiasm?"
"It ran off along with the rise of road traffic near our line," Isabel snarked.
Dulcie and I just laughed and when the guard's whistle blew, we were off.
The three of us had a rather uneventful run up to the top station, and one of the main line engines, a Castle, was waiting for us.
"You three got here with a few minutes to spare," she said.
"Oh yes, we can't let those buses beat us, can we?" I replied.
"You keep up the good work, you lot," smiled the Castle. She then frowned. "I fear it may not be just the roadways that are diminishing our time."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
The four of us heard an unfamiliar sound, a toot ringing through the air, and another engine rumbled past with a goods train.
"Keep your guard up, little ones," the Castle advised. "These engines don't need a turntable. They've got cabs at either end."
I smirked confidently and winked at my driver as he got down. "We don't even need to run around the train."
My driver walked around to where Dulcie stood, and we started to reverse back down the branch line. Another diesel came in the opposite direction on the main line with another train just in time to see this spectacle.
"Impossible!" gasped the diesel. "That steamie can't be pushing the train!"
"I'm autofitted," I explained. "My coaches and I have these unique linkages so that my driver can control me from the rear coach. In this case, Dulcie."
The diesel was stunned for a moment, before giving a cocky grin.
"I suppose you haven't heard of diesel railcars then," the diesel remarked. "They can be operated from either end without coaches to pull or push."
"Huh!" Dulcie grunted. "They won't be replacing us any time soon."
Unfortunately, we received grave news…
"Withdrawn?!" I exclaimed. "No! You can't withdraw Isabel and Dulcie! You can't!"
"I… I'm sorry, Oliver," sighed our old manager. "It's not my choice. You're going to have to run goods traffic with Katrina and Toad for a while."
"But what about the passengers?" I asked. "It's not going to be one of those diesel railcars, is it?"
"It's now a goods traffic only line, I'm afraid," our manager said mournfully. The five of us looked at each other sadly; the buses had taken over our passengers, and I wouldn't see Isabel and Dulcie again…
"…except as it turned out, they, along with Katrina, had been saved for preservation," finished Oliver.
"That's good to hear, Oliver," said Jock. "Have Isabel and Dulcie visited Sodor since then?"
"No…" sighed Oliver. "I did see Katrina and our cousin Jackie though. They came to Sodor once to fill in for some of us during the London excursion." The autotank seemed to mentally straighten up as he heard the guard's whistle. "But I shouldn't dwell on the past. After all, what's happened has happened."
As Oliver and Toad headed out with their trucks, they and Jock didn't realize that another engine had overheard everything…
Later that day, Douglas arrived at Knapford station. Sir Topham Hatt was outside of his office, speaking to the stationmaster.
"So that's good that Nia's settling into… Oh!" He swung around in surprise when he heard Douglas blowing his whistle. "Ah, hello, Douglas. You're right on time."
"Thank ye, sur," said Douglas. "Bit Ah need tae speak wi' ye aboot Oliver. He's bin feeling a bit dowie lately." And he explained about what he had overheard at Arlesburgh.
"Ah, I see," said Sir Topham Hatt. "I'll look into it, Douglas."
Arrangements did take time, but one day…
Ting-a-ling-a-ling!
"Ugh…" yawned Oliver. "Would you keep it down, please? I'm trying to sleep!"
"Is that any way to greet your coaches, Ollie?"
Oliver's eyes shot open again as he quickly recognized that voice.
"Isabel?! Is that really you?!"
"No, it's a tram with her bell… Just kidding!" laughed Isabel.
"And she's not the only one who's here," came another voice.
"Dulcie?!" gasped Oliver. "Wha… how, you're both…"
"We've been sent here by magic," chuckled Dulcie. "Actually, your boyfriend told us the situation and brought us here."
"Wait, how did you… Douglas?!" exclaimed Oliver. The autotank didn't know what to think, and tears of joy pricked his eyes! "T-thank you."
"Glad Ah cuid hulp, Oliver," the Caledonian engine said warmly.
Oliver gratefully coupled up to Isabel and Dulcie and they headed down the branch line together for the first time in years.
"Oh, Oliver, this branch line is beautiful!" gasped Isabel. "I never thought we'd see the beach again."
"You should hear the story about how Toad managed to save a whale," Oliver told the coaches. "Or about the time our railboat, Skiff, got lost with Sir Topham Hatt and his three grandchildren were left behind."
"I never knew boats could ride on our rails," remarked Dulcie. At that moment, the trio were just passing by Skiff and Captain Joe.
"Hello, Oliver," greeted the railboat. "Who are your new friends?"
"Old friends, actually," said Oliver, and he quickly made introductions between the coaches and Skiff.
"You can travel by rail or sea?" gasped Dulcie. "You are amazing, Skiff!"
"Oh, thank you, er… Dulcie, was it?" asked Skiff.
"That's correct," she grinned. "Is and I can practically drive Ollie here."
"Dulcie, not in front of one of the newer arrivals…" muttered Oliver.
"You two can do that?" gasped Skiff. "First coaches that can uncouple without the train stopping and now coaches that can drive an engine. What next?"
"I don't know; a road engine?" joked Isabel, and the quartet had to laugh.
Eventually, Oliver and the coaches reached Arlesburgh. It was Rex's turn to take the first train up the Arlesdale Railway while Frank the diesel was shunting in the yards. Mike and Jock were getting ready for the day's work while Bert was being looked over for some steam leaks.
"Ooh, I've never seen engines that small before," gasped Dulcie.
"They're even smaller than the engines on the railway that Sir Handel Brown and Mr. Sam run," agreed Isabel.
"Are you making fun of us?!" growled Frank.
"Oh no, nothing like that," insisted Isabel. "We were just curious about you."
"Oh, so you two are the coaches Oliver was telling me about a couple of days ago," said Jock. "Welcome to Sodor, Isabel and Dulcie. I'm Jock, and these are my colleagues Frank, Mike, Bert and Rex."
"Nice to meet you all," said Dulcie.
"Likewise," said Rex. "It's nice to have more coaches who can talk around here. The only ones who did so before were the slippies and, more recently, Dexter."
"Oh!" gasped Isabel. "Jackie and Katrina mentioned that the last time they were here, they didn't see him."
"Oh, it's quite the story regarding Dexter," admitted Oliver. But before he could explain, Daisy had arrived at the station with some passengers.
"Bonjour, everyone," she greeted, and then she looked on with surprise. "Oliver, I didn't know you had some new coaches!"
Isabel and Dulcie blinked at the diesel railcar.
"Yeah, we don't know where she learned French either," Oliver said quietly before clearing his throat. "Er, Daisy, this is Isabel and Dulcie, my two coaches from the Great Western Railway."
"Welcome to Sodor, ladies," she said warmly. "We do need some help with the increase in passenger traffic."
"That's what we're here for," said Dulcie.
"Though, there is a bit of a catch," sighed Daisy. "The turntable's been a bit sticky lately."
"That's no problem for us," said Isabel. "As autocoaches, we can drive Oliver down the branch line from our cabins."
Daisy looked at the pair as if they had a face on each end. "Coaches, driving engines? That's ridiculous! They don't run on coal and water or fuel."
"I think you'd be surprised," said Oliver.
"Well, I only believe what I see," grunted Daisy, "and from what I'm seeing, you are pulling your coaches forward like any other engine would." Once her guard's whistle had sounded, she flounced away.
"Pay no mind to her, ladies," soothed Oliver. "She can be a bit stuck up."
"Since when was Daisy over on this side of the island, anyway?" asked Isabel. "I thought Katrina said she was on the Ffarquhar branch."
"Oh, she transferred here when the line extended up to Harwick," explained Oliver. "The Ffarquhar crew's recently gained a new engine who's come all the way from Kenya."
"Whoa!" gasped Dulcie. "One of the former Mid Sodor engines, John, lives on a narrow gauge railway up there. Maybe he's met this African engine."
Meanwhile, Daisy was still grumbling about this new piece of information she'd heard.
"Coaches driving engines," she muttered. "That's just absurd. Everyone knows coaches can only be driven if they are actually railcars, like moi."
"The Great Western Railway was one of the most productive of the Big Four companies," said the guard. "My mother looked this up when she was a guard for the railway."
"Is that why some of the engines who supposedly had different designers can't be distinctive from one another?" grunted Daisy.
The guard winced. "I only hope Duck and Oliver weren't nearby to hear that."
Then there was trouble; a stone from Donald's recent ballast run had been knocked loose from his train by accident, and Daisy was too busy thinking about what to say to Oliver and his coaches the next time they met that she didn't see it.
"Look out!" cried her driver and tried to slam on the brakes. But it was already too late as Daisy had hit the stone and her front bogie came right off the tracks. Some of her passengers had been bumped out of their seats in the derailment, but no one was injured severely.
"I'll go for help," said the guard as she scrambled down and rushed to the nearest station.
At Haultraugh, Oliver, Isabel and Dulcie were unloading passengers and watching some ducks on the platform. The autotank had entered the station in reverse with Dulcie leading.
"Yes, I know, Tillie," chuckled Oliver to the duck that was currently looking very confused. "That's just how autotrains work. It's completely safe."
"She's descended from Dilly and Dallas?" asked Isabel.
"That's correct," smiled Oliver. "She's probably waiting for my driver or fireman to-"
"Excuse me!" cried Daisy's guard. She ran up onto the platform before pausing to catch her breath.
"Sally," exclaimed a female voice as she rushed out the station. "What's going on?"
"Daisy's had a derailment, mother," Sally explained.
"Oh, I see." She turned her attention to Oliver and the coaches. "Do you three think you can help Daisy?"
"Of course, Lily," smiled Oliver. "We're heading our way down to Knapford anyway."
Sally gratefully hopped aboard Isabel before Dulcie started to take the train down the line.
"This is so cool!" gasped Sally. "I've heard stories about autotrains but never rode in one."
"Well, it seems all of Sodor will get to experience that novelty now," chuckled Dulcie.
It wasn't long before the trio came to where Daisy had come off the track, and the railcar's eyes widened in shock.
"Hold on… you're leading the train?!"
"That's what we were trying to tell you," remarked Isabel as the passengers hopped aboard her and Dulcie.
"We believe only what we can see," added Oliver, "and from what we can see, you decided to take your passengers on a 'derail' tour."
Oliver and the coaches laughed at the former's joke, but Daisy wasn't the least bit amused.
Eventually, Donald had brought along Judy and Jerome to put Daisy back on the rails. Thankfully, no damage had been done to her and she was able to go back to work. That evening, before going back to her sheds, Daisy stopped by the sheds down at Arlesburgh.
"Excuse me," she called to the engines and coaches. "I'd just want to… apologize for being rude earlier today."
"You do?" asked Isabel in surprise.
"Yes, I do," sighed Daisy. "I was a tad jealous of you being able to take trains without running around to the other end, as I thought only railcars like moi and high speed trains like Pip and Emma didn't need to do that. But then I realized… you were advanced when you first came out on your railway, and even now, you've proven that the technology holds up."
"Well, we're glad to show it off on a fully operational railway once more," grinned Dulcie.
"Especially now that we've reunited with our Ollie."
"Isabel…" grunted Oliver, but the other engines chuckled.
"Well, you lot have a good night," said Daisy. "Especially you, Ollie." She purred away chuckling while Oliver just rolled his eyes.
Author's Comments
Here's the first of two original stories for Duck the Great Western Engine! As Isabel didn't join Oliver and Toad in the TV series, and Rachel and I followed suit for Resource and Sagacity, we did have the idea that one day, Isabel and Dulcie would come to Sodor permanently and reunite with Oliver. And this story seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. Having the trio paired up with Daisy was also a good move, seeing how the sassy railcar would react to a different type of railway coach. And yes, Jock and Frank will be given a proper introduction in a future retelling of Jock the New Engine. There's a lot of future stories to be told one day.
Next time, we reunite with another old friend at the School of Duck!
