Duck the Great Western engine enjoys working hard on his branch line. He does any kind of work without complaint. Whether it was either passengers, goods, shunting, whatever kind of work needs to be done, Duck will make sure that it's done the Great Western Way.

One day, Duck puffed into Tidmouth with Alice and Mirabel. He was uncoupled and puffed away to get some water before making the return journey. While chuffing through the yard, Duck could see a line at the water tower. James was just filling up his tender while Stanley and Charlie waited behind him.

"Excuse me James," Duck said, "My next train leave in about eight minutes. I need more water or else I won't make it back."

"Keep your funnel on," James huffed. "I'm almost done."

"Yes, after you bumped into us," Stanley noted.

"Don't blame him, Stanley," Charlie said. "He probably just has a leaky pipe. Just some newspaper and bootlaces and he'll be as good as new for his local train." The three tank engines laughed as James's tanks were full. The red engine went as red as his paintwork and huffed away.

"You go first Duck. We're not too busy right now."

"Thank you," the pannier said. He puffed up to the water tower and his fireman started filling up Duck's tanks.

"So, what's new on the Little Western?" Stanley asked.

"Nothing new. Just some trouble with some trucks and a few passengers."

"Oh, yeah. I saw what happened to Oliver."

"He's doing fine. He's actually been talking with the man that was with that horrible woman."

"Why do some people act like that?" Charlie asked.

"I'm not sure. I just hope someone doesn't play around with railway equipment." It didn't take long for Duck's tank to be full and he puffed back to the station. While puffing back cab first, he didn't see Phillip puffing some flatbeds of steel, which the pipe on the front truck sticking out.

The trouble was a switch had left the points set to the track Duck was on. The pannier's driver saw what was happening and put on the brake while pulling the whistle chain. Phillip heard this and braked hard, but his flatbed pulled him forward. With and loud "THUD" the flatbed of pipes bashed into the back of Duck.

"Ow!" he cried.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry," Phillip apologized.

"Don't be hard on yourself Phillip. I'm alright." The driver and fireman inspected the damage.

"It's not too bad," the fireman commented. Duck had only received a dent in the back of his bunker which had only knocked some of his coal out.

"I think we should be fine," the driver agreed. "Come on Duck, our train's waiting." They got back into their engine's cab, and once Phillip got out of the way, Duck puffed back to the station. While he back down onto Alice and Mirabel, Duck braked too early and stopped with a cab between him and the coaches.

"A little further," Alice spoke. Duck's driver opened the regulator and the pannier back up into his coaches, bumping them in the process. "Ow! Easy!"

"Sorry girls," Duck apologized. They were soon coupled up and the train was ready to go. The guard blew his whistle and Duck tried to leave, but he didn't move.

"Well, isn't that perfect," the driver groaned. "Your brakes are jammed. This will take a while to fix." The passengers were told about the issue and were very cross. It took five minutes for Duck's brakes to be fixed and the Great Western engine took off to make up for lost time.

This was harder than it was as Duck's brakes were giving him more problems. He would often over or undershoot the platform of the next stations. It wasn't just that, at one of the stations, Duck started off before the guard could get on board. It was clear the pannier wasn't having a good day.

When they made it back Arlesburgh Junction, they could see Mike puffing away. "Wait!" Mirabel cried. She began ringing her bell to alert the little engine they were there. Duck thought there was a problem on the line and slammed his brakes on. The jolt caused one of the couplings to break along with the brake pipes. Now the train's brakes were locked on.

And what was worse, Mirabel was the only one at the platform. The guard had to get a step-ladder to let the passengers in Alice get out safely. Duck let out a sigh, "The day started so well too."

That night, Duck had gone to the sheds early as Donald and Douglas arrived. "Evening Duck, whit's th' maiter?" Donald asked.

"I'm having a bit of a bad day," the pannier responded.

"Och, we heard whit happened tae Alice 'n' Mirabel," Douglas commented. "Ah hawp thay mended soon." The pannier and twins could hear the sound of an engine approaching them. Oliver was backing into the sheds and was heading down the track Duck was on. Just as his driver saw what was happening, the two Great Western engines biffed into each other.

"Bother! Sorry Duck," Oliver apologized. He moved forward so he could head back into an empty birth. Duck just grumbled as if his day was irritating enough.

"How did things start going downhill so fast?" Duck questioned.

"Have you delt with any of the trucks?"

"I was wanting to, but the switches to the yard were jammed. So, I was just put in the shed as I couldn't get to the slip coaches either.

"Weel, tis fixed noo," Donald noted.

"I wish it was fixed sooner." Duck wasn't in a mood to talk and just puffed to the back of the shed to get some sleep.


When morning came, Duck had a hard time building up steam. The firelighter did his best, but the flame in his firebox refused to stay lit. Because of this, Donald had to take his passenger train. This left the slow goods to the pannier. As if his luck wasn't bad enough, the trucks were ready for some fun. They biffed and bashed as they were pulled down the line. Duck wished he had Toad to help keep them in order. He struggled along the track as the trucks laughed along the way. To make matters worse, a few couplings had snapped, forcing Duck to stop. This happened all the way to Tidmouth.

Henry waited impatiently for the train to arrive. "Where is Donald?" he questioned, unaware of the schedule change. Eventually, Duck puffed in. He was relieved that the trip was over but his bad luck wasn't done yet. There was a bogie flatbed in the slow goods train. As they traveled over some points, half the flatbed travel on Duck's track, the other half was suddenly switched onto Henry's.

The big green engine whistled to warn the pannier about what was happening. Duck and his crew looked back and applied the brakes. The sudden force caused to flatbed to lose balance from being on two tracks at once. It tipped over and spilled its cargo all over the tracks. Duck fumed.

"Perfect, just perfect!" he cried.

"Take it easy Duck," said his driver.

"This has been happening since yesterday. Ever since I got that dent, I've been having bad luck!"

"Am I missing something?" Henry asked.

"Long story short, I'm having a bad day."

Soon, Harvey arrived to help clean up the mess. He lifted the cargo onto another flatbed while Duck and Henry waited in some nearby sidings. Just as the crane engine started lifting the flatbed back onto the rail, his chain broke and the flatbed landed on the ground with a thud, still derailed. "Heaving hooks!" Harvey cried.

"Oh, dear," Duck sighed.

"Are you okay Harvey?" Sir Topham Hatt asked.

"This... This is very embarrassing," Harvey said. "This has never happened to me before."

"It's alright Harvey. Still, we're going to need to get this flatbed out of the way. Right now, just get a box to take your chain and hook to the Steamworks."

"May I go too, sir?" Duck asked. "I've been having bad luck ever since I got this dent on my bunker."

"How long has that been there?"

"Yesterday. I would feel much better if I got it repaired."

"Sorry Duck," Sir Topham Hatt said, "But the train heading there is for Henry to take." Henry blew his whistle and tried to move forward. When he did, there was a "CLINK" and he stood still.

"Driver, we're going to be late," Henry said.

"I'm trying Henry," the driver responded. He tried to open the engine's regulator, but it was jammed. Henry couldn't move on his own.

"Oh bother."

"I guess we're going to be taking the train now," Duck commented.

So, after getting a box for Harvey's hook, the pannier and crane engine puffed away. "How much bad luck have you been experiencing?" Harvey asked. Duck, who still felt agitated, explained how he'd been doing since yesterday. "That must be rough."

"Oh, trust me it is," Duck responded.

"So you think it must because of that dent?"

"I doubted it at first, but ever since I got it, my luck has been dreadful."

"Welp, you never know when it'll get better." A loud snap was suddenly heard followed by the guard's whistle. The two engines braked to a stop as they looked back to see half the train was now uncoupled thanks to a broken coupling.

"You sure about that Harvey?"

The two engines soon arrived at Maron. Harvey had pushed from behind so he started to shunt some more trucks onto the train. While he did that, Duck could see James pulling into the station with his own goods train. He didn't look happy. "Hello James," the pannier said bluntly.

"What's gotten you grumpy?" James questioned.

"Back luck. I assume you're just upset because you don't get pull those nice coaches."

"Welp, you guessed right. It's not just that, these trucks filthy, heavy, and annoying. I had to pull them all the way from Vicarstown." James looked down the line knowing that Gordon's hill was the next thing he would have to conquer before getting to Wellsworth. Soon, the cargo from his train had been unloaded and loaded.

His guard blew the whistle and the red engine pulled out of the station. Harvey had shunted the trucks into Duck's train. "Alright, we're ready to go," the crane engine called. The two engines pushed and pulled their train out Maron.

James charged at Gordon's Hill as fast as he could. He was determined to not let the trucks beat him. He whistled loudly as he began his climb. "Hold back! Hold back!" chanted the trucks.

"No you don't," James grumbled. He began using his sand to help his wheels grip the rails as he began losing speed. "Come on. We're nearly there." Wheel turn by wheel turn, James got closer and closer to the top of the incline. He began panting as he gave one mighty pull.

Suddenly, the entire train started feeling lighter. This pleased James at first, but then he knew what that meant. He and his crew looked back to see a part of the train rolling backwards. "Back James!" cried his driver. The red engine stopped before slowly running back down the hill.

The guard would've put the brakes on to slow the train down, but the sudden jolt knocked him overboard. Now the trucks were running down the hill with no one to stop them.

Back with Duck and Harvey, they were trundling down the line to Cronk. They were traveling along well until they came to a set of points to allow engines to switch on and off the express line. When Duck rolled over it, he derailed and began rolling in between the two tracks. He bounced a bit as he ran over some of the sleepers until Harvey helped bring the train to a stop.

"Are you alright Duck?" the crane engine asked.

"Just fine," Duck said sarcastically.

"Don't worry, I'll move these trucks out of the way and... Oh wait, I can't."

"Just move the trucks out of the way," Duck's driver ordered. "We'll radio the signalman to warn him about what happened." Harvey whistled and puffed back to Maron. Duck's fireman inspected to see if the tank engine was damage. Duck sat glumly until he could hear something. It sounded like a bunch of trucks rolling at high speed.

"I thought Harvey was taking them back to Maron." Duck's fireman then saw something and quickly made a run for it. Duck looked back to see James's trucks rolling towards him. They had been set onto the mainline to avoid anyone crashing into them. Unfortunately, Duck couldn't get out of the way. "Why me?"

Bracing for impact, the trucks smashed into the derailed pannier forcing him to roll forward and over the express track. The brake van was crushed to piece as the trucks began derailing and piling up blocking all three tracks. Duck was dazed from the impact and was now on his side.

"Are you alright?" his driver asked. The pannier said nothing and just sighed. He then heard some brake screeching and looked to see Murdoch heading towards him.

"Oh, come on!" Duck cried. He shut his eyes and waited for the impact. Luckily, Murdoch had been radioed about the derailment and brake before he saw the crash. He stopped a few meters before hitting the Great Western engine. His crew stepped down from his cab and walked over to inspect what happened.

"Are you two okay?" the driver asked Duck's crew.

"We're just a little bruised and shaken," Duck's fireman answered.

"Harvey's just gone for help," Duck's driver added.

"I'm fine by the way, in case you're wondering," the derailed engine spoke.

"You don't look too fine," Murdoch commented. He moved slowly forward to inspect the damages. Duck's boiler had been dented and cracked from being knocked onto his side. His back buffers had been broken from being smashed into and his cab was very badly dented.

"Well, I think it's safe to say I'll be going to works now."

And that's what Sir Topham Hatt had in store for Duck. After seeing the tank engine's damages, he had him sent to the Steamworks right away. When he arrived, Victor was amazed at his damages. "Flaming funnels!" the narrow gauge engine gasped. "What happened?" He was quickly told about Duck's bad luck.

"Though, I think I might be ending soon," Duck commented.

"What makes you say that?"

"It's pretty lucky that I blocked the trucks that would've crashed into Murdoch."

"I guess it is. Kevin!"

"Hold on boss," the Steamwork's crane cried. Kevin rushed over to Victor and Duck while carrying some cans of paint. He swerved around and then tipped over, splashing the paint all over the floor next to the engines.

Duck shut his eyes as he heard the crash. When he opened them, he was surprised to see there wasn't a speck of paint on him. "Well, I guess my luck is turning around," he chuckled. Kevin laughed as well while Victor just smiled as he went to help get Kevin upright again.

Though there was now a problem; with Duck out of service, there were now only three engines running the Little Western. Oliver and the twins wouldn't be able to handle all the work on their own. Fortunately, there was an engine that volunteered to help out, but that's another story.