Duck's absence at the works was making work on the Little Western difficult. Oliver, Donald, and Douglas did their best to juggle the trains but they were clearly struggling. Oliver had to work twice as hard to make up for being the only passenger train on the branch.

Donald tried to help out, but that left all of the goods works to Douglas. The Caledonian managed to help keep them in order with Toad's help, the weight of the trucks put a strain on the engine. Without Duck, the three engines were exhausted.

"Mah wheels cop lik' they're gonnae fall aff," Douglas sighed.

"I know," Oliver agreed. "Isabel and Dulcie had been packed full more than what they're built to carry."

"We cannae keep workin' ourselves intae th' ground," Donald complained. "Whin ur we aff tae git anither engine?" The answer came from a whistle the three engines weren't familiar with. In the distance, they could a cabless tank engine puffing towards them pulling a brake van. Both were painted green and when they stopped outside of the shed, Douglas knew who they were.

The engine introduced himself to Donald and Oliver. "Hello there," he said. "Samson, at your service."

"Nice to meet you," Oliver replied. "So you're the engine that's filling in for Duck?"

"Of course. I've even brought Bradford to help with the goods work." Bradford didn't say anything.

Douglas spoke first. "We dinnae need anither brake van," he declared. "We juist need anither engine. Toad wirks fine."

"C'moan dougie," Donald said. "I ken ye 'n' bradford didnae git alang at foremaist, bit he should've learned his lesson efter lest time."

"It's not like we have much of a choice," Oliver added. "I have feeling Sir Topham Hatt would say something about this too."

"How about we save this for the morning?" Samson suggested. "I'm rather tired."

"Good idea. You can just leave Bradford in that siding next to Toad." Samson puffed off towards a sleepy Toad. Douglas just huffed before puffing back down in the shed.

With Samson to help out with the goods trains, Donald could now assist Oliver with the passenger trains. Douglas was happy that he wouldn't have to do it by himself now, but he still didn't feel happy having Bradford helping were many times when he heard the brake van giving orders to not just the trucks, but to Samson as well.

Whenever the Scottish engine and bossy brake van were in the same yard, Douglas made sure to get away from him as soon as possible. Toad didn't enjoy being pulled away so fast, neither did the trucks.

"Oof, watch it!" a van groaned.

"We're going to fall apart at this rate," a tanker spoke.

"Och, shut it," Douglas ordered. "Tis either me or that new brake van." The trucks had a hard time deciding which one would be worse.

When they got to Tidmouth, Douglas shunted the trucks hard into a siding. They nearly broke through the buffers. Boco, who was just collecting his next train was surprised at what he saw. "Douglas, what are you doing?" the diesel engine questioned.

"Ugh, sorry, Boco," Douglas apologized. "A'm juist uggit that new brake van is helping oan th' wee western."

"If I may say Mr. Boco," Toad spoke, "I think Mr. Bradford was just trying to do his job."

"Aye, that doesn't mean he kin stoap th' train whenever he wants. He made me late mony times. Ah tellt him whit he wis daein', bit he shouldn't be daein' it. Keeping that up is making him muckle worse than th' trucks. Ah should've given him th' spiteful treatment."

"Come on Douglas," Boco gasped, "He doesn't deserve that."

"Tis tempting."

"Mr. Douglas, please don't damage any of the trucks," Toad begged. "Sir Topham Hatt wouldn't like it."

"He's right," Boco agreed. "Now, you should hurry back." Douglas sighed before running to get his next train.

Meanwhile, Donald was filling up his tanks before his next train. He puffed forward to fill on coal when Samson pulled in with some empty ballast cars. "Tut, tut, tut," Bradford said. He was making sure that the trucks gave Samson no trouble at all.

"A've git tae say, ye dae a guid jab controlling th' trucks," Donald commented.

"Thank you. A troublesome truck is a truck that's not fit for work."

"So, where do we put these trucks anyway?" Samson asked.

"Under that shoot ower thare," Donald explained. Samson looked over to the ballast shoot while Donald backed down on his train. He was curious about the tiny rails running over the standard gauge ones.

"What kind of engines run on those rails?"

"They wid be th' Arlesdale engines. Thay micht be wee, bit thay git th' jab dane weel."

Samson soon started shunting the trucks into place, Bradford inspected the small rails. "Even though I've been on this branch line before, I still can't believe engines can be so small," the brake van admitted. "Do their rules differ from the one's I've read about?"

"Weel, thare ur th' narrow gauge engines."

"Yes," Samson said, "We've worked with them before."

"Weel..." Donald was interrupted by the guard blowing his whistle. "Sorry lads, a've git tae gang noo." With that, the number nine engine puffed away with the slip coaches.

Along his journey, he stopped at Haultraugh where he found his twin waiting at a signal. "Hello Donnie," Douglas said flatly.

"Dougie, whit's git ye doon?"

"I believe it's Mr. Bradford," Toad spoke.

"Ugh, Dougie, yi''ll need tae let that gang. He's raisin' mair deils than a kin lig taking care o' Samson, he wilnae be bossing ye around."

"Okay, fine, bit if he causes a footer about, we'll blether aboot howfur a'm feelin' aboot it." Douglas's signal turned green and he puffed away.

When he and Toad passed Bluff's Cove, they passed Samson and Bradford. The Scottish engine didn't pay attention to them while Toad said "Hello," to the both of them. Samson whistled back but Bradford kept an eye on the trucks. He heard Toad saying hello and didn't seem pleased.

"That brake van should keep an eye on the trucks," Bradford declared.

"He's just saying hello," Samson said. "He's just wanting to be kind to us."

"When you're a part of a train, you need to keep the trucks in order. The second you let your guard down could be all the time they need to get you into trouble."

"I seem to remember you had a crash because of your broken brakes."

"That might be true..."

"Because you constantly applied them for false alarms."

"Douglas wasn't following the rules."

Samson could feel he was talking to a brick wall and kept on going to Tidmouth. When they got there, they move through the yards and could see it was incredibly busy. Engines were shunting coaches and trucks to and from the station. The few engines that were sitting still were ones filling up on coal, water, or fuel. Bradford saw Phillip zoom past them, the brake van screeched on his brakes.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Samson cried. He helped bring the train to a stop.

"That engine is going over to speed limit set for most goods yards."

"Maybe he has a delivery to make."

"Without trucks?" Samson just sighed as he was uncoupled from Bradford and went to shunt the ballast trucks into a siding. Bradford was left by himself. He looked around the yard and could see Edward puffing into the yard with some trucks of china clay.

"I'll take those off your buffers, Edward," Stanley said.

"Thank you," the blue engine responded. Once he was uncoupled, Edward started to head to the turntable to turn around when he saw Bradford. "Oh, hello Bradford."

"Edward," the brake van said. "Where are you off to today?"

"I'm just about to take some trucks back to Wellsworth. What are you doing here?"

"Samson is shunting his ballast truck. I'm here to make sure other engines keep safe."

"That's very nice of you, but the engines know to be careful."

"Are you sure? With the track record of these railway accidents, it's to be better safe than sorry."

"Well, you do that. I'm going to get turned around." And Edward puffed away. Bradford then heard some giggling from one of the other tracks. He saw Stafford struggling with some trucks of coal. One of them looked to be a familiar orange.

"Oi, you!" The orange truck looked over to Bradford before rolling his eyes.

"Oh, it's you again," the truck said. "What do you want?"

"State your name business."

"...Name's Fred. I don't have to tell you anything other than that."

"I find that you will. I'm..."

"Look, buddy, I don't know who you think you're talking to, but trucks like me aren't going to listen to someone like you. Scream all you want, but unless you're coupled to us, you can't do anything." Bradford glared at the coal truck, then Fred smiled. "Wait, you're that fool whose brakes snapped and lost control."

Fred started laughing which made Bradford even crosser. He could see some Samson coming back and buffering up to the coal trucks. This got the brake van a little worried, especially when the trucks coupled up to him.

"Samson, what are you doing?" Bradford questioned.

"The yard manager said this coal is for the Arlesdale Railway," Samson spoke. "If they don't get this they'll grind to a halt." Samson blew his whistle and started off. Bradford couldn't help but worry, with Fred in the train, things were going to be difficult.

Strangely, the trucks came along well. Bradford was surprised, "Maybe Fred is just a bad egg," he pondered. Soon, he let his guard down. He could hear some banging and biffing from the train. "Oi! What are you doing?"

"We're going too slow," one of the trucks whined.

"If we push Samson along, we'll be there in half the time," another said. They kept bumping each other which Bradford wouldn't have.

"If you keep this up, I'll bring you all to a standstill," he ordered.

"Do it!" teased the trucks. So that's what he did, Bradford slammed his brakes on the trucks held back too. The sudden jolt caused one of the couplings to break.

"Now!" Fred cried. "On! On!" Without a brake van to stop them, Fred and coal trucks pushed an unlucky Samson down the line.

"Whoa! Bradford!" the tank engine cried. Samson could see that he was now running with only coal trucks. He braked as hard as he could, but they were useless against the surging train. He shot down the line faster and faster. Engines and people were amazed as he rocketed down the line. His crew did what they could, though it didn't help very much.

Soon, they were entering Arlesburgh Harbour. Samson's driver and fireman jumped clear when they passed the platform, leaving the cabless engine on his own. Trouble was ahead, the points had been set to the track leading into the sea. Before they could switch them back, Samson screeched over the switch and crashed back first into the sea.

Steam hissed as the water splashed into his firebox. The troublesome trucks bumped into each other and derailed, launching coal everywhere. Skiff was giving a tour when he saw the accident. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Been better," Samson sighed. "Get a crane please." Skiff and Joe sailed to shore to get help.

Later, Ryan had brought Judy and Jerome were helping to clean up the mess when Donald puffed in. He was taking some fish vans with Bradford on the end. "Och, Samson," the Caledonian gasped.

"I'm so sorry," Bradford sighed. "I let my guard down and look what happened."

"Dinnae blame yersel'. It could've happened tae a'body." The cabless engine was lifted onto a flatbed as the workmen inspected for damages.

"Hmm, aside from the soaked firebox, you're fine," a workman said.

"So, I just need to dry my firebox out?" Samson asked.

"Exactly."

Samson looked down at his buffers. "Sorry if I'm causing delays."

"Tis a'richt samson. Ah kin hulp cover yer trains."

"But you're supposed to be taking passenger trains."

"Ah left th' slip coaches as Arlesburgh West. A've git time afore mah neist train."

"Don't pace yourself," Bradford said. "Speeding will lead to more accidence."

"And look what following the rules got your friend," Fred chuckled. Donald looked towards the orange coal trucks and narrowed his eye.

"Ye caused this? Ah should've known." Donald raced forward the give the troublesome truck a fierce bump. Fred rolled a couple metered until he bumped into the line of rerailed trucks.

"I knew that truck would be trouble," Bradford admitted. "I should've never let my guard down with a truck like him."

"Oh, you just try," Fred said. "I might be only one truck, but together we're unstoppable."

"Pat a sock in it!" Donald ordered. He charged up to Fred and gave him another biff.

After Samson's firebox was dried out he had returned to work. Bradford wasn't letting the same thing happen again and kept his eye on the trucks and if they tried even talking between each other, the brake van would order them to keep quiet. Samson didn't want to say it in front of his friend, but it felt a little too much.

Douglas wasn't afraid to speak up however. "A'm telling ye, Bradford is getting worse," he complained to Toad. The Scottish engine was shunting some trucks for his next train.

"Mr. Douglas, I think he just doesn't want Mr. Samson to crash again," Toad spoke.

"A'm juist saying, he's aff tae throw oot his voice if he keeps it up." Because of his complaining, Douglas wasn't focusing on the trucks behind him. He bumped them too hard and they rolled backward into Gordon.

"Ow!" the express engine groaned. "Douglas, watch what you're doing!"

Douglas felt a little ashamed about this. "Sorry, Gordon. Juist hud something oan mah mynd." The Scottish engine buffered up to the truck much more carefully this time. He then coupled them up to Toad so they make the return journey.

"Mr. Douglas, I think you should talk with Mr. Samson when we get to the sheds," Toad suggested.

That evening, Douglas shunted Toad in the sidings, making sure that he was next to Bradford. Once he was uncoupled, the Caledonian headed towards Arlesburgh Shed. Donald, Oliver, and Samson were already there.

"Sae, Samson, cuid ye tell us mair aboot Bradford?

"Dougie!" Donald groaned.

"Ah dinnae mean him bein' a loudmouth, ah mean how'd ye catch up wi` up?"

"Well, it's quite interesting," Samson spoke. "Word had gotten out that I often make mistakes after I took the express to the Blue Mountain Quarry."

"How'd you mess that up?" Oliver questioned.

"I found a way. Anyways, I was then given Bradford to help keep me in check."

"He's bin daein' a guid fae whit a've heard," Donald commented.

"Tis a pity he jiggered weel wi' ither engines," Douglas commented.

"Douglas," Oliver groaned.

"Ah'ament talking juist aboot me. Duck, Thomas, a' o' th' engines wha used Bradford hud bin delayed by his rules."

"You're not wrong," Samson admitted. "Bradford has caused a few delays with me. He means well and he doesn't like taking risks with trucks."

"I understand that," Oliver commented. "I got into a bit of an accident my time dealing with them."

"'n' we've dealt wi' a spiteful brake van," Donald added.

"So how do you keep them in line?" Samson questioned.

"Ollie 'n' ah hae smashed up a tae o' trucks," Douglas explained. "Ah teuk care o' that brake van 'n' oliver tore apairt an auld ballast truck."

"Wow. That would do it."

"It sure did," Oliver confirmed. "The twins handle most of the goods trains while Duck and I stick with passengers."

"Aren't you two mixed traffic engines?"

"Engines lik' James dinnae lik' taking goods. Sae we tak' thaim sae wirk kin git dane," Douglas explained.

"Hmm, I should've known. So, do you know when Duck will be back?"

"It's hard to say," Oliver responded.

"Well, I hope it's soon. I don't want to have another accident with these trucks."

In the yard, Toad was sleeping soundly. Bradford was still awake and kept looking around the yard, listening for anything out of the ordinary. "Look, I don't care if he's as big as one of those American cabooses," said a voice.

Bradford recognized the voice. Behind some faceless vans, Fred was talking with a few troublesome trucks, forming a plan. "Now, that cabless engine has to take a goods train to Vicarstown," Fred said. "If we can lose the brake van, Samson will be all ours."

"So, will we make him crash?" a tanker questioned.

"Hmm, it depends. It's a shame we can't go to Brendam if we go up Gordon's Hill."

"It would be great to make Samson go swimming," a ballast truck cackled.

"Oh dear," Bradford muttered. He knew if he alerted the trucks they would change their plan. Toad was fast asleep and waking him up would make the trucks suspicious. His best plan would wait until morning and explain what was wrong to Toad and the engines.


When the crews arrived to get the engines ready for work the next day, Samson was having a hard time building up steam. "Come on Samson," the fireman groaned. "We have to get going."

"I'm trying," the mainland engine stated. "It must've been that dip I took."

"If ye kin git yersel' workin', ah will tak' yer train," Donald offered. "Where's it gaun?"

"Vicarstown," Samson's driver explained. "Duck should be coming back from the works today and Samson was supposed to take the train back to the mainland. Take Bradford with you."

"I micht as weel. Duck shuid be back soon." Donald puffed out of the shed and headed to the yard. He backed down onto Bradford and was starting to be coupled up as the brake van had urgent news.

"Douglas," he said worriedly.

"Tis Donald."

"Uh, right. Sorry. Anyways, I heard Fred talking to the trucks last night about some sort of plan."

"Whit kind o' plan?"

"I think they were planning on having Samson get into a bad crash."

"Ooh, how horrible," Toad gasped.

"Hmm, ah dinnae think ah shuid tak' this train by masell. We better git Douglas."

"Are you so sure about that?" Bradford asked.

"Ah ken ye twa dinnae pure git alang, bit we cannae tak' ony risks." The Scottish engine pulled the brake van back to the shed just as Douglas was starting to get ready to take a goods train. He was told about what Donald had in mind to stop the trucks.

"Ah ken whit ye'r planning, bit ah'ament workin' wi' him," Douglas stated. He glared at Bradford who understood the siuation.

"Douglas, I know we got off on the wrong foot," Bradford admitted, "However, if we don't stop these trucks now, we'll have no idea what will come next."

"He's richt Dougie," Donald noted, "We hae tae shaw thae trucks who's in charge."

Douglas thought about the siuation. With nobody to keep them in line, trucks could cause endless amounts of trouble. Delays and damages were a guarantee to happen from their mischief. Still, it did risk having them getting bossed around by the mainland brake van.

"A'richt, fine," Douglas sighed. "But only if he learns to keep his mouth shut." Bradford agreed to this and three engines began their plan."

Later that day, Donald was at Tidmouth filling up on coal and water before making his long journey to Vicarstown. He heard a whistle and could see his brother puffing with some ballast trucks. "Urr ye ready?" the number ten engine asked.

"We've juist git tae git yer trucks intae th' train 'n' we'll be duin," Donald said, "Brace yersel' whin we git tae Gordon's Hill." The twins agreed as Donald went to shunt the trucks as his brother went to refuel.

While shunting, the number nine engine could see an orange coal truck sitting in the middle of the train. He knew this was Fred and he looked to be a bit impatient. Having a feeling that he was ready for his plan, Donald backed towards Bradford to double check with their plan.

"Urr ye duin Bradford?" the engine asked.

"It's either now or never," the brake van responded. "Couple me up and head out towards Vicarstown." Donald did so and after shunting all the trucks together, he puffed towards the front of the train just as Douglas was backing down onto it. He coupled up to his brother and they set off towards the station at the end of the line.

"Urr ye sure aboot this?" Douglas questioned. "Ah aye dinnae..."

"Dougie, we're awready starting," Donald stated, "We micht as weel keep gaun." As the engines traveled along the line, Fred began whispering his plan to other trucks.

"Aright, now if we stall them at the station, we should cause them to be late," Fred said. "This will cause them to go faster than they should. They will get them when they get to the top of the hill." Bradford was listening to the entire plan, though he didn't do or say anything, which would've risked their plan.

Everytime they stopped to picked up or deliver trucks, Bradford explained what he overheard what he said to the scotts. They did their best to keep the trucks in line either by starting faster than they were planning or giving them some harsh bumps. The trucks wouldn't go down without a fight and still managed to cause a delay or two thanks to some jammed brake and hotboxes.

Still, the twins and the brake van did their best to keep to time and they soon made it to Gordon's hill. Donald and Douglas charged in the incline with all of their might, starting of at top speed but getting slower the higher and higher they went. The two braced themselves for what the trucks had planned.

"Okay, they've put up a great fight," Fred said. "On the count of three." Soon, they reached the top and Fred began putting his plan into action. "One. Two..."

"Now!" Bradford screamed. Without warning, the twins slowed down before pulling forward. This caused the trucks to overreact and they tried pushing the train forward, causing the couple of the truck in front of Fred break. Now the orange coal truck was the leader of a runaway train.

"Gah! New plan, charge them off the rails!" Donald and Douglas picked up the pass as they new the momentum would increase very soon. Pistons pumping and whistle blowing, the scottish twins thundered down the line with the tail of end of their train chasing them down. They passed by Whiff, who was taking some garage trucks to his waste dump.

"Faster! Faster! Follow the leader!" the trucks screamed. The trucks coupled to the twins were in shock so they didn't have time to think. Donald could see Cronk in sight. There was a set of points that led down the Peel Godred Branch Line. Hitting this switch at too high of speed would cause an engine or rolling stock to derail.

The twins whistled frantically and the signal man could see Fred and the trucks chasing them down. As the twins raced past the points, signal man changed to the point to set the trucks down the branch line. However, Fred was going too fast and started tilting to one side. Before he could react he fell onto his side and cause dirt and ballast to fly into the air while he split is coal.

The friction of the derailment, plus Bradford and some of the trucks braking brought the train to a stop. Luckily, only some of the train had derailed. Whiff caught up with the derailed train and was alarmed. "Are you okay?" the garage engine asked.

"We're fine," Bradford sighed. "Let's just say that the trucks will learn what happens when their train doesn't have any brakes." The trucks groaned as they didn't want to have a repeat of this crash.

"Ugh, why do we do this to ourselves?" one of the trucks questioned.

After stopping a few yards away, the twins backed up to find Whiff pulling the train back onto the track. Only Fred and some of the trucks at the front had derailed, still a good majority of them were still in working order. "Thank ye, Whiff," Douglas said, "We'll tak' it fae 'ere noo."

Whiff was uncoupled from Bradford and backed up to his own train while the twins recoupled to their trucks. "Now, are we going to have any trouble now?" Bradford asked.

"Uh... No," the truck in front of him said, timidly.

"Alright. Now, we will carry on with no further delays! Donald, Douglas, when you're ready." With a toot of their whistles, the scottish twins carried on with their journey, which was rather unventful.

After Douglas had refilled his water tank he puffed over to the siding where Bradford had been shunted. "Ye did gey weel," the caledonian said.

"Thank you," the brake van said. "I'm sorry any delays I caused you and your friends."

"Tis braw noo. Ah appreciate ye keeping an yak oan th' train, bit dinnae be a troublesome truck yersel'." Bradford gave a nervous chuckle as he felt like Douglas was right.

"Hey, Douglas," Norman called, "Your train is ready."

"Juist a minute. Anyways, Bradford, ah hawp ye hae a safe journey back tae th' mainland."

"Thank you Douglas," Bradford replied. "Make sure you keep those trucks in line."

"Same tae ye." Douglas puffed away to couple up to the train and help his brother with his train, leaving Bradford to have a rest.


At the Steamworks, Duck was just having one last coat of paint before he would be sent back to the Little Western. "Alright Duck," Victor said. "You should be good now."

"Finally," the pannier sighed. "I've been so bored here. I need a job to do."

"Well, if you want to be useful, you can take those repaired trucks to Tidmouth." Duck smiled at the idea as his firebox was lit up. After a few minutes to wait for his steam to heat up, he saw Samson shunting some damaged trucks on some flatbeds into the works.

"Samson? What happened?"

"The twins had a trick prepared for the trucks," the cabless engine said. He looked a very hurt Fred. "I think it's safe to say it worked."

"Well, not as shocking as Scruffey. I'll be heading back to the Little Western now."

"That's good, I'm stopping by Vicarstown and then I'm heading back to the mainland."

"Well, that's good. Thanks for helping out while I was being repaired."

"It's no problem. Now, I better get Bradford before he causing any more delays." Duck coupled up to some empty trucks before he and Samson headed off to their destination, leaving behind a bruise and upset coal truck.