Murdoch And The Kipper

Written by Lee Pressman

One evening, Murdoch was waiting at Kellsthorpe for Elizabeth to arrive with some more goods for his journey to Vicarstown. However, she was taking a rather long time, and Murdoch was getting impatient.

"Where is that vintage lorry?" he grumbled aloud. "She's late! Doesn't she realize the Fat Controller depends on me?"

To make matters worse, the loud noises of engines passing through couldn't help but make him feel even more unsettled!

PEEP-PEEP!

POOP-POOP!

Rebecca and Gordon exchanged loud whistles with one another as they passed through in opposite directions, as James let out a loud, long one as he passed Murdoch.

PEEP-PEEP-PEEEEEP!

Murdoch winced with irritation as James passed, then watched as he set off in the distance before sighing heavily.

"Can't get a moment's peace without those noisy, chatty engines passing through," he moaned to himself.

Just then, he heard a familiar faint horn honking and looked over to see who it was.

At long last, Elizabeth arrived, her loader full of goods.

Elizabeth let out a deep sigh of exhaustion as she stopped right beside Murdoch, but Murdoch only coughed and expressed irritation at the smoke being blown in his face. The men quickly got to work at loading his trucks.

"Where have you been?!" he snorted.

"You're lucky I even came at all!" Elizabeth sharply pointed out. "Roads were icy and holding me back from going at my usual pace!"

"Huh! Stuff and nonsense! How difficult can it be to make good time given any sort of weather condition?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised, big fellow. In fact, I strongly suggest you be very careful on the way home. You never know what may happen given these harsh weather conditions."

"Pah!" Murdoch snorted, as the men loaded his last truck. "Ice and snow shouldn't be any reason for delays! Anyway, I still have goods to deliver, so I'm kept very busy!"

Elizabeth shot him a puzzled look, and sat back as his guard's whistle blew.

PEEP-PEEP!

"Bye, now!" Murdoch called out to her, as he slowly left the station with his heavy goods train.

"Huh! Not even so much as a thank you!" Elizabeth snorted to herself.

Murdoch continued along on his route towards Vicarstown, plowing away at the heavy snow drifts with all his might.

Murdoch shut his eyes tight as he plowed heavily against the deep drifts ahead of him, opening his eyes suddenly to the sound of a familiar pair of whistles.

PEEP-PEEP!

PEEP-PEEP!

"Wheeeeee!" Donald and Douglas wailed out excitedly, as they raced down the line, back-to-back with a van in between their tenders.

"Careful, Donnie!" Douglas shouted out.

"I know where we're going, Dougie!" Donald shouted back, as they pressed forward.

"Hmph! Silly engines!" Murdoch murmured to himself.

Murdoch arrived at Vicarstown all in good time, and waited anxiously as the men unloaded his trucks, before Rosie arrived to take them away.

PEEP-PEEP!

Murdoch yawned as the shunter uncoupled him from his trucks and Rosie pulled them away. Then he set off for the shed.

Murdoch returned to the shed, hoping for a good night's rest. He closed his eyes and went to sleep, but unfortunately, that didn't last long…

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

PEEP-PEEP!

"Good evening, Rosie!" Henry greeted, as he backed down into his berth beside her.

"Hi, Henry!" she greeted back. "How was your day?"

"Went well, thank you very much. Kipper vans behaved well, the passengers didn't grumble at all so I don't have much of a reason for doing so myself."

"Huh! Ironic!" Murdoch halfheartedly thought, before rolling his eyes and looking the other way with exasperation.

"On top of that," Henry went on, "stationmaster says there is a special I need to take to the Mainland tomorrow night."

Murdoch kept one eye at the sound of this as Henry went on."

"Oh, and that you'll have to take the Kipper tomorrow night, Murdoch."

This grabbed Murdoch's attention as he opened his other eye and looked over at the apir.

"I'd be up for that job!" he admitted. "As long as it's peaceful and quiet."

"Hmm…" Henry wondered. "Well, I do get a nice, peaceful run out of it on a regular basis…"

"That's good enough for me!" Murdoch remarked.

Henry and Rosie gazed over at Murdoch in surprise, who was just attempting to fall back asleep.

"You're not at all worried, Murdoch?" Henry wondered.

"Worried?!" Murdoch spluttered. "What reason would I have to be worried?!"

"Oh, I don't know," Henry thought. "Maybe, about…taking the Flying Kipper for the first time?"

"Huh!" Murdoch snorted. "Certainly not! I've pulled trains twice the size of a few fish wagons!"

Henry raised an eyebrow and gave Murdoch a clever smirk.

"Well, you should be, Murdoch. Just for the record, my first experience with the Kipper wasn't very successful."

"Hmph! And at what cause? Carelessness?"

"Oh, but that could be debated!" Henry denied. "The Flying Kipper is a very accident-prone train, you see. Just ask James!"

Rosie chuckled.

"Say, Henry. Would that challenge you set for Donald and Douglas make much of a difference?"

The two shared a laugh, as Murdoch stood unamused.

"You're both just trying to play games with me!" he snorted. "I've taken hundreds of trains out since I transferred to Vicarstown and never once had an accident…"

Then he had another slight thought and coughed.

"In spite of a few delays…that is."

"Delays are something you'll have to worry about, Murdoch!" Henry warned him.

"I'll be just fine, Henry!" Murdoch huffed. "Now, please, both of you, let me sleep!"

Henry shot a look over at Rosie and grinned, before looking back over at Murdoch.

"If you're really certain that nothing will go wrong, Murdoch, then perhaps I might as well tell you the story of my first experience with the Kipper."

Murdoch let out a loud yawn and groaned before giving in.

"Fine!" he encouraged. "Go on! Even though I'm not sure what difference it will make!"

Henry just laughed.

"I'm sure it will, Murdoch! But anyways, here goes…:"

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

It was five-o-clock in the morning when I arrived at Tidmouth Harbour. My driver had promised me the night before that if we pulled the Kipper nicely, the Fat Controller may let us pull the express. I was very excited about being given this opportunity…

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"…as much as I am about given the opportunity to his very day," Henry reminisced to himself, as Rosie grinned from beside himself.

"Huh!" Murdoch snorted.

"Go on, Henry!" Rosie encouraged. "Tell us the rest of it!"

Henry grinned and decided to continue his story…

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

It took a bit of time, but at long last, the fish was loaded, the porter banged the door, the guard waved his green flag and I was off, ready to pull the Flying Kipper! The skies brightened up all around me as I made my way into the sunrise. At first, the journey went off without a hitch, as the trucks came steadily along right behind me.

"Come along! Come along!" Henry called out.

"Trickety-trock! Trickety-trock! Alright! Alright!" the fish vans sang behind him.

"That is better! That is better!" Henry smiled, as he continued steadily along.

We rushed under bridges and through stations. It wasn't long before I came to a yellow signal, indicating caution. My driver slowed me down in order to prepare me for when the home signal was down. I was under the assumption that the line was clear, so I pressed further on. Next thing I knew, however, a caboose was right of me and I couldn't myself in time before…

CRASH!

Henry crashed right into the caboose and slowly off the rails, groaning as he landed on his side.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Ooh," Rosie shivered, trembling a bit. "That story just gives me the chills, Henry!"

"Pah!" Murdoch shrugged off. "What does it come to prove?"

Henry smiled and looked over at him.

"The points set to the Main Line had only been frozen due to bad weather conditions," he pointed out. "The home signal should have been set at danger but it was forced down by snow…"

"That's quite enough, Henry!" Murdoch cut off. "The only reason you had an accident was probably because the workmen didn't bother to check the home signal before you took that train! A careless move on their part, but one that they surely learnt from, sounds like."

Henry looked over at Rosie, and they exchanged worried looks at one another.

"I've experience maintenance being performed on the Main LIne all the time before the line was cleared!" Murdoch finished.

Henry sighed.

"Maybe you're right, Murdoch," he admitted. "Though I do warn you to be very careful taking the Kipper out. Some things can happen when you least expect them to. That's something I've learnt quite a couple of times from taking the Kipper."

"Well, it surely won't happen to me!" Murdoch snorted, rather unconvinced. "I never have accidents!"

He slowly backed further down into his berth.

"Good night!" he called out to both of them.

He moved quickly to the back of his berth and quickly fall asleep, snoring loudly, as Henry and Rosie giggled to one another.

Next day, Murdoch was pulling a heavy goods train through the peaceful countryside; he felt at ease as he ploughed his way through heavy drifts of snow.

Murdoch shut his eyes and grunted as he pushed hard against one drift, then sighed with relief as he made his way easily through, then set his eyes on the next drift.

Up ahead, Murdoch could see a faulty signal on the line beside him. Harvey and the workmen had just arrived at the site to inspect it, though it kept other engines waiting.

PEEP-PEEEEEEEP!

"Come on!" James demanded impatiently. "What's taking so long?!"

"Easy there, James!" Rebecca reminded him from behind. "Ye can't rush maintenance!"

Murdoch's signal went up to indicate red, prompting him to stop right before the scene of maintenance and raised an eyebrow at the commotion.

"What's going on here?!" he wondered aloud.

"This signal's been forced down due to bad weather conditions," Harvey explained. "The men are doing everything they can to get it fully functioning again!"

Murdoch thought for a moment as Harvey went on.

"However, I don't believe you should be waiting very long, Murdoch, since your signal is working properly."

"Well, of course it is!" Murdoch agreed. "My guess is I'm only waiting for another engine to pass."

POOP-POOP!

At that moment, he heard Gordon's whistle, as he rushed by with the express, then watched as his signal went down again, before pressing on.

PEEP-PEEP!

"Huh!" he confidently thought to himself. "I won't have an accident on my first run with the Kipper! I'm sure of it!"

Further up the line, he saw that Percy had derailed and watched as Edward and Rocky lifted him onto the flatbed.

"Cheer up there, Percy!" Edward assured him. "The accident wasn't your fault!"

"I know that, Edward," Percy replied thankfully. "The signal was just faulty."

"Not to worry, Percy!" Rocky added, as he lowered him onto his flatbed. "We'll have you at the SteamWorks on the double!"

Percy smiled as the chains were detached from him, but Murdoch only shrugged this off as he carried on.

Murdoch remained certain that he wouldn't have any sort of trouble with the Kipper, though Henry's words continuously flew around in his head.

"…the points set to the Main Line had only been frozen due to bad weather conditions…the home signal should have been set at danger but it was forced down by snow…some things can happen when you least expect them to…"

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

By the time Murdoch reached Wellsworth to drop off his delivery, Thomas was also there with Annie and Clarabel.

PEEP-PEEP-PEEEEP!

"Where's Bertie?!" he wondered aloud anxiously. "He is running rather late!"

His driver ran up.

"I just spoke up with the stationmaster, Thomas," he confirmed. "Icy roads have been the cause of this delay, though it shouldn't take long!"

"Bother!" Thomas groaned.

"Patience, Thomas," Annie reminded him.

"Bertie should be here any time," Clarabel added.

"Well," Thomas thought to himself, "maybe you're right, Annie and Clarabel. Anything could have happened to Bertie in this weather."

"Huh!" Murdoch shrugged off from nearby, as he waited for his trucks to be unloaded.

Later that evening, Murdoch was waiting anxiously at the Docks for Porter to arrive with the fish delivery from Norramby.

Murdoch looked over at the clock by the dockside station and sighed heavily.

"No delays, no delays…" he thought anxiously to himself, when…

HONK-HONK!

Murdoch's thoughts were suddenly cut off by the sound of Salty's horn as he rolled into view.

"Ahoy, matey!" the dockside diesel greeted. "Me driver spoke with the dock manager! Seems as though the ship bound fer Norramby has been caught in rough seas! Manager says Porter should be on his way over now though!"

Murdoch groaned with dismay, as Salty honked and rolled out of sight.

As the time passed, Murdoch looked back and forth repeatedly until finally, Porter arrived.

PEEP-PEEP!

"Sorry for the delay, Murdoch!" he apologized. "Ship's been caught in rough seas and…"

"Say no more, Porter," Murdoch sighed heavily. "Salty told me everything. Wasn't under your control, though I will have to make up for lost time!"

Murdoch waited as his fish vans were quickly loaded, before setting off into the night.

PEEP-PEEP!

Murdoch's loud whistle blew into the night as he exited Brendam and made his way along through the countryside.

The evening route couldn't help but keep Murdoch in high spirits, as he continued further along, looking around at the peaceful, quiet countryside that surrounded him.

"Now, this is more like it," he thought to himself, as he saw a familiar pair up ahead.

PEEP-PEEP!

"Evening, Toby, Henrietta!" he greeted.

DING-DING! DING-DING!

The tram engine greeted him back as they passed each other.

Soon enough, Murdoch arrived at Kellsthorpe Station where the porter readied the trolley to unload the fish from his wagons.

"No delays or accidents for me," Murdoch thought to himself, as his wagons were unloaded.

"Woah!" the porter wailed, as the trolley suddenly slipped across the platform on the ice.

Murdoch watched with surprise as one of the workmen quickly grabbed the porter, though his trolley tipped over and landed on one side. The porter watched back with shock as the condition of his trolley!

"Doh! Now, what's happened?" Murdoch groaned aloud.

The porter sighed with dismay

"Sorry, Murdoch, but a wheel's come off. I'll have it repaired first thing in the morning, though the men will have to unload the crates by hand now, which will take even longer."

He went back about the platform and some men cleared away the broken trolley.

"Huh!" Murdoch thought to himself. "It's only one small delay. It can't possibly be as bad as having an accident…"

Soon enough, the men were done unloading his vans, and Murdoch was ready to go.

The guard's whistle blew and Murdoch blew his whistle long and loud as he continued into the night, causing the birds hovering over him to fly off towards the sky as he turned towards the green.

PEEP-PEEEEEEP!

At long last, Murdoch was back out in the countryside, rather relieved with the progress of his journey so far…

"Ah," he sighed to himself. "Not an accident so far. I'll finish my journey all in good time. I'm sure of it…GAHHHH!"

BOOM!

He felt a loud boom in the track as his wheels quickly pounded up and down.

"Doh! Now, what's happened?" he groaned aloud.

"Fog detonator," his driver told him, gradually letting off steam. "It's best we slow down."

Up ahead, they saw a mysterious figure waving at them with a red flag, prompting Murdoch to slow down to figure who it was. It was Cyril the fogman!

Cyril walked up to Murdoch, looking rather, as his lamp shone towards his face, causing Murdoch to wince with slight annoyance.

"It's a good thing I set that detonator on the track!" he told the big engine, who looked rather confused. "Hope it didn't give too much of a shock, though I must check with the signalman up the line before being able to give you the all clear signal! Please, wait here whilst I do!"

"Much obliged!" the driver agreed.

Murdoch watched as Cyril walked off into the fog, sighing to himself.

"No accidents for me," he muttered to himself. "I'm sure of it."

But it turned out that it did take a while for Cyril to check with the signalman, and Murdoch was starting to get rather anxious…

Murdoch groaned loudly as he looked into the mist ahead of him.

"I can't afford to have another delay!" he thought to himself. "We must press forward!"

"I'm afraid we can't til Cyril returns, Murdoch," his driver regretted. "Not to worry though. He should be back soon."

At long last, Cyril returned and looked rather confident as he had news for Murdoch.

"Signalman says you're good to move forward, Murdoch," he clarified, "though he does suggest you do so carefully as the next signal is set at caution."

"Huh! About time!" Murdoch thought to himself, as he pressed on.

Murdoch continued further into the night; the fog thickened all around him but fortunately, he had his lamp to shine brightly against, as he reached the next signal box up ahead.

"Nothing else will go wrong now," he thought to himself, as he passed the signal box.

The home signal was set at caution, as the points diverted him towards a different direction. Little did Murdoch know that ice and snow had brought the signal down, so it should have been up instead of at caution.

"Phew!" Murdoch sighed. "That was a close encounter."

But Murdoch spoke too soon, as there was worse to come…

Further up the line, Emily was waiting with a goods train as the men tended to a faulty signal on the Main Line.

"Don't worry, Emily," the foreman assured her. "The men are doing all they can. It shouldn't take long before you're cleared to go again."

"Thank you, sir," Emily beamed. "I'm not too worried. The Fat Controller will understand if this train is late due to a faulty signal."

At that moment, the men heard Murdoch's whistle from down the line.

PEEP-PEEP!

Emily gasped in horror as the men screamed and shouted, and the guard ran out before the line to wave his red flag.

Murdoch saw the guard waving his flag, and immediately slammed on his brakes, though it wasn't enough to slow him down in time!

"Horrors!" he cried out, and shut his eyes, before smashing into the brake van!

CRASH!

Murdoch opened one eye and opened the other with surprise as he quickly tried to take in what had just happened.

Next thing Murdoch knew, he had found that he had landed down a hill beside the line. Some trucks had also derailed, and some had also strayed onto the line!

PEEP-PEEP!

"Murdoch!" Emily whistled out. "Are you alright?"

Murdoch coughed loudly.

"No!" he groaned. "Though I'll feel much better once I'm back onto the rails again!"

"You're cleared to go, Emily!" the foreman confirmed at the moment. "Signal's fixed, though it may be set at danger due to recent events."

"Not to worry," Emily promised. "I'll go get help!"

She rushed off to the nearest signal box, leaving Murdoch to sigh with dismay.

It wasn't until next morning that help was able to come. Percy took the unhurt trucks away while Edward and Rocky arrived to lift Murdoch and the derailed back onto the rails. The Fat Controller and the signalman came to watch the rescue operation as well.

"I'm very sorry, sir," the signalman apologized. "I only got the call about the faulty signal right after switching Murdoch to the same route that Emily was on. The home signal was forced down by ice and snow and…"

"These things do happen," the Fat Controller admitted, eying the signalman rather sternly. "But perhaps it's Murdoch that you should be apologizing to."

"Oh, right," the signalman thought, rather red in the face as he turned towards him.

"Sorry, Murdoch," he apologized.

The Fat Controller also walked before the large tender engine and sighed.

"Don't worry, Murdoch," he assured him. "The accident wasn't your fault. It was the cold weather that did it. Edward and Rocky will have you at the SteamWorks in no time. You'll soon be in good working order again."

"Thank you, sir," Murdoch replied, before going on as the Fat Controller listened carefully. "I did get a little ahead of myself, though. Henry did warn that something might go wrong, especially on my first journey out with the Kipper."

At that moment, Rocky lifted the last truck onto the tracks and Stanley pulled it away as Edward pulled the breakdown train along the route towards the SteamWorks.

Murdoch spent all day at the SteamWorks; the atmosphere was very loud and the men worked to repair all the dents and scratches that he had received from his incident!

Murdoch winced in surprise at the sound of a pick being injected at his side, and the men got to work using drills and other sorts to survey him all over, starting at his damaged undercarriages.

At long last, they were ready to give him a repaint and Murdoch felt as if he was finally going to get a moment's peace…

Murdoch took a deep breath and shut his eyes, ready to finally rest his axles when…

CLANG!

A loud clang woke Murdoch with a start, as did Kevin racing across the SteamWorks only made the commotion even noisier.

"Whoops! Sorry, boss!" the crane called out.

Men ran out and shouted, as Murdoch groaned with dismay.

By nightfall, Murdoch was in good working order again and returned home to Vicarstown at last.

Murdoch backed slowly into his berth, then yawned and closed his eyes, finally at peace. Rosie arrived a few moments after, careful not to whistle as she watched Murdoch sound asleep and snoring quietly. She smiled over at him, before yawning and closing her eyes herself.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

PEEP-PEEP!

Murdoch opened one sleepy eye to find that Henry had returned, backing slowly into his berth.

"Back from the Kipper, are ya, Henry?" he asked, as Rosie also awoke.

"Yes indeed," the green engine replied. "And thanks also for filling in for me last night…"

He grinned impressively.

"…in spite of your little incident," he humorously went on.

"Oh," Rosie thought, then giggled slightly, as she looked over at the mighty tender engine.

"Oh, yes," Henry continued. "I remember my first incident with the Kipper very well."

"You told us about it last night, Henry!" Rosie reminded him.

"I know," Henry replied. "Point being, it's nothing that you, Murdoch, should be ashamed about. Happens to all of us, come to think of it. But other than that, what did you think of it?"

Murdoch sighed.

"It was a rather fun experience," he admitted. "And you were right to warn me, Henry. Fog and ice did a lot to hold me back on my journey. I learnt a very valuable lesson for that matter."

"Oh," Henry wondered. "What's that then?"

"That accidents and delays can happen when you least expect them to. You never know what might happen, but the best you can do is keep on the lookout."

He yawned his last few words, before falling back asleep, snoring quietly as Henry and Rosie watched with bewilderment.

"Wow!" Rosie burst out. "Have you ever seen Murdoch in such a state, Henry?!"

"Shh!" Henry hissed, then whispered, "no, Rosie. I never have!"

Murdoch fell quickly back asleep, as Henry and Rosie remained respectfully silent the rest of the night.

And so that ends off my winter portion for this set. Another story with Murdoch the Mighty Engine in the spotlight to make his return more prominent, and this time, his character is expanded more than just yearning for peace and quiet. He's quite confident that he won't have an accident with the Kipper due to his spotless streak since arriving in Vicarstown, despite Henry's warnings, and funny enough, unexpected things happen on his journey. Cyril the fogman was fun to include a teeny bit role since one portion of the story focused on fog, and all of Murdoch's obstacles on his journey led up to a crash that he never expected to happen. This wraps up Murdoch's arc for this set, but we'll see him further again down the line. Till then, this will be my last story for a while as next up is my themed-DVD focusing on rescues with some members of the Rescue Team getting the spotlight and my last returnee for this set making an entrance. Feel free to leave thoughts, and as always, stay tuned for…

Thomas & Friends in Ready! Set! Rescue!

Amber Rushes In - a new ambulance van named Amber arrives as part of the Search and Rescue Team to transport injured people to the hospital in emergencies. However, Amber is so eager to rush into an emergency that she often forgets where she is needed.

Gator's Discovery - while delivering some rock salt along Duck's Branch Line, Gator comes across Bulstrode the Barge washed up by the shore and enlists Percy's help to make him good as new.

No Bother For Butch - Butch spends all day tending to other engines and vehicles in a state of emergency, that he doesn't think to take notice of the problem with his own engine, dismissing others' warnings. Instead, he puts his friends entirely before himself, which eventually leads to his own emergency!

Amber's Castle Conundrum - a pair of rock climbers are injured at Callan Castle, so the Rescue team are called into action, though Amber takes a wrong turn and ends up at Ulfstead instead!

Trevor And Flynn - Trevor often tries to find a way to help Flynn with fighting fires when he passes by despite Flynn clearly thinking the old traction engine has little use in a situation like that; however, when Belle derails on the way to a fire, Flynn may end up needing Trevor's help after all when he starts to run out of water.

Captain's Call To Action - Captain discovers a muddy stretch along a riverbank and reports it to the Search and Rescue Center. However, Bulstrode ignores this warning whilst attempting a shortcut back to Norramby and gets stuck, so Captain jumps into action and saves him.