*chapter 4*

the next day Alaric was enjoying a good rest when mr berrane arrived to see him.

'Alaric i have an important job for you to do today' he said.

'oh no not another job for me to do what is it now sir' said Alaric.

'i would like you to pick up some pumpkins from kirk machan then i would like you to take them to the farm at skarloey road' said mr berrane.

'oh joy that sounds exciting alright sir i'm on my way' said Alaric.

'there's a good engine and please be careful with the pumpkins Alaric' said mr berrane.

'yes sir i will' said Alaric.

and with that he puffed over to the station. when he arrived Edward was there dropping off the pumpkins he had collected from the vicarage orchard.

'good morning Alaric just look at all these lovely pumpkins i got for you from my branch line' said Edward.

'oh yes very interesting Edward by the way have you heard about the storm that's coming to the island' said Alaric.

'oh yes i have it sounds very serious i hope that poor Trevor is going to be safe in his shed at the orchard and i hope that Reg is going to be alright at the scrapyard after all he doesn't have a shed to go in' said Edward.

'oh what a disaster that would be i'm sure they will both be fine Edward honestly you old engines worry too much that's the problem i'm not worried about the storm' said Alaric.

soon the pumpkins were all loaded into Alaric's trucks and he was ready to leave.

'well i better be off then Edward i need to get these silly vegetables to the farm' said Alaric.

'very well then Alaric but just be careful with them alright' said Edward.

'oh Edward they will be fine it's not like they are going to bounce out of the trucks on the way up' said Alaric.

and with that he set off up the mountain. soon Alaric was steaming up the track. but his driver noticed that he was quickly speeding up. the pumpkins in the trucks started to bounce and shake.

'slow down Alaric the pumpkins are going to fly right out of the trucks if you don't calm down' said his driver.

'i don't care i want to get this silly job over with so i can go back to my nice warm shed besides their only vegetables' said Alaric.

'very important vegetables too so take care will you' said his driver.

but Alaric didn't take care he just went faster and faster. then there was trouble. when he reached Shiloh the pumpkins started to jump right out of the trucks. one of them hit Alaric on the head and another hit him on the boiler denting it in the process.

'ouch stop hitting me you stupid vegetables' said Alaric.

'Alaric stop!' called his driver.

more and more pumpkins started to fly out of the trucks most of them hitting Alaric. just then a big pumpkin splatted in Alaric's face blinding him completely.

'help stop driver i can't see a thing!' wailed Alaric.

his driver put on the brakes and Alaric came to a sudden stop. the driver was very cross when he saw the mess.

'i knew this was going to happen are you happy now Alaric now there are only two trucks of pumpkins left and now I've got to call for help now' he said.

'oh great can't things get any worse' said Alaric.

and with that his driver went to call for help. soon culdee arrived and when he saw Alaric's face covered in pumpkin he just had to laugh.

'shut up culdee it's not funny!' said Alaric.

'oh yes it is i must say this is a new look for you Alaric and very entertaining too' said culdee.

'just stop laughing and help me to the farm will you' said Alaric.

culdee stopped laughing long enough to buffer up to Alaric and push him up the hill. at last they reached the farm on skarloey road. the farmer was very cross that most of his pumpkins were gone.

'my beautiful pumpkins you silly engine now their all over you instead on in the trucks i'm going to talk to your controller about this!' he said.

'oh sure blame me why don't you it's not like it was an accident' said Alaric.

culdee just burst into fits of laughter. soon the pumpkins were unloaded and culdee took Alaric back down the hill.

'come on pumpkin engine let's get you to the wash down shall we' said culdee.

'i hate you culdee' said Alaric.

'you always do there's no surprise there' said culdee.

Alaric just snorted. soon Alaric was back at kirk machan being washed down. the workmen were very cross with him.

'you silly engine giving us more work to do this pumpkin better come out!' they said.

Alaric just ignored them only to see culdee and Wilfred laughing at him.

'why does this always happen to me' Alaric said.

the next day Alaric was still smelling of pumpkin when mr berrane came to see Eric.

'hello eric i have an important job for you today' said mr berrane.

'what sort of special job is it sir' said Eric.

'i would like you to pick up some hay from kirk machan and then take them to the farm as they have ran out of food for the sheep' said mr berrane.

'sure thing sir i can do that hay is easy to pull' said Eric.

'pah taking hay that doesn't sounds very important to me' said Alaric.

'that's enough of that Alaric you have already caused enough trouble after losing all of those pumpkins yesterday the farmer was very cross and now he has threatened to sue the railway for it' said mr berrane.

'yes sir sorry sir' said Alaric.

Eric just laughed. he loved it when Alaric got into trouble.

'alright Eric that's enough off with you now' said mr berrane.

'right away sir goodbye Alaric the pumpkin train' said Eric.

and with that he puffed away laughing while Alaric seethed with anger. when he arrived at the station toby was there with trucks of fresh hay.

'hello there Alaric just look at all this fresh hey i have brought for the sheep at the farm they will love it' said toby.

'thank you very much toby by the way have you heard about the big storm that's coming next week' said Eric.

'bless my bell i have it sounds like a big one alright i hope all the animals at farmer McColl's farm will be alright' said toby.

'don't fret toby i'm sure the animals will be just fine anyway this hey should be easy for me to take' said Eric.

'careful Eric it's very windy today so it might fly all over the place' said toby.

'don't worry toby it won't be a problem for me now i better be off' said Eric.

and with that he set off up the track. soon Eric was steaming up the mountainside. but toby was right it was very windy up the mountains.

'goodness me it's like trying to steam through a gale in the Atlantic' said Eric.

'you can say that again boy but don't worry i'm sure we will manage and we shall be at the top in no time' said his driver.

'i hope so because this wind is getting stronger by the minute' said Eric.

and he pressed on. but when he got past Shiloh the wind was getting very strong. but Eric just ignored it and kept on puffing through. then there was trouble. a big gust of wind blew the hey out of the trucks and it went into Eric's face he could not see ahead.

'oh dearie me help i can't see!' said Eric.

'oh no the hey!' said his driver.

then there was even more trouble. the trucks hit a big bump in the track and they came off the rails. Eric was stuck and blind too.

'oh bother that's done it what are we going to do now then driver' said Eric.

'hang on a minute Niles is at the top station with the breakdown crane i can just call for him to help us' said his driver.

'please be fast then driver' said Eric.

and with that his driver went to call for Niles. soon he came back with bad news.

'sorry Eric but Niles can't help us it's too windy to use the breakdown crane and even if we did i think it would just end up in disaster for us' said his driver.

'what are we going to do now then they can't just leave me here' said Eric.

'no they can't don't worry i'll just have to call another engine to help us instead' said his driver.

and he went to call for help again. soon culdee arrived to help get Eric's trucks back on the rails.

'thank goodness is that you culdee' said Eric.

'yes it is Eric don't worry i'll have your trucks back on the line in no time' said culdee.

soon it wasn't long before the trucks were back on the line and they were ready to go. Eric's driver tied the hey together with rope so that they would not blow about again.

'that should hold them come on you two let's get going' said the driver.

soon they arrived at the farm safely with the hey. this time the farmer was very pleased.

'at last two engines i can rely on well done you two now i can feed my stock there's enough hey here to last for the entire summer' he said.

'your welcome sir it was no problem' said Eric.

'yes let's just say that it was a heyful alright' said culdee.

'thanks again for helping me get my trucks back on the line and for getting me here culdee' said Eric.

'that's alright Eric besides on this railway we must push together' said culdee.

'now that's something i can agree with' said Eric.

meanwhile back at kirk machan sheds Patrick puffed in.

'oh my word whatever is that sweet smell!' said Patrick.

'don't you even start!' snapped Alaric.

the next day Betty and Nigel the railways diesels were having their tanks refueled waiting for mr berrane to arrive.

'my it sure is a mighty fine day today isn't it Nigel' said betty.

'it sure is betty i wonder what mr berrane is going to have us do today' said Nigel.

just then mr berrane arrive.

'hello betty and Nigel now listen you two there is trouble at the summit station the heating is broken and all the people up there are getting very cold i need you two to take some workmen up there to fix it' said mr berrane.

'will do sir we won't let you down' said betty.

'we shall get going right away sir' said Nigel.

'there's two good little diesels now off you go' said mr berrane.

and with that the two diesels rolled off. soon they got to the station. Gordon was there dropping off the workmen.

'hello there you two I've brought the workmen to fix the heating at the summit station and i have brought them here in good time too as always' said Gordon.

'well done Gordon no wonder why they say your the fastest engine on sodor' said betty.

'by the way Gordon have you heard about the big storm that's coming to sodor' said Nigel.

'why yes i have and what a big one it's going to be too i hope my express coaches are going to be safe in the carriage sheds i would hate it if they got damaged' said Gordon.

'don't worry Gordon i'm sure that your express coaches will be just fine' said betty.

'yes Gordon your coaches are very strong so they shouldn't get that damaged' said Nigel.

soon all of the workmen were onboard.

'well we better be going Gordon' said betty.

'yes see you later Gordon we have a station to warm up' said Nigel.

'good luck you two and take care now' said Gordon.

'thank you Gordon' said betty.

'don't worry we'll be fine' said Nigel.

and with that they set off up the line. soon betty and Nigel were rolling smoothly up the mountain.

'we are making good time Nigel' said betty.

'yeah we should be at the top time at no time at all' said Nigel.

'careful you two you are using up a lot of fuel now' said their drivers.

'don't worry we have plenty of fuel' said Nigel.

but they didn't. when they reached skarloey road they started to get very hot and tired.

'this is hard work isn't it Nigel' said betty.

'you can say that again betty but we must get to the top' said Nigel.

but it was no good. the two diesels went slower and slower until eventually they ran out of fuel. they could not move anymore.

'oh botheration now we are stuck' said Nigel.

'and here i was thinking that we had plenty of fuel in us' said betty.

'i'll phone for help then wait here you two' said Nigel's driver.

'that's all we can do' said betty.

'you can say that again what a blow' said Nigel.

and with that Nigel's driver phoned for help. Niles the maintenance diesel was having a rest when his driver rushed out.

'hello driver are we going back to work so soon' said Niles.

'not exactly boy there's an emergency betty and Nigel have ran out of fuel and we need to get them to the summit station do you think you can boy' said his driver.

'of course i can where would this railway be without me let's roll driver' said Niles.

and with that the little grey diesel roared to life and rolled to the rescue. meanwhile betty and Nigel were still stuck.

'trust us to run out of fuel on the middle of a mountain' said betty.

'i hope help comes soon all this business with heating is making me feel cold' said Nigel.

just then they heard a cheerful blast of a horn then Niles rolled up.

'oh dear in a jam you two' said Niles.

'please help us get to the summit Niles' said betty.

'it's very important that we do' said Nigel.

'don't fret you two Niles is here to save the day i'll have you up the mountain in a jiffy' said Niles.

and with that the little diesel buffered up and started to push. soon they were almost at the top. Niles was working very hard.

'goodness me even without fuel you two are still very heavy to push' said Niles.

'come on Niles keep going we are almost there' said betty.

'yeah go Niles you can do it' said Nigel.

Niles pushed and pushed and pushed. at last they reached the summit station. Niles was very tired but proud.

'well done Niles you were great' said betty.

'yes lots of people can get warm again thanks to you' said Nigel.

'oh please you two are making me blush now let me rest please' said Niles.

soon the heating was working again and everyone cheered for the three diesels.

'it's always great to know that lots of people rely on you' said betty.

'and it's always great to have a friend to help you all the way' said Nigel.

'and i'm just happy that i got you two up here safely' said Niles.

'Niles saves the day again' said Nigel.

Niles just smiled.

note: Niles, Betty and Nigel are my original characters.