Tram engines

Thomas was in tidmouth sheds waiting for the fat controller to tell him the news. "Maybe I'll get to pull a special train" He thought to himself "or maybe I'll get to pull some VERY special visitors" but his daydreaming was interrupted when the fat controller showed up. "Thomas, a visitor has arrived on the island and you must show him around" Said the fat controller Thomas just beamed proudly and went to the docks.

Thomas felt special as he set off to the docks to find the visitor, but when he arrived he saw him. He was on a flatbed and he looked splendid, he was a tram engine just like Toby, but he was made of steel and a metal device was sticking out of his roof, Thomas was very surprised. He rolled up to the visitor and said "Hi" "Hello" said the visitor "I'm Dave" "and I'm Thomas, please to meet you Dave" Thomas got a closer look at Dave and saw that he had some coaches attached to him, he was sort of a mixture of a Diesel railcar and a Tram engine, Thomas was most surprised.

Dave just smiled and said "I see you're not used to engines like me" "No" Said Thomas, "Well let me explain" and Dave started talking, "you see you run on coal and water, I run on electricity, this device above my head is connected to some wires hanging above us. This device absorbs the electricity from the cables and travels threw to our engine which gives us the power to move" Thomas was puzzled "But my Friend Toby doesn't run on electricity" said Thomas and Dave started again "Your friend Toby is an old fashioned engine right?" "Right" "well we run on electricity because it's more powerful then coal, doesn't hurt the environment and it's more safe to our surroundings" Thomas then looked at Dave.

"What do you mean surroundings?" "Ah you see your railway is on its own, it goes around the country side. But OUR railway is with the road, our rails are built in the asphalt so we roll around with the cars stopping at every traffic light and stopping at every station right near the road. We're like banana buses on rails" he then finished, but Thomas had SO many more questions to ask. "What happens when you go fast?" "Oh no, we're not allowed to go fast; our curves are so sharp we have to go show around them. And if you tried to go fast around the curves you'll be in danger of toppling on your side and hurting you passengers". "Do you get enough long runs?" Thomas asked "our railway is in the city and not only that; we have bridges which elevate us trams above the roads. So we get long runs on or off the road". Thomas asked what he was going here. "Well you see, I was sent to Crewe to be repair after lightning struck my electricity carrier. Please tell me where am?" Thomas said proudly "You're on the Island of Sodor" "Well I'm almost home" he said and Thomas knew he was going to like this Tram.

Princess

Dave was talking to Thomas, who had now pushed him into the siding. Thomas just loved to hear about his interesting railway he runs on. "Every morning" said Dave "they would do maintenance on us. They'd test our brakes and accelerators to see of there was something wrong with us, and if there was, another tram would take our jobs for the day while we were mended". Thomas just loved hearing about Dave and his daily routines. "Do you have any trams?" Dave asked, "Only Toby but he's an old fashioned tram" said Thomas with a smile "what about engines that carry passengers in side their frame?" "Well…" Thomas's thoughts trailed off as a diesel railcar rolled up beside them "there is only one, and here she is. This is Daisy". Daisy looked at Dave and shuddered "What is this" she asked "I'm Dave" "A low life is what you are, your not fit to be seen near me" Daisy spat and rolled away. Thomas apologised, "no need for an apologue" said Dave.

"Their once was someone at my old railway who acted like that. Her name was Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Fourth" "That's a huge mouth full" Said Thomas, "yes it was, you were bound to stuff up at princess, but soon her name was changed to Princess". "I bet that went to her head" said Thomas "Yes it did" said Dave "she thought that she was a higher ranking tram but we were all equal. She thought that she deserved better and didn't want to go through maintenance, but the workman told her. It doesn't matter what rank you are, you're still able to get bugs in your system."

Thomas was amazed that someone could have been that arrogant. "She thought that she will never get bugs in her system so early in the morning, she work up very early, she saw that the workers wouldn't come for another 13 minutes. Then she had an idea "If I slip out, I wouldn't have to go through maintenance" so, silently the rolled out of the sheds hoping not to wake anyone up. She went up a bridge and needed more strength so she sped up and saw a station ahead she tried to slowdown but couldn't, she tried to put on her brakes but couldn't. She rolled right past the station and saw the bridge slope down to ground level, as she went down the bridge and picked up speed. She rocketed along the line and saw the line swerve left, she couldn't stop, she toppled over at the curve and landed on her side and blocked the road" Thomas was shocked "w-what happened to her?" Thomas asked "she was shipped away on a garbage barge we never saw her again".

Thomas raised his eyebrows in disbelief and just at that moment, Daisy was pushed into the sidings by Percy "what happened Daisy?" Thomas teased "I didn't have my engine checked, it over heated and I broke down" Thomas and Dave couldn't help but laugh, Daisy didn't get the joke but laugh with them as well.

Roller Coaster

Dave came to the island of sodor to get shipped back to his home, but the ship wasn't scheduled to come until tomorrow, so he had to stay over night. He wasn't lonely, Salty agreed to stay with him over night. Salty was telling his story's about the sea, "You have a very interesting passion about the sea" said Dave "aye captain, my entire life is about the sea" "well my entire life is about giving my passengers a smooth ride" said Dave, "but there was one tram who didn't feel the same way". "His name was Paul, he was smaller that the other trams, that made him feel important for some reason. I'm sure he meant well but he did put his passengers risk in front of his own" Salty asked how "he would roll carelessly around the track giving the passengers a bumpy ride." Salty then asked if anything happened to him "well he did" "how" asked Salty, "well it was during the vacation times and we were over worked but not Paul he got their right on time"

"Now trams" said Mr. Reginald, "summer is almost here, and I want Paul too take the vacationers to the beach islands. That is all" Me and my good mate Alastair tried to tell him to go slow, "Pah, what's good going slow and way? It waists time and it is vary boring" "It maybe boring" said Alastair "But it's safe, and the passengers will have a smooth ride from you for once" but Paul just snorted and rolled away to collect his passengers.

You see our line goes a couple of miles into the sea where some sand islands are, that is the special attraction. And the sand islands are very bouncy so sensible trams go slow around those parts but Paul didn't. "What happened?" asked Salty "well…"

"Paul was racing to the sand island only slowing down at the bends because he didn't want to topple. He soon got the long bridge which spreads out to the open sea, he picked up speed and on no time at all, he got to the first station and felt good about himself. "This isn't bouncy, those Trams just want to waist my time and get me late" but the rough but was into the island not around it. So he set off going fast and furious around the track stopping at every station to pick up and set down passengers."

"And then came the best part"

"What could be the best part about that captain?" Salty asked

"Well…"

"Paul was getting more into the sand island and the track was getting more and more uneven. "Thes doesn't feel good" but he wasn't looking where he was going and saw a station a head, he slammed on his breaks but slid past and went down a tunnel. The tunnel went down and swerved from left to right, Paul saw this and realised "this could be an energetic experience" he thought to himself and when the last passenger got on bored he raced down the narrowing tunnel getting faster and faster, he turned unexpectedly as the tunnel then shot up and he thought that he would fly out of the tunnel and land into the sea, he was getting scared and then he finally got out of the tunnel and raced across the bridge to get home. His passengers were in a state of shock as well as Paul so they didn't know what to think. One of the passengers pressed a button telling Paul to stop at the next station. When Paul got to the next station the passengers buzzed out like buzzing bees and then Paul raced back to his shed and didn't come out for the rest of the week."

By now Dave's story had been heard by everyone near by, but he didn't know that.

"Did he ever come out" asked Salty "He did, but he never took any passengers to the Sand Island ever again" Salty was surprised at that but then dawn broke and in a couple of hours, Dave was going home.

Lights Down

Dave was getting ready to go home to his railway and saw Thomas puffing in all tired and exhausted. "What happened to you?" asked Dave "Well I had to do a late shift, I only had 2 hours of sleep" said Thomas who was tired and cranky "your lucky to have any sleep, we rarely get any sleep" said Dave, "we run night shifts nearly every day and night. So we are basically tired all the time" "Doesn't the lake of sleep effect you at all?" asked Thomas, "No it doesn't, but we do need a rest every once in a while" said Dave "and we do need to be fitted new lights every once in a while". "Why new lights?" asked Thomas "well we are on night shift almost every day so our lights tend to short out leaving us blind" Thomas was interested by this and asked "did your light burn out while on late shifts?" "Well not me, but my friend Alastair did, in fact I remember that very day…"

"It was in the morning and Alastair was fitted new lights for his late shift. He looked smart "I'm on doing a late tonight, and I'm taking passengers to the sand islands" he said "well good luck with that" I then said and he rolled away proudly.

All was going well for him and he made good time and the passengers were proud of him until, some naughty boys were on a top station with some stones, then a Alastair pulled up the boys threw stones at Alastair and smashed his head lights.

Everyone climbed out to inspect the damage, "it doesn't look good" said his driver, "I don't think we can repair the lights in time" "well I'll just have to do with out them" "you can't" said his Driver "you can't see in the dark" "then I'll just have to use the street light then" but the sand islands didn't have street lights but Alastair didn't realised that until he got there, it was pitch black and Alastair couldn't see where he was going, he had to rely on his bell to guide him and that didn't help really. He was getting scared "Where am I going to come out?" he asked him self as he past unfamiliar surroundings "Where am I going?" he asked himself and then he went into the tunnel that swerved up and down he suddenly went down and got a big fright as he didn't know where he was and then he got back home.

"That was scary" he said. "I don't want to go through that again" but then the workmen came in and fitted Alastair with new head lights, he never got scared on the sand islands again".

And then the ship pulled up and the coast guard yelled out "We're here for a Dave, is there a Dave here?" "Well here is my ride. It's been wonderful meeting everyone here and I hope to see you again someday" Dave announced as Cranky hoisted him up and loaded him on the cruiser. Everyone looked on as the ship left with a new friend on bored and something told the engines that they will see him again, someday.