Runaway Rex

Bert's breathing issues had become so bad that many of the passengers complained to the Small Controller. He knew it was no use trying to tell them that Bert could still work despite his condition, so he told Bert to rest in the shed for a while, to see if that would help him. Bert enjoyed the rest at first, but he quickly became bored.

With Bert out of action, Rex, Mike and Jock had to work a lot harder. Frank and the two new diesels, Blister I and Blister II, helped too. But even with the extra help from the diesels, there were many days when a lot of the work didn't get finished. Until then, nobody had realised just how much work Bert had been able to do, despite his weakened condition.

One afternoon, Rex was at the ballast quarry shunting together a train of ballast hoppers. But the more he shunted together, the more there seemed to be. At last, his driver decided that they had enough.

"No, please let me take more!" Rex begged. "That way there'll be less to take later on. I can manage them."

His driver reluctantly agreed. Soon, Rex had shunted together the longest train he'd even hauled. His wheels slipped a little as he began to move the train, but once it was moving it followed smoothly behind him.

Rex hummed quietly as he rumbled along. It was mostly downhill to the bottom station, so he didn't really have to work hard. Then there was trouble.

As Rex's driver applied the brakes around a bend, there was a loud 'crack!' as something broke off Rex.

"Ouch!" Rex exclaimed. "What was that?"

"Something's wrong with the brakes," his driver replied. He tried to put them on again, but nothing happened. The weight of the ballast hoppers began to push them faster down the slope. The ballast hoppers weren't silly like other trucks, but there was nothing anyone could do.

Rex started going faster and faster. He whistled loudly as he rumbled across a level crossing. His driver turned on his radio-telephone.

"Emergency! We've got a runaway train!" he told Control. "Rex's brakes have failed and we can't stop!"

The news was quickly relayed to the yard signalman. For a few seconds, he debated what to do. Jock was about to leave with a full train of passengers, and all the other lines had objects in the way. There was only one other place where he could divert Rex, but it had no buffers to stop him. The signalman changed the points anyway.

Rex came hurtling around a bend, heading straight into the yard, whistling loudly. The whistle woke Bert, who'd been dozing in the shed. He watched in horror as Rex and his train ran up onto the chute. Beneath the chute, Duck was just pulling out with a full ballast train.

That ballast will be a lot softer for Rex to fall into than onto the tracks, Bert quickly thought. At the same time, he shouted, "Stop, Duck!"

Duck's driver heard Bert, and he instantly applied the brakes. Duck's train stopped just as Rex reached the end of the chute. With a frightened groan, Rex tumbled headlong off the end of the chute. His front end was quickly submerged in the ballast inside the last truck on Duck's train. Behind Rex, the rest of his train crashed off the chute too. Many of the hoppers crashed into each other, causing them to fall sideways off the chute, but one flew over Rex and landed in another one of Duck's trucks.

As the dust cleared, everyone ran over to the scene. Ballast and hopper trucks were scattered in all directions, and all that could be seen of Rex was his cab. His tender was lying on the track beside the truck. Thankfully, his driver had jumped clear just before Rex had run onto the chute. He had a few cuts and bruises, but other than that, he was uninjured.

It took ages to clean up the mess. Donald brought the brakedown train to help rescue Rex. Soon, the Fat Controller arrived to see the damage. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Now how are we going to get the ballast to the worksite?" he sighed to the Small Controller. "That chute's going to take weeks to be repaired, and we'll have to build some new hoppers too." He turned to Rex, who was being lifted out of Duck's truck. "What were you thinking, taking so many trucks at once?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Rex whispered meekly. His front was badly twisted, and his boiler was scratched and dented. "I was just trying too hard to get my work done. I didn't know my brakes were going to fail. It wouldn't have happened if Bert wasn't always so ill."

The Fat Controller turned to Bert. "I understand that you were the one who warned Duck to stop. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir," Bert gulped nervously.

Seeing how nervous Bert was, the Fat Controller softened. "Well done. You helped prevent what could have been an even worse accident. And when Rex is repaired, you will be rewarded with a complete rebuild at my Works."

"A rebuild, sir?" Bert whispered. "I don't understand."

The Fat Controller moved closer to Bert. "The reason why you have so much difficulty in breathing is because your firebox is too small. With a larger firebox and a new exhaust system, you'll feel like a different engine."

"But…why can't I have that done here?"

"The fitters here don't have the skills to rebuild you," the Small Controller explained. "I know they built Jock, but they were working from a pattern. We don't have any patterns for you, so it'll be best if you go to the Works, where the men there know what they're doing. Sir Topham Hatt has kindly arranged everything for you, so you'll be well looked after."

"One of my other engines, Henry, had a condition similar to yours," the Fat Controller continued. "He was rebuilt, and now steams very well and has had few breathing issues since. Don't worry. Once your rebuild is done, you'll wish you'd had it sooner!"