Sorry for the wait, but it's time for the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
Williams Trial
The Narrow Central railway is always busy. There are always passengers to take and pickups to make.
William was taking some ballast cars to the transfer yards. On the way, he passed Murray; he was pulling ten coal cars. "Hey Murray, where are you going" asked William. "I'm taking these cars to the coal mine. I have to work on a big coal delivery and they need more cars" said Murray. After Murray flew by, William continued to the Transfer Yards.
When he arrived, Spike was there, ready to collect the ballast. "Hello Spike" said William. "Hello William, thanks for being quick" said Spike. So after the ballast had been loaded into Spikes cars, he hurried away.
Williams's driver was about to switch the points so they could go back to the Ballast Mines, but before they could the manager walked up. "Oh, hello sir" said William. "Hello William, now listen, I have a special job for you" he said with a happy but serious look. "What is it" asked William's driver. "Well, because it is summer, we have a lot of people coming to the city. That means that we have a lot more trains. Kat and Royce usually take care of the passengers, but with all the extra passengers they said they needed some help. So William, I have decided to put you on passenger duties for the time being" said the Manager. William gasped "really sir, I get to be a passenger engine" he asked. "Yes you will, you need to learn anyway, so this is the best time to do it" said the Manager with a smile. "Okay sir, we can do it" said Williams's driver. "Good, now report to Wayward Station, Ron will collect your coaches for you" said the Manager, and then he walked away.
So after uncoupling William from the ballast cars, the driver moved William down the line towards Wayward Station.
When he arrived, the station was full of passengers. There was also a big locomotive on the other platform. William gazed at it "uh, hello, who are you" he asked. "Oh hi, my name is Jaime, I'm a Royal Hudson locomotive. I pull trains to and from the west" he said with a smile. "Well my name is William, today is my first day pulling passengers" he said happily. "Oh, well a little advice, pulling passengers is different than pulling freight cars, you have to be really careful so the passengers don't get angry" said Jaime. "Oh, okay, thank you" said William. Then he felt a bump as Ron pushed William's coaches up to him.
Soon Jaime had left and the passengers had boarded. "Time to go William" said the driver. Now William concentrated "must be careful, must be careful" he said to himself. So his driver built up steam and they left the station.
William was being very careful; he did his best not to bump or be too rough with the coaches. The passengers were enjoying the trip, "This train is very gentle" they said to each other. Even the coaches were pleased "he seems like a nice puller, and he doesn't bump us" they said happily.
Later that day, William was starting to enjoy himself. "These places are much more colorful then the mines" he said with a smile. But then his driver looked ahead and saw something on the line. He pulled the brakes and soon the whole train came to a stop. William looked and saw sheep walking just inches from his buffer beam. "Oh no" said William. His driver got out and walked up to the front. "How did these sheep get here" he asked. William looked around, and then saw a small field to his left. The fence around his was broken. "That's the problem" said William to his driver. His driver looked at the broken fence than back to William. "Now how are we supposed to get them off the track" he asked. William thought hard, and then an idea flew into his funnel. "We can use my whistle to scare them away" he said with a smile. "Good idea" said the driver, and he rushed back to the cab. He blew William's whistle long and hard. The sheep heard the whistle and they were scared. They ran off the tracks and back to their field. "I'll call the farmer later and tell him to fix that fence" said the driver, and after restoking the fire, William was on his way once again.
The driver pushed William to his limits. He was flying down the track; he rushed round bends and sped through forests. "I mustn't be late, I mustn't be late" said William. The driver once again increased Williams speed. William was going so fast he thought he was going to come off the rails at a tight bend. But thankfully, he arrived at the station on time. It was sunset, and a big locomotive was waiting there with twelve coaches. William's driver reduced speed as they rolled up to the platform. William's cheeks were red and he was out of breath, but he was also glad that he had arrived on time. He looked up at the big engine on the other side of the platform. "Oh, hey there, my name is William, what's yours" he asked. The engine smiled "My name is Roku; I'm a JNR C59, nice to meet you. You look all out of puff, what happened" asked the big engine. "Oh, some sheep strayed onto the line and I had to stop and blow my whistle to get them to leave. My driver pushed me as hard as I could go so that I could get here on time" said William.
Suddenly, the big engine started to laugh. "Sheep strayed onto your line; that's what happened to Tenzin once when he had to fill in for Royce when he was ill and he was the only one available" laughed Roku. William stared, and then he started to laugh. "So, it can happen to anyone" he laughed. But their chat was cut short when the conductor's whistle blew. "Oh, well, time for me to go. Nice talking to you" said Roku, and his driver opened the throttle and pulled him out of the station.
Soon Roku was heading Far East, to a place he loved almost as much as the grand central. "Next Stop, BIGG CITY in New York" he said happily. The journey would be long, but in the end he would get to see his old Tugboat friends.
Bet you can guess what's going to happen next. Sorry for the long wait, but I wanted to work on my other stories.