Set: Modern Day, early spring/September

No railway shows the widespread use of rail around the world than the Fin del Mundo line in Argentina. All day long, it's three narrow-gauge engines, Camila, Porta, and Zubieta chuff up and down the line pulling passengers and posing for pictures.

Ushuaia was formed by Argentina as a penal colony, like Australia to England. But it would get very cold in winter, and Ushuaia was not placed in the ideal spot for resources. So, the prisoners built their own railway to transport lumber and other materials to the town. After the prison was closed and landslide blocked the line, however, it had to be closed.

In 1994, the line was rebuilt as a luxurious tourist attraction. Camila, built in England, and the two Garratts, Porta and Zubieta worked the line, with several diesels on display, sometimes used to repair the line.

Porta was angry. A passing off-roader had passed her where the road meets the railway, but had splashed mud all over her in the process! And her driver had the audacity to not clean her until they got to the shed!

"I can't clean you now!" the driver said, "Your boiler is too hot. I would hurt myself."

"Pah! I wouldn't hurt you. You're my driver. I'd only hurt you if you DIDN'T CLEAN ME UP!"

Zubieta laughed. "You're all muddy! Did you fall in the swamp?"

Porta wheeshed loudly.

"You know I didn't, those silly tourists splashed me with their cars! Just wanted a good picture, huh? How photogenic am I now? And driver says he can't clean me until my boiler is cool. How silly is that?"

"Humans," explained Camila, "feel more kinds of pain than we do. When it gets too hot, they feel pain, when they touch sharp objects, they feel pain-"

"And why don't we feel that pain?"

"We, have boilers, have boilers. Since we're so used to the extreme heat, we don't feel it. And we're completely metal, so sharp objects can't hurt us."

Porta didn't listen. Now she was mad at humans, and particularly her driver, for putting her in this dreadful, muddy state.

A third of the way up the line, there's a small station where the tourists can get off and take pictures at a viewpoint .Porta was fuming at the funnel, ready for her return journey home. When she got home, driver could clean her up again.

But one passenger, while climbing back down to the train, had fallen and broken his leg, and needed help to slowly get down.

"If we leave now, he can just catch Zubieta's train, she's right behind us!"

"No," insisted her driver, "we'll wait for them to get down ourselves. We can't leave a passenger behind, even if there is another train."

Porta hooshed steam loudly in anger!

Zubieta, as Porta had said, had indeed arrived by the time the injured passenger got to the platform. Meanwhile, the passengers had taken more and more pictures of her. Finally, they left.

"Stupid driver, making us late, I need to get cleaned!" Then an idea flew into her funnel.

It wasn't a very elaborate one, trust me.

Porta could see the bridge up ahead, so she started to sway and lurch. She swayed and lurched so hard, she knocked her driver out the right side of her cab!

"Ha, that'll teach him. Let's hope fireman can't stop until I've crossed the bridge. Then my stupid driver will have to SWIM across!"

But fireman didn't apply her brakes, as when Porta looked to her left, she realized her fireman had been knocked off as well!

"Oh no! Stop!"she cried.

Now the engines don't go particularly fast on this line, but Porta was still too fast! Camila heard her pleas for help first.

"Mr. Shunter! Switch the points into the sidings! There's a melting pile of snow and dirt that might stop her!"

Porta shut her eyes tightly, as she plowed into the slushy pile of cold mud with a big THUD! But the mud didn't stop her. She rolled a good hundred yards before finally coming to a stop under a tree.

Porta wheeshed loudly at the tourists, who flocked around her taking pictures.

"It's very photogenic," one of them said, "She's currently THE southern most engine."

"It's a shame she's all dirty," laughed another.

Porta hissed loudly, and used her last reserve of steam to soak the tourists closest to her. She never went any farther south ever again.