James and the Diesel Engines (SpartanPrime101 Rewrite) – Chapter 2

Before I do or say anything else, I want to give praise and glory to God Almighty. Lord, I thank you for being with me and for guiding me over the past few months. Thank you for giving me the strength to acknowledge and battle the demons that resided in my soul. Thank you for the wonderful people in my life, including my family and mentors. Thank you!

…

Disclaimer: I don't own Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. If I did, it would be just like the old-style episodes that aired before the CGI episodes – when they actually cared about making a story that was enjoyable for everyone.

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Story 2: Crossed Points

It didn't take long for Stuck-Up to be mended, and he left with D261 for the Other Railway the next day. "Good riddance," James grumbled. "Now we can continue with our work, and not have those two diesels swanking about the yard."

The other engines rolled their eyes. Most of them accepted diesels, and had even started to befriend D261 during his visit. James, however, had never liked diesels, and often spoke ill of them whenever he had the chance.

"They're all right," said Henry. "Just mixed-traffic engines like you and me."

"Mixed-up engines, you mean," James snorted. "Including that green 'whistler', D261. With windows and cabs at each end, you'd hardly know if they were coming or going."

"Toby has two cabs," remarked Duck, "And he gets on all right. And, of course, there's Boco and Bear. They have windows at each end, and they're not bad in the slightest."

"Toby's just a little engine," scoffed James. "And Boco and Bear, they're mostly used for regular goods service. If an important engine like me didn't know which way to turn…why, whatever would the Railway come to?"

"Say, uh, James," said Bear, as he pulled out from his part of the shed. "Gordon once told me about an engine who had trouble with the turntable. Got blown around by the wind like a top, and was spun around in all sorts of directions. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

All the engines laughed, as James shut right up. Flushed red with anger, he snorted away to collect his next train.

Once they had all calmed down, the engines breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally," sighed Gordon, "a chance for some peace and quiet before our next trains."

The other engines agreed. They could all see that James was becoming too puffed up in his smokebox. "I know what you mean, Gordon," grumbled Henry. "Making out he's Royalty or something. It's disgusting."

"I knew an engine called King James," remarked Duck. "Back in the old days, at Paddington. King James I he was. He was quite proud of the name, but he didn't swank about like that."

"Och, dinna be telling James that," pleaded Donald. "It's even mair of a misery he'll be makin' oor lives."

"Exactly," agreed Henry. "It's about time that James be brought back down to the rails. But who's going to trim his wheels for him?"

For several days, the engines tried all sorts of ideas, but nothing worked. James was rude towards the trucks and coaches, and even started to grumble and scowl at Boco and Bear when he saw them on the main line. Even the coaches twittered anxiously to each other if they thought he was to pull them. Eventually, James grew so conceited that the others were glad when he was away.

…

One day, James came to the shed, fuming with rage. "Shunting!" he snorted. "Imagine, an important engine like me, lowered to such dreary work. Where are Donald and Douglas? They usually love toying with dirty trucks."

But the twins were away at Wellsworth, helping Edward on his branch line. The station shunter was also away, so James had to do the work himself. He grumbled dreadfully as he sorted out all the trucks, getting them ready for his goods train.

James's train had long trucks called well-wagons. These have bogie-wheels at each end, with a low section between them. They are often used for carrying cars, tractors, trucks, and other heavy machinery. The low section makes it easier to load and unload the machinery with and without the use of cranes – often, the machinery could be driven onto the trucks via a loading ramp at the station platform.

The shunting should've been easy, but James was in a foul mood, and bumped the trucks fiercely. "Oh, oh, oh, oh!" they cried. The well-wagons were usually quite friendly, but James' bumping had made them cross as well. Some of them slipped their brakes 'on' just to spite James, much to the red engine's irritation. The weather was damp and misty too, and the rails were slick with dew, so the shunting took a long time.

"Be careful, James," called Bear as he passed through with his goods train. "The rails are slick today, and the mist might make it hard for the signalman to see you." James was too cross to listen, and continued banging the trucks roughly about the yard. At last, James had only two trucks to fetch before his train was ready.

As it were, he would've been wise to heed Bear's warning. The mist had indeed made it difficult for the signalman to see what was happening. James's driver had told him that James would whistle when they had collected all the trucks and were clear of the points.

They had almost finished, when James heard a sharp "Peep-peep" from another engine close by. Thinking that the engine was approaching the points, he let out a whistle of his own to greet the oncoming engine. I'm sorry to say that the signalman heard the whistling, and thought that James's train was ready to leave. With that, he pulled the lever, setting the points for the mainline.

But James wasn't ready. He was still shunting the last two trucks into position. As the front of the first truck passed over the junction, the points switched to the main line; one bogie went the right way, but the other was diverted towards the main line. And before James realized it, the truck was traveling sideways between the two lines…right towards a signal standing in its path.

"Stop! Stop!" squealed the truck. James's driver applied the brakes, but it was too late. The truck ran right into the base of the signal, which toppled to the ground with a resounding crash, just missing James by mere inches. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the broken signal now lay on the ground, with nearby workers and yard staff rushing to the scene.

"Well, that's torn it!" said James's driver. "We shan't be going anywhere until the signal is replaced, nor will any other engine. The Fat Controller won't like that."

And indeed, he didn't. He arrived in the yards on Bear, who brought the brake-down gang to clear away the mess. James's driver and the signalman explained what had happened, then he turned towards the now very bashful red engine. "I'm sorry, sir," said James. "I didn't mean for it to happen. I only whistled to greet another engine, and to warn them that I was here."

"I'm aware of that," said the Fat Controller. "The mist and the damp rails are to blame. However, that doesn't change the fact that we now have a signal out of commission, which is a severe inconvenience to the railway," he spoke sternly.

James was unusually quiet in the sheds that evening, much to the relief of the other engines. "I suppose it must be difficult to know which way to go when you've got two cabs," whispered a voice, "but to go two ways at once with just one cab – that really is something!" This was followed by a chorus of quiet chuckles throughout the Shed.

James pretended he hadn't heard.

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So, again the basic plot is the same, with some additional dialogue between the engines about James's behavior. Don't worry, the next chapter will be more of my original work than the first two. I just hope that this story isn't taken down due to unintended plagiarism.

On that note, please read and review.