Skarloey And The Borrowed Bell

One morning on the narrow gauge line, Skarloey had finished taking a trainload of rail parts to an old worn out part of the line. The Thin Controller had decided to have this part of the narrow gauge railway repaired. "There," said Skarloey when he delivered his loads and then left.

A few hours later, Skarloey returned to the shunting yards when heard a familiar whistle. "Oh, Rheneas," said Skarloey as his friend chuffed up beside him. "Hello, Skarloey," Rheneas whistled. "Hello," Skarloey chirped back, "Nice day isn't it? Just doing the job." But then Skarloey heard a ting-a-ling-a-ling that is unfamiliar to him.

"What is that?" asked Skarloey. Rheneas' driver held a small hand bell in his hand. "This bell," the driver explained, "Belonged to my stepmother and her daughter let me use it for today for a special play that will go on later today."

"Right," agreed Rheneas. "However, we're going to be really busy today," Rheneas' driver explained, "So do you think you could look after this bell for us until it is time?" "Sure," replied Skarloey's crew.

So Rheneas' driver hand Skarloey's driver the hand bell. "We'll take care of it," Skarloey and his crew said. "Thanks," said Rheneas. With that, Rheneas left for work. "We'll take good care of it," Skarloey called to Rheneas's crew.

Then Skarloey continued on with his work, including delivering new sleepers to a part of the line where the track had widen. "These sleepers have rotted over the years and they're not unable to keep the line the same width," Skarloey's driver explained.

"I know, as Sir Handel had derailed when trying to drive through tracks in this condition," said Skarloey. "I know," Sir Handel grumbled nearby.

Later, Skarloey left to pick up a new set of rails from Colin the wharf crane. "There you go," smiled Colin. "Thanks," replied Skarloey. But when Skarloey tried to leave, some trucks deliberately blocked his line. "Hey, out of my way!" shouted Skarloey. "No way!" the trucks responded, "You get out of our way!"

Skarloey started to get furious. But then, Freddie shunted the naughty trucks out of the way. "That's the way!" said Skarloey. "Sorry about that," Freddie said, "I didn't know how these devils got away from me in the first place." "It's all right," said Skarloey. Freddie chuffed on and so did Skarloey.

Throughout the whole day, Skarloey's driver kept the borrowed hand bell safe and secure. "Thank heavens nothings happened to it," said Skarloey's driver.

But then Skarloey hit a bump in the track and the hand bell jumped into the air. Fortunately, Skarloey's firemen caught by the handle it before it jumped out of the cab. "That was close," sighed the firemen.

"No kidding," replied the driver. He then stopped Skarloey and walked back to inspect the bump in the track. "A bent rail joint," he declared, "We'll have to get this part of the track repaired as well." "Right," agreed the firemen. They put a red flag to mark the spot and warn other engines as well.

Then Skarloey returned to the yard just as Rheneas chuffed in. His driver met up with Skarloey's crew. Skarloey knew what they wanted. "Here you go," said Skarloey's driver, handing the hand bell back to Rheneas' driver. "Thanks for taking care of it for us," replied Rheneas' driver.

"You're welcome," Skarloey's driver smiled. "You've really too good care of it," said Rheneas' driver, "Thank you." Rheneas and his crew left and Skarloey finished up with his last jobs of the day, including fixing the part where Skarloey hit the bent rail joint.

By the end of the day, the play that Rheneas' driver mentioned was a huge success. Even though the person who held the hand bell during the play did get some smudges on his hand. Skarloey's firemen looked at his hands, all covered in coal dust. "Oops," he said meekly.