Rheneas' Mystic Travels

One afternoon on the narrow gauge railway, Rheneas had finished moving a long line of coal trucks into a siding, waiting to be transferred to the main line. "This ought to do it," he said. "Not fun!" the trucks groaned. "Oh, you'll get used to it," Rheneas said sternly.

Rheneas had been doing his jobs on the railway for over a hundred and fifty years now. He knows the line more than anyone else, even his own brother, Skarloey. And by now, he's used to dealing with troublesome trucks. "Okay," Rheneas concluded, "Henry should be here to collect the coal."

After that, Rheneas had returned to the yard.

But on his way, he noticed an abandoned set of tracks. Recently, he had heard one of Skarloey's ancient tales about a legendary engine named Proteus andhisrail line. "Is that his supposed railway?" Rheneas asked, looking down at the tracks, "Could it-? Nah." Rheneas shrugged it off and continued on his way.

Later that day, Rheneas had finished moving another train to the loading bay. "All seems in order," Rheneas said. "Agreed," his driver said. "Except," Rheneas said at last when he noticed that one truck isn't with the rest of the train.

"Now I wonder where that little demon could have gone," Rheneas thought to himself, "Must have broken an old coupling." "Well," the driver said, "Let's go ahead and find it." So Rheneas left his train to find the missing troublesome truck, but it didn't take long to find it.

"There it is!" Rheneas called out, only to have the truck roll away by itself onto an abandoned set of track. The same ones he saw earlier. "You can't catch me, slow dork!" the truck taunted as it rolled away.

This made Rheneas cross.

"I'll show you!" Rheneas said as he chased after the runaway truck. "I hope you know what you're doing," Rheneas's driver said. "Sorry," Rheneas said, "But that bugger left me with no choice!" Rheneas sped down the rusty old line. "I'll catch you," Rheneas chuffed.

But he got no closer to the runaway truck. "How is he doing that?" Rheneas said as he thundered down the tracks. "Be careful!" Rheneas' driver said, "You're going to break these tracks going at this speed!" "Sorry," Rheneas growled.

Chuffing down the line, they couldn't find the troublesome truck. Then suddenly, Rheneas' driver saw a warning sign. "We must slow!" he called out, applying the brakes. "Oh no!" Rheneas cried as he slowed to a stop.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack. "What?!" the driver called. "Ouch!" Rheneas screamed, "Something snapped!" Now Rheneas had to stop. Luckily they did so without damaging the old tracks. The driver and firemen looked all around their engine.

"You've broken a steam valve," the driver said, "You can't do anything now." "Oh no!" Rheneas cried, "Now what?" "We'll just have to forget that truck, Rheneas," the driver said, "Let's just get out of here." "Right," Rheneas agreed.

The driver managed to fix the valve with an old worn out cloth. "That's temporary," the firemen said. "It'll last us until we get home," the driver said, "Until we get home. That's it. Now let's get out of here."

However, they were in a place that is unfamiliar to them now. "Now what?" the driver said. "Let's try anyway," Rheneas said. Slowly, Rheneas puffed carefully on the old line. He is being careful not to damage himself any further.

A lot of minutes passed, but he and his crew had no luck finding a way out of the place. "This is impossible!" Rheneas' firemen shouted. "We've got to keep on trying!" Rheneas said, "And these old tracks sure likes it's points and sidings." "But how?" the firemen asked.

Suddenly, Rheneas heard a strange sound. "Who's there?" Rheneas asked. Suddenly, Rheneas saw a mysterious, but almost familiar figure to him. He knew who it is. "Proteus?" Rheneas asked.

That's when Rheneas saw a glow on one part of the line next to the mysterious engine. "Is that a way out?" Rheneas' driver asked. "I think so," Rheneas said, "Yes,this was hisline."

Slowly, Rheneas chuffed towards the light, guided by Proteus. "Give a new meaning to move towards the light," Rheneas's firemen chuckled. That's all they've done and finally, Rheneas was out of the old abandoned line and back onto the main line.

Slowly, Rheneas made it to the first junction they've came across where Freddie and Kaitlin were there waiting to move off with their goods trains. Something else was also there. "Rheneas?" Freddie asked. "I'm back," Rheneas chuckled.

"Uh, Rheneas," Kaitlin said, "Did you forget this?" She had the runaway truck that Rhenas was chasing earlier. "That's the little demon!" Rheneas said out loud. "Drat!" the truck growled, "Caught!" "Well, it serves you right!" Rheneas shouted, "After what I've been through!"

"Rheneas," Freddie said, concerned, "Are you all right?" "Almost," Rheneas answered, "I've wrecked one of my valves." "You're not all right!" Freddie said. "We've got to get you to the works!" Kaitlin said. "You're right," Rheneas said.

And so, both Freddie and Kaitlin took Rheneas to the works.

"Thank you, Proteus," he said, "Thanks for helping us." The mysterious engine looked at Rhenes with a smile.

Several days later, Rheneas was repaired and back to work. "Hello," Skarloey said, "You look happy today." "You bet!" Rheneas said, "I had a unique adventure days ago." "Oh," Skarloey said.

"Let me guess," Peter Sam said, "Does it involve you-know-who?" "Yes," Rheneas answered, "Thank you for that wonderful story, brother." "No problem," Skarloey smiled.

The specter of Proteus just smiled from a nearby place.