NOT-SO-DEVIOUS DIESEL
Based upon "Trouble in the Harbor Yard" and "Bumps" by Andrew Brenner and "Thomas and the Evil Diesel" by Christopher Awdry
With Duck out of action following an accident with the Flying Kipper on Gordon's hill, Knapford was once again left without a station pilot. Donald and Douglas did their best, but they were needed for goods and passengers on the main line and the branch lines; Thomas, Percy and Toby were already busy on their own branch line and Julie and Katie were swamped at the coal mines, so Sir Topham Hatt had to borrow another engine from the mainland.
"Oh, flatten my hat…" Sir Topham Hatt groaned. "This won't go down well with the other engines…" Reluctantly, he went over the telephone and dialed the number.
A couple of days later, Thomas was at Elsbridge station with Annie and Clarabel when they heard the sound of a diesel's horn.
"That's not BoCo or Rusty - not that it could be the latter anyway, but still," Thomas realized.
"Wait a minute," said Annie. "Did you recognize that horn, Thomas and Clarabel?"
"It can't be… can it?" asked Clarabel.
Much to the trio's dismay, a small, boxy black shunter with six wheels rolled up alongside.
"Good morning, Thomas," the engine greeted in an oily diesel. "And Annie and Clarabel too."
"Diesel!" exclaimed Thomas. "What are you doing here?!"
"Your worthy Sir Topham Hatt - there, I said it right that time - sent for me," said Diesel. "Apparently, a certain pannier tank crashed into some fish vans with the Flying Kipper. I swear, that train is cursed."
"Well, you better make sure you don't cause us any trouble like last time!" said Thomas firmly. "We haven't forgotten what you've done on your last visit."
"Especially to Duck," growled Annie. "He didn't deserve those awful lies you spread about him."
"He had a wonderful time on our branch line, and then he came back to scorn from the big engines for a crime he didn't commit," added Clarabel.
"Hmph!" sniffed Diesel. "If he had told me which trucks to get, that could have been avoided back then!"
"You really call that an excuse?" retorted Percy, pulling in with some stone trucks. "Besides, it wasn't a very good plan to begin with. The trucks on our branch line had been very quiet, and we were able to get that information to Sir Topham Hatt."
Diesel chose not to respond to that, and he headed for the main yards.
"I hope that Duck gets repaired as soon as possible," sighed Percy. "I can't believe that Diesel's back."
"And filling in for Duck of all engines," agreed Thomas. "I suggest we let Toby, Henrietta and the non-rail vehicles know about this."
While the tank engines and coaches went off to tend to their jobs, Henry was waiting for his passenger train to be shunted.
"I hope the relief engine gets here soon," he said to himself. Before he realized it, the big green engine felt the coaches being shunted into place behind him. "That was quick," he commented. "Er… thank you, whoever you are, for shunting the train."
Diesel blinked, a small feeling of warmth spreading through him. That didn't feel too bad, he thought. Maybe, if I'm quiet, I can do my job and no one will remind me of what previously transpired.
Henry patiently waited for the passengers to board as Diesel slipped off to find the express coaches for Gordon.
"I know I saw Duck with them during my first visit," he said to himself. "Where are they?" He then spotted them. "Ah, there they are."
He went to collect them, but unfortunately, there were two things wrong. One, the brake coach had a loose coupling and didn't connect to the back of the train properly. And two, James managed to spot him when he was looking for the red coaches.
"Diesel's back again?!" cried James. "What's he doing here? I thought Sir Topham Hatt banished him from our railway!"
"What?!" cried Gordon's voice from the station. "You're joking, James!"
"I wish I was; I saw a familiar black shape trying to arrange your coaches!"
"Oh, that black deceiver!" snapped Gordon.
Donald had just come back with a goods train and looked from red engine to blue engine and back again in confusion. "Is thare something Ah missed?" he asked.
"Donald, you have no idea…" sighed James.
Later that day, Sir Topham Hatt was in office when he heard a commotion from the station.
"Oh, what now?" he grunted, getting up. He opened the door, and immediately wished that he'd just stayed inside, as many angry passengers had crowded around him.
"Alright, alright," Sir Topham Hatt said calmly. "What is going on here?"
"I'd speak for all of us when I tell you what's going on!" snapped a passenger. "There's no trains!"
Sir Topham Hatt headed back inside and seized his top hat. "Right. I'll settle this."
The engines - barring Duck, for obvious reasons - were all at Tidmouth sheds. As James had been the one to spot Diesel first, he stood to attention on the turntable. Henry, Gordon, Donald, Douglas, Thomas, Percy and Johnson were all in the berths, while Edward, BoCo, Toby and the remaining Midland engines were on the tracks around the sheds.
"So, this 'Diesel' you mentioned," said BoCo, "he's the one who caused Duck grief on his trial a couple of years prior?"
"That's it exactly, BoCo," sighed James. "It's… kind of why we were judgmental around you and Rusty. And some of us still feel guilty about that."
"Gordon, Toby, Johnson I were there when Sir Topham Hatt said he would banish Diesel from our railway," added Percy. "Yet Thomas and I saw him that morning at Elsbridge."
"But the big question is, why is he back?" asked Toby. "Filling in for… for Duck of all engines!"
"It's a bit of a mystery, Toby," sighed Henry. "I had no idea he was shunting my passenger train."
"Weel, yin thing's fur sure," said Douglas. "While we dae trust BoCo 'n' Rusty, Diesel isnae tae be trusted at a'."
Donald was about to say something else, when the engines were all interrupted by a car horn.
"Oh dear…" Johnson said quietly. "I think we're in trouble."
Sir Topham Hatt stepped out of his car. "Engines, what is the meaning of this?!"
"We were about to go on strike, sir," said Laruen. "We won't work with Diesel!"
"Why did you bring him back here?!" snapped Edward, of all engines. "After Duck was reduced to tears last time he came, and nearly breaking apart the family we had developed over the years!"
"I understand your feelings," said Sir Topham Hatt, feeling a bit shaken up by Edward's sudden burst of anger, "but Diesel was the only engine available. I know it's not the most ideal situation to be in at the moment, but I need you to work with him in order to keep the railway going."
"He's right," sighed BoCo. "Besides, the Skarloey Railway doesn't deserve to be let down. Some of our trains do connect with their railway, remember?"
The steam engines agreed, but they were still reluctant to work with Diesel. One by one, they departed the sheds.
At Crovan's Gate, Sir Handel was waiting with the connecting passenger train to Gordon's express.
"What kept you?" Sir Handel grunted.
"Well, replacing the brake coach was bad enough, but... we had a brief strike because of… a certain shunter's return."
Sir Handel's eyes widened. "Not that same one who told lies about Duck!"
"Diesel's back?!"
Both blue engines glanced over to see Duck in the Steamworks. He wasn't fully repaired yet, but he looked better than what he was. At least, physically. His emotional state, on the other buffer…
"S-Sir Topham Hatt said… he sent him packing…" Poor Duck was now reduced to tears.
"I know," said Gordon gravely. Although he, Henry and James were badly affected by Diesel's lies, that was nothing compared to what Duck felt of the whole ordeal.
"Are any of you not busy for a while?" asked Gordon to Sir Handel.
"Peter Sam's due back here in five minutes and will be on break," Sir Handel replied. "I'll see if he can spend time with Duck."
"I'm sure he'd appreciate that," smiled Gordon. His guard's whistle blew. "I'd better make up for lost time. Thank you, Sir Handel. Don't worry, Duck. We'll make sure to keep him in line."
Later, Diesel was still bustling about the yard, when Sir Topham Hatt came over to him.
"Is there anything I can do for you, sir?" asked Diesel.
"You're to take some trucks over to the harbor on Thomas' branch line," said Sir Topham Hatt. "Percy and Toby will already be there."
"Right away, sir." Diesel was about to get them, when he sheepishly rolled back. "Er… just which trucks, exactly?"
"Just those empty ones there." Sir Topham Hatt pointed towards some empty stone trucks. Diesel quickly collected them along with a brake van and set off. Little did he realize that one of the trucks was a very familiar "plank wagon".
Down at the harbor, Toby and Percy were quickly shunting trucks to load and unload more goods to and from the ships.
"Do you think Duck's repaired yet?" asked Percy.
"It's only been a few days," sighed Toby. "From what Henry told me, Duck's accident had quite a bit of damage done to him."
"Not the answer I was expecting," muttered Percy. "It would be so nice if we were able to quickly recover from an accident like that."
"I'm afraid that's not how engines work," Toby said quietly. The two engines were interrupted by the tooting of a horn, and it wasn't Bertie.
"Here we go," muttered Toby as Diesel rolled up alongside them.
"What are you doing here?" grunted Percy.
"I am to shunt some dreadfully tiresome trucks," Diesel explained.
"Shunt where?" Toby asked incredulously.
"Why, from here to there, and again from there to here," Diesel said smoothly. "Easy, isn't it?" To make himself quite clear, he bumped the trucks he had taken to the harbor, hard into the siding.
"Ooh! Watch it, you smelly black box!" cried the trucks.
"Let's just stay out of his way, Percy," muttered Toby, immediately getting some loaded trucks from one side of the harbor. Percy immediately followed to get another rake of trucks.
"I just hope he doesn't make a mess of things around here," said Percy worriedly.
"I'd give him until tomorrow," Toby grunted. "If not that, then until this evening."
Both engines were right to be doubtful. When Percy was getting a drink of water, Diesel had been resting in a siding nearby. Unfortunately, his driver had forgotten to put the brake on properly, and Diesel went straight into Percy, giving him and his crew an awful fright!
"Ouch!" yelped the tank engine. Toby, who had been shunting more trucks, saw the whole thing.
"Percy!" he cried. "Are you and your crew alright?"
"A little wet, but otherwise okay," groaned Percy.
"Diesel, you'd better apologize for this!" snapped Toby.
"My driver left my brake loose," Diesel retorted. "It's not my fault." Toby and Percy both rolled their eyes with annoyance.
Later, Diesel was shunting some trucks around that had just been loaded with cargo.
"Hey, fellas!" said "Plank Wagon". "There's this old hit from a coupla years back I remember well. Ya know the words too, right?"
"Yes! Yes!" the other trucks cried excitedly.
"Er… how did that one go again?" asked one truck after a brief pause.
"Ugh. Okay, hold on…" "Plank Wagon" quickly whispered the lyrics and they all started grinning. Quietly at first, the song grew louder and louder…
"Trucks are waiting in the yard, tackling them with ease'll.
'Show the world what I can do,' gaily boasts the Diesel!
In and out he creeps about, like a big black weasel,
When he pulls the wrong trucks out, pop! Goes the Diesel!"
"Not again!" Diesel growled, and with a mighty biff, he shoved the trucks into the sunken quay, where Percy had his accident earlier on in the year.
"Let this be a lesson to you all!" snarled Diesel. "Sing that offending song to me again… and I'll have you all drowned!"
Toby and Percy were both shocked by what just went down… literally.
"Percy, you get Sir Topham Hatt," said Toby. "I'll make sure Diesel doesn't do any more damage."
"I have a feeling he's not going to be happy when he hears about this," sighed Percy as he puffed away.
Percy was not wrong; when Sir Topham Hatt heard about what Diesel had done, he was furious! That evening, a rescue operation took place to rescue the sunken trucks, but their loads were lost.
"It wasn't my fault, sir," protested Diesel. "Those trucks sang that silly song again, and I-"
"I'm not interested in your excuses, Diesel!" scolded Sir Topham Hatt. "I only brought you back here because you were the only engine available. As of right now, Duck is still at the Steamworks, and is the only reason I'm letting you work here. When he gets back, I'm sending you back to the mainland where you belong!"
"Y-yes, sir," stammered Diesel nervously. He looked down at his buffers shamefully.
The next day, Percy was taking a goods train from Ffarquhar to Knapford. On his goods train were a couple of oil tankers due to be taken up to the oil depot at Knapford for BoCo. Unfortunately, Percy, his crew and the guard failed to notice that a stone from one of Percy's quarry trucks accidentally hit the tanker, and it was leaking oil all over the tracks.
They didn't notice what had happened until they reached Knapford.
"Oh, bust my buffers!" cried Percy.
"What's wrong, Percy?" asked BoCo when he came in with a passenger train from the Wellsworth branch line.
"One of the tankers has leaked oil," the saddle tank engine explained. "I don't know how that happened. I'm sorry, BoCo."
"It's quite alright," said BoCo kindly. He then saw a hole in the tanker. "Hmm, maybe one of the stones from the trucks flew out and hit the tanker."
"Oh dear," sighed Percy. "I'll go see about fetching another oil tanker." He puffed off to shunt his train, and made plans to ask Sir Topham Hatt about it later.
Meanwhile, unknown to what had transpired, Thomas was taking Annie and Clarabel for their usual run. Both coaches were packed with passengers.
"You'll need a decent run at the hill, Thomas," said Annie.
"It's a very steep part of the line, after all," agreed Clarabel.
"Okay then," Thomas said with confidence. "We can do this, girls. Hang on tight!" He brought his train up to his steady but rapid pace. When he got to the hill, he tried to dig his wheels into the rails and use every ounce of steam he could. However…
"Whoa!" cried Thomas. "What's going on?! It hasn't rained here recently." The blue engine's wheels were moving forward, but the weight of Annie, Clarabel and their passengers seemed to be dragging him backwards.
"I think an oil tanker may have leaked from one of Percy's goods trains," gasped Annie.
"That would do it," panted Clarabel. "We'll have to try and stop at the bottom of the hill and try again."
But they were going backwards a bit too quickly for their liking, as near the bottom of the hill was a short siding without any buffers to stop runaway trains. The signalman, seeing what was happening, set the points toward it, and Thomas, Annie and Clarabel ran onto it. Well, when I say all three of them…
"Ahh!"
"Clarabel!" exclaimed Thomas and Annie together. The rear coach's front wheels had gotten stuck in the mud, and that meant they weren't going anywhere.
"Someone, please help Clarabel!" called Thomas. But unfortunately, no one could hear him.
Meanwhile, Diesel had arranged some trucks for BoCo's goods train.
"You shunted the trucks pretty well," BoCo said with a small smile.
"Er… thanks," Diesel said quietly. The one time a Sodor engine had complimented him on this trial, Henry hadn't known it was him who arranged the train.
"I just don't understand," said BoCo. "What made you do what you did? The engines here are nice, if you get to know them right."
"Well," Diesel sighed, "I guess… before I even started lying, Duck was very short tempered with me, and I don't know why. Then he asked me to get some trucks, but didn't tell me which ones. And… I know he called me to try and stop, but I got angry and… from there on out, my anger just spiraled out of control."
"Sounds like there were faults on both sides," BoCo said quietly. "However, do you know Donald and Douglas' reasons for being here, or at least one of them?"
"Er… not really," Diesel admitted. "Whenever there's Sodor gossip on the mainland, I always try to drown it out."
"It's because of…" BoCo looked around to make sure that neither Donald or Douglas were close by; thankfully, they weren't. "…scrap. And unfortunately, diesel power is the main culprit."
That statement rocked Diesel right to the frames.
"Scrap?!" gasped Diesel. "Because of diesels? But… surely not even the most devious engine would want to wish that upon their worst enemy."
"You'd be shocked at how cruel the world can be, Diesel," sighed BoCo. "One of the twins was purchased and the other ran away with them to try and fight for survival. Maybe Duck felt threatened by your presence. Even some diesels like me have been threatened with the scrappers torch."
Diesel felt like a whole goods train had been rammed into him with that statement. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to reflect on this because the yard manager ran up.
"Clarabel's come off the line at the runaway siding on Thomas' branch line," the yard manger explained.
"Clarabel?!" exclaimed BoCo. "Are the passengers alright?"
"They're more surprised than anything else," the yard manager explained. "We need to rescue them now."
"I'd go, but I have this goods train to deliver," BoCo sighed. "However, I'm sure Diesel could run down there."
"M-me?!" exclaimed Diesel. "Thomas and his coaches didn't even give me a chance when I got to Sodor. Why would they accept my help now?"
"Because they need to get their passengers to safety," BoCo explained. "You wouldn't want them to walk to the nearest station by themselves, would you?"
"I suppose not," grunted Diesel. "I'll go down there and help, I suppose." The shunter moved away, and BoCo couldn't help but give a small smile.
"There's some good in him after all," he said to himself as he departed with his train.
Back at the runaway siding, Thomas, Annie and Clarabel were all very worried. The driver, fireman and guard were working to free Clarabel from her predicament with the help of some passengers, but no one knew how long it'd be before help arrived.
"Our passengers are going to be delayed at this rate," sighed Clarabel.
"Maybe, when your wheels are loose, I can try and pull you back on the line," Thomas suggested.
"There's lots of passengers, plus the slippery rails," Annie pointed out. "We could easily get stuck here again."
"Not if I've anything to say about this!" said a voice. Thomas, Annie and Clarabel blinked in surprise.
"That wasn't who I thought it was, was it?" asked Clarabel.
The trio - well, Thomas and Annie - saw Diesel pull up right in front of them. He was going slow and braked early to avoid crashing into them on the slippery rails. At first, Thomas was worried that Diesel would laugh at him for getting stuck, but thankfully, he didn't. This was no laughing matter. Some workmen already set to work cleaning the tracks.
"Come on," said Diesel, in a tone Thomas had never heard from him before. "We have to work together."
"Alright," Thomas agreed. The two engines were coupled together, and sand was put on the rails between them. Temporary rails were laid under Clarabel's wheels.
"You okay back there, Clarabel?" called Thomas.
"Oh yes, just still a bit shaken up is all," she replied.
"You ready too, Annie?" Thomas asked.
"I'm ready, Thomas." she called back.
"Okay," Thomas looked at Diesel. "Ready when you are."
Slowly but surely, the two engines began to pull Clarabel back on firm rails again. It took quite a few tries, as sometimes their wheels slipped, and sometimes the weight of all the passengers in Annie and Clarabel dragged them back.
"Try again," Diesel said confidently after their fifth mishap. Eventually, with much effort and pulling, all four of Clarabel's wheels were back on the rails again.
"You've done it!" cried Clarabel happily. "Thank you, Thomas and Diesel."
"Anytime, Clarabel," smiled Thomas. Diesel wasn't quite sure what to say. Actively helping someone in trouble…
It feels… good, he thought to himself. "Well…" he said aloud to Thomas and the coaches, "I'm glad we were able to end this trial on a good note. I'll get you to the next station, and… I think Duck's due back tomorrow."
"Oh," Thomas said quietly. "I see. Well… I hope you do come back to Sodor again. You did really well to help Clarabel out."
Word of Diesel's actions soon spread around the island, and Sir Topham Hatt found out about it that evening.
"Well, Diesel," he said at the sheds, "you might have made a mess of the harbor the other day, but Thomas, Annie and Clarabel all say you did well in rescuing them today. You have put me in a bit of an awkward situation here."
The other engines - this included Thomas, Percy, Toby, BoCo, Edward and the Midland engines who were on the tracks outside the shed - all waited in silence, trying to figure out what Sir Topham Hatt was planning to do.
"Tell me," said Sir Topham Hatt seriously. "Do you particularly want to go back to the mainland?"
Diesel didn't know what to say to that. He remembered what BoCo had said earlier, about Donald and Douglas' reasons for coming to Sodor, and about Duck feeling threatened by his presence. He also thought of something else.
BoCo and Rusty, they work with steam engines peacefully, and there's no threat of scrap here, Diesel thought. I may not think too highly of the steam engines myself, but I wouldn't want any of them to be scrapped. Finally plucking up courage, he spoke. "Not really, sir. To put it in a mild way, the mainland is changing, and… if I'm completely honest here, which I know I haven't been in the past, I fear what may happen if I go back."
"Very well then," Sir Topham Hatt said calmly. "Edward, BoCo, I'd like you to carry on your sleeping arrangements at Wellsworth, Toby, Thomas and Percy, carry on at Ffarquhar, and Johnson, Lauren, Katie, Julie and Nicole, you all carry on at Vicarstown."
"Yes, sir," the ten engines said. They moved off, but not before giving Diesel a silent gaze of acceptance; Thomas was with a bright smile.
"I guess you're one of us now," Henry said quietly. "But I'm not sure how Duck's going to take this news…" But that's a story for another day.
THE END
Author's Comments
Here's the latest installment of Classic Sodor Adventures, this being a mashup of Diesel Does It Again and Thomas and the Evil Diesel. In the case of the latter, it seems strange that Britt Allcroft would commission it for adaptation, and yet she never did so for series three! But then again, the original story would be too long for a single episode and too short for a two-parter, hence we got Diesel Does It Again instead. Recently, there was a mashup of the two stories on YouTube that expanded upon Duck's role than just making him appear for two illustrations and never having him interact with Diesel. Granted, our version doesn't have Duck and Diesel interact once (see Rachel's take on Fish for context), but we did at least hint at how Duck would react to Diesel becoming a permanent member to the railway, explaining why he was on Sodor for series eight onward.
More stories to come!