Chapter 216: High Speed Gordon

Donald had drove his engine into the shed, looking very excited.

"The workmen at yon works tell me that The Other Railway has developed something called a High Speed Train. It has a power car at both ends, and can go up to 125 miles per hour. That makes them the fastest diesel engine in the world!"

Everyone was rather interested by this. Everyone, that is, except Gordon.

"Pah! So what? I bet my engine could top that easily."

Everyone rolled their eyes at that. They knew Gordon would just keep going on no matter what they said, so they just let him.

"Mallard reached 126 miles per hour, and it's just one engine. A STEAM Engine at that. How hard could it be?"

Gordon was so caught up in his rambling that he didn't notice that everyone had already left. When he did, he felt rather silly.

"Oh, I guess I should...get going then."

He soon arrived at the top station, where he found the express coaches waiting for him.

"Rosie must have shunted them earlier. That's good, I can get going quickly."

A few minutes later, the guard blew his whistle, and Gordon set off. But no sooner had he left the station that he found his engine's wheels slipping on the wheels. It was freezing cold last night, and the rails had frosted over. The wheels spun round and round, but their engine, Gordon, and his train wouldn't budge.

"Come on, come on! I've got a time table to upkeep."

Despite Gordon's grumbling, their situation remained the same, even in spite of the pound after pound of sand he put on the rails.

"Right, thats it!"

With one mighty jerk of the throttle, the train lurched forward...

And came to a complete stop, steam leaking from its pistons, much to Gordon's dismay. The sudden movement had surged the water in the boiler forward, causing the safety valve to burst. Now there was no way his engine could take the express.

"Bother! The day had started out so well, too."

Donald took Gordon's train to the works, while Bear took the Express. It was a quick fix, and Gordon was able to take his engine home that night. But word of his escapade soon spread, much to Gordon's frustration.

"Well well well, faster than a high speed train, huh?"

"You sure went nowhere fast, I'll give you that!"

"Oh, give him a break guys. After all, the situation did go from 0 to 100 in 5 seconds flat!"

Everyone thought it was a great joke, but Gordon wished they would move on to something else. All the same, he no longer boasted about being able to push his engine faster than 125 MPH anymore. It was just too much effort!