Chapter 278: Foaming at the Funnel
Just past Torrywreck lies a Dairy. Every afternoon, milk tankers are pushed into a siding to be filled with milk. Once they had been filled, Percy would take them to the junction on his first train. But since his engine was away being repaired, the job fell to Wilbert, who was more than happy to do it.
One morning, he set out bright and cheerful. His engine was much stronger than Percy's, so the work was quite easy. After taking some stone trucks to the harbor, he headed to the dairy. He dropped some empty tankers off in the siding to be collected later. Then he took some vans to the junction, and drove his engine into a siding to rest.
"Now this is a living," he sighed contently to himself. Just then, he heard a whistle coming from the mainline. In came James with a passenger train. He was surprised to see Wilbert standing on the other platform.
"Hello, you must be James. Thomas and Toby have told me lots about you."
"Hmm? Oh, you must be Wilbert, Sir Topham Hatt told us you'd be visiting. How do you like the Island?"
"Lovely place, and a beautiful railway to go with it."
James chuckled.
"No need to flatter us. I'm sure your line is beautiful too."
"Oh, it is, but its far too short. Here my engine can really stretch its wheels."
"I know what you mean. Stepney said the same thing when he came to visit. Do you know him?"
"No, but I know of him and his Bluebell Railway. Thank god for places like ours, or steam might've been lost."
"Too true."
Before they knew it, James's guard blew his whistle, meaning it was time to go.
"Oh, would you look at the time! Sorry I can't stay and chat more, goodbye!"
"Goodbye, James!"
Wilbert glanced down at his watch. It was 2 PM.
"Oh dear, I'd best be going too! The milk will be ready soon."
And he set off, but he made a big mistake. He soon realized it when he got to the dairy. As he backed down onto the tankers ready for departure, he saw that the water gauge was dangerously low.
"Bother! I'd spent so much time talking to James I'd completely forgotten to check the water gauge."
As luck would have it, there was a feed pipe at the dairy, just off the main track.
"Perfect! I'll just fill up real quick and be on my way. I'm sure they won't mind."
So he quickly switched the points and drove his engine into position. Stepping down from the footplate, he put the pipe in the engine's tank and turned the knob. He was about to step down when he heard someone shouting.
"Hey, you! Get away from there!"
"Sorry, I just need some water for my engine. I thought it'd be ok..."
"You idiot, that's the tank for the milk!"
Wilbert turned back around, and sure enough milk was oozing out the top.
"Oh, bother."
Thomas soon arrived, and towed Wilbert's engine to the yards to get cleaned up.
"Cheer up," he told Wilbert. "At least its not fish."
Wilbert couldn't help but chuckle.