Chapter 2: Preventing an accident

As Carrie walked along the well-used pathway overlooking the two railway lines towards the nearby village, she knew deep inside herself that she couldn't live alone out in the open country like this for all the time she was here on Sodor, especially as she knew full-well that her money, a lot of it though it was, and the supplies that she had with her wouldn't last for a very long time. She also knew full well that she would have to go and get a job at some point, get to know the people who lived here on Sodor, and then settle down to enjoy a brand new life for herself in her new home.

Those thoughts of the future and what it might hold for her did worry her very much, as she didn't know any of the people who lived over here on the Island of Sodor, and she was also very concerned that should they know the fact that she'd run away from home, which was all the way on the other side of the North Atlantic in the state of Maine in the United States, then they could just as quickly send her packing back there again, and she didn't want that to happen regardless of what they might think of her situation.

She also knew that she couldn't stay outside in the countryside for much longer; it was late November and, although there was no cold winds blowing about at this moment and no snow had fallen onto the ground yet, it was still very cold outside, with the temperature often falling to well below 0 degrees C at night, which made things quite uncomfortable for her whenever and where she went to sleep at night.

It was so cold at times that even the ground, along with any puddles or muddy patches that were on it, froze solid and often to about two or three feet below ground. Even though Carrie was very well-bundled up to guard against the cold winter weather, including a warm and thick windproof coat, warm waterproof boots with a scarf, gloves and woollen hat that had ear flaps, she still shivered at times, particularly when she had to pause and take a rest every now and then, and she could see her breath come out from her mouth in thick white clouds. So, she kept on walking to keep warm and keep her blood flowing.

Looking up to the sky above her, Carrie could see thick and dark grey clouds high above and which stretched out as far as the eye could see. She knew there was a strong chance these clouds could bring either heavy snowfall or, even worse, heavy rain with them at some point during the day or into the night. Carrie felt herself getting a little more nervous at this sight spread out before her, as she knew that dark clouds like these clearly meant that bad weather was likely to occur at some point. Taking in a deep breath, she continued on her way along the pathway.

(A short while later)

It wasn't too long before Carrie went down the path on a downhill stretch and came upon a part of the branch line where the double tracks went through a long shallow gorge with an area of low shallow woodland covered hill along one side of the line and a steep rocky cliff-like side along the other side, along the escarpment by the top of which were jagged craggy rocks and a number of crooked trees, all of which were bare of their leaves due to the cold winter weather. The trees within the shallow woodland area were also bare of their leaves, and so the trees didn't provide much shelter from the weather.

Looking upwards, the dark grey clouds covered the sky high above seemed to be made even more ominous by the fact that all the trees were bare of their leaves, and the jagged, crooked branches that stretched out from the trees seemed to give a very ominous feel to the whole landscape...almost as if to say to anyone who was passing by that they didn't belong her out in this desolate area.

Carrie paused under one of the trees within the woodland are for a little bit to rest her feet and to have a look round. After a few minutes, with her feeling a little bit better, and with her feet rested, she then heard what sounded like small rocks falling from somewhere close to her. After several moments, it got quiet and Carrie looked all around, not sure if she heard them or not. Then a few seconds later, she heard the sounds of falling rocks again, and then suddenly that low sound was replaced with the ominous sounds of much larger rocks that were falling to the ground with loud thumps and crashes, as well as the sounds of cracking. Feeling herself getting nervous, Carrie looked around to see where the sounds were coming from.

Looking over to the other side of the line and up at the cliff above with curiosity, she then noticed smaller rocks falling from above; throwing her head up, she gasped in horror when she saw a large part of the cliff along the top was beginning to collapse, no doubt due to the natural erosion caused by the cold weather. Quickly taking cover behind the tree she was leaning against, Carrie looked out and watched as tonnes of loose stones, large rocks and trees came crashing down from the top of the cliff and landed on the two railway lines, kicking up a large cloud of dust and creating a loud noise, the likes of which Carrie had never heard before.

When the dust settled, she looked out and was shocked to see the two lines were covered with a heap of debris and rocks, earth and fallen trees. Quickly going through a gate in the fence and rushing over to the debris pile, and still pulling along her bag behind her, she stopped by the debris pile. She knew that if any trains were to come along, on either side of the blockage, there would be a serious accident. It would be bad if it was only a freight train, but if it were to be a passenger train, then it would be quite a different story.

But then, from somewhere back along the branch line leading back towards Knapford, she suddenly heard the sound of a loud steam whistle from somewhere in the distance…and it seemed to be getting closer to her. Luckily, from where the debris pile was, the tracks were very straight for a long distance, so hopefully the crew of the locomotive would be able to see the accident site before they crashed into it. But Carrie also knew that she had to warn the approaching train of this before they got closer, though she didn't have any red flags or anything like that with which to warn the crew.

(A little down the line)

Arthur, the maroon red 2-6-2 tank engine with L.M.S. painted along the sides of his water tanks, was puffing along from Knapford Station up to Farquhar Station at a steady speed, with a mixed freight of 12 wagons and a brake van trailing along behind him. In the cab, his driver was keeping a very close watch on the track ahead of them, and his fireman shovelled fresh coal into the firebox to keep the fire burning and also kept a close eye on both the water gauge glasses on the back of the boiler, so as to ensure there was enough water in the boiler, and the boiler pressure gauge to ensure that they had an adequate supply of steam to keep the train moving along.

Rounding the curve and heading along the straight stretch at a reasonable speed, Arthur suddenly gasped in horror when he saw what was on the track ahead of him, and the driver, who'd taken a quick look at the steam pressure gauge, looked out from his side of the cab and suddenly saw the rockfall ahead! Quickly, he closed the regulator, shutting off the steam supply to the cylinders, and then frantically applied the brakes. But it was only then that the driver noticed that there was someone standing very close to the debris from the landslide, waving their arms about frantically to try and stop them.

Carrie stopped waving her arms as she saw the train come closer and closer towards her, as the sound of the brakes being applied by the driver came to her ears loud and clear. It looked as though the train would never stop in time, but then, with a groan and a loud wheezing of steam, Arthur came to a stop only a few inches from where Carrie stood in a small cloud of white steam. Carrie, in shock from what had just taken place within the last few seconds, fainted by the side of the tracks. Arthur was in some shock himself from what had happened, and he looked around to see what was going on.

"Are you all right, Arthur?" his driver asked, as he jumped down from the cab.

"I'm okay, sir. That was just in time." Arthur said, as he let out a sigh of relief before he and his driver noticed the fainted girl on the side of the line.

"Miss…are you okay? Can you hear me? " Arthur asked in some concern, seeing the unfamiliar young woman lying on the ground near to him.

"Oh, my goodness, miss, are you all right?" the driver asked as he and the fireman went over to where Carrie lay on the cold ground and checked to see if she was all right, as Arthur looked on with some anxiousness.

"She seems to be okay. No injuries. Let's get her and her bag up onto the footplate and we'll take her back to Knapford Station." said the fireman.

"Good idea that." said the driver, in agreement.

Just then, the guard, with a long warm overcoat over his uniform and a warm woollen hat on his head, arrived from the brake van. He'd just been finishing off a nice big mug of hot cocoa in the warm comfort of his van when he suddenly heard Arthur apply his brakes and felt the wagons bump into each other as the train came to a sudden stop. Curious as to what had happened, he grabbed his camera, left his van and quickly ran forward. He stopped when he saw the extent of the landslide in front of him and how much debris there was.

"Oh, my goodness. Are we all okay?" he asked.

"We're fine. This young woman saw what happened and was waving for us to slow down." the driver said, indicating to the fainted Carrie.

"Deary me, is she okay?" asked the guard, with some concern.

"She seems to be…she's just fainted that's all." said the driver.

"We'll bring her back to Knapford and inform Sir Topham Hatt of this." the fireman said.

"All right, but before we do that, we'd better stop at the last signal box we passed first and have the signalman inform the other boxes along the line of what's happened here." said the guard. Agreeing with this, the driver and fireman lifted up Carrie and helped her into Arthur's cab while the guard handed them Carrie's suitcase before he went forward briefly with his camera and took a dozen snapshots of the landslide before them before he turned and went back to his van.

Just after he helped Carrie into the cab, a photograph fell out of Carrie's coat pocket and the driver reached down to pick it up. Looking at the back, he saw the words "Momma and me" written on the back. Then he turned the picture over to have a look at the actual photo and he got the shock of his life: there on the photo was Carrie with Margaret, a woman that the driver recognized. He stood stock still for what seemed like ages, but was only for a moment or two.

"My god…" he said, quietly to himself as he looked at the picture.

"Ah driver, are you all right?" Arthur asked, noticing the driver, whose name was Ralph, seemed to be in a stunned trance of some sort.

"Yes Arthur, I'm fine." the driver said, as he shook himself out of his trance before he loaded Carrie's suitcase onto the footplate, climbed up and looked behind to the brake van. The guard, having already set the points to the other line, waved a green flag and, after setting the reversing gear and opening the regulator, the train slowly and gently reversed over the points and came to a stop on the other line. Then the guard reset the points, ran back to the brake van and climbed on before showing his green flag again. With a toot from his whistle, Arthur gently reversed and headed back the way he came.

(At Knapford Station)

In his office in the upper level of the Knapford Station building, Sir Topham Hatt (The Fat Controller), the man who was in charge of the main standard gauge railway lines on the Island of Sodor, had just put some more pieces of dry timber into the fireplace to help keep his office toasty warm on this very cold and crisp late November day when just then, the phone sitting on his desk rang. Going over and picking it up, he received the report of the landslide on the Ffarquhar Branch Line and that Arthur was on his way back to Knapford with his goods train, as well as of the young woman who had warned them of the landslide and was now being brought to the station.

"Very good…I'll be down there at once." said the Fat Controller. He put the phone down, went over to the coat stand in the corner. He reached for his shiny top hat, red woollen scarf and overcoat and, after putting them on, he went out the door to his office and then down the stairs to Platform 1.

Percy, the little green engine, was standing out on the line that ran adjacent Platform 2 and waiting for his next turn of duty, when he suddenly saw Arthur and his short freight come reversing slowly back into the station at the line along Platform 1. He was surprised to see him, as Arthur had only left the station a short while before.

"Hello Arthur, you're back early." Percy said, a little surprised to see Arthur back at the big station so soon.

"Yes Percy, there was a major landslide and now the Farquhar line is completely blocked up to such an extent that nothing can get past it." Arthur said, as he came to a gently stop, as Percy gasped when he heard the news, and then Arthur told Percy about what he had seen up along the branch line and what had taken place.

Then, Fat Controller stepped out onto the platform and, crossing the platform, he went straight up to Arthur's cab.

"Hello Ralph, what happened?" he asked, with some concern as he arrived at the cab.

"There was a major landslide of rocks and trees along Thomas's branch line, sir…it's in that long stretch with the high steep cliff that goes along one side of the line and with the lower, and more gentle-sloping ground along the other. It's completely blocking both lines…so there's no way for anything to get through." Ralph said.

"We stopped and alerted the signal box that's located along the line before that stretch, sir. And so all trains on that line have been stopped." said the fireman.

"Excellent. Good job at doing that, you two." the Fat Controller said, after sighing with relief.

"I also got some photos of that landslide, sir." came the voice of the guard, as he came up from his brake van. He turned on his camera and handed it to the Fat Controller, who studied the pictures one by one. He was astonished by how much debris was blocking the way, as well as the size of some of the pieces of rock that fell from the cliff.

"Good grief…we'd better get that line cleared as soon as possible. I'll get Tim the foreman and his men to the scene to get that blockage cleared at once." said the Fat Controller, as he handed the camera back to the guard before he went up to talk with Arthur.

"Are you all right, Arthur?" he asked.

"Yes sir, I'm all right. We managed to stop just in the nick of time before we ran into that landslide." Arthur said.

"That's a good engine. Better stand by for whatever job comes next." said the Fat Controller, as he went back to the cab. "You mentioned something about a young girl who was warning you about the landslide when you came onto that stretch."

"Yes sir, we saw this young girl waving her arms and trying to stop us when we came into view and, considering how close we stopped to her, she fainted a few feet from Arthur's buffers." Ralph said, as he and his fireman helped the still unconscious Carrie out from the cab as well as bringing out her bag as well.

"Best bring her up to my office, and get her out of this cold. I've got the fire going inside, and that should help to warm her up a bit." said the Fat Controller, as he rubbed his hands together. So, Ralph and his fireman helped bring Carrie inside and upstairs to the office as the guard followed behind with Carrie's suitcase.

They laid Carrie down on the sofa close to the fireplace, where the fire was burning warmly and merrily, and let her wake up in her own time, while her suitcase was placed by the large solid wooden desk at the other end of the room. The guard and fireman went back down to the platform, leaving Ralph and the Fat Controller alone with Carrie.

"Do you know who she is or any idea as to where she came from?" the Fat Controller asked with some concern.

"No sir, but I think I might have a clue that could tell us." Ralph said, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the photograph. "This fell out of her pocket when we were loading her into Arthur's cab." Ralph said, as he showed it to his boss. The Fat Controller looked at the two women in the picture; the younger girl matched the one on his couch to a "T", whereas the older woman had a rather sterner look on her face and was dressed in black clothing that made her seem a bit like a witch.

"Hang on a second…isn't that older woman Margaret, your ex-wife?" he asked.

"Yes sir, she is…and she's a woman I hoped I would never have to see again…either in a photograph or in person." Ralph said, as bad memories of his past, which had been long dormant up until now, flashed quickly through his mind.

"But if she's your ex-wife, does that mean this young girl could be your daughter?" the Fat Controller asked.

"She could be, sir…she could well be." Ralph said, with a slight degree of apprehension in his voice. Then a light groan drew their attention and they looked towards Carrie.