//------------------------------//
// Rusty and the Boulder 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: the New Adventures 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

High up in the hills of Sodor sits a mysterious boulder, called the Old Man of the Lake. Nobody knows for sure how long it has been there, but it continues to look down over the Skarloey Railway, which runs nearby to the site where it sits. However, in more recent times, the area has attracted interest for quarrying, as it contains a good seam of granite, which is a perfect material for building houses. And this meant that the engines of the Skarloey Railway, naturally enough, were roped into the construction efforts.

One morning, Rusty came to a stop with a train of granite from the quarry. Thomas and Percy were there to collect the granite load, and take it onwards to places far away. This was the train the railwayman called-

"You've used that joke three times, Mr Narrator! Don't you think it's getting a teensy weensy bit old?"

"Pinkie, who are you talking to?" Twilight asked. "There's nobody there!"

"That's what you think," Pinkie replied.

"Anyways," Percy interrupted, "good morning Rusty! Good morning Sandbar! Where's all this rock coming from?"

"The new quarry, of course!" Rusty replied. "This granite is extremely useful for many things. But I don't feel safe there, and neither does Sandbar."

"Why?" Thomas asked. "What's up there?"

"The Old Man of the Lake," Rusty replied. "You're the geologist Sandbar; please do explain what it is."

"OK," Sandbar replied. "The Old Man of the Lake is a massive boulder, which we think was deposited during the last ice age. It's in a precarious spot, and I think it's watching us."

"How can it?" Percy asked. "It's a boulder; boulders don't have eyes!"

"That may be so," Rusty said, "but I still feel uneasy nontheless."

Twilight decided to change the subject. "How's your relationship with Ocellus going, Sandbar?"

"Great, thanks," the boy replied. "We've started formally dating."

"I'll bake the wedding cake!" Pinkie exclaimed.

The merriment was interrupted by Edward rolling to a stop with a flatbed. On it was a large red machine with a cut back cab and two front mounted jackhammers.

"What's that?" asked Thomas.

"My name's Thumper," the machine replied, speaking with a thick Cumbric accent. "I'm a prototype crawler machine, built from bits of a Granite Grinder and a KV-1 tank. My jackhammers loosen the rock and make it fall faster."

"Fascinating!" Twilight said. "I must witness this in action!"





Thumper went into service the next day. His unusual appearance and the amount of dust he threw up was counterbalanced by how quickly the rock was falling from the cliff face. The repeated twin impacts made the entire area shake, and little did anybody know, this would have disastrous consequences for all concerned.

That evening, Rusty was being hooked up to the last slate working of the day. There was no runround loop at the quarry, so trains had to be propelled into the quarry site and worked out cab first. As Sandbar finished linking the chains, there was suddenly a loud cracking noise. A massive slab of rock landed on the track as the rain began to pour. "Good heavens!" he cried.

"The rain's starting to weaken the rock," Sandbar explained. "The sooner we get this lot down to Crovan's Gate, the better. I don't want to be here much longer."

"I think Boulder doesn't want us to be here," Rusty whispered, and they were soon on their way. But, as they left the quarry, Rusty could've sworn the boulder was glaring at him with an angry face.





The next day, the weather had cleared and Thumper was immediately put back into service. Smoke and dust filled the air as more rock continued to fall and be collected. Suddenly, the same cracking sounds and bangs from before could be heard. More booms echoed through the air as the workmen began to run.

"Clear the quarry area! The rockface is giving way!" shouted the foreman. Thumper rolled slowly out of position and tried to clear the area.

Rusty glanced up, and saw what was going on. He gasped. "Boulder's moving!" he shouted.

"Is it?" Sandbar asked. "I can't see it-"

Suddenly, Boulder rolled forward, and fell off its perch. It crashed to the ground and landed in front of Rusty.

"-move."

The quarry line is on a slight gradient. Boulder ominously began to move towards them.

"It's moving down our line!" Rusty shouted. "Back, Sandbar, back!"

Sandbar, nearly jamming the gears, set Rusty into reverse and sped backwards along the line. They sped along the track and reversed onto an access line that ran parellel to the main quarry line, stopping beside a tree.

"We'll wait here until it's safe," Sandbar said, glancing around him warily. "I don't wanna be mincemeat."

But Boulder was nowhere to be seen.

Sandbar looked behind him. "Help! It's behind us!" He put Rusty into forward and they sped along the main line once more. The quarry line was quite long, cut through a wide expanse of rock, and they approached a siding which (luckily) was set to take them off the main line. Rusty went into the siding and skidded to a stop as Boulder thundered past them.

"That was lucky," Rusty said. "Are there any other trains in the section?"

Sandbar's face went white with horror. "I must warn them!" he cried, his hand going for the in cab radio.





Skarloey and Ocellus were proceeding up the line with some slate trucks, not expecting anything to be wrong. Just then, the cab radio buzzed. "Hello?" Ocellus asked. "This is Oce-"

"You ha-e to [static] o-f line! -Ou-der in -wa-!"

"Message not understood, please repeat, over?"

"Ocellus!" Skarloey called. "There's a great big boulder coming our way!"

Ocellus glanced up to see Boulder racing towards them. She grabbed at the throttle lever, stopped Skarloey, and then set him into full reverse, hoping to outrun Boulder.

"YEEEEEEEEOIKS!" Skarloey cried, as they thundered backwards down the fierce gradient. But Boulder got closer and closer.

Ocellus was in a state of fully blown panic, but, glancing behind her, saw that a track switch had been set for the main line. She grabbed a lump of coal from Skarloey's bunker, and threw it at the switch. The force of the impact was enough to change the points, and they flew into the siding and came to a stop. Boulder raced by and demolished the water tower.

Skarloey looked back. "You're all wet!" he said, referring to Ocellus' somewhat soggy appearance.

"Better that than dead!" Ocellus replied. Rusty arrived moments later.

"We have to warn Crovan's Gate!" Skarloey called.

"But how?" Rusty asked. "Our radios cannot reach control; the wavelength is too short!"

"And Rheneas is out on a passenger train!" Ocellus added. "How are we going to warn Yona? I couldn't understand your message!"

"If they can't stop the boulder before it reaches the junction, Crovan's Gate is doomed," Rusty said grimly.





Rheneas was running up the line to the lake with some passengers when he saw Boulder running off the quarry line. "Yona! It's running loose!" he shouted.

Yona yelled in shock. "Yona not want to be pancake!" she shouted, and cranked open Rheneas' regulator even more, to try and clear the track before Boulder got to them. They raced along the still bumpy stretch of track and skidded into the platform at Lakeside just in time, as Boulder roared by them once more.

"Rather a smash than a squash," Rheneas sighed.





Peter Sam brought his train to a stop at the station by the lake. Suddenly, he heard a loud rumbling. "What's that?" he asked.

"It must be something REALLY weird!" Silverstream exclaimed. And then, Boulder rumbled into view.

"Cinders and ashes! It's coming straight for us!"

And it was. Boulder rolled through the fence that divided the land from the lake, and fell downwards, falling on top of a petrol tank for the boats. This tank exploded, wreathing Boulder in flames, before Boulder fell into the lake and came to a stop.

It took the fire brigade more than two hours to put out the resulting fire, and the damage ran into the thousands of pounds. Mr Percival's words were perhaps the most sage. "We," he said, "should close the quarry. We should have left this part of the Island alone."

Boulder was recovered from the Lake, and today sits high upon a hill that faces the mountain where it once stood. Rusty will tell you that, to this day, Boulder is looking out upon the hill it used to call home, the wind being its mournful cries as it gazes upon where it once stood.

And I think Rusty is right. Do you?