//------------------------------//
// Pipsqueak Owns Up 
// Story: Rescue Engines 
// by The Blue EM2 
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The engines awoke in a palpable state of fright. Where, oh where, was Cozy Glow? 

“She’s vanished!” cried Diamond. 

“But who would take her?” asked Babs. 

Scootaloo  narrowed her eyes. “I heard a massive steam engine pass through here  last night, and something else appeared on the other line, according to a  foreman.” 

“Tirek, it has to be,” Sweetie Belle replied. 

Cheerilee ran into the depot, having heard the news. “All of you, Cozy Glow must be found!” she cried. “That includes you, Ocellus!” 



Apple Bloom, Scootaloo  and Sweetie Belle set off for the lakeside station, leaving only  Diamond and Silver to handle passengers. But with 3 engines down, it was  required that some rejigging of the timetable was required. As a  consequence, the roster of engines for the logging line was reduced from  3 to 2. In addition, Button Mash was reassigned to the quarry. To say  the least, he was most glad for the change in scenery. 

But  this meant that the wharf had no engine overseeing it. So, that honour  fell to Pip. Not surprisingly, he was a little nervous at this prospect,  and feared things going wrong. 

One day, he backed into the trucks with a jolt, not being used to slate wagons, and sent them rolling backwards. 

“Sorry!” he said, sheepishly. 

“We want a proper engine, not a brown monster!” the trucks shouted. 

“Well, you’ll have to settle with me,” Pip told them. “There is no engine else to do the work.” 



Apart from that mishap, Pip handled the wharf very well. His increased power allowed him to move the trucks around quite easily, and the trucks behaved for the most part. Cheerilee was most impressed with the work he had done. 

“Pip, I am very pleased with what you have done today,” she smiled. “I hope you are happy with overseeing it tomorrow.” 

“Thank you miss Cheerilee!” said the Shay, beaming with pride. 

That night, at the depot, he spoke with the others about it. 

“Miss Cheerilee asked me to work the Wharf again tomorrow, how about that?” 

“She must have confidence in you,” Rumble admitted. 

“Button may want to be careful,” Featherweight laughed, “Or you may get his job!” 

Pip was immensely worried. He didn’t want to take any other engine’s jobs, and hadn’t realised that Featherweight was joking. 



The  next morning at the Wharf, Pip steamed around, looking worried.  Featherweight’s words echoed in his mind, and he didn’t concentrate on  what he was doing. 

As a result, he crashed into some trucks-again. 

“Sorry!” he said, again. 

But trucks are not so easy to forgive. They decided to play a little game on the Shay. 



Later  in the day, Pip was pulling the trucks back toward the shed. On the way  toward the shed, there was a turntable, which Pip had to pass over in  order to reach the shed. 

It  was then the trucks saw their chance. “Go, go, go!” shouted their  leader. They surged forward, pushing the engine along the track. 

“Hey! What gives?” Pip exclaimed. But he slid along the line, uncontrollably, being propelled by some angry slate wagons. 

He put his brakes on, and the train started to slow down. “I’m winning!” he gasped. 

But  he was nowhere near winning. He realised his mistake when his rear  power truck touched air, and tilted downwards, falling into the  turntable pit. His smokebox pitched into the air, his cylinders spinning  wildly. 

“This is embarrassing!” he cried. 

But  the worst was yet to come. The ballast was not designed to take an  engine of his weight, and the ground beneath him collapsed, causing the  geared locomotive to fall partially into the ground. 

“HELP!” 



Later that day, Snips and Snails arrived with the breakdown train. Gilda and Lightning Dust brought the mainline cranes, as the narrow-gauge cranes couldn’t lift the logging engine. 

After some considerable effort, and several hours, they finally had the engine back on the rails. 

Cheerilee came to see him. “What happened?” she asked. 

“I’m  really sorry,” said Pip. “I wasn’t focusing on what I was doing and  must have bumped the trucks. They pushed me along the rails and I ended  up in the turntable pit.” 

“Pip,” Cheerilee explained, “You need to focus on your work, or else you can make mistakes.” 

“I know, Miss Cheerilee. I suppose I won’t be taking Button’s job then.” 

“What?” 

Pip quickly explained what Featherweight had said. Cheerilee simply laughed. 

“Featherweight  was joking! We’ve only got the engines set up this way because of the  locomotive shortage. When the others come back, we are all going back to  our old jobs.” 

Pip was most relieved, but from then one was a wiser engine who didn’t let what others said bother him.