//------------------------------// // Ballast // Story: Thomas and Friends: The Retold Adventures // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// In recent times, the harbours at Tidmouth, Brendam, and Knapford have become so busy that they can scarcely cope with the volume of goods being shipped in and taken out. To this end, Sir Toppham Hatt has reopened the harbour at Arlesburgh, just up the coast from Tidmouth. And as the roads to Arlesburgh are very bad indeed, he has relayed the old branch line that ran from Tidmouth to Arlesburgh West via Haultraugh, which had been lifted in the 1930s. I can tell you now that the Apple family are very pleased indeed that the railway is back, as it means that they no longer need to move their produce to market by road! The branch line isn't the only thing that is new. The entire North Western main line from Tidmouth to Vicarstown is receiving a much needed facelift. The ballast crews are lifting the track out with new machinery, clearing away the old ballast underneath the track, and putting in fresh stone to replace it. The track crews love it. "Not a weed will grow in it!" they say. Donald and Douglas would often disappear off up the Arlesburgh line with empty hoppers, and come back a few hours later with fresh ballast loaded into the trucks. One day, as Donald rolled into the yard, Duck decided to ask what was going on. "Donald," he asked, with a wide eye, "where does all the ballast come from?" Donald simply winked. "Aye, the wee little engines bring it doon from them hills," he smiled, before heading off on his way. "Erm, right," said Duck. He glanced at Apple Bloom. "That engine... I have absolutely no idea what he was talking about." "Me neither," Apple Bloom replied. "Maybe we should investigate? Ah live in Arlesburgh, and Stepney pops up there occasionally." A few days later, Henry and Gordon were discussing what Donald and Douglas had said. "I don't know," said Henry, with a confused look. "These 'wee little engines' they speak of must be magic." "Magic?" Rainbow Dash asked, incredulously. "You know that is totally ridiculous, right?" "I don't put much stock in this 'wee little engines' business," said Gordon. But then again, he never put much stock in anything said by anybody. "Donald and Douglas have pulled our wheels before, so they're probably doing it again!" Duck, however, was still intruiged. So, he and Apple Bloom got permission to go down to Alresburgh and collect some ballast. After a splendid run along the coast of Sodor (strongly reminiscient of the Devonian Riviera), he came to a stop in the yard. "Are you the ballast train?" called a foreman. "Yes, we are," Apple Bloom told him. "Good. Position the trucks under the chute!" Before them stood a great metal structure with rails on top of it. Apple Bloom gently opened Duck's regulator, and brought the train underneath the hopper to a gentle and smooth stop. "What do you think of our chute?" called a voice, in a strong Cumbrian accent. "Good, isn't it?" Duck blinked, and looked over. Sitting next to him was the smallest engine he had ever seen. He was green, and had two leading wheels, eight driving wheels, and two trailing wheels, followed by a tender. He had outside cylinders, and sat in the tender was a boy with white skin and brown hair, as well as a brown birthmark behind his left eye, both of which were coloured brown. He wore a blue T shirt and green slacks, as well as a pair of green trainers. "Where did you two come from?" Duck asked. "We've been here all the time!" the engine replied. "May I ask your name?" the engine's driver asked. "My name Phillip Squall, but most people call me either Pipsqueak or Pip, because I'm a bit short." "I'm Duck," said Duck. "Formally Montague." "Ah'm Apple Bloom," Apple Bloom added. "Ah prefer it over Abigail." "I'm Rex!" the engine laughed. "But I already knew you to be Duck. There's only Great Western engine around these parts, after all!" Suddenly, a great rattling and roaring started up from the chute above them, and Duck's trucks shook as something fell into them. "What was that?" the engine exclaimed. "Oh, that was just the chute in action!" Rex smiled. "It works like your coaling towers at Knapford, as the bottoms of the wagons open up, allowing the cargo (in this case, ballast) to fall into your trucks. It saves a lot of time on loading and unloading, let me tell you!" Duck was quite impressed, and puffed away with his goods train back to Tidmouth to supply ever more ballast for the railway. He came back a few days later, to see three small engines sitting there, grinning at him. Rex and Pip were there, but there was also a red engine of a similar size and the same wheel arrangement. Sat in this engine's cab was a girl wearing a pink long sleeved shirt with a symbol of a candy cane on it, as well as a purple skirt with the same emblem, and a pair of pink and purple socks, combined with purple boots. She had pale white skin and frizzy red hair, and wore a pair of purple glasses over her pink eyes. The other engine was painted blue, and lacked the leading wheels the others had. Seated in his cab was another boy, who had two tone brown hair and eyes, as well as pale skin of a similar colour to the girl. He wore a brown long sleeved shirt and white slacks, as well as a pair of brown boots. He also smiled, through his buck teeth, and waved to Duck. "Hello!" Rex called. "These are my fellow engines! The blue one is Bert, and the red one is Mike." "Hi!" the other boy called. "I'm Frank Wright, but you can call me Featherweight if you want." "And I'm Twitht!" said the girl, speaking excitedly in spite of her speech impediment. "My parents called me Tara, but I would prefer it if you called me Twitht!" "Of course," Rex went on, "Mr Fergus Duncan gave us different coats of paint in order to tell us apart. I'm the oldest here, then Bert, and Finally Mike, who is a mere 49 years old this year!" "Alright, Mr Oldie!" Mike grumbled. "But your claim about our colours is nonsense." "I like being blue!" Bert exclaimed. "That may be fine for you," Mike added, "but it's not for me! My passengers all say I look like a pillbox!" "I think you look lovely," Twist reassured Mike. "Thanks Twist." "Well, fancy that!" Rex snorted. "Back in the days when Mike and myself were both green, the passengers kept calling me Mike!" "Why you-!" "OK guys, cool it!" Featherweight called. "Bert, shall we change the subject?" "Sure thing!" Bert smiled. "Duck, have you seen our coaches?" "You mean those things over there?" Duck asked. "They look like trucks!" "How many trucks do ya know of that have seats in them?" Apple Bloom asked him. "The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway's 4th class coaches were effectively trucks." "I agree," Bert said. "They may not be like mainline coaches, but they do their job quite nicely, I'd say. They even behave well!" "Says you," Mike snorted. "If you treat them well," Bert added. "Besides," Twist added, "The pathengers abtholutely love the open topped coaches! It's the thcenery they've all come to look at!" "Give me a goods train any day," Mike added. "Ah've never heard of an engine who likes pullin' trucks," Apple Bloom said in shock, not quite sure what she had just heard. "Well, most of our trucks are different to yours," Mike smiled. "Ours, like the ones on top of the chute, run on bogies, which gives them a very smooth ride. Twist and I take them up to the quarries and mines, fill them up, and then run down to the main line for emptying. Rinse, repeat." "What about the hot axle boxes?" asked Rex. "We found fruit preservative cured that problem!" Pip laughed. Apple Bloom put a hand to her chin. "So that's where all the Zap Apple Jam's been goin'," she said finally. Duck smiled. "Where are you from?" he asked. "I'd never seen or heard of you before." This time, Bert answered. "Our old railway was in England, but it closed a long time ago. Your Sir Toppham Hatt purchased us and the rail materials, and took us to this place, relaying our line on top of another. This is our first season of operation, you know!" "Oh!" said Duck. "Well, I'll make sure to tell everybody about you, and bring lots of passengers. Goodbye!" And he puffed away excitedly, to tell everybody about the small engines.