One day, Percy and Pinkie came to collect some trucks from Ffarquhar Quarry, to take it down to the main line and to places far away. This was the train the railwaymen called-
OK, we've done that joke to death. As Percy looked around, there was not a soul to be seen, and everything was still covered in a small layer of snow and frost, which made it look like a winter wonderland. Snow, snow, snow, snow, diddle diddle didddle diddle diddle diddle da. At the end of one siding, he saw Mavis sitting there, and a man, whom she recognised as Filthy Rich, who managed the Ffarquhar Quarry Company in addition to his running of a supermarket chain, was berating both her and her driver.
"You have both acted in such a way that it has made our company look foolish," he said. "One of my engines and my own daughter, completely failing to follow the instructions that I gave them. Whatever next?"
"How was I to know-"
"I don't care," Filthy Rich replied. "You two are BOTH on your last warning. Mess up again, and I won't think twice about getting another diesel to replace you. They're ten a penny, after all." He then walked off.
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes as he walked off. "He's all talk and little else. He's fortunate that I was willing to do this job, as nobody else would!"
Percy ventured forward. "Cheer up, you two!" he said. "I'm certain he was just angry, and that he didn't mean all of it."
Mavis sighed. "Toby tattle told to him," she replied, "and he says I have no business going out onto the branch line. Toby's just an utter fusspot!"
Percy looked shocked. "Toby has forgotten more about trucks then you shall ever know," he snorted.
"That's a very bold claim," Diamond replied. "I used to work on a miniature railway, you know."
"Toby and Flash know best," Pinkie told her. "You MUST put the trucks where he tells you to put them, or else chaos will result, and we don't want that."
"I do!" said Discord, suddenly appearing from nowhere before vanishing again.
"If you'll excuse us," said Percy, "we must take these trucks to Knapford, so they can be taken and unloaded, and the cargo sent to places far away." And he rolled off without another word.
Mavis soon found a rather obvious problem with the yard in the quarry. The trackwork was tight and short, and the sidings made moving the trucks about extremely difficult without accidentally leaving the yard limits and thereby going on the branch line. This meant endlessly shuffling backwards and forwards, or marshalling the trucks onto the branch line and then shunting them back into the sidings. Mavis then had a bright idea.
"Diamond," she said, "if we were to use a small part of the branch line, we could save a lot of trouble and marshall long trains very quickly indeed. What do you think?"
Diamond put a hand to her chin. "If we only go as far as the crossing, we will technically still be not on the branch line, as the ownership rights of that bit of track are disputed, and thus terra nullius."
"Terra what?"
"It means no man's land. If we do that, we save a lot of time and money! And father always likes it when we save money."
So that is what they did. They would move the trucks to the first level crossing, and then shunt back into the sidings. As the days went by, the weather changed, and the snow began to melt. With the snow melted and proceedings back to normal, the quarry grew busy again. Some of Mavis' trains were so long that she had to go beyond the level crossing in order for all of the trucks to even fit in the yard! Now for her plan, which she had been planning for some time.
"Hello!" she said to the trucks. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Sure thing!" said the trucks.
"Can you bump me at the level crossing, so that I go a short way onto the branch line?"
"Sounds good to me!" said one of the trucks. "It's not often we get asked to bump an engine. We'll tell nobody."
Mavis went off to shunt some more trucks,but in the meantime Toby came by and chose to shunt the trucks himself. Flash coupled him up, and off they went down the line. The trucks, being in a mischevious mood, chose to bump Toby anyway.
Toby reached the crossing just as his face became lopsided, and this was their chance. Before Flash could apply the brakes, the trucks all slammed into one another. "ON! ON! ON!"
Toby was sliding helplessly down the line with the trucks screaming and jeering behind him. Flash slammed the brakes on, but it did little good, and Toby's wheels locked in place as he skidded down the line. Before them, a stream had been turned by snowmelt into a raging torrent, which had damaged a bridge quite badly. The rails hung over the thundering water like a tightrope, and Toby skidded towards it helplessly.
"STOP! STOP!" Toby cried, as Flash moved the brakes to the emergency setting to try and get the heavy load to slow down. They got closer and closer to the broken bridge, but they stopped at last... right over the rails suspended of the yawning abyss below them.
"Don't look down, Toby," Flash said. "I'm going to try and back us up to level ground."
Suddenly, a diesel horn echoed from the distance, and there approaching in the distance was Mavis, her engine roaring as she came to a stop. Toby was secured with chains whilst Mavis pulled the trucks away, and then Mavis was moved forward to free Toby. With a hard tug, she pulled him to safety.
"Sorry about those trucks," the diesel said apologetically. "I don't know how you managed to stop them."
"Flash told me all about circus performers who walked on tightropes," Toby replied, "but I hardly fancy it myself."
Later that day, Filthy Rich came by to commend Diamond and Mavis for their bravery. "A fine piece of work!" he proclaimed. "Mavis, the restriction on you accessing the branch line is lifted, and Diamond, I hereby raise your salary."
Toby, Mavis, Flash and Diamond are all now good friends, and work together to help one another on hard days. Mavis has even done a few passenger turns, and everybody thinks she is very useful indeed.