//------------------------------//
// Free the Roads 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: More Tales from Sodor 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

It was another day on Sodor, free of physics defying tank engines and trucks bouncing up and down like they had broken springs. Bulgy the Bus was rattling across the island, delivering passengers from stop to stop. His next scheduled stop was Haultraugh, which was a station on the Little Western. He came to a stop in the allocated bus parking lot, and decided to cause some trouble.

"Hello?" he asked. "Is your train running late? Then take the bus instead! Clean, reliable, fast, and-"

"Unable to squeeze under bridges," said a passenger. "You can stop with the false advertising Bulgy. We all know the stunt you pulled when you tried to steal Duck's passengers."

Gilda backed Bulgy up into his spot. "We need to show to islanders we can be trusted as a mode of transport. Ever since Farmer Colwick went out of business and moved operations to Barrow, we need to prove we can operate a safe and reliable passenger service, which includes not nicking passengers under false pretences."

"Anybody would think you'd want to drive a train," Bulgy grumbled, as Oliver steamed in with his Auto-Coach. Isabel was, naturally, leading the formation, and rang her bell to let Oliver know he could move off.

"Next stop, Arlesburgh West!" Oliver called. He began to move off out of the station, the crossing gates set to let him over, but then suddenly Bulgy bashed through them and blocked the line.

"Free the roads!" he shouted.

Scootaloo slammed the emergency brakes on and brought the train to a stop, just in time. She rolled Isabel's window down and shook her first angrily. "Hey! What gives?" she shouted. "You're blocking the road. That is a violation of traffic laws, which clearly state that trains have priority over road vehicles."

Gilda moved Bulgy's gear lever and moved him off the crossing. "Sorry, he's being really stupid today."

Bertie arrived on the other side as Oliver puffed away. "Hello Bulgy!" he said. "What's going on?"

"I'm trying to help you get more passengers!" said Bulgy. "The fewer people travel by train, the more people go by bus!"

"Or get in their cars and drive to places on the island, increasing pollution," Spike said. "Bulgy, your actions will be counterproductive if you're not careful."

"Yes, mother," Bulgy said, sarcastically.

As he drove off, he began grumbling again. "Stupid passengers going on those old clunkers," he said. "Why would they want to travel by those things when they can go on me?"

"That's basically the pot calling the kettle black," Gilda pointed out. "They're old. So are you. That's all there is to it."

Unfortunately, danger lay ahead on the road. Not far from Haultraugh is one of several water towers used by steam engines. On one side of the road lay a construction site full of gravel. Bulgy, not looking where he was going, was forced to swerve and crashed into a plank of wood. This threw a bag of gravel high into the air, which split and discharged heavy rocks into the water. Bulgy told nobody, but smirked as he saw Duck pull up next to the water tower. "Hello Duck!" he said, seeing a chance to get his revenge on his old nemesis.

"Oh, hello Bulgy," Duck replied. "I see they got you out delivering passengers yet again. Don't go under any tight bridges, OK?"

"That were a hair raisin' day," Apple Bloom replied, dropping the water pipe into Duck's tanks and turning the handle. Soon, water was flowing into the water tanks of the Pannier Tank. When they were full, the pipe was removed and Duck set off.

"Enjoy your water," Bulgy smirked, as he drove away. "That'll put the Little Western out of action, and it'll be more passengers for me."

Further along, Duck was running to Arlesburgh West when suddenly he got a pain in his boiler. "Could you add some more water to the boiler, Miss Bloom?" he asked. "It feels rather wonky in here."

Apple Bloom opened the injectors, but no water entered the boiler. "This ain't good! Somethin's blockin' the feed pipes!"

She dampened down Duck's fire as they struggled into a siding, where they stopped and she threw his fire out. She then went and telephoned the depot to tell them what had happened.

As the day went on, Oliver and Stepney both suffered similar and inexplicable failures, putting all three Little Western locos out of action. Bulgy, of course, got to take their passengers and was delighted. After all, Duck had humiliated him at the bridge. It felt good to pay him back. But soon, Bulgy would learn that karma would bite him in the tailpipe. More and more people poured onto him and Bertie, who had to handle all transportation as no other engines could be spared- not even Donald or Douglas, both of whom were busy with goods trains.

Gilda sighed. "It's extremely busy on the roads today," she said. "Look at all these cars! With the trains out of service, it's producing massive traffic jams!"

Up ahead, they came across Bertie, broken down at the side of the road with smoke pouring from his engine. "It's these loads," the smaller bus said. "It's all too much for my engine, and Spike here is trying to get me running again."

"It's rather hard to figure out what's wrong when there's so much smoke!" the boy replied. "And these passengers are stuck!"

"I'll take them," said Bulgy.

"But you already have a full load!" Bertie protested. "There's a limit as to how many passengers you can carry, seated or standing!"

Sure enough, Bulgy broke down further down the road and had to unload his passengers just shy of the bus stop. Gilda got out and looked at his engine. "Well, we'll need to get a lorry to get you to the depot," she said.

"This wasn't what I'd intended to happen!" he said. "If only I'd said something about that gravel bag!"

Gilda took note of this. "What gravel bag?"

"The one that burst in the water tower!"

Gilda's face went redder than it was with the summer heat. "Let me get this straight. You saw something that put the rail system out of action, but said nothing despite knowing full well that we wouldn't be able to pick up the slack?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it that way, but-"

"You're an idiot."

Gilda telephoned the depot to let them know what had happened, and soon enough the mess was cleaned from the engine's boilers. They got to work pretty promptly clearing out all the backlog of work that had built up during the day, and although the trains were running late, the passengers didn't mind. They were happy to be off a bus!

Bulgy was moved to the bus garage by rail. And who should be towing him but-

"Well, well, well!" Duck laughed. "Talk about irony. You tried to put us out of service, but only succeeded in messing your own engine up. If you seek revenge, first check your loading capacity!"

"That were hardly funny!" Apple Bloom said. "Imagine if a serious accident had happened as a result of blocked tubes, like a boiler explosion!"

Bulgy looked at the floor. "Sorry, Duck," he mumbled.

"All is forgiven," Duck replied. "And once you're back on your wheels, how about we start over, on a clean slate?"

Bulgy and Gilda were more than happy to agree to that!