//------------------------------//
// Night Terrors 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: Halloween Havoc 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

Night had fallen over the Isle of Purbeck, and Zipp and her friends had gathered around a campfire not far from Swanage Station. They sat around it with metal prongs, on which they cooked marshmallows and exchanged stories, usually of the spooky variety.

Some of them rather stretched the definition of scary, though. "Wearing differently coloured socks isn't scary, Pipp," Izzy said. "In fact, in some contexts it's good luck."

"How?" Pipp asked. "Mismatched clothing is so noticable on streams." She quickly checked her own colour pallette matched. "Phew. Then again white goes with most things."

"You're also sitting on a plank of wood," Hitch pointed out.

Izzy then continued. "Wearing differently coloured socks at night means that you ward off the knight with the chicken in his hand."

"Is that specifically a northern thing?" Zipp asked. "We each have our own regional spooky stories. I liked that one about a pirate, though, Sunny. I hope I don't run into Fata Morgana."

"Me neither," Sunny replied. "You're the only one of us not to tell a story, Zipp."

"That's because I was saving the best for last," Zipp replied. "You may want to huddle closer to somebody else. That's how scary it is."

The others slid closer to one another, as instructed.

Zipp leaned closer to the campfire, her face illuminated by the crackling of the fire. "A long time ago, on a night just like tonight, a freight train left these parts, carrying a heavy train of china clay from the clay pits to the mainline for transportation to places far, far away. The train was piloted by one engine, and the driver knew the line well as it was his regular run."

She paused and looked about. "But the train never made it to Wareham, where it was due to arrive later that night. A set of points had malfunctioned, and past Corfe Castle it derailed. The wagons blocked the line and damaged the track, and the engine was destroyed in the crash."

"It was assumed that this was the end of the story as the wrecked stock was hauled away for scrapping. But soon people began observing strange things around midnight. They heard strange muttering and odd whispers. They witnessed strange lights in the skies. And most notable of all... they heard the whistling of an engine. The station master at Corfe Castle reported seeing a ghostly freight train tearing through the station at night, before suddenly vanishing at the point where the train had derailed."

Zipp leaned in even closer, her eyes focused and her face deadly serious. "Be careful as you head home tonight. The conditions are perfect, and the ghost train could be anywhere."

Suddenly, there was a loud whistle from the station. The six screamed and turned in fright, believing the Ghost Train was here.

"Sorry!" shouted a worker. "I was just checking the valve on this replacement whistle is working correctly."

"Well," Misty said. "If that's all I suggest we get off to bed. We've got a full day to enjoy tomorrow."

As they all headed off towards Purbeck House, the residence of the Haven family, Izzy suddenly noticed Sunny looking forward with a blank expression and seemingly vacant eyes. "Sunny?"

"AHHH!" Sunny jumped and wheeled her head around. "Huh? Oh, it's just you Izzy."

Izzy's face looked worried. "You're acting weird, Sunny. Are you sure you're OK?"

Sunny's face shifted into a weak smile. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little surprised by how dark it is, that's all."

Izzy nodded. "Well, if you're sure. The room I'm in has two beds, so if you want some company just feel free to go to my room, OK?"

Sunny nodded. "Thanks, Izzy."





Sunny looked about herself in confusion. She was standing on a gravel pathway running through some trees in the dead of night. The tree lined pathway ran next to a lake, and the moon was out in the sky. Its sickly white light illuminated the scene below (albeit not very well), and Sunny called out in surprise. "Hello? Is anybody there?"

No reply.

Sunny set off down the pathway, surprised. She had no idea where she was. The scenery looked nothing like either Dorset or Cornwall, or even any part of Britain she'd been to. And if this was Britain, why was it so hot and sticky?

The gravel path she was on was also very flat. Unnaturally so. This wasn't a nature trail, or at least it hadn't been originally.

Suddenly, she heard a whistle behind her. Maybe they were near a rail line?

Wait a second. That whistle sounded oddly familiar. In fact-

There it was again. Her blood ran cold when she heard it. It was the same whistle that they'd heard at the station.

No sooner had she heard it then puffing started up behind her, getting louder, and louder, AND LOUDER.

She sprinted for the side of the path, but her foot got caught in something and she fell over the line. She tried to pull herself free, but for some reason she couldn't free herself. She looked up, and saw a massive engine bearing down on her. It snorted smoke and steam like some angry demon, and the front headlamp was so bright it blotted everything else out. And it was almost on top of her.

Sunny screamed at what she thought would be a fatal collision, and then-





-she woke up, looking about the room in utter confusion. She glanced about, her head twitching about like a rabbit in headlights. "Huh? What was that all about?"

She took a look at the bedside clock and saw it was two in the morning. "I'm here. Just a bad dream."

Suddenly a whistle echoed over the terrain. Sunny blinked in fear. Was this the ghost Zipp had mentioned.

She got out of bed and exited the room, turning down the corridor and heading for Izzy's room. She went and knocked on her door. A few moments later, Izzy appeared and opened it.

"Hey Sunny!" she said. "I take it you can't sleep."

"How can you tell?" Sunny asked.

"You're up at two in the morning," Izzy pointed out. "Come on in. I've already got the second bed made up for you."





The next morning Swanage Yard hummed to the familiar noise of activity. Bellerophon was out of traffic to have his tyres turned, so Misty was helping Sunny with assembling coaching stock onboard Salty.

"This lot needs to go to Platform 2," Misty noted, checking her track diagram.

"Platform 2, OK," Sunny replied, and checked behind her to see if the line was clear. Unfortunately, it was not, and Rebecca steamed in with the first train of the day from Wareham.

"What took you so long?" Charles grumbled. "Did a cow stray on the line?"

"Yes, actually," Rebecca replied. "We had to shoe it away with an apple."

"Where's Porter?" Sophie asked, as her engine rumbled into life. She was replacing Rebecca on the outbound train to Wareham.

"He's up at Corfe Castle doing a shunting demonstration," Hitch explained.

The shunt signal behind Salty suddenly switched to green, and he began his reverse. "There once was a ship that put to sea-"

"I thought we'd already sung that one," Sunny said, as she continued to check behind her.

"I don't remember us singing Wellerman," Misty admitted.

"It was before you joined us," Salty explained, as he came to a stop. "We should have the platform shortly."

The points soon changed, and the shunt light then switched to green. The small diesel shunter propelled the load forward into the platform and stopped with the coaches correctly aligned with the markings on the platform.

Salty glanced over as Sunny secured him in place and began to walk down the platform. "What's wrong, matey? You aren't usually this quiet."

Sunny stopped and turned round. "I didn't sleep very well last night," she admitted. "Just a nightmare, nothing to worry about. But they're still not fun when you have them."

Salty looked sympathetic. "Living by the sea has brought me all sorts of strange nautical themed dreams. There was this one where a rail line to Davy Jones' Locker opened up, and another where the fisherman dropped off the largest fish I've ever seen!"

Misty had hopped out of the cab as well. "If it helps," she said, "I find cuddling something can help." She handed Sunny a small doll. "This is Madame Taffytail. I made her not long after I moved in with the Havens, and she's gotten me through some hard spots." She smiled. "Feel free to cuddle her if you want."

Sunny decided to give it a try, and soon found herself a bit more relaxed.

Salty smiled. "Oh, have you heard the news, me Johnny?"

"Who's Johnny?" Sunny asked.

"It's the start of a sea shanty," Salty smiled.

"Not one I know, then," Sunny admitted. "I'll just get this paperwork stashed, and then move you to the siding."

"Hurry up!" Charles bellowed. "We can't sit about here all day!"





Sunny was back on the pathway again, and walking along it once more. The same sickly moon illuminated the same dark landscape, the same trees, the same lake. And yet something somehow felt different. Somehow more... perilous.

Sunny soon heard the whistle, and took cover in the treeline and stopped to watch from a safe distance. As before, the noise gradually got louder and louder, and eventually the train hoved into view and stopped in front of her.

The engine was enormous, and painted a grey colour. The number was badly faded, and the engine looked to be in poor mechanical condition. A figure soon hopped out to walk around the engine. He looked less like a person and more like a skeleton somehow still walking. He stopped before a ghostly lever and pulled it, before a brilliant light shone from the cab.

A piercing scream rang out for a moment, before the light vanished once more. Another skeleton leaned out. "We're low on fuel," he said. "We need more boides."

"Don't you mean bodies?" the other skeleton at the lever said, before turning back. "Besides, Neptune smiles on us today." He strode away from the engine, and round the corner... right to Sunny, before grabbing her. "Perfect," he said. "You'll do nicely."

Sunny screamed and tried to fight back, but the skeleton's vice like grip was too strong. It grabbed her to the cab, and hauled her up the cab steps. The other skeleton opened the firebox once again, and that horrible screaming started once again.

"In you go!" The skeleton flung her forwards, and-





-Sunny once again woke up. She glanced about in fright. That one had somehow been even more vivid and nightmarish than the last one. She glanced at the clock. Two in the morning again. And as yesterday, that whistle sounded over the landscape.

Sunny looked at her hands, and buried her face in them. "Is the ghost real?" she whimpered to herself. "And what does it want with me?"





"Well, me father often told me when I was just a lad/
A sailor's life is very hard, the food is always bad!
But now I've joined the navy, I'm aboard a man o' war/
And now I've found a sailor, ain't a sailor any more!

"Don't haul on the rope, don't climb up the mast!
And if you see a sailing ship, it might be your last!
Just get your civvies ready for another run ashore!
A sailor ain't a sailor, ain't a sailor anymore!"

"You're in good voice, Salty," Ray commented. "These morning sing songs have helped to liven things up around here."

"These work songs and sea shanties helped to regulate and time work back in the old days in Southampton," Salty smiled. "They've been in the navy for hundreds of years, and that nice Mr Evans helped to bring them back into mainstream popularity."

Just then, the drivers arrived, and Sunny fired up Salty for some shunting. She seemed oddly lethargic, and Salty was concerned.

As the diesel set off down the line, he soon left the station yard and rattled out onto the main line. "Sunny?" he said. "We're past our allocated stop point!"

There was no reply. "Sunny? Sunny?"

The diesel looked about in a panic. "Danger! Danger! I can't stop!"

And indeed, he could not. Without his driver, he had no hope of stopping. He just rolled helplessly along.

He suddenly heard a horn from behind him. "Shiver me cylinders! It's the morning train!" He shouted as loudly as he could. "Charles! Sound your horn as loud as you can!"

Charles did so, and this seemed to have the desired effect. Salty heard somebody stirring, and then cursing up a storm in panic before slamming on the brakes.

The two engines stopped just inches apart. Charles was annoyed. "What is it with you and getting in the way of my passenger runs?"

"Sunny must've fallen asleep at the controls!" Salty insisted.

Sunny, meanwhile, was pale. In her mind, a plan was forming. Finally, she would get her nights back and banish the demon of her nightmares.





The moon hung in the sky over the Isle of Purbeck, and the clouds drifted over the landscape, producing odd shapes and a sickly glow. The engine shed was quiet, but this peace was suddenly disturbed by a door opening. Salty opened one eye. "Who's there?" he asked, as he saw a figure walking towards him.

Sunny lifted her hood and climbed aboard, before jamming in the starter key and firing Salty up. She then checked the clearances behind her were clear, and began to back Salty out of the shed.

"Sunny?" Salty said. "We haven't got any work scheduled for tonight."

Sunny blinked. "Salty, shut up."

Salty was taken aback by Sunny's bluntness. Something was clearly wrong.

A few minutes after they'd left, Zipp, Hitch, and Izzy arrived. "She wasn't in her bed when I checked!" Izzy said.

Zipp looked around. "Salty's gone, and the shed door is open. I know exactly where she's headed." She headed over to Charles' cab door. "Come with me. We're off to Corfe Castle."

A few minutes of travel later, and they found Salty parked in the bay platform. Zipp parked Charles in the cattle dock and stopped the engine, before she and her friends got out and looked around.

"Sunny?" Hitch called. "Sunny? Where are you?"

"Found her!" Izzy called. The trio approached slowly, noticing Sunny vacantly staring off into space on the edge of the platform, as if waiting for something.

"Sunny?" Zipp ventured. "Is everything OK, Sunny?"

"I have to get him out," said a quiet voice. "He's here, and he won't stop until he's gone!"

Hitch looked baffled. "Sunny, you're not making a whole lot of sense." He approached slowly. "Come on, let's just go home. We can get this all sorted out over a hot drink or something like that." He reached forward to touch her shoulder.

Sunny wheeled around so suddenly it caught all of them off guard. There was a blast of energy, and Hitch was suddenly thrown through the air before landing on the platform with a bang.

"Hitch!" Izzy cried, running over to him, leaving Zipp to confront a wild eyed Sunny. Her wings had flared into being, and her body was covered in a shimmering yellow glow.

"OK, let's not do anything silly," Zipp said.

"Silly?" said Sunny, who looked positively crazed at this point. She had bags under her eyes, and the wild look of somebody who hadn't slept properly in days. "I have to do this, for all of us. It's the only way to stop him, to get him off this island, to get it back."

"Get what back?"

"My sleep." Sunny blinked, surprised it wasn't obvious. "He's been in my nightmares, but now I'm here, and I can get rid of the ghost train once and for all."

Zipp then realised what this was all about. "Sunny, there is no ghost train," she said.

Sunny looked in confusion. "What?"

"There's no ghost train," Zipp firmly repeated. "I made it up as a spooky story to tell around the campfire. No derailment happened here. It's just something for Halloween. Look, I'm sorry if I spooked you with it, but you can rest assured no ghost is coming to get you."

Just then, a ghostly whistle echoed across the terrain. Sunny shrieked in fright. "Th- then explain that!"

Moments later, a puffing started up in the distance. Zipp looked out into the distance. What if she'd been wrong? What if there really was a ghost train haunting the Isle of Purbeck?

Moments later, the puffing began to slow down, and a familiar shape loomed into view, pulling a long line of trucks. "Hello!" said Vulcan. "I wasn't expecting to see you kids up at this time of day."

Hitch stumbled over. "No ghost, as I thought," he said.

Sunny glanced over. "Hitch? Are you OK? I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking and-"

"I was just dazed, that's all," Hitch replied, before looking over. "Goods train, huh?"

"That's right," Vulcan replied. "We move the china clay down to Swanage at night to avoid interfering with the passenger trains. We then move it to the mainline later to avoid the same mistake."

"So no ghosts?" Sunny said.

"No ghosts," Zipp firmly replied. "We should be good to head back to Swanage now."

Izzy had rejoined them, and looked at them. "If it helps I'll brew some of my sleep tea," she said. "It's really good stuff. In fact it could put a rampaging bull into the deepest sleep imaginable!"

Sunny was relieved to learn there were no ghosts. That night, she slept the best sleep she had slept in a very long time.

And so, dear reader, always remember- even when it appears the supernatural is afoot, just remember that there is usually a completely rational explanation.