The Falmouth branch is criss crossed with numerous foot crossings. These are railway crossings at ground level which are not protected by crossing gates or flashing lights, and therefore provide no warning as to whether a train is coming. As a result, people crossing at them are required to stop and wait for a train to pass before proceeding onto the crossing.
One afternoon, three girls were standing next to the crossing. The first of them was a girl with turquoise blue skin and purple and blue hair, and was currently dressed in blue shoes, grey pants, and a grey shirt coupled with a mustard yellow jacket. Her name is Georgia, although most refer to her as Glory. The second girl had purplish blue skin and turquoise hair, and unlike her fellow had turned out in blue flats, a light green dress, and a blue coat. Her nme is Samantha, although she is usually called Seashell owing to her love of exploring the beach and her fascination with marine life. The last of the group was a girl with orange skin and blonde hair, currently clad in jeans, a light blue long sleeved shirt, and a dark green jacket. Her name is Paige Florence, although like the other two she is generally referred to by her nickname of Peach Fizz.
They had been waiting for a few minutes, and Rebecca had passed by with a goods train several minutes ago. As they began to cross, Glory looked to the others. "What if we walked down the tracks back to Falmouth?"
Peach Fizz blinked in surprise. "Isn't that illegal?"
"What's illegal mean?" Seashell asked.
"It means you can't do it."
"So it's like taking things that don't belong to you?"
"Yes," Peach Fizz said. "We should stay off the line."
"The law says not to walk on the track itself!" Glory replied. "If we walk at the side on the ballast we should be fine. That's where the workmen walk!"
"Isn't that still private property?"
"There's nobody around to catch us!" Glory said.
The other two girls were uneasy about this, but decided not to raise any further objections, and followed Glory onto the side of the line.
It was fun at first, and the place was very quiet. No trace of a train at all. But then-
"Glory? Peach Fizz? My shoe is stuck!"
The other two girls turned around to see Seashell fighting to free her shoe, which had somehow got caught in a rail chair.
"How did you manage that?" Glory asked, as they went over. "All we need to do is undo the laces and pull you out. Then we can recover the shoe."
Suddenly, a loud singing noise started up from the rail. "Can you hear that?" Peach Fizz asked. "It sounds like something metal ringing."
It was soon joined by the sound of a diesel engine. Glory looked over her shoulder in horror. "There's a train coming!" she yelled. "We need to pull Seashell out now!"
The two girls quickly worked to undo the shoe, and then began pulling with all their might.
And then it was on top of them.
Charles had barely any time to process what had just happened. It had just been a normal run up the line to Truro, but suddenly he'd seen three children at the lineside. "BRAKES!" he shouted.
Zipp slammed on the brakes and blasted the horn as loudly as she could. "Keep off the tracks!" she yelled. As they approached, two of the children vanished out of view, and one of them had moved. But where she couldn't tell.
The train was stopped a few miles down the line. Charles had been doing line speed at the time of the incident, and Zipp had had barely any time to process what was happening.
She got out and walked back down the line to see what had happened. There was no evidence of the children, but sitting in the rail were the mangled remains of a child's shoe.
Zipp photographed the evidence, as she was required to under law, and then walked back to the train. Charles looked over. "W- we didn't hit them, did we?" he asked, his usual bellicose bravado completely gone.
"I don't know," Zipp answered, before accessing a lineside telephone box. "Control, this is Zipp."
"Zipp, state your message, over?"
"Possible collision with foreign object just east of Godfrey's Crossing. Suggest investigation. Also need new locomotive and driver; I am in no condition to continue working, over?"
"Understood. State cause for issue, over?"
Zipp briefly lost her composure. "I- I think we ran a kid over."
There was a silence. "Understood. Dispatching relief engine now."
Charles was placed on a siding at Penrhyn, and Sophie took his train onwards. The police arrived at the incident site within minutes, and after examining the remains of the shoe decided to launch a full investigation to find the owner.
News of the incident soon reached Falmouth, and nobody was in a cheerful mood after that. "To think of the silliness some kids get up to!" Porter said. "Walking down an active railway line- what were they thinking?"
"Not to mention we're not toys, contrary to what a lot of TV shows depict," Salty added. "We can cause serious injury."
Sunny looked out of the cab. "They used to teach railway safety in schools. I certainly learned a lot that day. Maybe we should bring it back?"
Rebecca glanced over. "And these people never think about how it affects the crews and the engines! How selfish must you be to do that?"
It was soon clear that Charles and Zipp were badly shaken by the incident, and both were not their usual selves. Charles had been brought back to the shed and left there. He'd barely said anything for days.
The same was true for Zipp. She was a shell of her former self, usually only replying as required or outright avoiding other people.
"Zipp?" Pipp asked as she walked past. Her sister didn't respond.
Lady Haven did, however. "It takes a long time to recover from this sort of trauma," she explained. "If you do hit something, then it's a big weight on your conscience. But tresspassers are a disgrace. They make us responsible railway users look bad."
A few days later, Glory, Peach Fizz, and Seashell were at Falmouth station, when to their surprise they saw Charles in the shed, and not on duty like he normally was.
"Why is Charles in the shed?" Seashell asked.
"He's still badly shaken from a near miss a few days ago," the station master replied. "Some silly kids were walking down the line, and he nearly hit them."
The three girls felt awful, and one of them turned to the station master. "Excuse me sir," Glory said quietly, "but we did it. It was my idea to walk down the line. I had no idea a train was coming."
The station master's eyes widened in shock. "You were tresspassing!" he snapped. "Not only is that illegal, it's very dangerous! You three could have been killed! Though that clears up the business with the found shoe, at least."
"We know," Peach Fizz said quietly. "We're sorry."
The station master shook his head. "I'm not the one you should be saying sorry to. There's two others you should be speaking to. I'll take you over to the shed now."
Charles saw the children approaching. "I... didn't run them over?" he said, in a voice which conveyed both surprise and genuine happiness.
Seashell was the first to speak. "Charles, we're sorry," she said, her eyes beginning to well with tears. "We didn't want to hurt you. We never meant for this to happen!"
Charles could see the three were emotionally torn up over what they had done, and felt losing his temper was the wrong cause of action. So instead he took the hardest path of all. "I forgive you," he said quietly. "And you owned up to what you did and apologised. But there is a way you can show you three truly mean what you say. Tell your friends to never play on the railway or walk on the tracks. Understand?"
The three girls nodded. They knew Charles was right.
The foot crossing where Charles had his near miss is no longer there. Network Rail replaced it with a footbridge to eliminate the chance of such an incident happening again. And if you were to walk into Falmouth one day, you'd have seen the three children teaching their fellows about how to behave on the railway.
"People walk down the railway for many reasons," Glory began. "They want to take a shortcut, or think it's a fun thing to do, or don't consider the consequences."
"We want you to learn from our mistake," Peach Fizz continued. "Please, never tresspass on the railway. Trains are faster and quieter than you think and take several times their own length to stop from top speed."
"Trespassing on the railway hurts the physical and mental health of the staff who have to deal with it," Seashell finished. "Please, think twice before you do anything near a railway. After all, it's better to be late in this life... than early in the next."