Narrow Gauge Engines

by The Blue EM2

Silver Spoon, Sweetie Belle, and the Eventful Day

Silver Spoon was determined to create a better impression than Diamond had. One morning, she puffed out of the yard and went to pick up the coaches. She made sure to back down onto them slowly, rather than bang them as Diamond had.

“Isn’t she a nice engine!” said the coaches. “Always so careful!”

That made Silver feel happier. She pulled the coaches to the station and saw Sweetie Belle waiting for her. There was another engine waiting on the standard-gauge line, an Improved Director painted yellow with pink lining. She was called Fluttershy.

“Good morning!” she called.

“Hello!” Sweetie Belle replied.

“These are your passengers for the day,” the big engine said. “Do be sure to be back in time at 6’o clock, or I may have to leave without you.”

Sweetie Belle ran forward, backed over the junction and backed onto Silver Spoon.

“What are you doing?” Silver asked.

“This is the market train,” Sweetie Belle explained. “It’s too heavy for one engine, so we put two on as a precaution.”

“How do I know where to stop? I can’t see.”

“Well, I’ll look out for you.”

Just then, the guard’s whistle went.

Both engines whistled, and started out of the station toward the end of the line. They made sure to start off very smoothly, and came to a gentle stop at each of the stations.

One of the stations is next to a lake. Passengers like to get off here and enjoy the cool water and gentle breeze that lines the air. There is also a refreshment lady, who works out of the station building selling ice creams and cold drinks.

The train paused here for a while, to allow the passengers to enjoy the sights. Then word came down the line of a problem. “Apple Bloom has derailed just outside the Top Station. I’m afraid it’ll take a while to clear the problem, so please wait here patiently.”

They waited. And waited. And waited. The seconds seemed to turn into minutes, the minutes into hours. They must have been held for 2 hours before Apple Bloom pulled into the loop with her slate train.

“I’m real sorry for holdin’ ya’ll up,” she said, sadly.

“It’s no worry, accidents happen,” Sweetie Belle said. Just then the guard’s whistle went, and away they went.

At the top station, Sweetie Belle went onwards to the quarry to help with the slate, whilst Silver Spoon ran around her train. There was no turntable here, so she would be running tender first the whole way. Not too difficult, but something she wasn’t used to doing over long distances. The passengers finished boarding, and the guard blew his whistle. Silver remembered to be careful, and reversed out as slowly as she could. The gradient was managed with little difficulty, and Silver reached the bottom safely.

She rolled slowly along the track, calling at every station along the way. More and more people got on at each station, the train slowly getting heavier and heavier.

It is a standard precaution on the railway that the Refreshment Lady returns on the last train of the day. The delays had escalated so much that this was the service Silver was running. The Refreshment Lady was packing up her stall, with no particular hurry as the next train wasn’t due for a few minutes.

Silver, meanwhile, saw a lineside clock and panicked. It was 5:30, leaving her only 30 minutes to get back to Ponyville. Checking behind her, she saw that the lakeside station was empty. “I can skip that stop,” she thought. She opened up her regulator, and barrelled through without so much as a second thought.

The Refreshment Lady ran outside to try and stop Silver Spoon, but by the time she got outside, the train was vanishing into the distance. “Bother!” she cried, and ran after the train.

The trees shook as Silver blasted along the line, great jets of steam pouring from her funnel as she rocketed along the track. Her cylinders were rocking back and forth, double time, and the carriages rocked as they sped along.

The children were enjoying the ride, but some of the adults most certainly weren’t.

Fluttershy was waiting at the junction. She glanced at the clock nervously. “Oh dear,” she said. “I hope they're not held up.”

Just then, a loud whistle blasted out of the treeline, and into the platform rolled Silver Spoon and her train, at 5:59. The narrow-gauge engine rolled to a stop, puffing and panting, whilst the passengers got off and headed for the mainline train.

Silver was uncoupled and ran under the water column to have a much-deserved drink. One of the boys walked over. “You were doing 30 there briefly!” he exclaimed. “Good job!”

“Thank...you...” Silver panted.

When suddenly, who should appear, but the Refreshment Lady. “Whatever were you thinking, you silly engine?” she exclaimed. “You left me behind.”

“If we’d stopped, we’d have missed the connection and Fluttershy would have gone without us.”

The Refreshment Lady looked at her, and burst out laughing. “She was joking! That’s a guaranteed connection! She wouldn’t go!”

Silver looked over. “Well, then I’ll have a word.”

But she didn’t. For Fluttershy was already vanishing into the distance with her train.