Thomas and Friends: The Retold Adventures

by The Blue EM2

Bad Look-out

The next morning, Skarloey, Rheneas, Ocellus, and Yona were busy talking with Culdee and Twilight, when Duncan stormed in. He was in a frightful mood, and his temper was boiling. Sir Handel rolled in not much after

"Here we go," Rheneas smiled.

"Why does the Thin Cont-"

"Mr Percival to you!" Skarloey corrected.

Gallus sighed. "Spending time with Duck has clearly rubbed off on you."

"Why does Mr Percival always take the side of the coaches?" Duncan fumed. "Those silly coaches pushed me, again. Mr Percival claims they didn't, and instead chose to blame the whole thing on me. Claims I kept a 'bad lookout', whatever that means. He always picks on us. It's not fair!"

"Agreed," Smoulder sighed. "'We've no money to mend you, so if it happens again you'll sit at the back of the shed'. Rubbish! This railway makes plenty of money every year from tourists!"

Skarloey sighed, and looked as Rheneas. Rheneas simply rolled his eyes in response. "As you were saying, Culdee," the saddle tank said, "you had two coaches on your trial run up the mountain. Do you ever run with two nowadays?"

"No," Culdee replied. "It's unsafe. The line is so steep that each engine is only allowed one, and we each have our own personal coach. Mine is called Catherine, or Katherine depending on which edition you are reading. I know her well, and she knows me quite well as well. This is vital for mountain working."

"Why?" Sir Handel asked. "She's only a coach!"

"Not any old coach," Culdee replied. "You engines usually pull your coaches, and can see ahead of yourselves for at least half of the journey. Your line has a loop, hasn't it? Anyway, we push our coaches up the mountain, and it's difficult to see where you are going if you have a coach in front of you. So, our coaches watch the line ahead of us, and warn us of any dangers. The guard is watching too, of course, sitting the in front of the coach, but it never hurts to have another pair of eyes. Besides, Catherine is so clever I instantly know if something is wrong just from how she reacts."

"That must take a load off of your mind," Twilight said, with a smile.

"But not off my buffers!" Culdee retorted.

"You don't have buffers," Smoulder said.

"The ascent is the hardest part of the line. It's only 4 or so miles, but the line is so steep I'm having to work hard the entire time. My old fireman had a hard time, and I hope Twilight is up to the job. On the way back, however, we simply roll with the cog wheels to control our speed. And don't forget the automatic brakes either. Very useful things."

"With the roll down the hill," Sir Handel sighed, "and the automatic brakes, it sounds like a marvellous rest cure."

"Downhill is actually quite hard on a driver," Ocellus observed. "You need to keep a constant eye on speed and apply the brakes accordingly."

"Quite right," Culdee replied. "That is exactly the mistake that Godred made."

"Who?" asked everybody in unison.

"Godred," Culdee said sadly, "was one of my brothers. As I mentioned yesterday, there were five of us built together in 1896. Godred was the first to roll off the production line, and he was pretty stuck up. He was named after the first King of Sodor, but seemed to perform well for many years. Then he got a new driver, a girl called Sandra Ford, or Sunny Flare as most of us called her. I still remember the day I last spoke to them..."

---

"You need to be more careful, Godred," said Culdee one morning, looking over at a nearly identical tank engine to him. "When you roll down that hill, you look anywhere but the track. You'll have an accident if you keep that up!"

"Pooh! Nonsense!" Godred snorted. "I've got my automatic brakes, haven't I? Not only that, Sunny Flare's got her air brake which she can put on, so what more can you want?"

"More caution," Culdee replied. "It never hurts."

"Thanks for the tip, dearie," Sunny Flare snorted. She was dressed in the railway's uniform of black shoes, purple socks, a tartan skirt and a turquoise shirt with a purple jacket. She had, however, customised it with a bow tie. She had turqoise skin, and pink and purple hair, combined with a pair of purple eyes. "But I don't need an engine to tell me how to do my job, thank you very much."

"No engine can stop at once, if he isn't ready to obey the driver's controls," Culdee went on. "And that's the first thing you should have learned here."

"We'd love to chat," Godred replied, "but we've got passengers to take. See you later." With a whistle, he pulled away to the station.

Later that day, Culdee paused at the midway station of Devil's Back to await the train coming down the mountain, being worked by Godred. In the distance he heard a loud puffing, and there was Godred, as usual paying no attention to what was going on. Then he spotted something in the rails. "Look out!" Culdee cried. "There's a rock in the rack rail!"

Sunny Flare heard him, and slammed on Godred's brake, but it was too late. She jumped from the speeding train and landed nearby, and Godred was forced off the rails, disengaging the gripper rail and causing him to tip over. He fell over the side and fell straight downwards. A few minutes after that, there was a deafening explosion, followed by a massive cloud of steam rising from a crater on the side of the mountain.

Thankfully, the coach hadn't derailed. It was still on the track, and the guard had stopped the train. But of Godred, there was... nothing.

---

"Godred never did learn sense," Culdee finished sadly. "And he paid for it with his life. Once we had finished fishing the remains up from the pit, we dumped them in the back of the shed. And the wreckage got smaller and smaller, until there was nothing left at all."

"What happened?" Duncan asked.

Culdee looked down sadly. "The management used Godred's parts to mend us, as that winter they couldn't send us to Switzerland for repairs."

Sir Handel and Duncan said nothing for the rest of the day. Nobody thought to mention that Culdee had made the whole thing up.

Author's Note:

This story is a bit of an odd one. The story implies that it never happened, but Awdry stated that the accident did really occur in Island of Sodor: it's People, History, and Railways. Maybe an accident did occur, and Culdee just exxagerated it? Who knows.

The incident itself was based on this picture;

Comments

[Wessexbrony]

I'm assuming that Sunny Flare got the sack.

[Banshee531]

Yesh. This might just be the darkest story ever told in the Thomas universe.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

Regardless if Culdee was exaggerating or not, everytime I read this chapter, I can only imagine the real life engine tumbling into the ravine from the mountain. And how horrible it was to witness it.

And now, my hunch of who the drivers of the Culdee Fell engines are, has been confirmed. But I must ask, are they wearing their school uniforms or casual clothes?

[The Blue EM2]

10130803
I think we both know the answer to that one.

[The Blue EM2]

10130805
And the only confirmed death in the Railway Series to boot.

[The Blue EM2]

10131006
Tomorrow shall bring some more clues in that regard.

[MLPThomasfan]

Sunny Flare as Godred's driver? Interesting.

[The Blue EM2]

10131233
Indeed. I thought the personalities matched up.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10131218
That's good to know.

[The Blue EM2]

10131279
Indeed it is.

[The Blue EM2]

10131338
Very good.

[Riddleja]

10131259
I see. But how will it be explained on there being TWO Twilight Sparkles? Would this one be a clone, or an impostor?

[The Blue EM2]

10131502
Wait and see.

[The Blue EM2]

10131579
And this next one is dark.

[The Blue EM2]

10131612

10131616
Catherine is not seen in the TV show. You may be thinking of Old Slow Coach, who appeared in Season 5.

[The Blue EM2]

10131934
No worries.

[JimmyHook19]

10130805
Agreed.

[The Blue EM2]

10132206
Remember Godred. He never learned sense, and he paid for it with his life.

[The Blue EM2]

10132214
New chapter's here!

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

The next morning, Skarloey, Rheneas, Ocellus, and Yona were busy talking with Culdee and Twilight, when Duncan stormed in. He was in a frightful mood, and his temper was boiling. Sir Handel rolled in not much after

There's a . missing

"Not any old coach," Culdee replied. "You engines usually pull your coaches, and can see ahead of yourselves for at least half of the journey. Your line has a loop, hasn't it? Anyway, we push our coaches up the mountain, and it's difficult to see where you are going if you have a coach in front of you. So, our coaches watch the line ahead of us, and warn us of any dangers. The guard is watching too, of course, sitting the in front of the coach, but it never hurts to have another pair of eyes. Besides, Catherine is so clever I instantly know if something is wrong just from how she reacts."

I don't think that the should be there before in front.

"Godred," Culdee said sadly, "was one of my brothers. As I mentioned yesterday, there were five of us built together in 1896. Godred was the first to roll off the production line, and he was pretty stuck up. He was named after the first King of Sodor, but seemed to perform well for many years. Then he got a new driver, a girl called Sandra Ford, or Sunny Flare as most of us called her. I still remember the day I last spoke to them..."

So, if his driver was sunny flare, then who was culdee's old driver?

"Thanks for the tip, dearie," Sunny Flare snorted. She was dressed in the railway's uniform of black shoes, purple socks, a tartan skirt and a turquoise shirt with a purple jacket. She had, however, customised it with a bow tie. She had turqoise skin, and pink and purple hair, combined with a pair of purple eyes. "But I don't need an engine to tell me how to do my job, thank you very much."

What an odd uniform for a railway.

Thankfully, the coach hadn't derailed. It was still on the track, and the guard had stopped the train. But of Godred, there was... nothing.

Rest In Peace Godred.