It was Bank Holiday weekend on the Island of Sodor, and the people of the Island and nearby England were taking the opportunity to have a nice short getaway. Practically every form of vehicle that could move had been pressed into service to move the boatloads of passengers who had arrived on the Island, and one morning Duck sat at Tidmouth station, waiting to depart for Arlesburgh West. The signal was red, and Stepney wasn't due in for another few minutes, so he took the opportunity to look about the yard and see what he could see.
Suddenly, on his left, a big double decker bus appeared. He was painted red and cream, and he didn't look friendly like Bertie. Instead, he had a great big scowl on his face, and was covered in posters reading FREE THE ROADS. He glared at the passengers, and his engine growled and roared as he saw them boarding Duck's train.
"Stupid nonsense, eh Gilda?" he said. "I wouldn't have brought them if I'd known they were going to have a right on a steam train. I'd have broken down on the way, or something."
"And I could be in bed," said his driver, a woman with brownish skin and white hair, combined with piercing green eyes, a blue shirt, a black leather jacket, blue jeans and a pair of yellow boots. "It would have been a nice way to spend a Monday instead of sitting in this heat!"
"It's hotter in here!" Apple Bloom shouted over to her. "Y'all just try bein' on the footplate of a steam engine fer a change!"
"It's a good thing you didn't break down, Mr..."
"Bulgy. The woman's called Georgia, or Gilda if you want to use her nickname."
"It's a good thing you didn't break down, Mr Bulgy," Duck went on. "You'd have ruined their fun otherwise!"
"Oh really?" Bulgy snorted. "One of these days, your silly railway will be ripped up and it will become a guided bus-way!"
Duck was horrified. "We have a friend called Bertie. He's a bus, but he likes the railway. He'd never want it ripped up! It'd mean his friends were gone, and we couldn't have that, could we?"
"Ah Bertie, the old slowpoke. He once ran himself silly chasing Edward along his branch line, and he's too slow and unpredictable to be of any use, unlike us diesel buses."
"Come on, time to go," Gilda said, as she put Bulgy into reverse. The bus drove off and Stepney rolled into the platform.
Duck was still fuming. "Beware that Bulgy!" he called to Stepney. "He's silly and the rudest vehicle I've ever met!"
"Even more rude than D199?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Even more rude!" Apple Bloom replied.
Duck warned Oliver about Bulgy, but Oliver took little notice of that. But later on, Oliver pulled into Arlesburgh West, and he looked furious.
"Look out!" Oliver called to Duck. "There's another bus just like Bulgy who's taking his passengers, so he can take ours!"
"We're not kidding," Scootaloo added. "He looks exactly the same, and the only way you can tell them apart is by the driver."
"But he can't take our passengers!" Duck said, horrified. "Besides, how long does it take by road? An hour at least. Does it, Apple Bloom?"
"Yep," his driver replied, sighing and huffing a bit. "We used ta have ta take the apples ta market by that road. Thankfully we don't anymore, thanks to this here railway."
"Bulgy claims to know a shortcut," Scootaloo said. "I'm calling fiddlesticks on that, there's no way a bus like him could find a way through."
Later that day still, at Arlesburgh West once more, Scootaloo oiled Oliver down for the return rush to Tidmouth as Duck was backed onto his coaches. But the platform, which they were expecting to be busy, was completely empty. "Where are the passengers?" asked Duck.
"Look!" Oliver called. "There he goes!"
Bulgy roared out of the parking lot. On his sides were the markings RAIL REPLACEMENT BUS. "Ya boo, snubs!" he cried as he sped down the road.
"He's nicking our passengers!" Duck shouted. "Honestly, the nerve of that bus!"
"Oh no he ain't," Apple Bloom said. "Let's go! We can beat him to Tidmouth!" With a roar and a puff of smoke, Duck thundered out of the station and into hot pursuit of the bus. The road and railway don't follow each other, so Duck had no idea of Bulgy's progress, but when he was halfway down the line he saw a man holding a red flag up ahead. Apple Bloom applied Duck's brakes, brought him to a stop, and walked over to the workman. "What's goin' on?" she asked.
"Bulgy attempted to go under this bridge. He's too tall for it, so he's stuck there!" the workman replied. "Rather like that Halford's van a few years back!"
"Is the bridge stable?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Only if you go over slowly."
Duck rolled his eyes. "So this was Bulgy's shortcut. No wonder he got stuck."
A passenger ran out, angry. "This stupid bus tricked us!" he shouted. "The driver wouldn't accept our return tickets and tried to make us think he was a railway bus! Can we catch the train instead!"
"Climb up the embankment and get onboard!" Duck replied. They did, and hopped into the coaches. Duck slowly, nervously, carefully rolled over the bridge. Bulgy shouted up.
"Watch it!" he shouted. "It may fall on me and Gilda!"
"Well, you shouldn't have tried to fit under a bridge that was too small for you, eh?" Duck replied. "It would probably have been worth it to 'go the extra mile?' Get it?"
Apple Bloom groaned at the dreadful pun. "Can we just get off this bridge and away from this bus?" she asked, annoyed.
Duck made it on time, and his passengers caught their connections. Bulgy never did go back into service; he was so badly damaged that passengers stopped trusting the bus company he belonged to, which went under. He is now in use as a henhouse, which is good for a serial liar. The hens never listen anyway!
There was a report on South Today some years back about something similar near Portsmouth.
That last paragraph was a bit of a lie, considering his later return. I'm not sure whose more rude. Bulgy or Elizabeth.
Gilda, huh? That's a surprise.
10166379
Well, in the books, Bulgy remains a henhouse.
Well, if Bulgy became a hen house, what happened to Gilda?
10166375
I vaguely remember that.
10166379
The narrator doesn't know that. He can hardly narrate stuff that hasn't happened. He's the narrator, not God.
10166441
Indeed he does.
10166441
10166649
Good question.
Error spotted.
It should be "Bulgy" not "Bertie".
Apart from that, it was good. Although, it would've been good if the outcome of Gilda would've been explained.
10166998
Oops.
10166649
Probably got her P45.
10167063
Ah. Tax forms.
10167066
It's also a slang term for getting the sack.
10167082
I wouldn't be too surprised. You don't want reckless drivers, do you?
(Mr Bruce from Over the Hills comes to mind.)
10166984
Tomorrow, we kick off my favourite RWS book of all time. Duke the Lost Engine!
10167194
That we do. And the end of the Little Engine saga with it.
10167206
Weren't there two other books that came after Duke's book about the Skarloey engines written by Christopher Awdry?
10167210
Yes. But I'm not sure about adapting some of those. Some of Christopher's stuff wasn't as good, in my opinion.
10167237
Oh. I see what you mean. Some stories had some interesting ideas, but didn't follow through all the way. Ivo Hugh and Fred barely get any development for a start.
10167967
Or Jock. Fun fact; he's the rarest ERTL toy.
10167973
I think Jock and Frank had some substantial development. They at least had dialogue and weren't introduced off-page like the aforementioned Ivo Hugh and Fred.
10167982
True.
Wait what?!!! Since when does Gilda have green eyes?!! O_o
10168051
The screenshot I used had them in green.
10168055
Oh. ^^;
Either way, that could of been an error given that we know her actual eye color is yellow and not green. ^^;
10168057
Eh. It's an AU.
10168059
Fair point. ^^'
10168060
So it wworks.
10167062
No problem.
BTW I should say that I was sort of surprised that Gilda would be Bulgy driver in this. I was expecting Diamond Tiara, because of the rivalry she had with Apple Bloom and the rest of the CMC. While Gilda would've been saved for a engine to rival Gordon or something.
Although, since Gilda is already used here, I think I know which engine character will Diamond Tiara be the driver of. One character that comes to mind is Mavis. I just hope my guess is right.
Not surprised one bit Gilda is bulgy's driver. Somewhat.
I'm totally not surprised we never got an episode of bulgy with George as imo they'd so become friends over their hatred over the railway. Same with their drivers too. In this universe that is. 😒
Not the best time for puns duck.
You know, Bulgy getting stuck reminds me of the YT channel 11' 8" (now 11' 8+8") which is a rail overpass which often traps or can opens several trucks a year, and has been known to knock external AC units off of camper vans. There's two cameras across from it which often have their footage uploaded on an almost weekly basis, and even after an 8 inch rise to improve clearance, the collision bar, warning signs, and an overheight detector. Even after all the stuff was installed, trucks would get stuck because local buses fit and still tripped the sensor. I recommend a watch. 11-foot-8, 11-foot-8+8, or "can opener bridge" will get you the results you want. Happy watching.
11576650
It happens a lot in the UK. Lorries from the continent often get stuck under bridges as heights in Britain are usually in Imperial and many Europeans think in metric.