Thomas and Friends: More Tales from Sodor

by The Blue EM2

Pear Stands In

Apple Bloom wasn't feeling at all well. She was pale, and also had a temperature. Safe to say, she wouldn't be going to work today. "Ma, Ah think Ah need ta call in sick," she said. "Ah don't feel too good."

Pear was, of course, concerned about her daughter's health, and her motherly instincts kicked in almost instantly. "Ah'm not surprised. Ya look like a ghost. Go lie down until ya feel better."

"Who will do my work though? There's nobody ta drive Duck, and that'll be unfair on Oliver, Stepney, Scootaloo, an' Sweetie Belle!"

Pear had an idea. "Ah'll do it! Ah used ta drive steam engines, remember?"

Apple Bloom looked surprised, but in her weakened state was in no position to argue. "OK. Do ya need me ta run ya through the controls?"

"Ah'm certain Ah'll be fine," Pear replied. "Now get some rest."

"Watch out fer the brake handle! It's rather-"

But Pear was already out of the door and on her way to Arlesburgh Yard. Grand Pear sighed as he watched. "Where's she goin'?" he asked. "Looks like Granny Smith an' Ah will be helpin' look after Apple Bloom today."

At the shed, Scootaloo had got Oliver ready for service. He didn't have passenger duties earmarked for today, though. That was for Duck. He was to do some shunting in Arlesburgh Yard first, and then take a trip freight to Tidmouth. "Where's Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo asked. "I've warmed Duck up, but I can't see her anywhere."

"Nor can I," Oliver added. "Where could she be?"

"Sick," said a single voice, and Pear strode into view before climbing on Duck's footplate. "Ah'm fillin' in fer her today. Ah've already cleared it with Sir Toppham Hatt, and Ah know how ta handle steam engines, so there we are."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Duck asked. "We'll need an Auto-coach for my morning passenger run."

"Ah just said Ah'm qualified ta operate steam engines, and the Auto-coach is there, in the Platform."

"That's Isabel!" Duck protested. "She's Oliver's coach!"

"Where's yours?" Pear asked.

"Dulcie and Mirabel are in that siding," Duck explained. "Sometimes I operate as an auto-sandwich on busy days, but I don't think we'll need that today."

"If ya say so." Pear released Duck's brakes, and opened the regulator- immediately sending Duck's wheels into a spin.

"NOT THAT MUCH REGULATOR!"

Pear was quick to discover that driving a Pannier Tank was rather different to operating a narrow gauge engine. As they approached the first station, she applied the brakes, and was rather surprised when they sailed clean through and stopped on the other side. "Huh?"

"You didn't apply enough braking force," Duck replied. "I need a good deal of brake to stop, by the way."

"Oops, sorry." Pear wound the reverser back around and backed the train up into the platform. By the time they got to Tidmouth, they were running late. Pear switched the automatic stoker on, as she would be driving from the auto-coach for the return trip, and set the trim valves to automatically fill the boiler when water got below a certain level. However, she had made a few mistakes. Firstly, she had not put the brakes on correctly, and there was little braking force holding Duck still. Second, she had not completely closed his regulator. Narrow Gauge engines only had one regulator setting, but bigger engines have two valve positions, called first and second. If the regulator is not closed correctly from second valve, the regulator can slide open. Enginemen know that slamming the regulator open and then shutting it again cures the problem, but Pear did not know this. Finally, she had left the reverser in full reverse, not neutral. As she stood on the platform, waiting for the connecting train, it happened.

A passing porter slipped on a banana peel, and the box he was carrying flew through the air and bashed into Duck's regulator handle and his brake lever. The brake lever was knocked off, and the regulator slid to full open.

Duck knew something was wrong when his wheels began to move. "Help!" he shouted. "Some help here, please!"

Pear sprinted down the platform as fast as she could, but Duck was a small, but powerful engine. He was accelerating so quickly that she couldn't keep up, and he shot off down the Arlesburgh Branch and out of sight.

"Oh no," she said. "How will we stop him now?"

"Do you need a hand, or should I say a propellor, ma'am?"

Duck continued to speed along the line, seeing the world flying away from him. He had no idea how fast he was going, but he suspected he was braking the speed limit.

"STOP! STOP!" shrieked Dulcie, but Duck had plenty of steam. Not only that, his automatic stoker and water trimming valves would supply as much fuel as needed to prevent his boiler from drying out.

"I have to stop, I have to stop!" Duck panted, but of course he could not. He was still whizzing along, when overhead he saw a marvellous sight. Thundering through the sky was Harold the Helicopter, with Pear in the cargo compartment.

"Get ready!" Soarin' called. "I'm opening the cargo bay doors now!" Both sets of doors slid open, and a crane deployed to one side. Pear, wearing a harness and attached to a cable, held on as the chopper started to descend.

"Keep it steady!" she called.

"Roger that!"

"We're almost down!" Harold called. "Start lowering the winch!"

"Understood, over!"

At long last, Pear was level with Duck's cab, and she scrambled aboard. With an effort, she disengaged the automatic stoker and trim valves, and slammed the brakes on, before slamming his regulator open and shut.

"Thanks for the help!" Duck called to Harold.

"Glad to help, old chap!" Harold replied, and whirred away.

Pear whiped her forehead. "Ah think Ah'd best leave this line ta Apple Bloom in future," she said. "Nearly causin' a crash on yer first run is not a good start."

Duck could only agree.

Author's Note:

Whilst one of the most famous of the Christopher Awdry stories, The Runaway, of which this is a loose adaptation, is far from his best. This comment from YouTube explains the issues with the story well;

This is a classic example of why I'm personally iffy about considering what Christopher Awdry wrote in the Railway Series as canon. Heaven knows Wilbert did it better, and it wasn't just because Wilbert was the original author, but because Wilbert actually knew what he was talking about. He had spoken to railwaymen since he was a child, he had read books and studied them in order to write his stories in order to ensure that every story was authentic, as he continued to write his stories older fans who appreciated his stories would write to him and tell him about other odd stories and incidents which they had either heard about or personally witnessed which in turn inspired other stories, and he even volunteered on the Tallylyn railway and became even more familiar with the daily workings of steam engines, albeit narrow gauge. Christopher, on the other hand, had no such experience or background, and it is very clear when you compare Wilbert's stories with Christopher's just how unfamiliar Christopher was with railways and their operation, which personally ruins them for me. Gordon's Fire Brigade would go splendidly with the modern rubbish stories that Thomas & Friends is pumping out these days it's so unrealistic. I'm surprised they haven't done it yet! Truth be told, lest we all forget, Christopher originally had no interest in writing stories for the Railway Series. He wanted to write his own stories with his own characters and make his own series like Wilbert did, and it was only after much convincing by Wilbert after Christopher's books flopped that Christopher conceded and began writing stories for the Railway Series.Take this story: First: Yes, steam locomotives have handbrakes, but you don't apply the handbrake unless you're spotting the loco someplace out of the way and you're about to go off duty before a new crew comes on or when you're depositing the loco on shed at the end of a run. When stopping at stations you use the actual train brake which operates the brakes on the whole train. Handbrakes only work on the steam loco itself, and if the handbrake is "off" while the train brakes are "on" then the train won't run away. I know you don't see Annie and Clarabel with brake pipes, but they would be there and be connected to Thomas in real life because all coaches must be fitted with either vacuum or air brakes which can be controlled from the locomotive.Second, trains don't inherently run away if they're sitting still and the brakes come off, even if they have a full head of steam. Newton's 1st law states that objects at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Thomas was at rest in the station when his brakes came off. What force was acting upon him to cause him to move? Gravity? It seems to me that the junction is built on fairly even terrain, so no. The wind? No. While wind was the cause of a fatal runaway on Tehachapi Pass many years ago in the old west during the steam era it was a rake of coaches which ran away, not something as big and heavy as a locomotive. Steam? If yes, then how did the steam get from the boiler to the cylinders? Did the driver not close the regulator all the way? I know some lubricators in Britain worked off of steam and did every so often cause steam to leak into the cylinders and cause light engines to move by themselves on shed, but those events weren't that common and Thomas no doubt was not equipped with such a lubricator so that's no good. And even then, if the driver was stepping off the footplate wouldn't he center the reverser before getting off to prevent the engine moving forward in the case of a steam leak? And if he were stepping off the footplate wouldn't he be the one to apply the handbrake before getting off? And why did he even step off the footplate in the first place? If the stationmaster or the porter had something to say wouldn't they walk up and talk to the driver instead of making the driver climb off his engine?Third, Thomas was stopped at a station so clearly there must have been some kind of braking force being applied which if it was strong enough to stop him at the platform it should have been strong enough to hold him in place before departure time.It's stuff like this, the gritty detail, which makes the difference between a "good" story and a believable story which in my opinion makes the "best" story because that was the reason why Wilbert's stories were so well-loved not just by children but also by grown-ups and real railwaymen: They were believable.

To this end, I made some tweaks to the story. I hope you enjoyed this somewhat more restrained tale after all the weirdness in the previous chapters.

Comments

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

Wow! Just, I never really gave this one much thought before but after reading this, now I can see the flaws of the main story more clearly.

but he suspected he was braking the speed limit.

Um, that's the incorrect kind of "break"

[JimmyHook19]

"NOT THAT MUCH REGULATOR!"

NOT GOOD! O_O

[The Blue EM2]

10786429
Oops.

[The Blue EM2]

10786577
Call back to an earlier episode.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10786891
That's okay, it's an easy mistake

[The Blue EM2]

10786899
I'll be of to correc t it.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10786903
That would be best

[The Blue EM2]

10787036
Does show that, even with proofreading, stuff does slip through the cracks.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10787063
Indeed, it's happened to me as well.

[The Blue EM2]

10787597
Oof.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10787626
Yeah.

Speaking of errors, there is a thing in the runaway TV adaptation that gripes me.

[The Blue EM2]

10787689
Namely?

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10787714
When they show the inspector screwi g the brakes on. I know very well the handle he's holding is not the handbrake, it's the reverser!

[The Blue EM2]

10787719
This is a common error. Another one you see a lot is the regulator being closed instead of being opened.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10787854
Yeah, you're suppose to push up to open the regulator not pull down.

And I bet you noticed how most of the engines have the same exact style of regulator lever?

[The Blue EM2]

10787863
Yes, usually a GWR-style slide type (left to right, as GWR locos are right hand drive). LNER and Southern locos usually had lever type, and LMS regulators slid right to left.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

10787883
Yeah, that's it.
I definitely know that The regulators are supposed to different for class of engine as my train simulator game show cases it.

Even US engines have different styles of regulator.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Apple Bloom wasn't feeling at all well. She was pale, and also had a temperature. Safe to say, she wouldn't be going to work today. "Ma, Ah think Ah need ta call in sick," she said. "Ah don't feel too good."

I think it should have said well at all, over at all well. It sounds make or sound sense.

At the shed, Scootaloo had got Oliver ready for service. He didn't have passenger duties earmarked for today, though. That was for Duck. He was to do some shunting in Arlesburgh Yard first, and then take a trip freight to Tidmouth. "Where's Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo asked. "I've warmed Duck up, but I can't see her anywhere."

Trip freight makes no sense. I think just putting freight train, would make sense.

Pear was quick to discover that driving a Pannier Tank was rather different to operating a narrow gauge engine. As they approached the first station, she applied the brakes, and was rather surprised when they sailed clean through and stopped on the other side. "Huh?"

Mhm.

"Oops, sorry." Pear wound the reverser back around and backed the train up into the platform. By the time they got to Tidmouth, they were running late. Pear switched the automatic stoker on, as she would be driving from the auto-coach for the return trip, and set the trim valves to automatically fill the boiler when water got below a certain level. However, she had made a few mistakes. Firstly, she had not put the brakes on correctly, and there was little braking force holding Duck still. Second, she had not completely closed his regulator. Narrow Gauge engines only had one regulator setting, but bigger engines have two valve positions, called first and second. If the regulator is not closed correctly from second valve, the regulator can slide open. Enginemen know that slamming the regulator open and then shutting it again cures the problem, but Pear did not know this. Finally, she had left the reverser in full reverse, not neutral. As she stood on the platform, waiting for the connecting train, it happened.

And she told us she'd be fine.

"STOP! STOP!" shrieked Dulcie, but Duck had plenty of steam. Not only that, his automatic stoker and water trimming valves would supply as much fuel as needed to prevent his boiler from drying out.

Since when did tank engines have stokers?

Pear whiped her forehead. "Ah think Ah'd best leave this line ta Apple Bloom in future," she said. "Nearly causin' a crash on yer first run is not a good start."

Mhm.