In this 3rd volume of Narrow Gauge Adventures, things begin to change. Challenges crop up, friends are united once more, and Babs learns a very important lesson. But above all, friends are there to help each other out.
It was a gloriously sunny day on the railway. The sun shone, the clouds were clear in the sky, and the trains were packed full of excited travellers.
Cheerilee came to the sheds with a special job for Apple Bloom.
“Apple Bloom,” she said. “I want you to collect a special delivery at the wharf.”
“What is the special delivery?” the engine asked.
“That’s a secret,” Cheerilee smiled. “But it needs to be handled carefully.”
“Got it Miss!” Apple Bloom replied. “Ah won’t let ya down!” and with a wheesh of steam, away she went.
The wharf backed onto the main line, with a large crane nearby to move goods. It had 3 tracks from which to load and offload goods, but only one was used on a regular basis. Ocellus was already in position to help move the cargo.
A V2 pulled up to the wharf, pulling a cargo train, with a flatbed behind the tender, and many vans. She was painted turquoise, with two tone amber and gold lining. “Good morning!” she called.
“Do you have the cargo?” asked Apple Bloom.
“It’s on the flatbed,” the V2 said. “I’m called Lightning Dust, by the way.”
Ocellus started up the crane. It was a noisy and old piece of machinery. It clattered and roared as it lifted the object off of the flatcar. The package had a white tarpaulin and was most mysterious.
The crane briefly stuttered with the cargo in mid-air, but the crane corrected and the package was lifted onto the wagon that Apple Bloom was positioned next to. Dust pulled away and set off on the rest of her journey.
Ocellus stepped over to couple Apple Bloom up, but the tank engine was simply too excited. "Can ya hurry it up a bit?” she asked.
“Careful,” Ocellus told her. “You need to be careful with this load.” The changeling coupled the tank engine up, and gave her the green flag.
Apple Bloom pulled away, ready for the long run ahead.
The yellow tank engine rumbled through the stations, the other engines stopping to see her through and whistle her onwards.
But the load started to get heavy, and Apple Bloom’s face progressively got redder and redder. When she pulled to a stop at the station before the lake, she was exhausted.
Diamond Tiara ran back in the other direction, running light engine. “Hey, do you need help?” she asked.
“No!” replied Apple Bloom. “Ah can do this on mah own.”
“My offer remains open,” Diamond told her. “I’m waiting on a shipment of logs.” Just then, Pip came down the line with logs from the sawmill.
“Phew, boy is it a scorcher!” he exclaimed.
“Ah can testify to that,” Apple Bloom added. Suddenly the signal dropped. “Gotta go!” With an audible grunt, she pulled the flatbed out of the station and ran toward the station by the lake.
Pip glanced over to Diamond. “Any bets on whether she will stall?”
Apple Bloom rolled forward, getting slower and slower. The gradient between the lake station and the top station was fierce, and she couldn’t handle the weight. Her driving wheels spun and skidded, until she ground to an embarrassing halt on the climb.
“Gosh darn it!” she cried. She looked all around her, and realised nobody was there to help.
“Ah’ve failed,” she whispered. “Miss Cheerilee trusted me with this load, and Ah’ve failed. She’ll be really mad at me now.” Apple Bloom was so sad she nearly cried.
The foreman appeared at the lakeside station. “Apple Bloom has stalled on the climb up to the Top Station. She needs help.”
Diamond spoke up. “I’ll go sir!” Before anybody could say anything else, she set off up the hill and toward the rescue of Apple Bloom.
She reached the stricken tank engine fairly easily. Bloom was sobbing her tubes out.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” asked Diamond.
“Here ta gloat?” Bloom snapped back.
“Hey, I know we didn’t get off to the best of starts, but I’m here to help,” Diamond reassured her. She buffered up before Apple Bloom could say anything else. “Now, let’s get this load to the Top Station, shall we?”
With a grunt and a groan, Apple Bloom pulled with all her might, and Diamond pushed hard as well. With the two engines working together, they reached the Top Station in no time at all. The sound echoed off the walls of the valley and roared throughout the valleys, a magical sound that never ceases to amaze those who hear it.
Upon arrival at the top station, Apple Bloom uncoupled and ran into the passing loop.
“Thank you for this!” said the Station Master. “Hopefully this will encourage passengers to stay around for longer than it takes you to run around.”
“What is it, sir?” Apple Bloom asked.
The Station Master whisked the tarpaulin off of the truck, and the two engines gasped at what was underneath it.
It was a dinosaur!
“Wow!” Diamond exclaimed. “I’ve never seen one of those before.”
“It’s to go in the station garden,” the Station Master replied. “That was an incredible performance on the hill there.” But he stepped over to Apple Bloom. “But I hope that you have learned an important lesson.”
“Yes Sir,” Apple Bloom replied. “Ah shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help from mah friends. Sorry for inconveniencing you Diamond.”
“Not to worry,” smiled Diamond. “That’s what friends are for.”
One morning, Silver Spoon was up and chirpy. Diamond, on the other hand, wasn’t steaming properly.
“I don’t feel well,” she groaned.
“If you want, I’ll do your work for you,” Silver told her.
“No need,” Diamond replied. “I’ll try.”
Silver took the morning goods train coupled to the back of the passenger train. They needed two engines to deal with the weight, and as such Diamond was coupled to the back.
At the Top Station, the two trains were split. Silver went onwards to the quarry, whilst Diamond took the passenger train back along the line. Her sickness worsened as she ran back along the line, to the point she could barely pull the train when she rolled into the platform at the bottom of the line.
She ran back to the shed, where Ocellus and Cheerilee were waiting for her. “This is bad,” Ocellus said. “We have an engine out of action, so we need to put another one into service.”
“I’ll go!” said Sweetie Belle.
Up at the Quarry, Silver shunted the trucks into position and placed them at the bottom of the incline, to be taken to the next level of the quarry. She then pulled away and moved some loaded ones to the exchange sidings to see Apple Bloom coming up the line.
“Hello!” she called. “What’s going on?”
“Diamond’s failed,” she said. “You’re needed at the bottom of the line.”
Silver wanted to finish her work at the Quarry. But she also wanted to help her friends. She set off down the hill towards the Top Station.
Apple Bloom saw that some loaded tucks were ready to come down the hill, so she rolled into position.
The usual engine assigned to this duty was Babs Seed. But the problem was, the trucks were so dopy they couldn’t tell the engines apart.
“It’s Babs Seed!” one of them screeched. “Let’s pay her out!”
“No!” cried another. “It’s Apple Bloom! It’s Apple Bloom!”
But it was no use. The trucks strained at the rope, which snapped. The trucks roared down the grade, and straight toward Apple Bloom!
Meanwhile, Silver buffered onto a passenger train. Applejack pulled through the station on a goods train. “Mornin’, Sugarcube!” she called.
Silver whistled back, and set off up the line on her train.
She puffed up the line, the midday sun shining off her dome and giving the whole area a most pleasing appearance.
There were wondrous sounds coming out of the woods as she rolled along, and she reached the most popular stop on the line. The passengers flooded out, eager to soak up the sun or to buy an ice cream from the Refreshment Lady.
Silver simmered happily in the platform, as she reflected upon her life. The old line on which she had worked had not been the nicest of railways, an old quarry line which had very heavy workloads. Well, heavy workloads for her, as Diamond had basically been the favourite of the management. She had an easy life and pulled the director’s train.
Silver and her brother Dark Steel, on the other hand, had dragged load after load of slate down the line to the wharf. Day after day after day.
Even so, it had been a secure life. Hearing the news that the quarry was closing was simply shocking to her, as she had feared the next place for her would be the scrapheap.
But salvation did some, as this line had bought her and Diamond. Now she lived a very nice life, which wasn’t too tough, although she made sure to work hard.
A loud whistle distracted her from her thoughts, as Pip rolled into the junction, looking frantic.
“Help!” he cried. “There’s been an accident up in the quarry!”
“What happened?” asked Silver.
“I don’t know the details, but Rumble’s been sent up to help clean the mess!”
Silver was uncoupled from her train, and raced up the hill.
There was quite the mess facing her when she reached the top of the hill, and rolled into the quarry. Trucks were scattered everywhere, the water pipe was broken and leaking, and shattered slate lay everywhere.
But this was nothing compared to Apple Bloom. Her tank was dented, her funnel had come clean off, and her frames were bent.
“Sorry for the bother, ya’ll,” she said.
“Take it easy,” said Rumble. “I’ll get you down the hill.”
Sweetie Belle arrived with a flatcar, and they loaded Apple Bloom onto it. Rumble backed out of the yard and took the wagon down the hill.
It took them ages to clean the mess. The broken trucks were loaded into tipper wagons, and those that could be re-railed were loaded with rubble. They were marshalled into two large trains, and Sweetie Belle took the first of the two trains down the hill.
Silver Spoon took the second, being sure to pin down brakes before she set off. It was a hectic run, as the steep grade put her on edge, but she reached the bottom safely.
The trucks were offloaded at the wharf. Gilda and Fluttershy were waiting with trucks to take away the wreckage.
“What a mess,” Gilda commented. “I’ve never seen an accident like that before.”
“Is Apple Bloom OK?” asked Fluttershy.
“We don’t know,” Sweetie Belle told her. “I just hope it’s OK.”
When they returned to the shed, they found Apple Bloom gone. “Where is she?” asked Silver.
“They’ve taken her to the works,” Cheerilee told them. “It will take a very long time to fix her, I’m afraid.”
“We’re two engines down,” Scootaloo whispered. “Maybe we need to source another.”
“Leave that to me,” Cheerilee told her. “You lot need to rest.” She walked away from the engines.
Diamond spoke up. “This is my fault,” she said. “I shouldn’t have fallen ill-”
“You couldn’t help being ill,” Sweetie Belle reassured her. “But I wonder who the new engine will be?”
The engines went uneasily to sleep, not knowing what would come next, but knowing they wouldn’t see one of their friends for a very long time.
Ocellus took her rag out, and began to polish Scootaloo.
“Stop! That tickles!” the tank engine laughed.
“You want to look your best, don’t you?” Ocellus told her.
“True, but if you could do it in a considerably less inconvenient manner, it would be appreciated.”
Babs spoke up. “I’m lookin’ a bit mucky. I could use a polish.”
“Wait your turn!” Ocellus told her, calmly but firmly.
Just then Cheerilee appeared. “Babs, I need you to take the last train of the day.”
“What is it?” Babs asked.
“Coaches.”
“COACHES?” Babs exclaimed. Unlike most steam engines, Babs preferred working with trucks, as they weren’t full of passengers.
“Yes.”
“But I haven’t been polished!” Babs protested.
“You will do as you are told,” Cheerilee sternly reminded her.
Babs sulked all the way to the station. “It’s not fair,” she grumbled. “Why does Scootaloo get a polish, and I don’t? It makes no sense.” She pulled to a rough stop in the platform. The passengers looked at her, surprised.
“You gonna get on or what?” she asked.
The passengers scrambled on, muttering disapprovingly. The Guard blew his whistle and away the train went.
The Guard looked concerned. “By Faust, she seems to be in an even more foul mood than usual.”
The train ran relatively smoothly, apart from some abrupt starts, as Babs clattered along the line. She rolled over bridges, paused at the lake to let the Refreshment Lady get on, and set off up the slope on which she had derailed a few months earlier.
There is a viaduct, with 5 arches, that runs over a waterfall, before you enter the Top Station. It is a hard section of the line, and the train seemed to be slowing down.
“Come on Babs!” called the Guard. “Just a little further, and the passengers can have their break!”
This was not a smart thing to say. Something inside the Manehattan tank engine snapped. With a jolt, she slammed her brakes on and the train skidded to a halt. The passengers were hurled forward and landed on the floor in a heap.
“Keep moving!” shouted the Guard.
Babs smirked. “Make me,” she replied.
The news filtered down to the shed, and Scootaloo was not impressed.
“This is ridiculous!” she said. “Babs can handle that climb with no difficulty.”
“Maybe she derailed?” Sweetie Belle suggested.
“Again?” said Snails. “I already recovered her from that stretch of line, and I am not doing it again!”
“Will you do it, Scootaloo?” asked Ocellus.
“As much as I dislike Babs, we have to get the passengers to the station,” she said. She eased her regulator open and set off up the line.
She reached the source of the problem without any difficulty. Up ahead, the Guard and Babs were arguing profusely, using some profane terms. Here is the bowdlerised version.
“You’re not even trying!” the Guard exclaimed.
“I told you, no polish, no passengers!”
The Guard sighed. “This is ridiculous! You delay the train because you didn’t get polished?”
“Seeing as all the other engines are getting preferential treatment around here, I don’t see why I should work if I get nothing out of it.”
The Guard wandered away. “Her attitude stinks,” he said to Ocellus. “We need you two to push the train into the station.”
Scootaloo buffered up, and pushed with all her might. But the train still didn’t move. Babs’ brakes were still locked hard on.
So, they simply uncoupled the coaches, took them back down the line, and left Babs all alone, up on the hillside. Sweetie Belle came to collect her later and dragged her to the shed. And she did drag her, as Babs had her brakes on the whole time.
Cheerilee was furious. “I hoped I had seen the last of this behaviour!” she bellowed. “Why do you think this is even acceptable?”
“Cause the other engines get better treatment?” Babs suggested.
“You can’t just go on strike when you don’t like things!”
“Is this because I ain’t a country engine?” Babs suggested.
Cheerilee sighed. “It’s a very long time until you come out again.”
“Good!” Babs yelled. “Passengers are annoying anyway!”
That night, Scootaloo spoke to Babs very harshly. “I can’t believe you did that, Babs!” she scolded the industrial tank. “Just think of your passengers, whom you might have badly hurt!”
“Pah!” Babs laughed. “Passengers just moan all the time and say the railway sucks. I wouldn’t mind if they went tomorrow!”
Scootaloo was about to speak, when she was interrupted by an angry outburst from Sweetie Belle. “Take that back!” the small white engine shouted. “Passengers keep us going! They are the sole reason we are not on the scrapheap!”
She rolled up to Babs. “I’m going to tell you a story,” she said. “It’s a painful one for me, and it will hurt us both. But you need to hear this.”
Babs rolled her eyes. “Just get it over with,” she snorted.
Sweetie Belle sighed, as she began her tale. “This story begins in 1902, shortly before I came here, and concerns an old friend of mine, who sadly has long since passed away. Our railway was dying. The engineer desperately tried to keep us going, but the end was almost nigh for us.”
“One night, he took the last train of the day, as I had failed due to cracked frames. It was a cold, wet day, and the rails were slippery. But he didn’t stop in the wrong places.”
“Really?” Babs asked.
“Passengers get annoyed if you stop in the wrong places, as well you know.”
“Scootaloo, if I may continue with the story?”
“Sure.”
“This very day, he was ascending the line next to the moors. The rain lashed down and thunder rolled across the hillside. The causeway was misty and the rails were hopelessly wet. He was pulling a heavy train, 6 coaches in all, and there were even passengers loaded into the guard’s van!”
“The run was not fun at all. His wheels slipped as he climbed the hill, and his speed slowed to a crawl. But he didn’t stop. ‘I have to get those passengers to the next station’, he said. He reached the summit, and thought the worst was over.”
“But it wasn’t. His motion on the right-hand side locked up completely. There he was, stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no engineer to help him. The Guard took a look at the problem. 'We need to get the passengers to the next station’, he said. 'Can you get us there?’”
“'I’ll try’, he said, and struggled onward into the mist. He continued on, in spite of the indescribable agony he was in. 'If I fail,' he thought, ‘this line will close!’”
“The pain blinded him, and he was too exhausted to keep moving. But move he did, turn after turn, yard after yard, he rolled along, until he pulled into the station at the end of the line.”
“'I made it!’ he cried happily. The passengers were very pleased, and told him he was a gallant old engine.”
Sweetie Belle looked around, as she had finished her tale. There was not a dry eye in the place. Even Babs looked upset.
“Thanks Sweetie,” she said. “I needed that.”
“Still gets me, even though I’ve heard that tale many times,” Scootaloo admitted. “Come on, let’s get some sleep, it’s nearly midnight.”
The next morning Cheerilee came to visit her engines. “I have some good news!” she said.
“Do tell!” asked Diamond.
“Apple Bloom has been successfully repaired, and is on her way home. I was also able to purchase a new engine!”
The engines were very excited.
“Where is she?” asked Snips.
“Well, it’s a he,” Cheerilee explained. “His old owner has agreed to help with the railway as well. Would you like to introduce yourself, Mrs Mash?”
“Call me Elaina!” a woman with tan skin and brown hair stepped forward, also wearing overalls. “It’s very nice to meet you all!”
“Good morning Elaina!” the engines chorused.
Elaina looked over. “You can come out, sweetie!” she called.
There was a distinct puffing noise, when a tank engine rolled to a stop alongside the shed.
The engine was of the same size and shape as Sweetie Belle, but was painted chocolate brown with two tone brown lining. He lacked a nameplate.
“Hi,” he said, in a scratchy voice that would have sounded more at home coming out of the mouth of a young child. “My name is Button Mash. I’m 83 years old, and-”
He suddenly stopped as he noticed the engine next to him start crying. “What’s wrong?”
“I just never thought I’d see you again!”
Button’s face lit up. “SWEETIE BELLE!” he cried, “You’re alive!”
Elaina smiled. “He never did forget her. On the journey here, we didn’t go a day without him mentioning her.”
Truly, it was a happy day at the railway. Two old friends had reunited, Babs had learned her lesson, and they had all been really useful engines.
Cast-in order of appearence Nicole Oliver-Cheerilee Michelle Creber-Apple Bloom Britt Irvin-Lightning Dust Devyn Dalton-Ocellus Chantal Strand-Diamond Tiara Graham Verchere-Pipsqueak Michael Caine-The Top Station Stationmaster Shannon Chan-Kent-Silver Spoon Claire Corlett-Sweetie Belle Ashleigh Ball-Applejack Vincent Tong-Rumble Maryke Hyndryksse-Gilda Andrea Libman-Fluttershy Madeleine Peters-Scootaloo Brynna Drummond-Babs Seed The Guard-Stephen Kynman Eileen Montgomery-Elaina Mash Button Mash-Blake Swift
