(Writer Got Their Own Account)

Two Bangs And A Tunnel

The rails were damp and cold. Stanley, a narrow gauge engine who was brought to the war from Sodor was pushing some vans filled with ammunition as the moon showed high in the sky behind the clouds. Stanley was a greenish color, the letters "U. S. A." on his side tanks, the old vans clanking along in front of him as they bounced along the old rails. "Careful there Stany boy you might leap off the rails" a diesel chuckled and Stanley rolled his eyes. "Oh shut it Ferdinand...what are you doing here anyway?" He asked as he watched him roll by with trucks of several different items for war. "Oh nothing just being useful and taking stuff out to the soldiers...hey have you seen that little engine recently? The one that can move only one truck?" Ferdinand asked and Stanley thinks for a moment. "Not sure, I think he was sent to explore some old railway tracks to find a flank route or something" Stanley snorted as he bashed some old cars into place. "Well see ya pumping engine" Ferdinand taunted before rolling away with the freight...little did Stanley know this would be the last time he would see his colleague as himself.

After a few minutes and filling up on coal and water, Stanley's crew returned after eating and climbed into his cab. "You didn't cause trouble while we were gone did ya, Stanley?" His driver asked and the engine rolled his eyes. "No, I didn't Robert, just talked with old box face" Stanley snorted indignantly, and his crew rolled their eyes, well aware of the two engines rivalry but ultimately decided to ignore their engines comment. "Come on, we need to get some cars down to the boys on the field," his driver said and Stanley grinned at the change to finally stretch his wheels a bit. "Of course, let's go," he said before he backed up to his cars and after being hooked up and properly oiled again, he set off down the line. All was going fine till he heard a loud bang, before he knew what was happening the sky had turned red and he slammed into reverse, racing back up the way he came from. His wheels rattled and the rails groaned, the trucks banging and clanking when another loud bang echoed behind him causing him to slam on his breaks and come to a screeching stop. "What's happening?!" Stanley called out to his crew, but he had gotten no response, that was when he realized they had been knocked unconscious after his sudden shift in direction. Thinking on his wheels, Stanley raced backward again, down the line to a tunnel where he slowed to a stop in...and that was when it hit. A shockwave struck the train from both ends, rock fell from the ceiling and Stanley gritted his teeth and slammed his eyes closed. He kept them closed for what felt like hours, only opening them when he heard a far off, high pitched whistle. Looking around he noticed some rock had fallen onto the track and glancing back he saw a huge boulder had landed just before the rear of his train...the hellish sky was one of the first things he noticed when he looked out of the tunnel. His crew was starting to take up and once they sat up they had climbed out of his cab rubbing their heads. "What happened? Did the Germans send out bombs?" His driver asked and Stanley gave them a worried look. "I don't know, but I do know whatever it was, it went off twice, once behind us and once at what sounded to be the camp...and if it was well.." Stanley fell silent, he didn't wanna think about them right now, war is hard enough as it is. "Where should we go?" His driver asked, Stanley's fireman shrugging as he scratched at one of the brown patches of skin on his face. "Well I doubt down the line is safe, I felt the shockwave here so everyone there is most likely dead, but we could go onto the abandoned railway, I mean we can get closer to the standard gauge that way" Stanley explained, and the two nod as they climb into the cab of the engine and he made his way down the tracks again, pushing some small rocks out of the way. Slowly they approached some points, some went each direction onto an old rusted track they had only used when getting to this place meaning he had very little knowledge of the track. But he did notice the points were changed on the track coming in his direction. So once the points were set, Stanley puffed down them till he was puffing through a rather thick forest. The tracks creaked underneath his wheels as he started puffing up a hill and through a tunnel. They were surrounded by darkness for a brief few minutes, signaling to Stanley that they needed to get a light for him which he had been lacking. Soon, however, the light showed through the end of the tunnel, as well as a long train in front of him. But once Stanley saw the whole train, his boiler went cold; for the most part, the train was on the tracks...all except for the first three cars and the engine which had tumbled down the hill. The engine's boiler was exploded...and several people laid there dead...there were a few people in the trucks though. They were injured but alive and as Stanley's fireman drove the engine onto the track to hook up to the train the driver asked the people what had happened. The people were British soldiers and they had explained that they were running from a blast when they ended up on this track and their engine, who was named Teven. Was so set on escaping he didn't realize he was going too fast and derailed...they then had to explain they had to put the poor engine down due to the explosion not killing him. Once they had hooked their train up behind Stanley's, they set off again down the line in hopes to find a base for them to stop at and maybe get some sleep and food.

Depo of the old railway