Light Railway Tales Volume 2

Rachel & The Twins

The Light Railway had been busier than usual, The Railway was approaching to the anniversary since it first opened and the managers were planning an enormous event to celebrate, this involved inviting engines from other railways who had once been a part of the light Railway's family of locomotives. Dai was hoping to reunite with his old friend Mountaineer, a small engine who he worked with on the line and their old home in Tasmania while the others hoped to see the return of the Sutton trio since they left for their new home.

One Night, the engines were sitting in the shed, their crews had left and they were chatting all about the day's events and wondered which engines would visit their line. Robin noticed Rachel was quiet as the others talked about who the guests could be.

"You're awfully quiet, Whats the matter?" Robin asked, worried for her friend.

"Nothing really Robin, Just...im worried about the guest locomotives, especially if they are the engines I remember from my old line," She replied, looking down.

"But Sandy is from your old line and she is alright," Robin replied.

"I know that but I mean two engines who have always been there to laugh at me when I struggled when I was first built and I wasn't as strong as I'm now,"

"Oh Rachel, you don't mean the twins, do you?" Sandy asked with a small chuckle.

"Of course I'm, those two were always so rude," Rachel Huffed.

"True, but they always got on with their work," Rachel commented back.

"You two mind telling us about these twins, please?" Königswinter asked. She was curious about these twins.

"alright, ill tell you everything." she said, and this was what she told the other engines.

Before Rachel ever came to the Light railway, she lived on a small railway down south; she wasn't as strong as she is now because of some minor issues from when she was first built, The other engines on her line had to pick up the work since she wasn't that strong. Two engines that loved to pick on sandy and belittle her were two twin engines. They were the same size and shape, with one difference of one engine's tender having a distinct feature.

These engines are known as Sian and Katie, they both had worked there for years and had even worked with Sandy, they used to belittle her too but Sandy always proved them wrong, however Rachel struggled a lot, making her a sitting duck for their insults.

"I always tried to ignore them... but it got too much for me sometimes." Rachel said as she finished explaining.

"Well, hopefully we'll find out what's going to be happening with this gala and who will come, deep down I want to see Mountaineer return for a little while," Dai said, his eyes closed as he remembered the good old days.

Rachel hoped it could be some other engines other than the twins, but she would find out a few days later while shunting coaches for Bonnie's morning run to the holiday park. As she finished shunting, she gasped as she saw two engines being unloaded. Their green and maroon paint glistened in the sun as they were lowered onto the track, The Twins had arrived.

Later in the day, The twins were up the shed, Rusty had brought them up and placed them in their old birth. The two engines chuckled to themselves.

"Looks like they replaced the old shed with a little green bug, Sian," Katie said.

"Oh yes, or is it a toy you get out of a cereal box?" Sian replied.

They laughed, but Rusty felt offended by this. Turns out they hadn't changed and Rusty worried about Rachel. By the time all the engines were back in the shed, Sian and Katie had upset all of them, especially Rachel, calling her scrapheap, crimson failure, and Sian called her a mongrel. The others tried arguing but were silenced by Bonnie, who wanted to go to sleep.

The Next morning, The Twins were doing nothing but grumble and moan. They wanted to take the Thorpe Flyer instead of Bonnie. Their drivers pleaded with them to stop, but it was no good. Their chance came when bonnie wasn't feeling up to it. She could barely build up steam and she complained about an ache in her axels so they had no choice but to let the twins to take it. They coupled up to the coaches and rusty was sat in a nearby platform.

"Be careful up Bonker's Bank, Königswinter went up there and was slipping badly from oil on the tracks"

"Nonsense, Nothing the Fairbourne Twins cannot handle!"

"Now, Buzz off you little green insect, go shunt wagons in the yard where you belong!"

Rusty drove away. He knew trouble was on the horizon for the twins; he told Rachel when he got back to the shed.

"those Two never learn, look, inform Mr. Bryant that they may need a banker, ill go make sure our passengers aren't delayed because of their arrogance." Rachel said to rusty.

The Twins were furious, Mr Bryant had told them they had to wait for a banking engine but their drivers ignored him and set off once the train was full and one of the crew set the lights for the crossing going and the barriers were down. they chuffed out of the station and round the curve towards Bonker's bank as Rachel arrived to help bank the train but was shocked to see that they had left without her.

The Twins laughed, "Who needs that red scrap box on wheels! We are Superior!"

But they didn't laugh for long. Their drivers tried to charge the hill, but Sian felt a pain in her axel boxes while Katie took the strain of the train on her own and tried climbing the hill. They were almost halfway up as Katie and Sian's wheels slipped continuously; they tried using their sanders, but it was no good; they had to stop and reverse back down to the bottom of the hill, the crossing just before it was blocked as they reversed down. people honked their horns and hurled insults at the twins.

Before long, Rachel arrived with Mr. Bryant. she coupled up to the train and honked to let them know she was ready. The twins whistled back but doubted that she could help get them up the hill. The guard blew his whistle and all three engines whistled and started. As they climbed the hill, Katie felt herself straining and was about to make a comment about Rachel before hearing the roar of an engine and she felt herself and Sian getting pushed up the hill as smoke billowed from Rachel's exhaust. Her face was as red as her paint as she used all her strength to push the heavy train up the hill and all the way to the next station.

The passengers thanked Rachel who looked very tired but happy she could help, then the twins were spoken to severely by Mr.Bryant.

"When I told you you needed a banker up that hill, I was not suggesting you were both weak engines, what you both did was stupid and reckless, Engines on my railway do as they're told. Another thing, I do not take kindly to bullies towards my engines either. They work as hard as you and sometimes twice as hard. If you wish to remain for our special Gala, I suggest you book your idea up! Good day!"

He turned and walked into the station. The twins were both embarrassed and Rachel couldn't help but chuckle. That night in the shed, the engines were surprised to find the twins apologising for their attitude and especially more to Rachel, who they hoped wouldn't tell the others what happened and from that point on, all three engines would become friends. The twins would sometimes tease and cause trouble, but Rachel always put them in their place.