the tales of sodor's engine

Duke the proud engine

Sir Handel and Peter Sam were delighted that Duke was home again. For many years they thought their old friend had been lost, but when a search party had discovered Duke by accident, he had been rescued and brought to the little railway where Skarloey and Rheneas worked.

Once again united, Duke, Sir Handel, and Peter Sam spent their evenings much like they used to on their old railway: talking, telling stories, and laughing! Sir Handel and Peter Sam also did their best when they were together to fill Duke in on all that had happened in the world while Duke had been tucked away in his shed for all that time.

Duke was finding it difficult to make sense of everything.

"I'm sorry, explain that again, youngster?" Duke asked one morning.

"Our drivers and firemen can contact the signal boxes and stations by radio now, Granpuff!" Peter Sam smiled.

"And you said radio is...waves?"

"Radio waves, Granpuff! They fly through the air and transmit information from one place to another!"

"Whatever happened to word of mouth?"

"Well, radio is more efficient than word of mouth," Peter Sam continued.

"Interesting, very interesting," Granpuff sighed. Sir Handel and Peter Sam knew this is what Duke said when he didn't approve of something. They tried not to smile!

"What other new contraptions do they have nowadays?" asked Duke.

"All sorts of things, they even have diesels working on the railway now!"

"Diesels? What are those?" Duke snarled. He didn't like the sound of the word diesel.

Sir Handel and Peter Sam snickered.

"They're fancy new engines, Granpuff. They're like us but they don't run on coal and water."

"What else is there to run on?"

"Petrol."

"What's petrol?"

Not being able to contain their laughter at Duke's relative naivety any longer, the two proceeded to guffaw deeply, which made Duke very cross.

"You impudent scallywags!"

"We're sorry, Granpuff," said Sir Handel. "We didn't realize it had been that long since you've been away."

"We'll explain more later," Peter Sam added. "We'll see you tonight."

The two engines scampered away to fetch their trains for the morning and Duke was left feeling very confused.

"How can an engine be an engine and not use coal?" Duke said to himself. Duke had only been at his new home a few days and hadn't met Rusty or any of the main-line diesels yet, so he didn't know what to think about diesels at all.

Later that day, Duke pulled a small goods train down the line to the station which met the main-line. He normally met Thomas or Gordon here to exchange greetings, but today there was an engine he had never met.

The engine didn't look like any engine Duke had ever seen. The engine was tall, green, and box shaped. Of course, we know this to be our friend Boco, but Duke hadn't met a diesel before.

"Hello," Boco boomed. Duke jumped!

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Boco."

"Are you...a...diesel?" Duke said slowly as the hum of Boco's engine echoed across the platform.