Great Laxey Mine Railway stories

Episode 3: Slips and Spooks

It was a moist and cloudy day on the railway, Bee and Ant were in there shed worrying about the chances that another flood could happen.

"how big would the flood get until it reached our sheds?!" Bee said quivering

"calm yourself" Ant told him "you know very well that that can't happen"

Even with words of encouragement from Ant, Bee still had a sneaking suspicion on how the expanded part of the line might be affected.

Later that day, Ant was told to take workmen further up the line to ponder on expanding it even more.

While she chuffed through the tunnel with the coach in front, she could still here the rain from outside echoing inside the tunnel.

As she reached the other side, thunder had started to rumble as the rain was now harsher than before, mud had caked the rail ties, coating them in a dark brown mixture of soot and soil.

The rails seemed to be losing traction with Ant's wheels as every time her wheels and side rods moved, she'd slip in place, until her driver stopped halfway.

"we can't ride through this, the rain's making you slip." Her driver said

She groaned as she was put into reverse and chuffed back into the sheds after departing the coach.

"stupid rain" she grumbled, "always making things difficult for me"

"I guess the rails were slippery?" asked Bee

"yes, they were" Ant replied, "I could barely move a meter because I was spinning in place."

"lucky we don't have any steep inclines." Bee commented.

For a moment Ant was silent until she spoke again. "what do you mean?" she asked

"I've heard tales of engines getting into severe accidents because of slippery rails..." Bee said, "and one story I know, is the tale of number 21."

"What about it?" said Ant, "can you tell it to me?"

"I sure can" Be responded "but this story is a touchy one, so don't be surprised it it's a little dark."

And this was the story he told...

Long ago, on a railway just like ours, there lived an engine who was numbered 21, as the people who owned him didn't decide on a name, so they just called him by his number.

The engine worked in a Mine; he was tasked to carry minerals that were harvested from the mine back up to the surface and to bring the empty cars down again when he was asked.

The cars hated having to be pushed along the same line over and over again, so from time to time, they started causing delays.

One car and forcefully had his breaks on, to try and stop the train entirely, but his plan failed as he was pushed all the way down the mine and back up again only to end up with flat spots on his wheels.

Another tried derailing on purpose to try and stop the train, but he ended up crushing himself on the mine entrance.

This continued until there were only three on them left, all of them had tried thinking of effective ways to halt the train, none of them had worked since the workers would inspect every wagon before hey were sent down. But one day, the wagons came up with an idea that would work for sure.

As they made there way to the mine entrance, the worker inspected the wagons as usual, not finding anything wrong, he ordered that the engine was clear to go.

As the engine was halfway down the mine the cars forcefully pulled against 21 dragging him down the shaft further, the driver tried to apply the brakes, but leftover rain water from a storm had seeped through the ground and concentrated on the rails making them slippery, the cars soon realized what they did, and tried to stop, but it was too late.

The cars along with the engine had crashed through the wooden stoppers at the end of the line, their wheels grinding against the cold stone ground until they fell down the mine-shaft, colliding with two miners in the process, they then came to a final stop at the bottom, lucky, the driver jumped clear, only suffering from a broken arm.

The mine-carts and engine were unrecognizable when the wreckage was recovered, the engine seeming to have taken the most damage, they were then sent away for scrap, as the mine was in the process of closing, some say, you can still hear the ghostly screeching of the engines whistle, before he had plunged into the mine-shaft, the smell of grinding metal still fresh to their noses.

Ant was left speechless at the story Bee had told her and looked back with a worried expression.

"some say that mine-shaft is located up in the mountains, near Dreemskerry." Bee said, "the trams say they still hear that ghostly whistle from a far."

Both engines were left silent, pondering on the story, still waiting for the storm to pass tomorrow.