Engines of Britain

Chapter 22: Dogs and Trains

When Henrietta and Lenry returned from the Josephine Railway, their friends gave them a big welcome. The female engines smiled when they saw them, and the male engines were pleased to have their friends back home. Once back home, Henrietta and Lenry got right back into rhythm, and they were back to taking passenger and goods trains, and everything went back to a normal pace. 

The engines told Henrietta and Lenry about what happened while they were gone, and told them about Sparrow. Henrietta and Lenry were shocked about what Sparrow did, but they were happy when they heard about Sparrow getting his comeuppance. Henrietta and Lenry would occasionally tell their friends about the other engines on the Josephine Railway.

The others would ask them 'Maybe we could visit the Josephine Railway' and Henrietta and Lenry would reply 'You would have to talk to Mr Croft and Ms Avery about it', and the others agreed to this.

~*~*~

On an fine evening, Eric and Olivia were helping South shunt the trucks in the Beershorn quarry on the EC&K Branch Line. When they noticed the quarry manager walking and talking to a women, who had a teenager that was slender and had fair skin, short auburn hair, and brown eyes. She wore a light green T-shirt, blue-jeaned shorts, and gray shoes. The teenager also had a white German Shepard dog, a black cat and a hamster. 

"Hey South, who's that with the quarry manager?" Eric asked.

"I don't know." South replied.

"I do." Olivia spoke up. "I think those two are the special visitors Ms Avery had talked about with her husband. Those people are Penny and her mother. Penny and her dog, Bolt, were once famous TV stars over on the U.S.A before... the incident."

"What incident?" South asked.

"Well... you see-" Olivia started, but then was interrupted by the barking of Bolt, who came running to Eric.

"Bolt, stay!" Penny shouted, as she, her mother, and her pets cat and hamster, Mittens and Rhino, followed after the dog, who sat in place waiting for his owner to catch up. "I'm sorry about that." Penny apologized. "My dog, Bolt loves trains."

"It's... Alright." Eric said, while shaking a little bit.

"Ladies, I would like you to meet Eric, Olivia, and our privately-owned South." The quarry manager introduced the two engines and the girl to the visitors. "They not only not help build this branch line but they also help run it since we opened it years ago.

"It's a pleasure to meet you dears." Penny mother said. 

Then Bolt started to sniff one of Eric's bufferbeam, causing the tank engine to shake even more. "Bolt!" Penny shouted, getting the white German Shepard to stop. "Again, I'm sorry for that." she apologized.

"Don't mention it." Eric said slowly.

"Now if you follow me ladies, we have a special lunch prepared in the office." The quarry manager said.

"Lead the way sir." Penny's mother replied. "Again, pleasure to meet you three. Bolt, come."

The quarry manager, Penny, her mother, Mittens, Rhino, and Bolt walked away from the engines to the office.

"Mangy mutt." Eric muttered, shivering a little.

"Is something wrong Eric?" South asked.

"Well, you see Eric has a slight dislike to dogs." Olivia explained

"Yeah, he has a hard time liking them, since one did it's business on his bufferbeam." Keshaun said cheekly as he was coming into the quarry.

"Keshaun!" Eric shouted. "No one needs to know about that! Now if you excuse me, Olivia and I have to take these trucks to Southampton Harbor."