Unnatural Disasters of Sodor

Venturing Out

December 2nd. 5 A.M

When morning finally broke, I would wake with a large yawn and stretch, quickly followed by chattering teeth. "Y-Yikes! it...it is freezing in he-here!" 

"Y-yes it is," agreed the equally chattering engine. Before I did anything else, I started lighting the poor engines fire as I had many times before, though the bitter cold tried desperately to snuff it out. I stood huddled against the firebox as I slowly coaxed it into a large sizzling fire. Both Harvey and I's chattering slowly dying down as he began to warm up and steam.

"That is much better," the engine said happily, his deeper voice sounding like a caring father.

"Well, that should...should tie you over for a bit, but we need to conserve coal till we get outside to a bunker." I cursed to myself, having not filled it yesterday. It had been so late by the time we got back I hadn't even thought to do it. I turned my attention to the TV and turned it on before going about making myself breakfast. The news was playing in the background, in between short bursts of static.

"Record bre...zzzz...snowfall...temperatures below....zzzzz....caution advised to all."

Harvey sighed, "Sounds like we will be busy today." I had to agree. it sounded like it would be rough today.

"We'll have to fit your snow plow when Zeph gets here."

"It is ok, I don't mind it like Thomas does", The crane engine said with a chuckle. I couldn't help but laugh with him. Yes, the blue tank engine still didn't like his snow plow, even after all the trouble not wearing it caused him. A few times we had to go rescue him with the help from the Scottish twins. The TV show never does those two justice for how well they clear the white powder. You'd think they were built in Antarctica.

I refocus on my breakfast, finishing cooking my eggs and bacon, toast popping out of the toaster. I quickly plate them, but before I could partake, I lowered the flame on the stove and added two chocolate bars into a pot, letting them begin to melt as I began to eat. I l make fresh hot chocolate after I was done.

December 2nd 7 A.M

After two hours there was a blast of Icy wind and snow as the door was opened and then rapidly closed as Zeph walked in, bundled up head to toe, only his eyes showing out from thw mass of fabric.

"It is COLD out there," complained the muffled voice from within.

"I think that is quite obvious, Zeph," I chuckle. Smiling as he slowly sheds layers upon layers of fabric. Seeming to have put on everything he could manage to. I'm sure the kitchen sink was in there somewhere as well.

Once he was down to a more manageable three layers, we began to use Harveys crane, and what steam he had built up, to move his plow in front of him and attach it. Unlike the rest of the train crews who had fuss about for tens of minutes; with Harvey's crane, it only took a couple. After we got it attached, we opened the shed doors. blasting freezing wind blowing over all three of us, just for us to find a large wall of snow sitting in front of us, taller than me or Zeph.

Harvey gasped, "That is rather deep for only one night of snowing." Me and Zeph had to agree, but here on Sodor, strange weather was the common, not the unusual.

Reluctantly, me and Zeph braved the freezing temperatures and howling wind. After closing the doors so harvey wouldn't freeze, we began shoveling... and shoveling...for nearly two hours. We didn't just throw the snow to the side though, we put it to the left and right of the tracks leading to the bearth and packed it down, forming tall walls to help block the air and snow.

December 2nd 9 AM.

After the two hours or so, we reopened the doors and got Harvey going with a roaring fire. The one that I had put in earlier was on the verge of going out completely. The first thing we did was roll over the coal bunker, unbury it, then fill Harvey's bunker till it was heaping, topped off his water tanks, and then began plowing the yards. It was a hard task for the little engine, but with his extra weight, it helped him keep traction and momentum to clear the thick snow banks. Thankfully, clearing the yard took only an hour, but now it was clear, well, till the snow piled up again.

We backed Harvey back into his shed and closed the doors, waiting for a call to come in on the radio....and waiting....strange. Usually, we'd get called by now. I grabbed the radio and called into dispatch, but I received no response.

"That couldn't be good," called Zeph.

"I hope everyone is ok," Harvey said, looking outside the window in the door. We knew he wasn't just referring to the people at dispatch, but everyone and the other engines.

"Well, we could take a proactive approach and head out on the lines," I suggested, which opened up all three of us talking about whether or not we should. In the end, we decided to do just that. So we loaded supplies into Harvey's cab; all the clothes and blankets Zeph brought, the two thermoses full of hot chocolate I had made after breakfast, and extra food, water, and some medical supplies. The two snow shovels we mounted on the outside of our engine with his permission. Besides grabbing our radios, we had all we could take... which was a lot, and Harvey's cab was rather cramp, but we needed the supplies.

We puff out of the sheds, which we quickly closed up, and head to the sidings of the yard. Picking up the two breakdown cranes with the workman coach, an insulated tanker car, and a troublesome some truck that had some coal in it. We three felt bad for the poor truck, it didn't get the luxury of a warm enclosed shed or boiler, and had to sit exposed to the elements besides the open shed it was in. We decided to wrap it up in the layers of clothes and blankets, both to warm it up and to free up room inside the cab. The little truck managed to eek out a "thank you" from chattering teeth before we headed out onto the line.

December 2nd 12 PM.

This is weird and crazy... there is no one, like everyone vanished. We have seen no cars go by, no trains, not people, nothing. Every station we've passed has been empty and buried, same with the signal boxes. If there was to be no work done today, we would have been told. Even still, you'd think there would be SOME crazy people out and about....yes that does make US crazy, but we are the breakdown train, so it makes sense.

"Can we find a shed to warm up in?" Harvey called to us over the blistering winds and snow.

"Sure! Do you...do you see one?" I ask as I look out the cab. The conditions had gotten worse and made visibility horrible, plus we had to progress as a snails pace.

"I think there is a station coming up...I can't make out which one, though..." Came the reply from our brave engine. We proceeded on, and sure enough, we crept into the station that was as buried as the rest, snow drifts blown high and thick from the weather. I hopped out and, with much grunting and cursing, through the switch to direct us into the yard. We brought Harvey into the sidings before changing the points back to how they were, just in case another engine came along.

We dismounted our engine and trudged through the snow looking for the sheds...this...this looks like Wellsworth, or as most people consider it, Edwards station. Which means...

"Hey! I found the sheds!" Came Zeph's voice from somewhere in the snow. It was white out conditions, or close to them. We quickly hustled back to our engine, whose teeth were chattering despite a large fire. We quickly, but safely moved him and the cars into the sheds and shut the doors... no other engines were in here, which was sad, but at least we had somewhere to rest. I'll write more later.

(Authors note, I apologize if this is a bad story I'm writing, or if it goes too slow, or boring. I do not normally write so this is new for me. Any concerns or suggestions I will happily accept. Thank you.)