Tales from the rails

The Levi Christmas Party

Dan awoke the day of Christmas Eve. It was warm in the shed, but Delilah made his fire burn warmer. Dan had his snowplow on and was ready for a hard days work. DD had a list of jobs that they had to do. "Okay, so first a coal train from Rose Coal Co. to Levi station, dropping off half the train at Drenk, then some steel from Levi Harbor to Pleasentville Station, and then..." DD took a good look at the paper. "What is it Driver?" Asked Dan. "We're picking up the Christmas tree for the party!" "That's amazing!" Delilah said as she peeked from the cab. The three set off to hurry and complete their jobs. They raced down to the quarry to pick up the coal train. Dan rolled into the quarry twenty minutes later, and next to the coal train was Mia, apparently waiting for Dan. "You're late. You were meant to be here a minute ago to the crew. "What? We're five minutes early!" Said Delilah, but she was ignored. "Seems you can't even drive this old fashioned tea kettle to the timetables." "Old fashioned?! How dare you?!" Dan said, angry. A shunter fastened coupling and the guard whistled his whistle and waved a green flag. "Just ignore her guys. If she's going to act like this, we might as well should pretend like she's not there." DD said as they took off. Snow began to fall on the rails, and Dan had a bit of trouble seeing ahead. He flew past stations and thundered over a small wooden bridge. Dan went over the junction and kept going to Drenk. Once there, be shunted his trucks. When the trucks were uncoupled from the train, some lorries came to pick up the coal and take it into town. "Alright, let's go." DD said when the guard waved his green flag. Dan whistled as he left the station and down the mainline. The tank engine had a smooth ride down to Levi Station, he passed through and went to find a siding to place his trucks. After a bit of searching for the siding where the trucks were parked and he hurried off to find his trucks of steel. There he saw Ryan, the steel train, and Tracey. "Listen, Tracey, I wasn't the one handling that brick train, so I have no idea where it is!" Ryan said as he added the brake van. "Well if you didn't, who did?!" She yelled. "Have you checked with the other shunted?" "Well, I asked Dom, and he told me to check with you." "Then go check with one of the twins." Ryan said as he hurried off. "Dan, is the coal train in siding one?" "Yes, it is." Right, I have to take that to get unloaded, bye!" Ryan said as he puffed away. Dan thundered down the line while Dan got ready to take the steel train. It was about 10 flatbeds with long steel beams on it. "Yeah, we need a banker." Said DD as they tried to pull off with the steel. "Do you want help?" Asked Tracey. "Yes please." Said Dan as his wheels slipped on the ice. "Alright, come on, I'll push you up the hill." Tracey said as she pulled behind the trucks. The two slowly set off with the flatbeds, wheels skidded and both gasping for air. "We can do it! We can do it!" Said Tracey as they started to climb the hill. "We will do it! We will do it!" Said Dan, he rolled up the hill, he crested the top, then the train and Tracey slowed down, creating the hill and whistled a, "You're Welcome!" Dan whistled back a "Thank You!" As he rolled down the line. As Dan arrived Pleasantville Station, he saw it. A truck of ornaments in front of a flatbed with a tree on it, a tarp covered it. "Yes, yes! Yes! There it is!" Said Dan as he puffed over. "We have to be careful with the ornaments, so no record breaking." Said Delilah. "Yeah, yeah." Said Dan as he coupled up to the trucks. "We ought to take the shadow mainline." Said DD. "What's that?" Asked Delilah. "Long before the mainline was built, there was an older mainline, though it wasn't as safe nor was it made for bigger engines like Tracey. So they built the new mainline, it started at the works station, and then kind of traced the shadow mainline until it reached here." Said Dan, "Look there, see. They still keep it up to railway code and have in fact made it so bigger engines like Blake and Saint Mungo can go along the line. "So it's like the second mainline?" "Basically." The train went slowly down the mainline, going around 20 miles per hour. It was slow going. "It feels like we're going to be down the line all day!" Said Dan as they passed over the freeway. "We can't go any faster, we don't want to risk breaking any ornaments." Said DD as they slowly rocked from side to side. Then there was a massive cut in the valley, it stretched on for miles. Then, a yellow A4 pacific charged down the line towards them, he whistled very loudly as he thundered past with a goods train. "Merry Christmas!" He shouted as he charged down the line. "He's in high spirits." Commented Delilah. Then the three heard a small, but very loud rumbling sound. "Oh boy." Said DD, he threw open the regulator, but was too late.