Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends: Into The Boob Verse.

Clifton & The Loose Container

(Credit to sirfowler1 for Simon's design.)

The storms had passed, but the damage was done. The container yard, located near the engine sheds had taken a large battering. While the cranes had stayed up right, and the line undamaged, containers, materials and other supplies were scattered around the dockside like confetti. Many of the containers were undamaged, and had to be taken to the big station, where one of the big engines would take them away. Simon The Container Yard Engine found it almost impossible to clear on his own.

"I can't manage much more of this!"

He panted.

"I'm being run into the ground!"

His owner agreed, and asked The Fat Controller to assist.

"He can't move the trains and shunt them all by himself."

She explained.

"Moving one load to the harbour, then instantly coming back wears an engine out. We can't have him breaking down."

The Fat Controller understood.

"I'll have some of my engines collect them directly from the container sidings. It means the containers will have to be inspected earlier, but that shouldn't be much of a problem."

So it was arranged. Clifton was the first engine to venture into the yard. Simon was most grateful.

"And here I thought I would be left on my own!"

He joked. Clifton quickly set to work, moving the trains with ease. The trains soon began to arrive early, and Clifton found himself trying to fit in more and more runs.

"We're wiped out!"

Gasped his driver.

"Barely any moment to rest. Seems Simon's getting the rest we're now lacking!"

Of course, he wasn't. With the extra trains scheduled, Simon had to meet these demands.

"This shouldn't last long."

His owner told him.

"Just until the last of the mess is cleared."

One morning, Clifton huffed into the sidings. He found Simon still shunting his train.

"Shouldn't it be ready by now?"

He growled. Simon didn't have the steam to reply.

"We had trouble starting him up. Sorry about this!"

He stoker shouted. Clifton only replied in a sigh.

Simon found the trucks hard to manage. He had just shunted a few trucks onto the train, when the owner scuttled over.

"The container in the middle is damaged, inform Clifton he'll have to shunt it off his train at the next station. A truck will take it onwards."

Simon agreed, and finished shunting the train. They were so late, that the workmen didn't have time to inspect the train. Simon's mouth was dry, as Clifton finally snorted away! He never had a chance to tell the mighty blue engine about the damaged load.

"Oh-oo."

He gulped.

Out on the mainline, they were going well. Clifton was making remarkable time.

"We'll be early again at this rate!"

His stoker giggled.

This soon changed. As they rounded the bend to Gordon's hill, Clifton heard an awful groaning noise!

"Ohh! What's going on!?"

He whined. As we know, Gordon's hill has more than one bend. As they rattled over the second, it happened! The damaged container walls couldn't hold the strain! It suddenly collapsed, spilling imported food all over the line! This in turn, caused the trailing trucks behind it to come off the line, but they managed to stay upright.

"Goodness me!"

His guard gasped.

"What a mess! It'll take a long time to clear the line, which will lead to confusion and delay!"

It did. The rest of the day, trains slowly rolled past, giving Clifton angry scowls as they did so. The Fat Controller too wasn't impressed, but understood it was no one's fault.

"Let's just be thankful it wasn't more serious."

He said.

When the line was cleared. Clifton returned to the sidings. Simon was there, having a proper hose down.

"I'm sorry about all of this."

He confessed.

"I was so worn out, it just slipped my mind. I hope the other engines don't give you too much grief."

Clifton only smiled.

"They will, but these things happen. It could happen to anyone."

Simon grinned. For an engine of little words, coming from Clifton was very special indeed.