The Narrow Gauge saga

Trouble with freight cars.

Sir Handel and Peter Sam had hard work while Skarloey was away, even since the lakes and mountains had many visitors. So Harold the Helicopter flies around making sure nothing bad happens. "All present and correct. Time 2 return 2 base." Then Harold noticed a little orange diesel on the mountain, so he flew lower for a closer inspection. "I'm Harold. Who are you?" "I'm Rusty." "Butcha don't look that way to me." "Har har. So funny." "Anyways, I've never seen you before. YRU here?" "Sir Topham Hatt sent me to help the other engines." "Well done! Cheers! And keep up the good work!" "Cheeky chopper," muttered Rusty. "Sh'mone, Rusty," said his driver, "he was just being friendly. We're almost at the top station." Peter Sam and Sir Handel liked that Rusty came to help. Even so, Sir Handel wouldn't stop grumbling. The cars didn't like Sir Handel and wanted to play tricks on him. "Does Sir Topham Hatt make you shunt and take cars to the quarry, too?" he asked. "Yes. No one understands our feelings," sympathized Gordon, "now if you were ill, you couldn't do that stuff, could you?" "Good idea," said Sir Handel, "I'll try it." When the workmen came for his checkup, he said "I don't feel well." There wasn't time to examine him, so some of his cars were coupled behind Peter Sam's coaches, and Rusty promised to follow with the rest. Peter Sam didn't mind the extra work, he left his coaches at the station and trundled cheerfully on. The cars chattered with agitation, but he didn't know. Slate comes from the Blue Mountain Quarry. They travel down in cars on a steep railway called a funicular. Empty cars at the bottom of the slope are coupled to  one end of a steel cable. Loaded ones at the top were hitched to the other end. The heavier loaded ones go down the hill pulling the lighter emptier ones up. There are strong brakes at the winding house to prevent loaded cars from rolling down too fast. In spite of the ropes being just as strong, the cars play tricks. Peter Sam waited at the bottom of the hill for the loaded cars. He never bumped cars unless they misbehaved. Sir Handel bumped them even if they were good. Peter Sam pushed the empty cars to a siding where his Fireman hitched them to the rope. Then, on another siding, he pulled back some loaded ones. With these in front of him, he stood waiting. More loaded cars stood at the top of the hill, ready to come down. But they couldn't see him right. They thought he was Sir Handel. Their chance for chicanery had come. "Faster! Faster!" they yelled. "N0! N0!" wailed the empty cars, "it's Peter Sam!" Bu the loaded cars didn't listen. the coupling to the rope broke with a mighty crack! "Hurrah! Hurrah!" laughed the cars. Peter Sam shut his eyes when he heard them. They crashed into his pretty face, and one of them broke the aqueduct, showering Peter Sam. "Peep. Peep," he moaned. Rusty was working nearby and came to clean the mess. "Bust my buffers!" exclaimed Rusty, "Never mind, PS, we'll get you out." Peter Sam felt battered. His funnel was cracked, and his boiler dented. "Thank U Rusty," he sighed and limped slowly home. "I'm sorry about your accident," said Sir Handel. "I always back up when they try to do that. Cars hate me." "Why didn't you warn me?" "Because he never thinks," scowled Sir Topham Hatt. "You can start thinking now while you're doing Peter Sam's work as well as your own. That'll teach you to fake illness." Sir Handel did start thinking... about Gordon. He wanted to give that blue tub a piece of his mind. When the wreckage was cleared away, Rusty set off along the line. "Splendid to C U again," called Harold, "I was finishing evening reconnaissance." "Well done! Cheers! And keep up the good work!" And the little diesel rolled home.