Work Text:
August 28th, 1959
The engines on the Island of Sodor love their work. They are busy day and night, pulling passengers and goods, and shunting trucks about. But none of them like to be a middle engine. It’s no fun to be stuck in the middle.
One warm morning, Percy was asked by the Fat Controller to collet empty trucks from the Vicarstown Smelter’s Yard, to take to the coaling plant. Two diesels had been purchased to work at the Smelter’s Yard, and this would be the first time he would be meeting them.
When Percy arrived at the Smelter’s, I found the trucks in a siding.
“Those are your trucks to take to the coaling plant,” explained the yard manager. Percy understood this, but he saw no sign of the two diesels. Maybe they are a little shy, he thought. He back down onto the trucks, and where couple up, but just as he was about to head off, a voice could be heard.
“Now Bert!” a scruffy and deep voice came. Percy was very caught off guard by the voice, when suddenly. POOF! A line of trucks was coupled in front of Percy.
“Huh?! Hey! What is this nonsense?” asked Percy, with raspy laughing following soon after.
“Little green piggy in the middle!” came another deeper scruffy voice, and the sound of a roaring diesel engines could be heard from far in front.
“Bother!” said Percy’s driver. “I guess we will have to do this journey very carefully,” As they carefully set off to the coaling plant.
As Percy travelled very carefully down the mainline and couldn’t help by notice the other engine’s laughing at him.
“Look! Percy is playing piggy in the middle,” laughed James puffing by with a passenger train, as the passengers from his coaches observed the strange sight. When he had to stop to take on water nearby a station, there was Gordon was the express.
“You never catch me playing while taking the express. That type of behaviour is beneath such an important engine,” puffed Gordon, importantly, as he speeds away to Vicarstown. Percy felt like a fool and couldn’t help but feel angry towards those diesels.
Once he arrived that the plant, the yard manager, Mr Ryley, notice the little green saddle tank hauling his train in the middle and was very confused.
“Oh my. What happened to you, Percy?” he asked. Percy’s driver explained what happened at the scrapyard where they got the trucks, and Mr Ryley sighed.
“I’ve seen you’ve met the twins then,” he said. Percy and his crew were confused.
“What twins?” he asked.
“’Arry and Bert. They are new to Sodor, and they love playing tricks on engines as a first impression,”
“But why though?” asked Percy’s driver, but Mr Ryley only shrugged.
“Beats me, Ken,” he replied, as he kindly asked Percy to shunt the trucks in a siding, one of the sidings was across the tracks, and they decided to put the trucks behind them in that siding. His fireman walked down to change the points over, but the changer was very new and very sensitive, meaning it had to move the leaver all the way down for the points to change, but Percy and his crew won’t be aware of it. As the fireman switch the points, Percy started to reverse, but the points switched off, the trucks derailed and dragged Percy with them.
“Help!!” cried Percy, as he laid on the ground with the trucks. Mr Ryley had notice what had happened, and went to go telephone the Fat Controller, who arrived soon, and was inform on what happened. He arrived aboard Douglas with the breakdown crank.
“The accident wasn’t your fault, Percy,” he said softly, then he turned to Mr Ryley. “But please inform any staff on my railway about new equipment with any faults,” he said sternly.
“Y-Yes sir,” said Mr Ryley. They turned their attention back to Percy.
“Will take you to the works, Percy, and get you looked over,” said the Fat Controller. Percy sighed with relief, as the breakdown crank put him on the flatbed, while the Fat Controller pondered as to why Percy had coal trucks behind him and in front of him.
At the Crovan’s Gates works, Percy was examined.
“We’ll have to replace your side rods, but other than that, you are perfectly fine, Percy. Only with a few scratches,” said the manager to him and the Fat Controller. He walked away, to leaving the little green engine with the stout gentleman.
“Is there a good reason as to why you were pulling and pushing trucks from behind and infront of you, Percy?” he asked sternly. “Do you understand how dangerous that can be for you and the others on the railway?”. Percy felt embarrassed.
“I’m sorry sir,” Percy began. “But those silly diesels at the Smelters made me a middle engine, and I didn’t have a chose,” he concluded. The Fat Controller sighed annoyed.
“Very well then.” He spoke. “Whilst you are here getting mended, I’ll have Duck to have with your workload,”
“But what about Thomas and Toby, sir?” asked Percy. “And the mail train?”
“Thomas and Toby will be fine without you for a few days, Percy, and Duck will help Thomas with the mail runs,” he said, as he worked away to his car and head to Timouth.
When we arrived at Tidmouth Station, he explained to Duck what was going on, and walked away.
“You will be doing Percy’s work until he mended, I’ll get Rosie to be station polit while you are gone,” arranged the Fat Controller, and he worked to his car, leaving Duck’s water boiled with anger. He had handled with a diesel before, but with two was a whole another story. They cause his friend to get hurt, and this made him see red, but he knew that violence wasn’t the answer to anything. As he went about his day, he thought on how to get back at the diesels, then, he had an idea.
“I hope I can pull it off,” he muttered to himself.
The next day, Duck went to the Smelters yards to deliver some scrap metal, and for the twins. The manager asked him to put the trucks in a siding for the twins to collect, then Duck was to take the empty trucks away. Duck delivered half of the train of trucks to the diesels, ‘Arry and Bert were nowhere to be found.
“Perfect,” he whispered, as he puffed away to into a small siding behind a wall of scrap melting, with the other half of the trucks in front of him, uncoupled to him. Then, he heard the roaring engines of the diesels heading into the yard.
“Is that all?” asked Bert.
“Stupid Steamie. You can never trust them to do anything,” growled ‘Arry.
“Maybe that little westie would make a great piggy in the middle,” chuckled Bert, followed by ‘Arry. ‘Arry buffered up to the trucks, as Bert waited for Duck to show up. Meanwhile, Duck was waiting in the shadows for his time to strike. Arry was coupled up to the trucks and pulled them out of the siding, but just as he backup, Duck notice, he was about to run into Bert.
“Now’s my charge,” he said, crossly. His fireman quickly switches the points for Duck, so he could make his move.
“Oi! Watch it, you,” said Bert, as ‘Arry backed into him, hitting his buffers.
“Then why are you there?” asked ‘Arry, as the two started arguing, but they didn’t know what was coming next. Quickly and as quiet as he could, he buffered the rest of the trucks behind Bert, and he was quickly coupled up to them.
“Hey! What’s going on?” asked the Iron Diesels, then, they realised what had happened. ‘Arry had his trucks in front of him, while Bert had been coupled with more trucks of scrap from behind, and that could only mean one thing. Duck puffed alongside the two diesels, laughing his cab off.
“Wel, well, well. Look at these two little diesels in the middles,” he chuckled. The Iron Diesels were very cross with Duck.
“But you can’t do that. It’s breaking railway practises,” protested ‘Arry. Duck was confused.
“Oh! So, when I do get you what you deserved, I’m the bad guy, but when you do that to my friend, Percy, it’s completely? Completely fine for him to be blocked by the front and the back while travelling down the mainline? And you think him hurting himself is a completely fine and not your fault?” asked Duck, slowly getting crosser at the diesels. Bert looked defended, but ‘Arry continued to protest in their defence.
“We were only play around,” said ‘Arry, which in Duck’s opinion was a very bad defence.
“Sure, you were,” wheeshed Duck, as he rolled his eyes. “Look. I will ben across the yard, when these trucks are done, you can tell me, and I will take them away,” said Duck, as he puffed away to the manager’s office, leaving to little diesels in the middle, but I say the deserved their punishment, don’t you?