Chapter Text
Neil was a new purchase on Sodor, and he looked very similar to Harry. He’s a simple engine, who enjoys doing his work. Harry enjoys talking to Neil, but Neil isn’t very talkative.
“Hullo, Neil.” Harry would whistle when he entered the town of Great Waterton.
“Hello, Harry.” Neil answered from the mine’s yard. But he was usually busy shunting trucks. It was owned by a man named Larry Morgan, and he was not a very nice man. If his deliveries were late, he would throw a fit. And this meant that he would often clash with Neil.
“You stupid engine!” He would shout. “You shunt too slow, those trucks aren’t being loaded fast enough.” This made Neil feel even worse than ever. Officially, he was owned by the Sodor and Mainland Railway, but the manager would loan him out to Morgan. Harry could see that Neil wasn’t happy when they slept at the sheds. One night, after Neil had had a particularly bad day, Harry began thinking about what he could do to help his friend. Then, an idea flew into his funnel. He decided to ask his driver in the morning.
The next morning, Harry and Neil both woke up to their drivers preparing them for the day ahead.
“Could I work at Morgan’s Mine today?” Harry wheeshed. The drivers looked at each other, then back at their engines.
“We’ll have to clear it with the manager.” Harry’s driver admitted. “But we can ask him.” And so, they walked off to go ask him. When they came back, the drivers told them the manager had agreed.
“Enjoy the passengers!” Harry whistled, as he went off to work at Morgan’s Mine. Morgan is a very old, very grumpy man. The yard at the mine is quite large, and when the miners arrived, they were very surprised when they saw Harry instead of Neil.
“What’s the difference?” Morgan grumbled. “As long as he knows how to shunt properly.” Harry immediately realised that he didn’t know how to shunt properly. Pah, he thought to himself, I’ve seen Neil do it dozens of times. Not to mention, I’ve watched Bertram do it from time to time. I’ll be fine.
I’m sorry to say he was very wrong. Trucks, if not handled properly, can be quite troublesome. Luckily, they couldn’t tell the difference between Neil and Harry. In fact, very few people could.
“Oh! It’s Neil, must behave.” The trucks shouted. Harry spent the day running back and forth, taking trucks full of rocks to the station for Neil to move. Neil was beaming from buffer to buffer as he passed by. Then there was trouble. One of the trucks noticed Neil’s number.
“It’s not Neil!” It shouted. “It’s that other green engine!” But Harry had been polite to them, so they didn’t cause trouble. But there are always those who enjoy making trouble.
“He didn’t tell us he wasn’t Neil.” One of them whispered. “We should teach him a lesson.”
“We shan’t! We shan’t!” The others retaliated. And Harry continued his work throughout the day, until trouble struck. Harry puffed up, his mind on how Neil was enjoying the passengers, when he bumped into a line of trucks.
“Oh!” Harry shouted. “Sorry!” But one of the trucks hadn’t been coupled properly, and rolled back into the mine.
“You stupid engine!” Morgan shouted. “You’ve sent that truck back into the mine!” Then, he took a closer look at the engine. “You aren’t Neil!” He snapped. Meanwhile, the troublesome truck whispered to the others.
“See? He’s mean. He bumped one of us into the mine!” It reasoned. The other trucks had to admit that he was right. Harry had bumped one of them into the mine. Meanwhile, Morgan had stomped away to complain to the manager, leaving Harry to pull a line of trucks to the station. The train was meant to be added to the passenger service at the station. Harry slowed down when he approached the station at Great Waterton. That was the truck’s chance. “Bump him back! Bump him back!” He chanted. I’m sorry to say that he managed to convince some of the others to bump Harry too.
“Ooh! Ooh!” Harry shouted as the trucks bumped into him. Neil watched as Harry was bumped beyond the platform and into the station points. He applied his brakes, but he still overshot the platform. Harry backed up to the points, and added his trucks onto Neil’s coaches.
“Come on, you.” Neil smiled, pulling the longer train away. Harry smiled. Neil had a way with the trucks.
“Ah, Harry!” Came a familiar voice. Just the engine I want to see.”
The manager and Morgan were on the platform. Morgan’s face was so red, Harry thought it might burst.
“Mr Morgan tells me you haven’t been working properly.” The manager explained. “He says you have fumed in a siding all day.”
“I wish I had, sir.” Harry wheeshed. “I’ve been shunting trucks all day, sir.” The manager turned to Mr Morgan.
“I do not take kindly to liars, Mr Morgan.” The manager spoke. “I understand that you were anticipating Neil, but if you continue to mistreat my engines, then I shall have no choice but to terminate our agreement.” Morgan was furious! He was so mad he threw his hat down onto the tracks and stormed away. The manger spoke kindly to Harry. “I am sorry you’ve had a bad day, Harry. I won’t make you go back to his mine, but I will understand if you want to,” But he didn’t finish his sentence, as Harry was already on his way back to do some more hard work.