Episode 2: Snowy Path

One night at Tidmouth Sheds, the engines gathered around Sean to hear his story.

"I can't wait to hear what your railroad is like." Duck said.

"Yes." Exclaimed James, "It would sound interesting."

"Alright. If you all insist, I'll tell you my story." Said Sean, so everyone listened.

"Once upon a time," began Sean,

I was working for a big railroad in the United States. One part of the line I worked on was called the Hudson Division. It was a nice place, though the weather was cold, especially in winter.

There were other engines there as well, not only for my railroad, but for two others. Metro North, which was a commuter line running trains to and from the big city. Then there was Conrail, the only trains on that line was freight.

"That must be dreadful," James said

"Not as dreadful as having to pull a train, while plowing lots of snow on the lines." Replied Sean.

It was a couple of days before Valentine's Day, and I was getting ready for a passenger train, when I saw how big the snow was on the tracks.

"Wow," I said in amazement.

"The snow is twenty four feet tall." My driver told me, "You've got seven passenger cars to pull. Can you do it?"

"I'll do my best." I told my driver, feeling quite confident.

My train was in a shed, and it was hard to move the snow while going backwards. Actually, it was hard to move the snow in general.

I got to my first station, and the passengers boarded.

"Here we go." I said to myself. I pulled the train, and pushed the snow as hard as I could. Slowly, but surely, I got out of the station. It would take a while for me to get to the next one, because it was far away.

I continued pushing the snow, while pulling my train, when I got to a tunnel. 'I'll get more speed from the tunnel since there's no snow on the tracks.' I thought. When I got in, I went faster, but not by much.

After getting out of the tunnel, I was 40 minutes late from my destination. I was glad to see another train passing me, because then I could use tracks without any snow on them, or so I thought.

"We can't use the tracks that other train was just on," My driver explained, "The points are frozen, and cannot move."

"Bother." I said, and continued plowing snow off the tracks I was on. Shortly after that, I arrived at the station. I was refuled, and my driver came out to talk to me.

"We've got a really long way to go, but we're going over a bridge about a mile from here, and there won't be as much snow under the bridge as there is on this part." My driver said.

"Thank you, I'll manage." I replied.

It was time to leave the station, and I started to leave the station slowly. Some of the snow was sticking on my face.

"This is no way for an engine to clear tracks." I said, after some snow got in my eye.

Continuing on, I got to the bridge my driver told me about. "Time to go faster." Me, and my driver said at the same time.

Right when I got under the bridge, I went faster. "It's getting a little easier now." My driver shouted to me.

We arrived at the big city, and there was lots of snow on the bridge I was on. This bridge went over the streets, until it got to a tunnel, leading to Grand Central Station.

I arrived at the tunnel, and got all the snow out of the way. When I arrived at the station, my controller was waiting for me.

"Sir, I'm sorry." I instantly told him.

"Sorry?" My controller said, "I want to thank you for doing a great job getting these passengers here, even though you had a lot of snow in your way. As a reward, I'm going to give you a new coat of paint, and give you new parts to make you stronger."

"Thank you sir." I said happily.

"That was excellent." Duck said,

"I thought that was a great story." Thomas said,

"I'm glad we got you on our railway." James said.

All the engines were delighted by Sean's story. Even though they never got to see him do what he told them, I think that might change. Do you?