Brothers In The Pits: Stories of Industrial Steam

Chapter Three: Kent's Redemption

In short order, the damage was inspected. All of the wagons would need to be re-railed; if they had not fallen down the tip, they had been jerked off of the rails by the high speed and sudden stop. Kent was unhurt, but he was badly shaken. The workmen who came to assess the situation were quick to scold him for his reckless behavior.
Alan came to bring Kent back to the sheds. The old engine said nothing as he dragged the Jinty away from the tip. He just glared at him. Kent couldn't bear to look at Alan, simply looking at his buffers in shame.
If Kent thought Alan was upset, he was in for a rude awakening once they got back to the sheds. "Kent!" Mr. Johnson shouted. The Jinty winced and looked at his manager; Mr. Johnson was red in the face and furious. "What on earth were you thinking?! Not only did you cause a serious derailment, you put the lives of others in danger with that stupid stunt of yours!"
The poor Jinty was shaking in his frames. "I-I-I'm s-sorry sir," he stammered, "I-it won't h-happen again-"
"It better not," Mr. Johnson barked, "or you'll be taken off of the roster and thrown on the out-of-use line! Do you understand?!" Kent was quite sure that he did. After he managed to squeak out a "yes," Mr. Johnson stormed away.
The engines were silent that night. Nobody said a word; they just glared at Kent. Kent, for his part, took it as well as he could; he waited for the others to fall asleep before he let himself weep. He cried himself to sleep that night, having never felt so alone in his life.
The next morning, as he was being steamed up, Kent was thinking. He had to make things up to the others, but how? He knew Alan wasn't going to let him off so easily, though the Austerities were a bigger question. As he thought, he had a realization: why was he acting like this? For years, express and goods engines had taunted the little engine as he tried to go about his work. But he'd picked up a few things from those big engines, mainly that there seemed to be somewhat of a hierarchy that existed among engines. Shunters, like Kent and his siblings, were close to the bottom of this list, with the main line engines at the top. Shunters, supposedly, were only kept from the bottom because of industrial engines. I'm not a Duchess, so I shouldn't act like one, Kent thought to himself. If I'm that close to industrials in the pecking order, I should at least act like it and treat them with some respect.
Over the next few weeks, Kent worked as hard as he could. Whether it was shunting trains to the tip or bringing loaded wagons down to the station, he did it with little fuss and no complaints. Everyone was rather surprised with this, and Mike and Melissa were impressed with his sudden change of heart. "What's brought this about then?" Mike asked one day, as he and Kent shunted together a train. "You're like a whole new engine!"
"I figured I should make things up to you and the others," Kent replied. "I'm sorry for the way I acted, it wasn't right."
Mike smiled. "Hey, at least you know it. And, for what it's worth, Melissa and I are very happy to see you've changed your views." His face fell, and he looked across the yards to where Alan was taking on water. "I just wish the old man would feel the same way."
"Why is he so cold to me anyway?" Kent asked. "I know the accident upset him, but he acts as though I just killed someone."
Mike sighed. "From what Melissa tells me, Alan hasn't had the greatest experiences with engines from the main line. Just keep your chin up for now, I'm sure he'll come around." Kent hoped that was the case, but deep down, he wasn't sure.
A few days later, a large shipment was ordered. "It's going to Sodor to power their engines," Mr. Johnson explained. "Kent and Mike will each bring a train fifteen wagons down to Norwood Heath. Kent, you'll be on the way down as Mike is coming back up, so the two of you will have to pass at Agarus." The engines agreed, and set to work.
Alan was on standby duty, and scowled at Kent as the Jinty buffered up to the trucks he had to load. "I expect you to get this job done properly, do you understand?" He said crossly. "You may have improved, but I'm still not impressed with you." Kent said nothing. He was getting tired of how Alan was treating him. He just rolled to the chute to load his wagons.
A little while later, Kent was at Agarus, waiting for Mike to pass by with his empty trucks. The loud snorting of an Austerity hard at work reached the Jinty long before Mike rounded the bend, blowing his whistle in greeting. Kent blew his own whistle in return, but he couldn't help but overhear something Mike was saying to his driver as he passed. "I don't like this coupling, it doesn't feel right..." at that moment, the points were changed, and Kent started off again.
No sooner had he cleared the loop than he heard Mike's whistle blowing frantically. "Runaway!" Mike shouted to Kent. The coupling holding him and the lead truck together had broken, and the empties were now rolling back down the hill at a great pace. The trucks giggled madly. "On! On! On!" They shouted as the chased after Kent.
Kent was horrified. "Faster driver, faster!" He shouted. The driver opened the throttle as wide as he could and the the Jinty sped up frantically. Just then, he had an idea. "When they hit us, put on the brakes!" He said to his driver. "That should slow us down!"
With a bang, the empties slammed into the back of Kent's train. His driver slammed on the brakes as they train rocketed down the hill. The train began to slow down, but not as fast as Kent would have liked. The station came into view, and Kent blew his whistle frantically. Passengers ran and shouted as the train rounded the bend. Kent shut his eyes tightly...
There was a bump. Kent opened his eyes to find that the buffers had stopped him. The passengers, seeing what happened, clapped and cheered, and the stationmaster was very grateful. "Without you, that could've been a lot worse," he said. "Thank you, Kent."
The Jinty received a hero's welcome when he returned to Beckington. The workers all gave him a round of applause, and Mr. Johnson congratulated him. "This certainly makes up for what happened a few weeks back," he said. "I'll be sending you to the workshops to have a new coat of paint."
Even Alan was impressed. "Well, Kent," he smiled, "you certainly showed me what for. Maybe you aren't so bad after all." That, coming from Alan, was high praise indeed.