The Sudrians: The Archive Collection

The Spectre Of The Viaduct

"Really?" I replied, "what's it all about?"

"Well children will go in costumes around their neighbourhood, go around to houses and ask for sweets and all sorts," answered Peter.

I rolled my eyes with a chuckle. "Oh dear," I said, "that would be troublesome over there, just buying sweets for strange children in costumes to take them away!"

Peter laughed. He then looked over at Ava, who had remained solemn. "Ava?"

The western tender engine jumped, she grinned brightly. "You startled me!" she said, "now what were you saying."

I sighed with a faint smirk, lightly on my lips. "I guess I better be off," I said, "I'll see you two later!"

"Yes of course!" called Peter, "goodbye Duck!"

I puffed down the mainline, sometimes stopping unless I was to shunt my trucks into sidings at stations or because of signals, waiting to give the all clear.

I was soon pat halfway and had just gone past Maron station. "I don't need to stop at Cronk," I said to myself, "so you'll just go past and get to Killdane straight away, then a lovely refill of coal and water and then I head my way back to Tidmouth."

I soon came to the viaduct, which headed over a ravine with a reasonable river with hard rocks that any engine, built with the strongest metal, could be killed instantly.

I went around the bend, and headed straight towards it.

Suddenly, the air became oddly cold all of the sudden and the some other reason, it got darker too.

"Did you notice that driver?" I called.

"That it just got darker? Yeah."

I began to head onto the viaduct. But as I did, I began to hear screaming. Yells of horror and oh it was just horrible.

"What is happening?!" I yelled.

My driver and fireman couldn't answer for the sound was deafening their own ears, whilst the twisted voices went down my funnels and bounced around in my smokebox.

"ARGH!!" I came to a sudden stop, not even slowing down, I, going at forty-five miles an hour, just stopped on the middle of the viaduct. I gasped in shock, whilst my crew were taken down to the ground, getting knocked out by hitting my hard, metal controls.

"Rich! Gareth!" I cried. Then I saw something, appear, it seemed to be a red sparks, just coming out of nowhere, in the middle of a viaduct, up in the air.

My eyes widen as more appeared and eventually. The sparks took shape of an engine, it came charging at me. I yelled loudly as he came screaming wildly to me. But when it touched me, it immediately disintegrated. I suddenly felt myself shot forwards, I felt lucky when my driver became conscious and manage to stop only a few miles away from Killdane.

A big, navy blue electric engine was waiting in the yards impatiently for me to arrived. I came charging in and came to a sliding stop. Bashing the trucks too.

The electric engine stared. "What's up with you?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said immediately, "just thought I was... late."

"Well you would've," sighed the electric engine, "I thought you would've never make at this point."

"Am I late?"

"No, just in time," said the electric engine.

"Ross," I growled.

"What! When an engine isn't early, they're late!"