- 1934 -
Toby, the tram engine has been working on his small line for quite some time now, he missed his siblings dearly and even missed the harbour he use to work at. But he enjoyed his new life on his branch line much more. It was more peaceful and the people along the line were very friendly.
The farmers enjoyed Toby too. "You are reliable," they said, "we will come to you when we need our goods to be taken to market!"
There was, however, a problem that needed to be solved. The line had only been opened recently and the hustle and bustle of it had made organising rolling stock for it quite difficult. Trucks weren't a bother, they always came in and out from Toby's junction. But coaches did the same, one day the driver would introduce a new coach to Toby, only for it to be sent back to where it came from.
Toby grumbled about this dreadfully. "A branch line needs to have its designated coach," he would say, "I can't just keep getting a new coach and pray it will stay the next day."
The people along the line also shared Toby's complaints and one day, Toby's driver came to the shed with news. "Control is sending a new coach for us for a trial run," he said, "if things go well she might be our permanent coach on the line!"
"When will she arrive?" asked Toby excitedly.
"I believe today," smiled the driver.
And he was right, when Toby trundled to his junction, he found that one of the tank engines had brought a coach from the works, he could tell, she had sparkling new parts and a new coat of paint which glistened in the sunlight.
"This is Hannah," said the tank engine, "she'll be your coach for today." He then gave a judgemental sniff at the tram engine. "Good luck."
Toby just ignored him as the engine left back up the mainline. Once he had gone, Toby smiled at the new coach. "Hello," he greeted, "my name is Toby."
"'Ello Toby!" exclaimed Hannah, "I'm really excited to be working with you!"
The excitement and loudness caught the tram engine off guard, but he gave a kind smile to the coach. "So am I," he replied.
Soon enough, he buffered up to her and took her to the platform. The passengers were delighted to see a sparkling new coach today. Toby was a little unsure however, throughout the entire time he had worked with Hannah, she had been bubbly and impatient. And he had only brought her to the platform!
"That was soooooo slow," said Hannah loudly, "couldn't you have done that quicker?"
"Perhaps," Toby said, "but I'm not designed to be quick. I was designed to be safe and careful."
"But that's boring," huffed Hannah, she then heard a loud shrill of a whistle and a massive tender engine puffed quickly by with a passenger train, it didn't stop for Toby and kept on going, gliding away with their coaches behind. Hannah was amazed. "Look how fast that engine's going!" she squeaked, "go that fast Toby! Plllleeeeaaaasse."
But Toby only huffed. "We'll go the speed I have always gone on this line," he replied sternly, "and that's that." He then blew his whistle when he heard the guard's whistle and began to trundle along out of the station and along his line.
At first, things went smoothly, Hannah did what she was told by Toby, but it wasn't long until she got bored. "Go faster!" she barked.
Toby scowled but ignored her and kept puffing along at his own steady pace. Hannah rolled her eyes at this and decided to take action. Further down the line, Toby was coming to a crossing, it didn't have gates, so Toby always slowed in case someone was coming. But to his shock, before he could apply his breaks, Hannah bumped into him and pushed him forward. "Go on! Go on Toby!" she laughed.
Caught off guard, Toby didn't know what to do, he had never experienced something like this from a coach! He rang his bell and blew his whistle in alarm, luckily, a tractor heard him and stopped at the crossing and was shocked to see Toby puff past quicker than usual. "What are you playing at Toby?" he called.
Toby didn't respond, he was trying to control Hannah, but was finding it difficult. The next station appeared and Toby knew he had to stop, he applied his brakes hard on. "Stop Hannah!" he cried. Hannah just ignored him and kept on laughing, trying to push Toby on.
But the tram engine was much stronger than the new coach and managed to stop, but only when both he and Hannah were cleared from the platform. The passengers at the station were shocked by this and the passengers in Hannah were fuming. "That was dangerous," they said.
"Reckless and irresponsible," huffed Toby crossly in agreement.
Hannah didn't seem to care. "That was fun!" she said, "let's try and go faster next time."
"No," scolded Toby, "we could've caused an accident!"
"At that speed?" smirked Hannah, "oh please. Besides, there was no accident on that run anyway!"
"But the passengers didn't enjoy it at all," scowled Toby, "we have a responsibility to look after the people on our line."
Hannah said nothing, just rolled her eyes with a wry smirk on her face. Toby only sighed, he knew this was going to be a long day.
***
Toby was quick to adapt. Hannah tried to push Toby on down the line, trying to make him go faster, but Toby kept braking carefully, trying his best to control her. But she was stubbornly insistent on going fast. Thankfully, the guard agreed with Toby and tried to keep her under control as well. But after a few trips on their own, it was time to collect trucks, and that was harder than previously on their own. The trucks never misbehaved with Toby, but the weight of them, but it was a lot harder for Toby to control Hannah, who kept pushing him. The rides were rougher and the passengers were getting angrier.
"We won't ride in such a coach!" they complained, "when we demanded a permanent coach, we didn't want one that is rude and rough!"
Control soon got the complaints and decided it best to cut the trial short with Hannah. That night, the driver came up to Toby with good news. "They will be bringing up one of Hannah's sisters so you can have a trial with them instead," he said, "hopefully, she is much better than that hasty thing."
"What will happen to Hannah?" quizzed Toby.
"She'll be put use on our line for a while until they find a better use for her," said the driver, "I don't know with what though."
***
The next day, the same tank engine from yesterday brought a new coach to the junction. "Here you go," he said briefly, "this here, is Henrietta."
This time, the tank engine said no remark to Toby and left, rushing back up the mainline. Toby looked at the coach a little unsure. This coach looked exactly like Hannah, however, her face was completely different. She had much smoother features compared to Hannah's.
"Hello," greeted Henrietta, in a much more calm manner, "I heard you had Hasty Hannah for the day?"
"Indeed," huffed Toby, "what a day I wish I could forget."
Henrietta chuckled. Toby smiled at that, but still felt weary of the coach, he coupled up with her and brought her to the platform. Toby prepared for the demands of going faster, but to his relief, Henrietta followed quietly along and waited patiently at the platform for the passengers. Soon, they were heading down the line, the ride was smooth and Henrietta trundled behind the tram engine peacefully. Toby was beginning to let his guard down already, he began to talk to the coach and by the time they reached the end of the line, they were chatting like old friends.
The rest of the day went smoothly, Henrietta didn't complain about the trucks rattling behind her and didn't bump Toby to go faster. By the end of the day, Toby shunted Henrietta next to his shed, very pleased with the day. "I'm glad they brought you here," he said, as he backed into the shed.
"So am I Toby," smiled Henrietta.
***
Henrietta's trial was a success and she became Toby's faithful coach, he took her everywhere and wouldn't leave her in the sidings no matter what. As for Hannah, she remained in the sidings, used as a tool shed, where bits and bobs were put in. She didn't like that at all.
This is where I could end the story, but it isn't, there is still more because I'm sorry to say Hannah didn't learn anything at all whilst being stuck in that siding.
Because one morning, an engine arrived at the junction looking red in the face and very cross. "Stupid brake van," he growled.
"What's wrong?" called Hannah from the siding.
The engine looked over at Hannah briefly, then back down at his train. "My brake van has decided to use her brakes against me!" he said crossly, "silly thing can't understand that this train is meant to be a fast goods!"
An idea then flew into Hannah's roof, and she grinned, seeing her chance had come. "So she doesn't like to go fast?" she said coyly.
"No."
"Then why don't you put me on?"
The engine stared at the coach, then wheezed out a laugh. "You?" he exclaimed, "be a brake van? Don't be absurd."
"I am a brake coach," said Hannah, not caring for the insult, "and unlike your brake van, I love to go fast. Put me on!"
The engine looked a little unsure, but Hannag continued to persist and the brake van wasn't going anywhere. She did not like his speed and refused to go any further. The engine sighed deeply and then began to move to get Hannah on and his brake van off. He did so. But before he left, Toby arrived with his Henrietta in tow and a few trucks, full and heavy.
Toby saw Hannah on the back of the train and blinked in shock. "What are you doing?" he demanded to the engine at the front.
"Taking this persistent coach with me," sniffed the engine, and before Toby could say anything, the engine steamed off, with Hannah at the tail end, looking eager and excited.
"Look at me Toby!" he called, "I'm going on a fast train! Better than you any day! No, wait, any minute!"
Toby watched as the train disappeared down the line and he took a deep breath and sighed. "That's trouble around the bend," he said to Henrietta, who hummed in agreement.
***
Hannah was enjoying herself. She had never gone this fast before, the engine at the front of the train raced down the line at great speed. She wailed in delight as she rattled along. "Faster!" she called, "faster, faster!"
But further down the line, she began to feel strange, she began to shudder, more and more violently. She looked down to her wheels and gasped, her axles weren't use to the speed, nor designed to go this fast, and they wobbling her lose.
She wailed now out of fright. "Slow down!" she cried to the engine, "SLOW DOWN!"
But the engine was far too ahead to hear her cries and wails. The trucks didn't help either, they laughed as she bounced along the rails.
The guard didn't like this either and immediately went for the whistle. He got out and blew his whistle long and loud. That got the engines attention and his driver looked back to see a red flag waving and Hannah shaking along. The engine reacted quickly and applied the brakes. But it was too late. One of the axles on Hannah gave way and the guard jumped clear onto the wagon in front just as the coupling broke and Hannah came off the rails and into some bushes along the line.
The engine managed to stop a few miles down the line, and the crew looked back to see the guard shakily get off the truck and lay on the grass next to the track. But no Hannah was seen.
"Call for a crane," said the driver, he shook his head and looked at his engine, "this is why we don't go so fast."
The engine looked embarrassingly away. Meanwhile, Hannah laid on her side, damaged, covered in twigs and leaves and feeling very sorry for herself.
***
"I told her," said Toby, when news came down the line, "I told her that she wasn't designed for speed. Now look at what's happened."
"Come on Toby," said his driver, "we are to collect Hannag and take her back here."
Toby harrumphed. "She can help herself," said Toby, "she wanted to go on a fast train, and that's what she got. Does not mean I will help her though."
"Toby," said Henrietta sternly, "that's not very nice."
"I'm sorry Henrietta," the tram engine said, "but she was rude and disobedient."
"But does that make it right for you to be too?"
"I'm not--" Toby cut himself off and thought for a second, then sighed gravely. "Very well," he said, "there's no time to lose."
And he set off down the line. He found Hannah, sitting on a flatbed, one side of her was completely ruined and her front wheels had all but fallen off from earlier. She was covered in dirt and leaves from the bush too and looked a sorry state. Toby smiled. "Is that you Hannah," he asked, "I'm sorry, but I thought I saw you on a fast train, not acting like a hen house."
Hannah huffed, but said nothing as Toby pulled her back to his junction.
***
Luckily, Hannah was ordered to be sent to the works to be repaired and be taken to the tramway where Toby's siblings were nearby afterwards.
Henrietta was thankful for this, but before Hannah was to be taken away, Toby came up to see her off. Hannah didn't say anything to the tram engine at first, only looking at her buffers in shame. "I'm sorry Toby," she said at last.
Toby perked up at that. "For what?"
"For being an over-excited, brash and uncaring coach," she replied, "I was careless and in the clouds. Not caring for the passengers on this line, and not caring about your well-being too. I'm sorry for being so rude and disobedient."
Toby smiled warmly at the coach. "Thank you Hannah," he said, "I wish you the best."
"I wish you well too Toby," Hannah smiled back, "and I'm glad you got Henrietta. She is the most faithful as any coach can get!"
The guard blew their whistle and the train began to leave the junction. "And!" called Hannah, "I will try to be a better coach! I promise!"
A chuckle escaped Toby as he watched the train disappear into the distance. "I know you will," he said, as he trundled off back to work.
Toby and Henrietta worked hard on their little line for years to come. Henrietta was as faithfully as any coach can get, Toby never leaving her behind when out working. Toby sometimes thinks about Hannah from time to time, he never saw that coach again, but smiled knowing that whatever happened to Hannah, she had become a better coach.
And besides, he should really thank her for being so reckless from the beginning. Afterall, without her, Toby and Henrietta would have never met, and Toby can't imagine a world without his faithful coach anymore.