[2003]
Neville knew he had to work fast. Not only did he have no way of knowing if Stanley would be able to cover his next train, if anyone noticed all these misplaced wagons, Sidney would be the one under fire.
“First up, the old Lead Mines…” Neville said aloud. He’d overheard Toby mentioning some old vans near Toryreck’s siding.
“Well… that’s certainly an easy mistake to spot.” He said, bluntly.
“I’m pretty sure refrigerated meat and a lot of lead don’t mix.” Bruno added.
[ / ]
Next was Edward’s station. Neville looked around, but with how the yard was … well, not organized, he couldn’t tell what was out of place.
“Hello, Neville!” Called Belle. “Would you happen to know what those dairy tankers are doing here?”
“Did one of the new engines bring them in?” Bruno asked.
“Rosie said one did - a blue shunting diesel.”
Neville made his way over to the siding, and placed the tankers in front of his vans.
“Thank you, Belle.” He smiled.
“What’s going on?” Bear asked, raising an eyebrow. “You look like you’re in a hurry.”
“I… just have a daunting workload. You know how it is this time of year.” Neville said with a forced smile.
[ / ]
“Those flatbeds belong at Vicarstown.” Bruno said, causing Neville to nearly throw on his brakes.
Neville was uncoupled from the tankers, and picked up the flatbeds. The signal changed to red just as he started for the main line. The boxy steam engine grimaced.
Thirteen soon passed by with a light goods train in tow. He whistled a cheerful greeting, which Neville returned.
“March!! March!! March!!”
A gruff, officious sounding voice boomed from the back of the train, making Neville wince.
“One-two-three-four One-two-three-four!”
Neville was quite relieved when the voice barking orders dissipated towards the hill. Shouting and commands like that brought back unpleasant memories. One look towards Bruno showed he didn’t much care for the loud noise either.
[ / ]
“They weren’t kiddin’ when they said they had engines of ‘all shapes ‘n’ sizes’ around here!” Sparrow chuckled as Neville pulled into Kellsthorpe Station.
Victor shot Sparrow a glare, but the damage had been done. Neville looked away awkwardly.
“Would you happen to know what those stone trucks are still doing here?” Victor asked.
“I was um, just coming to pick them up.” Neville stammered.
“They’re for Vicarstown as well.” Bruno whispered.
“Good. You can leave those vans back there in the siding if you’d like. Sparrow will take them to the yard.”
“Since when?” Sparrow grunted.
“Let me rephrase.” Victor sighed. “If he knows what’s good for him, Sparrow will have those vans dealt with.”
Sparrow rolled his eyes. Neville took no notice, and went to add the stone trucks to his train.