Lee's Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

Stories

The Echoing Whistle

Night time on the Skarloey Railway always has an eerie feel to it, but tonight that feel was more apparent than ever before. The fog and mist reigned over the surroundings and the noises made by the animals of the night made the atmosphere even more scary than normal. Mr. Percival isn't keen on letting his engines do night shifts of late due to Sir Handel's recent derailment in the fog to which he was left there all until the morning. Nearly all of his engines were now at the sheds and just as Skarloey pulled into his shed, he thought he could hear the chugging of another engine. He knew Duke was just finishing taking the driver's and fireman back to the main station, so he just assumed it was him, although the chugging was coming from nowhere near where Duke was. Skarloey could clearly see Duke in the distance infront of him, but the chugging noise was coming from behind the sheds.
"How odd..." he murmured to himself. Rheneas just about heard Skarloey's speech and immediately wanted to join in.
"What's odd?" he asked.
"Nothing..." replied Skarloey. "It's just me...I'm getting old..." he added, but he couldn't help keep thinking about the chugging noise. It was usual at all, and this worried him greatly.

Meanwhile, Duke was now returning to sheds after pulling the carriages full of drivers and firemen to the main station, but as he neared the sheds, he also heard something unusual. It was the faintest of whistles, but it was clear enough for him, his driver and fireman to hear.
"Who's that?" questioned Duke.
"It shouldn't be anyone..." replied his driver.
"We're the last ones on duty..." added his fireman. This made all three of them very suspicious, but just as they were about to continue on with returning to the sheds, they heard it again.
"Someone's out there..." said Duke.
"No-one else is working on this railway at this precise moment..." added in his driver adamantly.

"We're not even near the exchange line..." continued his fireman. "So its not one of the Fat Controller's engines, someone's on this railway..." All three of them look puzzled, but then dismissed they ever heard the noise so that they didn't have nightmares tonight. Soon enough, Duke was in the sheds and was just about to go to sleep when Peter Sam had a question for him.
"Who were you talking to out there?" he asked all of a sudden.
"I beg your pardon..." replied Duke.
"Who were you talking to out there?" asked Peter Sam once more.
"Oh that..." replied Duke. "I was talking to my driver and fireman. We just thought we'd heard another engine, it was nothing..." he added.
"Another engine?" queried June. "How's that possible? We're all here!"
"I don't know..." replied Duke. "It was just us, we're hearing things...there's no need to worry..."
"There is..." said Skarloey all of a sudden. "I thought I heard another engine too..."

"When?" asked Duke quickly.
"Not long ago..." replied Skarloey. "It wasn't you though. I could see you infront of me, but the noise I heard came from behind..." The other engines in the sheds gasped. None of them could believe this, but the fact the two most trustworthy engines of the railway heard it meant it must be true. They then all just stayed silent as they though through the mysterious event.

Since the revelation, none of the engines could get to sleep and they all seemed very worried at the prospect of a mysterious engine on their line.
"It can't be happening..." said Rusty. "We are all here...we can mishear things, it was just both of you misheard."
"Not likely..." continued Duncan. "Its that ghost engine again! Its back for revenge..." he continued in a worried tone.

"We all need to calm down..." added Freddie. "Stranger things have happened..."
"Since when?" protested MightyMac who were very scared at this moment.

"I don't know..." replied Freddie who was also becoming scared now, as were most of the engines.
"It's probably just Bertrum on a night shift..." suggested Sir Handel.

"Bertrum doesn't work at nights though..." replied Duke. "He hates night shifts..."
"Oh dear..." said Neil at this point. "Something is trying to get us..." Other engines agreed at were quite scared now knowing that it wasn't just their old friend Bertrum, it was someone else, someone they didn't know, and this was terrifying indeed. Then just as the engines were starting to calm down and relax once more, Rheneas spotted a light in the distance, it was a red light.
"It's a tail-lamp!" he exclaimed. "Their over there!" The other engines looked on and were most shocked by the sight before them.
"It can't be..." said Duke. "I was only hearing things! I didn't mean it to be real!" he protested, but the tail-lamp got brighter in the distance meaning the engine it was attached to was getting nearer.
"Oh my..." cried June.
"It's going to get us!" screamed Rusty. Everyone looked on in horror as the tail-lamp got brighter, they couldn't believe what was happening, and then its whistle went. It echoed loudly and proudly over the Skarloey railway and scared not only the engines in the sheds, but also the animals of the night. The fog disguised the engine beyond recognition and all the engines were powerless as they had no-one to drive them. They were stuck and as the whistle got louder and echoed even more, a collective scream was heard from the Skarloey railway sheds.

The horror was just unfolding...