Chapter 1 - Cows

Cows
Fergus the traction engine was getting old. His bearings were worn and he clanked as he puffed along. He was taking thirty empty cattle trucks to market at the next station. He clanked and rattled along the mainline and over the viaduct. “Come on, Come on,” hissed Fergus. “Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!” screamed the trucks. Fergus rattled and clanked, the trucks clattered and screamed. Some cows were grazing near by. They weren’t used to trains. The noise and smoke disturbed them. As Fergus clanked by, they twitched up their tails and galloped across the huge pasture, and charged the fence, breaking it and busting the coupling between the 24th and 25th trucks. The last twenty-five trucks coasted to a halt at a signal. Fergus felt a slight jerk, but didn’t mind he was used to trucks. “Bother those trucks,” he thought, “why can’t they just come along peacefully.” he was at the market station before either he or his driver realized what had happened. When Spencer, Mallard, Duchess of Hamilton and Murdoch heard about the incident, they laughed and boasted, “Fancy allowing cows to break his train,” chortled Murdoch. The other engines laughed as Fergus shunted the trucks in between the four laughing engines. Donald and Douglas sidled alongside Duchess of Hamilton, Edward and Toby sidled alongside Spencer and Mallard. The laughing stopped right away. “Ye wuldn’t be makin’ fun of ool’ Fergus, noo, wuld ye.’ Donald and Douglas scolded. “You couldn’t help it,” comforted Edward. “you haven’t dealt with cows like me and Edward,” Toby put in kindly. The next day, Fergus was collecting passengers as Duchess of Hamilton sped through his station with Murdoch on the end of her express passenger train. A long stretch of track lay ahead. In the distance was a iron bridge. Her Driver and Murdoch’s driver applied the brakes and the slid to a halt 2 ft from missing a cow. Mallard and Spencer doubled headed an express and the slid to a halt, having passed through Edward’s station. The two trains had to go back to the station. Duck brought the last twenty-five cattle trucks and they loaded the stray cow onto one of Duck’s trucks and Duck took them to market. As soon as the line was cleared, the two trains crossed the bridge. “Not a word, keep it dark,” they whispered as they passed each other, but the story soon spread. That night at the sheds, Fergus chuffed, “Four big engines afraid of a cow.” “Afraid, rubbish. We didn’t want the poor cow to hurt herself. We stopped so as not to scare her, you see my dear, Fergus,” Mallard huffed. “yes, Mallard, I see,” huffed Fergus, Mallard felt somehow that Fergus saw to well. All the other engines had a great laugh that night and through the next day.

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