Puppets

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***Puppets*** is the fifth episode of the eleventh series of *The Dark Railway Series*.

## Plot

One morning, Andy is approached by the treasurer for the DRPS, Mr. Short. Despite his hopes that they have listened to Mr. Chairman, Mr. Short informs him that they will not be taking the engines' feelings into consideration and expect them to do as they are told, much to his fury. His driver and Mr. B sympathise with Andy, but he remains preoccupied as he travels to Merecombe where he almost bumps into Gordon. Gordon reveals that he works with Andy's brother Bear back home, but also that he is out of traffic after his prime mover failed the year before and the railway is struggling to find parts to repair him. The pair lament the situation and Andy is left wishing there was something he could do.

Meanwhile, Goose is taking on every job he can to try and generate income for the society, driving himself to exhaustion. Eddie confronts him on this and offers to take his next train in order to let Goose have a rest, promising him that the society can take the revenue from it. Goose reluctantly agrees, but only gets an hour of rest before Leno arrives complaining of a pain in his side rods. Goose offers to take his next shuttle to Soma for him. As he climbs the hill towards Soma, he pushes himself to keep going but suffers a sudden serious failure and passes out.

When Goose awakes, he finds himself back at the society's shed and learns that he has cracked a cylinder and bent his valve gear, the end result of 4 straight days without maintenance. Mr. Chairman pushes Mr. Short to allow Mr. B to return to service to cover for some of Goose's duties, but Mr. Short refuses and warns him that he is already on thin ice. He instead decides that the society will simply have to run Andy more often and further warns that they will generate capital by any means necessary with a menacing look at the engines. As he leaves, Mr. Chairman tries to assure a devastated Goose that he isn't to blame. When they accuse him of letting Mr. Short walk all over him, he admits that the rest of the society listen to the treasurer, but that he will try to sort the situation before leaving them for the night.

No one comes to see Goose and Mr. B for several weeks, until one night Mr. B is visited by Buzz who takes him to see Mr. Smash at his works. Once there, Mr. B reveals the society's situation to his old owner and admits that he wants to come back to Caracus Smash Ltd. Mr. Smash agrees to take action and summons Mr. Chairman to the works a few days later. After chewing out him out over letting the society fall out of his control, he offers to buy back Mr. B. To everyone's surprise, Mr. Chairman tells him to take him, accepting a small payment to help clear some of the society's debts. When asked, he states he is doing it for Mr. B's sake and that he will not be bullied by the rest of the society anymore. As the two men head to the office to sort out the paperwork, Mr. B tells Buzz that this shows how Mr. Chairman has come to respect engines at last, though they both remain concerned about Goose and Andy. Buzz shunts him into the works, back home once more.

## Characters

* Eddie
* Leno
* Goose
* Mr. B
* Andy
* Buzz
* Gordon
* Mr. Smash
* Mr. Chairman
* Mr. Short
* Caracus Smash (*does not speak*)
* Barry (*does not speak*)
* Colossus (*does not speak*)
* DR1202 (replica) (*does not speak*)
* Clyde (*cameo*)
* Warrior (*cameo*)
* Bear (*mentioned*)
* Zeke Dark (*mentioned*)
* Mr. Dark (*mentioned*)

## Locations

* Upway
* Bellgrave
* Galen Junction
* Merecombe
* Colhapper Shed
* Axley
* Caracus Smash Ltd
* Galen Junction Railway Museum
* Soma (*mentioned*)

## Trivia

* The title of this episode is a reference to the Ian Pooley song of the same name.
* The end credits foreshadow the events of the following episode.