Vandals

"Vandals" is a story written by Loco123456.

## Story

Passengers were boarding Annie and Clarabel one summer's evening. The porters helped the guard load Clarabel with all the baggage. As the departure time came nearer and nearer, the guard and porters walked up and down the train, making the sure the doors were closed.
"Thirty seconds left," noted the Guard, looking at his pocketwatch.
"WAIT! We must board this train@"
Some holidaymakers rushed pass the ticket checking barrier; the porters came running out to block them from the coaches' doors.
"You're late. You shall travel down the line on the next train."
"But our friends are on board," explained the holidaymakers.
One of them got pass the porters and opened Clarabel's door to put the baggage inside.
"Clarabel's full. We'll have to ta-"
"You won't be able to ride this train," snapped the porters.
As the porters shooed them away the guard closed the door, blew his whistle, and they puffed away.
Thomas was only a few minutes late; but any delay was taken seriously. They soon arrived at Knapford.
"Right then. You two shall stay here. I'll be back for you in the morning."
Thomas shunted them to the Carriage Shed and left for the harbor to pull the mail train.

Nighttime came.
"It's alright. We can enter safely into the yard without getting caught," whispered one of the angry holidaymakers.
They walked silently into the yard. They boarded Clarabel first.
"Stop banging on my windows you silly children," she shouted in her sleep. But the shattering of glass woke her from her dream. "What's going on?! Annie! Annie!"
"Why are you shouting Sir?" said Annie, but she too soon woke from her own dream to realize what was happening.
Inside the coaches, the angry holidaymakers used their hammers to break the windows and rip the seats.
In the morning when Thomas came back he was horrified.
"Those angry holidaymakers did this," moaned Annie.
Thomas shunted them into the line of trucks and coaches going to the Steamworks, and his driver told the Yard Master, who told the Control Officer on Thomas' Branch Line.

Thomas used ordinary coaches for his trains that day; but he ecouldn't stop thinking about what had happened. What if they broke other rolling stock? What if they tried to hurt him? All these worries had to be bottled up for the time being while he worked. It wasn't until he got an hour's break in-between his trains that he got to talk about it.
"We better protect our rolling stock," advised Toby after hearing about it wile taking on coal. "Maybe they're out to get us."
"But it's not our fault."
"Even so, nobody cares about others when they're absorbed in their anger. Besides, we can't control them; all we can do is make a plan to end this."
As Toby worked at Ffarqhuarr Quarry that afternoon he thought of ways to catch them. That evening he finally thought of something that might work. He told his driver the plan, who called the COntrol Officer and told her about it.
"We'll make arrangements right away."

That night Toby left Henrietta at Knapford Yards. Then he trundled back to Ffarqhuarr so he could start work early in the morning. Soon policeofficers arrived and hid in every coach. Just as Toby had predicted, the angry holidaymakers returned.
"Look! Another coach. That one probably isn't really useful seeing how she is small!" they were referring to Henrietta, who tried hard not to say anything. They opened the door-
"Surprise! You're all under arrest for vandalism and trespassing!"
The next day the Fat Controller came to see Toby.
"Well done! You've saved the rolling stock not just for the branch line, but also inspired other yards along the railway to safely portect their coaches.
"I couldn't have done it without Thomas telling me Sir."
The Fat Controller also praised Thomas.
"You did the right thing by speaking up."
Soon Annie and Clarabel were back at work with Thomas. As for the rolling stock on the whole of Sodor, every yard now has a watchman on duty during the night to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again

## Trivia

* This story was inspired by an incident that took place on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on July 23, 2017. You can help the railway repair the damage done by going to this link: https://www.nymr.co.uk/Appeal/teak-set-appeal