Bert's Milk Train

**Bert's Milk Train** is the twenty-second episode of the first season.

## Plot

There are many different railways on the Island of Sodor; there's the North Western Railway, which is where the Fat Controller's engines work. The Skarloey Railway, where the Thin Controller's engines work, and the Culdee Fell Railway, where Mr. Richards' engines work. But there is also a railway on the west part of the island connected with Duck's Branch line called the Arlesdale Railway, the engines who work here are miniature gauge engines and their names are Rex, Mike, Bert, Frank and Jock, while their controller is Mr. Fergus Duncan. They work hard pulling passengers and hauling trucks of ballast and wool to their destinations, while showing the really useful.

It was a bright morning one day on the Island of Sodor and the miniature engines had just awoken from their sheds.

"Good morning." Rex puffed.

"Morning." Bert replied. "Good sleep last night."

"Great!" said Rex. Jock woken up.

"Good morning, everyone!" he said cheerily, the other engines called morning back. Mike was the last one to wake up, but he wouldn't do because he had a very late night that night. Rex chuckled.

"Let's go and wake Mike up." he said cheekily.

"I agree." sniggered Jock, so Rex blew a loud whistle.

"Wake up, Mike!" he shouted.

Mike woke up, startled. "Hey!" he shouted. "Who blew that whistle?!"

"It was me." Rex admitted.

Mike was cross. "Why would you blow your whistle, while I'm trying to sleep here?!" he spluttered.

"Because it's time for work." said Rex laughing at the whole process. Mike didn't care.

"Waking me up at the wrong time? Huh! Typical!" he grumped.

"Okay, I don't want to hear anymore of both of your antics." said Bert. "Rex is right, we have work to do."

"But not now!" Mike retorted.

"There will be soon." teased Rex, Mike was growing crosser and crosser.

"Shut up!!" he spluttered and he blew his whistle loud and long. Bert, Rex and Jock shut their eyes tightly and their crew covered their ears, Mike finally stopped whistling, but was out of breath for whistling too long.

"Oh, goodness..." he panted. "You're all quiet."

"Just about time!" said Bert crossly. Mike snorted, then the Small Railway controller, Mr. Fergus Duncan aka The Small Controller arrived, though he was nicknamed "The **Small** Controller", he wasn't small at all. He was very tall, much taller then the Fat Controller and the Thin Controller. But he wasn't happy when he came.

"Who blew that loud whistle before?!" he asked sternly. The three engines looked at Mike, who let out a meek sigh.

"Sorry, sir." muttered Mike. "That was me."

The Small Controller wasn't happy. "Mike, because of what you did then," said the Small Controller, "you will only be allowed to pull coaches until you can learn how to be useful." he scolded. Mike's jaw dropped, he gasped in horror.

"B-But sir..." he stammered, "I hate pulling coaches, I like pulling freight." The Small Controller was stern.

"Well, you should've thought of that before!" he boomed.

"Ohhh!" Mike groaned sharply. Then he remembered. "But sir, who's going to take my milk delivery to Arlesdale Green?" the red engine asked in concern.

"Well..." The Small Controller thought carefully. Then he found just the engine. "Now you're pulling coaches as a punishment, I am giving your job to Bert." The Small Controller said. Bert was surprised.

"Oh, thank you sir." he said, he never usually carried milk deliveries.

"The train is waiting for you down at Arlesdale station." said the Small Controller. "I'd say you better get going."

"Yes, sir." said Bert and he chuffed away, feeling a bit excited.

While Bert was chuffing to the station, he saw Oliver waiting at the ballast hopper. Bert whistled to him.

"Good morning, Oliver." he whistled cheerily.

"Oh, hello Bert." Oliver replied. "I'm just waiting for Rex to come and shunt some trucks of ballast onto the hopper for me." The 14xx tank engine explained.

"Oh, okay." said Bert.

"Hello, Mr. Bert." said Toad from behind Oliver's trucks.

"Oh, hello Toad." Bert replied.

"Busy day today." Toad said cheerily.

Bert laughed. "I know it is, for me especially."

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked.

"Well, Mike woke up in a bad mood this morning and he blew his whistle really loud, the Small Controller heard it and he made Mike pull coaches for the day, while I do his milk delivery." Bert explained. Oliver was surprised.

"Oh, okay." he said, then Bert chuffed away.

"Bye Oliver!" he whistled.

"Goodbye to you!" Oliver whistled back.

Bert arrived at Arlesburgh station and coupled up to a train of trucks which were filled with milk churns. The shunter was surprised.

"Oh, hello Bert." he said puzzled. "I thought Mike would be doing his job."

"No, he isn't today." Bert told the shunter. "He's been punished and he is now pulling coaches."

"Oh, alright then." said the shunter, itching his cheek. "Let's just get you coupled up." So the shunter coupled Bert to the train and Bert whistled and chuffed away.

Bert was chuffing through the countryside, he was fascinated by the scenery and the greenery, he liked looking at the birds flying by singing. "This is nice and relaxing." Bert chuffed to himself. "Don't you agree, driver?"

"Count me in." The driver replied. "Arlesburgh Green isn't far."

"I know, already." said Bert, he liked doing this job. As he was chuffing along the line, he saw Bertie the bus driving along the road, he tooted his horn when he seen Bert.

"Hello Bert!" Bertie called.

Bert whistled back. "Hello Bertie." he said.

"What are you doing?" Bertie asked.

"Taking this train of milk to Arlesdale Green." Bert told him.

"Oh, I see." said Bertie. "Goodbye now!" As Bertie drove further away. Bert went back to looking at the scenery again, he then saw the Thin Clergyman riding on his bicycle. Bert decided to whistle morning.

"Morning!" Bert said politely. The Thin Clergyman was in a hurry, but he did hear Bert.

"Oh, morning Bert," he panted, "sorry, can't stop, I'm late to go home." and he rode even faster on his bicycle. Bert was confused.

"Oh, he looks like he's in a rush, I wonder why." he thought to himself. Bert was nearing Arlesdale Green. "Nearly there, now." he chuffed to himself. But then trouble began. Willie the farmer was driving along the road with his tractor.

"Oh no, I'm already late!" he said to himself, he started driving faster, but a little too fast. As he drove near the crossing, he felt his tractor jump a little. "Eh, what's going on?" thought Willie, his tractor had stopped, right in front of the level crossing, he jumped off his tractor to investigate, then he sighed. "Oh, I've got a wheel flat." moaned Willie. "And someone is going to crash right into my tractor. Great!" he sighed. Then he heard Bert's whistle, and he got even more worried. "It's Bert!" cried Willie in alarm. Then he found a red flag near the crossing gate, he picked it up and waved it in the air. "Bert! Stop!" Willie shouted. Bert heard him.

"Huh! What's going on?" Bert thought confused. Then he saw the danger.

"Stop!" cried Willie cautioned.

"Oh no!" Bert applied his brakes just in time, but the milk churns in his trucks flew into the air and splashed down into a field nearby. Milk was scattered around the field, while some of the milk churns stayed intact with the trucks, a majority did not. What was worst, was that some milk churns in the trucks were leaking, plus spilling the milk into the trucks. "Oh no..." Bert groaned, he was sad.

"Oh, crumbs! That's torn it!" sighed Willie. What was the Small Controller going to say now?

He found out soon enough. "Goodness, gracious me!" he said. "What's been going on here?" Bert was sad.

"I'm sorry sir..." he said, but Willie quickly interrupted.

"No, it's not his fault." Willie said. "It's mine."

The Small Controller raised an eyebrow confused. "Really?" he asked. "Tell me what happened." he ordered.

"Well, I was late going back to the farm after delivering some supplies and my tractor gained a wheel flat while I was hurrying along the crossing." Willie explained. "And I warned Bert about the incident, he stopped in time, but the milk churns in his trucks flew into that field and even spilt in his trucks." The idle farmer explained. The Small Controller was concerned.

"I see." he muttered to himself. "But, we'll have to clean this mess up immediately." he ordered.

"Yes, Mr. Duncan." said Willie.

"I'll help too, sir." said Bert.

Soon, the mess was cleaned up, but sadly, some of the milk was gone. "Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" groaned the Small Controller. "It's too late to take these milk churns to Arlesdale Green now. Bert, you must pump your pistons and get to the dairy at Arlesdale Green as quickly as possible." The Small Controller said urgently.

"Yes, sir!" Bert replied, Willie had moved his tractor off the crossing.

"You can go now, Bert." he said.

"Thanks Willie." said Bert and he chuffed off as fast as he could.

Bert arrived at the dairy at Arlesdale Green, he was very late. The manager was not happy. "You should've been here ages ago." he scolded. "Besides, why isn't Mike doing this job?"

Bert sighed. "Sorry, sir." he said. "But Mike's been punished and he has to pull passenger coaches, while I do his job." Bert explained.

"Well, okay." said the manager. "But let's unload these milk churns quickly."

"Oh, and also, I had a little accident," said Bert, "some of the milk is gone." The manager was upset.

"I see." he said. "Well, I must unload these straight away." he said, and as quickly as he could, the manager unloaded the milk churns from Bert's trucks. After that, Bert chuffed away back to the engine sheds.

That night, Bert rolled into his shed. The other engines were laughing at him. "So, you had a little accident, eh?" quipped Mike.

"You stopped at a crossing and milk went everywhere?" exclaimed Rex.

"That is amusing!" added Jock and the three engines laughed. Bert blew his whistle.

"Enough is enough!" he cried out. The three engines stayed silent after that. "It was just a little accident I had." Bert muttered. "It wasn't with me..."

"It was that farmer, Willie." finished Mike.

"Well, yes." said Bert quickly.

"Pulling passenger coaches was boring." Mike commented. "I can't wait to go back to pulling freight again." he puffed.

"That incident wasn't your fault, Bert." said Rex.

"Accidents happen, after all." added Jock. "Besides, never overlook a little engine."

Bert grinned. "Yep, that is true." he agreed and the four engines laughed happily together.

## Characters

* Oliver
* Bert
* Rex
* Mike
* Jock
* Frank
* Toad
* The Small Controller
* Willie
* The Thin Clergyman
* The Dairy Manager
* Duck (*mentioned*)
* The Fat Controller (*mentioned*)
* The Thin Controller (*mentioned*)
* The Culdee Fell Manager (*mentioned*)

## Locations

* Arlesburgh West
* Arlesburgh West Shed
* Arlesdale Shed
* Arlesdale
* Arlesdale Green
* Skarloey Railway (*mentioned*)
* Culdee Fell Railway (*mentioned*)

## Trivia

* This episode marks the first of two things:
	+ The first appearances of Frank, the Small Controller and Willie, and Jock's first speaking role in The Adventures on Sodor.
	+ The first episode of the series to have no characters without speaking or cameo roles.
* At the end of the episode, Jock says the line 'Never Overlook a Little Engine' in a reference to the *Thomas & Friends* song with the same name from the 2015 special *Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure*.