Luke and the Lonely Crane

"Luke and the Lonely Crane" is a story written by Loco123456.

Story
The Wharf is one of the many busy places on Sodor; it's where barrages bring cargo from up river for the engines on the Skarloey and North Western railways to deliver to their final destinations. The Wharf consists of many docks, warehouse, a shunting yard, and lots of cranes. Among these cranes is Colin, who usually works with Freddie. As he began to unload a barrage that had a lot of cargo he realized that he didn't have enough flatbeds. He noticed Freddie working near-by. "Freddie! Freddie!" But Freddie acted as if he didn't hear him due to being absorbed in his own work of shunting trucks in and out of the warehouses. "Peter Sam. I need more flatbeds," called Colin as Peter Sam puffed by. "I'll be back with some in a moment." He was as good as his word; Peter Sam purposely brought extra flatbeds so Colin could be ready for the next barrage to unload. A few days later Freddie puffed quickly by with some fuel tankers. "Freddie, I-" "Sorry Colin; I need to get these fuel tankers to Rusty. He's stuck at the junction. I must make sure that this causes only a slight delay." "Then h-" But Freddie was gone.

As time went on Colin began to wonder whether Freddie wanted to be his friend or not. "I understand he has more duties than me," thought Colin sadly, "but he could at least bring me empty flatbeds or trucks to load or unload." Luke, the small green engine noticed Colin looked upset; so he decided to speak with the Yard Master. When he returned to work that afternoon Colin was surprised to see Luke waiting alongside him with empty flatbeds and trucks. "I'm going to be working with you today," said Luke cheerfully. "At last! Someone has come to help me." But Colin didn't know that Freddie had heard this. "Oh dear, I've forgotten all about him. I guess he might not want to work with me." Freddie decided to see another engine that was helping out at the Wharf too. "RHeneas, I'm confused about what to do." Rheneas listened carefully. "I think you should talk to him about it; after all, you do still want to be his friend, don't you?"

That evening Freddie came with empty flatbeds for Colin. "Hello Colin, I'm sorry about ignoring you. I guess we old engines get so stuck up in our beliefs of work that we forget about other things. But that doesn't make it right at all." "It also doesn't make it right for me to not talk to you about how I feel," agreed Colin. "From now on, we shall always talk to each other if we're doing something that upsets the other." "Grand idea!" Freddie and Colin are now working together again; although it's not all the time, Freddie makes a point to stop and chat for a bit whenever he can. And when they are working together, the two friends are now quick to speak up about their feelings, which has made their friendship much stronger.