3WSRN3: A Sudrian Mystery

[Eyes]

The Three Word Story Revolution Novels - No.3
A Sudrian Mystery
Prologue

The Reverend W. Awdry published his last Railway Series book in 1972. Christopher Awdry picked up the pen again in 1983 to continue in his father's footsteps. Between 1972 and 1983, nothing much happened on Sodor.

However, there was an event that occured between those eleven years, something that wouldn't have fit well in a normal Railway Series book, but nevertheless was very interesting - not to mention intriguing. It was too good not to publish, and so here is a book detailing something few people know of - A Sudrian Mystery.

[Eyes]

Chapter 1 - The New Engines

The Fat Controller paced the platform.
He was waiting for five new engines. Traffic had boomed as of late, and the engines found themselves overworked. As such, the Fat Controller decided to get some new engines to help out.
They were due to arrive shortly. He looked at the clock.
"8:05. Hmm! They should be here any-"
He was cut off by some whistles and a horn. There came two tank engines, a goods engine, an express engine, and a diesel shunter.
They chuffed into the station and came to a stop.
"Well hello there!" said the Fat Controller. "I'm glad to see that you have arrived on time."
"Thank you, Sir," said the engines.
"Now, what is your name?" asked Sir Topham Hatt.
"I'm Timothy," said one of the tank engines.
"And I'm Jeffrey," said the other.
"I'm Gustave," said the goods engine.
"I'm John," said the express engine.
"And I'm Dan," said the diesel.
"And my name is Sir Topham Hatt, but most engine call me the 'Fat Controller'," said the Fat Controller.
"Pleased to meet you, Sir," said John.
"Indeed," said the Fat Controller. "Timothy and Jeffrey, you're to help Thomas, Percy, and Toby on the Ffarquhar Branch Line. Gustave, you are to help out with the goods work here around Sodor. John, you are to help Gordon with the Express. And Dan, you are to shunt the Yard and prepare the trains."
"Yes, Sir," said the engines.
"Good. Your drivers have been given instructions, so run along now."
"Yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir!"
And the engines chuffed away.

Over the next few days, the engines settled into their jobs. Timothy and Jeffrey got along well with the others on Thomas's Branch Line - though they did tease each other something dreadful! Gustave was a credit to the railway, as he got the goods work done twice as fast as before. With two express trains running, the passengers were quite satisfied with John. Dan, however, was another story.
The first day went well, but the second, not so much. He was given a wrong order, and shunted the coaches to a wrong platform.
John was irate when he came in.
"Dash it all, you!" he cried. "Can't you do a thing right?!"
"I'm trying, but it wasn't my fault," said Dan apologetically.
"You'd better do it right... or else..."

Dan didn't do it right.

The next day he was rushed off his wheels, and ended up leaving a truck on the Main Line.
As luck would have it, John came just at that moment. He applied his brakes just in time.
"DAN!!"
"Sorry about that," said Dan. But John would have none of it.
"Don't you 'sorry' me! If it happens again...!"
Dan promised it wouldn't.

For the next few days, everything went well. Then it happened.
Dan was shunting the early morning express coaches for John and Gordon. Dark clouds loomed ominously overhead, and it had rained the night before.
Dan was doing his best to stay on time, but he didn't notice he'd been accidently shunted the wrong way.
He realized too late.
"Horrors!" he cried, as he crashed through the buffers.
No one was hurt, and Dan was soon back on the rails, but they were late, and John and Gordon would have to make up for lost time.
John muttered something under his breath, as he sped away.
"I warned him..."

[Eyes]

Chapter 2 - A Crime Wave

Dan had learned from his mishaps, and decided that he would be the best shunter he could possibly be. After that day, he didn't make anymore mistakes, and even John was impressed.
On the other lines, things were going well. Gustave helped make the goods work go quicker and more efficiently, and Timothy and Jeffrey were doing well on the Ffarquhar Branch Line... though they sometimes played tricks, to the annoyance of the other engines!
But for the most part, everything was going well... that is, until....

The North Western Railway had received a supply of dynamite for transport. The Fat Controller spoke directly to Dan about it.
"Make sure you're extra careful, Dan," he said, "Dynamite is very dangerous, and should be treated with care."
"Don't worry, Sir, I will!" replied the diesel.
He had put the dynamite in a siding, and then went away to sleep. However, the next morning, the dynamite wasn't there, though the truck was.

The Fat Controller was most concerned. "Are you sure that you didn't take it, Dan?" he asked.
"I'm sure, Sir," Dan replied.
The Fat Controller frowned, and thought.
The engines searched for the missing explosives, but couldn't find it. Even the police were called in, but that didn't help.

The next instance came two days later. Several new coaches had arrived on the railway, and were to be used for a special express train. Dan shunted them in a siding one night, but the next morning, all of them had been vandalised, and some of the fine things stolen from them.
The Fat Controller was concerned. "What on earth is happening?" he exclaimed. "First the dynamite, and now this! What is going on?!"

But it didn't end there. Next, on the Little Western, Donald and Douglas's name plates were stolen. The twins woke up that morning with a shock!
"Losh saiks! They've stoolen ar nameplates!" they cried, indignantly.
The Fat Controller promised to get them new nameplates as soon as possible, but the twins were still upset.

Yet again, the police could make neither heads nor tails of it, and the Fat Controller was very worried.
"Something is seriously wrong here," he thought, "First I bring in some new engines, and then things get stolen and vandalised. What is going on here?"
By now, the engines had started to get suspicious of Dan, due to the fact that he was the last to have seen the coaches and the dynamite, but the Little Western was in an entirely different area. Still, Dan COULD have driven down there, or at the very least, his driver could have come and stolen the nameplates while Donald and Douglas were asleep.

But things were about to get a whole lot worse....

[Eyes]

Chapter 3: The Body

With the recent robberies and vandalisms, security on Sodor had tightened greatly. However, the crimes still came here and there, and both the Fat Controller, the police, and the engines were stumped.
"What is going on here?" Thomas cried.
"I haven't the slightest idea," Percy said.
"I hope this crime wave will end soon," Toby said.
"I certainly hope that the crooks don't come after me next!" Daisy exclaimed.
Timothy and Jeffrey were worried, too.

Then something happened that shocked the whole island.
One morning, when Dan arrived at the station, he was greeted to a gruesome sight.
"Holy cow!" cried his driver. "We've got to alert someone!"

The Fat Controller came to scene. He was extremely concerned - nothing like this had ever happened on his railway before.
"What happened?!" he asked the police, who had blocked off the area, and were investigating the crime.
Sergent Confrey, one of the policemen, spoke up. "Mr. Reginald Wilbert, the stationmaster here, was killed last night, right here on the track. We have reason to suspect that it's murder."
"Oh my..." The Fat Controller had to sit down.

The scene of the crime was pretty bad. The stationmaster's body had been sprawled out on the tracks. His ribs had been broken, and there was a great deal of blood. It looked as though he'd been run over by one of the trains. The police believed that a robbery was happening, and the stationmaster tried to stop the thieves, but got killed himself.
Over to the side of the body was a dark patch of fluid. When the Fat Controller came and looked, he instantly asked, "Is that oil?"
Sgt. Confrey replied, "No, it's not oil, and it's not gas either."
"What is it then?"
"Turns out, it's diesel."
The Fat Controller stared. "Diesel...?" And he looked at Dan....

[Eyes]

Chapter 4: Suspicions

With the recent murder, everyone on the railway - from the engines to the people - were now very worried. They were keeping a good look-out so that they wouldn't be the next to get attacked.
The engines were all suspicious now as well. The Sudrian engines knew it wasn't any of them, so it must be one of the visitors. And out of all of them, Dan was the most likely.

Engines were discussing the murder on every part of the Island.
"Huh!" said Duncan, "It's got to be that new diesel. You can't trust diesels, they're all smelly, annoying and - er - uh..." He started to stutter; Rusty had given him such a dirty look!

"I hope they don't come here," Catherine said, worriedly.
"Don't worry," said Culdee, "I'm sure that we'll be safe here. After all, we're at the top of a mountain!"
"I hope we are...."

"What's this Island coming to?" Ed exclaimed. "Robberies, vandalism, and now a murder?! I'm surprised the Fat Controller and the engines are still able to sleep at night."
"Oh, do be quiet, Ed!" Alice said, annoyed by the electric's talk.

"I just can't believe it!" Gordon cried. "To think that a diesel like Dan would go to murder...!"
"Come on now, Gordon," said Edward, "how can we know that it was Dan who killed the stationmaster?"
"Diesel fuel was found right next to the body, wasn't it?" Gordon said.
Edward sighed. Gordon was in all likelyhood correct.

Even the buses at the bus depot were talking.
"I can't believe that something like this would happen on Sodor," Bertie exclaimed. "Sodor!"
"It's unbelievable," said Alby. Alby was a double-decker bus that had come to Sodor a few years before. He was tall, blue, and had a kind and friendly attitude.
"You know," said Alby, "Back in England, where I come from, there was a brilliant detective who was able to solve many, many cases. If only he were here now..."
"Yes..." Bertie sat in thought.

Later that day, the Fat Controller was walking along, trying to get his thoughts together, when he walked past the bus depot.
"Excuse me, sir!" called Bertie.
"Yes?"
"Alby told me that there's a detective on the Mainland that can solve almost any case out there."
"Yes," Alby chimed in, "he's brilliant." And he told the Fat Controller about the detective.

When he arrived back at the office, the Fat Controller made an important phone call.
"Hello? Mr. Gunnarson? This is Sir Stephen Hatt...."