Diesel was a black BR Class 08 Diesel Shunter, the Diesel Engine equivalent to a Tank Engine. He sat in the shunting yards alone, enjoying some rest after arranging the few trains for the day. “A pity this day is so foggy,” he muttered to himself. “Otherwise, it would be perfect to bask in the sun and-” his thoughts were interrupted by James’ whistle. He then heard Percy’s whistle and Boco’s horn. “…That’s funny,” he remarked. “They’re not scheduled to come here today.” The three engines then bustled into the yard and parked themselves on the points which would have given Diesel a way out. “Wh-What is this?!” spluttered Diesel.
“All right, Diesel, you’re sprung!” replied James.
“Pardon me?”
“We know what you did! Don’t even try to deny it!”
“And what deed of mine are you talking about? I’ve caused quite a few stirs here and there.”
“Teletraan, the sugar! Right in his fuel tank!”
“Right!” replied Teletraan as he pulled out a bag of sugar and looked to either side of Diesel.
“S-S-Sugar?!” gulped Diesel. “You don’t have the gall!”
“You think I’m bluffing?!” snarled Teletraan as Amy held him back.
“I can’t hold him back for much longer,” she warned. “You’re gonna have to tell us something.” Diesel looked at the a.i. Lynx, then at the bag of sugar, then he growled.
“Fine! You got me! I was the one who told Emily that the tree was keeping all of Sodor’s plant life alive! I was the one who sent Donald and Douglas on a wild goose chase when they were looking for their trucks! I was the one who told Spencer that Boco was getting too weak to pull trains!”
“That was you?!” yelped Boco.
“Diesel, hold on!” called Percy. “We’re trying to figure out if you were behind the Special Coach’s vanishing act!”
“Oh, that?” asked Diesel, calming down quickly. “That, I wasn’t responsible for. Though, believe me, I WAS tempted to, after what Spencer said. He made his usual ‘unimportant shunter’ comment to Edward and named me as someone lower than him. I wanted to get back at him that day, but I had too much work. I was called away to collect some trucks from Knapford so Duck could take them. Ever since Rosie and Stanley were reassigned to their pilot duties, we’ve been overworked and understaffed here!”
“So, Duck came here?” asked Richard.
“Was he pulling anything unusual?” asked James. Diesel then got a faraway look.
“Now that you mention it,” he said, “he DID have what looked like an extra-long van with him. He coupled his train behind it to take back to the Little Western. I thought his dome finally cracked if he was carrying something like that with him.”
“You’re sure it wasn’t a coach?” asked Percy.
“It was too foggy that day to see clearly.”
“It WAS really foggy,” recalled James. “We’ll ask him, then.”
“Hey, don’t tell the Fat Controller about what I said earlier!” barked Diesel. “I don’t need to get in any hot water with him!”
“Oh, he won’t know,” promised Boco, “but you WILL be punished for that.”
“Oh, really? And how?” Richard then whispered something to Boco, then went back into Percy’s cab. Boco giggled, then looked to the trucks.
“Boys,” he said, “I believe there’s a song you all made about Diesel. May we hear it?” Diesel goggled in horror!
“You wouldn’t!” he spluttered.
“One! Two!” counted one of the trucks to his friends. “One, two, three, four!” They then launched into a song Diesel hated!
“Trucks are waiting in the yard, tackling them with ease’ll!
‘Show the world what I can do!’ gaily boasts the Diesel!
In and out he creeps about, like a big black weasel!
When he pulls the wrong trucks out, POP goes the Diesel!”
“GRRRRRR!” growled Diesel as the three engines and their crews left the yards. “I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS, BOCO! YOU MARK MY WORDS!”
The three detective engines arrived at Arlesdale to speak with Duck, a green GWR 5700 Class Pannier Tank Engine with wide side tanks. They were led to the ballast chute the Arlesdale Miniature Railway ran. Duck had put the ballast hoppers under the chute and waited for the ballast to be dropped into them. He was surprised to see James, Percy, and Boco arrive. “What’s this then?” he asked. “A deputation?”
“Hello, Duck,” greeted James. “Gray day, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose it is. Beg pardon, James, but what are you all doing here?”
“We’re doing some investigating,” explained James.
“Diesel said,” recalled Richard, “that you had an extra-long van when you picked up a train from the shunting yards last Friday. He also admitted that it was foggy that day, so he could have been mistaken.”
“He was,” replied Duck. “That wasn’t a van. That was one of my new coaches. I picked it up from Knapford Station that day.”
“You did?” asked Amy. “What siding?”
“…Siding 3, where the Stationmaster told me it would be. Why, is that important?”
“Duck, it sounds like you were unwittingly used in theft,” explained Boco. “That wasn’t a new coach for you. That was the new Special Coach.
“You mean the new one for Thomas’ branch line?! But the Stationmaster said-!”
“Either the Stationmaster is absentminded,” remarked James, “or-”
“Or, more likely, she did this on purpose!” interrupted Richard. “She’s obsessed with the newer things and probably thinks you guys are out-of-date, even the Diesels that work here!”
“In any event, we figured out where the Special Coach went,” said James.
“I suppose you’ll be wanting it back,” sighed Duck.
“We’ll get your new coaches once this mess is sorted,” promised Boco. “I know the Fat Controller doesn’t want the Little Western to fall.”
“It’s over in the carriage shed on the other end of the line,” explained Duck. The ballast train then shook as the chute loaded Duck’s hoppers. “I can point it out to you when I get this train going.”
“That would be nice,” replied Azuliterii. Once the ballast hoppers were full, Duck led everyone to the carriage shed.
“There it is,” announced Duck as his driver pointed to the coach.
“I’ll take it,” offered Percy. He buffered up to the coach and was coupled on. “Nicely done, Richard,” he praised.
“Thank you!” replied Richard. The three engines then headed back to Knapford.
The engines gathered at the sheds and were parked near Edward. “How did it go?” he asked.
“We figured out who really took the coach,” replied Boco. “It’s back in Siding 3.”
“You found it?!” asked Edward. “Who took it?!”
“It was Duck,” explained Percy. “And it sounds like he was a victim of some form of miscommunication.”
“Whether or not it was deliberate is still a mystery,” finished James. “The Fat Controller and Katie Barker should be coming any minute now.” A blue car then approached the sheds. The Fat Controller stepped out of the right-hand side (where the steering wheel would be since Sodor’s a UK country) and Katie stepping out of the left. She wore a dress and had her hair adorned with a floral arrangement this time.
“So, the mystery of the missing Special Coach is solved, is it?” asked the Fat Controller.
“That’s right, Sir,” replied Richard. “It turns out Duck was the one who took it. He was led to believe it was an extra coach for his branch line’s passenger service.”
“I can see where he would make that mistake.”
“But there’s something that’s not meshing well,” continued Amy. “Duck told us that Ms. Barker over there told him to collect that coach.”
“And, this morning, she told us,” continued Kaitlyn, “that the coach never got there.”
“Hold on,” said Edward, “when she accused me of stealing, she said that the coach was there, then it wasn’t!” The Fat Controller turned to Katie with a frown on his face.
“Ms. Barker, would you care to explain what’s going on?” he asked. Katie felt very scared indeed.