Wet Wheels

"Pity you're not a narrow-gauge engine. Then you could stay high and dry while you worked up in the mountains, on the little railway!"

- Duncan to Edward

Wet Wheels is a magazine story.

Plot
One day, Edward is steaming to the top of a steep hill. Below the hill is a dark and gloomy cutting which is often damp, even when it has not been raining. It had rained the night before so Edward knows the cutting will be even wetter than usual today. Wheels whizzing, Edward thunders down the hill, but soon runs into trouble. A pool of rainwater has gathered in the cutting and the line is flooded. Edward ploughs into the water and it almost covers his wheels. Edward is stranded and has to wait to be rescued. Eventually, Donald and Douglas arrive and carefully pull Edward out of the floodwater.

The next morning, Edward meets Duncan and tells him what happened and that having wet wheels is very uncomfortable. Duncan just laughs and says that Edward should be a narrow gauge engine as they always stay high and dry working in the mountains.

Duncan puffs on his way, rocking and rolling as usual. Suddenly, he jumps off the track and into some loose stone which begins to tumble down the mountainside. Luckily, Duncan is safe but the rockslide blocks a river below. It is not long before Rusty arrives with a crane to lift Duncan back onto the rails.

That night, Duncan stays up late telling his friends all about the accident. Meanwhile, the blocked river bursts its banks, causing water to gush downhill towards the little engines' shed. Duncan and his friends have fallen asleep, but they get a big surprise when they wake to find their shed flooded.

Harold is out on patrol and gives the alarm. Soon, engineers have cleared the river, but it takes hours for the water in the shed to go.

The next week, Duncan meets Edward who has heard that the little engines have had wet wheels too. Edward points out that the little engines may work high, but it has not always been dry.

Characters

 * Edward
 * Duncan
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Rusty
 * Sir Handel
 * Duke
 * Harold

Goofs

 * Duke is missing his tender.