Traintober 2023: Day 24 - Odd Jobs
Rusty's Duties Have Always Been Odd Jobs:
Rusty’s duties have always been odd jobs.
It begins, as always, with Rusty being started up early in the morning by their driver, with Mr Hugh close behind. The little diesel is not the first out of the shed – that honour goes to Duke, who always pulls the first train of the day. Rusty quietly wonders if it’s so the others get some extra rest. Whatever the answer is, the heat from Duke’s boiler always warms the shed wonderfully, meaning the little diesel’s engine turns over on command, rather than coughing and spluttering in the cool of the early morning.
From there, Rusty’s first job every morning is to help Mr Hugh inspect the coaches and trucks in the yard. They check that they’re all in their proper places, that the brakes haven’t frozen solid (especially in the winter), that they’ve recently had their joints greased. It’s not a difficult task, nor is it a long one – but it’s enough to help Rusty wake up. The little diesel can’t drink coffee after all, so this has to suffice.
After the trucks and coaches have been checked, the pair inspect the points, and then Rusty is free to shunt trains until the track crew call.
The little diesel doesn’t always pull maintenance trains – it’s just not needed – but that’s alright. There are plenty of other jobs that need doing. Rusty’s roll on the railway – when the little diesel isn’t working on the track – is to act as the ‘relief’. This is a very important job. Whenever one of the other engines breaks down, has an accident, or is delayed, the ‘relief’ is called to cover for them. Rusty takes this job very seriously. It means that the little diesel has to be prepared at any moment to race up the line to help.
But Rusty loves the maintenance trains the most. These trains run up and down the line, and fix the track before there can be a problem. Rusty thinks there isn’t a job in the world more rewarding! Maintenance trains run most often in the autumn and spring – in the winter, it’s almost impossible to see the trackbed for the snow that coats it, and in the summer every engine is needed for the tourist trains. This leaves just the cold, wet month of November for maintenance trains in the autumn, and windy, wet March for maintenance trains in the spring.
Which was rather annoying, for the amount of rain that could fall and cause issues everywhere. Snow melted into torrents that threatened to wash away the line, but that never deterred Rusty. The little diesel dutifully trekked up and down the line, keeping their friends safe in their own way.
When not pulling maintenance trains or acting as the ‘relief’, Rusty could be found shunting trucks and coaches, or delivering coal to the villages in the mountains, or working the inclines. The little diesel did a million things in a day, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
And as night fell, as the stars began to illuminate the night sky with their twinkling light, Rusty returns to the shed. The little diesel is not the first to return – Sir Handel came off the rails earlier after yet another argument with the coaches – and the little diesel is certainly not the last to return – Rheneas has the mail run – but everyone agrees that Rusty deserves a place in the shed beside Duke. Because in the morning, Duke will be the first engine to get up steam, with his boiler warming Rusty’s engine so the little diesel can do it all again, continuously doing the odd jobs behind the scenes to keep the Skarloey Railway running.