Winter had come to the island of Sodor. The narrow gauge engines had been had been braving the rough weather for weeks. They hated the biting cold, but loved feeling the snow beneath their wheels.

On Monday morning, the engines sat inside the sheds at Crovan's Gate waiting for their firemen to stoke up their warm boilers ahead of the busy day.

"Bother!" grumbled Sir Handel as he stared out at the heavy snowfall. "Why must the Thin Controller always send us out when the weather's terrible? I'm sick of it!"

"I agree!" muttered Duncan from behind him. "Ma wheels get all wet, and the ground is so icy, we use up all the sand in our sandboxes! He and the others shivered as the cold wind blew into the sheds. "Ah, that Mr. Percival enjoys seeing us suffer, as always!" He spat. "I dinna understand it!"

"I'm sure you enjoy us seeing us suffer too, with all the complaining you both do," mused Skarloey, making the other engines giggle.

"Who cares?" snapped Sir Handel from his left. "We have every right to complain! I might just tell him I'm too sick for work today. That'll show him!"

"Careful now, Sir Handel," warned his driver. "We all know what happened last time you were 'too ill to work'…" He and the other engines threw a quick glance to Peter Sam, who now looked humiliated at remembering his dreadful accident at the incline.

"Aye," Duncan replied. "If ye gonna ditch, ye gotta do it right!"

"Besides," Rheneas chimed in, "The Thin Controller did mention bringing in another engine to help us with the workload, so it's not like you're doing all the work."

"Indeed," agreed Rusty.

"And you two need to stop acting so difficult," Skarloey rejoined. "That's probably why you get exhausted so easily."

"Yes, don't even think of it as work; just act like it's…a way to kill time, I suppose." Rusty suggested.

"Aye, just haud yer wheest, the lot of ye!" snapped Duncan. "Work is work, nothin' more, nothin' less! Work's not enjoyable if ye don' wanna do it!"

"Well unfortunately, Duncan, that's not an option," a new voice cut in coldly, as Mr. Percival walked over to address his engines for the day.

"Now, I understand that the winter workload has taken a toll on you all, and I feel you all need some help."

"So, now he gets it," muttered Sir Handel to Duncan, and was quickly silenced by quick and angry wheesh from Rheneas.

"I've brought back another engine to help you all out. His name is Fred, and he'll be helping out with some of the odd jobs this week, as well assist some of you with your work. From my understanding, he was a very good diesel, and so, I trust that there will be no problems with the arrangements. Am I clear?"

The engines seemed to be alright with this situation, Rusty didn't know what to make of this. He radiator roared silently with fury as he remembered his working encounters with Fred. He didn't like this arrangement one bit- but as a reliable engine of the narrow gauge fleet, he was to do as he was told.

"Yes sir!" He replied obediently, along with the others, as the Thin Controller sped off on his bicycle. Peter Sam, however, noticed Rusty's expression.

"Rusty? Is everything alright, my friend?" He asked worriedly.

"Well, no. This arrangement is a bit, well, difficult." The orange diesel replied dully.

Skarloey, overhearing the situation, was puzzled. "How come? You've never complained about this Fred before."

Rusty groaned to himself as memories of working with Fred rippled through his radiator, before doing his best to explain the issue at hand. For one thing, Fred was an extremely lazy and cunning engine; that diesel could weasel out of anything! It was true, for Fred played ill even more so than Sir Handel and Duncan could ever, or have ever done. And who could forget the weedkiller incident…

While the other engines seemed appalled by this newly unravelled behavior, Sir Handel and Duncan smiled evilly to each other.

"Say, Sir Handel," Duncan began. "What if we meet up wi' this Fred fellow, and well, ask him for advice." He smiled darkly.

"You took the words right out of my funnel!" whispered Sir Handel to the yellow engine. "Then we'll be able to show Mr. Percival it's not that we don't want to work; we just can't. And this Fred looks like he's a professional at it!"

The two snickered to themselves as they sped off the do their work, eager to meet up with Fred, and put their plan into action.

...

Another multi chapter project from me! I haven't done a story with the NG engines in long time, and after writing "One Day" I thought I should give them some time in the spotlight! :P Shouldn't be too long, probably about 4-5 chapters. I hope I didn't a good job on the characterization so far., and more importantly, I hope you enjoy! :D