The engine that came from outer space...

[Anonymous]

I've been asked by several people to write another story after the success of the Frankenengine story I wrote the other morning, so for my fans, here goes...

Once upon a time, there lived an alien made of jelly on a planet far away. This alien could transform itself into anything it wanted to just by thinking about what it wanted to become. One day, just for fun, the alien turned itself into a clownish figure of the planet's ruler, but the ruler didn't think it was so funny, and banished the alien off the planet and into outer space to spend all of eternity trapped inside of a rock. So for many, many years the jelly alien drifted through innersteller space until finally one day it came upon the earth, fell through the atmosphere and landed in an open field near a small midwest American town. Upon impacting the ground, the rock that imprisoned the alien broke open and it was now free. The first thing the alien saw was a train engine going along the near by railroad tracks pulling a number of cars. Hmmm the alien thought to itself, that must be one of the native life forms escorting others somewhere. If I want to get along here, I'd better transform myself into that form. The problem was it only had enough mass to transform into a very small version of this very large form. Oh well. It was better than nothing at all. So the alien turned itself into an exact copy of what it had seen which just so happened to be an HO size GP-40... But before it could move an inch, a group of kids came along to play baseball in the field. Wow!. Look there exclaimed one of the kids, it's a cool looking train engine just laying here on the ground that someone either lost or left out here. My dad has a big layout down in the basement at our house where he runs these the boy explains to the others. I'm going to take it home and give it to him as a gift for his up coming birthday... So off the boy goes with what he thinks is an HO scale train engine. Once back at his house, the boy puts the engine into a box and ties a big red ribbon around it. Uh oh the alien thinks to itself, I've been captured by this strange being and placed in a container for scientific study... What will I do ?. All night the alien worried that he was in big trouble, and that he would surely be disected first thing the next morning...
The next morning, the boy picked up the box that he had hidden in his closet and presented it to his father. What do we have here his father asked. Oh, just something I picked up I thought you might like. Wow, the boys father exclaimed upon opening the box, a GP-40 engine, just what I wanted. Thank you son. So down to the basement he went with his new engine to try out on his layout. After placing the engine on the tracks, the man turned the power on and slowly up, but the engine didn't do anything, so he tried pushing it, but it still didn't do anything. Finally he got angry and turned the power up all the way and the alien couldn't take it anymore and jumped into the air and onto the layout surface. I've never seen an engine do that before the man thought to himself. So he placed one of his other engines on the track to make sure there was nothing wrong with the tracks and power. Meanwhile, the alien watched and figured out what the man wanted him to do. Ahhh thought the alien to himself, he wants me to move around the rails like that other creature. Okay, I'll play along. So as the man placed it back on the tracks again, it began to move along the tracks-but without any power... This is the strangest engine I've ever seen said the boys father, and called up to his son to come down to the basement.
Where did you get this engine son ?. I found it in the field where we play ball near the railroad tracks, it was just sitting there on the ground. Well, okay replied the boys father. I just wondered. It's been acting kind of odd explained the boys dad.
That evening, the police came around the neighborhood and said that an object of some kind had been seen entering the earth's atmosphere on radar by the air force, and was said to have landed near the town. They were asking if anyone had seen anything strange. After the boy heard this, he wondered if the engine that he'd brought home to his dad was really an engine or something pretending to be an engine due to the odd way it was acting. So down to the basement the boy went with a baseball bat in hand. As he approached the layout where the engine was sitting, he said, if you're something from outer space this baseball bat might not do me any good but if you're not it's not going to do you any good, and with that, he raised it to strike the engine. Just then, the alien turned into its real jelly like form and began taking shapes to show the boy that it was friendly and meant no harm. In no time at all the boy and the jelly alien became friends and began to communicate. The boy agreed that it could stay there as long as it wanted with he and his family if it would continue to pretend to be an HO engine which it did, and that's the way things remained until the boy grew up and died of old age. After that, the jelly alien disappeared and was never seen again-or was it ?. Have any of your HO GP-40s been acting odd lately ?...

The end

Hope you enjoy. Sorry, but it was the best I could do on short notice.

trainluver

[twhite]

Trainluver--what a GREAT story! Funny and (dare I say) charming. You've got a real talent there, keep it up. Now if that alien only had a friend who could land near that railroad museum in Minnesota where they keep the Yellowstone--
Tom [:D][bow]

[NZRMac]

That's very clever. two in a row you should rite kids stories and sell em, great way to fund the MRR!!

Ken.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Tom. I've been writing childrens short stories as a side hobby for about ten years now, and use to write weekly articles for one of the area news papers. I own the copy right on a cartoon character by the name of Bud McMudd (my alter ego) and also a short story/comedy titled Moon Men-both of which are for sale...
As for an alien being that could become a copy of the Yellowstone for you. I wouldn't mind at all, but those aliens can really be hard headed about things sometimes and don't want to cooperate until they know what's in it for them, what the benefits are, if there's a medical/dental plan involved, etc. I'm sure you understand.

Again, thanks for your kind words.

trainluver1

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by NZRMac

That's very clever. two in a row you should rite kids stories and sell em, great way to fund the MRR!!

Ken.

Thank you Ken. I write stories for my friends children, but so far have never sold any.
I wish I could write for a living, I enjoy it very much.

trainluver1

[BN U30C]

Nice story! I like it.

[cheese3]

Good story, come to think of it my GP-40 has not been right lately, hmmmm?

[Anonymous]

Thanks folks. I'll try and write something for you once in a while. I'm glad you're enjoying my stories.

trainluver1

[JohnT14808]

I thought for a minute there, trainluver1, you were going to let the kid in the story ba***he train while it was on the layout.!!!
I wonder how many modelers would like to BA***hat old engine that runs in spurts and fits and dies....just when you need it....
Another good story. Thanks for posting it.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JohnT14808

I thought for a minute there, trainluver1, you were going to let the kid in the story ba***he train while it was on the layout.!!!
I wonder how many modelers would like to BA***hat old engine that runs in spurts and fits and dies....just when you need it....
Another good story. Thanks for posting it.

Thank you JohnT. Like you said, that was my own feelings leaking out as to what I'd like to do to one of my problem causing engines once in a while, but I stop, think it over and make friends with it again like the kid in the story...

trainluver1

[trainboyH16-44]

Sounds just like one of the stories my dad used to tell me. (His weren't well prepared either) Takes me back, sort of.
Thanks for the great story,
Matthew

[espeefoamer]

No GP40s but I do have a Mehano 2-6-0 that has been acting funny.

[Anonymous]

My GP38-2 could become a GP38+2...