Bertie's Burst Tyres! is a magazine story from 1993.
Plot[]
Thomas has been hard at work bringing supplies to a building site on his branch line. As he waits in a siding, he sees some black birds flying amongst the trees. Suddenly, someone gives a shout. A workman had accidentally dropped a box of nails onto the road. The man picks up as many nails as he can while another man sweeps the road to make things extra safe. Bertie then drives by and Thomas warns him about the nails.
Next day, when Thomas brings more supplies, he sees Bertie again. Suddenly, Bertie's tyre bursts! His driver steps down to replace it. The driver finds a nail in the burst tyre. Thomas is puzzled, as he thought all the nails were cleared away. Later on, Thomas sees Bertie stuck on the level crossing. Bertie grumpily explains that he had yet another puncture from a nail.
At the building site, Thomas sees one of the black birds swoop down and pick up something in the grass and fly off with it into a tree. Thomas gets closer to the bird which startles it and causes him to drop the item. The item is a nail! The foreman at the site explains that the bird is a jackdaw. Jackdaws like putting shiny things in their nests. Thomas concludes that some nails were missed and the jackdaws dropped them onto Bertie's road.
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