- "Cheer up, George. You might not have meant to, but thanks to you knocking down that wall the station looks a real picture, now!"
"Pah!" - ― Arthur and George
Shell Engine is a magazine story. It was republished in 2012 as The Fat Controller's Bedtime Story.
Plot
Arthur is working on the Fishing Line, carrying supplies. He loves the smell of fish as the fishing fleet bring in their catch, but today there is another smell. Arthur spots some newly-built sheds by the beach with a huge pile of shells next to them. His driver explains that they are cockles and the sheds are where they're being cooked.
Arthur pulls into the station just as George rumbles over. George says he's been called to repair the road and that railways should be ripped up. Suddenly, the unusual smell of cooking cockles drifts towards the bad-tempered steamroller. George is so surprised, he doesn't watch where he is rolling and bumps into a brick wall behind the station platform. George isn't bothered; he tells Arthur it was a useless wall anyway. The stationmaster doesn't agree and says it must be mended right away.
The road gang with George agree to help rebuild the wall and George has no choice but to help too. Arthur has an idea and shares it with the stationmaster who soon arranges everything. A lorry arrives to fetch a heap of clean cockle shells from the cooking shed. A man turns up and sticks the shells into the wet cement on the repaired wall. George isn't impressed; silly shells won't make the wall hold up any better. Arthur explains that the man is an artist and the shells are not for holding up the wall; they're to make it prettier to look at. George, of course, thinks that's an even sillier idea.
When the artist has finished, the shells look like a steam engine, just like Arthur. Everyone thinks the wall looks splendid, except for George. Arthur tells him to cheer up; after all, if George hadn't knocked down the wall to begin with, the station wouldn't look a real picture now. George just grumbles and rolls away.
Characters
Gallery
