One day an engine attached to a train, was afraid of a few drops of rain.
It went into a tunnel, and squeaked through its funnel, and never came out again.
The engine’s name was Henry. He was an odd-looking engine, with a parallel boiler and round-top firebox. He had a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement, and a small tender that could barely hold the quantity of water he needed. But he had stopped somewhere he wasn’t meant to. This was because he was a serial worrier, and had a condition which nobody else knew of.
Well, one person did. That would be his driver, Fluttershy. She hopped off his footplate and walked to the front of the train. She had yellow skin, bright blue eyes and pink hair, with a butterfly clip set into her hair on the left-hand side. She wore pink trainers, white socks, a blue skirt with pockets, and a white tank top.
“Why have you stopped Henry?” she asked, in a voice which was barely audible.
“The rain will spoil my lovely green paint and red stripes!” he replied, audibly panicked. For it was not known to most (except Fluttershy, of course) that Henry was of a nervous disposition, and also suffered from ombrophobia.
“Oh no,” Fluttershy whispered. She was shy like Henry, and could easily find things to worry about in any circumstances. “If anyone finds out, I dread to think what they’ll do to him!”
The guard walked up to the front of the train. “Budge up Henry!” he shouted.
“I’m not ruining my paint and red stripes for YOU!” he snapped, in a volume that was shouting for him, but was only about 5 decibels above normal speech to everybody else.
The guard blew his whistle until he had no more breath in his lungs, and waved his flags till his arms ached. But Henry just sat there in the tunnel.
“As I said, I’m not ruining my paint and red stripes for you,” he finished. And he finished off by blowing steam at the guard.
The next train followed up the line stopping at a red signal just short of the tunnel. Aboard this train was a bald, fat man, dressed in a white formal shirt, a black tie, a yellow waistcoat, a black dinner jacket, black formal trousers, and a pair of formal shoes, polished to perfection. He also wore a large top hat, even when indoors, which made his name most apt. His name, was Sir Toppham Hatt, and he was the Director of the North Western Railway. As a result, most people referred to him as the Fat Director, due to his being very round-just never to his face.
He hopped off the train, to see the guard from Henry’s train walking down the line. “Whatever is going on?” he asked.
“Henry won’t leave the tunnel sir,” the guard said. “Even Fluttershy can’t get him to move.”
Sir Toppham Hatt sighed. “We’ll settle that nonsense,” he said grimly.
At the front, he spoke loudly, his voice booming down the tunnel. “FLORA SHANNON, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?” he boomed.
Fluttershy covered her ears, as his voice was very loud. It will surprise you not to hear that Fluttershy was just a nickname the girl had, on account of her nervous and... well, shy nature. “Well, Sir Toppham Hatt,” she said, quietly but bravely. “I’m afraid Henry is afraid of the rain, and wants to wait until it blows over.”
Sir Toppham Hatt looked furious. “What?” he asked. “We can’t just have engines stopping for no reason in between signal boxes! It would break Rule 55, and the Thin Clergyman would be very cross!” He stopped over to Henry. “If you won’t come out, we’ll pull you out!”
So they attached a rope and pulled, all the passengers together. Except Sir Toppham Hatt. “My doctor has forbidden me to pull,” he quickly explained.
Alas, all of those passengers pulling together couldn’t move the 112-ton steam engine. But Sir Toppham Hatt was not deterred.
“Well then,” he said. “If we cannot pull you out, Henry, we will have to push you out instead!”
So, they all went around to the back of the train, and everyone began to push. Everyone, that is, except Sir Toppham Hatt.
“My doctor has forbidden me to push,” he explained as well, aware that the explanation was not entirely convincing. “One, two, three, PUSH!”
I’m sorry to say that pushing proved to be equally ineffective. Muscle power couldn’t move the train at all. No matter how hard they tried, Henry simply sat in the tunnel, not moving an inch.
A few minutes later, Sir Toppham Hatt had another idea. “Why not get another engine to push him out?” he asked. “That is sure to have the tractive effort to push Henry out!”
Presently, Edward and Applejack rolled up. “What’s the problem sir?” Applejack asked.
“Henry won’t leave the tunnel,” Sir Toppham Hatt explained. “I want you two to push him out.”
“That we can try, sir,” Edward answered, and buffered up to the train. He pushed and pushed and pushed, smoke and steam pouring from his funnel and cylinders as he tried to get Henry and his train to move. But Henry was too big, and too heavy, and didn’t move an inch beyond where he had stopped. This was probably because they had forgotten to release his brakes, but that was an entirely separate matter.
When Edward had exhausted himself pushing, Fluttershy went to try and negotiate with Henry one last time. “Look Henry!” she said. “It’s stopped raining now. It’s safe to come out; your paint won’t get ruined.”
Henry looked unconvinced. “Yes,” he said. “But the rain will begin again. And what would happen to my lovely green paint and red stripes then?”
It took a lot to anger Fluttershy, but even she had her limits. And her limits were firmly reached. “Fine!” she snapped. “If you just want to sit there, go ahead!”
Sir Toppham Hatt had come up the train by this point, and he had had enough as well. “We shall tear up the rails and wall you in there,” he said. “You shall remain here for always and always and always. That’ll teach the other engines to behave.”
Sure enough, after recovering the coaches, they ripped the rails up in front of Henry, dropped his fire, and built a brick wall in front of him. The former down line was changed into a siding, with a track to allow trains to swing onto the mainline.
Now all Henry could do was watch the other trains rushing to and fro as they went about their duty.
Edward would whistle to him. “Peep peep! Hello!”
Applejack would join in as well. “Hope ya like it in there!” she called. “That’ll teach ya ta behave!”
Gordon would rush past as well. “Poop poop poop! Serves you right you big coward!”
Henry had no steam to answer, as his fire had long since been dropped. His paint was covered in muck from the tunnel, and rust had begun to accumulate on his running gear. He wondered if he would ever pull trains again, or even have a chance to say sorry to Fluttershy.
But I think he deserved it, don’t you?