//------------------------------// // The Flying Kipper // Story: Thomas and Friends: The Retold Adventures // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// One winter evening, Fluttershy spoke to Henry about an upcoming task. “We’ll need to keep you in steam,” she explained, “as we’ll be out early tomorrow.” “Why is that?” Henry asked. His first working of the day was usually the 09:00 from Knapford to Vicarstown and return. “We’ve got to take the Flying Kipper,” Fluttershy explained. “Don’t tell anyone, especially Gordon, but if we pull the Flying Kipper well, Sir Toppham Hatt will let us pull the express; that special coal we gave you is working very well.” Henry smiled as he took all of this on board. “Hurrah!” he cried. “That will be good.” All kinds of ships use the harbour at Tidmouth, the big station by the sea. There are passenger ships, cargo ships, and fishing boats also call here. They unload their fish onto the quay, and some of it goes to shops in the towns of Sodor. The rest is taken to Vicarstown and over the bridge to places far, far away. This is the train the railwaymen call ‘The Flying Kipper’. Henry and Fluttershy were ready at 05:00 in the morning. Therre was snow and frost, but the sky was clear, and there was no fog, so visilbility was clear up ahead. Fluttershy shivered in the cab despite her warm winter clothing, and ran all the final checks as she hooked Henry up. Unlike most trains, the Flying Kipper was operated entirely using 12 ton fitted shock vans, as the train was operated at much higher speeds than most freight workings. Express freight was slowly becoming more common, but until the time came that all the unfitted stock was replaced, express fright was going to be the exception, rather than the norm. Men hustled and shouted loading the vans with crates of fish. The last door banged, and the guard showed his green lamp that shone through the gloom like a beacon of hope for the engine crew. The Flying Kipper was ready to go. Fluttershy slid open Henry’s regulator, but as she did Henry’s wheels caught an icy patch on the rails, and this, combined with the heavy weight of his train, caused his wheels to spin furiously, until Fluttershy closed the regulator and let the wheels stop revolving. Once this had happened, she reopened the regulstor much more gently, and the train slowly got underway, a combination of the heavy load and tight curves of Tidmouth Harbour. “C’mon, c’mon, don’t be silly, don’t be silly!” Henry called to the vans. The vans shuddered and groaned. “Trock, trick, trock, trick, all right, all right!” as cried as they rumbled along the rails and out of the harbour proper. At long, long last, they were cleared into the main line to Vicarstown, and Fluttershy opened up Henry’s regulator, a satisfying two cylinder beat echoing along the main line as he sped along with his train of vans. He rolled along, the rising sun barely visible against the backdrop of hills and towns, producing a wonderful lighting effect as he rolled along the line. Clouds of smoke and steam poured from his funnel into the air, being produced in large quantities due to the cold air, and the light from his fire shone brightly in the early morning light. “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” called Henry to the trucks. Fluttershy simply smiled as she looked ahead. “You’re doing a great job Henry; keep it up!” she said. They flew through stations and under bridges at speed, but very few people (mostly die-hard railway enthusiasts and people who had the misfortune of working at such antisocial hours) were actually there to see them through the stations at this time. The light slowly grew better, and the signals shone green the entire way, due to this time of year being very quiet and this worked out as a lack of traffic on the line, especially at this hour. Suddenly, a yellow signal was visible ahead of them. Fluttershy applied Henry’s brakes in anticipation. “That must mean the signal ahead is at red,” she said to herself. “Alright Henry, prepare to stop!” However, the signal up ahead showed a green light, which meant the line was clear. “OK Henry, full speed ahead!” Fluttershy called, as they accelerated away. But they couldn’t have known that the points from the mainline to a siding had frozen in place, and the signal should have been set to red, or ‘danger’! However, snow had forced it down in such a way it was now displaying a green aspect. They were headed for disaster. Another goods train was waiting in the sidings to let the Flying Kipper pass on its way. Only then could it resume its journey. To pass the time, the driver, fireman, and guard were all sitting in the guard’s van, drinking cocoa and playing cards. “The kipper is due!” said the driver, rising from his seat. “Who cares?” said the fireman. “This is good cocoa!” The driver spoke up again, and prepared to leave the brake van. “C’mon, back to our engine,” he said to the fireman. They got out just in time. Henry realised something was wrong when he suddenly lurched to the right and onto a siding. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the goods train and the brake van rushing toward him out of the darkness. “Fluttershy!” he called. “Jump!” “What?” she asked, then looked out of the cab and screamed. “Jump!” Henry shouted again. “Jump! We’re going to crash!” Fluttershy hesitated, and then bailed from Henry’s cab, rolling into the snow, which luckily saved her from having a nasty accident. Henry wasn’t so lucky. With nobody at the controls, he had no way of stopping. He smashed into the brake van, and reduced it to matchwood. He then was thrown into the air, rode over the top of the frames of the brake van, and then fell off of one side and landed in a snow bank. That was the last he saw before he blacked out. The next morning, the noise of cranes was what stirred him awake. In front of him was an angry man, holding a mug of cocoa. “That’s the best mug of cocoa I’ve ever brewed, and then you spoil it by crashing into my brake van!” he snapped. Just then, Fluttershy walked over and shouted at him. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about than your stupid cocoa! Somebody could have been hurt or killed! Even worse, Henry may have to be sr- scra- scrap-” she couldn’t get the last word out, and simply collapsed in a sobbing fit. “Scrapped?” Henry finished. “Fluttershy, if it comes to that, remember I’ve had a long life, and it was all worth it, especially working with you.” To say the least, Henry was in a mess. His boiler was dented, much of his motion had come loose, and he generally looked a mess. There was little to rebuild, frankly. Sir Toppham Hatt’s car pulled up at the crash, and he got out to see the issue. “Please sir!” Fluttershy begged. “Don’t scrap him! The crash wasn’t his fault!” “The signal was in the down position, sir,” Henry added. “Cheer up Henry, it wasn’t your fault,” Sir Toppham Hatt told him. “Ice and snow caused that crash; the point rodding froze and bent, and then snow forced the signal arm down.” He paused. “I have an idea to resolve your problems once and for all.” “What is that?” Fluttershy asked. “I’ve been in contact with a place called Crewe, in Cheshire. It’s home to a small locomotive works, and they’ve got some space at the moment. I’ve arranged for you to be rebuilt into an LMS Black 5, with a stronger boiler and a much larger firebox. That way, you won’t need special coal anymore. How does that sound?” “Yes sir, that will be good,” Henry said doubtfully. Henry enjoyed his time at Crewe alongside the engines of the Heritage Centre, but eventually it was time for him to come home. And what a sight he was to see, resplendent in green once more as he flew along the line, with a larger, much sturdier chassis, a tapered boiler and Belpaire firebox, and a larger tender to hold more coal and water. People shouted and cheered as he flew past, not least Fluttershy, who was simply relieved that the big green engine was back. I am sorry to say that many schoolboys are late to school because they wait to see Henry pass by. Henry is often used on the express now, and apparently does it better than Gordon-just don’t tell anyone I said that!