//------------------------------//
// Henry and the Stainmore Engine 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: More Tales from Sodor 
// by The Blue EM2 
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It was another early morning on Sodor, and the engines were all being prepared for duty. Fires were lit, ashpans were checked to ensure they were clear of any debris and unwanted rubbish, and all seemed ready to go about and start their days.

Henry yawned as the warmth from his fire spread through his boiler, radiating out of the firebox and through his tubes (thankfully, his boiler did have water in it, or else it would have been a very short working day indeed). "What a lovely morning!" he said, as he looked out over the horizon. "I must say Fluttershy, this is a very lovely day. I wonder what work we'll be doing today?"

"I imagine it'll be really fun," Fluttershy replied, as she checked his water gauge glass and oil feed valve. "But I have a few more things I need to do before we are ready to go."

"Oiling him round may be a good start!" Rainbow Dash called. "Gordon needed a few tweaks here and there for oiling purposes."

"Y'all think that's hard?" Applejack asked. "Try lubricatin' an engine who has all his movin' parts on the inside."

"Darling, Jamesy has all his parts on the inside," Rarity said. "I know exactly how you feel. As magnificent as steam engines are, they are a real pain to keep working sometimes!"

"You do know we can hear you, right?" said James.

Twilight grinned as Thomas finally got up to operating pressure. "Perfect!" she said. "We're reading 150 PSI on the pressure gauge, steam is building nicely, and we're ready for duty. Now I just need to pop over and get my orders for the day."

Just then, a car pulled up, and Sir Toppham Hatt got out, speaking on a mobile phone. It could be inferred that the call had started after he had finished driving, or failing that he had a hands free headset which he had just disconnected. "No, Mother! The petunias are not in the back door closet! No, not the- are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

There was what sounded like angry shouting at the other end.

"No, I can't come back home right now! I'm doing my job at the moment, and I need to be able to focus on running a railway!"

Some more angry speech.

"Don't try that 'I'm the adult' nonsense on me. I'm an adult too, and have lived and worked succesfully on my own for nearly 30 years now. Please stop interfering in my life."

The next words the other person said were audible. "You had better watch that to-"

Then the call ended. Sir Toppham Hatt had hit the red button mid sentence. "That's a vast improvement. Sorry, everybody, that was my mother, who very much subscribes to the school of calling her family members at inconvenient times. Now then, I imagine you all need your manifests for the day." He handed out several clipboards, each colour coded to match the engines.

"Pinkie," said Fluttershy, "I think that clipboard was meant for me. Percy isn't powerful enough to move empty stock to Tidmouth docks."

Pinkie closely studied the clipboard. "Oh! Oopsies!" She headed off with the right one. "Are you sure Edward is meant to be pulling the express, rather than Geoffrey?"

"Who's Geoffrey?" asked Gordon, confused.

"I think we all have the right orders now," said Thomas. "Let's go!"

All of the engines rolled forward.

"One at a time on the turntable!" said James. "Splendid engines first!"



Several minutes of confusion passed, but thankfully without any delay, and Henry set off with a line of empty tanker cars to Tidmouth docks. On his way, he passed Murdoch starting off with a long, heavy train bound for Vicarstown. "Hello Henry!" he called. "There's a new engine at the docks! I think he's here to help for a bit!"

"We sure have a busy summer season!" Vinyl Scratch added. "I don't think I brought enough music with me!"

"Turn the racket down and focus on the road!" Murdoch said. "You're giving me a headache. Honestly, one of the girls on that mountain railway is just as bad..."

Henry looked around him in surprise. "New engine? Sir Toppham Hatt didn't say anything about a new engine! Perhaps it is this Geoffrey that Gordon mentioned!"

"I don't know any Geoffrey's," said Fluttershy, as they rolled into the dock limits. Stepney was already waiting there for them.

"Hello!" he called. "Just leave the tankers there and I'll sort them out for loading. You can have a rest at the siding. The new engine's there, and boy is he a character!"

Henry was uncoupled from his tankers, and moved off for a rest in the siding. As he rounded a bend and stopped in the siding, he saw the new engine, freshly unloaded and gleaming in the sunlight.

He was a lot smaller than Henry was expecting. He had two leading wheels, six driving wheels, and no trailing wheels, much like James, but his running board was higher up and set at right angles over his pony truck. His tender had half of a cab on it, and his tender had six wheels. He had a belpaire firebox and a tall, prominent dome with a large chimney. He was painted entirely black with red stripes, and the tender bore an emblem of a ferret holding a dartboard, with the text 'British Railways' on either side.

Standing next to him was a man. He had peach skin and three tone grey hair, and seemed to be a rather large, heavyset chap. He also had blue eyes, and was dressed in a green explorer's shirt, dark green pants, suitable for working on a steam engine, and grey boots, laced up neatly at the front. He smiled. "Hello!" he said. "You must be Henry!"

"I am," said Henry. "But who are you two?"

"Oh, sorry," the man said. "I'm Quentin Percemore, but I get called Quibble Pants a lot (apparently I get too obsessive over tiny nerdy details), and this is Barry, my engine! We're visiting for the summer season."

"Where are you from, Barry?" Henry asked.

"I suppose," said Barry, "we shall have to tell you the entire story..."