//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5-Just Because We're Small 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: Secrets of Sodor 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

A little way back from the construction site sits the junction for the Arlesdale Railway, with its distinctive rail transfer hopper to move ballast from the 15 inch trucks to standard gauge wagons. The three engines, Rex, Mike, and Bert, were at work shunting hoppers, whilst Lady Haven had offered to help out there.

"So, what are their names?" she asked Mr Duncan, the manager of the railway.

"The green one is Rex," he said. "The blue one is Bert, and the red one is Mike. Their drivers are Pip, Featherweight, and Twist respectively. Word of advice- don't call them little, Your Ladyship. They tend to get quite offended."

"And quite right too!" Rex said. "Just because we're small doesn't mean we don't work hard! Never overlook a little engine!"

Mr Duncan looked at his watch. "Alas, I must be away for a meeting now," he said. "Can you oversee the yard for a bit?"

"Gladly."

Just then, Sophie backed under the loader with some hoppers. "Are we ready up there?" she asked.

"I'm ready up here!" Bert said. "Are you ready down there?"

"I'm ready down here!" Pipp added.

"So we're ready don there and up here!" Featherweight helpfully clarified, seeming quite amused by the whole spectacle.

After loading was complete, Lady Haven decided to check in. "Pipp?"

"Yes?" two people said, looking at her.

"Oh," she sighed. "You both use the same shorthand."

"Besides, Pip is short for Phillip, far as I know," Pip said.

"It's also short for Phillippa, whis is my name," Pipp said. "Looks like I'm Pipp with three Ps for the rest of the trip."

As Sophie moved away with the ballast, Lady Haven noticed Aurora arriving. "This is going to be a frightfully confusing day," she said. "We've got two people called Pip working here!"

"Yes?" Pip asked.

"Oh, this is getting ridiculous."

Just then, they heard a voice from nearby. "Hey! Move your silly great bucket out of the way!"

The two adults looked over to see Marion the steam shovel blocking the line, her bucket in position behind Mike.

"I only want to make a wish!"

"Go away!"

Marion looked annoyed. "You gave Charlie a wish, and now he's a diesel!"

Twist looked annoyed. "I have abtholutely no clue what the's talking about!"

Lady Haven walked over, and looked rather annoyed. "Marion, could you please stop harrassing the Arlesdale Engines?" she asked.

"But they're magic!" Marion protested. "And I want a wish granted."

Lady Haven had neither sufficient face nor palm for the situation. "There is no such thing as wish granting," she said. "Saying I wish three times in a row does not grant teleportation. And I have no idea where you got this idea about Charles, but he's been a diesel since the day he was built."

Marion's eyes went wide. "Charles? Charlie? They're two different engines!"

"Yes, they are," Lady Haven said. "Glad to clear that confusion up."

Marion puffed away, making some very strange remarks.

Lady Haven sighed. "I would say that's the strangest thing I've ever encountered, but I've been in weirder spots before."





Back at the construction site, the engines were hard at work once more, moving supplies into the sidings for the new and exciting projects that were underway.

Plenty of fresh track had arrived, most of it temporary way for the new route. They'd succesfully figured out a new way around the big hole in the ground, and this required fresh track and ballast. As such, the old rails were being pulled up to avoid further problems.

Salty was coupled to a train of explosives. "High intensity work, this!" he said. "Let's get moving! Now, I don't know many sea shanties about explosives, but-"

His speech was suddenly interrupted by a loud beeping noise. "Whatever is that?"

Sunny got out of the cab to take a look. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw in the trucks. "The timers on the explosives are counting down!" she said. "If we don't get them moved or defused we'll be blown to smithereens!"

"How long have we got?" Salty asked.

"Two minutes!" Sunny replied.

"Out of the way, Salty!" Thomas called. "I know just where to put it!"

Salty had been coupled at the wrong end of the train, and began to reverse rapidly, combining his power with that of Thomas as they rattled towards the big hole.

"They're all playing pass the parcel!" Salty said.

"Can you blame us when you can hear the parcel ticking?" Twilight answered.

Both engines worked as hard as they could to move the loaded trucks away from the danger site as fast as they could. The beeping noises continued from the trucks as they raced along. "Keep going!" Thomas said.

"Not much else we can do, matey!" Salty said, as they rattled along.

Sunny looked behind her and saw they were passing the danger flag. "Slow down!" she called, as she opened the cab door and stepped onto Salty's footplate. "I'm uncoupling now!"

She grabbed a shunter's pole and unhooked the trucks, before using it to knock a track switch. The points switched over to a temporary way line nearby.

"NOW! FULL BRAKES!"

Salty began to slow down as Thomas slammed his brakes on, the trucks rolling free and away from the danger scene. They rattled into the into the siding before the hole, and slammed through the buffers, falling into the ground below.

It seemed as though they were just in time. About ten seconds later, the explosives detonated, blasting the lower caverns with a series of loud explosions that shook the ground.

"That was quite the bang," Thomas said. "Is everybody OK?"

"I certainly am," Salty said. "Great work Thomas! You saved the day!"

Thomas smiled. "No problem, Salty. Getting a friend out of a scrape is the least I could do. Besides, without your pulling power I doubt I could have gotten that lot moving in time."

"We always lend one another a helping hand," Sunny smiled.





They weren't smiling when they got back to the yard. Sir Topham Hatt had somehow already arrived. And he looked apocalyptically cross.

"THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE! SALTY! WHAT THE DEVIL WERE YOU PLAYING AT?" he boomed, his voice echoing off the nearby rocks. "Racing about like dragsters? Gallivanting about with trucks? Playing with explosives? I thought sending you here would make you more responsible, but it would seem these Cornish engines are nothing but a bad influence!"

"We weren't playing with explosives!" Twilight protested. "They started count-"

"I am talking!"

"And?" Salty asked.

Sir Topham Hatt looked at the diesel. "Any more lip from you and I'll send you to the smelter's yard."

He then turned his attention back to Thomas. "As for you!" he boomed. "I know you already have some ridiculous cock and bull story about how a spaceship triggered the explosives or how a landslide was caused by a bouncing globe- but I don't want to hear a peep out of you. Go to your shed immediately, and you can stay there for the rest of the week whilst I decide what to do with you."

Thomas slunk away, dejected. Anybody observing would have thought they saw tears in his eyes.

Salty, bravely, chose to speak up. "With all due respect, sir, Thom-"

Sir Topham Hatt wheeled around on him so quickly the others jumped. "With all due respect means you shut your mouth and do as you are told! Is that clearly understood?"

The engines exchanged some glances. And with that, the engine crews got out of their engines and began to walk away.

"Where are you lot going?" he boomed.

"On strike!" Sunny replied.

"Oh, so it's that way," Sir Topham Hatt said. "I should have you know I have plenty of experience with engines who have ideas about their station. I am a Baronet, with power over the railway. You are just a silly little girl with high flying ideas but no understanding of how the world really works."

"I run my own business!" Sunny replied. "And Salty and I are very used to handling docksides." 

Sir Topham Hatt looked stunned that somebody was holding their own against him. "Unless you and Salty intend to go to the same shed as Thomas, you will return to work this instant! Do you understand?"

"Sorry, I'm not employed by you!" Sunny replied.

Sir Topham Hatt blinked. "What cheek! If I'd spoken to my father like that I'd have been grounded the entire weekend! Somebody needs to teach the current generation manners!"

"I think I'll decide how I parent my own daughter," said a voice, suddenly. Sure enough, Argyle was there. He shook his head, speaking in the same tone of voice one might discuss the weather. "The place really has gone to pot since I was last here."

"Are you say-"

Argyle sighed. "The way you treat your engines is deplorable. Whatever would Sir Charles think?"

Sir Topham Hatt glared after him. "Oh, you'll find out pretty soon," he said. "You lot will regret crossing me."





Lady Haven was surprised to see Pipp and Zipp getting in early. "Hello girls. It's a bit early, isn't it?"

"We've gone on strike," Zipp explained.

"Has something happened?" Lady Haven asked.

"There was an accident at the construction site, and Thomas got blamed for something he didn't do," Pipp replied. "So, in an act of solidarity, and to show our disgust at how Sir Topham Hatt is running things, we've gone on strike until he changes his mind."

Lady Haven nodded. "I will admit he does seem a bit big for his boots. But that's often the case for people in new positions of power, I'm afraid. Move them one or two positions up the ladder and they regard themselves as the biggest fish in the pond. I met him earlier, and he mentioned he was a baronet numerous times in the conversation. Being a gentleman or a lady isn't about throwing titles about. It's how you treat others."

She looked back to her display. "Whilst you were away I did some digging. And I've found evidence the incident with the barriers was sabotage." She clicked a button, and CCTV footage began to play. It showed shadowy figures removing the barriers and warning signs.

"Who would do that?" Pipp asked, shocked. "They're putting people in danger!"

"Whatever is in that cavern," Lady Haven said, "they clearly were using us to unearth it for them free of charge. And with this explosives incident I can only wonder if the same is true- someone, somewhere, is watching our movements and pushing assets into position to boost their own power."

"But who?" Zipp asked.

"That," Lady Haven said, "I do not know yet. I'll need to look deeper. Have you seen Argyle anywhere? I think his expertise on Sodor will be required."





Thomas sad miserably in his shed, looking as the sun set. The yard had fallen completely silent, engines parked in sidings or in another shed, waiting for work to resume or for the strike to end.

He looked at the rails, his face shining back from them. "Nobody wants me," he said quietly. "What did I do to deserve this?"

Twilight sat on his footplate, looking equally down. "It's not fair," she said quietly as well. "None of this is our fault, and yet we're getting the blame. And now our friends are nowhere to be seen?"

"Have you been pushed aside?" a voice said.

"Who's there?" Thomas asked.

"A friend," the voice said, and a woman strode across the tracks. "The way they have treated you is disgusting. You deserve so much better than that Fat Controller of yours and fairweather friends who abandon you at the drop of a hat."

"Can you help us?" Twilight asked.

"I could do with your services," the woman said. "There's a valuable object I need to find near here, and a big, strong engine like you would be ideal."

Thomas smiled. "I'll be glad to help, miss... what's your name?"

The woman smiled. "Opaline."