Thomas and Friends: The Retold Adventures

by The Blue EM2

Trouble in the Shed

The very next morning, there was a massive crowd of people on the platform at Knapford station. They were all shouting and making a racket, indicating some sort of displeasure. This noise was heard in Sir Toppham Hatt’s office, and he wondered what in the world was going on. “Why are they grumbling again?” he complained.

Just then, the station master came in. “I’m sorry sir,” he said. “But there’s been some sort of disturbance.”

“I can hear that,” Sir Toppham Hatt said, as he glanced over the timetable again. “But WHAT is causing this disturbance?”

“Some sort of issue at the shed,” the station master replied. “Henry is sulking, there’s no train, and the passengers are saying this is a bad railway.”

“Well they’ve clearly never tried Southern rail,” Sir Toppham Hatt sighed. “Oh well, I’ll sort this nonsense out. We can’t have this problem again.”

He arrived at the shed to find Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all standing at the lineside, not at their engines.

“What are you three doing here?” he asked. “Come along, the train is due.”

Fluttershy looked at Sir Toppham Hatt. “We tried that sir,” she said, “but these three won’t let us onto their footplates.”

“Henry’s not going anywhere,” Gordon said importantly. “As a matter of fact, none of us are. We WON’T shunt like common tank engines, in those dirty sidings for those dirty trucks. That was Thomas’ job. But we are tender engines, and as such do not collect our coaches. You get an engine to collect our coaches, and we shall pull them. But until then, we are staying put exactly where we are. Tender engines don’t shunt!”

“Oh, really?” Sir Toppham Hatt said, with an air of sarcasm in his voice. “Engines on MY railway do as THEY are told.” And he walked away.

“Well, until they fire you for poor performance!” James said.

“And what would happen to you then?” Fluttershy asked. “You’d probably end up on some preserved line somewhere, or even worse-scrapped!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Not cool Gordon, not cool.”

Rarity looked sad. “Not even I would be so shallow James!” she snapped. “Although there was that dress in my shop that needed finishing.” And she walked away to her car.

Meanwhile, Sir Toppham Hatt drove down to Wellsworth. The incident weighed heavily on his mind. “The yard has never been the same since Thomas left,” he said sadly to himself. “Since he went to his branch line it has become quite an unpleasant working environment. I may need another engine at this rate.”

When he pulled into the station car park, he could see Edward and Applejack shunting trucks into the goods sidings.

“Leave those trucks please!” he called to them. Applejack poked her head out of Edward’s cab and spoke out.

“What’s happenin’ over at Tidmouth?” she asked. It was very rare that Sir Toppham Hatt came over to Wellsworth, as he was normally too busy. So, something was clearly wrong.

“The other tender engines are refusing to pull trains unless an engine fetches their coaches for them,” Sir Toppham Hatt explained. “So, I want you two to work at the yard at Tidmouth and get the coaches into place.”

“Yes sir!” Edward called, and backed away almost immediately. He soon got to work assembling the trains, and the other tender engines were successfully coaxed into working as somebody else had fetched their coaches for them. Apart from minor timetable delays at the beginning of the day, the trains ran on time, and it seemed that the strike was over.

But the strike wasn’t over. It had only just begun.

The next morning, Edward came to a stop at the Tidmouth cattle dock, as Sir Toppham Hatt came over to speak to him. “Hello Edward!” he said. “What’s up? You look very glum.”

Applejack took her hat off, a sign that she was sad. “Some of the other engines have been givin’ us some nonsense, sir,” she said. “It’s mighty distractin’ and Eddie and me could do without it.”

“What sort of nonsense?” Sir Toppham Hatt asked.

Just then, Gordon rolled by, hissing rudely at him.

“Sorry!” Rainbow Dash called.

“That’s the sort of thing,” Edward said.

“What a noise!” Sir Toppham Hatt exclaimed.

“Ya see sir,” Applejack continued, “they seem ta think he’s some sorta traitor ta his kind, with their ‘tender engines don’t shunt’ nonsense. Now Ah can tell ya sir, family and loyalty are two thin’s are value highly. And not only is Eddie no traitor, he’s one of the hardest workers Ah’ve ever known. In fact, he’s an honorary member of the Smith family as of now.”

“Thank you!” Edward said happily. But his face fell. “Last night James claimed I had black wheels. It’s actually rather funny, coming from James, but that’s not the point!”

“Indeed,” Sir Toppham Hatt said. “Tender engines DO shunt, but at the same time we do need another engine. I’ll head over to Barrow Hill on the mainland to see if I can acquire one for the railway.”

At Barrow Hill Roundhouse, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, many engines were lined up around the turntable. As Sir Toppham Hatt walked around, he saw an engine that particularly interested him.

The engine was a small 0-4-0 saddle tank, painted green with red stripes. He vaguely resembled a Great Western Railway 1340 Trojan class engine, albeit with a bunker from a 1361 class locomotive, and a wrap-around saddle tank of a design Sir Toppham Hatt had never seen before. “Hello!” he said. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Percy, sir!” he said. “I came here a little while back, with my driver Pinkie Pie.”

“Who?” Sir Toppham Hatt asked.

“SUPRISE!” cried a voice in his ear, and before he could react, a girl suddenly popped into view, hanging down from the ceiling before landing the correct way up on the ground, next to Percy.

The girl had pink skin and hair, as well as a pair of blue eyes. She wore blue boots, a pair of blue shorts with a balloon pattern on the right leg, and a white shirt with pink sleeves and collar. Even as they spoke, she was bouncing up and down.

“Steady on!” Sir Toppham Hatt called. “You gave me a fright. What’s your name?”

“I’m Philomena Petricia Diane Julie Pie!” she replied. “But almost everybody calls me Pinkie Pie.” She then produced a gigantic cupcake out of her hair, covered in gold frostings. “Want a cupcake?”

“I think I’ll save it for afternoon tea,” Sir Toppham Hatt replied. “Pinkie, would you and Percy want to come and work on my railway on Sodor?”

“Yes sir!” Percy replied. “I’ll do my best!”

“Yes indeedally!” Pinkie replied.

Sir Toppham Hatt shook his head, and hopped onto his footplate as the turntable reset. “Just one thing, Percy,” he asked. “What precisely are you?”

“I get asked that a lot sir,” Percy replied. “I was originally built by Avonside as a conventional saddle tank, but I’ve been rebuilt so often that I’ve got bits from about 20 different manufacturers, including this custom saddle tank.”

Just as they arrived at Tidmouth, Sir Toppham Hatt called over to Edward. “Edward!” he called. “Meet Percy and Pinkie Pie. They’re here to help in the yard.”

“Hello Percy! Hello Pinkie!” Edward and Applejack chorused.

“Will you show him how to do things?” Sir Toppham Hatt asked.

“We’ll be honoured sir,” Applejack said.

Without too much effort, Percy soon knew what had to be done, and they had the yard cleaned up in next to no time.

But then trouble came in the form of Henry, who attempted to exit the yard. But Percy just wheeshed him, and away Henry went to the shed.

Applejack laughed. “Good job, you two! Old bossy wheels needs ta be put in his place!”

“I say,” Edward asked, “how do you wheesh so wonderfully?”

“It’s a secret,” Pinkie Pie said knowingly, touching the bridge of her nose.

The next morning, Thomas and Twilight arrived. “Hello!” Thomas said. “I expect there’s some sort of trouble on the line if I’m needed.”

Twilight looked over. “Who’s the new engine?” she asked.

“I’m Percy!” said Percy. “Nice to meet you, miss-”

“Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight looked into Percy’s cab. “Who’s the girl in your cab?”

“INCOMING!” Suddenly, Pinkie Pie appeared in Thomas’ cab, startling Twilight, who jumped back.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you.” Pinkie extended her hand, and the two became friends.

“Shh!” Edward hissed. “Sir Toppham Hatt’s here. I wonder what’s going on?”

“Good morning all!” said Sir Toppham Hatt. “I presume you heard that Henry, Gordon, and James are refusing to work on the grounds that there is no station pilot. Well, I’ve told Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity to take the day off so that they’ll be stuck in the shed. In the meantime, I want Edward and Thomas to work the main line, whilst Percy is to work the branch line. Everybody understand?”

“Yes sir!” they chorused.

Thomas was worried at first about Annie and Clarabel, but Twilight assured him they were OK. Thomas soon had no reason to worry when he saw how well Percy was handling them on the branch. There were fewer trains, but the passengers didn’t mind, as they knew the big engines were being taught a lesson, and as such didn’t care much for the disruption.

On the topic of those three, they were cold, lonely, miserable, and annoyed. Annoyed that their plan had been blown out of the water, but also feeling mighty silly. It seemed as if they would be there forever, without their drivers or friends.

Author's Note:

Fun fact: Percy is the only character in the Railway Series to be given his name by a person. All others presumably know their own. I changed this, however, as it always unsettled me somewhat.

Comments

[SonicStreak5344]

Well looks like Gordon, Henry, and James are left in their sheds to think about how idiotic they been recently. That would teach them a lesson. Nicely done.

[SonicStreak5344]

James: Remind me again whose bright idea it was to go on strike?

Henry: I believe it came from a certain blue express engine who thought of the idea in the first place.

Gordon: Oh the indignity of it all.

[The Blue EM2]

10040826

10040832
Will they learn their lesson? Only time will tell.

[Hereward]

"One of t' cross-beams gone out of skew on t' treadle." - Graham Chapman

[The Blue EM2]

10046892
Spanish Inquisition?

[JimmyHook19]

It’s actually rather funny, coming from James,

Heh, that is so ironic for James, given that he has Black Wheels himself. XD

Also interesting choice of Percy's Driver being Pinkie Pie ^^

[The Blue EM2]

10062273
They do fit each other.

[Nova_Blast]

10062273
10062850
It's actually quite a subtle reference to the term "black legged", which refers to a miner who works during strikes, they would get coal dust on their trousers (and probably everywhere else), so people could tell they'd been out working

[Raptormon132]

So Pinkie Pie drives Percy? I'm a bit surprised, but I guess somebody has to drive Percy. I guess the sheds will be having party for now on. LOL!

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

“Well they’ve clearly never tried Southern rail,” Sir Toppham Hatt sighed. “Oh well, I’ll sort this nonsense out. We can’t have this problem again.”

Yeah, I doubt this'll be the last time.

“Henry’s not going anywhere,” Gordon said importantly. “As a matter of fact, none of us are. We WON’T shunt like common tank engines, in those dirty sidings for those dirty trucks. That was Thomas’ job. But we are tender engines, and as such do not collect our coaches. You get an engine to collect our coaches, and we shall pull them. But until then, we are staying put exactly where we are. Tender engines don’t shunt!”

Try tell that to many tender engines in the US. Just about all tender engines in my country can often be found switching trains every once in a while. Whether it's a excursion star steamer like nickel plate road 765 or tourist lines like strasburg. There's dozens of them that shunt, even seen one do it myself as a matter of fact just 2 weeks ago at a tourist line I visited. And was narrow gauge too.

“And what would happen to you then?” Fluttershy asked. “You’d probably end up on some preserved line somewhere, or even worse-scrapped!”

She's got a point. Also "don't mention that word, it makes me wheels wobble". Had to say it for the obvious reason.

“Yes sir!” Edward called, and backed away almost immediately. He soon got to work assembling the trains, and the other tender engines were successfully coaxed into working as somebody else had fetched their coaches for them. Apart from minor timetable delays at the beginning of the day, the trains ran on time, and it seemed that the strike was over.

I'm glad Edward is the only tender engine that doesn't mind shunting.

“Indeed,” Sir Toppham Hatt said. “Tender engines DO shunt, but at the same time we do need another engine. I’ll head over to Barrow Hill on the mainland to see if I can acquire one for the railway.”

If only the engines can buck up and except the change.

“I’m Philomena Petricia Diane Julie Pie!” she replied. “But almost everybody calls me Pinkie Pie.” She then produced a gigantic cupcake out of her hair, covered in gold frostings. “Want a cupcake?”

Damn, that's quite the long name there.
Still, my question has been answered, pinkie is Percy's driver!

“I get asked that a lot sir,” Percy replied. “I was originally built by Avonside as a conventional saddle tank, but I’ve been rebuilt so often that I’ve got bits from about 20 different manufacturers, including this custom saddle tank.”

Interesting.

“INCOMING!” Suddenly, Pinkie Pie appeared in Thomas’ cab, startling Twilight, who jumped back.

I'll never understand pinkie pie at times.

[The Blue EM2]

11320021
1. Yup.

2. See my previous comments.

3. Yep.

4. True.

5. The two fit each other very well.

6. A green caterpillar with red stripes, if you will.

7. Me neither.