Thomas and the Trucks
A few nights after the passenger train fiasco, Thomas was at it yet again, never ceasing to be a nuisance. “I’m tired of pushing and pulling coaches, I want to see the world,” he told them, over and over again, just in case they had forgotten.
The other engines paid him little notice, and it eventually got on Twilight’s nerves as well. “Thomas, can you PLEASE stop talking about seeing the world?” she asked. “If you’re not careful, you may end up doing so in a bad film!”
That had the desired effect-for one night at least. Not that anybody paid any attention anyway, as Thomas was a little engine with a long tongue. But one night, Edward and Applejack came back to the shed after having worked a late-night goods run.
“Hey there Thomas!” Applejack greeted warmly. “Why the long face?”
Thomas simply looked down at her sadly. “I’ve spent most of my life in this yard,” he said sadly. “And I desperately want a chance to prove I can pull trains, as I made a bit of a mess of the last attempt.”
Edward had heard all about that, and had been most disgusted at the fact the other engines laughed about it. “Thomas,” he said, “I have an idea. I have some trucks to take to Wellsworth tomorrow, but if you want, you can take them whilst I handle the yard here. How does that sound?”
“Hooray!” cried Thomas.
“Pipe down!” Gordon shouted. “Some of us are trying to sleep!”
The next morning, as Twilight came into work, Applejack greeted her by the running yard access door. “Howdy Twi!” she said.
“Morning Applejack,” Twilight replied, carefully balancing her mug of tea on Thomas’ running board. “Something you wanted to speak to me about?”
“Well,” the country girl began, “Thomas was tellin’ me and Edward how sad he is that he can’t leave the yard and pull trains.”
“Oh not this again,” Twilight sighed.
“Mah thinkin’ was that we could swap jobs fer the day,” Applejack offered. “You and Thomas and take mah goods train ta Wellsworth, whilst Eddie and Ah can care fer the yard here. How’s that sound?”
Twilight smiled. “Sounds good to me,” she said. “Let's do it!”
After everyone had agreed to the swap, Thomas and Twilight headed off to collect some trucks. Now then, trucks are noisy and silly. They talk a lot and pay little attention to what they are doing, a problem made worse by the fact that they lack continuous braking. An inexperienced engine can be easily caught out by them, and Thomas was most certainly inexperienced. He may have known how to shunt them, but he certainly didn’t know how to pull them in a goods train!
Thomas marshalled his trucks. Although Edward had given him many useful tips about handling trucks, he hadn’t been listening at the time. He pushed together a train consisting of a mix of 13-ton plank wagons and 12-ton unfitted vans, and when all was ready the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag. Twilight pulled the whistle chord in response, and opened Thomas’ regulator. They were off onto the main line!
Although the timetable said they were to depart then, the trucks weren’t ready to go. “Stop Thomas! Stop!” they called, in an effort to get Thomas to stop.
“Come along, come along!” he told them, as they rumbled along the line. They rolled through tunnels and under bridges, and past crowds of people watching trains rolling past. Thomas flew through the tunnel in which Henry had been shut up a few weeks earlier, and then throhgh another station.
“This is the life!” he called, happily. Twilight then checked behind her, and looked in surprise.
“Wait a minute!” she cried. “The formation of trucks has changed! That Bloater van wasn't there when we departed!”
Thomas either didn’t hear her or ignored her, as he flew onwards along the line toward his final destination. Flying through Crosby, past the signal that had held him up a few days ago, and felt a lot better. Not only as he pulling a train, he was pulling it well.
But the trucks were angry, as they always were for some bizarre reason, and grew even more so as Thomas began his ascent of Marron’s Bank (or Gordon’s Hill, as it had now been christened).
Suddenly, the train seemed to be heavier. “I don’t recall it being this heavy!” he groaned. Twilight looked back and suddenly noticed some of the plank wagons had loads in them that hadn’t been there moments earlier.
“This is getting too weird,” she groaned, as she adjusted Thomas’ reverser to get more power on the climb.
“Look out for the train!” an anonymous voice called from somewhere.
Twilight thought little of it, as weird as her day already was, and focused on driving as the train reached the summit of Gordon’s hill. She applied the brakes in order to prepare them for the other side. “OK Thomas, we need to stop!” she called, as the brakes came on.
“We're stopping, we’re stopping!” Thomas called to the trucks. The Guard, in response, screwed on the brake van brake.
But the trucks were having none of it. “No no no no!” they shouted, bumping into each other. “Go on! Go on!”
Thomas and the train rocketed down the other side of Gordon’s Hill, speed rising dangerously fast as the weight of the train forced them downhill. The speedometer read 40 miles an hour, but Twilight knew that they were going a lot faster than that. Thomas had his brakes hard on to try and slow them down, but it seemed to be having little effect. “Stop pushing! Stop pushing!” he shouted to the trucks.
“Go on! Go on!” they giggled, in their silly way, as Thomas reached the bottom of the bank and raced through Maron, being diverted onto a siding and somehow not derailing. The buffers loomed closer and closer.
“I must stop!” he cried, and shut his eyes.
“HELP!” Twilight called out, and prepared to jump.
And just then, Thomas stopped, reopening his eyes as he did so. The buffers had stopped him, but only just. “That’s a relief.”
Just then, a familiar voice echoed over the terrain. “What are you two doing here, Thomas and Twilight?” asked Sir Toppham Hatt.
“We’re bringing Edward’s trucks,” Twilight explained. “But we didn’t mean to come down so fast, those trucks bumped us!”
Sir Toppham Hatt nodded. “Well, you’ve both got a lot to learn about trucks. A few weeks working with Edward and Applejack, and you’ll know just as much about them as they do.”
Thomas whistled sadly. “Yes sir,” he said, and puffed away.
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New chapter's here!
10021783 You know, you don't have to keep reminding us. That's why we Track these things.
I'm calling it now: James and Rarity.
My headcanon for that episode was that it was a pick-up goods, so it was shuffled around on the way.
Were you referring to Big World, Big Adventures as the "bad film"? If so, I would like to disagree with you as that film was all sorts of fun and entertaining.
10021783
I LOVE the references to the goofs in this episode, from the trucks to that famous quote
Who was the voice Twi heard?
Here's a song that goes well with this story.
derpicdn.net/img/download/2018/7/23/1787579.gif
Childhood. Complete.
derpicdn.net/img/download/2019/12/31/2234483.png
10021798
Then I shall stop. Sorry, I've had issues in the past with people not seeing chapters.
10021810
Though, of course, we never see them stop to shuffle stuff around onscreen.
10021870
I was actually referring to the internet series that was later released as a single video. BWBA had some redeeming features, but it's far from my favourite Thomas film.
10021873
Some of the goofs only occur in the US version. I was unaware of the 'look out for the train' bit until an American friend pointed it out. The error is there in the US dub, at about 3:08 in the video;
but not in the UK version;
10022017
The voice is a nod to an audio editing mistake in the US version of this story, where a member of the film crew can be heard saying 'look out for the train!'. This line was clearly not meant to be audible in the finished episode.
10022033
Thanks.
10022396
As much as I love the show, I just can't resist laughing at some of the mistakes that got through!
10022472
One of my favorites is next, Thomas proving himself, I can't wait to see how you adapt it
10022636
I think you'll like what I've got planned.
10022474
Ok.
10022882
Quite why it's an American is unclear as the show was filmed in Battersea at that point.
10022889
Ok.
10023254
Which is in London.
10022889
Wasn't it fillmed at Sheppertton Studios?
10023431
From season 2 onwards.
10023443
Have to admit, I didn't believe you, and looked it up. Sorry for not trusting you
10023474
Hey, skepticism isn't a bad thing.
Love how you added the goofs into the episode X3
10058833
Funnily enough, I wasn't aware of 'Look out for the Train' until you pointed it out. It doesn't occur in the UK version.
So far this is fun. It's like reliving my childhood all over again.
I loved how you put in the goofs like the formation of the goods train and the "Look out for the train!" thing in this. LOL!
And, sadly, he did
11092783
You said it.
Which he did. That terrible big world big adventure movie, or BUBWA as The Unlucky Tug calls it, which I find hilarious but it still doesn't change the fact over the movie as imo, the story started to go downhill because of that movie.
through*
Was that a reference to how it was seen as a goof from the tv show or just for giggles?
Tell me about it.
Lmao, I can't believe you added that into the story!
11318284
1. Bwuhba was garbage.
2. Corrected.
3. It's a nod to goofs.
4. Yes.
5. I thought American readers would appreciate it.
11318596
oh. shit. My bad.
Also, I didn't know about the "look out for the train" in the episode til 2016 as I never had that problem when I was little, but thx to youtuber GWR Studios.