~1945~
The war had ended, no more fighting, Germany had lost and the allies had won, but at a cost.
We were all informed that Matthew, the war engine. Perished in combat, whilst stopping a Nazi train full of armaments get to Paris.
We were all in mourning. Molly and I especially. But we had to continue on, work as usual, I was still needed at the base to ease things a bit, but soon only went there when needed. I was pretty much back with the North Western again, and nothing eventful happened.
Until a few weeks later.
Thomas came into the yard to see Edward, Henry and Gordon all talking to each other.
"What is this?" asked the tank engine, "Is Gordon and Henry asking you Edward to learn how to shunt in secrecy?"
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny Thomas," wheeshed Henry sarcastically, "Why don't you just puff along and get some fish into your tanks."
Thomas' cheeks when as bright as the red lining on each engine there. "Why don't you sneeze little boys ok bridges again," he said, "You know how the parents' reacted and it went into court to the railway."
Henry growled. "Why don't-"
"That's enough!" yelled Edward.
"We are talking about this book," said Gordon, after a moment of silence.
"A book?" said Thomas puzzled.
"A book called 'The Three Railway Engines'," added Henry.
"It's about us in four stories," said Edward, "One where I was stuck in some sheds and let out and had to wait for a guard to arrive who was late. Then you remember when I had to push Gordon up his hill."
"It isn't my hill," grumbled Gordon.
"Anyways," ignored Edward, "He also written that down in a second story. The third story was about Henry when he got stuck in his tunnel and when The Fat Controller bricked him up. The fourth was about how he was let out again."
"Like Gordon, not my tunnel."
"Then why are they called Gordon's hill and Henry's tunnel?" quizzes Thomas cheekily.
Gordon and Henry grumbled with each other.
"A reverend came in 1941," continued Edward, "He asked us three many questions about are railway and how we run it and what has happened in the past. He told his son about the first three stories, and in the end the fourth story came too when being published in May. It has become very popular with children."
"So, only you three are in it?" asked Thomas.
"Yes we are," replied Gordon, "Eagle made an appearance in a picture too. As well as Alfred and Simon, silly decision if you ask me to put them in there."
Thomas' brow crinkled. He couldn't stop thinking about it all day. Percy and I found out too and I wasn't too please that the other three had all the attention. I'm not going to lie, I was complaint a lot a that time, and a lot of it had to be listened by Percy.
Thomas wasn't too pleased of this either and also would complain. But to his faithful coaches, Annie and Clarabel.
"It isn't fair," he said to them as they puffed down the line one evening. "Edward, Henry and Gordon get to go in a book and not me! I was there also at the time!"
"He's quite upset. He's quite upset," sang Annie to Clarabel.
"We mustn't aggravate him," sang Clarabel to Annie, agreeing with her.
Thomas reached Ffarquhar and shunted the coaches into their shed and then backed into his own. But whilst he was being cleaned, his fireman suddenly felt icky.
"I'll be fine," he said, waving the driver off.
But he wouldn't. He didn't arrive the next morning and Thomas and his driver were told that he was taken ill from his wife and won't be coming in.
So a relief fireman was ordered and a man with brown hair and big glasses arrived in under an hour. Thomas thought it was Whiff for a second.
"Hullo," called the man, "My name is Wilbert."
"Nice to meet you Wilbert," smiled Thomas' driver, "I'm Lachlan, and this here is Thomas."
Thomas was expecting something of a nod from the relief fireman. After all, relief drivers or firemen don't really interact with us engines much. But instead, Wilbert waved and gave a smile to the tank engine.
"Hello Thomas," he called, "Pleasure to meet you. I would want to shake a hand, but not really going to work!"
He and Lachlan chuckled at that. Thomas smirked. Wilbert was taught on how to run Thomas' fire, he was fast learner and when Thomas was waiting at the station for his first passenger train of the day, his steam was roaring as usual.
Thomas soon puffed out when the train was ready.
Both engine and man asked questions with each other whilst Thomas' driver grinned. Knowing something that Thomas didn't.
Thomas soon returned to Ffarquhar with a mix-train and a few minutes set out again with another mix-train.
The tank engine felt more in a good mood then ever, he sang with Annie and Clarabel as they rolled down the line with clattering trucks behind them.
As Thomas was nearing Toryreck, he heard the roaring of a bus and he came next to a roar which ran alongside the railway. Then appeared Bertie the bus.
"Hello Bertie!" peeped Thomas.
But Bertie wasn't paying attention, he was grumbling and was bouncing along the road. He almost cursed, Thomas didn't say anything else. He just left the bus - who stopped at a bus stop - and continued to Toryreck.
Thomas waited for Bertie as he arrived.
"Bad luck Bertie," said Thomas to the bus who came to a stop at the station. "Now if you were a steam engine, you can run on reliable rails."
"Pher" replied Bertie, "The railway was suppose to send tar to fix the roads two weeks ago. You can't trust a thing that runs on rails."
"Oh thanks Bertie," huffed Thomas, "Tell you what, I'll try find where the tar is. It must've got onto the wrong train or something, but you can trust me to find out where the tar is."
Thomas left Bertie and traveled along his branch line towards the big station by the sea.
Meanwhile at Tidmouth. I was there, banging trucks around the yard. I was pissed off. Percy had burst a safety valve and was needed to go to the works, this meant James had to fill in until Percy returned the next day.
"It's ridiculous!" I exclaimed, "Whenever Percy gets himself in a pickle I have to do his work! It's disgusting!"
He then ran into some trucks with a mighty bump. "Oh oh oh oh!" moaned the trucks, "Just you wait! We'll show you!"
Then an inspector arrived. "No.5, you must go down the Ffarquhar branch line and pick up some stone trucks from the Anopha quarry," he informed, "No.6 was meant to take them but is now unavailable as you must know. Please take empties and come back with full stone for No.3's goods tomorrow."
He left. I fumed. "How dare he say that I have to go down the Ffarquhar branch line to collect dirty trucks from dirty sidings!"
Gordon was nearby, he had heard everything. "James!" he called, grabbing my attention, "I think you could stop collecting those things instead."
"And how?"
"Simple, pretend you're ill."
I pondered. "Not a bad idea," I said, smiling at the big engine. We both heard a peep and Thomas came in with vans from his branch line.
'Perfect, Thomas is here. He'll have no choice to do it,' I thought.
I began to make myself look ill.
Thomas came up alongside, for once in his life he was actually sorry to see us look miserable. "Cheer up," smiled the tank engine, "It's a beautiful day!"
"Yes," grunted Gordon, "But not for James."
"What's the matter?" asked Thomas.
"He's sick," replied Gordon simply.
"Yes he is-I mean I am, I am," I stuttered, "I-I don't feel well at all!"
"Don't worry," sympathised Thomas, "I'll help if you're ill."
Gordon and I looked at each other, and then back at the tank engine that looked like Thomas. "A-are you sure Thomas?" I asked.
"Positive!" said Thomas, "Now what do you need me to do?"
"I was suppose to collect stone trucks from the Anopha quarry on your branch line as Percy is away and then bring them back here."
"Well I may can't bring them all the way back here, but I can be sure to bring them to my junction. If you're feeling any better you can collect you're trucks at the junction and bring them back here,"
"Alright," I replied, "Doubt it though, but they're for tomorrow on Henry's goods do you have time tonight."
"Let's see if my mood is the same," chuckled Thomas.
"You're suppose to take empties there too!" added Gordon.
"Oh yes! That's right!" I said.
Thomas rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said, and puffed away.
I looked over to Gordon with a confused glance.
"That means yes," said Gordon.
He was right. Thomas picked up the trucks and took them with him back to his branch line. The trucks were planning on paying me out for bumping the other trucks earlier, but they couldn't since it was Thomas.
"Well if he bumps our friends, we can do the same thing to his," said a trucks to the others quietly.
The others agreed, they would get there chance as Thomas took them to the Anopha quarry and filled them up. He had a plan, he would do what he just done, them take the loaded trucks to Ffarquhar and take his next goods train with him which was waiting in the yards there. Then he would take them all to his junction.
He shunted the break van in place at the back, went round the train, buffered up and reversed his way out of the quarry and down the tramway.
Before the line goes through the town, it would go past a crossing, then over a bridge over a river and then travel through fields and points laid there. The line splits in two. Whilst one heads into the town, the other goes along a rickety old line, which hadn't been used in ages, it was used for horses in the Victorian era when the coffee pots still ran the line, it had a little ferry thing, so to carry trucks across a large and deep lake, that was why horses only used this section of track. But it became redundant for not being viable and not being important since the introduction of lorries.
Points are operated by an AB switch, inside them, is a ring which holds down the switch blades, there are two on each side. But the rings were getting rusty, and when Thomas last went over the points, one side suddenly broke. Causing the switch blades to break on one side, the points were now directing towards the rusted line.
Thomas didn't know, and neither the trucks. But when Thomas thundered over them, he was taken by surprise, so was Wilbert and his driver. The trucks chance had come.
"On! On! On! they yelled and banging into each shoved Thomas forwards and knocking his driver off the footplate. Wilbert seized control without no hesitation and began to break the tank engine.
Thomas did his best. But he was already going down the small slope towards the lake. He hit the wooden buffers - which were placed when the line shut down - which broke instantly and ran onto the raft.
Thomas was still on the rails luckily and so were the trucks. But the old raft couldn't take Thomas' weight and began to descend into the water.
"Back Thomas!" shouted Wilbert, "Back! Back!"
Thomas tried. But the trucks were refusing to move. "Come on! Come on!" wheezed the tank engine.
"Come on Thomas!" called Wilbert, "I know you can do it!"
"I can't," gasped Thomas, "They're too heavy."
"Believe you can," replied Wilbert, "Believe, God will guide you."
"God?!"
"Yes, try harder, and God will notice you're stress," said Wilbert.
Thomas began to push harder and harder and then, the trucks began to move. The raft shuddered with Thomas' wheels spinning. Suddenly, the tank engine covered in blue pulled forward, making the raft almost go up right, and he shoved the trucks backwards, making them release their breaks and the tank engine landed on firm ground again.
He gasp with relief. Wilbert sat down in the cab and Thomas' driver came to see if both were all right.
Thomas' buffer beam was badly damage for him to move any further and Mickey was ordered upon the scene.
He quickly took the trucks out of the way first and then came back for Thomas later. Thomas was then loaded onto a flatbed by Judy and Jerome.
"Don't worry dear," smiled Judy, "You were very brave with being on that raft."
"I'm surprised it didn't sank quicker!" laughed Jerome.
Thomas smiled a bit, but still felt a little depressed. Once Thomas was loaded up, Mickey got Thomas train all ready, shunted Thomas, Judy and Jerome in front.
Whilst going down the line, Thomas remembered what Bertie had said. 'Maybe Mickey knows,' he thought.
Mickey did know and when Thomas asked him about missing tar for the roads near Toryreck. The fire engine explained everything.
"Three tar tankers were thought to be secretly supplying illegal alcohol in them," explained Mickey, "They were taken off Henry's goods two weeks and went under inspection, they were reported that there was no illegal alcohol and that it was just tar in all three. Don't worry Thomas, we must've forgot to tell the railway that it was all clear to take the tar away. I'll make sure to get the tar to the roads by the end of this week."
When Gordon and I heard the hole incident, we were shocked. I felt quite guilty and went to see him when he was brought into the yards, as well as Gordon too.
I was punished for what I did with pulling goods trains until Thomas got back and Gordon and Henry switched jobs for the rest of the week.
Thomas was secretly humbled by this.
Later on, before Thomas was going to be sent away to the works, Wilbert arrived to see him.
"Hullo Thomas," he said, "How are you feeling?"
"Less stressed when being on that raft," replied Thomas.
Wilbert chuckled. "Well at least you were allowed to get off it."
Thomas raised a brow. "What do you mean by, allowed?"
"God allowed you to get off it dear Thomas," said Wilbert, "You were being kind to others and he has awarded you by being allowed to escape the depths of the waters from the lake."
"You're a believer of God?" asked Thomas, "Like, apart of the church?"
"Well yes," said Wilbert, "I am apart of the church and apart of God. After all, I am a reverend."
"A reverend?" said Thomas. A moment of silence for Thomas to think it through, he could not believe that his relief fireman was an actual reverend. He sniffed as a thought came to mind, a smirk grew on his lips.
"What is it?" asked Wilbert.
"A reverend wrote a book about us," said Thomas, "Well, wrote a book about three of us. Edward, Henry and Gordon. And you're a reverend, that's a slight coincidence."
"Well then," chuckled Wilbert, "Imagine the coincidence of this reverend being the same reverend who wrote the book."
"Yeah. That would be a-"
Thomas stopped and looked down at Wilbert, who was smiling innocently.
"No you're not!" exclaimed the tank engine.
"But I am," nodded Wilbert.
"Y-you're the author of that book?!"
"Indeed I am."
Thomas paused and blinked a couple times. "That is just a coincidence."
Wilbert chuckled. "Indeed."
"But I thought you lived in the mainland?"
"Oh I do," replied Wilbert, "I'm just here to do a little research and do a bit of work too. That's why I'm being a relief fireman until I can go home with what I need."
"What type of research?"
"Research for a new book I'm making," replied Wilbert, he then looked up at Thomas and smiled broadly. "And I know what's it going to be about."
Thomas' eyes widen. "M-me?"
Wilbert nodded. "Your adventures are around the time after the three railway engine," he said, "I'll have to change a few things so to keep it simple for the children and simplify it too. But I think we can do it."
Thomas beamed.
Thomas began telling all his stories and Wilbert settled on doing the adventure of when he was first a station pilot, to being a branch line engine.
Four stories were settled on, and like what Wilbert said, they were changed a lot. The first story wasn't even about Thomas in real life for Christ's sake!
After that, the book became published in 1946 and Thomas became a popular in a matter of weeks, people started asking him more questions, and I was too, mainly about my accident though.
Wilbert will eventually do the stories about me though and the rest of the railway in the many years to come.
He was also close friends with The Fat Controller, and let's just say he found out his nickname we called him.
Those were sweaty times I tell you.
But the reverend was a kind man to us, guided by God and we were okay with that, and he was okay with us not believing in God either.
And he was a brilliant man anyways. One of the best we've known.