the tales of sodor's engine

bear reads a book

The Express is one of the most important passenger services on the Fat Controller's railway. Starting at the big station, it stops in all the major towns and journeys across the bridge to the mainland. Sometimes, the big engines have to stay overnight.

Gordon has been the railway's premier express engine for many years, but Henry and James help pull the express when Gordon is busy. Lately, however, the task of "filling in" had been given to the railway's newest engine, Bear.

Bear was a strong, kind diesel bought by the Fat Controller after being on trial from the Other Railway. He was a hard worker and enjoyed pulling the Express. Bear was well-liked by most, but not everyone was thrilled to welcome him into their midst, especially James, who sulked when he was told he wouldn't be able to pull the express for a while.

One day, Gordon was away for repairs and Bear was called on to pull the express in the meantime. James would not stop talking about it!

"Fancy a new, swanky diesel stealing the express from us!" James seethed.

"He hasn't stolen it, James," said Edward. "He only takes it when Gordon is-..."

"Stealing is stealing, and I won't put up with it."

"Shh! Shh! Here he comes!" whispered Thomas.

Bear's green paint glistened in the sunlight as he backed down onto the Express. He was due to stay overnight on the mainland and looked forward to catching up with his old friends.

"I haven't seen some of them since I came here. It will be good to chat with them," he smiled.

James, not being able to control his tongue, suddenly burst out.

"Going to boast to your friends how you've infiltrated a perfectly peaceful railway and...stolen their express?"

The other engines were shocked! They stared down in their buffers in embarrassment but Bear only laughed.

"On the contrary, I intend to tell them what nice engines you are, regardless of your...quick temper."

Bear gave a quick glance at the other engines, who all chuckled. They were well acquainted with James' lack of patience and appreciated Bear's humor. James, however, remained livid.

"Read a book, Bear! Steam engines are more useful than any diesel ever was! Edward broke a piston while pulling his train once, but he still managed to get to the station without fuss! If you broke down, you'd just moan for your fitter."

Bear smiled again.

"I think we could all read more often," he said. "Especially you, James. I heard that you ran into a line of tar wagons once. Didn't you read the side of the wagon, where it said 'TAR'?"

At this, all the other engines broke into a chorus of laughter. Bear pulled out of the station leaving a red-faced James behind.

Bear made good time up the main line, stopping at all the big stations along the way. A couple of times, Bear stopped a little too late and nearly caused his front coaches to miss the platform. His driver chalked it up to him still being new and not knowing the route as well as the other engines, but Bear could sometimes get lost in his thoughts and not fully attend to what he was doing.

The sun was beginning to set as he made his way across the bridge to the mainland. Bear smiled as he thought about which of his friends might be at the depot that evening and what they might talk about. He then remembered what James had said and felt a little ashamed. He hoped he hadn't upset James with his jokes. He genuinely liked working on Sodor and was afraid he had sewed a bad seed with his new friends. He was so preoccupied that he forgot to slow down as he entered the busy yard at the mainland station. He whipped around into the platform and suddenly realized that if he didn't stop there might be a crash!

He clamped down hard on his brakes, but it was too late. He crashed through the buffers and careened into the station bookstall. Luckily, no one had been hurt, but the bookstall was smashed to pieces. Magazines and books had flown everywhere! On top of Bear sat a children's book, open to a page with a picture of none other than Gordon the Big Engine!

It took some time to rescue Bear from the wreckage. Thankfully, he only sustained some minor scratches, but he felt very, very silly.

News soon spread of Bear's accident. Bear was worried that when he returned James would be even more cross with him, but he found that James was much more friendly than he ever had been.

"Well, Bear, my friend, now we're even," James chuckled. "It looks like we both need to read more. I just didn't expect you to take my advice so literally!"