the tales of sodor's engine

brave brake van

The yard at the junction was in an awful mess after Percy’s accident. Many of trucks were damaged and needed to be taken away for repairs. Thomas and Daisy helped where they could, but they had to take their passengers, and so most of the work fell to Toby. He didn’t mind – he liked shunting.

    Besides, Toby thought, it’s nice to have some quiet work for a change!

    And so Toby got to work sorting the trucks into a line to be taken to the Works. The work took a long time. As Toby began to sort the last row, he was surprised to find an old brake van sitting at the back of the siding.

    “Hello,” Toby said. “Who are you?”

    The van didn’t speak at first. Rather, he looked from side to side, as if thinking that Toby had been addressing someone else.

    “M-me?” the van stuttered.

    “Yes!” Toby smiled. “I don’t believe I’ve ever met you before.”

    “N-no, I don’t believe so.” The van looked down at his buffers and fell silent. Toby got the impression that the van didn’t like to say very much.

    “Well,” Toby said finally. “Let’s get you out of that old siding and into the-“

    “No!” the van protested. “I-I’d like to stay right here.”

    “But why? We could use you on our trains.”

    The van looked horrified.

    “N-no, I can’t! I can’t!”

    “Why not?” Toby asked. “Don’t you want to be really useful?”

    “The other trucks…they don’t like me. They think I'm awkward.”

    At this, some of the surrounding trucks snickered to each other, which made the van very sad. Toby felt sorry for the poor van.

    “I know how you feel,” said Toby. “When I came here, everyone called me and Henrietta dirty objects. They didn’t think we were capable of being really useful, but we showed them!”

    “Y-you did?”

    “Yes! It took a long time, but we proved how hard-working we can be, and they don’t make fun of us anymore.”

    For the first time, the van smiled.

    “But,” Toby added. “The only way you can prove yourself is to come out of that dirty siding.”

    Toby quickly coupled to the old van.

    “B-but, what if I fail?” the van cried.

    “Don’t worry,” Toby said as the two of them came across the yard. “No engine, truck, or van is perfect. All we can do is try!”

    The van was not so sure, but he appreciated having a new friend in Toby.

    The next day, Toby sorted the damaged trucks to be taken to the Works. He decided that the old van should come with him.

    “Ohhhh,” the van groaned. “I-I don’t know about this, Toby.”

    “You’ll be fine – you’ll know just what to do. I believe in you!”

    With a smile, Toby went to the front of the train to be coupled up. The guard’s whistle blew and they were off.

    As they made their way up the main line, the weather changed. The rain began pouring down and made it difficult to see. They started up a steep stretch of line. The big engines didn’t have much trouble getting over the hill, but Toby was smaller, and the rails were slippery. 

As Toby started up the incline, he felt the weight of the trucks behind him. The van was anxious.

“C’mon Toby, c’mon Toby,” he said to himself.

Toby and his driver didn’t realize that some of the couplings on the trucks had been damaged after Percy’s accident. Soon, one of the couplings snapped!

The trailing trucks began to roll down the hill and back toward the junction!

“On! On! On!” the trucks screamed.

The van was in shock! He had worried about a runaway since leaving the station, and now that it was happening, he felt frozen in time!

They raced past the signalbox. The signalman didn’t see them in time, and they were racing toward disaster. Up the line, Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel were about to set off. The guard’s whistle came shrieking from up the platform.

“There’s been a runaway! Everyone out of the coaches!”

The old brake van was worried out of his mind, but then he remembered what Toby had said. In that moment, his mind became focused, razor-sharp. He thought about Thomas and the passengers, and about the silly trucks behind him, and knew what he had to do.

“Ha ha!” the trucks laughed. “That awkward old brake van doesn’t know what to do! We’ll get away with this for sure!”

“Not today,” said the brake van, with feeling. 

“Oh, horrors!” cried Thomas as he saw the brake van and the trucks approaching.

The van clamped down hard on his brakes, and the train came to a sputtering standstill just inches away from Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel!

    “Phew!” Thomas sighed, red in the face. 

The van could not believe what had happened.    He had stopped the train! Soon, Toby caught up with them and apologized profusely to Thomas and his guard.

“No apology necessary, Toby,” smiled Thomas. “Your brake van was very brave indeed. He stopped the surging trucks with more grace than I’ve ever seen a brake van do!”

The van blushed.

“D-do you mean it?” asked the van.

“Yes!” said a familiar voice. Standing there was Sir Topham Hatt!

“If only all our brake vans were as focused as you. Your quick thinking avoided a nasty accident. What is your name?”

“I-I don’t have a name, sir” stuttered the van.

“I think ‘Baldwin’ is a fitting name, sir,” put in Toby.

“Baldwin?” asked the brake van, curiously.

“Ah,” Sir Topham Hatt smiled. “It means brave friend. Very fitting! Baldwin it shall be.”

From that day onward, the trucks knew not to try any tricks around Baldwin the Brave Brake Van!

“Look out for Baldwin!” the trucks said to each other. “He doesn’t take any nonsense!”