The Railway ~ Rewrite: "First Series"

Thomas the Tank Engine

The next morning, Edward and Henry woke a little later than usual. Gordon was already gone.

"My mornings haven't started out like this in a long time." Sighed Edward.

"Good morning to you too, Edward." Said Henry. "What time is it?"

Then, Sir Topham Hatt arrived.

He stepped out of Terry and he looked like he spilt coffee on himself.

"Hello Edward and Henry. I apologize for coming on such short notice." Said the fat director. "I quickly drove over to let you know that Edward will work with trucks today, and Henry will pull passenger coaches."

"Oh yes sir!" Replied Henry excitedly. "I feel strong today!"

"That's a good engine." Said the fat controller as he stepped back into his car, before rolling down the window again. "But no stopping in a tunnel again, you hear?"

Henry rolled his eyes. "Yes sir."

So Edward and Henry puffed off together to Vicarstown station.

Surprisingly there were very few passengers today.

"Um... e-excuse me?" Said a voice.

Edward looked up and saw there was a little blue E2 tank engine next to him.

"Oh, hello!" Said Edward. "You must be one of the new engines! But... you're not big."

"Yes I am! I'm an E2! E2s are HUGE!" Remarked the engine. "Are they..?"

"Well, yes, they are." Replied Edward. "But you're quite small. You're like the runt of the litter."

"I like your blue paintwork." Commented Henry. "And you are?"

"Oh, my name is Thomas. I was just repainted here after I got here." Replied the engine. "It's nice to meet you two, Mr, um..."

"Edward and Henry." Replied Edward.

Edward puffed up next to the fat controller, observing Thomas' big yellow number 1 with a red outline.

"Excuse me sir." Said Edward. "What's Mr. Thomas' story over there?"

"Thomas is a tank engine who recently arrived on the Island of Sodor" Said the fat director. "He's a cheeky little train."

"ahem Sir." Remarked Edward.

"I'm sorry, he's a cheeky little engine, and he is also the first engine I officially purchased for the railway." The fat controller corrected. "I'm not sure how he got here, all I know is that he was brought in from Brighton after a bit of a mix up."

Edward observed Thomas' six small wheels, short stumpy funnel, short stumpy boiler, and short stumpy dome.

"From what I've seen, he's a fussy little engine too." Topham continued. "He'll be the one to retrieve the coaches from the yard and bring them to the station."

"Oh good." Said Edward. "We needed a station pilot."

His driver was explaining Thomas' duties to him.

"Your job is to collect the coaches from the train yards for the big engines to take on long journeys." Said his driver. "And when the day's work is done, you'll pull the empty coaches away so the big engines can go and rest."

"Hey, who's that next to the station?" Asked Thomas.

"That's Gordon." Said his driver. "He's the biggest, fastest, and proudest engine on the railway."

Gordon was minding his own business on the siding of Vicarstown station. Thomas decided to be cheeky. When he knew his driver wasn't looking, he slowly went up beside Gordon and...