Henry's adventure across the canal

The final hurrah!

The next day Mrs. Controller came with Henry's crew to get him ready for the day. She joked around with the men who were delighted by her presence. The others watched. Thomas, Percy and Emily were curious. But James and Gordon frowned. "Young lady", Gordon formally addressed her, "You are a new face it seems. Where are you from?" "Germany, Gordon. Nice to meet you", she responded politely after she had finished oiling something. "You know my name?!", Gordon was flabbergasted. And the rest of the engines started to whisper. "Do you know, my name?", asked Percy shyly. "Of course I do, Percy", the lady answered with a smile. And Percy blew his whistle a bit. And one by one everyone asked and Mrs. Controller called them all by their name. Soon the other crews arrived and fired up the remaining engines. They waited until the others were gone. Henry was confused. "Why didn't we leave first?", he asked. "We don't wanna give away immediately that you are the one who is going away", his old engine driver explains. "Oh"
Shortly after they picked up the coaches for a local and drove over to Knapford Mainstation. The platform was as busy as a bee hive. Men, women and children scuttled into the train and Mrs. Controller leaned out the window waiting for the guards whistle. The guard blew it before hopping into the train himself. She nodded and then turned to Henry: "Ready?" "Ready as you are!"
With a few loud whistle blows, they left the station behind.

The sky had cleared and revealed its azure hue. They arrived punctual at the next stop. A few seconds later James pulling a batch of freight cars arrived on the neighboring platform. He was grumbling. Mrs. Controller looked out of Henry's cab and wiped some pearls of sweat off her forehead. "Oh good morning Miss", James greeted her. "Good morning James", she yawned. "Still tired, aren't you", the red engine chuckles. "Yeah it was a bit early, but I gotta get used to it", she shrugged. "Used to it? Why a young lady like you?", the red steam engine asked suspicion in his voice. "Well I am an engine driver", she answered plainly. "An engine driver, you?!", James was shocked, "A girl could never be a driver especially not of that green fart" Henry opened his mouth, but closed it. "No, don't let yourself be provoked", he thought. The controller raises an eye brow. "The only girl I see is red", she chuckles. "Huh, where?! Rosie is at Vickarstown.", James was confused, "I'm red and I look splendid today." "It's you James!", Mrs. Drachenzorn laughed, "They should have called you Jasmine. Considering how splendid you are." James was boiling. Henry pressed his lips together to not burst into laughter. And before the offended was able to respond the signal turned green and the express left. When they were out of James' earshot Henry bursts into a belting laughter. The rest of the journey was uneventful. When they got back to Knapford Gordon was standing on the side taking a nap. He opened his eyes a bit to see who was passing by and his eyes suddenly widen in surprise when he recognizes the little lady leaning out of Henry's window. Mrs. Controller waves as she passed by the big engine.

In the evening at Tidmouth sheds the German controller was the talk. "Remember the little lady this morning", Gordon picked up the topic, "I saw her in Henry's cab." "Why would she be there?", Thomas asks with a raised eyebrow,
"Henry, explain please" "Oh, she is a new engine driver", the green engine answered. "But why didn't she go with us little ones?", Percy questioned. "I dunno" "Because we are more important", Gordon snarled. Percy and Thomas rolled their eyes. "No, Gordon it's because I'm going away", Henry thought while looking at the tracks before him. "She is a mean and rude person with no respect!", James blurted out. Everyone looked at him confused or annoyed. "She compared me to a girl?!", he continued. Henry laughed internally remembering the stupid face James made this morning. "Oh my, poor you, James", Thomas says his words trenched in irony. "Thank you, Thomas", the bright red engine hissed back. Henry didn't listen to the rest of the petty argument. His thoughts wandered around and a feeling of dread crept up inside his fire box. "Only 6 days left", thought. And with that he fell into a deep slumber.

The following days he and the female controller became an inseparable team. She even sat down on one of his front buffers eating her lunch while chatting with him. She told him about his new home in Germany. She reminisces: "I hope you will love it. Along the line is a lot of forest and soft hills and it's gorgeous during sunrise. Especially in the winter. Also your coaches are newly restored ones. And your shed is located in a really lovely part of Germany." One afternoon workmen showed up and Henry was fitting with all sorts of things. We was coupled to a coach he'd never seen before. "Sir what's that coach for?", he asked the fat controller who had supervised the work together with the German controller. "That coach is for the test runs tonight." "Test runs?" "Yes, test runs big boy", chimed in Mrs. Controller, "We wanna see if you can run 100km/h without any issue." "What would that be in mph?", the big engine asked. About 60 65 if I remember correctly", replied his future driver. At 11pm Henry stood at platform 1 at Knapford station. The team got onboard, the guard blew his whistle and Henry steamed into the darkness of the night. He accelerated. "It feels odd to be rushing along this line without any freight or passengers.", he thought. They reached Crovan's gate and everyone was very pleased. "Henry I asked the inspector if we could let you run at 75 mph and he agreed." "Oh well I don't usually like going that fast", the big engine admitted. "It's okay if you don't want t-" "But today I'll make an exception!" They turned him on the turn table and headed back to Knapford. And with every mile Henry got faster, a feeling of excitement filled Henry's firebox. Then he spotted an engine. It was Gordon who was waiting in a station. "What is that nonsense", he grumbled the big blue. "Hi Gordon! Bye Gordon!", shouted Henry as he raced through. "What was that?!", gasped the big blue engine. "I don't fucking know!",answered his equally stunned driver. Henry quietly rolled into the shed knowing that everything was now ready.

Soon the day came in the afternoon Henry would leave Sodor for an uncertain time. He wasn't sure how to feel. He was excited to see this place so far away from home, but on the other hand he was feeling saddened by the thought of leaving his friends behind. "Heads up, Henry", the female controller says in a comforting tone, "Departures are always hard especially when you leave good friends" "I know", he responded defeated. "Ready, big boy" "Yes" and the crew headed for the port. When they reached his forest. They stopped him. "I think you deserve to say goodbye to this forest my dear friend.", his fireman said with a heavy voice. The big green engine looked around. He knew everything here. Every tree, every flower, every animal big and small. He sighed. "Goodbye my beloved forest", he wept and puffed sadly away. When he passed through no one was there at the stations or the shunting yards. "Why is no one there to say goodbye?", the green engine thought and with every mile they got closer he felt more and more empty inside. He was silent all the way and Mrs. Controller pad the outside of his cab while they were waiting on a signal.

When the harbor got in sight Henry pinched his eyes. There was an unusual commotion at the docks. And as he got closer he recognized banners and people running around. And. And all the other engines. Thomas, Edward, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Duck, Bill and Ben, Oliver, Donald and Douglas and all the others who had come to Sodor over the years. Even the narrow gauge and miniature engines were there. They all blew their whistle and shouted: "Henry, Henry our old friend Henry". They all stood side by side. Smiling, but there eyes were clouded by sadness. Especially Gordon's. The fat conductor stepped onto a podium and the crowd went silent. "Dear Henry," he started, "I know all those years ago you had a rough start with many, many problems. But over the years you have become one of the most important and useful engines of North Western Railway. I thank you in the name of the Hatt family for your loyal service and all the hard work you put in despite some hiccups here and there. And now..." The fat controller pulled out a tissue and wipes away the tears that had started to blur his vision. "And now my good old Henry I'll give you into the care of my young, German colleague. I hope you will do just as good as you did here and find maybe a few new friends." Sir Bernadette Topham Hatt gave a sign and dock workers started to prep Henry to be lifted onto the waiting ship. Mrs. Controller takes her suit case and jacket out of his cab. She waved a goodbye with teary eyes to everyone and hastily stepped away from the group and onto the ship. Every engine steam or diesel one by one wished Henry the best. Last was Gordon: "Henry" "Yes, Gordon." The blue engine looked down. "I'll miss you. Please...please don't forget us." "I won't Gordon. I would never forget you all. I will miss you all so much" Gordon opens his mouth as Cranky and Big Mikey start to lift Henry off the rails. Henry closes his eyes as he feels the safety of the track dwindling. He opens them when he feels the rails on the ship again. He looks down at his friends now tiny and far away. Mrs. Controller supervised the sailors lashing the big green engine up. She held her glasses in one hand while wiping away the last few tears. "I can't stand those kind of goodbye's ", she muttered."No one can", Henry comforted her. When all was set and done. Both glanced down to the engines of Sodor. The ship horn resounds and the ship picks up speed. Mrs. Controller starts waving and then. Gordon whistled as loud as he could and all the engines one by one chimed in. Henry answered until he ran out of steam. The last tone they heard was Gordon before they were too far away. "Goodbye Gordon. Goodbye my friends", Henry sobbed. "Awww, it's alright", Mrs. Drachenzorn came over, climbed up and wiped away the tears the strong engine was shedding. Henry cried until he had no tears left. Mrs. Controller stayed with the green engine until it fell asleep.