The Adventures of Thomas (MKII)

Sodor

3:30 a.m., Monday, September 9th, 1940

Johnny couldn't sleep that night. The thoughts in his head protruding his mind like bullets hitting a helmet on a stick in boot camp. He was sitting on the windowsill, watching the sky turn black to a slight indigo or magenta. After spending several hours in the bedroom with nothing to do, he decided to get dressed, go downstairs and take a walk. He knew that those drawings had to mean something and if his father did have the answers he was hoping for, he was going to find out for himself.

The air was slightly chilly when he opened the door. He quickly closed it and began his walk straight into town (and quite recklessnessly since he did bring a torch with him). It was not too far away so any chance of him getting tired after a long walk was unlikely. Besides, there were plenty of benches he could sit down at. He stopped straight at the railway tracks by the station and began to follow them. He stared at the silver metal of rails, all the while maintaining his distance, as he had no way of knowing if a train would be coming in either direction. He knew better than to walk on the tracks as well. He was within five feet of the rails as he walked. As he walked, his thoughts turned to something else. Should he have left a note, telling his father and others where he was going? It was too late now, since he had already walked a mile.

As he walked, he saw more houses on either side of the track, telling him that he had just walked straight into the town of Barrow. Tracks began to branch into sidings and the first sign of trucks appears. The first he saw was a wagon and the other a milk wagon. Then a brakevan....

Oddly enough, this brakevan was attached to a train consisting of three wagons, two box trucks and low-loader with what appeared to be aeroplane wings strapped down to it. Then there was the engine itself. But the engine didn't look like it belonged to any railway of the Big Four, for it was painted sky blue and had the number "2" on its tender. Seeing that the engine was a 4-4-0, Johnny wondered if this was one of the engines he had seen in his father's drawings. All that he had to find was a face to confirm his suspicious, the final piece of evidence that he needed to put an end to one of his questions.

Slowly, he walked, hearing voices from the other side that he could not see. Perhaps it was the engine's crew talking over something. He got closer to the front of the engine, anticipating what he was going to see...

A face.

It was staring down at him.

"Hullo," said Johnny.

He had some hope that the engine would speak and it, or rather, he, did.

"Hullo," the engine looked confused. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I couldn't sleep," said Johnny. "I was just wondering if engines like you were real. I saw these drawings and--"

"Of course we're real!" the engine interrupted. "What made you think that?"

"I come from London," explained Johnny. "And back there, engines don't talk."

"Where I come from," said the engine. "Engines do talk, as well as trucks and coaches and even buses. My name is Edward by the way."

"I'm Johnny, what are you doing out here? Are you waiting for another train to pass?"

"One of my crank pins is jammed," said Edward. "Driver and fireman are trying to look for the damage, but they can't seem to get it out."

"Why not I help?" asked Johnny. "I'm small enough. My daddy fixes a lot of model trains and I've learned a lot from him. Surely this can't be as complicated as fixing a real engine."

His words were overheard by Edward's crew, who came up to meet the boy.

"Are you sure you know what you can do?" asked the driver.