Sodor, June 1940
Britain is at war with Nazi Germany, whose air force, the Luftwaffe, is bombing all major towns and cities of Britain, from Belfast to Edinburgh, from Sheffield to Brighton, from Cardiff to London. Even the (relatively minor) Island of Sodor was not safe from the bombs of the Nazi menace.
But a brave group of men and women from Sodor were determined to stop the threat to British freedom and were ready to fight back as the first line of defence should the Germans invade Britain.
That is, if they could figure out how to use a rifle properly.
"Is Thomas B. Billinton here?" called out a bald stout man of sixty in uniform.
"Yes sir!" replied a short black-haired, blue-eyed 17 year-old in Home Guard uniform. Come February, he would be turning 18.
"Edward Pettigrew?"
"Here sir!" replied a forty-four year old man of medium height.
"Henry Green?"
A thirty year-old with a pink pointed nose answered in the positive.
"Gordon Gresley?"
"I am here sir!" called out a big twenty-eight year old with royal blue eyes and a baritone voice.
"James Hughes?"
"Ready for orders sir!" cried out a twenty-six year old red-haired man.
"Percy Avonside?"
"I'm here, Sir!" replied a cheery, green-eyed, sandy-haired boy of 16.
"Toby Holden?"
"I'm here sir," answered a short man of fifty with greying brown hair.
"Montague Brunel?"
"Private Montague Brunel reporting for duty, sir!" replied a twenty-two year old young man with black hair and Brunswick green eyes with a Welsh accent.
"Donald and Douglas Sinclair?"
"Aye sorr, weer here!" called out two forty year-old black-irised, black-haired identically looking Scottish brothers with the thickest Scottish accents known to man.
"Oliver Collett?"
"Sir, yes sir!" replied a young man with a Cornish accent and bronze-coloured hair.
"Emily Stirling?"
"Yes, sir!" called out a girl of 17 with braided black hair.
"Good. You're all here," said the stout man. "Now listen. All of you are unable to be drafted into the Army, for age reasons…." He looked at Thomas, Edward, Percy, Toby and Emily, "Health reasons…" He looked at Henry, Duck and Oliver…."Or for other reasons altogether." This last part was a bit more angry in tone, and aimed his sights at James, Gordon, Donald and Douglas.
"So, for whatever reasons, you cannot be in the Army, the RAF or the Navy. But you can become part of the Home Guard based here on Sodor. I, as you know, will be in charge of this platoon of brave souls, and anything you do whilst on duty, I will hold you responsible for it. So no mess-ups. That goes triple for you four." He pointed again at James, Gordon and the Scottish twins.
"You twelve will be joined by the drivers of the Skarloey Railway, Lord Norramby's younger brother, Terrence and Bertie. Take this seriously, or else I'll have your heads."
The twelve Home Guard volunteers widened their eyes and gulped. They knew better than to anger Bertram Topham Hatt, director of the North Western Railway.
"You are Sodor's first line of defence against the Huns! You are defending this Island from the enemies on Mainland Europe-scratch that, you are defending Britain herself from invaders!"
"Hurrah!" called out the twelve volunteers.
"Very well. You're all dismissed for the day. The first training session takes place tomorrow, on Saturday. That is all," said Topham Hatt, the Colonel in charge of this ragtag group. The twelve volunteers then saluted and marched off in single-file.
They parted ways at the station. Thomas and Edward waited for the local taking them from Tidmouth to Wellsworth, where they lived. Gordon, Henry, James and Percy all lived in Tidmouth, while Toby lived in Ffarquhar and Thomas and Edward lived in Wellsworth.
At last the engine arrived, a red L&Y Class 25 2-6-0 with Fowler tender pulling four LBSCR Stroudley 4-wheeled coaches painted orange with white stripes and lining. The two volunteers entered and sat down. Edward gave the guard his and Thomas's tickets and while waiting for the train to start began to read a book. Thomas simply looked out of the window.
They were on track 2, second from the left. On track 3 was a Furness Railway K2 'Larger Seagull' 4-4-0 painted blue with red stripes. It was pulling a small goods train-four grey vans purchased from the LMS filled with fruit followed by a GWR 'toad'. On platform 1 was a strange engine, just painted wartime black with the word 'North Western' on its tender in gold and maroon lining, that looked to be a cross between a GNR C1 and an LNER A1 Pacific, pulling a passenger train of four LNER Gresley suburban coaches painted pine green with cream window surrounds. Platform 4, a blue and red-striped GNR A1 Pacific with a Fowler tender was pulling out with a train of three Maunsell coaches bought from the Southern Railway in 1933. These coaches were painted maroon with custard window surrounds and a gold stripe where the two colours met.
At last, the guard blew his whistle and the train started off. Throughout the journey (which didn't take very long) Thomas watched the scenery go by.
Eventually they stopped at Wellsworth Station, which had four through lines, three of which had platforms. Thomas and Edward got off the train and began walking to their home, which was close to the station.
Eventually, they had reached the gate of the house. It was modest, with three bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a dining-room and a sitting-room. Edward was glad that his investment into the railway before he married had paid off in the house-it meant finally getting out of the shack he had spent his childhood in.
"How are you two?" called a voice from the door. Edward smiled. "We're good, dear," he replied. "I'm good, Aunt Molly," said Thomas, still filled with enthusiasm about being part of the Home Guard-first line of defence against Nazi invasion and tyranny.
"That's nice," said Molly, a woman of thirty-six with black hair that had a blond streak, a custard dress and a nice smile. Edward walked up to her and they both embraced, causing Thomas to look away.
"We should stop, he's getting quite embarrassed," said Edward quietly. She did as he suggested, and the three walked into the house. "Are you boys hungry?" she called. "I am if you are," said Edward. He never demanded anything, which was something that convinced Molly he was perfect-apart from the fact he never smoked, he only drank on rare occasions (and even then, he made sure to eat first), he never gambled, he was charitable, he loved to help around the house and he was great with kids.
She sighed to herself. They had no children of their own, but in a way, they did have a son in the form of Thomas. When war was declared in September, she tried hard not to cry-her own brother had died in the trenches in 1914, and both she and Edward were worried in case he would be drafted. Luckily, he had no intention of lying about his age and joining, and his 18th birthday was in February, so they had some time.
She looked at her husband. He was still reading his book. Thomas was upstairs, doing silly marches and pretending to be a sergeant. Edward smirked to himself. He found Thomas' impersonations of army officers to be hilarious.
But he knew, better than anyone else, that this war was going to be as serious as the last war. Churchill had no intention of peace with Germany, and Herr Hitler would break any peace treaty with Britain within a week of signing it.
AN: My second Thomas fanfic, but my first humanised one. I hope you like it. I'm aiming for a mix between The Book Thief and Dad's Army in terms of the tone.
The reason it's Edward/Molly is because I couldn't think of anybody else, so apologies if hate that ship with your life, or prefer Edward/Henry (or James/Molly).
The next few chapters will focus mostly on the characters' backgrounds.
Review, favourite, share and follow! Constructive criticism and ideas for future chapters are encouraged!