Thomas & Friends – Tales Of The North Western
Episode 1: The New Railway Engines
Written by Jack Davies
Based on the Railway Series by the Reverend W. Awdry and the Television Series by Britt Allcroft
If you were to travel to any railway in the whole world, you would travel to one of the greatest railways of all time, on a small island in the Irish sea: The Island of Sodor, home to the famous North Western Railway.
This peaceful railway is home to Sir Stephen Topham Hatt's (The Fat Controller's) family of preserved steam and diesel locomotives that have lived in harmony and peace for many years.
And the most famous of them all is a blue LBSCR E2 tank engine named Thomas. Thomas the Tank Engine.
Their stories have been made and told to generations thanks to the famous author the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry, that their tales of "The Railway Series" were made into legend.
But now... these stories are still about those famous North Western Railway engines, but only this time, their adventures are growing more exciting than ever before.
As they will meet new engines from different railways, new visitors from different worlds, new enemies from different workforces, they will meet new adventures that would steam down the line. For these are the stories of... "Thomas & Friends – Tales Of The North Western."
The island of Sodor itself is a wonderous place. It has green fields, sandy yellow beaches and is surrounded by a beautiful blue sea. There are docks, farms, quarry and a coal mine and it is the home of Thomas the tank engine and his friends also known as the North Western Railway under the leadership and guidance of their controller Sir Topham Hat. The engines love feeling responsible, reliable and really useful. There are steam engines and diesel engines, tender engines and tank engines, farms, towns, stations, a castle, beaches, fairgrounds, harbours, docks, quarries and a suspension bridge. The engines work hard too and do their best to be really useful engines.
Thomas the tank engine was puffing towards Knapford station with his two ever present and faithful coaches Annie and Clarabel. The blue tank engine was enjoying himself for he had just taken the children to the seaside and he knew that lots of holidaymakers would be coming to the island over the course of the summer. As he pulled into the platform he found Edward, Percy and Emily were there "Hello everyone" whistled Thomas happily "Hello Thomas" said the others "I just took the children to the seaside and I can't wait for the rest of the summer" "Ho ho one thing you never seem to lose Thomas is your spirit" chuckled Edward and they all laughed. "Is it just me or are there more holidaymakers than usual this year" said Emily "Emily's right" agreed Percy "The island seems to be getting more and more visitors everyday now" "I just hope we can keep up with the extra work" said Thomas. Then the guard blew his whistle and Thomas puffed away.
That evening Thomas returned to Tidmouth sheds to find James broaching the matter of "Extra passengers" and "More work then we can do" and to this he silently agreed. "James has a point" said Edward as Thomas rolled into his berth "If this rate of work keeps up we won't make it through the month" the blue engine said "Too right" grumbled Gordon. "And this was just the first day" said Percy "What do you think the rest of the summer will be like" that sentence brought a silence so quiet you could have heard a pin drop as the other engines took in the extent of what their number six had said. "We'll be rushed off our wheels" said James "We'll pull our pistons" moaned Henry "And we won't get a single minute of rest" added Emily. "Calm down everyone" said Edward "We mustn't over react I'm sure sir will get us some help" "Let's hope so" James said "Otherwise we won't get anywhere" and to this they all agreed.
As the next few weeks went by the engines saw that Percys claim was coming true and that more and more passengers were coming to the island. The first signs that they were beginning to strain was when extra coaches had to be added to the express much to Gordons annoyance for it now took all his strength to get the train out of the station let alone get up to speed with it. When he got to Gordons Hill however the extra coaches took their toll and he found himself going slower and slower until he stopped halfway up the hill with now hardly any strength left to pull the train let alone move. Edward who was supposed to have helped had been called away to Brendam so he had to wait a long time before BoCo arrived to help him onto Vicarstown.
Sir Topham Hatt, head of the railway, was in his office when the telephone rang and he picked it up "Hello Sir Topham Hat speaking" the person on the other end seemed anxious to speak of the matter at hand. "What Gordon stalled on the hill and BoCo had to help him" the person spoke again "Extra coaches hmm I see well I'll see what I can do thank you for bringing this to my attention Larry" and with that he put the reciever down and started to ponder about where he could by new engines to help out with the summer work. A few more days passed and it became increasingly clear that the engines could not continue to keep up with the extra work and the Fat Controller was running out of options.
We're busy so busy,
Our wheels don't touch the ground,
Dizzy we're dizzy,
With rushing round and round,
It's pulling this and shunting that,
No Sir, Yes Sir Topham Hatt,
We'll go here and there and back,
We're busy, busy, busy.
We're busy so busy,
Preparing all the sights,
The Windmill, the Seaside,
Just two of our delights,
We might be here, we might be there,
Not a second we can spare,
Now that summer's in the air,
We're busy, busy, busy.
Every night it's time to take a rest, at Tidmouth Sheds,
The place we love the best,
Our boilers cool, all is peace but then,
Its rise and shine, look at the time, 'cos off we go again
We're busy so busy,
So many things to do,
Huffing and puffing,
It's work the whole day through,
Pick up workmen from the Docks,
'Where's that toolkit?'
'Where's that box?'
Just keep working round the clock,
We're busy, busy, busy.
We take supplies, way up in the hills,
To Sodor Bridge, a very special thrill
The air's so cool.
Look at the view but then,
The whistle blows, it's time to go
So here we go again!
We're busy so busy,
Our wheels don't touch the ground,
Dizzy we're dizzy,
With rushing round and round,
It's pulling this and shunting that,
No Sir, Yes Sir Topham Hatt,
We'll go here and there and back,
We're busy, busy,
Busy, busy, busy, busy, busy!
We're busy so busy,
Preparing all the sights,
The Windmill, the Seaside,
Just two of our delights,
We might be here, we might be there,
Not a second we can spare,
Now that summer's in the air,
We're busy, busy, busy
Busy, dizzy, dizzy, dizzy, dizzy,
Wishy wizzy, izzy dizzy,
Busy, busy, busy
Just then a porter came up "Excuse me sir there's a Mr Oats Drawdren on the phone says he has some engines you could buy "Really?" "Yes sir he's on the line now" the Fat Controller quickly trotted into his office and picked up the phone on his desk and put it to his ear "Hello?" "Ah I trust that I am speaking to Sir Topham Hatt" said the voice at the other end of the line "You are indeed and I hear you have some engines to lend to me" "Lend! Good gracious no they are yours to keep my own railway will be closing down and I couldn't bear to let them go off to the scrapyard so I am selling them to you" "Well thank you very much Mr Oats er what are they exactly" "Four steam engines one tank engine, one heavy goods, one express and one mixed traffic" "That is exactly what I need when can I have them?" he asked and the voice replied instantly "Tomorrow at the latest" "Perfect thank you very much Mr Oats" "Anything for a fellow railway controller Sir Topham anything at all".
That evening the engines were gathered at Tidmouth sheds while Gordon told them about his predicament, the big blue engine wasn't complaining like he would have normally done instead he kept a level tone and the engines were thankful for it (especially Edward). Then James spoke up "This is only the start" he said looking at the others "If Gordon can't pull the express sir will have to get a new engine to do so" "No engine is replacing me on my express James" snorted Gordon indignantly "James does have a point though" said Henry "We can't keep working harder than we already are" "And I am glad to hear that Henry" said a well known voice as Sir Topham Hatt appeared on the scene "What do you mean sir?" asked Emily "I mean to say that you have all been working very hard lately and that I have brought four new engines to help out with the summer work" the engines were delighted at this news "Thomas you will go to Vicarstown tomorrow morning to meet them" "Yes sir" said Thomas excitedly and the Fat Controller left. The engines spent a good while talking about what the new engines would be like and that night they fell asleep with smiles on their faces.
The next morning Thomas puffed cheerfully to Vicarstown eager to meet the new engines. As he pulled into the station he saw four engines that he had never seen before, one was an Ex LMS Ivatt Class 2F, the second was also Ex LMS and was a 3F Jinty tank engine, the fourth was an Ex Southern Railway West County Class and the fourth and final one was an Ex GWR 28xx. Three of them were talking but stopped when they saw Thomas approaching "Hello there are you Thomas by any chance?" asked the Ivatt her voice a female version of his own "I am and you're the new engines" "We are I'm Prelly by the way" "I'm Calpen" said the tank engine "Bud's the name pulling loads is my game" said the 28xx. The West County however didn't speak "Thats Proburn" whispered Prelly "He's quite nice really but he lost his brother to unexploded bomb during the first days of March 1945 when the second world war was still on" "I see" said Thomas "So what do we do?" asked Calpen smiling "We were told you take us on to Knapford Thomas" "I am follow me" and with that he puffed back down the line the new engines following.
When they got back to Knapford the Fat Controller was waiting for them and gave them their jobs Calpen was to do some shunting in the yards before taking a small passenger train to Arlesburgh, Proburn was to help out with the extra passenger trains on the mainline, Thomas could show Prelly around an agreement which she found enjoyable and Bud was told to collect a goods train from Tidmouth and take it to Vicarstown. A few minutes later Thomas was showing Prelly around the yard while the others were going about the jobs they had been given "This is a nice railway you've got here" she said "The best in the world" said Thomas happily "So anything I could do?" "Well there is a slow goods train that needs to go out" "That's fine I've taken these kinds of trains before" "Just be careful with the trucks they can be very troublesome" "Will do" and Prelly puffed away to take her train and as she did Stanley puffed up alongside the blue tank engine "She's certainly got a lot in her which is certainly likeable" the white tank engine said "Yep and I kind of like her to" agreed Thomas and it wasn't long before everyone else came to like the new arrivals to. They worked hard and were soon accepted by all the engines.
It was a week after the new engines had arrived that Gordon once again found himself at the head of another heavy express and he knew what would happen if he tried to go up the hill. The guard's whistle blew, the green flag waved and he set off determined not to let the weight of the train beat him. Bud and Henry were watching him as he left and looked and the former looked concerned "Do you think he'll get up the hill?" Bud asked "I don't know let's just hope he can" replied Henry before Bud departed with his own train. Meanwhile Gordon thundered along the line though it was taking all of his strength just to keep at a good speed and he was getting closer and closer to the hill. Then he round the corner under the bridge before the hill and went up it as fast as he could. He got halfway up before "Help!" for though his wheels were turning forwards the weight of the heavy coaches was pulling him back. Sparks flew as he tried desperately to get a grip on the rails beneath.
Gordon tried hard but it was no use he simply couldn't move an inch and it was then that moment that Bud came around the corner with a goods train behind him and he when he saw Gordon he started to the rescue. As he came up from behind he assessed the situation with a trained eye. "Gordon!" he called out "Slow down I'm going to push you up, put on your sandboxes but don't slow down too much or you'll never get moving again" the big blue engine immediately obeyed as Bud buffered up behind him and started to slowly push the heavy train up the steep slope. Inch by inch, rail by rail the two engines fought their way up the hill until finally they reached the top and charged down the other side towards the next station. When they pulled into Vicarstown Flying Scotsman was there and he whistled loudly as the pair pulled in "Bravo you two! Bravo!" cried Scotsman cheerfully as the passengers poured out of the carriage and thanked Gordon and Bud for their efforts. The two engines could only smile tiredly.
Later that night the four new engines were at Tidmouth sheds, even Proburn was in a good mood for one, while Bud and Gordon told them about what had happened. Just then the Fat Controller arrived and was beaming with pride "Bud I was very pleased with what you did today you did the right thing you are a really useful engine" "Thank you sir" replied Bud who was almost lost for words "All I can say is I was in the right place at the right time" "Indeed" said Gordon. The Fat Controller then turned to the other engines "You three did very well as well I am proud to own such useful and reliable engines" they all smiled at this as the Fat Controller turned and walked away while the engines fell to sleep with four new members to their family on Sodor.
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and green and brown and blue
They're the Really Useful crew
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away
Down the hills and round the bends
Thomas and his friends
Thomas, he's the cheeky one
James is vain but lots of fun
Percy pulls the mail on time
Gordon thunders down the line
Emily really knows her stuff
Henry toots and huffs and puffs
Edward wants to help and share
Toby, well, let's say, he's square
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and green and brown and blue
They're the Really Useful crew
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away
Down the hills and round the bends
Thomas and his friends
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and green and brown and blue
They're the Really Useful crew
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away
Down the hills and round the bends
Thomas and his friends