Well my friends, you have been awaiting the return of this series and now it's back, but with many changes. The reason for the rewrite is because many of the original stories I wrote up for the first two series were either unrealistic, or not written that well. This third version though will feature more realistic moments and more locations of Japan. For this first story though, it may seem like a regular Thomas story, but as we move along in the series, the Shuffle gang will come in, just don't ask of when that will be happening. One final note here is that the cover for this series will be drawn up hopefully before the fourth story of Book 1 is posted.

The Railway Series/Shuffle

Written by: ThomasZoey3000

(Based on the Ideas of the First Two Original Series)

Book No 1: Thomas and the Central Japan Railway

Dear Friends,

Thomas the Tank Engine has been on some incrediable adventures as of late, but they weren't on the Island of Sodor. When I went to speak with Thomas, he told me about his adventures in the wonderous country of Japan. "But the only Standard Gauge lines there are for the Bullet Trains, how could you keep up?" I asked him. Thomas laughed and explained everything to me, and now I hope you too will enjoy these stories of his adventures. And to think it all began with getting on the wrong boat.

The Author

Stories Included:

-The Wrong Boat

-Street Running

-The Sushi Train

-The Little Heroine

The Wrong Boat

The Ffarquhar Branch line was becoming busier than ever. With the addition of Toby's Vintage train, visitors were coming by the dozens to see the line and the engines that run along it's tracks. The more visitors that came though meant a slight delay as more coaches would have to be found to fit them all in. To make matters worse, the goods traffic was increasing and the single tracked branch line was starting to fall behind.

"If this keeps up," groaned Annie, "then that will mean the Fat Controller will shut down our branch line."

"Don't be silly," chuckled Thomas, "this branch line is the most important part of the whole railway, there's no reason for the Fat Controller to shut it down."

"Besides," added the Driver, "we provide services for the branch. I'm sure the Fat Controller will come up with something to help us."

As indeed he did. It was announced in the spring of 2008 that the branch line would become double tracked, turntables would be added in, bigger yards would be installed and the branch would go to the town of Ulfstead, which for many years only got it's goods from the lorries and cars that came into the town.

Percy was a little worried though, "how can we get across the big gorge? It's far too long for a regular bridge."

"You'll just have to wait and see to find out," said his Driver, "but for now, our focus is to double-track the branch."

To help with the workloads on the branch line, the Fat Controller brought in a USA built dock tank engine named Rosie. When she arrived, she was in black paint with the words 'Southern' on the sides of her tanks. However, after a couple of weeks, the Fat Controller sent her to the works to be repainted blue with red stripes like Edward, Gordon and Thomas. James of course complained that there were too many blue engines, but no one payed attention to his rants.

Ballast was also provided by the Small Railway. They brought the ballast down from the hills, load it into the Little Western's trucks, then Duck, Oliver, Donald or Douglas would take it as far as the junction where either Rosie or Percy would collect it.

The work meant some delays at first, but once the new rails started to go down, the workloads became much easier to deal with.

One evening, Thomas arrived at the junction with Annie and Clarabel. His passengers got off and boarded Henry's train. The Fat Controller was also on the platform, "so Thomas, I hear things are going quite well on the branch line."

"So far so good Sir," Thomas smiled, "we might even finish before Winter."

"We'll see Thomas," chuckled the Fat Controller. "Now before you head off for Ffarquhar, I like to let you know that there is a gathering of steam engines in Ontario Canada, and they would like you to join them."

"Me sir? But why?"

"Well they know all about you from the Thin Clergyman's books and the Television series, and they believe having you there will make the gathering a great success."

"But Sir, we have enough work on our buffers as it is, can't they use one of the Thomas replicas they use for the Day Out with Thomas events?"

The Fat Controller shook his head, "sorry Thomas, but they wanted the real you there. But don't worry, this event won't take too long and you'll be back here in no time. Edward can handle your work until then."

Thomas gave in then, he knew it wasn't wise to argue with a Controller.

Later that evening, Thomas' firebox was cleaned out and he was given a good rub-down by his crew, "you'll need to look your best for the journey Thomas," said the Driver. "We can't have you turn up with cinders and ashes all over you now can we?"

"No I guess not," chuckled Thomas before he let out a big yawn. "Oh well, at least I'll see some new places for a change."

"That's the spirit," smiled the fireman.

They soon finished and left for home. Thomas slept on through the night, dreaming of some of the sights he might see in Canada.

He was still sleeping when something buffered up to him the next morning. It was Daisy, she was going to take Thomas to the junction, then another engine would take him to the harbour at Tidmouth.

"Right then Thomas, let's get a move on, no holding back understood?"

Thomas raised a sleepy eyebrow, "what do you think I am? A truck? I won't hold back, I know I have to be a credit to the Fat Controller and the North Western."

At first, Thomas slept through the journey, but soon found himself wide awake as he was pulled down to the docks by BoCo. They passed through stations, yards and a new container yard near the Big Station. A small tank engine was in charge there.

"Uh BoCo, who is that engine?" Thomas asked curiously.

"Well Thomas, that is Clive, he's from the LMS, a 2MT I believe. He was spared from scrap years ago and placed in the Vicarstown museum where he's been until recently when the Fat Controller opened this yard and needed an engine to run it. Clive seemed to be the best engine for the job."

Thomas made a mental note to himself to speak with the new engine when he got back.

The journey was good and uneventful, but Thomas soon found himself bored as he waited for his ship. Soon two of them arrived, one was for Ontario Canada, and another was for Tokyo Japan. The foreman was walking out with some papers on a clipboard, "sorry to keep you waiting Thomas, we'll soon have you on the move..." but he didn't finish as he tripped over a rail. He managed to stay upright, but the clipboard fell onto the wet pier. It was mostly dry, but there were some wet spots, including on the name of the ship.

"Right, uh..." the foreman squinted his eyes to see the name better. "Right, the Crystal Boat, bound for Canada. Take him up!"

The crane operator above responded with a wave, and Thomas was soon lifted off the ground. The foreman then directed the crane operator to the boat he believed was Thomas'. Once lowered inside, the workers tied Thomas down to keep him from moving about.

"Canada, here I come," cheered Thomas.

Once the last of the crates had been loaded, the ship sounded it's horn and it departed. As it left, the captain of the other ship came down to speak with the foreman, "so where is Thomas? I thought he was suppose to be loaded up onto my boat."

"Isn't your ship known as the Crystal Boat?"

"No!" snapped the Captain, "mine is the Province of Ontario, since that's where we're going."

"Uh oh," groaned the foreman.

He ran back into his office and got out his radio. He called to the Crystal Boat's captain, "you're taking a wrong piece of cargo, Thomas is not meant for your ship. Turn back now! Over!" But there was no response. The ship's radio was broken, so the captain couldn't have known the whole ordeal. The foreman called him again and again, but still got no response.

"I think I'm about to lose my job," he groaned. "The Fat Controller won't be pleased when he hears about this."

Unaware of the mix-up, Thomas was enjoying himself. Although he was in a cargo bay of a ship, he could still see the bright blue skies above him, and at night, he could see the wonderous shining stars. He also had the captain's cat to keep him company, and a few crew members came down to see him.

Soon the ship came to a big harbour, Thomas thought he had arrived at the port in Toronto Ontario, "alright, let's see how much has changed since my last visit."

Thomas had been sent to Toronto in 2005 to take part in a Santa parade, and had enjoyed himself that day, but he only saw a little bit of the city before returning to Sodor.

A crane hook came down and the workers made sure all was ready.

"Okay, lift him up!" called one of the workers.

"Fine whatever!" snapped the voice of the crane.

Thomas rolled his eyes, he had dealt with unfriendly cranes before. As he was lifted out, he shouted; "hello Toronto, I'm back!" But to his surprise, when he opened his eyes, he found the surrondings completely different from what he had seen before. "Bust my boiler, Toronto sure has changed since my last visit."

"Toronto?!" cried the crane, "this isn't Toronto you daft engine, this is Tokyo Japan, and you are at the end of my hook!"

"Tokyo Japan?" cried Thomas, "but how..." then he remembered, "oh no, the forms got soaked when the foreman tripped. He must have placed me on the wrong ship. Oh dear, what a predicament I'm in again."