Another Thomas rewrite, this time it's "Gordon Takes a Tumble" from Season 6, with added lines by tate310. Enjoy and comment.
Sir Topham Hatt' engines are proud of how useful they are. It makes them feel important, but none of them, feel more important than Gordon.
As Gordon and Percy waited for their passengers to board their coaches, Salty came up between them.
"Watch out!" Gordon wheeshed. "You'll get my paint all dirty!"
"Pulling freight cars is a dirty job!" teased Salty, "but you should know that by now."
"Of course not!" Gordon huffed importantly. "Express engines don't pull freight cars! It's not undignified."
"What does undignified mean?" asked Percy.
"It means..."
"Someone's too big for his buffers!" teased Salty.
Gordon puffed crossly away.
That night, heavy fog covered the Island of Sodor. Everything slowed down, and soon the docks were packed with freight cars. This caused confusion and delay.
Sir Topham Hatt came to the sheds. He was in a great hurry because he needed to get to an important meeting.
"Henry, Percy and Thomas, you must go to the docks immediately."
"Yes sir!" they whistled.
Then Sir Topham Hatt turned to Gordon.
"You must go too Gordon. We need a big engine there to take the freight cars where they won't be in the way."
"Freight cars?!" huffed Gordon. He couldn't believe what he just heard.
Gordon wasn't happy to be pulling freight cars. He waited impatiently for them to be shunted into place.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" chuffed Gordon crossly.
"Why the rush?" asked Thomas.
"I want to show Salty how an Express engine pulls freight cars!"
"Careful captain!" Salty tooted. "You don't want to get too big for your buffers!"
Gordon just ignored Salty, and set off.
The next morning, Gordon raced along with his heavy load.
"Now this is how you pull freight cars!" he puffed.
But then, there was trouble. The signalman had accidentally left the points switched to the branch line! Gordon rattled through the junction.
"That's strange. I'm on the branch line."
"Oh no!" cried the signalman. "Express trains aren't supposed to go that way!"
But it was too late, Gordon had already passed.
The old branch line was weak and rusty. Signs warning engines to GO SLOW were all around.
But Gordon ignored the signs.
"Express engines don't go slow!" he said. Then, he went even faster.
The branch line couldn't take his weight, and the rails buckled.
"HELP!" cried Gordon as he slid off the rails, into a field, through some tires, and into a barn!
Nobody was hurt, but Gordon felt very "undignified"
"What will Sir Topham Hatt say?" he groaned.
He found out soon enough.
"Well Gordon." said Sir Topham Hatt, "you've showed Salty and all the other engines how silly it is to ignore warning signs. I hope you've learned your lesson Gordon.
"Yes sir. Sorry sir." he moaned.
Gordon was soon repaired, and was soon back at the docks ready for work, but he was very unhappy with himself.
"Everyone makes mistakes!" said Thomas.
"Salty' sorry he teased you!" puffed James.
"And I'm sorry that I was too big for my buffers!" said Gordon.
Everyone agreed!