Another request from tate310, this time it's "Henry's Special Coal" from Season 1. Enjoy and comment.
One morning, Henry was feeling very sorry for himself. Sometimes he could pull trains, but sometimes, he felt very weak.
"I suffer dreadfully and nobody cares!"
"Rubbish Henry!" snorted James. "You don't work hard enough!" He set off to collect his stopping passenger train to Wellsworth.
Later, Sir Topham Hatt came to speak to Henry.
"What's wrong with you Henry? You've had new parts and new paint, and still you don't feel better. If you don't improve, we must replace you with a newer engine."
This made Henry, his driver and his fireman, very upset.
The next morning, Sir Topham Hatt was waiting for Henry when he arrived at Knapford Station.
"I'm coming on board, to see what's the matter with you."
Henry managed to start, but his fireman was not satisfied.
"Henry is a bad steamer." he said to Sir Topham Hatt. "I build up his fire, and it doesn't give enough heat."
Henry tried as hard as he could, but he didn't have enough heat, and came to a stop outside Edward's station.
"Oh well." thought Henry. "Sir Topham Hatt is better off replacing me."
Meanwhile, Sir Topham Hatt and the fireman were discussing Henry's troubles.
"What do you think is wrong fireman?" asked Sir Topham Hatt.
"The coal is wrong sir. We need special coal. Like Welsh coal for instance.
"But it's very expensive." said Sir Topham Hatt.
"Can we at least try it, just to see if it works?"
"We'll see."
Sir Topham Hatt agreed, and soon a large pile of Welsh coal was on it's way from Wales to Sodor. It took a long time to arrive, but when the Welsh coal came, Henry's crew was excited.
"Now we'll show them old fellow!"
They carefully made his fire, putting large lumps of coal on the outside and smaller lumps on the inside.
"You're spoiling my fire!" complained Henry.
"Wait and see!" said the fireman. "Our fire will be flaming, just you wait!"
The fireman was right! The fire was burning nicely and Henry was letting off steam.
"How do you feel?" asked Sir Topham Hatt.
"I feel like a whole different engine!"
"How's the fire burning fireman?"
"Better than ever!"
"No record breaking!" warned Sir Topham Hatt as Henry set off.
Henry had a lovely day. He felt much better and felt like a whole new engine again. He wanted to go fast, but his driver wouldn't let him.
"Steady old fellow!" he would say.
They arrived at the station earlier than expected. Thomas puffed in.
"Where have you been lazybones?" asked Henry. "I can't wait for dawdling tank engines like you. Goodbye!"
"Have you've seen anything like this before?" asked Thomas to Annie and Clarabel.
Both coaches were silent.
James was watching from his spot in the sheds. He wondered if Sir Topham Hatt had made the right choice to bring Welsh coal, but that's another story.
