THOMAS' MAGICAL JOURNEY
Thomas Billinton was driving his little blue tank engine along the line after a hard day's work and he couldn't wait to get back home.
Just then, he saw a signal that was up.
"That's strange," Thomas muttered, "I don't remember seeing that on this part of the line."
But he stopped all the same. It looked like an old-fashioned building from centuries past, but why there were railway lines next to it was beyond him. He blew a loud 'Pip-PEEP!' on his engine's whistle.
Out came the signalman who looked rather like a magician as he had a long white beard and wore an old-fashioned robe.
"My, what a nice tank engine you have," he said, "and I have just the right coal if you're going on a journey."
"Actually, I was about to take on coal at the next station," said Thomas, but he accepted the offer anyway. He helped the magician carry it into the cab and they filled up the coal-box. Thomas thanked him and as soon as the signal dropped, he set off on his way again. But no sooner than he moved the regular, Thomas' tank engine began to take speed like an engine half its age. The signalman watched on with a smile.
It seems to be working well, he thought.
Thomas' tank engine began moving rather fast. Suddenly, a fog began to emerge.
"Cinders and ashes! The weather didn't say anything about this!"
He blew the whistle six times – Peep - pip-pip-pip-peep - PEEP! No sooner than he did, the thick fog rolled. After it cleared, he saw a motor car skidding and swerving along the road rather fast. As it came near the line, Thomas saw it was driven by a toad!
"Bust my buffers!" he exclaimed, "I've never seen anything quite like it before!"
"You have, now, but neither have I!" the toad called back. "I say! How about a race? Poop - poop!"
"To the level crossing? You're on!" Thomas smiled confidently.
And so the race was on. Thomas' engine took speed but Toad in the car was gaining on. Just as Thomas was nearing the level crossing, he could see that his tank engine was running low on water. So he had to slow down allowing Toad to cross at the level crossing. Toad drove on laughing merrily while Thomas watched on.
"Bother that silly Toad," he muttered crossly.
Thomas found a water tower. As he stopped to take on water, he saw a row-boat with a rat and a mole.
"Excuse me," asked Thomas, "but did you happen to see a toad driving a motor car?"
"We have," answered the Mole, "We know Toad very well."
"Too well," added the Rat.
Soon, the tanks were filled up with water again and Thomas was on his way. He waved goodbye to Rat and Toad as he puffed away.
Thomas soon came to some sheep on the line. He stopped and was just about to help usher them back into the field when his eye caught a funny looking sheep. Thomas noticed its long bushy tail poking out from underneath it. He realised what this was.
"Wolf! Wolf!" he shouted. He grabbed a shepherd's crook and managed to chase it away. The wolf in disguise fled.
"And don't come back!" Thomas shouted. Just then, a girl with a dress and bonnet came by.
"Thank you so much!" she smiled, "You have saved my sheep!"
And she kissed Thomas who smiled and blushed. He helped round up the last of the sheep and he set off on his way. As Thomas puffed along the track, he was puzzled about where he was. He had a feeling like he was not on Sodor anymore...
As Thomas puffed along the line, he suddenly saw a knight dressed in armour riding a horse and a squire following him on a donkey.
"Lo and behold! Tis' a dragon I see before me!"
"Oh no, there he goes again," groaned his squire.
The knight had never seen a railway locomotive before. He held out his lance and began to charge his horse towards it. Thomas realised what was going on.
"No, wait!" he cried, "It's not a dragon!"
But Don Quixote did not listen. He just charged on. Thomas let off some steam just as the knight came closer to him trapping him on a cloud of smoke and then Thomas quickly puffed away.
"Phew, that was close!" he sighed. But there was worse to come...
Thomas puffed along the line when he saw something red like a flag in the distance. Then, as he rounded the bend, he could see a landslide. Thomas applied the brakes and his tank engine skidded to a stop just in the nick of time. Then, he saw some children who were waving the flags.
"Are you alright?" they asked.
"Thank you very much," answered Thomas. He was shaking a little, but he managed to stay standing upright on his own two feet.
He took out the coal shovel, climbed down from the cab and dug away at the landslide. The children helped, too. At last, the line was cleared and Thomas puffed away.
"Goodbye and thank you!" he called and the children waved on until Thomas was out of sight.
Thomas puffed along by a stream. He saw two boys on a raft and fishing. He whistled a friendly 'Peep-peep' to them and they waved.
"Howdy!" they both called.
Thomas gave a cheery wave to them. He couldn't help but wonder where he was. Just then, he heard a familiar sound...
Honk-HONK!
Thomas suddenly jumped. There he saw was the toad in the motor car from earlier.
"You again?" he called from the cab.
"Yes, me again! Poop-poop!" laughed Toad.
Thomas was determined to beat Toad in a race this time, so he asked "How about a rematch?"
"You're on!" agreed Toad.
Both of them were in pursuit of one another. They raced over a bridge and Thomas raced through a tunnel. Toad was sure to beat Thomas, but all of a sudden, he spotted a policeman on his bicycle. Toad swerved out of the way, raced into a field and crashed into a haystack. The policeman, surprised and cross, strode over to Toad. Thomas watched on and laughed.
"Oh dear! Toad should've been more careful!" he laughed. "I suppose he was too fast for his own good, I'd dare say!"
Thomas laughed so hard that he nearly fell over backwards.
He soon came to a signal and stopped. As he did, another fog came up.
"Bubbling boilers, not again!" groaned Thomas and he blew the whistle six times – Peep - pip-pip-pip-peep - PEEP! No sooner than he did, the thick fog rolled and everything came into clear view again. This time, he arrived at Ffarquhar Station. The signal box and signal were nowhere to be seen and right there was a table of books.
Then, he remembered the signalman he encountered and realised that it was Merlin the Magician who had given his tank engine magic coal which sent Thomas into Storyland. Thomas was amazed and at a loss for words!
Later, as soon as he got home, he told all the other engineers about it. I'm sorry to say that Gordon, Henry and James didn't believe a word.
"Stuff and nonsense," sniffed Gordon.
"What rubbish," huffed James.
"Downright impossible," put in Henry.
"Never mind, Thomas," said Percy, "I believe you. I'd love to have met all these exciting people, really."
"Perhaps you will when you read these books," said Thomas.
And I'm sure we all will. Won't we?
THE END...?