Disclaimer: I acknowledge that Disney Fairies & associated content are owned by Walt Disney Company. I acknowledge that Thomas the Tank Engine & associated content are owned by Egmont UK and Gullane (Thomas) Ltd./HiT Entertainment/Mattel. I am not interested in profiting from this document. It is for the enjoyment of fans only.

Author's Note: It's my 10th TBell story! Yay! I wanted to try something different for number 10, so it's a cross-over. I'll try to stay true to both fandoms.

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Tink Meets Thomas - Chapter 1 - An Excursion to Sodor

Jenken stood waiting alone on the Knapford station platform with his small overnight bag. While other children his age were out playing on a Saturday morning in May, he preferred helping out on his grandfather's dairy farm near Ffarquhar. There were always fun things to see and do on a farm. He heard an approaching "Peep-peep!" and looked to see Thomas and his coaches Annie & Clarabel rolling into the station.

They slowed to a halt, and Thomas' driver hopped out. "Morning, Jenken." he called.

"Morning, Mr. Walker" Jenken returned. He looked at Walker hopefully, "May I ride with you...?"

"Not today, Jenken." He watched as porters opened Carabel's baggage compartment and began loading goods for a country general store. "My fireman is ill today, so I'm doing double-duty... treble-duty!" he corrected himself, "It's the guard's day off. I'll be too busy to keep an eye on you. Perhaps next time." He walked down the platform to supervise the loading of the cartons and packages.

Jenken was slightly disappointed as he picked up his bag. Riding on the footplate with the driver and fireman was always a thrill. He'd been making the Saturday morning trip to grandfather's farm by himself for a couple of years now, and returning on Sunday evenings. Often he was the only passenger on the train, so Walker and his fireman sometimes invited him to ride in the control cabin with them. They even let him shovel coal and blow Thomas' whistle.

Jenken opened the compartment door closest to the engine, stepped in and dropped his bag on the floor, then closed the door. He slid the window all the way open, and leaned out to watch the porters rolling empty trucks away and Walker securing the baggage compartment door.

Walker marched briskly back to the engine. "Mind you don't fall out." he told Jenken with a smile, "We won't be back for you." He hopped into the engine, and moments later Thomas and his 2 coaches were puffing out of the station.


Tinker Bell, a Neverland fairy, was just finishing her breakfast in Dulsie's tearoom when a friend dropped into the seat across the table from her. The friend didn't say anything, but stared at Tink with the look of a fairy holding juicy gossip.

"Hey, Prilla. What's up?" Tinker Bell asked her.

"Anything planned for today?"

"Nothing I can't put off 'til tomorrow." Tink responded.

"I've got something you'll want to see."

"Well, let's have a look." Tink was always ready for an adventure. She dropped her arm across the table toward Prilla, who took her hand, and the world spun for a moment as she felt she was being squeezed through a dandelion stem.

Every fairy in Neverland has a talent they're especially good at. Tinker Bell's was tinkering, but Prilla was unique; her talent was the ability to Apparate or Jump to other locations instantly.


The 2 fairies appeared in the rail yard outside Knapford Station. Tinker Bell regretted travelling with Prilla so soon after breakfast, but her stomach would settle shortly. "Where are we?" she asked.

"It's an island off the north-west coast of England." Prilla answered, "Beitris showed me this place. It's in Scottish fairy territory." She looked about the rail yard, as if searching for something. "Now where are the... There goes one!"

Prilla flew off, closely followed by Tinker Bell, in pursuit of a blue steam engine pulling a pair of tan coaches.

"Oh, steam trains!" Tink smiled, "I've seen them from a distance, but I've never been close to one." The summer air took on the musty odour of burnt coal & steam. As the fairies gained on the trailing coach, they could make out more details on it. "Look, someone painted a face on the back of that coach!"

Prilla giggled, but didn't say anything. She let Tink take the lead.

Tinker Bell thought Prilla's reaction was odd; like she was hiding something. They flew closer to the back of the coach and drifted to one side of the train. Tink felt the painted eyes were tracking them. She continued to glance at the eyes until she was only a few feet from the corner of the coach, where she stopped & hovered.

"Are you watching us?" Tink asked the face on the coach.

"I certainly am." answered the face, which startled Tinker Bell.

"A talking coach!" she exclaimed.

"I'm Clarabel." responded the coach, "And you're a fairy."

"Tinker Bell, and this is Prilla. How do you know about fairies?"

"I've seen your kind in the countryside, tending to the flowers and animals." Clarabel smiled. "Did you say you were a tinker?"

"Yes, that's what I do."

"Then you must meet Thomas. He's our engine." Clarabel's eyes indicated her side and farther up the train.

"I will. Nice to meet you, Clarabel." Tink & Prilla continued flying forward alongside the coach.

Tinker Bell took the opportunity to peek into the compartments as they passed each window. She hovered for a minute at the general store supplies, then proceeded past the name "Clarabel" painted on the side. The 2 fairies continued to the next coach labelled "Annie". The compartments were all empty, until they reached the most forward one.

"Whoa! A human!" Tinker Bell ducked back beside the coach quickly. Prilla, who was used to sometimes dealing with humans, peeked through the window.

"It's a boy." Prilla told Tink. "His back is to us. He won't see us." Jenken was leaning out of the opposite window, enjoying the sounds and sights of the rail trip.

The fairies continued forward, more cautiously. They heard shovelling noises from the engine's footplate, and stayed out of sight of the driver there. Once past the control cabin, Tinker Bell's love of all things mechanical took over. She swept up and down, checking out the whistle and dome on top of the boiler, and studying the motion of the wheels and linkages. She stroked her hands over the rivets and along the metalwork.


Thomas was happily chugging along his branch line without a care, when he became aware of a soft trail of touches on his side. "What is that?" he thought, "A bird's feather? A leaf?" He pondered it for a minute. "Perhaps it's a mouse." Presently, 2 small creatures fluttered into his view.

"Hi there! I'm Tinker Bell." greeted the first one.

"Go away, little green bird." Thomas frowned, "I'm a very busy engine, doing important work."

Tinker Bell turned a shade of pink and scowled. "We're not birds, we're fairies!"

Prilla hovered up next to Tink. "We came all the way from Neverland to meet you."

"Indeed?" Thomas felt he shouldn't be rude to anyone who had come so far... wherever Neverland was. "Well, uh, welcome to the Island of Sodor. I've never met fairies before." He studied them as they found a stable spot to hover in his wind bow-wave. They were like tiny people, but with insect wings.

"And I've never met a talking steam engine before." Tink grinned enthusiastically. "Where did you come from?"

"Hang about," Thomas glanced ahead, "Dryaw Station coming up." He began slowing and whistled "Peep-peep!" He returned to the fairies. "All of the engines on Sodor talk, and many of the coaches and trucks." Thomas rolled through the empty station and began to pick up speed again. "I was built in the summer of 1915, in Brighton Works on the south coast of England." He looked at Tinker Bell. "Where did you come from?"

"I arrived on the Island of Neverland in springtime, maybe 10 or so years before you. I'm not really sure of the year."

"Is there a railway on Neverland?" asked Thomas.

"No, there aren't very many humans."


Thomas' driver had set aside the coal shovel for the moment. His attention was on the overgrown bushes along the track. He had reported it weeks ago, but the work crews hadn't made it to the Ffarquhar Branch yet. The rails, sleepers, and ballast appeared to be fine, but Walker had an eerie feeling of trouble. He leaned far out of the cab, hanging on by one hand and one foot, to get a better view.

Suddenly Thomas pitched down, then up! Walker lost his grip on the engine, and was tossed into the bushes at the side of the track. He scrambled quickly to his feet and clambered up the embankment, but Thomas was moving faster than he could run.

Walker watched the astonished face of Jenken riding away from him as Clarabel cried "Stop, Thomas! Stop!." He tried to remember how much coal was in the engine's firebox and what the steam pressure read. Maybe the engine would run itself out of steam before the end of the line. Walker continued jogging along the track.


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