Thomas and the Big Push

Thomas the Tank Engine is proud of his branchline from Knapford to Ffharquar and, with his coaches Annie and Clarabel, runs it without fail several times a day. Annie and Clarabel are always coupled in a way that makes sure both face opposite directions to be sure Thomas has eyes back and forth along his line to avoid accidents. At the end of every run at both stations, Thomas has to always turn around at several switches to make sure he faces forward, sometimes having Annie be his rearview lookout instead of Clarabel. Thomas very rarely goes backwards on his branchline, because his driver says it's dangerous for an engine to go backwards rather quickly, much to Thomas' dismay.

One spring morning, Thomas was at Knapford waiting for his passengers. Gordon was on the next line over, waiting to start off with his express. Compared to the little engine, the bigger engine seemed more awake and ready to go. As the engines idled, Thomas piped up and asked, "Hey Gordon, have you ever gone backwards fast before?"

"I would say so, Thomas" Gordon responded. "I remember the turntable at Vicarstown was broken once, so I had to pull my express backwards. Why do you ask?"

"I wish I could go backwards on my branchline" Thomas sighed, "It'd be a nice change and, who knows, maybe it could be fun!"

Gordon groaned, "Thomas, it's not fun going backwards at all on the mainline, take it from me." As Thomas was about to ask why, the big engine blew his whistle and huffed away with the express, leaving the little engine in a cloud of steam.

Later in the day Thomas was taking a train of vans to Tidmouth. His mind was still occupied with the thoughts of traveling backwards when he heard a shrill whistle coming from in front of him. As he rounded the next bend, two bright green coaches and a black engine rushed past him in the opposite direction, too fast for Thomas to stop and take a good look. "Goodness, that train's going the wrong way!" he cried, realising the train's engine was facing forwards, yet pushing the train backwards.

"Come on Thomas," his driver sighed. "We can't stop now, we got these vans to deliver!" The little engine blinked and thought of what he saw as he continued.

Arriving at Tidmouth he saw Oliver pulling in with two coaches from the Little Western. They were maroon and cream with what looked like a cab at one end facing both directions, and a bell mounted above the windows. Thomas slowly pulled up to Oliver and asked, "Hello Oliver, what kind of coaches have you got there?"

"Oh, hello Thomas," Oliver said cheerfully. "Meet Dulcie and Isabel, my two auto-coaches!"

The two coaches rang their bells happily at Thomas. "Auto-coaches?" he asked, "What are they?"

"They allow me to go back and forth on my line without having to turn around and face another direction." Oliver explained, letting off some steam. "It's made my job easier so that I don't have to turn around and recouple again."

Thomas was in awe, "I saw an engine going away from Tidmouth, looks like he was pushing his train backwards."

"Oh, that's Reymond!" Oliver chuckled, "He's an autotank like me, but he calls his system 'push pull'." He scoffed, "Can't beat my Western autocoaches, that's for sure!"

Oliver's guard suddenly blew his whistle and climbed into Isabel, the coach giving an excited ring on her bell. "I must go now Thomas, hope you do come across Reymond soon!" he laughed as he whistled and pushed backwards on his two coaches, exiting out of the station and leaving Thomas stunned. Unbeknownst to his crew, he already had a plan…

The next day, Thomas was getting ready with his morning train up from Knapford when he saw the strange engine again. The engine was a tank engine. He was definitely bigger than Thomas with four big wheels in front, four smaller wheels in the back, a big "30053" on his bunker, and wearing teashade glasses on his smokebox. The engine pushed his green coaches into a terminal platform and came to a gentle stop, hissing steam as he hummed to himself.

Thomas spoke first, "Hello, I'm Thomas!"

The black-painted engine looked over, "Hello Thomas, I'm Reymond. I think I saw you yesterday coming with some vans yesterday bound for Tidmouth."

"That's right!" Thomas grinned, "I couldn't help but notice your odd coaches, actually…"

Reymond laughed, "They're not odd, they're push-pulls. They're called Amy and Trish, and both have been with me for quite a while."

Thomas "oohed" and "aahed", his eyes scanning the coaches as the sun rose higher into the sky and passengers began climbing into his and Reymond's trains. At the sound of the whistle, Reymond left the station first, smoke billowing as he clattered out of the station towards the mainline. As Thomas watched the black M7 puff away, he thought to himself, "I know what I'll do when I get to Ffharquar…"

The journey to Ffharquar was normal throughout the morning, and Thomas enjoyed the morning dew shining on the grassy fields beside the line. He pulled into Dryaw station just in time to see Percy puffing back down the line with some refrigerated vans. The two friends whistled hello to each other before Percy sped off into the distance and Thomas left the station. At noon, Thomas pulled into Ffharquar and came to a rest at the platform. The passengers got in and out of Annie and Clarabel and a workman began to uncouple Thomas from his coaches. This set the plan into motion.

"E-excuse me!" Thomas said, trying his best to act. The workman and his driver looked over at Thomas. "Would you mind not uncoupling me? I think the points are broken at the wye last I checked, so I can't turn around." The driver and workman looked at each other, his driver suspicious as Thomas hoped he believed him.

Finally, his driver relented. "Alright Thomas", he said a bit sternly. "You can go backwards up your line once, but be cautious!"

Thomas grinned from buffer to buffer, whistling happily, "Get in quickly, please!" The guard closed the doors and got into Clarabel, who suddenly felt a sharp push backwards.

"Oh I say!" She cried, looking back, "Thomas, what's going on?!"

"Just relax, Clarabel!" Thomas grinned, backing out of the station, "I'm push-pulling!" The couplings loosened between Annie, Clarabel, and Thomas as the odd train pushed its way out of the station. Thomas' driver checked his regulator to make sure he wasn't going too fast to jerk the coaches, and the passengers didn't mind the backwards run at all. Thomas was so happy he could barely contain himself, "I'm doing it! I'm actually doing!"

The odd consist soon pulled into Elsbridge; Toby was on the up line with a goods train and, seeing Thomas shoving his train gently into the station, raised an eyebrow. "Thomas" he asked kindly, "What in the world you doing..?"

"I'm being a push-pull engine like Oliver!" Thomas beamed, "It's really fun!"

"Don't you think you ought to be careful not to shove Clarabel into anything?" The tram asked innocently.

"I'll be careful" Thomas bragged, "Pushing a train backwards is easy!"

Toby frowned as Thomas whistled and backed out of the station, muttering to himself, "Don't say I didn't warn you…" as he continued up the line.

Thomas' journey to Knapford went uneventful the rest of the way. The little blue engine was so relaxed in his new push-pull duty that he didn't realise the train was already coasting into Knapford yard, with Gordon ready to pull out of platform one. Clarabel saw the signal was against them and shouted, "Thomas, stop!" Unfortunately, Thomas wasn't listening, his head stuck in the clouds and humming to himself. Gordon whistled and started with his train, heavy puffs of smoke filling the air. Clarabel shut her eyes as they headed for the points, her guard putting her brakes on. Feeling the resistance, Thomas gasped and his driver pulled his brakes too, but it was too late. Clarabel skidded right into Gordon's way, forcing the big blue engine to stop quickly and bump his coaches.

"Goodness!" Gordon cried, recoiling from the quick stop, "Thomas, what do you think you're doing!? You could have caused an accident like that!"

"Sorry, Gordon!" Thomas squeaked sheepishly as he pulled Clarabel out of Gordon's way, "I was trying to be a push-pull engine…."

"I told you it wasn't fun going backwards, you could have hurt Clarabel, your passengers, or even I!" Gordon grunted, pulling away quickly with his train, leaving Thomas feeling ashamed.

As Thomas pulled into a terminal platform, the Fat Controller was there with Reymond, both of whom saw everything. "Thomas, what in Sodor's name were you thinking?" the Fat Controller asked, "That was incredibly careless of you, shoving your train blindly."

"I'm sorry sir" Thomas said quietly, avoiding eye contact with him, "I was just trying to be like an autotank like Reymond or Oliver."

"Be like me?" Reymond asked, peering through his teashades. "Thomas, I don't really think you can be an autotank like me." Thomas looked at Reymond, who quickly corrected himself, "Err, I mean because with me and Oliver, we have special levers in our chassis that connects our driving carriage controls to our cab. That's why my driver's able to control me even when not inside my cab."

Thomas blinked and looked over at Reymond, still not feeling any better and keeping Fat Controller and Reymond gave each other a look before Reymond spoke up again. "Sir if it's ok, would you mind if I can help Thomas feel better?"

"I don't see why not." The Fat Controller replied, turning to Thomas. "Don't feel bad Thomas, no one got hurt and I'm certain you've learned your lesson out of this." Thomas emitted a feeble weesh as the Fat Controller sighed and turned to Reymond, saying to the M7. "Are you sure you can cheer him up?"

"Absolutely, sir!" Reymond grinned, "Come along Thomas, follow me to the coach yard!"

Later in the afternoon, Gordon was waiting at Wellsworth with the express, enjoying a nice quiet nap and relishing the opportunity to rest after his intense sprint to Vicarstown. Suddenly, the silence was interrupted by loud cheering and a cheeky little whistle, as Gordon opened his eyes to see Reymond puffing up the line with his driving coaches and Thomas coupled backwards on the other end of the train, clearly having the time of his life. As the little blue engine saw Gordon he whistled, "Look Gordon! I'm an Autotank now!"

The proud engine groaned and shut his eyes as the two tank engines clattered off onto the distance, and as they did, Gordon opened one eye and smirked, saying to himself, "At least he's found something to do…"