Thomas the Tank Engine had led a happy life on the Island of Sodor for almost fifty-two years. His blue coat shone in the sun, he was right on time and all around his famous branch line, the countryside seemed prettier than ever before. He had many engine friends and they all tried to be really useful through hard times and depressing wars.
The time was three in the afternoon on September 25, 1967 when he spoke to his friend Percy the Small Engine with a milk tanker at Elsbridge, the station by the river where Thomas went fishing once and ended up having a family of fish in his boiler.
"Good morning, Percy," he whistled. "If there's something special about me, it would have to be this: My branch is the pride of the line, I have many friends, I have pulled several trains, been into a couple of scrapes…and yet…"
He let out a sad sigh.
"But what, Thomas?" asked Percy. "Out with it!"
"I feel incomplete. What could be missing from my perfect life?"
"A human friend?" was the first thought that came into Percy's mind.
"I miss Christopher," Thomas said, looking up at the sky.
During World War II, Thomas had befriended a ten-year-old boy named Christopher Awdry, who was the son of the very first person Thomas met when he was first built back in 1913. Christopher longed for his father who was away fighting for his country and it took him a while to accept it and view Thomas as friend and a surrogate father along with the rest of the engine family, whom he spent his spare time fixing and helping with their problems. When the war ended, Gordon, the Big Express Engine, took Christopher all the way back to London where he lived and none of the other engines had seen him since. Diana, the daughter of Thomas' driver, had also left for the mainland in search of Christopher, with no word having been heard from her other than a wedding invitation. Thomas thought that Christopher was special, almost as special as him.
"I miss him too, Thomas," added Percy. "But we can't keep living in the past for long with all these diesel engines and whatnot. There's bound to be a competition over at the mainland if we are to show the world that anything they can do, we can do just as good."
"The Fat Controller says Christopher may visit us, but I don't think he wants to anymore. He would rather spend time with his own family than visit us."
"Maybe he will, but let's not dwell upon him any longer. We've got work to do."
And Percy hurried away to deliver the milk, leaving Thomas to mope by himself.