Thomas Gets Bumped

Thomas's branchline has a hourly service from the top station to Tidmouth while another engine comes up from the junction station at Tidmouth. Usually Thomas and Daisy perform these duties while Percy and Toby handle goods and workmen trains. The two passenger engines are proud of their accomplishments at running the line.

One bright, hot, and sunny day Thomas the tank engine was refilling at the tower near Maithwaite. He grumbled as Percy passed with a freight train.

"Late again!" Thomas snapped, Percy hissed crossly as he passed. Soon the points changed and Thomas rushed mumbling about late caterpillars as he prepared to depart.

"You shouldn't be so rude." Annie whispered in a stern voice.

"Percy is always striving to make me late." Thomas explained, "Remember when he tried playing ghosts? He made us late for months until the treacle dressed him up like a woolly caterpillar."

"That's enough Thomas." His driver said and the tank engine shut up. As he started his driver looked out the cab window when something caught his eye. He shut off steam and applied the brakes but Thomas's momentum and lack of attention to the track prevented a quick stop.

One moment Thomas was on the rails and the next he was off the rails.

"BOILER SLUDGE!" Thomas yipped as stopped.

His crew came out and investigated the cause. His driver, after looking at the track came up to him crossly.

"I warned you to keep your eyes on the rails, if you hadn't been so distracted you would've been able to see the broken track." His driver scolded.

Thomas sighed in defeat. As much as he wanted to argue, he knew that his driver was right. Workmen arrived by road to strengthen the rails and check other sections of the track. Soon afterwards the breakdown train arrived to carry the blue tank engine to the works. The tyres were quickly changed and Thomas was preparing to leave when the Fat Controller came in with his 'guards', one of them put a box in front of Thomas and the man got on it.

"Good morning Thomas, while your branchline track is being repaired I want you and Toby to shunt in the yard. Percy will be overseeing track repairs with Colin."

Thomas raised an eyebrow and said "But sir. Surely Toby would be better at that than him?"

"Toby was on the wrong side of the line. He was at Knapford picking up the next shift. Percy will be checking from Ffarquhar down." The Fat Controller replied with a sigh.

Thomas's jaw dropped and then resumed its former position and said "Where am I to shunt sir?"

The Fat Controller smiled and answered "You will be working at Knapford Docks while Toby handles the yard at the station. Daisy will work on the Kirk Ronan so Molly can get her checkup done before the Easter rush."

Thomas smiled and said "I'll do you proud sir." as his lamp was put on.

The Controller nodded "Make your way then. Rosie and Paxton need their overhauls soon and I want them to show you around the yard."

Thomas then asked "Who will be handling the traffic on my line?"

"The Knapford Bus company will be handling the passenger traffic and our own lorries will be handling the freight. It's only for a short while." Thomas while outwardly agreeing with the Controller felt very sick inside.

Soon afterwards the tram and tank engine were working hard at Knapford. All the while Thomas and Toby felt worried as they did their work. Toby especially as he remembered how his old tramway had been closed by the roads despite the amount of accidents. Everyday Toby watched Bertie and some other buses pick up the passengers with a disheartened look on his face.

Thomas shared these feelings, although his branchline was successful. He was also aware of the mainland government's preference to the roads and the pressure to modernize was strong. Any day now he expected the Fat Controller to come up and announce that the branchline would be replaced with some road. Sadly the two engines worked very hard around the yard and harbor expecting their assignment to become permanent.

Some 3 weeks afterwards, Thomas and Toby were told they were to return to the branch in a double headed special. The two engines were excited and the next morning both engines collected some suburbans and went to Platform 3 where to their surprise a large group of passengers were waiting.

As the passengers came on both Thomas and Toby wondered why there were so many people. Soon the whistle blew and both engines went to Ffarquhar at a good pace. After a short trip they reached the junction where Bertie was, he looked hot and exhausted.

"Bertie, are you alright?" Thomas asked concerned.

"Hello old friend. It's a busy time of year for us." Bertie responded "Promise us one thing Thomas?"

Thomas raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Name it Bertie and I'll strive to."

"If your going to have issues, warn us? It's very difficult to run a branchline with so few buses." Bertie said.

Thomas and Toby smiled, both said thank you and went to Percy who told them how the buses and the lorries struggled with the extra work. That night, the three engines went to rest; confident their positions were secure.

That would soon change.