ANNIE'S NEW FRIEND

Based on Clarabels New Friend

Possibly by Andrew Brenner

Narrator: Thomas The Tank Engine runs a branch line that runs from the small town of Knapford to a tiny village named Ffarquhar. He does not run it alone, though. Percy, Rosie and Toby help him run the line. They take passengers to and fro. He has two old coaches named Annie and Clarabel. They are much more level headed then he is, and often try to counsel him from poor decisions with varying levels of success.

Well…

Most days they do.

Some days though Thomas is put in the unenviable position of being in the middle of any bickering the two get into. Today was one of those days.

Thomas pulled into Dryaw cross at both of them. "I can't believe you two, arguing like that near paying passengers." He scolded. Annie replied with "If Clarabel wasn't so foolish I wouldn't be angry now would I?" During their first run of the day Clarabel had been distracted while being used as a push-pull she had to stop suddenly at a red signal. Annie bore the brunt of complaints and blamed Clarabel for them. Clarabel then stoked the flames by saying Annie hadn't done a good job at calming the passengers.

By the time they had reached the big station both coaches were snapping at everything and everyone while bickering. Thomas, his crew, the guard and the station masters had to smooth over ruffled feelings with the passengers who were rightly annoyed. Now Thomas was very annoyed at them and said so.

Both coaches glared at him but fell silent. Thomas muttered gratefully under his breath and continued on. Eventually he came to Hackenback Tunnel, in front of the tunnel is a rise. Annie then used Thomas's distraction to hiss out "Useless Bint." Clarabel then slammed into Annie who bumped Thomas who had just crested the hill. Surprised the tank engine flew past Hackenback before stopping.

As he stopped the tank engine looked back and said "You two! Never in all my days!" Bruised passengers in the coaches came out and to tell the crew and engine what a bad railway it was. The coaches, ashamed kept quiet while the overwhelmed engine calmed the passengers. After informing them of the truth the passengers turned on the coaches and told them what bad coaches they were. Thomas promised them new coaches for the journey back and the assuaged passengers, noticing the crew and engines exhaustion went back into the coaches.

Thomas started off, coming into Ffarquhar he saw a angry stationmaster looking at him.

"Your late." The crew and passengers got out and explained the situation. The stationmaster unleashed a hail of words at the coaches and said "Take them to the shed." The driver was about to when the guard said "We cant. Clarabels damaged." The crew looked and saw the air pipe that allowed the driver to communicate with the engine cab was ripped open.

Thomas mumbled under his breath and said "Stephenson preserve us. Now Clarabel will have to go to the works. At least it'll be quieter and nicer for the time being."

The stationmaster agreed and said "Thomas, could you handle Percys good trains? He'll need to collect a replacement for Clarabel and he's at the big station." The blue tank engine agreed and went to begin work while the stationmaster made arrangements.

Clarabel was taken away by Toby who took her to the junction. Percy arrived in time for the next passenger train with a bogey coach. It was older than the current express coaches but younger than Annie and Clarabel.

Percy set up the passenger train and took it as Thomas had yet to return. Annie was happy as she didn't exactly want to talk with him until the situation had blown over. So instead she said "Good morning miss. I'm happy you came to help out on our branchline." Percy snorted in front as he heard that. "More like your just happy Thomas isn't around to scold you."

"Excuse me! Your actions took me from my usual workplace on the mainline to this old place. So no, it's not a good morning." Percy rolled his eyes and said "Don't mind her Annie. She can't handle being displaced well." Annie fell silent until they reached the next station.

As they were about to leave, Percy decided to act like Thomas for a minute and sang "Oh do come along we're rather late. Oh do come along we're rather late." Annie started to sing "We're coming along, we're coming along." The coach's face scrunched up and she said "What is that awful tune? It sounds like a scratchy whistle!"

Annie replied "Its a song the coaches here sing. Surely even the coaches on the mainline have tunes?" The coach responded with "We have better tunes." She sang a loud booming tune that caused some cows and bulls to scatter. One crossed the line and faced Percy down, the green engine squeaked and said "Stop!"

The resulting removal took nearly a half hour and Percy was late despite his best efforts. Fortunately the passengers understood the trouble and thanked him for his hard work. Thomas though was very cross, luckily not at Percy.

The coach and Annie stood waiting for the engine to pick up the special coach when Annie heard a familiar valve gear. She blanched and said "Miss, please try to be better behaved. Thomas doesn't like badly behaved coaches." The coach laughed and said "I'm not afraid of that fussy little fusspot."

Thomas then said "Oh? Is that so?" as he arrived from the bay platform, Special Coach in tow. The coach chuckled and said "Oh, if not for James deciding to be silly, you wouldn't have a branchline. So do be quiet and try not to forget us."

Thomas raised a mischievous eyebrow and said "Alright then. I was just talking to the stationmaster about a special duty on the main line for a coach from my line. I guess I'll have to find another coach. Belinda*, would you like it?"

The special coach responded with "I would enjoy a special mainline duty. Why don't we talk about it later?" The coach said "I'll be good!"

Thomas smiled and said "Splendid, I knew we could depend on you." Annie noticed Thomas's grin and smiled. His revenge on her was going to be interesting to say the least.

For the rest of the stay Annie would deal with snide remarks from the larger coach. Belinda would encourage her while Thomas and Percy warmed up to Annie after the trouble she caused. The small 4 wheeler found herself missing Clarabel and regretting her actions.

However a month later, Thomas came in at the crack of dawn with Clarabel in tow and the bogey coach missing. Annie and Clarabel talked excitedly as Thomas set up his train and we're in the midst of apologizing when Thomas had set up the freight train. "Good to see you ladies getting along so well." Thomas spoke as he shunted them to the end of the train.

"Oh yes, what a silly pair we've been. Shame I never got to meet my replacement. Sounds like a character." Clarabel responded. Thomas grinned and said "Ah but you see we will."

Clarabel shut her mouth, Thomas had a trick up his sleeve and she decided not to spoil the surprise.

A few hours later they found out as Thomas pulled into Tidmouth. Standing at the adjacent through platform was a diesel bearing the number 81101. He was talking to James who seemed to be extremely happy about something.

"Hey Thomas, thanks again for the coach, I've been trying to get the Fat Controller to give me a coach to improve the workmen's commute to and from the job site for a while now and the coach that you had treated me to was of the right type too. What with her being a retrofitted bogie brake coach with luggage and guard compartment as well? It feels like christmas."

"She's a keeper." as the workmen boarded the train from the platform, in the train was the bogey coach fuming at being tricked. "You monster." She growled at Thomas. The tank engine winked.

81101 tooted his horn as he departed with the train in tow with Thomas who whistled back. "Don't worry I didn't forget my part of the bargain." The diesel responded with a horn blast to acknowledge and went on to do his very important mainline job of track maintenance.

The three friends then puffed off singing some nice songs.

*-The name comes from Belinda the Beetle series of books by the Reverend W. Awdry

**-81101 is an OC created by bendragon of discord. A Class 81 electric locomotive outfitted with a diesel engine