TERENCE'S TRAIN

One day, Thomas was pulling Annie and Clarabel along his branch line. It was a very busy day, and Thomas' coaches were very full.

"You're very heavy today, Annie and Clarabel!" Thomas called, as he strained to turn his wheels. Annie scoffed.

"You're calling us heavy, Thomas?" Clarabel laughed as Thomas turned red, embarrassed. Thomas looked up and saw that the signal was red.

"Oh, thank goodness. A red signal. I can have a rest before we start off again." Thomas braked to a halt at the signal. He whistled loudly upon stopping, and looked to the field adjacent to the line. Sure enough, he heard a familiar "pickiteh-pockiteh" noise.

"Hello, Terence!" Thomas said to his old friend, Terence the Tractor. Terence smiled back.

"Hello, Thomas!" Terence grinned, "Pulling your train, I see?"

"Yes, Terence. We've lots of passengers today, so the train is very heavy!" Thomas replied. Terence smirked.

"I'm sure I could handle it. Two coaches doesn't look to be that heavy to me. Certainly not more difficult than ploughing a field." Thomas glared at Terence.

"Well, Terence, I'll have you know that trains are very heavy, and hard to pull." Thomas pouted. Terence chuckled and grinned proudly.

"My owner says that I'm adaptable. I can go anywhere and do anything! And pulling a train does not seem like a tough job in the slightest! You just aren't as versatile as I am!" Thomas was furious, but Terence kept on smiling.

"Pulling a train is much harder than ploughing a lousy field!" He snapped. Terence smirked right back.

"Wanna bet? I'm certain I could pull a train! Much better than you can, anyway!" Terence chuckled at his own wit, but Thomas glared. He was very cross now.

"I doubt it!" The signal dropped, and Thomas continued on his way.

"Cheeky tractor!" Annie whispered to Clarabel.

"Cheeky tractor indeed!" Clarabel whispered back. Terence went back to ploughing his field, muttering to himself.

"Pulling trains is easy! Thomas is just blowing it out of proportion..."

At Ffarquhar Quarry, Mavis was hard at work, shunting Troublesome Trucks.

"Come on, you lot!" She bumped them into line, "We've an important order to deliver to the docks!" The trucks groaned as Mavis went away to fetch more. Suddenly, a bell rang throughout the quarry, and Toby puffed in.

"Hello, Mavis!" He called, "Busy, I see. What are all these trucks for?" Toby watched as Mavis added a few more stone trucks to the train.

"We've got a big order to be put on a ship this afternoon." She explained, "They're to help expand a harbour on the mainland. I have to be right on time, or I'll miss the ship!"

"That sounds very important," Toby chuckled, "Just don't hurt yourself with all those trucks!"

"Don't worry, Toby, I won't!" Mavis backed down onto the long line of trucks, and began to try and start off. The trucks were very heavy, so Mavis had to work hard.

"Come on! Come on!" Mavis strained, and sure enough she was soon on her way out of the quarry. However, the trucks were offended.

"Who does she think she is? Telling us what to do!" The trucks whispered among each other, and they began to make a plan...

"Stop holding back! You're making this way more difficult than it needs to be!" Mavis panted as she and the trucks headed up the branch line. The trucks were holding back, and Mavis was having a hard time keeping them moving.

"You can't boss us about, Mavis!" A truck called, leaving the quarry diesel to growl in frustration.

"Fiddlesticks! Why do you trucks have to be so troublesome?" Then, there was trouble. Towards the middle of the train, one of the trucks had a old coupling. Holding back had strained it, and the chain began to break. The truck giggled with glee as it finally snapped, causing half the train to roll to a stop.

"It's all much easier now!" Mavis laughed, and she rounded the bend...leaving half her train behind. The trucks cackled as Mavis rolled out of sight, leaving on the line beside a familiar field. The guard stepped down from the brakevan, and went to the nearby farm for help.

Mavis finally arrived at Brendam Docks, where the big ship was waiting.

"Ahoy, Mavis!" Salty called, shunting some flatbeds.

"Hey, Salty!" Mavis coughed.

"You alright, Mavis? You sound tired!" Salty looked at Mavis with concern.

"The trucks gave me a hard time on the way down, Salty, but I'll be fine. Come to think of it, they only really gave me trouble the first half of the way down..." Mavis pondered. Cranky the Crane raised an eyebrow.

"Probably because you only have half your trucks!" Cranky called.

"What?" Mavis looked back, and to her horror, Cranky was right.

"Oh no! That must have been what I felt by the farm! I have to go back!" Mavis tried to reverse away, but her engine spluttered and she came to a stop.

"Oh no! I'm out of fuel!" Mavis cried, "They'll have to find another engine now! But who?"

Terence was very surprised to see the farmer opening the door to his shed.

"An important train to Brendam Docks has been left out in the middle of the line," he explained, "There are no engines available, so I told the quarry people we could do it." Terence was surprised.

"Yes, sir! I can show Thomas that pulling trains is easy!" He exclaimed. The farmer held his hands up.

"Now, Terence, keep calm. We're pulling heavy stone trucks, so we need to be very careful." He advised. Terence chuckled.

"Certainly, sir." He said. As the farmer fired up his engine, Terence chuckled to himself.

"This'll be a cakewalk! I'll show Thomas that I am right!" And with that, he sputtered out of his shed and rolled across the field.

Terence backed down onto the Troublesome Trucks, who had been enjoying their nap, and were surprised to see a tractor in front of them!

"Wuzzat?" A truck whispered to the others.

"A tractor? Pulling a train?" Another muttered.

"Come on, fellas!" Terence called back to the trucks, "We've got to get to the docks!" He honked his horn, and started to leave. However, the trucks were very heavy, and Terence was having a rough time starting.

"Hurry up!" He growled. Finally, after whirring his caterpillars enough to dig into the ground and shoot ballast into a truck's face, he managed to get going.

"Next stop, Brendam Docks!" Terence panted.

Terence rumbled along the branch line, with the trucks rattling along behind. It was tough for Terence, and as a result the ride was rather rough for the trucks.

"Ouch! Pick a pace, why don't you?" They screamed and groaned, but Terence kept going.

"E-easy!" Terence lied. His face was bright red and he was kicking up ballast everywhere. The trucks had had enough, and decided to cause trouble.

"Hold back, hold back!" The trucks whispered amongst themselves, and they began holding all their weight against Terence.

"S-stop it!" Terence stuttered, trying to keep going. He eventually approached a signal and stopped.

"Oh, thank goodness. Stupid trucks..." Terence rolled to a halt at the signal near Elsbridge. Thomas was at the platform, and was very surprised to see him.

"Terence? What are you doing with those trucks?" Thomas looked bewildered. Terence knew he should ask Thomas for help, but he didn't want to show him that he was having a tough time pulling the awkward, heavy trucks.

"Pulling them to the docks, Thomas! It's absolutely easy! I don't see why you complain so much about it." Terence looked away, trying to look proud, but clearly looking guilty. Thomas raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, Terence. Just be careful on hills. Speed up before you go up, so the trucks don't have time to hold you back once you're climbing. Then, on the way down, make sure you have a lot of grip so you can keep the trucks in control." Terence's signal dropped, and he began to start off again.

"Yes, thank you, Thomas!" But Terence hadn't been listening. He had been more focused on how he was going to keep the trucks in line.

The trucks had began to make Terence's life even more difficult. They bumped and banged back and forth, causing Terence to have to strain very hard to keep going.

"A railway is no place for a tractor!" A truck called, leaving Terence to determinedly pull ahead.

"Stop it!" Terence struggled onwards, and through a station. The passengers were very surprised to see a tractor rolling along the line!

"Look at that, mummy!" A small boy pointed at Terence. Terence wasn't focused on the passengers, he was trying to climb the big hill ahead.

"Easy does it..." He approached Gordon's Hill, and saw how steep it was. He hadn't been listening to Thomas' advice, and as a result began to slow down as he approached the hill.

"I can conserve my energy, so I can get better traction while I climb." Terence began to slow down, and the trucks began to giggle.

"Hold back, hold back!" Terence climbed the hill furiously, kicking up ballast. However, the trucks held back so much, that Terence began to slip.

"Come on!" Terence finally rolled over the top of the hill, and let a sigh of relief. However, without his full resistance, the trucks began to push him down the other side and he began to slip. To his horror, the trucks banged into the back of him, causing his driver to struggle to keep balance. Terence began going faster and faster.

"HELP!" Terence shouted, as he frantically tried to apply resistance to the trucks. The trucks cackled proudly as Terence reversed as quickly as he could, but they were still too heavy.

"You can't stop us!" A truck laughed.

"You should've just stayed in your field!" Another put in, and they all burst out laughing. Terence groaned as his caterpillars whirred. Finally, as they approached the bottom of the hill, Terence felt his tracks grip the ballast and applied as much power as possible. He finally rolled to a stop, and sighed in relief. His driver pulled himself up and inspected him.

"Nothing's wrong, Terence, but we have to hurry up and get to the docks now!"

"Yes, sir." Terence muttered, and started off again, rather disgruntled.

Terence rushed down the branch line towards the docks. He didn't want to hear the trucks now, he just wanted to get the job done! He approached a hill, and suddenly remembered what Thomas had said earlier.

"Speed up before you go up hills, that gives the trucks no time to hold back." Terence sped up, as his engine coughed smoke. He rolled over the hill and began resisting immediately upon reaching the other side.

"What happened?" The trucks whispered to each other, "He was so much fun!" Terence rounded a bend and saw the docks ahead.

"Almost there!" Terence sputtered around a bend and pulled into the docks, exhausted. Mavis, who was taking on fuel, was surprised to see Terence pull in.

"Terence?" She was bewildered to see the tractor pulling a train. Terence ginned weakly.

"Hey, Mavis. Brought your trucks." The ship honked its horn, and Terence was uncoupled. He rolled over off the line as Cranky loaded the big ship with stone. Mavis smiled at Terence.

"Thanks for taking my trucks down, Terence." The tractor looked exhausted, but smiled.

"You know what they say, Mavis. I'm adaptable."

That evening, Thomas arrived with a flat truck to take Terence back to his field.

"Well, Terence! I heard that you were a really useful tractor today!" Thomas chuckled, "The quarry sends their thanks. Without you, their order would have never been delivered."

"Just doing my job, Thomas." Terence smiled, but then blushed in embarrassment, "Sorry for not believing you that pulling trains was hard...I've never had a tougher job! Your advice really helped me on those hills. Thanks."

"Oh, well, Terence. Sorry for getting so mad at you. I can't imagine ploughing a field like you do." The two friends smiled at each other, but Terence spoke up.

"Thomas, there is no way that ploughing a field is harder than pulling a train."

"Terence, yes there is! You have to be hooked to a plough and..."

And Thomas and Terence argued about whose job is harder all the way home.

THE END

Terence is a very fun character to write for, and I hope I did him more justice since Troublesome Engines. Speaking of Troublesome Engines, I am planning on writing another special after 26 episodes, but what would you like to see it be? I have thought of several options of what it could be:

a) A "The Adventure Begins" adaptation of Toby the Tram Engine and Henry the Green Engine.

b) A special based on cowboys and the Wild West.

c) A special based around aliens.

d) A special based around robots.

e) A special based on what lurks in the waters of Sodor.

These are all ideas I would love doing, but I would love to see what you want to see. Leave a review and tell me what you thought of this story, and what you guys would want to see from a special. As always, what's next:

- Duncan and Lenora

- Gordon and Bear

- Logan and Hector

- Don't Loo About

- The Abominable Snow Engine

- Monkey Business

- Bugged! - When extra help is needed at the Blue Mountain Quarry, an engine from the Ministry of Defence is sent to help out. However, some of the engines become a little scared when they think they are being "bugged" by the military!