Toby puffed into the Steamworks with Henrietta in tow. He was amazed by all the enormous machinery, but couldn't focus on it long as Percy pulled alongside him.

"Just head onto the turntable, Toby, and you'll be repainted there!" Toby looked to the turntable and slowly rolled onto it. Some workmen soon arrived with pots of paint of varying colors and soon enough got to work. His faded wood was given new brown paint and looked just like new, and Toby watched, intrigued, as the workmen carefully painted a number "7" onto his side in red and yellow. His "LNER" lettering was covered up, his black sideplates were repainted grey, and his black roof soon followed. However, Toby wasn't the only one getting changes.

"I haven't looked this good since I was built!" Henrietta marveled at her new orange livery with red bufferbeams. Her railings and frames had been polished, and she looked cleaner than she ever had in her life. Toby chuckled happily as he looked at his own reflection, and smiled at his smart new look. Soon enough, the workmen had finished, and Toby and Henrietta puffed out of the Steamworks. Percy gasped in amazement.

"You two look great!" Toby beamed as he looked back at his number.

"I could get used to this…" He chuckled. Henrietta smiled.

"With a look this good, I never want to go back!" She chortled, and the two, along with Percy, laughed together.

Toby arrived at Elsbridge in his new livery to collect passengers, where Henry was waiting with his local train. Henry smiled, impressed.

"Someone's looking sharp!" Toby chuckled.

"I feel it! This is the cleanest I've been since I was built!" Henry laughed.

"Well, you certainly wear it well. Heard about your heroics with James; great work!" Toby blushed modestly.

"Thank you, talking to you in the forest really helped me." It was Henry's turn to act modest.

"Don't mention it! Any engine would've done the same." Toby smiled. However, a thought he had been putting off came back to him.

"Henry, you wouldn't happen to have seen Thomas, have you?"

"You just missed him; he's on his way down to Ffarquhar by now." Toby smiled.

"Ah, good. I can talk to him there. Thanks, Henry!" Henry's guard blew the whistle and the big green engine headed on his way, blasting his whistle loudly as he left the station. Toby rang his bell back, and soon enough started down the branch line.

"It's good that we can finally be completely adjusted!" Henrietta remarked as they rolled along. Toby smiled.

"Yes indeed, it's starting to feel like home." However, a thought crossed his mind and his face fell. Henrietta raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong, Toby? Everything's looking up for us!" Toby smiled sadly.

"I know, it's just…do you think Elsie would've liked it?" Henrietta was caught off-guard, but thought for a moment and smiled.

"Yes, I think she would've." The two continued down the branch line, thoughts of their friend fresh in their minds.

However, as Toby headed down the branch line, he couldn't stay in his head for long. He was startled by the honk of a horn and looked to see a red bus driving along beside him.

"Hello there! You're Toby, right?" The bus asked. Toby felt rather uncomfortable, but hesitantly responded.

"Erm…yes, I am." The bus grinned.

"I've seen you around but we haven't really had a chance to chat yet; my name's Bertie!" Toby squirmed.

"Nice to meet you, Bertie." He replied, clearly not wanting to have to talk to a bus anymore. Henrietta, observing the situation from behind Toby, raised an eyebrow.

"What does he want?" She hissed quietly.

"No idea." Toby hissed back nervously. Bertie noticed their whispering, but remained undeterred.

"Are you fast, Toby?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Toby coughed awkwardly.

"I, um…think so?" Bertie smirked.

"I'm very fast; I beat Thomas in races all the time! Fancy a race yourself?" Henrietta raised an eyebrow.

"Is he trying to take our passengers?" She whispered. Toby winced.

"I…don't know?" Bertie cleared his throat.

"Do you want a race or not?" He asked, still smiling but clearly getting somewhat impatient. Toby gulped.

"Alright…s-s-sure." He stuttered. Bertie grinned.

"Great! First one to the level crossing wins! Ready…steady…go!" Bertie blasted his horn and sped off down the road. Henrietta heard the bus rev his engine and looked forward to Toby.

"Come on, Toby! We have to beat him or we'll lose our passengers!" Toby looked nervous at first, but focused his resolve and rang his bell before speeding up to try and catch up with Bertie. Soon enough, the two were side by side. Bertie saw that Toby had caught up and grinned.

"This is really fun, isn't it?" He laughed. Toby simply remained focused on the track, his wheels pounding the rails. Finally, the level crossing came into view, and Bertie grinned.

"I think I'm going to win!" He called. Henrietta glared and looked forward to Toby.

"Come on, Toby! You can do it!" Toby rang his bell and sped up once more, managing to beat Bertie there as he blazed through the crossing. Henrietta whooped and cheered as Bertie waited by the gates. Toby laughed triumphantly.

"I did it! I won!" As Toby and Henrietta slowed down, the gates opened and Bertie drove through the crossing with a smile on his face before driving alongside Toby again.

"That was a good race! Congratulations on the win, Toby!" Toby raised an eyebrow at the bus, as he seemed to be genuinely happy for him.

"You're not…upset?" Bertie chuckled.

"Of course not! It's all in good fun, you know, and I just wanted to make a new friend!" Henrietta's eyes widened in confusion.

"You weren't trying to take our passengers?" Bertie scoffed.

"Of course not; that'd just be silly! I provide you and Thomas with passengers, and you provide me with the same; why would I try to sabotage that when we both get something out of it?" Toby was very caught off-guard, but smiled.

"You're completely right. It was very nice to race you, Bertie." Bertie smiled.

"Same with you, Toby. See you around! Toodle peep!" Bertie honked his horn and turned onto another road, leaving Toby and Henrietta to watch him leave as they rolled further down the line.

"That bus was so nice! Nothing like Graham at all!" Henrietta chuckled. Toby smiled.

"I suppose we shouldn't have let one rotten apple spoil the bunch. Now, come on! We have to get to Ffarquhar to talk to Thomas!" Henrietta laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Of course, Toby!" The duo continued on to Ffarquhar.

Toby bustled into Ffarquhar and saw Annie and Clarabel waiting in a siding, and could see the back of Thomas peeking out from Glynn's. He braked into the platform and rang his bell before being uncoupled and beginning to puff towards Thomas.

"Thomas! Thomas! I raced your friend Bertie today; really nice chap! I-"

"Oh, so you can't get enough of replacing engines, huh? You couldn't be happy with just one?" Thomas snapped, and as Toby rolled alongside he could see the venomous scowl on his face. Toby raised an eyebrow.

"If you're talking about Glynn, I want t-"

"Of course I'm talking about Glynn! You come here and take the job that he should've been restored to have, and now you've sent him off to the scrap heap!" Toby raised an eyebrow, offended now.

"What on earth are you talking about? I've done nothing of the sort!" Thomas growled.

"Oh yeah? Then why is he missing from his siding?"

"What?"

"GLYNN'S GONE! Disappeared! Not a trace!" Toby rolled farther forward and sure enough, Glynn was gone; the siding was entirely empty. Toby could see where the ivy that had grown onto Glynn had been cut, and the remaining vines laid limply on the ground without any structure to cling to. The tram engine spluttered.

"He…he was just here!"

"WELL, HE'S NOT NOW!" Thomas shouted. He shot Toby a nasty glare.

"Now that he's gone, I suppose you want to replace me too, huh?" The tram engine couldn't think of how to respond.

"Well, that's not going to happen! This is my branch line, thank you very much, and I won't let you get rid of me like you did my friend! Come on, Annie and Clarabel!" He whistled and backed out of the siding, barely avoiding hitting Toby in the cowcatcher. He backed onto his coaches and shot Toby one more glare before leaving the station to head back up the line. As Thomas stormed away, Henrietta could see a worried Clarabel mouth "sorry" from the back of the train. She winced before looking back to Toby, who simply sat dumbfounded on Glynn's siding.

"What just happened?" Toby asked, exhausted. Henrietta cringed.

"Guess some things just aren't that easy…" She muttered.

Meanwhile, Henry was puffing along the main line with his passenger train. The sun shone and birds sang, and he was in a very good mood. He arrived at Wellsworth to see Gordon sitting in the other platform and whistled to greet him as he braked into the platform.

"Hello, Gordon!" Gordon groaned at the sound of Henry's whistle before scowling at the big green engine.

"Hello, Henry." He replied dully. Henry could sense that Gordon wasn't pleased to see him, but tried to remain positive nonetheless.

"How are you today, Gordon? The express running well?" Gordon remained uninterested.

"It's going fine." Henry winced.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it?" Gordon rolled his eyes.

"Yes, very lovely indeed." He muttered, before the guard's whistle blew and he headed on his way, leaving Henry behind. Henry watched him leave before sighing.

"Oh, dear…" However, he heard the chirp of a nearby bird and smiled.

"It is a lovely day." His guard blew the whistle and Henry left the station with his coaches trundling along behind him, looking forward to continuing his lovely journey.

Further down the line, Henry approached a bridge where some boys were standing, watching the trains pass. He smiled.

"I feel so well! I feel so well!" He laughed to himself. He looked up at the boys and blew his whistle.

"Hello, boys!" However, Henry failed to notice that the boys had their hands behind their backs, and one grinned at the others.

"Hello, Henry…" As Henry rumbled under the bridge, the boys took their hands out from behind their backs, revealing that they were holding stones. They hurled the stones down at the train, laughing as they bounced off of Henry and the coaches.

"Ooh, ouch! OW!" Henry groaned as the stones hit his boiler. Some of the stones hit the coaches, shattering the glass in their windows. The boys laughed mischievously until the furious driver drew the train to a stop. Henry groaned in pain as his driver hopped down from the cab and began to run towards the bridge.

"You boys are in a lot of trouble!" He shouted. The leader looked at the other two and winced.

"Scatter!" He shouted, and the boys sprinted off, running in different directions. The driver tried to chase after them, but they were too fast and he ended up having to give up.

"Bother…" He muttered, before returning to examine Henry. A man poked his head out of a shattered window, careful to avoid the fractured glass left behind.

"What on earth just happened?" He demanded angrily. The driver sighed as the fireman climbed down from the cab to join him.

"Well, we got stones dropped on us; that's obvious, isn't it? Is anyone hurt?" Another passenger poked her head out of another shattered window, one arm holding her hat.

"No, but those hoodlums gave us an awful fright! We should call the police!" The first man nodded in agreement, but the driver shook his head. Henry looked at his buffers.

"If we do that, we'd have to stay here until they arrived and we'd be even more late."

"Besides the fact that the police isn't too fond of the railway right now because of Thomas, Henry is perfectly capable of handling the situation on his own. Aren't you, old boy?" Henry raised an eyebrow at his driver.

"I am?" However, the passengers were intrigued.

"What are you going to do?" The woman poking her head of the window asked as more passengers poked their heads out of other windows. The driver smirked.

"Well, if you can keep a secret…Henry's going to sneeze at them." He looked rather proud of himself, but the passengers simply gave each other confused looks.

"What?" A man asked in confusion from the rear of the train. The driver sighed.

"Just wait and see." He climbed back into the cab with the fireman and Henry whistled before setting off. The big green engine was concerned.

"Sneeze at them?" He asked. The driver chuckled.

"Hope you don't mind feeling stuffed up for a bit, Henry. We have to build up quite a bit of ash in order for this to work…"

Henry soon found out what he meant. By the time he reached the station before the bridge on his return journey, he felt very stuffed up indeed. His driver addressed the interested passengers on the platform confidently.

"Henry has plenty of ashes. As this plan involves hot ash, please keep all windows shut until we've passed the bridge. Henry is as excited as we are. Aren't you, old fellow?" Henry felt more stuffed up, but smiled from behind his watering eyes.

"Certaingly! I'b ready, sir!" It was significantly harder for the passengers to understand him because of his stuffed nose, but they nodded politely. As they boarded, Gordon arrived at the station and raised an eyebrow upon seeing Henry.

"Are you alright? You look a bit…ill." Henry, however, sniffled and smiled.

"Of gourse, Gordong! I just have to deach some silly boys a," Henry sniffed, "lesson. Goodbye!" The guard's whistle blew and Henry puffed away, leaving Gordon to watch, intrigued.

Henry bustled towards the bridge, where he saw the boys waiting again. He looked nervously back to his driver.

"Deir hangds are behing their backs againg…what if dey drow dem at me?" The driver grinned.

"Not if this plan works, old boy." Henry suddenly began to feel a tickling in his nose.

"I dink I'm about do sneeze!"

"Not yet! Wait until I say so, and then sneeze as hard as you can!" The bridge grew closer and closer. Henry could feel the sneeze coming.

"Ah…"

"Almost…" The driver looked up. The lead boy smirked from up on the bridge. Henry couldn't hold it much longer.

"Ah…"

"Just one second…"

"Ah…"

"NOW!"

"Ah-CHOO!" As Henry sped under the bridge, a cloud of smoke and soot erupted from his funnel, raining down on the shocked boys. The big green engine rocketed onwards, leaving the boys behind. The lead boy, stunned by the "sneeze", dropped his stones before walking away from the bridge with a blank stare on his face. The other boys followed, dropping their stones as well. The driver laughed triumphantly.

"Atta boy, Henry! You showed 'em, you did!" Henry smiled.

"I can breathe again too!" He chuckled to himself before continuing on.

Henry pulled into Knapford feeling triumphant.

"Thank you, Henry!" One of the passengers called as she left. The green engine beamed. However, one person wasn't exactly happy with Henry, as he found out when the man himself walked alongside him on the platform, arms crossed.

"I trust I don't have to tell you that I don't approve of sneezing under bridges?" The Fat Controller asked, raising an eyebrow at Henry. He blushed in embarrassment.

"No, sir." To his surprise, the Fat Controller smiled.

"Good. Between you and me, I don't think any more boys will think it's a good idea to throw stones at trains after this. While I appreciate you solving a problem, I would prefer if you didn't repeat it." Henry chuckled.

"Of course, sir." The Fat Controller grinned and gave his number 3 a wink.

"Splendid. Carry on, Henry." He walked away. As he left, Henry was surprised to hear a whistle and to see Gordon creep alongside.

"Heard you taught some naughty boys a lesson, Henry. Great work." The big engine complimented. Henry smiled.

"Thank you, Gordon." He replied. To his surprise, Gordon looked down at his buffers.

"I believe I owe you an…apology." He struggled to find the word. Henry raised an eyebrow before the big blue engine continued.

"I admit that when you got your rebuild that I was jealous. How couldn't I be? The railway sinking an enormous amount of money into fixing the railway's weak link instead of a really useful engine like me? Unbelievable!" Henry rolled his eyes, but Gordon cleared his throat.

"But I was wrong. Every engine wants to be really useful, and your rebuild was just making it so you could be. You've always had the spirit of a really useful engine, Henry; you're hardworking, protective of your friends, and, as your role in ridding our railway of some naughty boys shows, very clever. Forgive me for not acting as such for all these years, and especially now…I'm sorry." Henry looked at Gordon, who seemed rather uncomfortable at allowing himself to be this vulnerable. He thought for a moment before smiling.

"I'm a new engine now, Gordon. I'd be happy for a fresh start." Gordon smiled back. Henry chuckled.

"Are you headed back to the sheds?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Can I join you?" Gordon grinned, and he and Henry rolled off towards Tidmouth Sheds together. From another platform, Percy watched the two big engines leave and smiled to himself before returning to work.

Things are starting to wrap up! Toby and Henrietta have gotten over their fear of buses, and Henry has now both taught some naughty boys a lesson and finally made up with Gordon. However, there's still some things that are up in the air for Toby to resolve, mainly the fact that Glynn has disappeared and Thomas thinks it's his fault. I've never had much of an appreciation for Henry's Sneeze, but adapting it turned out to be far more fun than I expected and I think it turned out really fun. Gordon's development has been a bit in the background, but this is, in my opinion, the origin of their strong friendship that lasts to the present day as opposed to the animosity between them from before, even during the strike. As for Glynn's whereabouts? Well, if you've read The Sad Story of Glynn from my first set of episodes, you may have already figured out what is going to happen, but I won't say just how. See Thomas and Toby settle their feud for a common goal in the penultimate chapter of this story: "A Kyndley Gesture"!