Chapter 5: The sad story of Henry.

That night at Tidmouth sheds, the storm clouds were starting to gather up more in the sky. James, Gordon, and Edward were already tucked up in their births, but Thomas suddenly puffed up onto the turntable. Thomas was the smallest engine at Tidmouth sheds, but at least his new friend Edward was there. He reversed up into the birth next to Edward's, and he felt so happy about his new life.

Thomas:(sighs) "I like being on Sodor Edward, I just can't wait until I get to pull trains."

Gordon just scoffed at hearing this.

Edward: "You better learn how to shunt cars and coaches first Thomas."

Thomas: "Oh I'll soon get the hang of shunting Edward, but I wanna see the world."

After Gordon just groaned, another engine blew his whistle coming up onto the turntable. The engine was a big green LMS Stanier class 5 "Black 5" with red stripes along his boiler, and he had the number 3 on each side of his tender.

As he moved onto the turntable, he was urging it to move faster for some reason.

Henry: "Faster, faster. Ooooh….turn, turn, turn!"

Thomas: "Who's that?"

Edward: "That's Henry. He's a very kind engine, but he's a bit of a worrier."

Suddenly there was a faint roar of thunder, and the clouds softly flashed a bit of lightning. When Henry felt a drop of rain splash on the surface of his footplate, he yelped and started reversing towards his birth.

Edward: "And he doesn't like rain."

As Henry sadly reversed into his birth, Thomas watched him with confusion. When Henry saw Thomas watching him, he nervously chuckled and just sighed sadly. Then there was another rumble of thunder, and a flash of lightning was seen in the horizon. When the rain now started pouring down, Henry nervously reversed deeper into his birth. Edward understood how Henry felt, so he decided to tell Thomas a little story as they saw their reflection in a puddle.

Edward: "Once an engine attached to a train was afraid of a few drops of rain."

After a drop of rain falls into the puddle, it flashes back to the time where Henry became afraid of the rain while pulling a train.

(Flashback)

While Henry is pulling a local passenger train along the line, a drop of rain falls on his footplate. Henry yelps, then he sees a tunnel up ahead and quickly rushes into it.

Edward: "He rushed into a tunnel, squeaked through his funnel and never came out again."

Henry:(from inside the tunnel) "Oooh."

(Back to reality)

Edward just chuckles at what happened that day.

Edward:(chuckles) "His driver and fireman argued with him, but he wouldn't budge. "The rain will spoil my lovely green paint and red stripes," he said."

(Back to flashback)

It was now bright and sunny, and the passengers - including Sir Topham Hatt - were arguing with Henry who was still nervously sitting in the tunnel.

Edward: "The passengers got off, and they argued with him too. But he wouldn't move, even after the rain had stopped."

Next, Henry's driver had hooked a super long toe rope up to Henry and he the fireman, and all the other passengers were lined up while grabbing hold of the rope while Sir Topham Hatt stood aside and watched.

Edward: "So Sir Topham Hatt told the guard to get a rope and…

Sir Topham Hatt: "1….2….3….Pull."

With that, everyone started pulling on the rope as hard as they could.

Edward: "everyone pulled."

Sir Topham Hatt: "Come on, pull harder. Come on everyone, start moving."

After they pulled for a few minutes, Henry's driver and fireman suspiciously glared over at Sir Topham Hatt who didn't bother to help.

Edward: "Except Sir Topham Hatt."

Sir Topham Hatt: "Uhh, my doctor has forbidden me to pull."

Everyone (minus Sir Topham Hatt) pulled for a few more seconds, but Henry still didn't move to everyone's disappointment. Next, the passengers and Henry's driver and fireman are about to push from the other end.

Edward: "When that didn't work, they tried pushing from the other end."

Sir Topham Hatt: "1…...2…..3….Push! Everybody push, harder. Come on, put your backs into it."

Henry's driver glared at Sir Topham Hatt.

Sir Topham Hatt: "Uhh,(clears his throat) my doctor has also forbidden me to push."

Next, Sir Topham Hatt and the passengers stood aside as James came up behind Henry and his train so he could try and push him out.

Edward: "They tried pushing with an engine too."

Once James buffered up behind Henry's train, he pushed with all his might while blowing his whistle. Henry felt himself being moved forward, but he held back and locked his breaks on. After a few more seconds of pushing, James eventually gave up.

Edward: "But nothing worked."

After Sir Topham Hatt and the passengers sadly realized their failure, Sir Topham Hatt glared angrily towards Henry.

(End of flashback)

Edward: "In the end, they took out the old rails, built a brick wall in front of him, and left him there."

Thomas:(gasp)

Edward:(chuckles) "Although, Sir Topham Hatt did let him out eventually when Gordon burst his safety valve and couldn't pull the-

Gordon: "Alright storytime is over, some of us have to get some sleep."

After Gordon fell asleep, Thomas and Edward just chuckled at each other. But while Edward drifted off to sleep, Thomas started thinking to himself. He remembered the supporting advice that Kiara gave him, and he knew that she was right.

Thomas:(to himself) "I'll make you proud Kiara, you and Uncle Max."

With that said, Thomas drifted off to sleep still feeling excited about starting his very second day working at his new home.

To be continued.