GORDON GOES FOREIGN

It was a bright, sunny morning on the Island of Sodor, and Gordon was dozing off in a siding by Knapford Station. He had just got back from pulling the Express and was feeling very tired. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't be able to sleep for long until-

"Why hello there, little brother!" an all-too familiar voice called out.

Gordon's eyes slowly opened, and he scowled as he looked over to the source of the voice.

"Hello Scott." he said through clenched teeth.

Flying Scotsman smirked cheekily at his brother from across the yard, as waves of passengers disembarked from his coaches.

"You're probably wondering why exactly I'm here, Gordon?" Scotsman asked.

Gordon didn't say anything, he just glared with rage.

"I'm here on a railtour, showing passengers round the island on the back of a very important and fast engine." he grinned from buffer to buffer.

He was uncoupled from the coaches and he puffed onto the siding right alongside Gordon.

"But for now, I need a rest…" he sighed as he yawned loudly.

Gordon looked over at the coaches being shunted away into a siding by Duck and then back at his twin brother.

"I need some rest before I travel back to London tomorrow." Scotsman yawned loftily.

Upon hearing this, Gordon cleared his throat.

"I remember the time that I used to work in London." he spoke grandly, "Back when I was young and painted green." he turned his attention back to Scotsman and smirked. "Do you know the place, Scott? The station there is called King's Cross."

Scotsman looked over at his brother, silent for a few seconds before he burst out in laughter.

"K-King's Cross?!" he guffawed, "What rubbish, Gordon! The station is called Euston! Practically everybody I know knows that!"

"Well, you probably haven't met many people then, Scott!" Gordon retorted, "Because I know for a fact that London Station is called King's Cross, I was there!"

Duck, intrigued by the conversation, pushed Scotsman's coaches onto a siding out of the way and then puffed up alongside the two big engines.

"What utter rubbish!" he scoffed, "London's Paddington! I know that because I worked there!"

"Paddington?!" Gordon and Scotsman laughed. "Oh please!"

"It's obviously Euston!" Flying Scotsman stated.

"No! It's King Cross!" Gordon snapped back.

"Neither of you are right because it is Paddington!" Duck shouted at them both.

"Euston!"

"King's Cross!"

"Paddington!"

"King's Cross!"

"Paddington!"

"Euston!"

The three engines argued all for the rest of the day. They argued when they went to sleep.

Gordon and Duck were still arguing even after Flying Scotsman had left the next day.

"Stupid Scott…" Gordon groaned grumpily, "I've not patience for engines like him…"

"Stupid yourself!" Duck huffed, "London's Paddington! Paddington! Do you hear me?!"

James, who had just arrived in the yard to collect his morning passenger train, stopped between the two engines and sighed, he was tired of the two engines arguing.

"Stop arguing you two!" he groaned, "You're both making me and the others really tired." He then paused and chuckled, "But, you are both right about something."

"What's that then?" Gordon and Duck asked in unison.

"London Station's not Euston." he laughed, "Now shut up!"

And with that, James blew his whistle and bustled away.

A little while later, Gordon backed down onto his coaches at the platform and blew his whistle loud and long as he pulled away from Knapford Station with the express.

"I'm sure it's King's Cross…" he grumbled to himself, "I'll go to London myself and prove it!"

London lay beyond Vicarstown, the station where the express terminates. Gordon stops here and another engine from the Mainland takes the train the rest of the way.

Gordon gazed out across to the Vicarstown Bridge, as his passengers disembarked.

"If I didn't have to stop here," he thought to himself, "I could go all the way to London."

The next day, Gordon hurried into Vicarstown Station pulling the express again. As he approached the station, he picked up speed and whooshed right past the platform, showering everyone with steam. The driver quickly slammed the brake on as hard as he could, slowing Gordon right down to a crawl, just before he nearly crashed straight into Caitlin.

"Watch out, Gordon!" she cried, as she blew her whistle loudly and darted away from the station towards the bridge.

The day after that, Gordon was waiting at Vicarstown Station again with his coaches. But just as the shunter got ready to uncouple Gordon from the train, Gordon shot forward with the coaches still coupled up to him. But once again, he was brought to a stop as his brakes screeched loudly.

Gordon sighed unhappily as he watched Samson pass by with some empty trucks.

"Oh dear…" he sighed, "I shall never be able to go to London."

Connor was rocketing along the line towards the Vicarstown Bridge, the wind rushing past him at incredible speeds. When suddenly, he felt a sudden snap from his undercarriage and his whole body began to lurch to the side. Before he knew it, Connor rolled onto his side, and his side scraped against the ballast before him came to a complete stop.

"Ouch…" he groaned.

Meanwhile, Gordon was waiting at Vicarstown on a siding. He glanced up at a signal, waiting until it was time for him to go back to Tidmouth Sheds. He then glanced over at a rake of express coaches and passengers waiting at the platform, with no engine. Suddenly, a porter ran over to Gordon, looking worried. He hurried over to Gordon's driver.

"Connor was supposed to be here to collect this train, but he's derailed." he explained, "I've just telephoned the Fat Controller and he's say you can take the train, Gordon." he added.

Gordon's eyes lit up instantly.

"You mean… I can go to London?!" he asked excitedly.

"Well, yes, that's where the train is heading." the porter said simply.

"Come along, Gordon." said his driver, "Let's show them what the Fat Controller's engines can do!"

Gordon beamed from buffer to buffer and blew his whistle loud and long as he quickly backed down onto the coaches waiting at the platform. Gordon could hardly contain his excitement. But it felt like ages until the guard's whistle blew.

"Come on, come on!" Gordon called out loud, as his wheels gripped the rails and he slowly pulled out of the station with the heavy train.

Stations, bridges, hills, all manner of things flew past Gordon as he thundered along the line at a tremendous speed. He passed lots of engines on his way to London, and they all looked so surprised to see him.

London was a long way away, but Gordon didn't mind.

"Never mind, "he thought to himself, "I like a nice long run to stretch my wheels."

He gave a sharp blast on his whistle and his wheels pounded the rails, steam erupting from his funnel as he shot down the line towards London.

But all the same, he was glad when finally, London came into view.

At last, Gordon pulled proudly into London Station, steam billowing out from his cylinders, and he blew his whistle loudly again.

"We're here!" he called out triumphantly.

Lots of people on the station platforms quickly gathered round Gordon. They swarmed around the big engine and his train like flies, lots of them holding cameras and taking his picture.

"Is that a Sodor engine?!"

"Hey, that's Gordon!"

"What a famous engine!"

"Gordon?! All the way here in London?!"

The other engines at the station then noticed that Gordon had arrived and started to shower him with attention as well.

Gordon felt very pleased with all the attention he was getting. As he looked around the huge station, his eyes suddenly fell upon a large sign with the station name on it. His face fell immediately.

The Fat Controller was sitting in his office, enjoying a nice cup of tea. When suddenly, the stationmaster burst the door open and rushed in, clutching a newspaper.

"Good morning, Sir!" he said excitedly, "Have you seen the news?"

"What news?" The Fat Controller asked.

"Take a look for yourself, Sir."

The stationmaster handed the Fat Controller the newspaper. The Fat Controller stared for a moment and then he laughed.

"Well, would you look at that?!" he gasped, "There's Gordon! Headlines say, 'Famous Engine at London Station. Police called to control crowds'!"

He was very impressed.

The following day, Gordon arrived back at Knapford Station. The Fat Controller hurried out of his office to greet him.

"Well," he began, "I heard you were well received in London."

"We certainly were, Sir." replied Gordon's driver, stepping out of Gordon's cab with the fireman. "We signed autographs til our arms ached."

"And Gordon had his photograph taken from so many directions, he didn't know which way to look." added the fireman.

"Good." smiled the Fat Controller, "I expect Gordon enjoyed himself. Didn't you, Gordon?"

Gordon looked sadly down at his buffers and then at the Fat Controller.

"No, Sir." he replied, "I didn't."

The Fat Controller was surprised.

"Why ever not?" he asked, confused.

"London's all wrong, Sir." Gordon answered, "They've changed it. It isn't King's Cross anymore." he sighed, "It's St. Pancras."

The Fat Controller stopped and stared. And then he laughed.

"Oh Gordon!" he chortled, "London doesn't just have one station, it has several stations. You visited just one of them. King's Cross is still a station in London, just like St. Pancras and Paddington are!"

Duck puffed up alongside Gordon and gasped.

"So, London isn't just Paddington?" he asked.

"Hoho, no Duck." The Fat Controller chuckled, "I'm surprised neither of you knew that."

Gordon and Duck shared a glance with each other, and sighed, now realising how silly they'd been.

THE END

Well, that wasn't as long as the previous story, Nelly and BoCo. But it was still enjoyable to write regardless. This is the first of my Railway Series adaptations, and I know that a lot of people really like this story. There wasn't a ton to change from the original story, just that Big City Engine got replaced by Flying Scotsman made a bit more sense to me. Speaking of Scotsman, he shall be appearing again in another episode which takes place around the same time as this story. Some extra scenes and bits of dialogue were added, not to pad out the length, but to add to the story, and the bit at the very end I think was a good inclusion.

As always, here's what's coming up next:

Tea-Rex - Rex gets rather overconfident when he gets chosen to pull a special dining coach. Although, an angry stray goose manages to bring his ego down.

Knights of the Turntable - When Arthur hears about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, he decides to gather some engines to be his own knights, in order to help him out with a job he doesn't want to do. Unfortunately, disaster strikes when Emily becomes an impromptu damsel-in-distress.

Busy Going Sideways - Stafford gains a helper at the Shunting Yard, in the form of one of the strangest engines on the Island, Travis. But Travis doesn't like working on the rails as he has to travel sideways and it makes him dizzy. His moody personality doesn't help matters either.

The Flying Trevor - Whilst on a railtour on Sodor, Flying Scotsman meets Trevor the Traction Engine for the first time, and becomes fascinated with him, resulting in the big engine trying to get Trevor to go fast like him.