Next morning at 7:45, the engines waited at Elsbridge for when it was time to leave. Bertie, Terrence, Trevor, Harold and the visiting engines were all there to send them off. Toby and Percy were each on a truck and Duck had pushed them into place behind Edward. Gordon, Henry, and James were to lead the engines to England. Henrietta was coupled behind James as The Fat Controller's private coach. The engines were starting to get impatient. Soon, the clock struck 8.
Guard: Sir, it's Eight now. You'd better get going now.
STH: (groans) One more minute please, Guard?
Guard: (sighs) Ok, but I can only give you one, Sir.
Gordon: It's Eight now, Sir. Why are we waiting?
STH: Thomas has been repaired at the Steamworks, and is on his way now. We'll one more minute for him, then we have to go whether he shows up or not.
James: If you ask me, it serves him right if we have to leave him behind. Foolishly trying to show off. To one of the visiting engines too!
STH: That's enough, James. Unless you want to be the one we go to England without.
James: Yes, Sir.
Thomas was rushing as fast as he could to get the station in time. At last he arrived.
Thomas: (sighs with relief) Thanks goodness you're all still here!
Annie: We were afraid we were late.
Clarabel: Because it's just after Eight.
STH: (walking up to Thomas) You're very lucky we were allowed to wait one more minute for you. Otherwise we would've went without my number one engine, and that wouldn't do at all.
Thomas: I'm sorry, Sir.
STH: At least you're here now. That means we can finally go.
Gordon: (muttering) About time.
The Fat Controller climbed into Henrietta, the Guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag.
Engines: (whistle) Look out, England, here we come! (whistles, honks and cheers from everyone else)
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight,
Shunting trucks and hauling freight,
Red and green and brown and blue,
They're the Really Useful crew.
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away,
Down the hills and round the bends,
Sodor's Engines.
Thomas, (whistles) he's the cheeky one,
James (whistles) is vain but lots of fun.
Percy (whistles) pulls the mail on time,
Gordon (whistles) thunders down the line.
Duck (whistles) does things the Great Western Way,
Henry, (whistles) he works hard all day.
Edward (whistles) wants to help and share,
Toby, (rings his bell) he is wise and square.
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight,
Shunting trucks and hauling freight,
Red and green and brown and blue,
They're the Really Useful crew.
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away,
Down the hills and round the bends,
Sodor's Engines.
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight,
Shunting trucks and hauling freight,
Red and green and brown and blue,
They're the Really Useful crew.
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away,
Down the hills and round the bends,
Sodor's Engines.
(the engines all whistle and Toby rings his bell)
When the engines arrived, they were greeted with a warm welcome from the people of England. The engines were all lined up in a big special Shed for them. Annie and Clarabel were behind Thomas, and Henrietta was behind Toby. The Fat Controller even made a big speech.
STH: Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! I am Sir Charles Topham Hat II of the North Western Railway! (cheering) Recently, I had gotten a lot of letters asking if me and my engines are real. I decided that it was time that I bring them all here to show you! (cheering) All my engines work very hard on the Island of Sodor, and I hope you all enjoy seeing them here for the next five days. Thomas and Toby have even brought their coaches with them. (cheering and clapping)
Hundreds of people came to see them, and climbed in and out of their cabs and coaches. The Fat Controller and crew signed a lot of autographs too.
James: So this is what it's like to be famous.
Toby: (chuckles) It sure does feel amazing.
Henrietta: I agree, Toby. It feels like such an honor to be able to do this.
Edward: I thought that maybe we were being sent to the Mainland one by one, but having all of us go at once is just amazing.
Duck: Didn't Percy say we should all take a trip to somewhere on the Mainland?
Edward: Looks like his wish came true.
The engines were all enjoying themselves, but by the third day, they were starting to feel bored.
Henry: As much as I enjoy seeing all these people, I'm starting to feel bored.
Thomas: Me too. I wish I could stretch my wheels,
Annie: Don't worry, you two.
Clarabel: We'll be on our way home before you know it.
Gordon: You're all just jealous that everyone wants to see me.
Percy: (laughs) I don't know about that, Gordon. The first day we were here, Thomas was getting most of the attention, and the next day it was James. Tomorrow might be the coaches or even me. (Gordon scoffs)
Soon, it was time for them to go home, and The Fat Controller was preparing for his last speech before they left.
STH: Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! I hope you enjoyed getting to see my famous engines and coaches. I'm sure they all enjoyed seeing you as you did seeing them. Even though we're returning to Sodor, if you ever decide to go anywhere on a holiday, come to our island to see us. There might even be a new friend for you all to meet. With that said, thank you all for coming!
Engines: And we'll see you next time! Goodbye! (whistle loudly, The Fat Controller covers his ears while everyone claps and cheers)
Soon, everything was packed and the engines were out of the Shed.
STH: Did you all have fun?
Henry: We sure did, Sir.
Gordon: Yes, but it'll be nice to get back home.
STH: You said it, Gordon. Thomas, how would you like to lead us back home?
Thomas: (gasps) Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir! (whistles and puffs off with Henrietta behind Annie and Clarabel as the other engines follow behind him)
When they all returned to Knapford, the visiting engines were waiting for them, along with Bertie, Terrence, Trevor, Harold, and a huge group of people on the platforms.
Bill: Look, everyone. Here they come!
Ben: I see them too!
Harold: (as they puff towards the station) Three cheers for The Fat Controller and his engines!
Bertie: Hip hip...!
Trevor: ...hooray!
Terrence: Hip hip...!
Jinty & Pug: ...hooray!
Reginald: Hip hip...!
Everyone: ...hooray! (cheering) Welcome back, everyone!
STH: (gets out of Henrietta) Why, thank you very much everybody!
Gordon: It really is great to be back.
Eagle: How was your time in England, everybody?
James: It was awesome!
Edward: It sure was. The people there were very nice, but we're glad to be back.
Passengers: We're certainly glad you're back! These engines did a great job, but they just weren't the same.
Reginald: We never could compare to The Fat Controllers Engines.
STH: Yeah, I was thinking about that. Everyone calls my group of engines "The Fat Controllers Engines" and I think my fleet of engines need a better team name.
Percy: How about The Amazing Eight?
Edward: Our name should be based on the fact that we're all trains.
Thomas: (laughs) How about Thomas and his Railway Friends?
James: (confused) What?!
Gordon: Absolutely not!
STH: I don't know, Gordon. Thomas was the most popular engine at the event, and he's the my number one engine.
Duck: How about The Steam Team?
Henry: I like the sound of that!
Edward: We're all steam engines, and we're all a team.
STH: OK then! The Steam Team it is.
Eagle: Three more cheers for The Fat Controller and The Steam Team!
Jinty & Pug: Hip hip...!
Bill & Ben: ...hooray!
Bertie & Terrence: Hip hip...!
Trevor & Harold: ...hooray!
Reginald & Neville: Hip hip...!
Everyone else: ...hooray! (cheers and whistles)
Nothing anywhere can compare with Sodor's Steam Team.
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight,
Shunting trucks and hauling freight,
Red and green and brown and blue,
They're the Really Useful crew.
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away,
Down the hills and round the bends,
Sodor's Engines.
The engines work hard all day long,
To prove that they are proud and strong.
But trains aren't the only ones working,
There's also the road and sky running.
Bertie, Terrence, Trevor, Harold,
Will do their part to help the isle.
They all work happily together,
And they all will forever!
(all the engines, road vehicles, and Harold are gathered at Knapford Station for a group photo, as the camera flashed, the picture taken shifts to a John T. Kenny RWS styled painting, then to a slideshow of RWS illustrations for the credits)
The End
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight,
Shunting trucks and hauling freight,
Red and green and brown and blue,
They're the Really Useful crew.
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away,
Down the hills and round the bends,
Sodor's Engines.
They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight,
Shunting trucks and hauling freight,
Red and green and brown and blue,
They're the Really Useful crew.
All with different roles to play
'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away,
Down the hills and round the bends,
Sodor's Engines.
(Post credit scene)
One day, The Fat Controller had called all his engines, Bertie, Terrence, Harold, and Trevor to Knapford. He had some very bad news.
STH: Hello, everyone. I've called you all here today, because I have some very bad news. Yesterday, my father, The Former Fat Controller passed away. (gasps and murmurs) I know, this is quite a tragedy, but I know that he wouldn't want us to be upset about it, he would want us to honor him and his legacy.
Edward: And that's exactly what we're going to do!
Henry: For The Former Fat Controller! (cheers, whistles, honks, and rings)
Duck: I'm confused. Who was "The Former Fat Controller"?
Gordon: He was the one founded The North Western Railway.
Thomas: He was a very nice man.
STH: Thomas is right, Duck. He would've been very proud of you and your work. Same with you, Harold.
And so, from that day on, everyone worked very hard to make sure that the legacy of Sir Topham Hat I was never forgotten.
And with that, Adventures of The Steam Team is now complete! I had a lot of fun writing this story, and it's made me start wishing that this was how the show actually handled The Steam Team. It's a shame that it seems like half of the original eight is gone now thanks to the reboot. Those four being Edward, Henry, Toby, and Duck. Maybe they are in the reboot, but they're not confirmed to be, they haven't been in any of the footage shown, and Mattel seems to really hate using them now. I had fun rewriting The Engine Roll Call song to include Duck and to even include the non rail vehicles too. It was a lot of fun to tie these stories together, building up to The Fat Controller's Engines story too. I'm very satisfied with how well I've been doing with writing these stories while also including TVS elements. Wilbert originally wanted Eight Famous Engines to be the final book of the RWS, but because of how successful they were, he decided to write another fourteen books. I wanted to make this adaptation feel like as if I was going to stop here, even though I'm going to do all of them as you all know. As for when I will start on the next one, I don't know. There's a chance it won't be until September, but I'm not going to give a set day. School starts back up for me at the end of August, and I'm going to be pretty busy throughout the month. In the meantime, please spread these stories around. I want a lot of people to read these and keep them relevant, especially since I said before that I actually want to accomplish what I put on my profile. With that though, I'll see you all when I start on Adventures of Duck, but I'm going to leave you all with this question that has no right or wrong answer to it. Where do you think Thomas and Friends would be today, if The Eight Famous Engines was the final RWS book? Would the show still follow the same path leading to the awful reboot? Would the show just not exist and the RWS remain a popular book series? Would they take a Harry Potter approach to them and adapt them all into individual movies? Or would the series' popularity eventually die off and the books be lost to time?