TOBY'S FUNDRAISER

Written by Zack Wanzer and James Riddle

Set during series 17-18

One autumn morning, Thomas had just pulled into Dryaw station with Annie and Clarabel. Amongst their regular passengers were some children wearing school uniforms.

"Another school day," sighed a boy. "I wish we could be doing something more fun instead."

"There are times when school can be exciting," insisted one of his schoolmates. "There are field trips we get to take, and special surprises when we least expect them."

"And most importantly," Annie spoke up, "school helps teach you important things that may help you when you grow up."

"Indeed," agreed Clarabel. "There's nothing more important than a structured education."

Just then, the guard blew his whistle, and Thomas puffed away.

"I'll be sure to pick you up again when school's out!" he called to the children. Some of them waved goodbye to Thomas in response as he headed down his way.

Later that afternoon, Thomas arrived back at Dryaw to collect the children and take them home. However, they looked rather sad.

"What's the matter?" asked Thomas.

"The school's going to close down soon," explained a girl.

"The headmaster says that the school needs lots of restoration work done to it since it's rather old, but there isn't enough money," added a boy.

"That's not right!" gasped Annie.

"How will the children learn new things without a school?" added Clarabel.

"I wish we could do something to help out," said Thomas as the children began boarding the coaches. "But what?"

Neither he nor the coaches had an answer to the situation at hand.

The news of the school closing down was still on Thomas' mind that evening when he and the other engines were gathered at Tidmouth sheds.

"It's absolutely terrible that this is happening," sympathized Percy; he and the other engines on the Ffarquhar line had also heard about it from Thomas. "Where are the children going to learn if the school closes down?"

"There is a school near Brendam," said Edward, "but that's too far away from Thomas' line, and just getting there by train wouldn't be efficient. Bertie and the other buses also have their own duties to worry about, so they might not be much help either."

Toby was also there at the sheds despite not living there like Thomas and Percy did, for he usually slept at Anopha Quarry with Mavis.

"Well, what we need then," the tram engine suggested, "is to come up with a way to raise money to restore the school."

"Why not have a best dressed engine pageant?" asked James. "People could pay money to see their favorite decorated engines and guess who'll be the winner."

"Or," said Emily, "a few of us are given a temporary repaint to raise awareness. I know you'd want that, James, wouldn't you?" she added with a cheeky smirk.

"No, I wouldn't!" snapped James. "You would never catch me discarding my splendid red paint for any reason!"

"That's funny coming from an engine who went pink for a few days-"

"I wasn't asking for your opinion, Henry!"

"Too bad," smirked Henry. "I gave it to you anyway."

"I'll see if Sir Topham Hatt will agree to the idea in the morning," ventured Toby.

Early the next morning, Toby came to see Sir Topham Hatt at Knapford station.

"Ah, good morning, Toby," greeted Sir Topham Hatt. "Is there something you need to talk about?"

"It's about the school at Dryaw, sir," explained Toby, and he told him all about the situation, as well as his idea for a fundraiser.

"Oh my," said Sir Topham Hatt. "Yes, I read about that in the paper this morning. You and the others are right, Toby; something must be done to save the school."

"But how can we get the message about it spread to everyone?" asked Toby.

"Well, do you remember Edward helping out with the Vicar's garden party many years ago?" asked Sir Topham Hatt.

"Oh, yes, I do, sir," said Toby.

"Well, perhaps something like that could be how we'll help this school."

Sir Topham Hatt then sent Toby to the Steamworks for something rather special. The tram engine looked over to see Kevin bringing over a palette full of paint cans.

"Ah, Toby," smiled Victor. "Sir Topham Hatt requested that we do our own part in helping with your fundraiser idea."

The workmen then began opening the cans of paint. Toby could see that each paint was a rather bright color.

"Ohh…" he said with intrigue.

When Toby next emerged from the Steamworks, he looked like a very different engine. His side paneling was painted in alternating lime green and azure blue, his trim was reddish-orange, his roof and the lower half of his sideplates were lime green, and his bufferbeams and the upper half of his sideplates were painted azure blue.

"Oh my, Toby!" exclaimed Henrietta when she saw her engine. "I hardly recognize you in those colors!" She was being decorated with balloons on her balconies and banners on her sides in the same three colors as Toby.

"I'll admit that it's not my usual cup of tea," insisted Toby, "but I suppose these new colors make me look striking. I just hope James doesn't give any comment on this look."

Unfortunately, he'd spoken too soon, for James had shown up with trucks full of food for the station cafeteria.

"My, oh my, Toby!" the red engine chuckled. "I knew you wanted to be more than just a tram engine, but I never would have imagined you decided to become a disc jockey booth!"

Toby frowned with disapproval at James' remark, but then suddenly, a cheeky thought came to him.

"You know, James," he said, "with this new paintwork, I'm sure the passengers will give me plenty of attention. So much that they may not have time to recognize an engine like you."

Hearing those words made James feel rather offended.

"Are you insisting that everyone will think you're more splendid than me?!" he scoffed.

"Just a mere thought," said Toby innocently. "I mean, it's not every day you see an engine with an unusual type of paintwork."

Before James could argue further, the guard blew his whistle, and Toby and Henrietta steamed away.

"Ohhh, disgusting!" the red engine seethed. "I'll show that Toby up, even if it means getting my paint dirty!"

For the next several days, Toby and Henrietta were setting about. Everywhere they stopped, many people came to admire Toby's paintwork and take notice of the fundraiser banner on Henrietta.

"A school fundraiser?" asked a woman. "A splendid idea."

"Every child needs a good school to go to," added a man. Toby's idea had led to many people making donations towards Dryaw School's funds. Toby and Henrietta were very pleased. But I'm sorry to say that one engine in particular was in a rather foul mood…

"Who does Toby think he is?" grumbled James. "Acting as though his new paint will make him more special than me!"

"Toby's not trying to be better than you," argued Percy. "He's just trying to help raise money to keep Dryaw School from closing."

"And," added Thomas, "it's not as if Toby's new paint is permanent. He'll be back to old colors soon enough."

"The sooner, the better," muttered James. He was in such a pouty mood he didn't notice a flatbed of paint cans being shunted towards him. Stanley blew his whistle to get the red engine's attention.

"Watch out, James!" he shouted, but it was already too late. James crashed into the flatbed, causing paint cans to fly in all directions, spilling their contents everywhere, including on James himself!

"Ugh!" he cried. "I look like I was splashed with paint by vandals!"

Then James heard the sounds of giggling as Thomas and Percy came up alongside him.

"You look like a rainbow on wheels now!" remarked Thomas. "Perhaps we should call you James the multi-colored engine from now on!"

"It's not funny!" snapped James as some paint trickled down his nose before landing on his running board. Unfortunately, even the passengers thought the ordeal was amusing.

"Look, mommy!" called a little boy. "It's a Picasso on wheels!"

James felt so embarrassed, he raced away without a word.

That evening, Toby and Henrietta were on their way back home when they found a rather amusing site.

"I say, what's this, Henrietta?" asked Toby.

"I do believe it must be a new engine," said Henrietta innocently. "It almost looks like James."

Toby observed the strange engine carefully. "That's not a new engine, Henrietta," he chuckled. "It is James. But James is a splendid red engine, and you'd never catch him discarding his splendid red paint for any reason."

James scowled and said nothing as he waited for the cleaners to wash him down. Toby, meanwhile, was pulling into Knapford station when Sir Topham Hatt came out of his office to greet him.

"So how's the fundraiser gone, sir?" asked Toby. "Have we raised enough money to save Dryaw School?"

"More than enough, Toby," said Sir Topham Hatt with a laugh. "Many of our donors asked if part of the fundraiser involved a rather humorous surprise of James getting covered in paint."

"Oh, yes, Thomas and Percy told us about that, sir," said Toby. "I don't think this was the sort of attention James wanted."

"Perhaps next time he'll think twice before causing you any grief," suggested Sir Topham Hatt. "And for doing well in helping with the fundraiser this past week, I'd say you've definitely earned your old colors back."

"Oh, thank you, sir," smiled Toby. "These neon colors are nice, but they're not my style."

The next morning, once Toby had been repainted back to normal, he arrived at Dryaw station to find several children waiting for him along with many teachers of the school.

"We can't thank you enough for your help, Toby," said one of the teachers. "We've raised more than enough money to refurbish the school and keep it running."

"Think nothing of it," smiled Toby. "After all, where would we all be without a proper education?"

At that moment, James pulled in with a passenger train of his own. Toby was surprised to see him on Thomas' branch line.

"What brings you down here, James?" he asked.

"I, er, wanted to apologize," replied James meekly. "I should have never teased you about your new paintwork."

"No worries, James," smiled Henrietta. "We know it's just how you are at times."

"Besides," added Toby cheekily, "it's not every day you see an engine that was used for paintball practice."

From there, everyone but James shared a good laugh, and he was very touchy on the subject of paintworks for a long time after that.

THE END

Author's Notes

To mark the beginning of July, James and I have written up a story about our favorite number seven tram engine, Toby himself! This is a story that I'd wanted to write up for a long time, inspired by the Minis range where one of Toby's variants was of him in neon colors. I don't know why that model stuck out to me; it just did. It was a lot of fun to write for Toby outside of a Railway Series/TV series adaptation as it's not something that I've done that often given how tricky it is to do him justice. Pairing him up with James was also a blast given their rivalry in Dirty Objects and Double Header (or Time for Trouble if you're going by the TV series), although it is pretty one-sided on the red engine's part. A bit of a shame that it had never been capitalized upon in the Brenner era, given that James and Toby are two of Andrew's favorite characters.

More stories to come!