But Chapter 13: Sam's new record.

It was a bright and sunny afternoon on the island of Sodor, and it was a very big day indeed. The yards where the great railway show was extremely busy, and they wanted Sir Topham Hatt to send 4 of his engines to help out with the extra work there.

The 4 engines were on their way, and Henry just so happened to be the first engine puffing out in front. But he obviously wasn't alone, the other 3 were following right behind him.

The second engine was Neville, he was a black SR Class Q1 with the number 33010 on each side of his cab in bold white. He even had a square shaped boiler, and it sometimes made him look like a diesel.

The third engine was Timothy, he was a dark blue Bell Open Cab Oil Burner with the letters SCC in bold yellow on each side of his boiler. He had a couple red stripes on each side of his cab, silver coupling rods, and a brown-gold headlamp.

Finally, the fourth engine was Molly. Molly was a yellow GER D56/LNER D15 "Claud Hamilton" with a white cab-roof, and thin red stripes along her boiler. She had yellow wheels with white outlining, and silver buffers.

Molly was also pulling 2 red coaches, and riding inside them were none other than Margo, Edith, Agnes, and a bunch of the minions. While Margo, Edith, Agnes, and some of the minions were riding in the first coach, the rest of the minions rode in the second coach.

Margo, Edith, and Agnes were sitting together on 1 of the seats by the window, then the conductor came along.

Conductor: "Alright girls, we'll be arriving at our destination shortly. Please remain seated until then, and please behave."

Margo: "Don't worry Sir, nothing will go wrong whenever I'm in charge."

Edith:(to herself) "Oh please."

Margo: "I heard that!"

Edith: "Come on Margo, we don't need a babysitter or someone like you to watch over us! We can take care of ourselves, trust me."

Margo: "Well, your judgement will eventually lead you to even bigger trouble in the long run. Train accidents, jail time, and even bigger punishments from Gru and Lucy, you want that!?"

Edith didn't say a word after that.

Margo: "I thought so."

Agnes: "Umm, can I say something Margo?"

Margo: "Sure Agnes, what is it?"

Agnes: "A while ago, Thomas told me of an engine that seems to be the bigger engine around. Some say that he's so strong, he can pull up to 20, no, 30 freight cars in 1 train. I think even mentioning him might make Gordon, Hank, or even Murdoch jealous of him. But all the while, Thomas told me that this engine's name is Sam."

Edith: "Sam, Huh? He must be like Murdoch, but on freaking steroids."

Margo: "Ya know, I'm actually curious. I've never seen this Sam character, I wonder what he's like."

Edith: I hope he's not like Spencer, that guy is a total dunce."

Agnes: "Thomas told me that he was nice, so you don't have to worry."

Edith: "Thank god for that."

Margo: "By the way, where did Sam come from?"

Edith: "Is Sam really that strong to pull 20-30 freight cars?"

Margo: "When did Sam first visit the island?"

Agnes: "Please,(chuckles) calm down guys. Thomas told me he was from somewhere in America, and I think he last visited us sometime back in 2015 to help with the construction of that museum."

Margo: "Well that's nice Agnes, I just can't wait to meet him."

With that, they continued their ride to the mainland hoping to finally meet Sam in person.

Soon enough, Henry, Neville, Molly, Timothy, the girls, and the minions arrived at the great railway show yards. A bunch of red and yellow BR Class 08 diesel shunters were already there pushing freight cars back and forth across the yards, but they were very busy. But now that Henry, Neville, Molly, and Timothy were here, things were gonna go much smoother. Molly then pulled up to a platform in front of a massive set of bleachers, then Margo, Edith, Agnes, and the minions climbed out of Molly's coaches and onto the platform. The girls stayed on the platform, but the minions ran off somewhere in the yards because they had to help some of the workmen.

Molly: "Have fun girls, and be safe out here."

As the girls waved goodbye to Molly, she went off to help the other engines with their work. But Edith was still curious about Sam, so she couldn't resist asking on.

Edith: "So Agnes, why are you meeting Sam here?"

Agnes: "I'm gonna be his coach for setting a new record for the longest and heaviest train he's ever pulled."

Margo: "Wow Agnes, that's amazing! But you should be careful, it might be hard to be working with an engine that strong."

Edith: "Leave her alone Margo, Agnes knows what she's doing!"

Margo: "What, I was just explaining a quick tip!"

Edith: "Who are you, Professor Exposition?"

(Thought)

It quickly cuts to a school classroom where a slim man wearing a brown teacher/professor uniform jumps in front of a chalkboard with the name "Professor Exposition" written on it and doing a bunch of karate moves there.

"Professor Exposition: explainer of things, he's clarifying plot points to explain away confusion!"

(Back to reality)

Margo: "Uhhhhh, no."

Just then, Henry pulled up near the platform. He had overheard the girls conversation, and he couldn't help but pitch in on it.

Henry: "Let me ask you girls….You say that Sam is strong, but is he really that strong?"

Agnes: "From what Thomas told me, he can pull 30 freight cars without any struggle."

Edith: "The way Agnes described him, I think he could rival Gordon, Hank, or even Murdoch pulling that many trucks."

Henry:(snickers) "Probably shouldn't say that to Gordon, otherwise he'll get so jealous he'll try to blow his dome off again.

After hearing that hilarious memory, Henry and the girls broke into a fit of laughter.

Edith:(wipes away a tear) "Oh yeah I completely forgot about that, that's just too funny!"

Margo: "Though in all honesty, we would love to see him in action and see how friendly he is. At least he's not like Spencer, right?"

Henry: "I gotta agree with you Margo, Spencer a bit more of a jerk then Sam would be."

Suddenly, Henry heard the guards whistle.

Henry: "Oh, that's my whistle. I better get going, otherwise I'll be late."

With that, Henry blew his whistle and puffed off back to work. After that, they went back to the topic at hand.

Edith: "By the way, when was Sam supposed to show up?"

Agnes: "It should be in just a few minutes."

Suddenly, the 3 girls all heard a rather loud whistle.

Agnes: "Oh, here he comes now!"

As Margo and Edith looked ahead, they couldn't believe what they saw. Puffing proudly towards them was a big teel Virginian Railway Class AG, and he also had black driving wheels with white outlining. He had a shiny golden bell above his head, and he had the word "Verginian" written in white on each side of his tender.

As he parked up to the platform, the girls were amazed by his size. When the engine looked down at Agnes, he just smiled.

Sam: "Howdy, you must be Agnes Gru."

Agnes:(chuckles) "That's me, and I suppose you're Sam?"

Sam: "You betcha, now who are these fine gals over here with ya?"

Margo and Edith stared at Sam feeling dumbfounded, because of both his size and the way he just described them.

Agnes: "These are my elder sisters, Margo and Edith."

Sam: "A pleasure to meet you young ladies."

After collecting themselves again, Margo and Edith were finally able to respond properly.

Margo: "Uhh, hi."

Edith: "Are you really that engine Thomas told our sister about?"

Sam: "I sure am, I'm gonna be setting my record for my longest and heaviest train tomorrow morning."

Edith: "I see, Agnes already told us about that."

Agnes: "Yep, it's gonna be Sam's greatest moment yet! Come on Sam, let's go get started on your training."

With that said, Agnes snapped a white elastic headband with navy blue outlining over her forehead. After she quickly climbed into Sam's cab, Sam blew his whistle and puffed off to another part of the yard. As Margo and Edith watched Agnes and Sam leave, they were feeling a bit concerned about something.

Edith: "Hey Margo, are you sure Agnes should be training with an engine as big as Sam?"

Margo: "I'm sure she'll be fine, but at least we know that the minions are in good hands."

Suddenly, they looked into an open space in the yards and saw a group of the minions helping some workmen with what looked like a 1974 US army rocket launcher. But when Norbit (1 of the minions) fiddled with a tiny lever on the side of it, that's when things went tragic. The big missile on the tank shot itself off, rocketing through the sky and exploded against a big house behind the big wall on the far side of the yard. Margo, Edith, the minions, and the workmen all winced from the damage, it did not look pleasant at all.

Houseman: "Who shot that missile!?"

After hearing that sudden outburst, the minions started nervously walking away while whistling. After that, Margo and Edith just shared nervous looks with each other.

That night, Henry, Neville, Molly, and Timothy each had to take a goods train up to a small station up in the mountains. They didn't know this yet, but that was where Sam was going with his record breaking train.

A couple minutes after midnight, Henry left with a local goods train. His train consisted a flatbed loaded with pipes, 2 LMS 12 Ton vans loaded with machine parts, 3 Lynton and Barnstaple Railway vans loaded with fruit, a flatbed carrying 2 040 BMC cars (1 red and 1 blue), 4 7-plank trucks loaded with sacks of sand, and 3 7-plank trucks loaded with sacks of cement.

About an hour later, it was Timothy's turn to leave. He was pulling 15 dark grey 7-plank trucks loaded with stone, and it turned out to be 1 of the heaviest trains he ever pulled.

About 2-3 hours later, Molly had to go next. She was pulling a local freight train, and it consisted of 2 flatbeds loaded with rails and sleepers, 5 covered 7-plank trucks, 4 black LBSC 8 Ton vans, 3 grey LMS 12 Ton vans, 1 dark brown SE&CR Diagram 960 PMV, and 2 pale blue NER vans.

And finally around the crack of dawn, Neville had to leave with his train. It consisted of 6 dark grey GWR MEX B Cattle trucks, and it carried 3-4 cars in each one.

But once it was officially the next morning, Sam was slowly puffing across the yard with Agnes riding in his cab.

Agnes: "Wow Sam, that sure was some fun training we did yesterday."

Sam: "You said it sister, who knew you were able to help me with such intense training!"

(Flashback from yesterday)

For Sam's training, Sam was using some kind of pulley system to lift up a flatbed completely loaded with bricks.(same kind Henry, Hiro, Vinnie, Frieda, and Shane pulled in the strongest engine race) He easily lifted it up time after time, and he didn't even break a sweat.

(End of flashback)

Agnes: "But Sam, that was only 1 session."

Sam: "True, but didn't you see how many bricks were loaded on that flatbed I was lifting?"

Agnes: "Yeah, but I just know that your record-breaking train will be much heavier than just 1 flatbed of bricks."

Sam: "Don't worry Agnes, I'm 1 of the strongest engines around. And if this record-breaking train doesn't stop me, no goods train will."

Agnes: "I get what you're saying, but trust me when I say that-

But Agnes cut herself off when she and Sam grew very surprised at how Sam's record-breaking train looked.

It consisted of 4 flatbeds loaded with steel beams, 5 7-plank trucks loaded with bags of cement, flour, and sand, 3 utility vans, 3 flatbeds each carrying 6 crates, 5 more 7-plank trucks (covered), 7 tankers of oil, 3 LMS 12 ton vans, 2 LBSC 8 ton vans, and 5 flatbeds loaded with pipes.

Agnes: "Man, they want you to pull all of that!?"

Suddenly Nancy Clarkson, the manager of the great railway show yards showed up while looking at her clipboard. She had white skin, and brown wavy shoulder length hair. She wore a navy blue hard hat, and a matching buttoned shirt with pockets on the sides. She also wore a black skirt, and a pair of navy blue pants and dark brown shoes.

Nancy: "That's right Sam, your train is needed at the station up in the mountains right away. Henry, Neville, Molly, and Timothy have already headed up there, they're actually building a new factory up there."

Sam: "Excellent, we'll get started right away."

With that said, Sam started puffing towards the nearest turntable to get into the right position.

A few minutes later, Sam was now reversing into his record-breaking train. He carefully buffered up to the front, and a workman coupled him up to the train. Margo, Edith, the minions, and a few workmen were crowded over to the open area beside the train, they all wanted to get a good view of Sam pulling out with his train. Nancy walked up by Sam's front, then she was able to give him the signal.

Nancy: "You're all set Sam,(gestures onward) take it away."

With that said, Sam slowly heaved against his train. He strained against his heavy load, and his axels started aching.

Minion crowd: "GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!"

Wheel turn by wheel turn, Sam slowly moved forward pulling his train. As Sam started to speed up a little, he already knew he had done it.

Edith: "No way,(elbows Margo) he's actually doing it!"

And Edith was right, Sam was now moving at a good enough pace to be traveling smoothly. With a loud blow of his whistle, he set off down the tracks towards the station in the mountains.

A few minutes later, Sam was now traveling along the main line through the countryside with his heavy load. Agnes poked her head out from Sam's cab looking back at the train, then she looked ahead. She could see the mountain they needed to go to in the distance, and it looked like they still had quite a ways to go.

Agnes: "Keep going Sam, if we wanna break your record we better arrive there on time."

Sam: "Can't argue with that!"

With another blow of his whistle, Sam started moving a little faster.

As they continued down the line, they sped past a siding where Neville had broken down while pulling his train. He didn't look happy at all, he had blown his safety valve as there was black steam coming from his wheels.

Back with Agnes and Sam, they quickly puffed across a viaduct before they started heading up the track climbing the mountain. As they started puffing up the mountain, they started catching up with Molly. She was working hard pulling her heavy load up the mountain, her cheeks were red with exhaustion. Suddenly, Sam started puffing past her as Agnes waved at her while peaking out of Sam's cab.

Agnes:(waving) "Hey Molly!"

Molly: "What the….."

With that, Sam continued up the mountain leaving Molly rather dumbfounded.

As Sam still continued up the mountain, it started snowing. When Sam looked ahead, he suddenly realized they were heading into a snowstorm.

Sam: "Heads up Agnes, snowstorm coming in!"

As Agnes confirmed Sam's warning, Sam started puffing through a really thick shower of snowflakes. It was kinda hard to see where he was going, so he turned on his lamp to try and light his way. Inside his cab, Agnes was sitting on the floor while hugging her knees shivering. But lucky for her, she was sitting right next to the opening of Sam's firebox.

Agnes: "Brrrrr, I sh-sh-should've packed my winter clothes just in case."

Up ahead, Timothy was in a siding refilling with oil. The man in charge of the fueler was waiting nearby for Timothy to finish refilling, but he was in a pretty bad mood.

Oil guy: "Man, why does it always take this long!...

(As he continued complaining, he started stomping closer to the track that Sam was gonna come through on. But when he stopped, his toes were over the tracks left railing.)

Oil guy: "I mean come on, it doesn't take this long to refill a normal diesel! Why would they even invent a steam engine like you!?"

Timothy: "Uhh Sir, you might wanna get out of the way before…

Suddenly, Sam sped through with his train. But unfortunately, he also sped over the man's foot that was still sitting on the track. After Sam had gone through, the man painfully looked down at his shattered foot.

Oil guy:(holding his foot while jumping up and down) "AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Timothy: "...that happens."

Back with Agnes and Sam, he kept going until he was now catching up with Henry. His cheeks were as red as Bertie the bus as he worked his way up the mountain, but Sam was slowly puffing ahead of him. When Henry saw him and his train pulling ahead, he was actually amazed.

Henry: "Well what do you know, he actually is that strong."

As Sam was nearing the top station, he made 1 final effort with a burst of energy. At long last, Sam slowed to a stop at the station platform. The station had dark red wooden walls, and it had a white and black striped roof. There was a white flag on the roof with a black stripe going through it, and it had a billboard with the products of diet soda on it. A whole crowd was waiting on the platform, and they were cheering like mad for Sam.

Agnes climbed down from Sam's cab, and she stood over by his front.

Agnes: "Well Sam, looks like you actually did it."

Just then, Nancy showed up from amongst the crowd and walked up beside Agnes while checking her clipboard.

Nancy: "Congratulations Sam, you just broke your record for the longest and heaviest train you have ever pulled! As a reward, you win 700 dollars."

With that said, a workman walked up and showed Sam a money bag that looked like it was slightly overflowing with money. The moment Sam saw it, he smiled from buffer to buffer. When Agnes saw it, she was completely dumbfounded. The workman gave Agnes the moneybag, and Agnes confusingly held it while looking at it.

Agnes: "Wait a second, nobody said we were gonna get money for this."

Sam:(chuckles) "Some people did, they just never told you about it."

Just then, Henry pulled up to the station. He puffed up alongside Sam, and he felt just as proud of him.

Henry: "Well Sam, I guess I was wrong about you."

Sam: "Wrong about what?"

Henry: "I thought you weren't gonna be quite as strong as me, but what you did today was…..terrific!"

Nancy: "And thanks to you Sam, the new factory will get done sooner than we thought."

Just then, Agnes and Nancy heard someone limping towards them. When they looked to their left, they saw the oil guy that was with Timothy limping towards them with his right foot looking really messed up.

Oil guy: "Okay, what's the big idea of speeding through and running over my foot!?"

Sam: "We're terribly sorry Sir, guess I was too focused on breaking my record."

Oil guy: "It seems that I broke a record too, the world's most messed up foot. Now if you wouldn't mind, I would 200 of those dollars to replace the shattered bones in my foot."

Agnes: "Wait, weren't you supposed to know we were gonna come through!?"

Oil guy: "Who are you, Professor Exposition?"

(Thought)

Once again, it cuts to Professor Exposition jumping in front of his chalkboard in his classroom doing karate moves.

"Professor Exposition: Explainer of things, he's clarifying plot points to explain away confusion!"

(Back to reality)

Nancy: "Who?"

Not wanting to argue with this guy anymore, Agnes gave the oil guy 200 dollars from the bag. After the oil guy limped away with his money, Agnes turned back up at Sam.

Agnes: "Well Sam, here's your reward money."

Sam: "You can keep at Agnes, I wouldn't really find a use for money anyway. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go put this train where the workmen will need it when building this new factory."

With a blow of his whistle, Sam puffed off with his train. Agnes looked down at the moneybag with a confused look, then she smiled just smiled with delight. Her new friend Sam had broken a record, and he had even let her keep the prize money. Sighing in happiness, she walked off with the money to tell Margo and Edith the knews.

To be continued.

[Before I forget, I'd like to thank "Reptisauarus king" for helping me with the conversion the girls had in Molly's coaches, and when Margo and Edith had that conversation with henry.]