I don't own Thomas the Tank Engine.
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Really Important Tender Engines.
In his office in Knapford, Sir Topham Hat read the latest report; the passengers had taken the fact there were fewer trains well enough, especially once word had spread of what Gordon, Henry and James had done, and while goods traffic had slowed down to a non-existent crawl, that would soon be addressed for later. The good news was Thomas and Edward were handling the Mainline nicely while Percy worked on Thomas's branch line, but since the passengers on that side of the railway were used to a single engine pulling the same carriages at a time, it wasn't really a problem and Thomas and Edward were both working hard even if they had to go backwards and forwards several times a day.
And all that time Gordon, James and Henry were left in their sheds, but the Fat Controller didn't care about that. When he had gotten both sides of the story from both the trio of engines and from Edward, it all became clearer for Sir Topham Hat. The three engines had become frustrated by either going backwards, or the wind had spun them around and around on a turntable, but all of them had gained a complex towards shunting and believing that just because they pulled the express, that made them special.
Gordon, James and Henry had always had a complex, but after the way they had been punished in the past - being confined to the shed or bricked up in a tunnel, James and Henry should have realised he was not afraid to discipline any engine who deserved it.
Sir Topham Hat hadn't had any hesitation in keeping them locked up after they had refused to leave the sheds; if they thought going on strike was going to be a problem for him, they could think again. In the Fat Controller's mind, every engine on the island would do whatever they were told, if they didn't like that and if they didn't work, they would be sent away.
The three tender engines had gone on strike, refusing to work but the Fat Controller had taken their decision a step further; he'd had the three engines isolated and kept strictly alone by the other engines, told their crews to not go to them for the next few days giving them days off with pay, but they were allowed to see the other three engines go about their business, and thanks to his telescope, the Fat Controller could see that the defiance shown off by Gordon, Henry, and James a few days before had given away to misery.
He had made his mind up that they would be kept in their sheds for another few days. In his experience working with steam engines with stubborn personalities, once they had made their move, the best thing to do was to give them what they wanted and leave them to stew for a bit. When Henry refused to leave the tunnel during that ridiculous vain idea that his paintwork would be ruined by the rain, he'd had the tunnel entrance bricked up to Henry's nose. This was another prime example of his ability to punish stubborn engines.
Sir Topham Hat didn't care what stupid plan the three engines had come up with, he knew they had gone on strike to prove a point, he had just retaliated by turning their plan into a punishment.
When it was time to give them another chance, Sir Topham Hat glared at them to make his point, "I have just said this no shunting nonsense must stop. Well, let me tell you all if you think you can try something like this again, whether you were driven to this point because of something silly and it would be a good idea to strike, you will be mistaken. If you are told to shunt, you shunt. I don't care if you think you're important. You have a job on this island. If you can't or won't work, then you will leave."
Point made, he turned and walked away before he nodded to the yard foreman. "You'd better tell their crews to come in, but get their fires started and prepared, they have a lot of making up to do," he said.
The yard Foreman nodded. "Yes, sir."