A/N This is Percy telling of his race with Harold.

Hey, it's me, Percy. I shall tell you about my race with Harold.

I worked hard at the new harbor. The workmen needed stone for their building. Toby helped, but sometimes the loads of stone were too heavy, and I had to fetch them for myself. Sometimes, I'd see Thomas.

"Well done, Percy. Sir Topham Hatt is very pleased with us." I thought maybe he'd call me a Really Useful Engine, so I was so happy. That's always made us smile and whistle happily. My friend Thomas always lives to be a Really Useful Engine and encourages me to as well.

An airfield was close by. I heard the airplanes zooming overhead all day. The noisiest of all was a helicopter.

"Silly thing!" I said. "Why can't it go and buzz somewhere else?"

One day I stopped at the airfield. "Hello!" I said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Harold. Who are you?"

"I"m Percy. What whirly great arms you've got."

"They're nice arms," said Harold. "I can hover like a bird. Don't you wish you could hover?"

"Certainly not-I like my rails, thank you." I've always been a kind engine, even with my cheeky trait us tank engines often have, so I tried to be nice to Harold. He was quite cocky when we first met.

"I think railways are slow," said Harold. "They're not much use and quite out of date." He whirled his arms and buzzed away.

I found Toby at the quarry. "I say, Toby-that Harold, that stuck-up whirlybird thing, says I'm slow and out of date. Just let him wait, I'll show him."

I collected my freight cars and started off, still fuming.

Soon we heard a familiar buzzing, Driver and me.

"Percy," whispered Driver, "there's Harold. He's not far ahead. Let's race him." My friend had raced a bus, so maybe that's how Driver got the idea for us to race.

"Yes, let's!" I said.

I pounded along. The cars screamed and swayed.

"Well, I'll be ding-dong-danged!" said Driver. There was Harold-the race was on!

"Go it, Percy!" he yelled. You're gaining."

I had never been allowed to run fast before. I was having the time of my life.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" I panted to the cars.

"We don't want to; we don't want to," they grumbled. It was no use. I was bucketing along with flying wheels and Harold was high and alongside.

The fireman shoveled for dear life. I needed lots of coal at my speed.

"Well done, Percy," shouted Driver. "We're gaining! We're going ahead! Oh, good boy, good boy!"

A "distant signal warned us that the harbor wharf was near. Peep, peep, peep!

"Brakes, Conductor, please." Driver carefully checked the train's headlong speed.

They rolled under the main line and halted on the wharf.

"Oh, dear!" I groaned. "I'm sure we've lost."

My fireman scrambled to the cab roof. "We've won! We've won!" he shouted. "Harold's still hovering. He's looking for a place to land!"

"Listen, boys!" my fireman called. "Here's a song for Percy:

Said Harold the Helicopter to our Percy, "You are slow!"

Your Railway is out of date and not much use, you know.'

But Percy with his stone cars did the trip in record time,

And we beat the helicopter on our old Branch Line.

I loved it. "Oh, thank you!" I said. I liked the last line best of all and was a very happy engine.

A/N I'm not British, they are. So, I tried with the English. Respect me for trying, even if I did lapse into my English.