THE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY SERIES No. 1
THOMAS AND NIA
Based upon Big World! Big Adventures! by Andrew Brenner
Foreword
Hello, everyone! It's Thomas here!
Before I even came to Sodor, a lifelong dream of mine has been to see the world. Many engines back in Brighton would look down on me for being a big dreamer, but I never once gave up on having it.
That all changed in 1979 when I first arrived to the North Western Railway on Sodor and became the most famous engine there. Now, thirty years later, I finally got the chance to leave British rails for the first time when I was invited to the Great Railway Show in Canada.
Of course, things didn't quite go according to plan, but if it wasn't for a mix up... Wait, why am I telling you this now? Just read the stories to find out!
Your friend,
Thomas the Tank Engine
THOMAS GOES ABROAD
Thomas the tank engine is one of the most famous engines to ever live on the Island of Sodor. When he first came to the North Western Railway, he started out as a station pilot. But after helping another engine called James after a nasty accident, he was rewarded with his own branch line and two coaches of his own called Annie and Clarabel.
As years went by, Thomas made many new friends and had quite a few misadventures, and despite all of the wonderful things he gained in his new home, there was still one dream that Thomas wished would come true - to see the world.
One morning, Thomas was shunting trucks in Knapford station yards when the yard manager came up to him.
"Sir Topham Hatt needs you and some other engines at Tidmouth Sheds," she explained. "He has an important announcement."
"I'll be right there, ma'am," said Thomas. "I wonder what Sir Topham Hatt has to announce."
"Hopefully you're not in trouble for gallivanting away from your branch line for the umpteenth time," his driver teased.
"H-hey!" Thomas protested. "True, I'm usually not supposed to abandon my jobs for silly reasons, but this time I had an excuse! Paxton took on some bad fuel and so I had to fill in for him."
Before long, Thomas arrived Tidmouth sheds. Among the engines waiting there were James, Percy, Emily, Duck, Donald, Stanley, Ryan, Daisy and Diesel.
"Now then," Sir Topham Hatt began, "I suppose you all want to know why I called you out here."
"If it's about that incident with Paxton being tricked into taking tainted fuel," Diesel spoke up, "I had nothing to do with it!"
"Sure you didn't," snorted James sarcastically. Before an argument could break out, Sir Topham Hatt cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"As I'm sure you'll remember," he announced, "a couple years ago, some of my engines partook in the Great Railway Show in England. This year, I've been given an invitation to bring a few of my engines for the Great Railway Show in Canada."
"Canada, sir?" asked Ryan. "Don't think I ever heard of it."
"It's an urban country in the North American continent that borders the United States," explained Duck. "Our Queen is monarch of Canada."
Ryan was rather puzzled. "How can someone be in charge of two countries?" he pondered.
"We'll explain another time," sighed Duck.
"Yes, well, as I was saying," said Sir Topham Hatt, "the engines I've decided to send to Canada for the Great Railway Show are Emily for the Best Dressed Engine Parade and Thomas for the Shunting Challenge."
"But what about for strength and speed?" asked Thomas.
"With summer coming up," explained Sir Topham Hatt, "I'll need the strongest engines I can get in order to keep up with the rush."
"Maybe Gordon doesn't want a reminder about his time as the Shooting Star," James smirked. The other engines laughed.
That night, Thomas, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy and Emily were at Tidmouth sheds talking about the Great Railway Show. Some time ago, Edward had moved out of Tidmouth sheds to sleep at Wellsworth sheds with Philip the diesel box-cab and take him under his wing, and BoCo coming home from the Bluebell Railway had only sealed the deal for him to stay at Wellsworth. Since then, his berth at Tidmouth has been mainly used as a guest berth for engines who pass by Tidmouth at night.
"You think Sir Topham Hatt will ever consider having someone else be a permanent resident here in Edward's place?" Henry asked.
"It would be better if Edward just came back here," Gordon snorted.
"Edward chose to move to Wellsworth so he can be closer to his branch line," Emily insisted.
"Well then, why don't Thomas and Percy move to the sheds on their branch line?"
"You know just as well as Percy and I do exactly why, Gordon," retorted Thomas.
"Oh... right..." James, meanwhile, had his own reason to be grumpy.
"How come Thomas and Emily get to go to the Great Railway Show and I don't?" he complained.
"Maybe it's because you went there without thinking of decorating yourself for the parade?" suggested Percy cheekily. "You couldn't act like it was casual Friday, you know."
"I could've won if not for that Indian engine with the crown!" protested James.
"Sure you could have," Percy added.
"Do you think I'll do well in the Best Decorated Engine Parade, Thomas?" Emily asked.
"I'm sure you will," said Thomas. "There's no other engine on Sodor that stands out as much as you do." This made Emily feel better.
The following morning, Thomas was to be sent to Brendam docks so he could the board the ship to Canada. As it would be a long journey by sea, Thomas was not immediately fired up when his crew arrived.
"Why isn't Emily coming as well?" Thomas asked. "We're both meant to go to Canada."
"When Shunting Challenge competitors get to a country," his driver explained, "they have to be sent there in order to understand the layout of the yard before the day the Great Railway Show takes place."
"Oh," said Thomas. Just then, Edward pulled into the sheds.
"Hello, Thomas," the elderly blue tender engine greeted. "I've been sent to take you to Brendam Docks on my goods train."
"Hello, Edward," Thomas smiled. "It's great to see you again."
Soon, Thomas and Edward were out on the mainline heading towards Brendam docks. The tank engine's crew were riding with the guard in the brake van.
"So how are things down at Wellsworth?" asked Thomas.
"Perfectly well, thank you," said Edward. "Philip's good company and a hard worker, and it's been wonderful having BoCo home at last. How are things here at Tidmouth?"
"Gordon's been complaining again," sighed Thomas. "But that's not much of a surprise, is it?"
"I suppose not," chuckled Edward.
"Things on my branch line have been very busy since Daisy left to run the Harwick extension with Ryan," said Thomas. "Although it's nice to get help from Stanley every now and again, we do need another engine to help run the extension to Ulfstead more permanently, especially now that Rosie's been transferred to Vicarstown."
"Perhaps you can ask Sir Topham Hatt about this," suggested Edward.
"Hopefully I'll find a chance," Thomas insisted. "Especially after the Great Railway Show." They were soon passing Wellsworth where Philip the young diesel box cab was shunting trucks in the yard for BoCo's next train.
"Hello, Edward!" he called cheerfully. "And you too, Thomas!"
"Greetings you two," added BoCo. "Good luck with the Shunting Challenge, Thomas."
"Thanks, BoCo," called Thomas.
"Philip almost reminds me of you when you first came to Sodor," chuckled Edward. "Maybe he'll get his own branch line someday too."
"It won't be as important as my branch line," Thomas insisted, sounding a bit jealous of the idea. Edward and BoCo just chuckled.
Before long, the two engines reached Brendam docks.
"Good morning, Cranky," Edward greeted. "I've brought Thomas here for his trip to Canada."
"Found Sodor too boring for the likes of you?" Cranky joked.
"I'm not abandoning Sodor!" Thomas protested. "I'm just going to take part in the Great Railway Show."
"I was being sarcastic," Cranky muttered.
Before cargo is loaded or unloaded from ships, it is always important for the dock managers to make sure they get the right ships. But this morning, the dock manager was in a rush; he had overslept, and didn't have the time to check his papers properly. And as a result, instead of being boarded on the ship bound for Canada, which was named The Silver Moose, Thomas was loaded onto a ship called The Jade Python.
By the time the dock manager realized his mistake, it was already too late.
"Sir Topham Hatt is not going to be pleased when he hears of this," he groaned. "Goodness knows where Thomas is going to actually end up!"
Thomas, meanwhile, was completely unaware of the situation.
"I wonder how long it will take to reach Canada," he pondered to himself. "I also wonder who we'll meet up with again there; maybe I'll end up meeting Ashima again or maybe a few new faces I didn't see last time around!"
Thomas got more and more excited as the ship carried on with its journey. He did notice, however, that the temperature seemed to get hotter as the journey went on, but he didn't give it much thought.
After several days, the ship finally arrived at a dock.
"That must be it!" cried Thomas. "I've arrived at Canada!"
The ship's storage doors opened, the chains keeping Thomas from rolling about inside were undone, and soon he found himself being lifted by a crane.
"Wow..." Thomas murmured in amazement, taking in the sights of his new surroundings. "I never knew Canada would look this incredible."
"Canada?" Thomas looked down to a gentleman with a camel in tow.
"I am afraid you are mistaken," the man said. "This is the Dakar docks of Senegal in Africa. You must have gotten on the wrong ship."
"Dakar docks of Senegal, Africa?!" Thomas cried with shock. "Then how did I... Oh dear. Sir Topham Hatt is not going to be happy about this."
Author's Comments
Well, there you go then! Something that I've wanted to do for a while is a sort of reboot of the series from Big World! Big Adventures! onward by A) fixing up stories to be more realistic (at least, as much as possible), B) allowing other engines other than Thomas to see the world, and C) continuing to build upon the foundations left behind by seasons 17-21.
This first chapter is based upon the Sodor scenes of the actual special, minus the presence of Ace (I don't know if he'll appear or not in future stories) and the inclusion of another Great Railway Show taking place in Canada. I do plan a rewrite of The Great Race to tie into future International Railway Series books, as well as one for Journey Beyond Sodor. And no, I didn't forget about Carly and Big Mickey; the latter is a non-character in my eyes (his speaking roles add nothing to the show, and he won't add anything to my BWBA reboot), and as for the former, I plan to relocate her to Arlesburgh in order to expand on the harbor there. Plus, it gives me an excuse to rewrite New Crane on the Dock, one of the weaker season 21 episodes.
Next time; Thomas makes his Journey Across Africa!
