Cows

Based upon the story by Rev. W. Awdry

Adapted by Rachel Ravens

Takes place between TACO and LECDBT


Edward eventually got Henry's message over to Trevor, and got Thomas to pass one to Terence too. Though it was a bit of a belated one, Henry was still overjoyed when he saw the new trees in the forest.

"Trevor and Terence did a fantastic job," he smiled at Edward when they were down at Knapford station; the blue engine was coupled to some cattle trucks. "The baby trees are going to be growing big and strong over the hillside."

"That's fantastic news," Edward grinned. He then saw Henry frowning a bit. "What's wrong, old friend?"

"I also heard word that Skarloey and Rheneas' line is declining," he said with worry. "Skarloey recently broke down and Rheneas took his train yesterday, according to what Toby and Henrietta said."

"Oh no!" gasped Edward. "We've got to do something about this. Those two taught me so much of what I know now."

"Indeed," agreed Henry. "It would never do to see their line close and have them break down all the time."

Just then, Edward's guard's whistle blew and he started to head off. Much to Henry's concern, he heard a soft clanking noise.

"Edward," he called. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much, Henry," said Edward. "I'm sure my driver can fix me up tonight when I get back to the sheds."

"Alright…" trailed Henry. "I hope you'll be okay."


The old engine carried on his way down the line to a market town.

"You doing alright, ol' boy?" asked his driver, concerned.

"It's just a minor bolt out of place," said Edward. "I can't let that ruin my day, or delay my train. They must get through."

"That's true, Edward," said his fireman, "but…"

"We must keep going," he insisted. "We can fix it up at the sheds tonight."

The crew shrugged and continued their jobs, though the trucks started chatting amongst themselves.

"Edward's starting to clank all over the place," laughed the first truck.

"Yeah," said a second truck, "he's making more noise than a child with a pots and pans set!"

"Have you ever heard what pots and pans sounded like?" asked a third truck. "Last I checked, trucks don't go in the kitchen."

"He's like a lump of old iron," commented the brake van with a smirk. "He'll make everyone wait for his trains at this rate."

"I can't even hear the birds singing with that clanking noise," muttered another truck.

Edward had ignored the trucks' whole conversation, as he always tends to do. "The sun sure is bright today," he smiled. "I wonder if there's any newborn calves down at the market town."

"I bet they will be very cute, Edward," said the driver. "I think I heard something about a calf being born on a farm near Crosby not too long ago."

"Aww, that sounds so sweet," Edward commented. He rounded a corner and heard the mooing of cows nearby. "Good morning," he smiled as passed them.

Unfortunately, these cows were not used to engines passing by; the hissing, smoke and whistle disturbed them. They started to gallop in stress and fright; the soft clanking noises didn't help matters. They broke the fence, and charged the train.

"Whoa, watch out!" cried the rearmost truck. The force of the cows managed to knock the coupling loose, and the brake van and the truck were left stranded on the line.

"Oh, great…" muttered the brake van. "Now we can't try any more tricks."

"Er, you do know playing a trick on Edward is a big mistake, right?" commented the truck.

"Ooh," winced the brake van. "Right, unspoken truck rule No. 1…"


Edward did feel a jerk on his couplings, but as he was used to trucks, he didn't think much of it.

"Why won't they come quietly," he muttered to himself as he carried on his way.

"Trucks will be trucks," sighed the fireman.


Edward came to Kellsophe Road, and he was feeling a bit tired.

"Come on, ol' boy," said his driver, "a nice drink should perk you up."

"That does sound nice," he said with a smile. But as he headed to the water tower, he looked at his train.

"Uh… driver, fireman, where's the brake van?" asked Edward in shock.

"I don't know!" gasped the driver. "And we had five cattle trucks before, now there's only four!"

"We'll have to go back and get them," cried Edward.


Meanwhile, James was coming down the line with a passenger train; the coaches Sean, Mick, Harry and Dexter were in tow.

"Oh, it is a splendid day for a passenger run," hummed James to himself. Then suddenly, he heard a guard's warning whistle. "What the…" he braked to a stop when he saw the brake van and cattle truck. "How in Sodor's name did they-" he then saw the brake van. "Oh! You did it, huh?"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault this time!" grunted the brake van. "Some cows broke the fence and uncoupled the train from Edward-"

Whoa. James thought. Edward had trouble with trucks? That is unusual.

Edward came over with the rest of the trucks to get the train recoupled.

"Sorry, James!" he called back as he pushed the train into place. "I'm not sure what happened."

The red engine quickly told him what the brake van had said as the guard recoupled the train.

"I see," sighed Edward as the guard got back into the brake van. "Well, I'll move into a siding and then you can pass."

Edward puffed into the siding out of the way, and James couldn't help but notice the soft clanking that Henry did earlier on.

"Edward," asked James. "Are you alright? I think you may need to go and get that sorted at the Steamworks."

"Oh, it's nothing that will stop me," Edward assured. "You take your passengers, I'll go on with my cattle trucks."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," muttered the red engine as he puffed away.


Later, at Knapford station, Gordon and Henry had heard about the cows incident.

"Fancy allowing cows to break your train!" laughed Gordon as Edward pulled in next to him. "They wouldn't dare do that to me, I'd show them."

"Oh, ha, very funny," Edward grunted.

"Hey!" snapped Henry. "That could have happened to any engine. Some animals can spook easily."

"Indeed," agreed Toby as he came in with Heniretta and some stone trucks. "You couldn't help it, Edward. I bet Gordon's never met a cow. Henrietta and I have, and they caused quite a few problems on our tramway in East Anglia."

"Blocking the line, eating crops from the farmer's loads, breaking fences, you name it," Henrietta agreed. "A couple of them have gotten loose on the Ffarquhar branch line a few times too."

"Oh my," gasped Edward. "Let's hope that they get used to trains going by, both on the branch line and the main line."

The blue engine then went to carry on with his next train, and then the three other engines and Henrietta heard the clanking too.

"Edward!" called Toby, "did you notice that you're-"

"Yes, I did!" Edward snapped. "I'll have that checked in the sheds tonight."

"O...kay?" Toby said quietly. "I never knew Edward to snap like that… then again, I am the newest engine here. Do either of you have an explanation for this?"

"Edward was often bullied by two other engines who were here before Gordon and I arrived," Henry explained. "He doesn't like to admit it, but I think that may have gotten to him. Plus, Skarloey and Rheneas' situation isn't helping matters."

"Oh…" Henrietta and Toby both winced.

"Maybe I'd better talk with Edward one-on-one," said Toby. "You know, old engine to old engine."

"That would be good, Toby," agreed Gordon. "It isn't healthy for an engine to clank."


That night, the North Western engines were all at Tidmouth sheds. The two exceptions for this were Gordon and Edward, as they both had evening trains to tend to. Toby quickly explained to Thomas and Percy what had happened with Edward that afternoon.

"Oh no!" gasped Thomas. "That's horrible news!"

"And you think this bullying from those two rude engines scarred him?" asked Percy. "Oh, poor Edward…"

"I'll try and find time to talk to him alone," said Toby, "but in the meantime, we all must put our best wheels forward and support Edward in any way we can."

The engines all agreed, and when Gordon and Edward did get back to the sheds, they all fell asleep.


A couple of days later, Farmer Collet was trying to take some of his cows to market.

"Okay, come on," he was saying, trying to get the cows into the cattle trucks by leaving some hay in the trucks. "Let's get into the trucks."

Some of the cows obeyed the orders, though one of them was particularly young and restless.

"Come on then, little one," Farmer Collet said, coaxing her. "You're almost weaned now, you need to have hay away from your mother."

The calf let out a sad "moo" as she was lead into the van. At the back of the field, another cow was looking around frantically.

Where's my baby? She thought. Come here little one! Come to mommy!

She looked all over the field, and looked completely at a loss as to where her baby went. Then, she saw the tracks.

Maybe someone on the railway knows where my baby went. She thought, and walked through a gate that had opened a crack, and slipped out. Farmer Collet didn't realise this and thought that all the cows had been collected.

"Okay then," he said. "Now I just need to wait for James to get here."


Meanwhile, Gordon was rushing by with the express and passing by Edward's station.

"Mind the cows!" he teased. Edward just grunted and rolled his eyes. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"Goodness me," sighed Mark. "Does he ever get tired of this?"

"Who knows?" sighed Edward.


Gordon thundered along the track with the express, making good time along the line.

"I wonder how Skarloey and Rheneas are holding up," he said to himself, "I sure hope their line doesn't fall into decline like the Mid Sodor line did a couple of years ago."

"Same here, ol' boy," sighed the driver.

The big engine then saw the bridge coming up. This wouldn't have been much of a deal, except the fact that there was something on it.

"Whoa, Gordon," said his driver, applying the brakes.

"Oh!" Gordon looked and realised something. "It's only a cow! Shoo, shoo!"

He slowly inched onto the bridge, but the cow wouldn't "shoo!". Instead, she let out a mournful "moo!"

"Oh, really?" grunted Gordon, "Come on, move along. We've got passengers to deliver."

"Come on, girl," said the driver, jumping down from the engine's cab. He tried to pluck some grass from the side of the track nearby. "Are you hungry?"

The cow didn't even try to go to the grass. Instead, she looked pleading at the driver.

"Easy, girl," said the fireman, walking over. "Come on, move out of the way."

Just then, Henry arrived with a passenger train from the opposite direction.

"Gordon, why have you stopped… oh!" gasped Henry. "A cow? How'd you get here?"

The cow let out another mournful "moo" as she went over to Henry.

"Oh, what's wrong, miss cow?" Henry said sympathetically.

His driver took a quick look at the cow, then started to think about what may have happened.

"Oh, I think she's lost her calf." the driver realised.

The cow nodded her head sadly.

"You poor thing," Henry said quietly. "Driver, fireman we'd better tell this to the previous station."

"Good point, Henry," agreed the fireman, and they slowly backed the train up to Kellsophe Road and they explained what happened.

"That must be Bluebell!" exclaimed the porter. "We were checking Farmer Collet's cows and she was missing. Her calf is here, waiting to go to market. I'll send for Percy to take her to Bluebell."


Percy quickly got the message and collected a cattle truck and brake van.

"Oh, the poor baby cow," Percy said quietly. "It's never good to have a family separated."

"No indeed," agreed the driver as they got to where James was with the rest of the train.

"Come on, little calf," called Percy, "do you want to see your mum again?"

The calf happily hopped into the truck, and Percy quickly headed to the bridge.

"Bluebell," he called. "I have something for you."

The door of the van opened and there was the calf, rushing up to Bluebell. The two nuzzled each other and walked into the van, led by the porter.

"Aww, a family back together," smiled Henry as he passed with his passenger train.

"Not a word, you two," grunted Gordon as he left with the express, "keep it dark."

"I know a few engines who will want to hear this," chuckled Percy as he headed away.


And thanks to the little green engine, the story soon spread like wildfire. By evening, after the evening trains that Edward and Gordon had to pull, Edward was chuckling.

"Well, well, well," he laughed, "fancy, a big strong engine afraid of a cow."

"Afraid?" asked Gordon. "Rubbish. I didn't want the poor thing to hurt herself by rubbing up against me. I stopped so as not to excite her. You see what I mean, my dear Edward?"

"Yes, I do," said Edward, exchanging a wink with Percy. Gordon felt that Edward saw only too well.

The End


The third standalone story in CSA, Cows. This one is one of the two Edward's book stories to take place on it's own. That being said, it does help to build up Old Iron which was seen in the Four Little Engines/Twin Engines mashup, Never Be Alone, which starts to show Edward clanking. This also explains why Edward doesn't get fixed right away; he doesn't feel like he needs it, and would rather be working hard than acknowledging that something is wrong with him. Though, if even Gordon and James are concerned, then you really must take things seriously. This was expanded to show delays on other trains, and it even shows how Bluebell and her calf were separated.

This also shows Henry's calmer approach when it comes to animals and it mentions that trees were recently planted, which foreshadows the episode Henry's Forest, (which is another standalone episode I'll get to.). And he also stands up for Edward against Gordon's boasting about the cows, showcasing a closer friendship with them.