I love Ivor the Engine, and I don't own it.
Alice the Elephant.
As Jones the Steam guided Ivor down the tracks, he couldn't help but think about what he and Evans had discovered while they puffed towards Grumbly Gas-works.
He had found birds and even a dragon on the railway, and he had even found a small number of abandoned kittens when he was much younger before he'd joined the railway, but he had never expected to find an elephant. Jones had no idea where the elephant had come from, and he had to wonder and ask himself if he and Evans were picking up a menagerie or something because they seemed to be collecting nothing but animals, from the pigeons belonging to Mr Brangwyn who wanted to use them to send off love letters to his love interest and fiancee (Jones would not think about the moment he had accidentally looked through the window while she'd had the bath; he did not want to think about it, nor did he want his wife to know or find out otherwise she'd give him a smack around the head).
And now they had an elephant.
Jones wondered where the elephant was from. As far as he knew there were no zoos nearby, so where would the elephant had come from? It was possible the elephant was from a circus and it had slipped out or something like that, and it had cut itself accidentally on the tracks. As he popped his head out of the cab while he guided Ivor down the line - his steam locomotive and friend was chuffing down the line towards the gasworks, and they'd be there soon; he could see the plumes of black smoke in the distance - Jones wondered for a moment just how they were going to get Mr Hughes to help; the man was an animal lover, granted it was mostly birds although truthfully Jones doubted it would make a shred of difference, but he had more than enough space in the gas works, it was perfect for the elephant until they could figure out where it came from.
