The Thomas the Tank Engine Crackfic Collab

By Memesandtreasure and Seaboarder

Published by Derby Locomotive Works on FanFiction

Prologue Chapter 1. Alternate Histories: The Big Engines and BR.

Now, this universe, like many other fan interpretations of T&F, has a history to how railways, and sentient locomotives in general, have come to influence Earth as a whole. Simply put, it's not generally all that different from most interpretations of T&F. In fact, it generally has a similar history, up until the early 1950s. Now, in order to understand why history changed so radically, we must first go over some of the most famous engines of T&F as a whole, those being this universe' Gordon, James, and Henry, or in this case, Henry's. Let's start with Henry.

Who we know as old shape Henry is actually known as Thierry in this alternate timeline. He generally leads the same life as the most famous Henry we know of, all the way until the Kipper accident. There are a few notable details however. For one, the reason as to why his design was botched so severely in this timeline doesn't just stem from him being built out of stolen plans for Gresley's A1 Pacifics, which were then combined with the design concepts of a C1 Atlatic, resulting in the creation of the unholy love child that was Thierry's hybrid design at the time. His owner was actually very drunk, as well as high on so many illegal substances, and gave him the name Thallimerius. Apart from there being an extra reason as to why he was so poorly built, apart from the aforementioned stolen plans, nothing really changes for his origins, apart from him not getting held up in a tunnel by rain, since he doesn't actually fear it in this timeline. Yeah, Awdry, in this version of the universe at least, made up the story itself for the sake of storytelling. Granted, everything else still does stay the same, like I previously mentioned, as he still gets passed off to the NWR, he still has problems with building up steam, and he still gets his Welsh coal. Most of all, the Kipper accident still happens, but this is where histories diverge.

At first, it seems as though everything is the exact same as it was in canon, starting with Henry's arrival back from the mainland, to that time when Gordon had a fucked up whistle. There was even that incident with Henry having sneezed on those annoying crotch goblins who others were somehow able to deem as kids. Granted, there were some suspicions amongst the workers of the railway, both vehicle and human, when the NWR #3 referred to himself as Henry instead of Thierry. However, it was simply assumed that it was just a name change meant to signify that he had been reborn. However, when Gordon needs to undergo his own urgent repairs, Stanier ends up sending another engine to help with picking up Gordon's slack with the NWR #4 would be undergoing his alterations, Thierry was sent back to the railway, free of charge, surprising everyone on the island, especially Topham himself.

You see, it turns out that there was some miscommunications between both parties, and that STH had accidentally requested a new engine, instead of asking Stanier to either fix up Thierry and rectify his current flaws, nor did he ask him to rebuild him into a new shape entirely. So, it turns out that Thierry had been held up at the works for all this time, and Stanier, whenever he could, went about with the aforementioned rectification of his flaws. The main rectification was adding a pair of trailing wheels to his main body, so that he and his workers could extend his cab back, allowing his firebox to become larger as a result, therefore allowing him to stop having to rely on Welsh coal. Since his main flaw was fixed, they usually just tinkered with other flaws of his in their spare time, and overtime, he became an exceptional express engine, even more so than Gordon at the time. They would have kept him for themselves, but Sir Topham Hatt needed another engine to pick up the slack for Gordon, so they just chose to send Thierry back for free, as thanks for the fact that they were able to tinker with him for so long.

So, there was another dilemma left for STH to have to figure out on his own time. That dilemma is the fact that Henry and Thierry both love Sodor so much, that neither of the engines want to leave. For Thierry, that love is even more emphasized when you consider that he's been on the island for most of his working career in general. So, they work to compete with each other, until each of them have too many near misses with the other engines to count. In response, STH makes the decision to have Henry and Thierry take turns doing each others' jobs, until railway traffic would inevitably increase, at which point, both engines would be allowed to work on the railway full time, without having to bicker over who gets to do what today. So happy ending for them.

What about Gordon, you might be asking? What caused him to be withdrawn for his urgent repairs, which in turn, would allow Thierry to come back onto the roster? That question is actually very important, and the answer to that question also holds the key to BR's different position in the world's history of this timeline. Gordon also leads a very similar life to his most famous counterpart as well, but there are a few key differences.

For one, James isn't a thing until 1973, so there's less manpower for Gordon's strikes to seem effective in his eyes, meaning that the "strike conflict" never happens. So, he generally leads a peaceful life, and comes to term with shunting his own trains a lot earlier as well. Nothing major happens at Henry's tunnel, known as Thierry's Tunnel in this universe, since Thierry doesn't have a fear of water in this timeline, meaning that he doesn't see the need to get stuck in the tunnel. However, everything he ever knew is uprooted when this universe's equivalent of whistles and sneezes happens, in which instead of his whistle getting fucked up, Gordon's everything inside of him gets fucked up, like his safety valve being broken, and his whistle being stuck in a position where it's constantly blaring. The most glaring problem of them all? Every Single Boiler tube within him has cracked, so he needs to be taken to the works on the mainland in order to have a shot at running again.

This is where the beginning of Gordon's world changing turning point happens. It all starts with the fact that converting Gordon into running on an alternative power source would be cheaper than replacing his cracked boiler tubes. So, he'd have to make do with a diesel turbine at first, which works fine until 1961, when they're banned for being deemed un-environmental. So, in response, STH, in tandem with the UK's government at the time, had an experimental propane turbine from the Netherlands installed within him. By the way, since the government had been testing propane turbines on tank engines since the early 1950s, any steam locomotives left are saved from the mass withdrawals of steam locomotives that other engines had to go through in other timelines. So, there's simply a fuckton of steam locomotives sitting around and doing nothing, instead of a fuckton of steam locomotives sitting around, waiting to be scrapped. The tank engines had performed extremely well, but only the large ones could receive the propane turbine upgrade, since they were the only ones big enough to be able to contain it within themselves. However, Gordon would be a first for tender engines, so while the survival of tank engines had been insured, thanks to the efforts of the tank engines who performed the best that they could with their propane turbine upgrade, the fate of the tender engines were shouldered on Gordon, and whether or not his performance with the propane turbine could pass with the experimenters. Needless to say, the NWR's grandest express engine had been more than up to par with his performance, as he could now reach speeds of up to 157.2 miles per hour. Furthermore, he was able to pull goods trains longer and heavier than the "Red Mile", a train that measures approximately 3.16 miles in length.

His most favorite part of the experiment, however, was when he was also able to pull 30 full coaches and 15 autoracks maxed out in terms of capacity at his top speed for hours at a time. He got to keep the coaches that he used in the experiment, which would eventually become a part of his special passenger train "Godred's Moving Castle", or the Moving Castle as most call it. However, what he's most proud of, above all else, is the chance that he gave for other tender engines to have a second shot at life as new members of what was deemed the "Superman Class" of locomotives. Those who couldn't get the conversion had that much more coal to utilize, and those who had were able to prove that they were worth something, even if they needed to show off that worth by being converted into running on a new fuel source. Granted, the diesels were also converted as well, but the tender engines were the favorites of BR, as they could hold more fuel for themselves than their converted diesels ever could.

Now, you're probably wondering as well, "That's cool and all, but where's James involved in this?". You must be wondering this since we brought up how tank engines were granted salvation, thanks to the efforts of the test subjects of the 1950s, as well as how tender engines were granted the chance to have a new start as well, due to NWR #4's actions. Now, this new lease on life applied to both mid-sized and large tender engines, with both having a higher fuel capacity than converted diesels, due to their tenders being able to hold more than their built-in fuel tanks ever could. Then again, the midsize tender engines didn't have the fuel capacity of their larger brethren, and could only do so much before they'd have to refuel, happening more often than they'd like to admit as well. They'd need a new fuel source themselves, one that's not limited by their size, in order to keep up with the Propane Turbine A1's and A3's, as well as other, equally large classes too.

This is where James comes in. James did not come to the NWR until 1973, because he was put up for scrap much earlier in this timeline. For a while, he assumed that each day would be his last, until someone special came into his life. John was a nuclear engineer, who, for quite some time, had been in a melancholy state, ever since his wife had passed. So, he generally wandered around in his car, with no real purpose, that is until he met James. They had a good talk with each other, and then James brought up the fact that he was probably going to be scrapped soon, even if those new fangled propane turbine tank engines succeed, which wouldn't be able to say much for the tender engines as well. John, however, wouldn't stand for this, and so, he bought James for his weight in scrap metal from the scrapyard, and set up a plan to be able to give him as safe of a home as possible.

His idea? To have himself, and the black with red stripes L&YR class 28 move to the United States, since they had abandoned railway lines perfect for placing a recently saved locomotive on. He had searched everywhere for a perfect place to stash James, and was able to find a tunnel to store James in until further notice. He also built his house around it too, in order to stay with the engine as long as he possibly could.

They stayed together for 20 years, and came to have as close of a father-son bond as an engine and owner could possibly reach.

John had taught James everything that he had ever learned as a nuclear engineer, and in his twilight years, had given James a life altering augmentation that would change him, and BR itself for years to come. Meanwhile, James had simply talked with the nuclear engineer, often about minor topics like the weather, how politics were ramping up, and the advent of steam engines being given another chance at life as propane turbine locomotives. That got the latter thinking about a new pet project that he could experiment with, but the only locomotive that he had was James. James decided to willingly partake in the experiment, and for years, John had worked hard to be able to make due with the limited resources he had. Yet, against all odds, he had done it.

On his last days of being able to walk the mortal plane, James and John knew what was to come. They simply spent time together, as always, and at the end of the day, James thanked John for having given him a special 20 years together, John doing the same in return. The next day, John passed away peacefully in his sleep. James could only hope that somewhere out there, his owner's living it up with his wonderful life. Eventually, the bank came in to sell off all of John's possessions in an auction, including James, who would be bought by none other than STH.

Now, his arrival in 1973 started off relatively peacefully, but happened after this version of Sodor's equivalent to Hero Of The Rails. He was supposed to sleep at Tidmouth Sheds, but the berths were taken up by those who made up the steam team at the time, as well as Oliver and Monty, or as we know the latter, Duck. So, he had to sleep at Knapford sheds, where he meets three of his future friends, Molly, Donald, and Douglas. He also meets Murdoch, who makes fun of him in order to make himself feel better, since he and the other 9F class locomotives are unable to receive the propane turbine upgrade themselves, due to the fact that they would exert too much force on the rails they stand on, ripping them out from right underneath them. James, however, doesn't give Murdoch the satisfaction of a reaction, and just keeps talking with the other, more pleasant locomotives at the shed.

Murdoch, in response, worked hard to try and find a way to pay out the red engine, and eventually came across the idea of making James' jobs as hard as he could. First, he got Philip to load as many passenger cars as he could on James' first passenger train. Then, he had his driver set all of the coaches' brakes to be on, so that James would be unable to move them, and make himself look stupid. Instead, when James tries to pull them out of the station, he does succeed in doing so, albeit with a bit of a struggle at first, and goes on to his first stop. Granted, the brake systems of those coaches were completely and utterly ruined, and the passengers were jolted around by the sudden burst of movement, so Murdoch did kind of succeed.

James and the passengers got into an argument, where the seeds of James' preference for goods over passengers begins, but it's eventually figured out that someone had turned on the brake systems without anyone knowing. Still, the passengers are royally pissed, and go to STH to complain, who, in response to the complaints, simply puts James on goods work instead. However, the sheer number of coaches that James pulled simply mystified Sir Topham Hatt, so he decided to see if his suspicions were correct. He figured that Murdoch was the one who sabotaged James' passenger run, based on the accounts of the other engines who he stayed with last night, but he didn't want to blindly jump to conclusions either. So, he lets things play out, and secretly watched Murdoch get Bill and Ben to shunt as many trucks as they possibly could onto James' goods train for the day, then watched Murdoch get his driver to turn on the brakes of the trucks as well.

How does it go on James' end? Very well, actually. Again, he completely and utterly ruined the brake systems of those trucks, and for a few moments, he thought that they would have derailed around the curves and bends of his route, but he was otherwise able to pull them effortlessly, in spite of the very palpable risk of something possibly going wrong. So, when James had pulled up to the station, STH both scolded him for ruining the brakes of so many freight and passenger carriages, while also congratulating him on pulling so many trucks on his own, even more than any of the mid-sized propane turbine tender engines ever could. He asked what was his secret, and James simply responded by saying "Nuclear Engine.".

STH was surprised at this response, and James, in turn, said that he could go through his former boiler, as well as his tender too, since that was where the coolant system was. So, STH hires the best locomotive engineers, as nuclear engineers too, just in case, and requires them to wear anti-radiation gear, just in case. To everyone's surprise, the L&YR Class 28 wasn't lying. He actually did have a miniature nuclear engine within him, and the interior of his boiler was lined with lead, in order to prevent radiation from leaking out. Meanwhile, he also had a coolant system placed in his tender, in order for the nuclear reactor to not overheat.

Then, they put him back together as carefully as possible, since they also realized, "Oh shit, we just opened up a nuclear train.". So, James was put back together, sent to work, and news of him running on a nuclear engine spread throughout Sodor, then reached BR's ears. Mid-sized propane turbine tender engines were then converted to run on nuclear engines themselves, although they did test a nuclear engine on something like an LMS Stanier Class 5. Said Stanier Class 5 actually ripped the rails out from underneath itself, and those same rails were found in a river a few miles away from its testing position. However, in spite of that setback, the large propane turbine tender engines were stronger and faster than their mid-size nuclear tender engine counterparts.

However, the nuclear engines would be able to run for longer distances and periods of time, since they don't need to refuel as much as their propane turbine counterparts. Still, both the nuclear engines, which were put into the "Powermax" class, and the large propane turbine tender engines, labeled as part of the "Superman" class, were both extremely vital to BR's standing as one of the largest and most profitable railway companies of all time. There were also the propane turbine tank engines, or the "Superboy" class, and the nuclear tank engines as well, later coined as the "Demon" class after a terrorist attack that involved one of them being forced into a meltdown, with the demon class having been modified with a bunker the size of a tender to fit their reactors' coolant systems. They were notable, and also quite important to BR's rise to power, but weren't able to contribute as much in comparison to Superman and Powermax locomotives, due to their limited quantity. However, they still were quite useful at what they did nonetheless, and are often acknowledged as having been a big help, but not necessary to BR's modern day standing. So, where does BR stand in the world, since they were the pioneers of so many strong and fast locomotives?

Simple, they still failed to stay in business, but for a time, was one of the largest railway companies in history. You see, with the advent of propane turbines, former steam engines could now move as many passenger and goods trains as most of their diesel engine coworkers, if not more. The tender engines in particular could last longer than anyone else, since they had tenders to allow them to store more fuel than the built-in fuel tanks of a diesel could handle. The advent of nuclear engines only served to further cement that position, since midsize tender engines, Hymek diesel locomotives, and propane turbine tank engines were seen as viable candidates for the project. It eventually became the largest railway business of all time in 1980, and would consistently stay in the game for what seemed to be years to come. That is, until 1986.

Tensions between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan were high this year, mainly because the British government refused Afghanistan's plea to help them against the Soviet Union. Eventually, a small militant group had gotten tired of being refused help, as they were being run ragged from their battles, and so, they chose to make themselves heard, one way or another. They slipped into one of the regions of BR, and snuck aboard a faceless GWR Large Prairie. They then waited until the locomotive had reached King's Cross Railway Station, and cut the coolant lines. At 09:59, King's Cross exploded, destroying the entire station and damaging much of the nearby city. This disaster became the worst terrorist attack ever, and kept that title until the Attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001. The disaster site was also labeled King's Crater by some historians. BR hadn't been able to recover since then, and was forced into bankruptcy before the new millenium.

A very vocal group had lost any trust that they placed into the nuclear engines manufactured by the railway company. They often called for the company to scrap these nuclear engines, or perhaps return them back to their propane turbine fuel sources. However, they were a minority, as the majority recognized that the nuclear engine had blown up from its coolant lines being cut. These two groups, the nuclear-advocates and nuclear-critics, often came to either very heated discussions about the topic, or sometimes even blows. The latter, however, was quite rare to occur, and generally, the worst that it usually got were heated discussions where personal subjects are brought up in order to get back at their opponents. Nevertheless, people had begun to feel unsafe traveling with BR either way, and over time, it began to lose more and more of its contracts, until it broke up into Scotrail and Southrail after its bankruptcy. Nuclear engines would still be put into use, but they would often have security details to guard them as often as possible, since Scotrail and Southrail didn't want a repeat of their predecessor's own demise. Generally, these nuclear engines, as well as their propane turbine brethren, are still well respected as exceptional locomotive designs, being renowned not only for their speed and strength, but also how environmentally friendly they are too.

In spite of how BR went into a downward spiral, they still are acknowledged as having been one of the most successful businesses of its time, and the ways it influenced the world were generally quite beneficial, even if they stemmed from horrifying origins. For instance, the advent of nuclear and propane turbine locomotive conversions prompted other railways to convert their older locomotives into either one of these two categories, and railways became a favorite way to travel for many. Meanwhile, the conversion of steam and diesel engines to run on electricity went quite well too, and with all of these engines being converted so successfully, it began to prompt people into wondering what other vehicles were viable for these sorts of conversions. The US's ship fleet would be another group of prominent vehicle conversions, as they were converted to run on nuclear energy as well. The Montana class ships in particular, benefitted quite noticeably from this, as not only did they become even faster and stronger than before, they also doubled in size, gained upgraded versions of a battleship's armements, and became known as a class of ship labeled "Battlecarriers".

Overall, in spite of BR's downward spiral, thanks to the unintentional efforts of the NWR #4 and its #5, who had begun the insurgence of the Superman, Superboy, Powermax, and Demon class locomotives, and BR's previous experimentations with propane turbines on tank engines, this version of Earth has been altered from ours by quite a notable amount. The real question is, how does our favorite fictional island, that being Sodor, fare in this chaos? Well, you're about to find out for yourself.