All Steamed Up!
Written by Helen Farrall
(based on canceled episode Isobella Gets Steamed)
It was harvest festival time on Sodor. During the autumn season, the engines deliver trucks of fruits and vegetables, ripe and ready to be taken to market for the harvest festival.
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"Good to go, Percy!" Farmer Trotter called out, as the men finished loading his trucks.
PEEP-PEEP!
"Thank you, Farmer Trotter!" Percy whistled
He left with his trucks full of fruits and vegetables, whistling cheerily to Toby and Henrietta as they passed.
PEEP-PEEP!
DING-DING! DING-DING!
One day, Trevor the Traction Engine was waiting at Maithewaite to be hitched up to a large organ. It needed to be taken to Cronk in time for the harvest festival.
"See you later, Edward!" he greeted his friend.
PEEP-PEEP!
"Bye now, Trevor!" Edward greeted back, as he set off with his vegetable trucks.
Trevor waited another moment or so longer whilst the men were hitching up the organ to him when he heard Thomas' whistle.
PEEP-PEEP!
"Hi, Trevor!" he whistled, as he approached the platform with Annie and Clarabel.
"Hello, Thomas!" Trevor greeted back, as he watched the children depart the train. "Thank you for dropping off the children!"
"Any time. Spared a bit of time over Annie and Clarabel's break to have them here. Harvest festival sure is one of the busiest times of the year, isn't it?"
"Oh, it is," Trevor agreed. "Miss Jenny has called for me to deliver the choir and their organ player to the festival at Cronk myself."
"Sounds like fun," Thomas guessed. "Guess you're keeping yourself quite busy then."
"Sure am, Thomas," Trevor beamed.
At that, the organ flatbed was hitched up to him, and Jem Cole hopped aboard his cab.
"Come along now, Trevor!" he said. "We must get going!"
"Right, Jem!"
PEEP-PEEP!
"Goodbye, Thomas! See you later!" he greeted, as he slowly left Maithewaite.
PEEP-PEEP!
"Bye, Trevor!" Thomas greeted, as he left with Annie and Clarabel.
Trevor beamed and sighed as he slowly made his way up the road away from Maithewaite.
At the construction site, Jack and Alfie were busy filling up Nia's trucks with dirt needed for the foundation for Miss Jenny's harvest festival.
"Almost done, Nia!" Alfie promised.
"No hurry, guys!" Nia assured them. "There's plenty of time. The festival only starts later this evening."
The two friends laughed and carried on with the last of the dirt pile.
"More digging means dirt!" Jack pointed out.
"And more dirt means more fun!" Alfie added.
"Huh!" Isobella scoffed, as she made her way into the site towards the commotion.
Jack and Alfie bumped each other's buckets towards one another in agreement, before bending down to clear up the last of their load.
As the two friends were loading Nia's trucks, Isobella came into view when Jack accidentally blew some dust in her way as she passed.
"Oi! Mind my paint!" she groaned, and came to an abrupt halt.
"Whoops!" Jack gasped, then chuckled nervously. "Sorry, Isobella. I didn't mean to get dust on your paint."
"Just you watch where you're going then," Isobella suggested, raising an eyebrow.
"I say, Isobella," Alfie wondered. "What's gotten you all 'steamed up' then?"
"Never you mind," Isobella huffily assured him. "At least I'll still have everybody's fuel picked up from the Depot and delivered in no time!"
HONK-HONK!
She left in a huff, much to the surprise of Jack, Alfie and Nia.
"What's wrong with Isobella?" Nia wondered aloud.
"I'm…not sure," Jack wondered.
"It isn't necessarily the first time this week she's been acting that way," Alfie admitted.
This left Nia in deep thought as her trucks were loaded up, and she was well on her way.
At the yard, Isobella waited anxiously for the men to have her trailer hitched up.
HONK-HONK!
"Hurry up!" she begged. "I can't wait around all morning watching the other vehicles having fun while I keep myself busy."
Just then, Kelly rolled up alongside, and could see that Isobella looked anxious.
"You seem to be in an awful hurry this morning, Isobella," he pointed out. "Is there something bothering you?"
Isobella sighed heavily and looked across at her good friend.
"Yes, Kelly. There is," she admitted. "Whilst the other vehicles have loads of fun all day long on site while I'm not around, I'm the only constantly kept busy having to do more strenuous, tedious jobs off site."
"Oh," Kelly wondered, listening on as he raised his eyebrow with surprise.
"It seems like I'm the one missing out on all the fun that goes around on site," Isobella finished. "It just doesn't seem fair, does it, Kelly?"
Kelly laughed.
"I work around the site the majority, Isobella," the crane explained. "But I go wherever I'm needed whenever, either if it's on or off site. Point being: fun is what you can make it, Isobella. It just depends on how enthused you are about the task at hand."
"Hmm…" Isobella thought, rather puzzled as her loader was hitched up to her.
But Isobella wasn't sure about Kelly's advice, as she made it on her way.
"Not to worry, you all!" she shouted out to the other machines, as she passed through. "I'll have your fuel delivered in no time! You all wait around and have your fun in the meantime!"
Nelson, Byron and Oliver all looked over at her with surprise, as Kelly sighed with dismay.
Isobella proceeded towards the fuel depot on the other side of Cronk, though she couldn't get the thought out of her head that the other vehicles were having fun without her around.
HONK-HONK!
"Pardon me! Coming through!"
"GAHHHH!" Isobella screamed, as Max raced by her, with Monty in tow.
"Ay! No fair!" the latter dump truck shouted, as he raced recklessly after him.
"Watch where you're going, you two!" Isobella snapped as she watched after them, then huffed heavily. "Huh!"
She continued along towards the barrier, suddenly screaming at a loud sound nearby it.
"GAHHHH!" she shouted, as she heard a drill rise blasted into the barrier.
Darcy the Tunnel Boring Machine chuckled as she drilled at the barrier that Isobella was about to go through.
"Sorry to scare you, Isobella," she said. "But that's quite how it is with tunnel-boring, you know."
"No," Isobella dully noted. "Not really."
And she proceeded towards the barrier, as Darcy drilled hard into the solid rock to make way for a tunnel.
"Wheeeee!" she wailed. "How exciting!"
"Those machines," Isobella moaned to herself as she approached the barrier up ahead. "I'm not sure if they know how lucky they are to have me to rely on and bring them their fuel whilst they're all having the time of their lives."
She arrived at the barrier connecting between the site and the route to the depot, though the foreman had bad news.
"I'm afraid you'll have to take the long way round, Isobella," he informed her. "This barrier is currently under inspection."
Isobella sighed with dismay and backed up, before making her way towards the road.
"Oh, dear," she thought to herself. "This will take even longer before I'm back at the site. At least I'll be able to keep myself clean."
She managed to express a slight smile as she continued along, though this didn't last very long as soon as she heard a familiar horn from behind.
HONK-HONK!
"I'm sure I'll beat you this time, Thomas!" Bertie called, as he passed Isobella on the road.
PEEP-PEEP!
"We'll just see about that, Bertie!" the tank engine called in reply.
He raced quickly after him, Annie and Clarabel wailing behind him, as Isobella watched after him. Next, she heard a singing voice coming from up the line and the sound of trucks chanting as well. She watched as Rebecca came rolling down the line, singing happily.
"Steadily along
Steadily along
Pulling these trucks on their way
Steadily along
Steadily along
On this lovely autumn day!"
PEEP-PEEP!
"Hi, Isobella!"
Isobella honked quietly as she passed, then listened to the sound of the trucks chanting "la-la-la-la-la" after her, as she made her way further along the road.
Further up the road, Trevor was pulling the children and their organ player aboard the float, when he saw Isobella.
"Hello, Isobella!" he whistled cheerfully to her. "How is your day going?"
"Busy," Isobella directly responded, as she passed, then quietly muttered enviously to herself, "if only I could join in on their fun…"
Trevor expressed a look of dismay as he continued along, puzzled as to why Isobella wasn't in high spirits.
Isobella arrived at the Depot all in good time and waited anxiously as the men loaded up her trailer with fuel drums.
Isobella watched the clock on the wall of the building to pass the time, until at last, the last fuel drum was loaded onto her trailer.
"Good to go, Isobella!" one of the men assured her.
HONK-HONK!
"Now," she said determinedly, as she slowly took off again. "I'll show those other machines just how much of a hard-worker I am by delivering their fuel all in good time!"
She remained a confident look on her face as she trundled steadily along, tugging hard at the heavy trailer behind her.
Meanwhile, Trevor and his driver Jem Cole were still making it on their way to the festival grounds at Cronk. He listened dutifully to the choir singing from behind him along with their organ player.
Trevor closed his eyes and sighed with pleasure as he listened to the children singing scales peacefully from behind, as the organ played alongside them.
"Ah," he sighed. "This is the life. I sure like carrying children and listening to their joy and laughter, but to hear the choir sing sure is something else. Wouldn't you agree, Jem?"
"Yes, Trevor," his driver Jem Cole heartily agreed. "But watch out now. We're heading towards a steep hill."
"Oh, yes," Trevor remembered, widening his eyes with surprise.
"We must taken caution," Jem warned him, as they reached the slope heading upward. "It's a shame our weekly checkup was scheduled for tomorrow, otherwise we would have been certain that you'd be good to go for the festival."
"I did ask the Vicar if he could have arranged for before the festival," Trevor admitted, very well understanding of his driver's concern. "But he wasn't able to arrange for the fitter before today."
"You were making some faint creaking sounds this morning, ol' boy," Jem pointed out.
"I know," Trevor agreed. "But we did make a commitment to Miss Jenny that we'd have the choir delivered on time, and we can have it sorted out as soon as fitter arrives tomorrow morning. Besides, I do like to keep busy, and seeing children and their happy smiling faces always brings me joy."
"If you say so, Trevor," Jem sighed, as they trundled further up the hill.
As they progressed further up the hill, Trevor thought everything was going fine, when all of a sudden, he began to hear the faint creaking sounds again.
"Uh oh," he thought, then looked back at his driver. "It's those faint noises you were talking about again, Jem."
"I know," Jem agreed, as he observed Trevor's mph meter. "They seem to be louder than they were this morning."
Trevor sighed anxiously as he made his way halfway up the hill, the choir and organ player still sounding behind him.
Trevor tugged hard with all the float with all his might, but the further he progressed, the louder the creaking sound seemed to get.
The children soon heard Trevor's creaking sound, and began singing more faintly and quietly chattering amongst themselves. Trevor sighed with dismay and tugged further until…
CRACK!
All of a sudden, Trevor heard a large snapping sound and came to a stop halfway up the hill. Jem Cole hopped out and checked him all over.
"Hmm…" he thought, as he inspected Trevor carefully, then sighed with dismay as he walked up before him.
"One of your traction rods has broken, Trevor," he confirmed. "We know for sure now that we should have waited for fitter to come and gotten one of the engines to take the choir in your place."
"I'm sorry, Jem," Trevor sighed with dismay, as he listened to the children quietly chattering. "I could have suggested we tell Miss Jenny ourselves."
"Not to worry, Trevor," Jem assured him. "I could have also had that sorted. But I must say though, you'll have to for repairs after all. But don't worry. I'll go call for help."
Trevor watched with dismay as he ran off to find the nearest signal box and quickly called for help.
Isobella returned to the yard and soon all the fuel was unloaded and ready for the machines to take on.
Isobella watched as machines all round took on fuel, and eyed Max and Monty specifically.
"It was a pleasure being of service to you all," she cheekily assured them. "Tending to your needs whilst you lot all had lots of fun of-site without me."
Jack, Alfie and Oliver all looked across at each other with confusion, as Max and Monty shot each other a determined look.
"Anyways," Isoebella went on. "If you'll all need me, I'll be taking a much needed rest after all this rushing about from place to place. So if you don't mind…"
At that moment, Max and Monty honked loudly and rushed past, chuckling as they made their way out of sight, much to Isobella's slight annoyance.
"As I was saying," she finished. "I'll be taking some time to myself for a change."
As she prepared to turn away and head towards her shed, Miss Jenny came into view.
"Hold up, Isobella!" she called out, flagging her hand up and running over to her.
"Eh, yes, miss," Isobella wondered with confusion, looking directly at her.
"Don't go anywhere yet," Miss Jenny replied. "I just got off the phone with Jem Cole. Trevor has broken down on his way to the harvest festival grounds. I've heard that it was a broken piston rod of some sort."
"Oh, dear," Isobella gasped, wondering with surprise.
"Yes," Miss Jenny nodded. "And Nelson's already on his way back from the RoadWorks and is due to take him there right away. So I need you, Isobella, to take the choir to the festival aboard the float."
"But, miss," Isobella explained. "I have lots of catching up to do with work on the site. Can't anyone else do it?"
"There is no one else, Isobella!" Miss Jenny stressed. "Trevor and the choir are stranded along with their organ player, and they'll never make it to the festival otherwise. I'm counting on you!"
"Huh!" Isobella snorted.
She turned away from the site grounds in a huff, making her way back towards the road.
Isobella was not very keen about having to be back up and about on her wheels again; she was looking forward to a well-needed rest.
"It's not fair!" she moaned. "I never get to join in on the fun other vehicles get to have while I'm off-site! Even so, I never seem to catch much of a break either!"
She pressed further along, feeling rather sorry for herself, as she approached the sight of Bulgy the Double-Decker Bus up ahead.
HONK-HONK!
She honked loudly at him, attempting to stay in good spirits, only for Bulgy to raise an eyebrow at her with annoyance.
"Huh," he snorted, as he approached her.
Isobella looked up with surprise at both of his stories full of passengers, then noticed the sour expression as he passed on by.
"Out with the railways !" he shouted, as he trundled further on.
Isobella rolled steadily on down her own path, thinking hard to herself.
"Huh," she wondered, then grinned as she cheekily remarked, "sounds like he was having quite a bit of fun."
She approached the hill up ahead, sighing triumphantly, as she saw Trevor and Nelson in the distance.
Isobella arrived at the hill where Trevor broke down all in good time; Nelson had him loaded onto his loader and ready to go to the RoadWorks, as Isobella was hitched up to the float.
"Well done, Isobella!" Jem praised her. "I must say, you did show up on short notice.:
"Yes," Trevor agreed. "And the children will be all taken care of and brought to the festival on time all thanks to you."
"Think nothing of it," the steam lorry bluntly remarked. "At least they'll all have more fun than I've had all day racing around from place to place while other vehicles had fun on-site without me!"
Trevor and Nelson expressed confusion at this remark, as Isobella slowly made it on her way, the organist starting to play from aboard the float. All at once, she began to hear the children sing la-la-la-la-la from aboard the float, and squinted an eye by the sound of it.
"Do, please, stop," she begged quietly. "Imagine having to listen to the same sort of racquet all the way to the fair! Gives one boilerache!"
All of a sudden, she started widening her eyebrows with surprise as the children began to sing lyrics to the melody that they were singing, as she listened from upfront.
"Let's sing a happy little autumn song
A jovial, happy little autumn song
As we watch the trees blossom all around
And the autumn leaves falling down"
As Isobella listened to the organist playing alongside before doing an instrumental break, she suddenly didn't feel so disturbed anymore, as the children began to sing once more.
"Singing a happy, little autumn song
As we stroll happily along
Watching the apples on the trees as they grow
It's off to festival we go!"
The organist performed another instrumental break, as Isobella reached the town and watched the townsfolk all around.
"Oh, look at the town," the children sang.
"Friendly faces all round," the townsfolk sang.
"Decorating in their splendor," they all sang out together, then continued,
"Strolling here and there
'Bout the village square"
Then the children continued to sing out on their own:
"Oh, what a splendid sight on an autumn day
Listening to the wind blow
Feeling the crisp all around
It's off to festival we go"
"Wow!" Isobella wondered to herself, as she listened to the organist take another solo. "This really is fun!"
And for the first time all day, Isobella managed to smile, as she carried the children steadily along towards the festival.
Isobella sang along with the choir and the townsfolk:
"Let's sing a happy little autumn song
A jolly, happy little autumn song
How it can be difficult to despair
When feeling the crisp, autumn air"
Isobella took in a deep breath of the fresh autumn air as she sang the last line along with the choir, then continued along, sighing happily.
"On a bright and crisp, windy day," the townsfolk sang out.
"There's more to do or say
Then to express joy and to set up and decorate
And sing to our happy, little autumn song"
"And sing…" Isobella and the choir sang out with them, as the organist played alongside, "… to our happy, little, JOYFUL, JOVIAL, CHEERFUL autumn song!"
Isobella sighed peacefully and shut her eyes for a moment with a content as she listened to the choir singing behind her and the townsfolk loudly chattering from alongside.
Later that evening, the festival at Cronk was set up in all its splendor, and Trevor had just been repaired in time to see it.
"Wow!" the traction engine marveled, as he rolled up alongside Isobella and looked at the festival all around. "This looks fantastic!"
Isobella smiled over at him, as Miss Jenny walked up before the machines.
"Glad you were able to make it, Trevor!" she greeted, then turned to the yellow sentinel lorry.
"Well done, Isobella!" she praised. "You were able to have the choir and their organist delivered here all in good time for the festival!"
"Yes," Trevor agreed, "and thank you for coming to my aid!"
"Think nothing of it," Isobella told them both. "It was a great experience seeing how much fun you can have when you set your mind to it."
PEEP-PEEP!
At that moment, Thomas whistled as he arrived at the platform with Annie and Clarabel, and his passengers disembarked the train.
"Happy harvest festival, everyone!" he greeted.
Then the organ began to sound up, and soon enough, the children were lined up on the podium and sang as the organist sang alongside.
"Let's sing a happy, little autumn song
A jovial, happy, little autumn song
Happily observing the autumn breeze
And all the fun festivities."
Thomas and the machines listened happily further as they continued singing.
"During autumn season,
We can engage in sing-song
To tunes that we all know
It's off to festival we go."
Isobella sighed and looked across to the machines beside her.
"I'm sorry I was rude to you all earlier," she apologized. "I wasn't thinking clearly, and now I've learnt an important lesson."
"Oh," Jack wondered, as Alfie listened along beside him. "What's that then?"
Isobella beamed as she looked at the big crane beside her.
"You were quite right, Kelly," she assured her friend. "Fun surely is what you can make it after all, whether on- or -off site. Delivering the choir was a fun job and doing so, I stayed committed to the task at hand."
Kelly smiled back in agreement as Thomas and the machines whistled and honked in agreement. Isobella sighed happily and watched the choir continue singing as the festival went on.
"And sing…to our happy, little, JOYFUL, JOVIAL, CHEERFUL autumn song!"
Playing Ghosts - Mike doesn't believe Jock's ghost story that his driver told him and calls him silly, so Jock devises a plan to pay him out, which backfires as he also scares Bert and Rex in the process, and causes all three engines to be too scared to come out of their sheds!
Gordon Gets It Right - Gordon is often susceptible to teasing from Bill and Ben, and tries his hardest to stay wise to their pranks. However, he may find that the twins are being serious for once when it comes to warning him about the Viaduct being under maintenance!
I Do Not Like Them, Peter Sam!(inspired by Green Eggs And Hamby Dr. Suess) - Peter Sam tries to get Sir Handel to be kinder to the coaches, but he insists that they are out to get him and refuses to take any of Peter Sam's advice on how to be kind to them.
Snow Problem For Daisy (based on Snow Problem by Christopher Awdry)- when a snowfall on the Other Railway delays Daisy's return journey, she lands herself in deep trouble getting caught in a blizzard
Driving Home For Christmas - The Fat Controller strives hard through bad weather to make it home in time for Christmas Eve but encounters several obstacles along the way, as his family waits eagerly for his return!