IT'S ONLY SNOW

Based upon the episode by David Mitton and James Mason

Adapted by Zack Wanzer and Rachel Ravens

The next several weeks were fairly uneventful for the engines on Sodor, and it wasn't long before they could see Christmas decorations being put up at all the stations.

"They get better every year," Mavis commented with a smile at Daisy. The duo were at Ffarquhar station.

"It would have to be a good one this year," said Daisy. "It is Jack and Salty's first Christmas on the island."

"I sure hope they enjoy it," smiled Mavis. "Salty's all the way at Brendam so we'll have to rely on messages from the main line engines."

Percy was nearby pulling in with some Christmas mail when he overheard the quarry diesel's remark about Salty.

"Maybe Mavis would be happier down at the docks than here…" he said quietly.

Because of the increasing holiday traffic, Sir Topham Hatt had to make some adjustments to the engines' timetables. One of those adjustments was having visiting engines assist on the railway.

"Aww, she's so cute," Duck cooed at baby Sally in Lily's arms.

"Yes, she's gotten so big since we last saw her," agreed Tasha. "You might get a baby toy from Santa, are you excited, Sally?"

Sally just let out a giggle of joy.

"There might be a toy duck for her under the tree," smiled Lily. "We're so lucky to have two family engines like you to watch over her."

"We're all lucky to be here," said Duck. "We'll see you two, Patch and Mutt for the Christmas party on the 24th."

Meanwhile, Emily, Martha and Julian were pulling into Ffarquhar station. Mr. Volley and the station staff were making final adjustments to the decorations.

"Wow!" gasped Emily. "That looks wonderful, Mr. Volley."

"Thanks, Emily," smiled the stationmaster. "We've been working hard to get everything to look beautiful when the passengers get to the station."

"I can certainly say they'll all be impressed," smiled the Stirling single.

"So do we," said Martha. "If I were a coach on this branch line, I don't think I'd recognize the place."

"I have to agree," said Julian. He then glanced up at the clouds. "Uh oh. I think there's more snow on the way."

"We'd better warn the others," Emily said. "This will mean we have to wear snowploughs."

"I know someone's going to enjoy that," teased Percy, glancing over at Thomas.

"You know I won't!" the blue tank engine snapped. "I hate wearing that awkward thing!"

"Here we go again," chuckled Toby. "Every winter, he's like this."

"I don't think it's so bad," said Emily. "Snow does look pretty."

"I'm glad you're not the only engine who thinks that," smiled Daisy.

"Still, remember that big storm during our first Christmas here, Daisy?" asked Mavis. "We do have to be careful." Emily was confused, so the Ffarquhar quintet filled her in.

"My goodness," gasped Emily. "Hopefully nothing like that happens this year."

But late that night, a fierce snowstorm took place. The engines were glad to be tucked away in their sheds, but some were woken up by the noises outside.

"By Brunel's name!" cried Oliver. "It's a wild one tonight."

"There'll be a lot o' clearing tracks tae dae th' mornin'," yawned Douglas.

"Aye," agreed Donald. "At least it'll keep us warm 'n' busy."

"We'll all pull through," assured Tasha. "Since when have we Sudrians not?"

The male engines had to agree.

By next morning, the aftermath was there for all to see. Snow lay everywhere, and at stations, salt had to be spread out to prevent passengers from tripping up.

"Just look at all this!" cried Bear; he, Gordon, Henry, James and Diesel were at Tidmouth sheds. Sir Topham Hatt drove up and got out to address the engines. He was bundled up in a red and green scarf.

"Because of last night's storm," he announced, "it's required that all engines pulling trains wear their snowploughs. You have your usual jobs for the day, but please take extreme caution when going in and out of stations and sidings."

"Yes, sir." The engines all waited patiently for their ploughs to be fitted. This excluded Diesel, however, as he was shunting the trains.

However, this did not exclude Diesel from problems.

"Grease and oil!" he cried, as he realized the points to a siding were frozen. "That flatbed is meant for a special on Thomas' branch line. Oh, but I've already got enough to worry about…"

Speaking of whom, Thomas was having some problems of his own.

"Oh, come on, driver!" he fussed. "Can't we just get this over with already?"

"I'm afraid we can't make your snowplough fit, Thomas," said the driver. "It must've suffered some storm damage last night."

"Botheration," huffed Thomas. Secretly, however, he was pleased that he wouldn't have to wear it, but he was more worried as to whether or not he'd be able to get his special delivery.

"We'll have to see if we can find a spare snowplough in the meantime," said the fireman. "After all, we can't clear snow without one. Not unless you want Terence to help us out again."

Thomas just rolled his eyes.

In the carriage shed, Annie and Clarabel were waiting anxiously for Thomas to bring them out on their first run.

"It's not like Thomas to be delayed like this," said Annie.

"Especially at Christmastime," added Clarabel. "Even with his snowplough, Thomas always puts a smile on his face during this time of year."

Just then, Thomas arrived. Though Annie couldn't see all of it, she was surprised that the edges of Thomas' snowplough were black, not blue. Not only that, it looked as though it hadn't been used for a very long time.

"Sorry, your ladyships," said Thomas, his tone not very cheerful at all, "but my crew had to find a spare snowplough in the yards." He groaned. "This looks and feels even worse than my regular snowplough!"

"Well, at least we'll be running," assured Annie. Thomas was coupled up to his coaches and pulled out of the sheds.

"I hope there isn't too much snow on the way…"

Sir Topham Hatt had been informed about Thomas' snowplough dilemma, so he asked Emily to take his special delivery instead. When the emerald engine went to pick it up, the workmen were still trying to fix the points.

"How long is this going to take?!" cried Emily.

"At least a few more minutes," sighed Diesel. "I've had to deal with other trains in the meantime as they took priority."

"I'm going to be late at this rate!" Emily groaned. "The carolers won't be able to see the Christmas tree at Ulfstead!"

"There's more important things to worry about than a tree," grunted Diesel. "Like getting the passengers there on time!"

"Don't think I don't know that, you we–"

"What's going on here?" Oliver's voice rang out. Diesel was relieved to see the autotank.

"I was just saying to Diesel that I need to get this special done now!" grunted Emily.

"Patience, Emily," Oliver said, calmly. "The workmen will be done as soon as possible."

Just then, a workman cried out, "It's fixed!"

"Finally," sighed Emily and went to get the flatbed. Diesel glanced over at Oliver.

"Diesel, is there something wrong?"

"She… nearly called me a 'weasel'."

Oliver winced. "Hmm… better keep a close eye on her…"

On the return trip to Ffarquhar, Thomas, Annie and Clarabel came to a stop at Callan station; the river below had partially frozen over in last night's storm.

"It's a shame that swans and ducks can't swim in there," said a female voice; it was Emily coming up alongside the trio, breathless.

"Oh, hi, Emily," Thomas greeted the emerald engine. "Don't worry, most of them would have migrated by now. Going south for the winter and all."

"I did hear that in countries… like Australia and Brazil," said Emily, "it's actually… summertime during Christmas."

"Now that actually sounds nice," chuckled Thomas. "Not having to deal with snow when it's close to Christmas… But that also means having to do so in July…" He then saw Emily red in the face. "Whoa, are you okay? It's not hot out here."

"No, but I was in a hurry," Emily admitted, and quickly explained about the frozen points at Knapford. Thomas and his coaches glanced over at Emily's flatbed in surprise, and on it was…

"A Christmas tree!" gasped Annie.

"Where's it headed off to?" asked Clarabel.

"It's to go to the village up at Ulfstead," explained Emily. "It's supposed to be for the Christmas party there."

"Wow," said Thomas. "I wonder if any of our passengers will be going there."

"I think I will," smiled one of them. "It does sound nice."

"I'm taking my family there," said another. "My son loves carols."

"I'm going too," said a third. "I hear Ulfstead is beautiful at this time of year." Other passengers buzzed happily about the prospect too.

The guard's whistle blew and Thomas set off with Emily following behind.

By the time the two engines and two coaches had reached Ffarquhar, it was beginning to snow again.

"Oh, bother," groaned Thomas. "More thick snow, which means more using this big horrid, awkward thing!"

"We can do this, Thomas," assured Emily. "Just keep on pushing through. The villagers need their tree."

"And the passengers need to get to their loved ones," added Thomas. "Right. We can do it."

Thomas and Emily surged ahead as much as they could up the line to Ulfstead. However, what neither realized was that a big rock was in the middle of the track. Thomas' snowplough hit the rock and broke off.

"Cinders and ashes!" exclaimed the blue tank engine. "Driver, brakes!"

Quickly, the driver put on the brakes and Thomas slid on the icy rails. Luckily, the fireman had dropped sand so Thomas could get a grip, stopping just short of hitting a signal.

"That was a close one," gasped Thomas. "But now my snowplough's broken! I knew that old thing was rotten…"

"Thomas, Annie, Clarabel!" cried Emily. "Are you three and the passengers and crew alright?"

"We're okay, Emily," sighed Thomas. "We just have to move that rock so it doesn't get you too."

Soon, the rock was moved off of the tracks and Thomas' broken snowplough was detached.

"How are we going to get to Ulfstead now without a snowplough?" asked Thomas' driver. "It's too dangerous to proceed."

"Maybe I could go in front instead," suggested Emily. "My snowplough is still intact."

"Good idea, Emily!" smiled Thomas. The engines found the nearest runaround siding and quickly swapped positions.

"I'm so glad you came along, Emily," Thomas smiled. "I might have been stranded for hours without you." The emerald engine blushed at the compliment.

At long last, Thomas, Emily, Annie and Clarabel arrived at Ulfstead village. Everyone was cheering at the sight of the tree.

"Thank you, Emily and Thomas," said Pat; his pet cat Jess purred at his feet.

"It's really Emily you should thank, Pat," said Thomas. "She was the hero of the day."

That's the sweetest thing someone ever said about me, Emily thought.

At the annual Christmas party at Knapford, all the engines were gathered together.

"Emily, Thomas," said Sir Topham Hatt, "I'm very pleased with you both. Thomas, I know you didn't like your temporary snowplough, and I know the accident wasn't your fault."

"Thanks, sir," said Thomas. "But the snow could still be pretty heavy after Christmas. What should I do?"

"For now, you'll need to travel behind another engine who does have a snowplough," said Sir Topham Hatt. "Emily seems to get on well with you, so she'll be on the branch until your regular snowplough is fixed. And Tasha," he said, turning to the reddish-purple single, "could you work on the main line until then?"

"Of course, sir," smiled Tasha. "I'm sure my friends at home won't mind. And I won't either." She winked at Duck, causing the pannier to blush. Diesel eyed Emily suspiciously and Oliver glanced over worriedly.

"Cous, what's up?"

"Duck, you're not going to believe this…"

THE END?

Author's Comments

Just in time for Christmas, here's the rewrite of It's Only Snow! The official episode marked the beginning of Thomas' decade-long dance with political correctness until 2013 when they started using the term "Winter Holiday" as opposed to Christmas, which was a stupid decision at the time, and even more so when you realize that the holiday being featured was explicitly Christmas. Yes, the holiday has religious origins, but there's never been an issue with someone saying "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy holidays" (I like saying both, so I don't have a horse in that debate) so there's really no reason to split hairs over using one term over the other. The war on Christmas is a non-issue, and so what if somebody doesn't celebrate the holiday like so many others do? That little rant aside (which has nothing to do with the quality of the episode, but I did want to point that out), a major change to the rewrite was having Emily take Toby's place in joining Thomas on the journey to Ulfstead. The reason for this is three-fold: One, it sets up Emily's "bossy boiler" phase that took place during Series 8-10 (11 and 12 didn't really display it that much, if at all). Two, it also sets up her relationship with Thomas. And three, it also also sets up Thomas' rivalry with Diesel that we see during Series 17-21, and we even get a glimpse of that with Duck and Oliver, but thankfully not to an extreme degree as with Diesel. The irony here is that Oliver was one of the engines (along with Donald and Douglas) who jumpstarted Emily's emotional downfall, albeit unintentionally.

Upcoming stories:

- Gordon's Breakaway

- Alfie Has Kittens

- Harvey to the Rescue

- Oliver Takes the Road

- No Sleep for Cranky