Speedblast

Today, Spencer is visiting the Island of Sodor. He was proud of his visit. "Oh no," groaned Gordon, "Not mister 'I'm the fastest engine in the world', there." "And mister bragging," said Henry. "Here he comes," said James, unimpressed. "Hello, every engine!" boomed Spencer, "Lovely day today. Isn't it?"

"Yeah," the engines replied dully. "Come on," said Spencer, "Aren't you glad to see one of your old friends again?" "No one here s your friend," muttered Gordon. "Hmm," Spencer thought, "No reply? Oh well, I'm going to start work right now. Whether you're interested or not." Spencer puffed away, leaving an uninterested group of engines behind.

So Spencer did his jobs very well. "Not bad for a visiting engine," he said when he took a train of passengers to the first station. However, he would not stop showing off to the other engines. "Ugh," groaned Murdoch, "He's full of himself today."

"Right," agreed Arthur. "Bossy boiler!" groaned Thomas. "You can say that a lot!" Emily replied. "No kidding!" said Toby. Annie, Clarabel and Henrietta agreed with the engines.

Spencer was also very rude when he raced by Fergus. "Out of my way, small fry!" he said to the traction engine. "WHAT?!" cried Fergus. He was insulted. But as usual, Spencer didn't care. Later, Spencer took a passenger train to the narrow gauge station.

A few minutes later, Rheneas arrived with his passenger train. "You're a slow engine!" Spencer said to the little engine rudely, "I can race to Canada in less than a day, as opposed to you, who could do it in two days!" "Shut up!" Rheneas burst out. "Who invited him?" asked Peter Sam when Spencer left.

All day, Spencer did his jobs, but not without making rude remarks of other engines. "Ah," smiled Spencer, "No trouble at all today, I assure you." Spencer fell asleep very fast.

The other engines were returning to their sheds as well. "What kind of engine is he?" asked Duck. "Me!" Fergus said angrily, "Calling me a small fry! I may not be big, but I can sure do my jobs like every other engine! I'll show that stuck-up pride head!" "Ok," said Oliver, "Something will come."

The next morning, Spencer was chosen to take the Mayor of Sodor around the railway. "Ah!" Spencer bragged to the other engines, "What me take the important person around the railway. I'm sure he'll have a wonderful time! I'll make sure of that!"

Spencer continued to brag on about it as he departed from the station with one coach. The other engines were glad that the Mayor is going to enjoy the journey, but not impressed with Spencer's attitude. "I predict that he'll have an accident," said Douglas, "Because of his non-stop bragging." "You can say that all the time," said Daisy.

Throughout the morning, Spencer showed the Mayor many places on the railway. The Mayor was impressed. "Fastest and best, fastest and best," chanted Spencer, "I'm the proud engine!" He said that as he started to go faster. "Whoa, boy," his driver called, "Not too fast."

"Why ever not?" Spencer retorted, "The Mayor likes it fast. He'll be done in no time." "Wait!" the driver called, trying to regulate speed. "Never mind, driver," said Spencer, "I can do it." Spencer is going to run into trouble. "Nothing to it," boasted Spencer. But his chuckle of pride is going to change suddenly.

It happened when Spencer ran past a red signal and then he saw what was up ahead. "Oh no!" cried Spencer the moment he saw a goods train up ahead. "You fool!" shouted his driver as he slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. "Oh no!" yelled Spencer. The guard of the brake van and Spencer's driver and firemen jumped clear.

Spencer plowed into the goods train. He destroyed the brake van and 10 trucks. The Mayor had been thrown across the interior of the coach. He wasn't seriously hurt, but he was cross. "What a failed day!" he said out loud. Spencer remained derailed and covered in debris.

Harvey arrived to clear up the mess a few minutes later. Murdoch, who had been pulling the train that Spencer crashed into turned around onto a loop line and saw what had happened to his train. "Oh, this, you fool," Murdoch said to Spencer. "This is your fault, you know," said Henry. "Oh," groaned Spencer.

Then Thomas arrived with the Fat Controller, who, of course, was cross. "What have you done, Spencer?!" he boomed. "Making the Mayor's trip go really super fast?" Spencer answered meekly. "You've caused delay and confusion and a absolute mess!" the Fat Controller said angrily, "Your speed will be severely regulated during your jobs after you're repaired! Is that a fair punishment for you?"

"Yes, sir," replied Spencer sadly. "And you owe every engine an apology for what you did to them yesterday!" Harvey demanded. "Right," agreed Spencer.

After the Mayor recovered from his experience, Daisy was chosen to take the Mayor around the island. Murdoch took Spencer to the works to be repaired after Harvey pulled him back onto the railway.

"You foolish engine," grumbled his driver, "I will follow the order when you're back on the job. I mean it!"

"Right," agreed Spencer.

Days later, Spencer was back to work, now doing his jobs very slowly. He was no longer early and instead, he was late or just on time. During this time, Spencer met the other engines. "Sorry that I was a big showoff like you said," Spencer apologized. "All right," the engines replied, "We'll try and forgive you."

"But seriously," said Thomas, "Stop being a showoff!" "Right," answered Spencer. He puffed away, shamefully. "Good," smiled Gordon. "I think now things will go really smooth," said Edward. "Right," agreed James. "I can live with that," smiled Thomas. Just then, Bertie arrived. "Hey, Thomas," he said, "Don't you have to be somewhere?"

"Oh, you're right!" Thomas replied, "My branch line train! I have to go!" Thomas stormed off. "You sure got him going," smiled Emily. "Right," agreed Bertie, "Now he will be on time." "But you can sure agree that Spencer won't!" said Gordon.