The Trouble with Mud
Thomas & Friends is copyright to Mattel and the Awdry family. I own nothing.
One autumn morning, Thomas was in the yard being cleaned when Gordon arrived. His smart blue paint was covered in dirty brown mud from smokebox to tender. "Hullo, Gordon." called Thomas. "You look as if you've had a mud bath. Be a sensible engine and have a shower instead.
Gordon snorted. "I haven't time to dawdle over my appearance like fussy little tank engines do." he sniffed, and puffed away.
The weather grew worse. "Phew, Gordon, slow down!" called his driver.
This made Gordon even crosser. "Now I'll be dirty and later, dirty and late!" he hissed. "What an insult! What an insult!"
At the next station was sign: 'All trains must wash down daily'. James had just finished being cleaned. "C'mon, Gordon," said his driver, "you'll feel better after a good hose-down."
"Pah!" said Gordon, and angrily let off steam. Mud flew everywhere.
"Well, that wasn't very clever, was it?" said Gordon's driver crossly. "Now James will need another shower. You'll have to wait your turn 'till later."
"Good riddance!" huffed Gordon. "I'm far too busy to waste time with trivial things."
He finished his journey safely and steamed into the Big Station. The Fat Controller was waiting and so were Gordon's coaches and the passengers. "Goodness gracious!" said the Fat Controller when he saw Gordon's state. "You can't pull train looking like that! Henry will have to do it. As for you, Gordon, you'd better get cleaned straight away!"
~8~
Gordon was soon being washed. "Mind my eyes!" he grumbled.
"Shut it, silly!" snapped a cleaner. "Did you ever see such mud, Bert?" he asked his mate.
"No, I never, Alf." Bert replied. "You ought to be ashamed, Gordon, giving us all extra work."
After Gordon had been cleaned, he then had to pull Henry's trucks for the rest of the day. He didn't like that at all. "Goods trains! Goods trains!" he muttered.
He bumped them hard. "That's for you! And you! And you!"
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" screamed the trucks as he shunted them about the yard.
"Trucks will be trucks." said James, watching him.
"They won't with me!" snorted Gordon. "I'll teach 'em!" And he gave another truck a bump.
~8~
That afternoon, James was getting ready to take the Express when Gordon returned. "Be careful on the hill, James." warned Gordon. "It's slippery there; you're probably need some help."
"I don't need help on hills." said James huffily.
Gordon laughed and got ready for his next train.
"Slippery hills indeed!" snorted James as he puffed away. "Gordon thinks he knows everything. Come on, come on!" he puffed to his coaches.
"All in good time, all in good time!" they grumbled.
~8~
Gordon's Hill is lined with trees to give shelter from the strong winds from the sea, and in summer, the trains run through a leafy avenue. Now autumn had come and the dead leaves fell. The wind usually puffed them away, but today, rain made them heavy and they didn't move.
The signal at the bottom of the hill showed clear and James began to go faster. "I'll do it, I'll do it." he puffed confidently as he charged at the hill.
Halfway up, he was not so sure!
"I must do it! I must do it!" he panted desperately. But try as he would, his wheels slipped on the leaves and he couldn't pull the train at all.
"Steady, old boy, steady." soothed his driver. His fireman put sand on the rails to help him grip, but James' wheels spun so fast that they only ground the sand and leaves into mud, which made things worse. The train slowly stopped then...
"Help! Help!" whistled James. His wheels were turning forwards, but the heavy coaches him backwards.
The whole train started slipping down the hill, but James' driver shut off steam and put on the brakes, then carefully, he stopped the train. "Phew!" he remarked as he sat down and mopped his face. "I've never known that happen before."
"I have," said the fireman, "in Bincombe Tunnel, on the Southern Region."
The guard came up to the cab. "Now what?" he asked.
"Back to the station," said the fireman, who knew what to do, "and send for another engine to bank us up the hill."
The guard warned the signalman and they brought the train safely down to the bottom of the hill. Gordon had been running a few minutes behind James with a goods train. The signalman stopped him and told him what had happened. He left his trucks and crossed over to James. "I thought you could climb hills." he chuckled.
James didn't answer.
"Ah, well, we live and learn." said Gordon. "We live and learn. Never mind, little James," he went on kindly, "I'm going to push behind." He buffered up behind the Express and they set off.
Clouds of smoke and steam towered from the snorting engines as they struggled up the hill. "We can do it." puffed James.
"We will do it." puffed Gordon.
"We can do it. We will do it." they puffed together.
The greasy rails sometimes made Gordon's wheels slip, but he never gave up and at last, they reached the top. "Peep, peep, thank you, goodbye!" whistled James.
"Poop, poop," answered Gordon as he stopped, "goodbye!" He watched the coaches wistfully till they were out of sight, then he trundled back to his waiting trucks.
~8~
That night, the Fat Controller came to the sheds to see the engines. "Please, sir," said Thomas, "can Gordon pull coaches again now?"
"If you understand that having a wash-down is essential to every engine, then yes, Gordon, you may." said the Fat Controller.
"Thank you." acknowledged Gordon.
The other engines settled down to sleep.
"Dirty or clean, I'm a famous machine." murmured Gordon, but no one heard but him.
Author's notes: Thought I'd have another go at a Thomas the Tank Engine episode adaptation. I chose The Trouble with Mud as it's a guilty pleasure of mine. As with my earlier Granpuff/Sleeping Beauty adaptation, this is a hybrid of the TV series and the original RWS story, Leaves, combining elements of both. I've seen series 3 ranking videos which put this episode quite low, owing to it being heavily rewritten from the original story and I have to admit, I think the RWS story is better, but I like the visuals of the TV episode, which perfectly captures the atmosphere of a British autumn. Series 3 aesthetic wins! So, hope you like this story. Bye for now!