JOURNEY BEYOND SODOR

Based upon the special by Andrew Brenner

Adapted by Zack Wanzer, James Riddle and Rachel Ravens

Additional material by Mike Nicholson, Matt St. Onge and Cameron Stevens

James the red engine had been stuck in the Steamworks for quite some time. The reason he'd ended up there was because his brakes had failed on him while speeding down Gordon's hill, eventually resulting in him crashing into the back of Tidmouth sheds. For his first night at the Steamworks following the crash, James had had a few nightmares in which he was painted in different colors before being reassured by Sir Topham Hatt the following morning that he'd be keeping his red paint, much to his relief.

Several days had passed since James' accident, and while Tidmouth sheds was being repaired, Thomas had temporarily relocated to Knapford sheds while Edward went with Philip to Wellsworth. That afternoon, the blue tank engine was at Knapford station when he heard someone calling his name.

"Hello, Thomas."

"Oh, hello, James," greeted Thomas. "Good to see you back on the line again. All repaired and repainted too."

"I'm not going to say a word about my paintwork today," James replied.

Thomas raised a confused eyebrow; he'd usually expect James to start boasting "Really? Why?"

"It doesn't matter what color I am," insisted James. "It's what I do to be really useful that matters."

"Who told you that?" asked Thomas, incredulously.

"Why, you did, Thomas," James grinned, "in a dream." Thomas just blinked as James rolled off. "Mind you, I bet my shiny red paintwork does look splendid."

But James was oblivious to what had been going on since he was at the Steamworks…

A little later in the day, James returned to Tidmouth sheds for the first time in days. Then he and the others heard the cheerful whistle of a familiar blue tender engine.

"Hello, Edward," greeted Sir Topham Hatt. "The work's all finished and everyone's moved back in… including James," he added with a hint of disgruntlement, causing the red engine to flush with embarrassment.

"Oh…" Philip was a bit disappointed; since the diesel boxcab had entered service a couple of years ago, he proved to be very exuberant, but still extra friendly. Recently, he'd begun making trips to Wellsworth, sometimes even staying there for the night, and wished he had company at the sheds. "I wish you could stay with me…"

Sir Topham Hatt gave a slight chuckle. "I'm sure Edward can't wait to get back to his own shed."

"Well…" The old engine looked into his old berth between Gordon and James, and they, as well as Henry, Thomas, Percy and Emily, gave welcoming expressions toward Edward. However, something inside the old blue engine twisted; Philip was a sweet little engine despite his chatterbox tendencies, and not many engines had the patience to see the good nature within him.

"Perhaps I could stay one more night with Philip," he said at last. "If that's alright with you, sir."

The little boxcab's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "You can stay as long as you like!" Philip beamed. "Forever, even!"

The other engines held their breath; Gordon seemed the most tense. Surely Edward wouldn't think of moving out, he thought. He's been at Tidmouth for years since BoCo went to the Bluebell Railway.

"Well," smiled Edward, "it is nearer my branch line…" And BoCo's finally home too, he added in his mind, smiling.

"Well, Edward," said Sir Topham Hatt, "if you want to move to Wellsworth, that's fine by me."

What?! Gordon's mind jolted with shock. I'm not hearing this, surely! Edward can't be moving sheds… can he?

"Yay! Brilliant!" cheered Philip. "Oh, you hear that, Thomas? I have a new roommate!"

Thomas gave a soft chuckle. "We'll miss you here at the sheds, Edward."

"I'm sure we'll see each other all the time," assured Edward as he turned around on the turntable.

"Alright!" cried Philip as he raced off. "We're going to have some great times, Edward! Me and you in the same shed. Wellsworth is a lovely station too, you know. It… er, oops. There I go again; talking too much!"

"You can talk just as much as you like, Philip," assured Edward, trundling after him. "Just not while I'm trying to sleep."

"I wonder who will be joining us at Tidmouth sheds?" asked Emily.

"Well," said Thomas, "we're just going to have to wait and see."

After Sir Topham Hatt left for the evening, the engines began to wind down for the night. Gordon, however, who needed to take his evening train, was still processing what had just happened.

"All these years he's lived at Tidmouth," he complained as he puffed onto the turntable, "and now Edward decides to leave us as soon as they're repaired! Whatever is this island coming to?"

"Er, Gordon…"

"Not a word out of you!" James flinched at Gordon's harsh response, and watched as the big blue engine left for Knapford station. Yes, he was supportive of Edward's decision, but James couldn't help but feel a bit guilty following his reckless actions.

"It'll probably be a while before he accepts it fully," said Henry. "Whenever that is…"

"Hopefully before too long," agreed James. "We know what Gordon's like, don't we?"

Gordon was still sulking as he pulled into Knapford station, waiting for one of the shunters to bring in his coaches.

"Hey, Gordon," said Charlie. "Wow, you're looking blue this evening. Well, more than usual since you're already painted blue, but… what's up?"

"It's that James' fault!" Gordon growled. "If he didn't crash into the back of the shed, this never would have happened!"

"He did crash," said another voice; it was Edward, coming in with the red coaches. "But… he said he was sorry. Being in the works does give one time to think."

"Well, yes," said Gordon, "but that's not what I mean. It was because of that crash that caused you to move out!"

"What?!" gasped Edward. "That's not true. Gordon, I moved to Wellsworth because it's closer to my branch line. I also decided to help mentor Philip and–"

"So we've got two engines to blame!" cried Gordon. "James and Philip. I swear, that boxcab goes on and on about how he 'beat me' in a 'race', and then he takes one of my old shed mates away!"

"Now, now, Gordon," called Sean, "don't you remember how Philip stopped you from–"

"I don't want to hear it!" he snapped angrily. At that moment, Gordon's guard blew the whistle, and the express engine huffed away.

"Oh dear…" sighed Edward. "I can only imagine the disruption it would cause for the railway…"

Unfortunately for Edward, the old engine was right. Sir Topham Hatt wasn't in a good emotional state with the passing of his grandmother, Dowager Sharon Hatt, and Annabelle was put in charge for the time being. Usually, managing the engines was a walk in the park for the Railway Girl.

"Oh, that's good to know," smiled Annabelle on the phone. "I'll let the engines know straight away."

CRASH!

"Huh?!" Annabelle nearly dropped the phone. "I-I have to go, bye."

There was a commotion at Knapford yards; Amanda was shunting coaches needed for the Wild Nor'Wester, but without warning, James had accidentally bumped into a stray wagon in the middle of the line, and it collided with one of the coaches, denting its side, and causing the whole rake to derail. Gordon had also come to see what had happened, and he was furious.

"JAMES!" he yelled. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO MY POOR COACHES!"

"Er… I'm getting Judy and Jerome…" Amanda wisely puffed away.

"What?!" gasped James. "Oh, Gordon, I'm so sorry, I didn't see them there, honestly!"

"Sorry? SORRY?!" gawked Gordon, completely unamused by what he believed was a low-key apology. "It's bad enough you smash into the back of Tidmouth sheds and cause Edward to leave to mentor a silly little boxcab, but this?! Now the passengers for the express will be delayed, and all you can say about it is 'sorry'?! Can't you go a single week without causing any sort of chaos or disruption?!"

"For the record," huffed James, "yes I can! This was a genuine mistake, unlike when Thomas–"

"Don't. Bring. Him. Up!"

"G-Gordon, James…" gasped Annabelle. "What's going on here?"

"I was shunting," said James, "and I didn't see the express coaches–"

"He rammed his trucks right into them!" fumed Gordon.

"For the last time, it was an accid–"

"ENOUGH!" Henry had arrived, letting off steam. "Gordon, James, one at a time. You know what it's like for Annabelle." The two engines looked to see the red-haired woman covering her ears with her hands, looking very distressed. Annabelle removed her hands once she felt certain that the arguing had stopped.

"Sorry, Annabelle," sighed James.

"Yes," agreed Gordon. "We're terribly sorry."

"Okay," said Annabelle. "Thanks, Henry. Now, James, you take what's left of your train. Gordon, Stanley will get new coaches for you. Henry, Charlie's arranged your goods train. I promise I'll look into this situation when I have the time."

"Okay, Annabelle." The three engines went their separate ways.

Henry was not happy as he pulled his goods train along the main line. He was running well, but a lot was on his mind.

"Gordon and James are letting all this bad water come between them," he muttered. "Yes, I know Edward's not at Tidmouth anymore, but it's not as if he's transferred to another railway."

"Edward's switched sheds, has he?" asked another voice.

"Oh, yes, Bear," said Henry. "He's now at– Bear?!" The green steam engine couldn't believe his eyes. The blue Hymek was waiting at Cronk station with some coaches. Henry's face lit up with delight. "Welcome home!"

"Hello, Henry," greeted Bear. "It's great to be back again."

"I'm so glad to see a smiling face," said Henry. "How was the mainland?"

"Very good," said Bear. "I stopped by Bridlington yard a lot. I heard you showed excellent sportsmanship to Frieda at the Great Railway Show. Shame I didn't see it for myself…"

"Oh, it's alright," smiled Henry. "I heard a few people joke it was like my Super Rescue all over again."

"Ah, yes," grinned Bear. "I remember that very well. You ought to be proud, Henry." He closed his eyes for a moment. "So… why were you so cross before seeing me?"

"Oh," said Henry. "Well, Bear… Gordon and James aren't doing so well." He quickly summarized the situation.

"Ouch!" cried Bear. "That's quite a serious problem, Henry. I think what we need to do is separate Gordon and James from each other for a few days; just to get them to calm down."

"Good idea," said Henry. "We'll have to run this through with Annabelle."

"That's a great idea, you two," smiled Annabelle. "Bear, now that you're back, I'll assign you to do James' work for a few days. James will help out on the Peel Godred branch for the time being."

"Are the electric engines okay?" asked Bear.

"They need a bit more help," explained Annabelle. "And don't worry about the airport traffic; I've got someone else in mind."

"Thanks, Annabelle," said Bear. "So… is it okay if I hang out at Tidmouth for a few days? I think Murdoch and Dennis could use a break from my chatter."

"Sure, Bear," said Henry. "Oh, the others will be thrilled to see you."

Author's Notes

Here we are for the first SeventyVerse story of 2024, the Journey Beyond Sodor rewrite! Even before the actual special was released, fans were practically going on about it, albeit not always for the right reasons. I'm not going to delve into too much of that, but I will say that the backlash against it was completely unfair, and most of the "issues" were really skin deep. Now, as much as I love the actual special as is, it wouldn't really work with what I'd established in The Great Railway Show or The International Railway Series, namely in regards to Thomas' portrayal, which would've stuck out like a dented buffer. So, James has been promoted from deuteragonist to the main character, continuing his arc from The Great Railway Show. The first chapter is a bit of a slow start, mainly with retelling the final scenes from An Engine of Many Colors (the only Series 22 episode that I've left intact) and A Shed for Edward, with the story following on from the events of the latter, and how Gordon is handling it and using James as a verbal punching bag.

Next time, James is left pondering the question - is he a Worthless Engine?