Harold McGrady and the magic railroad

by Jason Southworth

Since the day he was born, Harold always felt that his life was horrible. Things begin to look up however, when he meets a small Scottish man on the beach. He is then led to a magical island with talking trains, where he meets his father for the first time. While there, Harold and his family are trying to solve a mystery about a missing steam engine.

4. Chapter 4

Inside Shining time station, there was a woman wearing red behind the main desk. This woman was Stacy Jones, and she was the station manager. She was a kind woman that was always willing to help others, but she was also stern, and knew how to keep those misbehaving in line. On the other end of the station, was an arcade that was run by a man with a curl in his hair, named Horace Schemer. Although Schemer wasn't the kind of person to wish bad things on other people, he was very cunning and mischievous. A lot of the time, he could be rather greedy, and constantly thought of ways to scam people out of their money. Most of the time, these plans would end up failing, leaving him horribly embarrassed. It was a very busy day at the station that day. As a kid was putting his goldfish on the desk, Stacy received a call on her telephone. "Hello, Shining time station manager Stacy Jones speaking" she said. "Oh yes, the 10:15 from Pelican Falls to Shining time is right on schedule." After she got off the phone, Billy walked in holding the flowers that had just been knocked over. "Hey Billy, come and have a look at this drawing I found" said Stacy. The drawing was of a little boy sitting on a hill next to some Railroad tracks. "The signature on the back says Burnett Stone" said Stacy. "Who would have thought, that Burnett could have ever been that happy?" "Burnett had a wonderful smile, and he loved railroading too" said Billy. Billy then handed Stacy the flowers. "These could use some water" he said. "What happened to these flowers?" asked Stacy. "P.T Boomer is back, and he means trouble" said Billy. Schemer couldn't help but overhear their conversation. "Isn't he related to that green headed vandal?" asked Schemer. "Oh, so so you know who Duncan is" said Billy. Upon hearing the name, Schemer shivered. "That little punk is the reason why i'm too scared to ever set foot on Canadian soil" he said. "I don't like being near people that blow things up." "Now, if you'll excuse me, me and my mommy are going to go and get ice cream." Schemer then walked out of the station.

Painted on the wall right next to Schemer's arcade, was a signal house. There was a steam locomotive painted on one side, and a tunnel on the other. Some weird gold like substance then appeared in front of the signal house door, and when it disappeared, there stood Mr Conductor. "Hello Mr Conductor" said Billy. "Hello Billy, hello Stacy" said Mr Conductor. "Billy, would you mind helping me over to the desk?" "I'd sparkle over there myself, but i'm running a little bit low." Billy gently picked up Mr Conductor, and gently set him down on Stacy's desk. Mr Conductor Then bent down, to see the goldfish at eye level. "Hello Moby Dick, I haven't seen you in years" he said. Some bubbles then came out of the goldfish's mouth. "Thanks, I like my sparkle too" said Mr Conductor. "You know, gold really is your color." The kid from earlier came back in, and took the goldfish away. Mr C then looked down at the drawing. "Stacy, where did you find this?" asked Mr Conductor. "In an old locker, it was done by Burnett Stone when he was a little kid" said Stacy. "He used to work on this railroad, but he never leaves the other side of the mountain now." "I'm very confused, this drawing looks exactly like the island of Sodor, but there's no way Burnett Stone could have gotten there without gold dust" said Mr Conductor. "It's been the only way to travel to and from Sodor, ever since the lost engine went missing." "Anyway, i'm leaving quite soon." "With Sir Topham Hatt on vacation, i'm needed on the island of Sodor." Stacy was nervous, she was on the verge of telling Mr C about P.T Boomer, until Billy signaled her to shush.

Billy then stepped outside, to see a very nervous looking Mutt. "I know, Boomer is bad news for this valley" said Billy. "But so is this train if it doesn't get to DoodleHaven on time." He then climbed into the Rainbow Sun.

After the train left the station, Mutt walked back inside. Mr Conductor could tell that he was upset about something. "Is something the matter" he asked. All Mutt could do was whine. "Don't worry, I won't be gone long, you don't have to worry about missing me" said Mr C. Mr Conductor then blew his whistle, and disappeared in a shower of gold.

Back at Sodor, Thomas was arriving at a place called Tidmouth sheds. Currently sitting in the shed, was a red tender engine named James. He was a kind engine, but he had a massive ego, constantly bragging about his appearance. He had a very high opinion of himself, and considered himself unique compared to the other engines. James was trying to shoo a fly away, which isn't easy to do when you don't have hands. The fly was startled away, when Thomas backed into a set of buffers. "Seems you weren't paying attention, you're very lucky the buffers were there" said James. "That's what their purpose is, to stop engines from crashing" said Thomas. "What are you doing in the shed?" "Shouldn't you be working?" "I told The Fat Controller that I would never pull trucks again" said James. "He told me that until i'm ready to pull trucks, i'm to stay in the shed." "He's just trying to make this a better railway for steam engines" said Thomas. "The Fat Controller says, the harder we work, the less we need diesels to help." "Help you?" laughed a voice. The two engines then saw that Diesel 10 had pulled up beside them. "You guys will always need help" laughed Diesel 10. "Because steam engines are cowardly, cranky, worn out hunks of metal, that couldn't hurt a fly." "No we're not" said James. "Yes you are" said Diesel 10. "Aren't" argued James. "Are" countered Diesel 10. "And you can be sure, that by the time my work here is done on this island, you old kettles will be scrapped." Diesel 10 then oiled away, with Thomas right behind him. "Everything that you're saying is a lie" said Thomas. "None of us will be scrapped, Mr Conductor will be sure of that, i'm off to fetch him now."

Authors note: I know i've been defending this movie, but now, i'm finally getting into some legit issues I have with it. For starters, why was Schemer not in the film? He was the funniest character in Shining time station, and his name isn't even mentioned? Real missed opportunity right there.

Also, it's really stupid that Mister Conductor is completely disregarding the fact that he's running low on gold dust. Instead of having a resident of shining time give him a lift to the desk and back, he just uses his sparkle. And then when he gets to Sodor, he wastes even more gold dust, by sparkling into Thomas' cab. Does it really take that much effort to just climb on board?

Thank you for reading and please have a great day.