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.

5. Chapter 5

Back at the McGrady household, Helen was currently cooking meatloaf, when she heard the sound of glass breaking from upstairs. Then she heard several bumping sounds coming from the stairway. Everyone ran over to see what the commotion was. They saw Harold laying facedown at the bottom of the stairs, with a rock right next to him. On the rock, a giant capital letter D was carved. "Damnit, it's another Harold hater/Duncan lover" said Henry. "Yeah, there are a lot of those here in Canada" said Carol. "Certainly hope the wee lad is okay, he may have broken a bone or two" said Junior. Thankfully, Harold was conscious, and was able to get up under his own power. Unfortunately, his left nostril was bleeding severely, as there was a piece of wood in it. There was now a chip in the hard wood floor he was standing on. "Oh God, I haven't taken an in depth look yet, but I can already tell this is going to require a stitch or two" said Helen. "How can ye tell, just by looking at it?" asked Junior. "Growing up, long before I ever went to medical school, i've had to patch him up several times" said Helen. "I can remember every health problem he's ever had, every single one." "I can remember every square inch of his body." "My little bro is the reason why I wanted to be a doctor."

Back on the island of Sodor, Thomas was now pulling into a siding, where Mr Conductor was waiting. "Are you alright Mr Conductor?" asked Thomas. "You look quite shaken up." "I'm alright Thomas, it's just a bumpy journey from Shining time to Sodor" said Mr Conductor. He then climbed into Thomas' cab, and shook hands with the driver and fireman. As Thomas began puffing towards Knapford, his driver began making small talk with Mr C. "You know, after all these years, I still haven't met my youngest son" he said. "It's a bloody shame, he's been getting slandered for the past couple of years, and I just want to give him a hug." "By the way Mr Conductor, you should probably be careful, there's a badly behaved Diesel here" said Thomas. "Don't worry Thomas, i'll keep him in order" said Mr Conductor.

In some sidings on another part of the island, Diesel 10 sat, talking to two small Class 08 shunting diesels. One of them was painted purple and grey, while the other was painted olive and grey. On a cliff beside the track, Diesel 10's driver had just carved Diesel 10's face. "You really captured the real me, that's beautiful, I could cry" said Diesel 10. His driver then stepped inside him. "Uh boss" said the purple diesel. "I believe you called us here for a reason" said the olive one. "Alright, now that Fat Hatt is gone, i've got an important job for you Splodge" said Diesel 10. "Actually, the name is Splatter" said the purple one. "And Dodge" said the olive one. "I ain't going to waste time, saying both names" said Diesel 10. "Now, you two are going to help me make life hell for the steam engines." "This island could do without them, we diesels are going to be taking over." "There's one small problem with that" said Splatter. "I don't think Mr Conductor is going to approve" said Dodge. "Oh don't worry, Pinchy will take care of him" said Diesel 10. His driver then pulled an lever, and a hatch opened up on his roof. A metal claw then emerged. And then, the claw smacked Diesel 10 in the face. "OW, GOD DAMNIT PINCHY!" shouted Diesel 10. "I don't think that was supposed to happen" said Splatter. "Neither do I" said Dodge.

Authors note: People have complained that live action actors with moving mouths, talking to model trains without moving mouths is disturbing. I personally think that if the mouths were actually moving, it would be creepy as hell.

What many consider to be one of the biggest flaws of the movie, is how Sodor is completely devoid of human life, and that the vehicles can somehow move on their own. I think there are humans on Sodor during the movie, they are simply just off screen. Later on in the film, you can clearly see that Bertie the bus has a driver on board. I'm completely baffled at GWR studios for calling this a goof. That isn't a screw up, that's confirmation. Besides, if there are no humans on the island, how do the engines refuel themselves? Even in a movie with magic in it, I still refuse to believe that these sentient machines have somehow mastered telekinesis.

Thank you for reading and please have a great day.