I do not own Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. They are strictly the property of both the Awdry Family and Britt Allcroft, this story is purely for entertainment and not profit.

Episode 20: The Flying Kipper, Original Airdate: 4th December 1984

It was a clear afternoon on the Island of Sodor. In the Tidmouth sheds bunkhouse, Thomas and Henry were having lunch together, whilst talking about their weekend.

"And how is the forest doing Henry?" asked Thomas.

"It's doing fine" answered Henry, "me Toby, Terence and Trevor just planted some extras trees on Saturday".

Thomas gave his friend a smile, he knew how much Henry loved the forest. It was a place where he could go and relax whenever he got the time.

Just then the yard manager came into the bunkhouse kitchen.

"Excuse me Thomas?" asked the manager.

"What is Martin?" asked Thomas.

"There's a couple of priests and some children here to see you" the yard manager said.

Just then Reverends Awdry and Boston came into the kitchen, with them were the children from Rainbows End Creche and Nursey. Lucy was at the front of the group and when she saw her father, she then waddled over to him.

"Daddy" said Lucy happily.

"Lucy" said Thomas surprised as he took his daughter in his arms, "what are you doing here?".

Reverend Awdry decided to explain why they were there.

"We decided to take the children on a train sighting tour today" said Reverend Awdry.

"We even asked Sir Topham Hatt if we could see you whilst you were here" added Reverend Boston.

"Well, that's a very nice surprise" said Thomas as he put Lucy down.

"If there are any engines in the berths, then may we see them?" asked Reverend Awdry.

Both Thomas and Henry looked at each other. Normally only engine drivers got to see the engines in their berths, non-engine drivers like railway enthusiasts had to get special permission from Sir Topham Hatt in order to do so. But since they had, they decided to do so.

"Alright then" said Thomas as he took Lucy's hand, "if you guys want to see the engines, then follow me and Henry please".

Both the Reverends and the children looked happy at the announcement. They then left the bunkhouse kitchen and follow Thomas and Henry to the engine berths, Thomas' E2 and Henry's Stanier Class 5 were the only engines currently in the berths. Both Reverends Awdry, Boston and the children went up to Henry's Stanier Class 5.

Henry came up to them and put his hand on his engines buffer beam, he then looked proudly at his engine.

"Is it true that you've had this train since you arrived here Mr. Henry?" asked a little girl.

"That's right sweetie" said Henry proudly, "although when I first got her, she wasn't a Stanier Class 5".

"She wasn't?" a little boy asked Henry.

"That's right" said Reverend Boston, "what engine class was she before Sir Topham Hatt had it rebuilt?".

"She was a hybrid between a LNER A1 and a LNER C1," said Henry.

Both Reverend Awdry and Reverend Boston looked at each other, Henry's engine was a hybrid. This meant that she was probably one of a kind.

"Was she also by any chance an experimental engine Henry?" asked Reverend Awdry.

"That's right" said Henry, "and I regret to say that because she wasn't ready for production when she was first built, she had tons of technical flaws".

Thomas looked at Henry sympathetically. He remembered all the grief that poor Henry had during his engines steaming problems, they were temporarily fixed when Sir Topham Hatt and Chairman Starr got him the special Welsh coal.

"But then you had your crash and then she was rebuilt," said Thomas.

Henry looked at Thomas with a knowing look. He remembered that crash just like it was only yesterday.

"Uncle Henry crash?" asked Lucy.

"That's right Lucy" said Thomas to his daughter, "Henry would you be so kind to tell us the story if you want?".

Henry looked at his friend.

"Really Thomas?" asked Henry, "you sure that you don't want to yourself?".

"I think I should take a break from the story telling today, besides you know it better then I do" said Thomas.

Henry then looked at the children, including his honorary niece, Lucy. He then gave them all a smile.

"Very well" said Henry, "who wants to hear my story?".

Lucy and all the other children said yes in excitement. Both Thomas and Henry quickly got them and Reverends Awdry and Boston some spare chairs to sit on, once everybody was seated Thomas and Henry both sat down in their seats.

"Everybody sitting comfortably?" asked Henry.

The children then all said yes.

"Good" smiled Henry as he began the story, "this all began the Christmas that Toby arrived on the island.

(Story Begins)

One winter evening Sir Topham Hatt came to see Henry at the Tidmouth sheds bunkhouse.

"I want you to go to bed early tonight Henry" said Sir Topham Hatt, "you need to be up early tomorrow".

"Is there a special train you want me to pull Sir?" asked Henry.

"There is" said Sir Topham Hatt, "it's called the Flying Kipper".

Sir Topham Hatt then told Henry about the Flying and what it was for. Henry seemed rather interested in pulling the train.

"Don't tell Gordon this, but if you pull the Kipper nicely. I might let you pull the express" said Sir Topham Hatt, "that special Welsh coal me and Chairman Starr have given has done your engine well.

"Hooray" said Henry in excitement, "that will be lovely".

Smiling at Henry's enthusiasm Sir Topham Hatt then went home, whilst Henry went to bed. Early next morning at 4 am, Henry got up and went into the kitchen to make himself a coffee for which he would use to keep himself awake. He had made his coffee; Henry went into the engine berths to light his engines fire. Once the fire was burning nicely, thanks to the Welsh coal, Henry then left Tidmouth sheds and headed for Knapford Harbour.

All kinds of ships use the harbour at Knapford. There are passenger ships, cargo ships and fishing boats that come here. The passenger ships have spotless paint and shining brass domes, the cargo ships, although smaller and dirty are also important too. They take coal, machinery, and other things abroad, they also bring back timber, fruit, meat, and other things that we need.

Fishing boats also arrive at the harbour. They unload their catch on the quay, where it is then cleaned and load into crates. Some of it goes to shops in the town and the rest goes in a special train to places far away. This is the train that the railwaymen call, The Flying Kipper.

Henry arrived at the harbour and was ready at 5 o'clock. There was frost and snow on the rails, so Henry knew he had to be careful. The workmen hustled and shouted loading the vans with crates full of fish, soon they were done. The last door banged, the guard showed his green lamp, the Flying Kipper was ready to go. Henry's engines wheels spun on the icy rails as he tried to leave, but soon they gained a grip and his engine slowly puffed out of the harbour.

"Come along, come along. Don't be silly, don't be silly" Henry called the workmen.

"Trock trick, trock trick. Alright, alright" called the workmen as Henry left the harbour and into the early morning.

Soon Henry's engine was puffing down the mainline. Clouds of smoke and steam poured from its funnel into the cold air, its fire glowed brightly in the fading darkness of night.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry" Henry said to himself as he raced through Wellsworth.

Henry was going well the light grew better, and the signal light showed green as he passed. As he crossed the viaduct, a yellow signal appeared. Henry prepared to stop, but the home signal was down.

"All clear" Henry said to himself, "away we go".

Henry couldn't know that the points from the mainline to a siding were frozen solid, and that the home signal should have been set to danger, but snow had forced it down. Henry didn't know was that this and just drove his engine into the siding as if everything was normal.

James was waiting with an early morning goods train in the siding to let the Kipper pass and James was having hot coco with the guard in the brake van. Normally James hated having to get up early, however he didn't want to get in trouble with Sir Topham Hatt again, so he did it without complaint.

"The Kipper is due" said the guard when he looked at his watch.

"Who cares" said James who was enjoying his coco very much, "this is very good coco Will".

"Its an old family recipe" smiled the guard, happy that James was enjoying it.

Just then both James and the guard heard frantic whistling. They both rushed out of the door to seeing Henry's engine racing towards them, whistling frantically, telling them to jump. Both James and the guard didn't need telling twice, jumped clear and ran for cover. There was a loud crash as Henry's engine slammed into the back of the brake van, destroying it and several trucks, luckily Henry had jumped clear before the crash. However, Henry had broken his leg when he jumped, both James and the guard rushed over to where he sat in the snow to see if he was okay.

"Henry" asked James in shock, "are you okay?".

"Not really James" said Henry, "my engines crashed, and my leg is broken".

"Don't worry" said the guard kindly, "I'll phone for an ambulance".

"Better call the breakdown train as well Will," said James.

An ambulance arrived half an hour later and took Henry to Wellsworth hospital. When he was discharged later that morning, James arrived later that day and brought him back to the crash site. Edward had arrived with the breakdown train and had cleared the mess, when Henry arrived, he saw the condition his engine was in.

She was a wreck; both her buffers were gone, the front coupling was gone, its paint was scratched, half of its funnel was broken off, its whistle was completely gone, and its handrails were dangling off its sides.

Henry was devastated by his beloved engines condition and began to cry in despair that it might now have to be scrapped. Sir Topham Hatt's blue Lagonda V12 soon drove up to the scene, Sir Topham Hatt then saw that Henry was crying over his engines condition. He walked up to Henry and gave him a comforting pat on his shoulder, Henry then turned to see his boss with a sympathetic look on his face.

"The signal was done Sir" croaked Henry, "I swear I didn't mean for this crash to happen".

"Cheer up Henry" said Sir Topham Hatt kindly, "it wasn't your fault, ice and snow caused the accident".

"But what's going to happen to my engine now Sir?" asked Henry sadly.

"Well, I can assure you Henry that she isn't going to be scrapped" announced Sir Topham Hatt.

"She's not Sir?" asked Henry hoping against all hope that Sir Topham Hatt was going to do something to fix her.

"No, she isn't" replied Sir Topham Hatt, "I'm sending her to Crewe, a fine place for damaged engines".

Henry's eyes widened when he heard the name Crewe. Crewe had long been known for being a major railway works, if Sir Topham Hatt was sending his engine to Crewe, then there was hope for it yet.

"They'll give her a new shape and a much larger firebox" said Sir Topham Hatt, "with a much larger firebox, your engine won't need Welsh coal anymore, would you like that Henry?".

"Oh yes please Sir" said Henry before he asked, "is it okay if I go along to Crewe with my engine to see its progress?".

"That request I will gladly grant you Henry" smiled Sir Topham Hatt.

(Three Months Later)

Henry liked being at Crewe, the manager and staff of the works were very friendly people who were also steam engine enthusiasts. True to Sir Topham Hatt's word, his engine was completely rebuilt from a LNER A1 and LNER C1 hybrid into a LMS Stainer Class 5 tender engine and as promised, it had a much larger firebox.

When springtime came around, everything was finished. Henry had just arrived at Crewe with his suitcase, today he was going back home to Sodor. He arrived at Crewe to see the workmen doing some last minute preparations, one of the workmen saw Henry come towards them.

"Alright now Henry" said one of the workmen, "why don't you fire her up and see what happens".

"Okay then" replied Henry.

Henry then hopped into his newly rebuilt engines cab and started to light its fire. The tender was filled with normal coal, which Henry then shovelled to build up the fire. A short while later the fire was burning nicely, and steam was building up better than it would have in Henry's engine old shape.

Henry was so happy that he couldn't speak at all. The workmen and the manager of Crewe, who had come to see Henry fire up his engine all looked at him in happily. Henry then hopped down from the cab and shook their hands in thanks for all their hard work.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you" said Henry happily, "I don't know how I'll be ever to thank you for this".

"Just continued to work hard" said the manager smiling, "that would be enough for us".

Smiling Henry grabbed his suitcase and hopped back into his engines cab and set off back home to Sodor. Although Henry liked being at Crewe, he was nonetheless happy to be going home. The journey was long and took him a whole day, but the next morning he crossed the Vicarstown bridge and was back on the Island of Sodor.

A crowd of people waited to see both his arrival home and to see his engines new shape. When they saw his engine, they thought that it looked so splendid and strong that they gave him three cheers. When he arrived back at Knapford Station, both Sir Topham Hatt and Chairman Ringo Starr were waiting for him.

"Welcome home Henry" greeted Sir Topham Hatt when Henry hopped down from the cab.

"Its so good that both you and your engine are still with us" said Chairman Starr.

"Thank you, Sirs," said Henry, "it's so good to be home too".

I'm sorry to say that lots of little children were often late for school, because they wanted to see Henry's engine pulling the express and although both their parents and teachers were upset at them being late, they understood why.

Henry pulls the Wild Nor' Wester so well that Gordon is jealous. But that's another story.

(Story Ends)

"That was very impressive Mr. Stanier" complemented Reverend Awdry when Henry finished his story.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it" smiled Henry.

Thomas then looked at his watch, his eyes widened when he saw that both his and Henry's lunch break was up and that it was time to get back to work.

"Henry its time we got back to work," said Thomas.

"Well, we all thank you for such an amazing story and hope that we can come her again," said Reverend Boston.

"Well, if you are all real lucky then Sir Topham Hatt might let you do just that," said Thomas.

Lucy then waddled up to her father and gave him a hug, smiling Thomas gave his little daughter a hug in return.

"Bye, bye Daddy," said Lucy.

"Bye, bye Lucy" said Thomas, "Daddy will see you later and take you to McDonalds".

Lucy clapped her hands excitedly as Reverends Awdry and Boston both left Tidmouth sheds to return to Rainbows End. Thomas and Henry both hopped back into their engines and returned to work.

And done. I'm so sorry that it took so long, I have no excuse. I would like to reply to my guest is that Lady will be pregnant until the Runaway, however she and Thomas won't be getting married until the Magic Railroad. Anyway please be so kind to leave a preview and as always, see you all next time.