"I believe that most folks, like yourselves, understand that on a great journey, great adventure can never be far away. In fact, it may be waiting right around the corner."
In the pitch-black darkness, a small glimmer of light can be seen, illuminating just enough to see what look like rails on the floor and getting brighter and brighter the closer the light came, along with a rumbling sound, growing louder and louder before came the sound of a familiar friendly whistle. Then came a blur of blue, grey, yellow, and red whooshing by.
It came out of a tunnel in a cloud of steam. It was a little LB&SCR E2 class 0-6-0 tank engine with blue paint with red stripes, a number 1 on each side, six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler, a short stumpy dome, and a friendly face that always makes everyone feel happy inside. It was Thomas the Tank Engine!
His driver in his cab pulled the cord and Thomas whistled friendly "hello" to everyone he meets! Its romance will remain in every human heart, whatever the age, whatever the time. Most folks are happy to know this sadly, a few are not, which is a shame because that's all it takes to cause a lot of trouble to some of the most precious things in life.
This a story about trains; folks who were far apart; and a railroad that brought them together as they were meant to be. Every story, like a railroad, has its heroes. And Thomas, he's our number one hero. And this is where he and his friends live, the Island of Sodor. There's no place like it and if you have the imagination that I think you do, you're about to find out why.
In the big station at Knapford, Gordon the Big Engine, a GNR Class A1 Pacific 4-6-2 with blue paint, red stripes, and a number 4 on his tender, was waiting on the platform. He was to take the big express, the Wild'Nor Wester, and was proud of being the only engine to pull it. But, right now, he was feeling bored because Thomas was meant to shunt his coaches as he always says, "tender engines don't shunt!" He counted the seconds going by.
"3... 4... 5... 6..."
But before he could continue, he heard a distant voice approaching, continuing his counting.
"7... 8!"
It was Thomas, finally arriving at the station and looking at Gordon with a cheeky smile on his face.
"Practicing your numbers, Gordon?" he teased. "That's a good engine."
"No indeed! I'm counting how many seconds late you are!" scoffed Gordon before looking over at the wall, finding a board nailed to it. "You see that sign over there? What does it say?"
Thomas looked over at the sign. It read: SODOR RAILWAY. REALLY RELIABLE AND RIGHT ON TIME.
"And you WEREN'T on time, little Thomas," added Gordon.
"And YOU'RE being bossy, Gordon," smiled Thomas before reading more. "Oh, and it also says, 'Sorry for delays during repairs. We are trying to make this a better railway. Signed, head of the railway, Sir Topham Hatt," he finished before hurrying away to fetch his coaches.
Thomas soon returned with a rake of SR Maunsell Coaches, painted in dark green with cream window surrounds and grey rooftops, and he carefully buffered them up to Gordon's tender before quickly uncoupling and moving away from the train, not feeling interested in being pulled along for the ride again like once before, while the passengers started getting into the coaches.
"Here they are, Gordon," he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to meet Mr. Min-Gi. He's looking after us while Sir Topham Hatt takes a much-needed holiday."
"Pah!" wheeshed Gordon. "I believe we can take care of ourselves!"
At that moment, the two engines heard a very loud honk which seemed to shout, "GET OUT OF MY WAY, YOU PUFFBALLS!" Then a British Rail (BR) Class 42 diesel-hydraulic engine whooshed by. It was painted yellow ochre with tan stripes along his sides. He didn't look very friendly at all. And what made him more menacing was the big hydraulic claw stationed on top of his roof, which doesn't seem legal.
Gordon was so surprised, he shot up from the platform a little way before he could be coupled to the coaches. He returned back very slowly, shaking in his boiler.
"What was THAT?!" he cried as he was finally coupled to the coaches.
"THAT arrived today and is a problem," said Thomas seriously. "I call him Diesel 10. 10 out of 10 for devious deeds and brutal strength. Sir Topham Hatt sent him to help us steam engines, but Diesel is behaving as if he hates steam engines. He's a really scary engine."
At last, the signal dropped, the conductor blew the whistle and waved his green flag. Gordon was ready to leave.
"Goodbye, Thomas," he whistled as he left before muttering. "Perhaps we do need Mr. Min-Gi here after all!"
At the other end, far away across a wide ocean, along peaceful pasturelands, and then up and over Muffle Mountain, is the little town of Shining Time, a contented railroading town hidden-deep in a valley. You'll know that you've arrived as soon as you see the beautiful Bouquet tree with blooms that last from spring until the winter winds blow. There is kindness and courtesy here. It's a town of goodwill in a valley where you can take a breath of fresh air and feel free. Although, this railroad didn't have any talking trains like the Island of Sodor had, so they had these "iron horses" instead. There, it has a small station that has the Indian Valley Railroad running through it, called Shining Time station.
On the top of a hanging basket housing flowers, hanging from the roof, a gold sparkle appeared. When it disappeared, a young adult of Korean descent with black hair stood in its place, giving the flowers in the basket some plant food. This was Mr. Min-Gi. He likes to lend a helping hand; A lot of little jobs get done just because of him. But he's a private kind of fellow and some folks never see him to say, "Thank you".
While feeding the plants, he watched as the happy children ran to the platform, then to a woman waving to a friend on the express train, the Rainbow Sun, the pride of the Indian Valley Railroad, hauled by a Union Pacific FEF-3 4-8-4 left the station with a shrill blast of its whistle. As the woman started to leave, Min-Gi could see she was backing towards the plant basket with him on it and was about to hit her head on it. Quickly, by using his magic, he raised himself and the basket high above just in time to avoid the woman suffering a big headache. After she had gone, he went back to his own business of feeding the plants.
A few hours away by train from Shining Time, in the big city, it was a grey and dark rainy day. In puddles on the street, you could just about see the sky. The street lights reflecting in it almost make the light look like sparkling railway tracks. But nobody seemed to notice this... except one!
A young and pale, 13-year-old girl with glasses and long orange hair tied in a ponytail was hurrying down the sidewalk with her arms covering her head to keep her clear of the rain. She was just walking home from her last day of school until the rain suddenly came. The weather didn't say anything about a downpour and didn't bring her umbrella. But at last, she reached the fire escape of her appartment building and quickly climbed it up until she reached her bedroom window and climbed through it. This girls' name was Tulip Olsen. Aside from game designing, she sees amazing things what no one else has time to see, especially on a rainy day.
She pulled out her harmonica, letting it dance in her hands on the railing, watching it shine above the lights from the cars below. After taking a few minutes eying the magical lights before before putting the harmonica away and crawled into her cramp apartment, drying herself off with a towel. Then she sat at her desk to her computer, pressing several keys on her keyboard before stopping and inhaling a deep breath.
"Okay, game. This time you should work!" she said with fire determination. "After I press play, you just die!"
So, she clicked on the "PLAY" button and the game started. On the screen showed one of those random rocket vs aliens from the old days. She saw an alien coming towards her rocket and tried to move and fire, but the rocket did neither, it just stayed still, doing nothing while the alien made contact with it and destroyed it upon instant. The screen then showed "GAME OVER!" Tulip groaned in frustration.
"Every time!" she sighed until looking at her gaming design book.
After taking a moment to read, she put in the keys like she was reading instructions. After that, she pressed "PLAY" again. This time, the rocket did move and she did fire at the alien, destroying it.
"Yes!" smiled Tulip, pumping her fist.
Then, she heard her mother's voice.
"Tulip! Are you there? Your friend's on the phone."
"Yes, Mom!" she called before her mother came in to pack her backpack.
Before she started packing, her mother gave Tulip her phone. It really was her friend.
"Hey, Mikayla. Are we still up for coding camp next month?"
What Tulip heard next brought her eyes wide before turning disappointed.
"Oh, I see. Okay, thanks for telling me. Good-bye."
"What's wrong?" asked her mother after Tulip's call ended.
"Apparently, coding camp was cancelled!" she sulked before helping her mother with the packing. "Why does it have to be cancelled? I'm clearly one of the best gamers around!" she grumbled in frustration.
"Probably, something must've went wrong, maybe electrical issues. They can happen," consoled her mother. "But don't worry, you'll have a much better trip when you see your father tomorrow."
Hearing this bright even more frustration to poor Tulip.
"Which reminds me, why do I have to go visit Dad anyway?" Tulip asked angrilly.
"Because," reminded her mother sternly, "I can't leave you here alone while I'm helping your aunt have her baby. It'll only be a few days."
"But Dad's always been so sad since you and he got divorced and he never comes here to see us," said Tulip.
"Well, maybe," said her mother with spirit, "your visit will cheer him up. Have you got his present?"
Tulip pulled out a drawer in her bedstand and pulled out a bracelet with threads and beads. It looked like it was still in progress, but almost done.
"I'm making him a friendship bracelet," Tulip told her mother. "But, to be honest, I'd rather stay here with you."
Slightly touched, her mother gave her daughter a hug in comfort. She knew how much her daughter loved her, but she knew what she was doing was the right decision. Since Tulip and her father had been apart for so long, she thought it'd be best if they reconnect. After her mother left, Tulip noticed the spherical toy robot she had since she was a toddler on her nightstand and picked it up.
"Can't forget about you, One-one," she said, carefully putting it in her backpack. "I know how much you like to travel."
And Tulip began staring out her window to the rainy day outside, deep in thought. So now you've met Tulip, Min-Gi and Thomas. But we'll find out from our story whether they meet each other.