Starr: Huh, an engine trying to fish?
Britt: Yep.
Starr: Well, here we go.
…
When Thomas puffed along his branchline, he always looked forward to something special. Two of those special things being the popular fish and chips, and sight of the river.
As he rumbled over the bridge, he could see people fishing. He wanted to stop for a moment and watch, but his driver wouldn't let him.
"No, what would TFC say if we were late?" said the driver.
"Probably business as usual or something." said the fireman.
Anyways, every time Thomas met with another engine, he was a bit obsessed as he said "I want to fish!" with a tone of voice that kids use when they want a toy.
And the other engines all had the same answer, though their reactions varied.
"I want to fish!" Thomas said to Edward.
*I'm sorry to say this, Thomas. But engines don't go fishing." replied Edward, trying and failing to advise against it.
…
"I want to fish!" Thomas said to Henry.
Henry unfortunately had a hacking cough.
"Engines don't go fishing!" spluttered Henry.
"Maybe it could improve your health!" remarked Thomas as he ran off.
…
"I want to fish!" Thomas said to Gordon.
"Huh! Engines don't go fishing!" replied Gordon indignantly.
"At least I don't burst my safety valve!" remarked Thomas.
…
"I want to fish!" said Thomas to James.
James looked at him in disgust.
"Engines don't go fishing or anything." replied James.
"Silly stick in the mud!" remarked Thomas.
…
"I want to try out fishing!" Thomas said to Eagle.
"Pretty sure engines don't go fishing." replied Eagle as he was bored.
"Yeah, right." remarked Thomas.
…
"I want to try fishing!" Thomas said to 87546.
"Have you lost your marbles? Engines don't go fishing!" said 87546 indignantly.
"At least I don't look like a clone of Gordon!" remarked Thomas.
…
"I want to fish!" Thomas said to 98462, who was sneaking around on the railway.
"Engines don't go fishing, you stupid little blue puffball!" replied 98462 angrily.
"Hm, at least I didn't break a coach's coupling." remarked Thomas.
98462 let out a frustrated scream.
…
One day, Thomas stopped as usual to take on water.
He did a double take as he saw a sign that read 'Out of order".
"What the hell happened?! I was here yesterday and that water tower was working just fine!" said Thomas angrily.
"An incident happened, and someone knocked it down." replied his driver.
"Bother!" said Thomas. "I'm thirsty!"
"Ah, don't fuss." sighed his driver. "We can fetch some water from the river."
"This better be good." muttered Thomas as he puffed off.
They found a bucket and some rope and went to the bridge and parked there, as Thomas was out of breath.
Then the driver carefully lowered the bucket down to the water.
The bucket was old and had five holes because the driver couldn't afford a better bucket, so they had to pull it back up and empty it into Thomas' tank as quickly as they could, several times over.
The fireman, having forgotten to use a bathroom earlier, added his own water to Thomas' tank.
Thomas, understandably disgusted, briefly started forward angrily, knocking the fireman back.
The driver laughed at the fireman's misfortune.
At last, they finished, as the passengers were baffled by what they saw.
"That's good, that's good." sighed Thomas as they all ran happily down the line.
The happiness was short-lived as Thomas began to feel a pain in his boiler.
Steam began to hiss from his safety valve in an alarming way.
"There's too much steam! Especially for a steam train!" said his driver.
"Ohhh." groaned Thomas. "I think I know how Henry feels- AAH! I'm going to burst!"
They damped down his fire and struggled on.
"Oh I don't feel so good." moaned Thomas.
They stopped just outside the last station, because Thomas was likely gonna burst the minute he reached said station. Also don't mind him having a certain little green engine's tired face for whatever reason.
They uncoupled Annie and Clarabel, and ran Thomas, who was still hissing fit to burst, onto a siding out of the way. Not like any other engine was coming down there.
While the nearby guard telephoned for an engine inspector, the driver found notices in large letters, because notices with small letters were for people that had no idea how to make notices. He hung two of them on Thomas front and back.
The first read DANGER. KEEP AWAY. and the second read WATCH SAFELY.
Soon, the inspector and STH had arrived.
"Cheer up, Thomas." They said. "We'll soon put you right."
"BLARGH!" replied Thomas as he gagged.
The driver told them what had happened.
"So the feed pipe is blocked." said the inspector. "I'll look in the tanks."
He climbed up and peered in, then he came down.
"Excuse me, sir." he said. "Please look in the tank and tell me what you see."
STH then clambered up, looked in the tank, and nearly fell off in surprise.
"Inspector." he whispered. "Can you see… fish?"
Thomas looked back in bafflement.
"Goodness gracious!" said STH. "How did the fish get in there, driver?"
"They must've been picked up in the old bucket." said the driver.
"Well, Thomas, so you and your driver have been fishing." said STH as Thomas groaned. "It isn't good for you, so we must get them out at once!"
They all took turns fishing in Thomas' tank, while STH looked on and told them how to do it, and Thomas felt uncomfortable as he didn't like his cab roof being used as a seat.
When they had finally caught all the fish, they had a lovely supper of fish and chips.
"Mmm, that was good." said STH. "Anyways, fish don't suit you, Thomas. So you mustn't do it again."
Thomas sighed as he backed away. "No sir, I won't. I see why engines don't go fishing, it's just too uncomfortable and painful."
…
Thomas' driver later sold his old 5 holed bucket, and used the money to buy a better bucket with zero holes in it. Thomas himself now hates fish.