BRADFORD & TOAD

"On! On! On!" The Troublesome Trucks giggled, pushing Oliver forward as hard and fast as they could down the slope.

"Oh no you don't!" Toad exclaimed, and the guard slammed his brakes on hard, slowing the train to a gradual pace, causing the trucks to stop bumping immediately.

"Awwww Toad…" they whined.

"Thanks, Toad!" Oliver called from the front of the train. Toad smiled.

"Just doing my job, Mr. Oliver!"

Brake vans are an essential need on railways. They help brake trains when necessary and keep a steady grip when trucks get too heavy for the engine pulling them.

Brake vans such as Toad are always on hand to help their engines out whenever the possibility arises.

Then there are brake vans like Bradford who…

"Hup, two, three, four! Keep it up, Samson! No slacking now!" Bradford barked loudly at his engine.

"Sir, yes, sir!" a terrified Samson replied in fear.

…help in their own unique way.

One spring morning, Oliver was pulling into the Shunting Yard at Knapford, ready for a busy day of work ahead of him.

"Mmm." sighed Oliver contentedly. "Can you feel that, Toad?" Toad raised an eyebrow.

"Feel what, Mr Oliver?" He asked.

"That feeling that today is going to be a perfect day! Obviously, if I just put my mind to it, I can achieve anything!" Toad chuckled.

"If you say so, Mr Oliver. Just don't get too over your smokebox, you know what happens when you do."

"Hoho, I think I'll be alright, Toad!" laughed Oliver confidently. "I always am."

Oliver checked around him, but felt surprised to not see any trucks waiting for him. He whistled to Stafford, passing by with some flatbeds.

"Whereabouts are my trucks, Stafford?" He asked.

"Charlie's just collecting them now, Oliver. Won't be a minute." The wooden electric engine replied.

"Well, don't be too long!" called Oliver. "I've got a busy day ahead of me!"

"Be patient, Mr Oliver." chuckled Toad.

"I know, Toad, I know." sighed Oliver. "I just get excited when a new day starts."

At that moment, Samson the Proud Tank Engine puffed in with a train of stone trucks, his brake van Bradford at the back.

"Hello, everyone! Samson here at your service!"

All the other engines didn't mind Samson. He could be rather proud and foolish, but he had a good heart. Bradford on the other hand, isn't terribly liked, due to his loudness and obsession with rules and regulations.

"Hup, two, three, four! AND HALT!" Bradford shouted out as the train came to a stop. "Samson, you're becoming very lax lately! I'm getting put on more of your trains than I normally should!"

"I can't help it!" protested the tank engine. "It's not my fault we got here later than usual!"

"We wouldn't have gotten across the junction to Vicarstown without me guiding you!"

"I don't always need your help!" snapped Samson.

"Until you learn to be less foolish, then you will!" Bradford retorted.

"Anything the matter, you two?" asked Oliver curiously.

"Samson, as per usual, has been careless and arrogant!" replied Bradford. "Missing red signals, and showing off!"

"You've been a bit like that yourself lately, Mr Oliver." Toad chimed in. Oliver rolled his eyes.

"You get too worried about me sometimes, Toad. You could try being a bit more assertive, like Bradford."

"I don't mean any offence, Mr Oliver, but my methods at the moment are perfectly fine." Toad replied.

But Oliver didn't think so. And as he saw Samson and Bradford arguing some more, an idea flew into his funnel.

"I've got an idea, Samson! How about… just for today… we swap brake vans?"

"Swap brake vans? I'd never thought of doing that before." replied Samson. Bradford however, wasn't so keen on the idea.

"I don't know about that!" exclaimed Bradford. "I can't leave Samson by himself without me knowing he's not causing chaos! It could be complete pandemonium!"

"It's not that bad." whinged Samson, rolling his eyes. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"I assure you, Bradford." chuckled Oliver. "Toad here is a very fine brake van."

"I may be Mr Oliver's first brake van." smiled Toad modestly. "But he's not my first engine. I have helped lots of others before him."

"First rate experience they all said." added Oliver. Bradford considered the matter for a moment.

"Hmm… if you can follow the official railway rules to a tee, and you can keep Samson in check, then I will let you work with him… just for the day, mind you! And no longer!"

"I promise, Mr Bradford. Mr Samson and I will be fine." Toad beamed.

"Anything I need to know about Oliver before I start work with him today, Toad?" asked Bradford. Toad chuckled nervously.

"Um, well Mr Oliver has been a bit, um if you beg my pardon, big headed lately." Oliver rolled his eyes.

"I have not!" He retorted. Bradford laughed heartily.

"Yes, I like a challenge! I accept!" He smirked in reply. "I'll whip him into shape faster than you can say 'confusion and delay'!"

"CONFUSIONANDDELAY!" Samson shouted out in an instant. Bradford rolled his eyes.

"Well, not that quickly, obviously…"

So, the two tank engines waited whilst their brake vans were swapped over.

"Now then, Oliver!" Bradford called from the back of the train. "Tell me the goods we'll be carrying, pick up location and drop off point from the beginning! START!" Oliver winced at the loud noise.

"Um, well it's just some empty trucks going to Arlesburgh West. Just to collect some ballast and take it to Wellsworth."

"Good, good. Now! Whistle loud and clear?! Wheels clean and in working order?! Axles tidy?! Smokebox clear?!"

"Bradford!" groaned Oliver. "It's all fine! I'm ok!"

"Just making sure you're all prepared and doing things the right way!" replied Bradford.

"I know what I'm doing! You just keep an eye on the trucks for me!"

"Well, I'm just upholding my duty as an important and key essential to any goods train, Oliver!"

"Come along then, Toad!" Samson called as he began to push his train backwards down the line.

"Samson!" yelled Bradford. "The other way!"

"I knew that!" An exasperated Samson grunted as he stopped and puffed forwards instead.

Once his line was clear, Oliver whistled and set off in the opposite direction.

"One whole day without Bradford!" Samson chuckled to himself. "This'll be great!"

"Now I can see what life with Bradford is like instead of Toad." murmured Oliver. "I'm sure it won't be too difficult for me. I can handle anything."

Out on the Main Line, Samson rattled along hurriedly with the trucks giggling behind him.

Thomas was waiting at Wellsworth Station with Annie and Clarabel. He grimaced as he felt the wind rushing past him as Samson clattered quickly through the station with his train.

"No need to go that fast, Samson!" He called, but got no reply as Samson hurried off.

"Oh dear, is that Toad on the back of Samson's train?" asked Annie.

"Yes it is." replied Thomas. "A huge improvement, I say. But… where is Bradford then?"

"Well, Oliver usually works with Toad." answered Clarabel. "So perhaps he's working with Bradford instead today?"

"Oh no. Poor Oliver. He's going to have a terrible day." sighed Thomas sadly.

"Poor, poor Oliver." tittered Annie and Clarabel.

Up ahead on the line, Samson was starting to gradually pick up speed. Toad noticed this instantly and called out worriedly to his engine.

"Um, Mr Samson? I think you really ought to slow down just a bit! You are going quite fast, you know! We could end up with a hot axle box!"

"I know exactly what I'm doing!" Samson replied huffily. "I'm very fast and I can handle any train at any speed!"

Toad gasped in alarm as a signal's arm suddenly dropped down to red, but Samson didn't notice it.

"Mr Samson! The signal!" Toad called out as his brakes came on sharply.

A loud whistle blasted out from nearby, catching Samson off guard, before Henry stormed out from around the bend, a heavy goods train clattering behind him.

"Samson! Watch where you're going! And watch your signals!" Henry snapped crossly before he and his heavy train disappeared into the distance.

The trucks rammed into Samson's rear buffers before Toad bumped into the last truck. They all groaned.

"Ow my buffers!"

"Watch what you're doing!"

"I got a migraine!"

"You need to keep watching what's ahead of you, Mr Samson!" warned Toad. "Missing a red signal is very dangerous!"

"I know that!" grunted Samson. "Bradford was much quicker on letting me know things! I don't know how Oliver manages with you!"

"Generally just fine!" replied Toad. "Mr Oliver never makes mistakes like that with me!"

"I never make mistakes!" Samson scoffed loftily. "I'm not only a very strong engine, I'm also a very reliable one!"

Suddenly, the train came screeching to a halt in the middle of the line. Samson looked back as his crew got down and talked to the guard before they checked along the train.

"Now what's happened?!" demanded Samson.

"One of the trucks has got a hot axle box!" explained his driver. "We'll need to take it off the train. The rest will have to go on in chunks."

"I did warn you!" said Toad. He looked into the distance wistfully. He was already starting to miss his friend Oliver.

"Mr Oliver wasn't this careless with me." He sighed.

Soon, Samson was on his way again. He was feeling very stroppy indeed, as he continually muttered under his breath.

"Honestly, don't know why I bother... doesn't trust me... would have been better without a brake van…"

Meanwhile, Oliver was passing by Bluff's Cove. Children were busy on the beach building large sandcastles.

"Oh wow! They're all doing a very good job, aren't they?" chuckled Oliver.

"Eyes on the line ahead of you, young Oliver!" barked Bradford. "Distractions lead to accidents!"

"I know, know!" grunted Oliver. "I'm still being safe!"

And Bradford's orders weren't just directed at poor Oliver.

"Your trucks are loaded far too high! Stop chattering so loudly as well!" yelled Bradford to a passing Donald and Douglas.

"Thanks for bringing Bossy Bradford here, Oliver!" Donald muttered sarcastically.

"Aye!" added Douglas. "As if work around here wasn't hard enough!"

Soon, they were approaching a level crossing. Bulgy the Double Decker Bus, was beside himself with laughter when he heard Bradford barking orders at Oliver.

"Atta boy, private! He'll make a soldier of you yet!" Bulgy laughed.

"Ahem!" Bradford cleared his throat. "According to the official railway safety rulebook, buses and cars… ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DISTRACT ENGINES FROM THEIR WORK!"

Bulgy was left stunned as Oliver scurried away into the distance.

"Feh! Why am I wasting my time chatting with railway engines anyway?"

And once the gates opened for him, Bulgy rolled away over the crossing, muttering about nothing but the awfulness of railways and the oppression of roads.

By the time they reached Arlesburgh West, Oliver was feeling quite tired but still hopeful that he could get to the end of the day.

He pushed his trucks under the chute and waited for Bert to bring the hoppers filled with ballast to him.

Behind him, the ballast trucks were giggling to each other and making a ruckus. Bradford wasn't about to let them get away with it for a single second.

"PIPE DOWN IN THE RANKS, YOU 'ORRIBLE LOT!" Bradford roared at the trucks. Oliver winced at the noise.

"Do you really have to shout so much, Bradford?" He groaned.

"ABSOLUTELY! The only way trucks will behave is by shouting at them! Shout, shout and SHOUT AGAIN!"

"Toad was never like this." grumbled Oliver miserably.

"Then he's much too lenient a brake van!" scoffed Bradford. "You need someone more adverse in all the railway rules and regulations to show you how it's done!"

At that moment, Oliver heard a whistle and saw Ryan the Purple Tank Engine, scurrying around the back of the yard, before he puffed up looking very weary. Oliver felt sorry to see him looking so glum.

"Are you feeling alright, Ryan?" He asked.

"It's all these ballast trucks!" replied Ryan. "They're causing a mess! I would have sorted it out myself, but-"

"Don't worry yourself over it." smirked Oliver smugly. "You take a rest, Ryan. I'll handle this for you myself. Nothing I can't handle."

"Oh! Um… thanks, Oliver!" Ryan felt surprised but pleased with this news and he whistled away to sort out his next job.

"Now then!" Oliver declared as he puffed over to the trucks. "Let's get you lot sorted out!"

One of the trucks in the front rows looked across at Oliver, before spitting on the ground and growling at him.

"I have heard that ballast trucks are the worst of the worst!" Bradford pointed out. "You should let me deal with them!"

Oliver was undeterred, and just laughed it off.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, Bradford! The other engines say I have resource and sagacity!"

"Huh! I'll believe that when I see it!" snorted Bradford.

"This'll be easy! Come along, you lot!" Oliver called as he began to push the trucks around.

"Um, Oliver!" Bert called from atop the Chute. "Aren't you ready for your ballast?"

"I'll collect it in a moment! I can manage this first!" Oliver replied.

Bradford sat in silence and shared a glance with Bert as they watched Oliver, bumping trucks around the sidings.

Bert winced as the trucks were sent bumping into each other like balls on a pool table.

Brakes screeched on and off, trucks were sent this way and that, and nothing was in order.

As Oliver looked ahead, the yard was now in a complete mess, with trucks covering every junction and part of track, and none of them in the right place.

"Oh fizzling fireboxes! This'll take ages to fix now!" Bradford gave him a very unamused look.

"Well then you'd better hop to it, boyo! STRAIGHT AWAY! MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT!"

Oliver jumped and hurriedly set to work, as Bradford stood nearby, barking orders in his usual drill routine.

"PUT YOUR BOILER INTO IT, I WANT TO SEE RESULTS!" He bellowed.

The ballast trucks, meanwhile, were busy grumbling to each other.

"This is exactly why I can't stand Oliver! He's reckless and dangerous!"

"Too right!"

"Sooo… we should do something about it."

"And pay him back for bumping us about!"

The trucks laughed amongst themselves. Luckily for them, neither Oliver nor Bradford heard them.

At last, Oliver's train was arranged into a nice long line and all the trucks had been loaded up. Oliver was coupled up in front as Bradford surveyed the yard. He glanced up at the clock on the station wall and grimaced.

"Ten minutes behind schedule… tut, tut, tut… your time keeping needs severe improvements, Oliver!"

"I can make up the time, sheesh!" Oliver rolled his eyes.

"You'd certainly better!" replied Bradford. "NOW! EYES FORWARD! QUUUUICK… MARCH!"

Oliver left the yard in a huff, with the ballast trucks behaving strangely quietly.

"I really shouldn't have swapped Toad with Bradford." Oliver muttered to himself. "Toad was much easier to handle than him."

As they left the harbour, the journey seemed to be going very well.

Then, they came across a tall slope. Oliver charged up the hill.

"I'll show that Bradford I can do just fine, without him having to bark orders at me!" He gritted his teeth and steamed straight ahead.

As soon as they made it over the brow of the hill, that's when the trucks started their plan. They forced themselves into Oliver as hard as they could.

"On! On! On!" They cackled.

"Woah! Slow down, Oliver!" shouted Bradford in alarm.

Oliver gasped as he saw he was rapidly approaching the bend before Bluff's Cove station.

"Everyone look out! I'm going to crash!" Oliver whistled loudly in warning.

All the people scrambled to safety as they heard the whistle, and watched as Oliver and the rest of the train left the rails, as sand was kicked up into the air by his spinning wheels.

He rumbled down the sandy slope and smashed right into the middle of a giant sandcastle, making it tumble down on top of him in seconds.

When Oliver opened his eyes, he looked to see a group of children looking both upset and furiously at him.

"You've ruined our sand castle!" A little girl snapped.

In an instant, Oliver was pelted with a flurry of buckets, spades and fistfuls of sand from angry children.

"Aaggh!" Oliver coughed. "I'm s-sorry! I didn't mean to! OW! Help!"

Bradford, meanwhile, sat at the back of the derailed train, feeling rather despondent about the whole thing.

"Ugh… seems like my methods don't work as well on Oliver as they do on Samson… perhaps this swap wasn't a good idea after all…"

He glanced out across the bright, blue sea and sighed.

"There might be a slim possibility… that Samson is getting on better than I am."

Samson was not getting on better. And neither was Toad.

They had just arrived at the Blue Mountain Quarry. Samson whistled a greeting to Paxton who was just leaving with some loaded trucks.

"Hello there, Samson!" Skarloey called as he shunted some slate trucks across the turntable. "Um… where's Bradford? Don't you usually work with him?"

"Me and Oliver decided to swap brake vans for the day, Skarloey." Samson explained as he backed his trucks up towards the siding by Owen. "But I don't think Toad is as good as Bradford is."

"Mr Samson refuses to listen to me." sighed Toad. "He missed a red signal, and one of our trucks ran a hot box. Not to mention there's been lots of bumping."

"All under control, you'll see!" replied Samson.

"But you are running rather late, Samson. About an hour late, to be exact." added Rheneas.

"What?!" gasped Samson in alarm, as he suddenly jolted backwards. "Uh! I mean I uh… I can make up the time! Don't worry!"

"Stop! Wait!" cried Toad in alarm, but too late, as he and the trucks were bashed into the buffers with a hard thud.

"Woah! Easy down there!" called Owen from above.

"Gah! Why didn't you warn me?!" demanded Samson.

"But, Mr Samson, you weren't paying attention!" protested Toad.

"Oh no I'm going to be very late! I'll have to take all these trucks in one go! Can't let the Fat Controller down!"

"You won't manage it, Samson!" replied Rheneas.

"But I am the strongest tank engine on the whole of Sodor! This train won't be too difficult for me!" And with that, Samson started to move forward, the couplings between each truck tightening.

And the train… was barely moving an inch.

"Mr Samson! You should uncouple some of the trucks! They're too heavy and there's too many!" Toad exclaimed.

"I can do it! I… can… do… it!" Samson gasped and panted as the coupling between him and the first truck started to strain before...

"AAAHH!" Samson cried out before he was sent barrelling into the turntable well,

"I'll get the breakdown crane..." groaned Rheneas.

"No need." replied Skarloey. "I had it all ready when Samson arrived."

As Samson was hoisted back onto the rails, he sighed.

"Oh dear… I guess you were right, Toad… I can be pretty pompous at times… sorry for being rude to you… I just miss Bradford… I think I really understand now why he's my brake van."

Toad sighed wearily.

"I wish Mr Oliver would come back soon. He's a lot easier to handle than Mr Samson… I don't think the way I work with him works as well with Mr Oliver."

It was late in the afternoon, when Edward arrived with Rocky to help lift Oliver and his train back onto the rails.

"Don't worry, Oliver!" called Rocky. "You don't look too bad, so you should be good to go once you're back on dry rails again!"

"Thanks, Rocky." sighed Oliver. A bucket was still hanging onto his funnel by its handle. "I just wish Toad is doing ok. I've not had a good day without him at all."

The sun was setting over the horizon as Oliver and Samson returned to the Shunting Yard. The two engines looked wearily at each other.

"So… um…" panted Samson. "What happened to you two today?"

"Wrecked some children's sandcastle, crashed, made a mess of the yard, got shouted at… a lot." replied Oliver. "You?"

"Nearly crashed into Henry, truck got a hot axle box, ran late, fell into a turntable..."

"Well." said Toad, breaking the silence at last. "At least we're all still safe and we can go back to our normal lives."

"I think you'd better have Bradford back, Samson." wheezed Oliver.

"You can take Toad with you." agreed Samson.

"From now on, we'll make sure that we have the right brake van with us at all times." said Oliver.

"Agreed." sighed Samson.

And so, both engines swapped their brake vans over before coupling back up again.

"I'm glad to see you again, Mr Oliver." sighed Toad happily.

"So am I, Toad." replied Oliver.

"I am never going off with another brake van again." said Samson.

"Well for all our sakes, I'm glad to hear that." tutted Bradford.

Although Oliver was happy to have Toad back, he was even happier with the thought that he'd have to work with Bradford ever again.

And Samson felt the same way about Toad.

THE END

And here is the first of my original Thomas & Friends stories. I decided to start from scratch with these on this account, since I now feel more confident after writing for a few years.

Oliver has been severely neglected in the CGi era of the show, the last main role he had being back in Series 7.

Bradford is a great character but also very underused, only really getting major roles in two episodes, and I felt that he needed another lead role, along with Oliver.

Swapping Toad and Bradford with their respective engines was a simple idea but I think there's some fun to be had with simple ideas, it's the execution that's always important.

I enjoyed getting to pepper the episode with various other characters such as Thomas, Bulgy, the small and narrow gauge engines, etc.

I really hope you all enjoyed this first episode. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

And here's what's next:

- Norman On Call - Norman feels that nobody seems to appreciate him or his work, as he's really only known for breaking down. Left on standby one day leaves him itching for an emergency to arise so he can prove himself, until he learns that even the smallest of jobs can be very important.

- Rosie & The Trams - Rosie enjoys her new job of working at Vicarstown Station, but one day, she meets the three electric trams who work there as well. Lisa, their leader, decides to challenge Rosie to see who is the hardest worker, but the tables turn when she gets a new route.

- Diamond In The Rough - In order to keep Thomas' cheekiness and racing around in check, the Fat Controller sends the tank engine to work with Logan and Hector at the Crosby Coaling Plant. Thomas isn't happy with this arrangement, and neither is Logan.

- Better Safe Than Sorry - After a rather bad inspection, the Fat Controller is told to start a health and safety campaign. Emily decides to make a good impression on the railway inspectors, and goes around the railway making sure everything is what she views as safe.

- Traffic Warden George - Whilst working nearby both a busy intersection and a level crossing, George decides to take on the role of a traffic warden and commandeers the road for himself, when he feels that nobody is appreciating his hard work.