Okay fans, we're back into the 'King of the Railway' adaptations. Not much to say here since I probably will give away spoilers if I say too much, but just keep your eyes open in August for Episode 37, cause that's the intended release time for it.
Sodor High School: Thomas & Friends Tales
Written by: ThomasZoey3000
Based on the Railway Series by the Reverand Wilbert and Christopher Awdry
Based on the Television Series by: Britt AllCroft, Hit Entertainent and Mattel
Episode 36: The Rocket & the Map
Based on "King of the Railway the Movie" by "Andrew Brenner"
As the summer season continued, Thomas and his Ffarquhar friends saw more and more lorries driving down the road and heading for the town of Ulfstead. Stepney, who was still visiting with his father and locomotive, was surprised with all this, "where is all this stuff going? Anyone would think a museum is opening up."
"You could say it is," said Thomas, as both he and Emily knew what was going on in the town of Ulfstead, and at the castle.
Speaking of which, Emily was thinking about what she had seen back at Ulfstead Castle, "could that really have been the Rocket? Or maybe a relica of the engine itself?" she was thinking to herself.
"Emily? Hey Emily, are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh sorry Thomas, I guess I just spaced out again, I was just thinking about something we saw when we went with your father."
"What was it?"
"I think it was Stephenson's Rocket, but I looked up the page for the National Railway Museum, and both the original and replica locomotives are there. However, the locomotive I saw looked similar."
Thomas raised an eyebrow, "and where did you see it?"
"I saw it through the windows of one of the buildings just before we left."
"Hmm, now that's quite interesting. Maybe later on, I'll ask my Dad if he can take us back to Ulfstead and maybe see if the Earl will let us see it for ourselves."
Emily nodded to the idea.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound and everyone jumped, "what was that?" Percy asked in shock.
Stepney once again climbed up on the locomotive and looked to the direction of the sound, "it's nothing to be worried about, it's just construction crews working away on the damaged wall...and from the looks of it," he added, squinting his eyes, "looks like they're removing more broken parts from James' smashed motorbike."
"That silly James, he should've been focused on being safe, not showing off," said Percy.
"I have to agree, but it's a flaw with James that I don't think will ever change," said Thomas. "Remember, this is the guy that fought me during the gala at Knapford, and was even crazy enough to jump in front of a moving train to save some kids, which was very brave I will admit. Still," he added with a sigh, "I think he'll know better than to race dangerously down the roads with a broken bike."
"I sure hope so," added Emily, "he could've died from the impact with the station."
"Well thankfully he didn't," reassured Thomas. "Though from what Henry and Gordon have told me, once released from the hospital, he won't be driving for a while, and he'll be spending the rest of the summer helping with work around Ffarquhar station."
"He got off easy," said Stepney, and everyone had to agree.
After dinnertime, Thomas and Emily were able to convince Mr Brighton to take them up to Ulfstead Castle. They drove up the hill, with a little struggle thanks to the pick-up, but they managed to get up the steep hill and towards the construction site.
Compared to before, the site didn't look like they had years of work to do. Instead, the work looked like it was nearing complitation. The two teens and older man were surprised by it all. But besides just the building supplies, there was also pieces to go inside the castle museum like Griffon statues, horse statues with original saddles, though Emily will admit some of the horses looked more like ponies instead, and suits of armor stood on the platform next to railway lines.
"All this in just a short amount of time?" Thomas gasped.
Mr Brighton chuckled, "that's old Sir Robert alright, always getting projects done faster than anyone expects."
"Well it also helps when you got good helpers," said a familar voice. The group looked and saw Sir Robert coming over towards them, "welcome back my friends. Now what brings you up here again? Did we lose anymore crates?"
"Not this time," said Mr Brighton, "you see, young Emily here thought she saw Stephenson's Rocket and wanted to know if it is the actual engine, or just a replica."
Sir Robert was surprised, "how do you know about the Rocket?"
"I do research," she answered. "Plus I could see the Rocket through the window."
Sir Robert sighed, "that was suppose to be a surprise for the big day. Oh well, since you've already seen it, I might as well show you the engine, and let you meet Stephen as well." He turned and lead the trio into the castle.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Sodor, Gordon was riding along on his bicycle. He had some time off from his part time job, and was looking to have just a quiet day riding his bike. As he rode along, he heard a loud honk from behind him. He didn't even need to look to know who the honking horn belonged to. It was Spencer. Still, he did look and groaned as his guess was correct. The son of the Duke and Duchess of Boxford was riding along on his silver bicycle.
"What are you doing out here Spencer? You might want to be careful, or you could get Sudrian dirt on you."
"Oh stow it Gordon, I'm not afraid of Sodor dirt. Anyways, I can go anywhere I want."
"I thought you were being punished for nearly ruining Thomas and Emily's plan to save Mr Hiro."
"That was months ago," snorted Spencer. He did not like being reminded about that, "which means, my punishment is up and I go anywhere I want, and I won't have to serve food to those students when school starts up again." Spencer then looked down to Gordon's bike, "I can't believe you're still riding that silly thing. Then again it doesn't surprise me, you got scared after what happened to that silly red head James." And he burst into laughter.
Gordon glared at Spencer, "you will not be making fun of my friend like that! Besides, my bike is more than good enough to beat you Spencer!"
"Oh really? Can you back up your theory with a little race?"
"Oh it is on!"
The two teenagers started peddling faster and faster, going as fast as teenagers could go on bicycles. Spencer did indeed get ahead of Gordon, but the blue haired teenager was not willing to give up.
"I'll teach you not to tease my injuried friend," he thought to himself.
He got closer and closer to catching up with Spencer, but just before he could, Spencer turned and went in a different direction, "where are you going?!" shouted Gordon. "I thought we were racing!"
"Sorry, but I have somewhere to be, maybe another time Gordon! Though to be fair, you wouldn't have won anyways."
Gordon grumbled as he rode on ahead. Now instead of focusing on having a relaxing day, he became determined to beat Spencer at his own game.
At the castle, Sir Robert lead Mr Brighton, Thomas and Emily through the corridors towards where his son was. As they walked along, Emily looked to the suits of armour. She suddenly yelped and jumped back, bumping into Thomas.
"Emily, what's the matter?" Thomas asked.
"That armour moved!" she cried.
"Oh, pardon Moi, I didn't mean to scare you," said a familar voice. The arm went back down, then Millie appeared from behind the suit with a clothe and polish. "I was given this suit one more polish to restore it's former shine, and I guess I didn't hear you coming, otherwise I would've said hello first. Though to be honest," she chuckled, "suits of armour are not meant to move on their own, unless someone's inside it."
Sir Robert and Mr Brighton chuckled. Emily felt silly and blushed with embarrassment. Thomas whispered to her, "it's alright, I was a little startled too." Emily smiled at her friend. "Now, uh do you mind removing your head from my chest?"
Emily looked and sure enough, noticed her head was up next to Thomas' chest. She backed up nervously, "sorry."
"It's alright, but let's not talk about it with anyone else."
"Done," she said hastily.
Sir Robert and Mr Brighton said no more and they continued on with the two teens following close behind, while Millie, still chuckling over what just happened, went back to work.
It wasn't long after that they came into a railway museum. Inside was a collection of locomotives from Great Western Panniers, British Railway class 08s and even, to everyone's surprise, two american engines. One was a ten wheeler with the number '504' and the railroad name; Louisiana and Arkansas and the second being a Jersey Central Camelback numbered 777. Thomas made a mental note saying it had the same number as the lead locomotive in a movie that recently came out about a runaway train.
However, they passed all the locomotives and the rolling stock and went straight towards the very window Emily had been looking through before. At that spot was a covered up locomotive and a single man in overalls, mostly covered in oil.
"We have guests!" Sir Robert called out. The man got up quickly to address the guests, "meet my son; Stephen!"
"Hello!" The man named Stephen said with a smile. A wrench fell out of his tool-belt and hit the floor with a clang. He gave them an embarrassed look after that, "uh, whoops, my bad."
"Oh my son," chuckled Sir Robert. "Now come over here and meet our friends."
Stephen cleaned his hands as best as he could and walked over to the group, "greetings friends, and welcome to the museum. I am Stephen, Sir Robert's son and also father to Millie, have you met her yet?"
"Oh we've met her," said Thomas, "though our first meet was under strange circumstances."
"You mean the flood?"
"That'd be it yes. I'm Thomas by the way, and this is my good friend Emily." Emily gave a small wave, though she slumped a little bit over the fact Thomas merely said she was just a good friend.
"And I'm Dalton Brighton, Thomas' father."
Stephen shook hands with Mr Brighton, "well it's nice to meet you all, but what brings you here? The Castle and museums are not due to be opened for a while yet."
"That is true my son," said Sir Robert, "however the young lady had seen our little project over there a couple of days ago."
Stephen smacked his forehead so hard, the sound echoed around the museum, "I forgot to cover him up. I'd swear I'd lose my head if it wasn't screwed on tight. Oh well, since you got a glimpse of him, I'll show you of our secret project." He walked back over to where he originally was, grabbed hold of an edge of the clothe and pulled it down. Some dust flew about, but once it was clear, everyone could see that Emily was correct. It was indeed a Stephenson's Rocket, though it looked a little different compared to the ones at the National Railway Museum. Instead of a curved pipe coming out from the front of the boiler before going upwards with the funnel, this one had a smokebox and front bufferbeam.
"Hold on a second, I thought that Stephenson's Rocket had the curved pipe at the front, not a smokebox," objected Mr Brighton.
"The first one did yes, but in later times, Stephenson decided to give the Rocket this kind of look and thus, where this engine comes in. Built in 1835 and soon to be running again in 2011."
Thomas and Emily gasped, "but isn't that dangerous to be running an old locomotive like that?" Thomas asked.
"I remember reading about an engine called the 'John Bull' and while it was restored to run again, it's return was short lived as it failed and had to go back into the museum it came from."
"It's true that old boilers like the John Bull or Stephenson's Rocket can't be restored after all this time," explained Stephen. "Luckily, this one was given a new boiler in 1925 when it ran for a special occassion, so it's okay to run this locomotive in the 21st Century. Plus, we've done tests to make sure of that."
"Better to be save than sorry," Thomas nodded in approval.
"But what will this Stephenson's Rocket do once the castle reopens?" Emily asked curiously.
"The Rocket will be taking visitors on tours around the castle grounds," answered Sir Robert as he rejoined the conversation. "He'll be able to show all the grounds and each of the museums to anyone who enjoys history, or just looking for a way to pass the time, but I'm sure we'll be able to draw in the crowds." Sir Robert then sighed, "I only wish we had King Godred's golden crown, that's the one piece I've been wanting to find for many years, but the location of the crown went away with the thieves, so I guess we'll never truely know of where it is."
As he finished, Millie came running in, "sorry to interupte you Uncle Robert, but they're ready to put up the roof for the courtyard."
"Oh that's right, and I said I wanted to see that for myself. Thanks for informing me Millie." Sir Robert turned to his friends, "would you care to see this operation for yourselves?"
"I don't know, we should really be getting back to the house..."
"Please Dad," begged Thomas.
"Please Mr Brighton," begged Emily.
"Ohh, alright we'll stick around for one quick look, then we got to get going. I still need to work on that pick-up of mine before my wife and I get back on the road."
"Thank you Mr Brighton," smiled Emily. She turned back to Stephen, "and thank you for showing us Stephenson's Rocket, and for explaining it's history. It was really cool to learn something that not many people know about."
"Well it's been my pleasure," smiled Stephen.
He watched his father lead the trio out of the museum, then went back towards his locomotive. As he was about to work though, the image of his father's disappointed face came flooding into his head.
"I can't stand to see him like this. That crown should be back where it rightfully belongs, if only..." his thoughts trailed off as he thought of something. He left his job and went off to his father's office. Inside the office, he found several old maps. Sir Robert had figured that many of these were maps of the areas before the earliest days of railways, but there was one he could never figure out and said it was probably made up by children long ago. As Stephen looked at the map though, he began to feel that maybe his father was wrong, "this isn't a child's drawing, this is an actual map. Maybe the very map that leads to where the crown is."
The map though only showed a small area, which Stephen was not familar with. He began looking through more maps until he found one that looked similar, only this one had a name 'Tunnels of Ulstead Mine'.
"The crown is in Ulfstead Mine? Well then, I better go get it...right after I finished my work this evening."
He got up and walked out of his father's office, taking only one map with him.
Outside in the courtyard, Sir Robert, Mr Brighton and the two teenagers watched as tall cranes moved metal beams about. All of them were doing the job safely and correctly, except for one. A lone crane operator was moving his crane about much too fast. Emily had a bad feeling looking up to the crane and wanted to move back.
"I'm sure we're fine right here," said Mr Brighton.
Thomas shook his head, "if Emily says we should move back, then we should move back."
Sir Robert and Mr Brighton didn't argue any further and with the two teenagers, they walked a good distance back from the construction work. It was a good thing they did, cause the one crane moved too fast and it's load shifted.
"Look out!" cried a worker.
They all ran out of the way as the metal beam slipped and fell to the ground with a loud thump. It created a dust cloud that went everywhere and all over everyone.
Sir Robert coughed as he called out, "is everyone alright?"
"We're alright!" called a foreman, "we're more dusty than hurt."
Sir Robert sighed and looked over to Emily, "thank you so much young lady, you just saved us all. You must have a sixth sense with you."
"Not really, just a good understanding of phsyics."
"Right, well I'm going to go up there and have a little chat with the crane operator," and with that, Sir Robert walked away.
"And I guess that's our cue to go as well," said Mr Brighton. "Come along kids."
"Dad, we're not kids, we're teenagers for goodness sakes," grumbled Thomas.
Emily however called back to Sir Robert, "thank you for showing us around, and say 'see you later' to Stephen and Millie for us!' Sir Robert promised he would as he watched the trio leave, "well that's one mystery solved, if we could only solve the other."
A little later, Gordon was heading off for home when he heard loud honking from behind him again. He groaned, "what do you want this time Spencer?" he asked as he started to peddle a little faster.
"Oh I just wish to finish that race we started, and by the looks of it, you're already set for this rematch."
"Oh you bet I am, and this time I will beat you and win."
"As if you could actually do that, but I like to see you try."
The two started off again, but unknown to the two of them, two speeding teenagers were riding up from behind. One in blue and the other in a magenta color. They whooshed by them at break neck speeds, "what was that?" exclaimed Spencer.
"Don't look at me, I've never seen such speedy riders before," answered Gordon.
They peddled on ahead to a crosswalk and found the two speedy teenagers at a set of lights in what looked like regular bikes, but had petrol tanks and small motors.
"Hello there, I'm Connor Dreyfus and this is my best friend; Caitlin Hudson."
"Sorry if we startled you two back there," said the girl named Caitlin. "We're just testing out our wheezer bikes, we just restored them a couple of days ago, and we're breaking them in, sort to speak."
"Oh, so that explains how you're so fast," said Gordon.
"Well that and we've added some streamlining to our bikes," added Connor, "and our outfits are meant for speed too."
"Wait a minute," said Spencer out loud, "I've seen you two before, aren't you from the mainland?"
The two were about to reply, but the light changed to green and they had to move off. Instead though, they drove ahead for a short distance and parked next to the curb, thus allowing Spencer and Gordon to continue talking to them.
"As a matter of fact, we are from the mainland," answered Caitlin, "though we're both from America. Connor is from New York and I'm from Baltimore."
"Then how did you end up on the mainland, and now here?" asked Gordon.
"Oh we moved to the mainland about eight years ago I believe," answered Connor. "We were only nine at the time, and as I recall, we met up right on the first day of school. Right Caitlin?"
"Yep," she nodded.
"As for why we're here, our school has been slacking in it's education lately, so we decided to come to Sodor High in the hopes of finishing our education."
"That and we've heard Sodor's a peaceful, yet exciting place to live."
"Excatly Caitlin. Anyways, we're going to have a little race, care to join us?"
Gordon and Spencer looked a little nervous, "er no thank you," said Gordon, "I'm not really a racer. I perfer not to speed along like a bullet."
"Yeah and I rather not push my bike too hard," added Spencer. "It is new after all."
Caitlin rolled her eyes, "over there and here, you still got an oversized ego Spencer." Spencer spluttered while Gordon tried to hide a chuckle. "Either way, hope we'll see you guys again soon."
Caitlin and Connor dawned on their helmets and after a few turns of their pedals, the wheezers roared into life and rumbled away.
Spencer remained the same as Gordon gave another chuckle, "I like her, she's funny and fast. Maybe I should've raced her."
"Oh shut up Gordon!" snapped Spencer as he came back to reality. He got onto his bike and rode away.
"And she can make Spencer go crazy, now I really like her."
Darkness came over the town of Ulfstead. Everything was calm and quiet, and mostly everyone was asleep for the night. Stephen however was not. With equipment in a backpack and the map in his hands, he made his way to the enterance way to the Ulfstead Mine. The mine once upon a time was used for bringing up stone for Ulfstead and towns beyond, but it was closed after 70 years of operation and has since been unused for years.
"Am I really this crazy? Going into an old mine just to find a lost crown?" he asked himself. The image of his father's sad face came back into his head, "yep, I am this crazy. I'm going in."
He pulled some gloves out of his backpack and ripped the pieces of two by four from the front enterance way, until the opening was big enough for him to squeeze through. He looked inside, it was dark and looked rather dangerous. Still, he took a deep breath and walked into the mine.
"Gosh it's powerful dark down here, good thing I brought a torch."
Stephen pulled out a torch and lit it up. He looked above at a roof support that looked weaker than the rest, "better be careful, probably won't take much to bring those down."
And indeed it wouldn't. Outside the mine, the Troublesome Trucks gang were lighting off fire crackers and throwing them at anything in their way. They saw the enterance way and a bad idea came to one of them, "let's set one off and scare the heck out of bats or whatever else is in there."
"Don't be stupid, there's no one living in that thing, it's been sealed up for years," said the leader named SCRuffy.
"It's not now, look."
SCRuffy looked and sure enough, he could see the slightly opened up enterance way.
"I don't know about bats, but it would be awesome to make a loud bang. Set up alot of them, and blow them up."
The other members giggled in their silly way as they went to work. Once done, they set it alight and stood back. It created a few dozen explosions, which startled Stephen.
"What was that?" he cried.
Then it happened. One firecracker was sitting too close to the old rotten beam and when it exploded, it's flame went up to the beam, which burned what was left of it.
The Troublesome Trucks street gang laughed, until they heard loud sirens.
"It's the Rozers, now be off with the lot of you, and don't get caught!" shouted SCRuffy, "cause I'm not getting your sorry rear ends out of jail."
They ran off while police cars ran to catch up with them. Inside the mine, the flames ate away the beam and with a loud rumble and a crash, the roof caved in. It missed Stephen, but as he looked back, he gasped in horror, "oh no, I'm trapped in here! HELP! Can anyone hear me?! HELP!"
To Be Continued...