I do not own Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. They are strictly the property of both the Awdry Family and Britt Allcroft herself, this story is purely for both entertainment and never profit.
Episode 46: Break Van, Original Airdate: November 12th, 1986
It was a cool day on the Island of Sodor. Over in the village of Ffarquhar, Thomas was spending a day with his daughter Lucy. They had just popped into the local fish and chip shop for some lunch. After getting himself a bag of chips and fish and some chips and fish goujons for Lucy, Thomas took Lucy to the park where they sat down on a bench and began to eat their food.
"So Lucy" said Thomas as he looked at his daughter, "you enjoying your food?".
"Food tasty daddy" said Lucy as she smiled at her father.
"You want to go to the playground after this sweetie?" Thomas asked.
"Playground" said Lucy happily.
"Ahoy there Thomas and Lucy" came a voice.
Thomas and Lucy turned to see Duck coming up to him, Donald and Douglas.
"Duck" Thomas greeted, "Donald and Douglas. This is a surprise".
"It sure is Thomas" replied Donald.
"'N' how urr ye wee Lucy?" asked Douglas.
"I'm fine Uncle Douglas" replied Lucy.
"Mind if we joined you?" asked Duck, "we've also brought some fish and chips ourselves".
"We don't mind" replied Thomas, "as they say, the more the merrier".
Giving a smile of thanks, Duck, Donald and Douglas sat down on the bench next to Thomas and Lucy and began to tuck into their food.
"So what are your plans for today Thomas?" asked Duck.
"Well after lunch I'm going to take Lucy to the playground" replied Thomas.
"Soonds lik' ye twa hae a stowed oot day planned" said Douglas.
"That we do Douglas" Thomas replied, "but since you three are here. Then maybe you'd like to hear me tell Lucy one of my stories?".
"Story daddy" said Lucy excitedly.
"Well that sounds nice" replied Duck before looking at Donald and Douglas, "what do you guys think?".
"Am game" replied Donald.
"A'm interested" added Douglas, "besides Duck haes tellt us a lot aboot yer stories Thomas".
"Alright but which one shall I tell?" asked Thomas
Thomas, Duck, Donald and Douglas all then thought for a while before the answer came into Thomas' head.
"How about I tell about the time that Samuel gave you grief Douglas?" asked Thomas.
"Ay replied Douglas, "mibbie wee Lucy should hear o' th' time that spiteful bastard gave me grief".
"Douglas please mind you language around Lucy" said Thomas sternly.
"A'm sorry Thomas" replied Doulgas sheepishly, "bit ye ken he wis yin?".
"Don't worry Doulgas I know he was" said Thomas sympathetically, "but please try and not to swear around Lucy".
"Ah wull" replied Douglas.
"Alright Thomas" said Duck, "take it away".
"Right" said Thomas as he began his story, "it all began when shortly after the incident with my special coach".
(Story Begins)
When Donald arrived back at Tidmouth station after delivering his goods train, Sir Topham Hatt confronted him and after the tender were reattached to the proper engine each, Sir Topham Hatt then scolded both engine drivers severely.
"There is to be no more tricks from either of you" he said crossly, "am I understood?".
"Yes Sir" Donald and Douglas both said together.
"Good" replied Sir Topham Hatt, "I shall be watching the two of you. I still have to decide which one of you is to stay and which of you is to go home to Scotland".
"Aye Sir" replied Donald and Douglas.
"Good" finished Sir Topham Hatt, "now if you don't mind I have to go over to Wellsworth Hospital to check on Thomas and Lady".
Sir Topham Hatt then left the yard and for his car so that he could go over to Wellsworth Hospital. The twins looked at each other glumly, neither of them wanted to stay without the other.
"What are we tae do Donald?" asked Douglas.
"We'll hae tae be as guid as th' ither" suggested Donald, "then if we're lucky he'll hae tae keep u baith".
"Ye sure Donald?" asked Douglas
"O' course a'm sure Douglas" said Donald, "noo lets gang 'n' tell Duck".
Donald and Douglas then both hopped into their engines and headed off to find Duck and to tell him of their plan. But what they didn't was that a figure had been listening in on their conservation with a nasty smirk.
"So you two plan to make Sir Topham Hatt keep the pair of you" said the figure with a sneer, "well not if I have anything to say about it".
The figure in question was Samuel Thompson. He was a guard on the North Western Railway, but unlike most of the guards, he wasn't a very pleasant person. In fact he was spiteful, very rude, disrespectful and incredibly impolite to the other engine drivers on the railway and even insulted Sir Topham Hatt behind his back by either calling "Fat Hatt" or "Sir Topham Fat", this lead him to being nicknamed "The Spiteful Guard", a name that he took pride in.
He had also recently taken a dislike to Douglas. Things always went wrong for Douglas when he had to take both Samuel and his brake van out, his trains were late, and he was blamed. Doulgas began to worry that he was going to be sent back, he had even tried to explain himself to Sir Topham Hatt, however due to the recent event with the tenders, Sir Topham Hatt didn't believe him. Donald his twin was angry when he found out who was behind Douglas' lateness and so one day during lunch break, he decided to confront Samuel, who was in his brake van having some tea.
"Ye're a muckle nuisance!" he said to Samuel angrily, "it's to leave ye behind I'd be wanting".
"You can't" smirked Samuel, "I'm essential and so is my brake van".
"Och are 'e'?" burst out Donald, "ye're nothing but a screech and a noise when all is said and done".
Before Samuel could reply, Donald exited his brake van and headed back to his engine. Samuel thought that he had won, but he was wrong. He then looked out of his brake van door and saw that Donald was reversing his steam engine.
"Spite Douggie would ye?" roared Donald angrily, "take that".
Donald's engine then shot forward and bumped the brake van violently, causing Samuel to be thrown of his seat and spill his tea.
"Ow! Oh! Oh!" cried Samuel.
Donald then hopped down from his cab and hopped back into Samuel's brake van and lifted him up by the collar of his shirt".
"Hauld yer wheesht" said Donald crossly, "there's more comin' if ye misbehave".
Smauel nodded fearfully at Donald's angry. He behaved much better after that. Douglas' trains began to arrive punctual, and the twins felt happier at this turn of events. But then one day Donald had an accident, he backed his engine into a siding, but the rails were slippery, and he couldn't stop in time. His engines tender broke through the buffers into a signal box.
One moment the signal man was standing on the stairs, the next he was sitting on the coal in the tender.
"You clumsy great oaf" he said crossly, "now your engine will have to stay there. You've jammed my switches, it serves you right for spoiling my nice new signal box".
Sir Topham Hatt was most annoyed.
"I' am disappointed Donald" he said when he confronted him, "I did not expect such-er-clumsiness from you. I had decided to send Douglas back and keep you".
"I'm sorry Sir" said Donald apologetically.
"I should think so too" said Sir Topham Hatt crossly, "you've upset my arrangements. Now James will have to help with the goods work while your engine has its tender mended. James won't like that".
But what no one noticed was that Samuel was watching the whole think from a distance. In his hand was a can of oil, just the night before he had snuck over to the yard and coated the siding rails in oil, in the hopes that Donald would back his engine into it.
"Now you filthy Scot" he sneered, "you will think twice before threatening me".
He then snuck away, satisfied that his payback against Donald had succeeded. Now he could finish his business with Douglas and he could be sent away.
As for James, Sir Topham Hatt was right, James grumbled dreadfully at this news. Although James' L Class 28 was a mixed traffic engine, he preferred to pull coaches instead of trucks. But Donald's accident of course had put that in the grave. One day he was grumbling at Tidmouth sheds, Douglas, Henry and Gordon were there. Douglas, seeing that James was in a mood, decided to have a little fun with him.
"Anyone would think" said Douglas as James came into the bunkhouse, "that Donald had his accident on purpose".
"Well maybe he did" said James crossly.
"Well I heard tale about an engine and some tar wagons" retorted Douglas.
"Shut up" said James angrily, "it's not funny".
He didn't like to be reminded of the time his engine had crashed into the tar wagons after he had mocked Toby's tram after he had arrived on the island.
"Well, well, well" said Douglas with a mischievous grin, "surely James it wasn'a you. You didn't say".
James didn't say, he just left the bunkhouse before hopping back into his L and slouched sulkily away. The next day he picked up a train of 9 7-planked trucks that he was to take to the other side of the island, unfortunately for him, the guard on his train was Samuel.
"He's cross" sniggered Samuel to himself, "I'll make him crosser still".
He decided to set the breaks on several times during the journey to try and make James late, James noticed what he was doing and tried to not let Samuel trick him. James tried his best, but he was exhausted by the time he reached Edward's station, luckily Douglas was there.
"Help me up the hill please" he panted, "that guard is playing tricks".
"We'll show him" said Douglas with determination.
Douglas then ran around so that his engine could buffer up behind James' train, as he came up behind the brake van, he and Samuel gave each other dirty looks.
"I see you're helping James her?" sneered Samuel, "not on my watch".
"We'll see aboot that ya bastard" growled Douglas.
Douglas then blew his engines whistle to signal to James that he was ready. Slowly but surely, the two snorting engine drivers forced both the trucks and the unwilling guard up the hill. At first they were doing well, but James was losing steam.
"I can't do it, I can't do it" he called.
"Leave it tae me" called Douglas.
Douglas' engine pushed and puff so furiously that sparks were leaping from its funnel. As for Samuel, his determination to delay James and Douglas was gone, now he was anxious. Just then he began to hear a cracking noise, his eyes widened in shock when he realized what it was.
"Go steady" he warned Douglas, "the vans breaking".
But it was too late. Samuel jumped clear as the brake van collapsed, the van was in pieces. Nothing had been hurt and soon Edward came to clear the mess, Sir Topham Hatt the works unit coach. As the breakdown crane cleared away the crushed remains of the now destroyed brake van, Sir Topham Hatt spoke to Douglas.
"I might have known it would be Douglas" he said.
"Douglas was grand Sir" said Edward, "James' engine had no steam left. But Douglas however worked hard enough for three, I heard him from my yard".
"Two would have been enough" said Sir Topham Hatt, "I want to be fair Douglas. But I don't know, I really don't know".
Sir Topham Hatt was making up his mind about something, but that's another story. Meanwhile, Samuel took Douglas aside.
"You fucking prick" he snarled at Douglas, "you destroyed my van".
Weel thats whit happens how come ye huv a go tae haud an engine back bastard" replied Douglas with a growl.
"Well at least Fat Hatt doesn't know that it was me who made you late all those times" sneered Samuel mockingly, "or that it was me who put oil on those tracks to make your brother crash into that signal box".
"You did what" came the angry voice of Sir Topham Hatt.
Samuel's face went pale as he turned around to see both Sir Topham Hatt and Edward staring angrily at him.
"Oh fuck" he said in defeat.
(Story Ends)
"And after that Sir Topham Hatt fired Samuel and he never bothered any of us ever again" said Thomas as he finished his story.
"Wow that really was a great story Thomas" complemented Duck.
"Ay it sure wis" added Donald.
"Ye pure shuid write thaim doon in a book someday Thomas" suggested Douglas.
"That really sounds like a good idea" said Thomas truthfully, "but I'm also wondering you three. Whatever happened to Samuel after Sir Topham Hatt fired him?".
"Well from what me, Donald and Douglas found out" said Duck, "he moved to London where he got a job as a zookeeper in London Zoo and guess what, he's actually much happier there".
"Well that's a surprise" said Thomas, "but anyway me and Lucy are off to the playground now".
"Alright Thomas" said Duck, "see you at work tomorrow".
Thomas and Lucy both put their now empty fish and chip bags in the bin before saying goodbye to Duck, Donald and Douglas before heading off to the playground.
(Wellsworth Hospital, September 2011)
Thomas sat on the bed next to Lady as he gently cradled his and Lady's newborn daughter in her arms. It had been two days since she had given birth, the doctor had told her and Thomas that both she and the baby could go home tomorrow.
When he was done, he gently handled his daughter back to Lady as Burnett came into the ward. He noticed the two young new parents and gave them a smile, fondly remembering the births of both his daughter and Lily.
"How's the little one today?" asked Burnett.
"She's doing fine Burnett" said Thomas.
"Would you like to hold her?" asked Lady.
Burnett smiled at this.
"It would be my honour" he said.
Lady then gently handed her and Thomas' newborn daughter to her father figure. Burnett gently took her in his arms and looked down at her, love shining in his eyes. The sight of this warmed both Thomas and Lady greatly.
"So have you two decided on a name?" asked Burnett.
"We have" said Lady, "Lucy Tasha Billinton".
And done. Sorry it took so long, the usual distractions and all. But I must say I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Anyway please so kind as to leave a preview and as always, see you all next time.