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popculturebuffet · 3 months

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Thomas the Tank Engine Retrospective: Shining Time Station 4-Pack: All Hail Schemer (Commission for Lachey V)

Hello all you happy schemer's and welcome back to my seemingly bottomless Thomas the Tank Engine Retrospective. This month my mounting workload means we're doubling up as we approach the season finale of sorts for this retrospective, Thomas's first and so far only theatrical film, Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Before we can do that though, I needed a crash course on a bit of Thomas lore I hadn't touched. So it's my utmost pleasure to introduce, reintroduce or just plane fling at you Shining Time Station. Shining Time Station was the Britt Alcroft companie's way of putting Thomas The Tank Engine in the US at first. While the show was a great kids show and merchandise machine, it had one problem: each ep was 5 minutes at most and while this wasn't a remote problem for the booming home video market, putting it on tv was tricky. While UK tv stations were more than happy to either make 15 minute block of a few episodes or air it between shows, US stations at the time really didn't like carving up their air time like that. Simplier times.

Hence shining time station, a whole ass live action show featuring puppets, live action music videos, and wraparounds. Shining Time follows a bunch of interchangable kids: White BLonde Kid, future Sapphire Erica Luttrel, and other one as they mill around a train station learning life lesssons. Around the station are Stacey(Didi Cohn) , the station's manager, Billy Two-Feathers (Tom Jackson) , who runs the workshop, and Mr. Conductor, the tiny man who lives inside the station. If that sounds jarring it absolutely is as I assumed when I heard about the character he was a regular conductor who simply had magical powers. Still a little weird but like... not as jarring as when you see a Tiny George Carlin. For the record, and I missed this on first watch, the other two adults are aware of him to the point it feels like Mr. C is watching the kids half the time so the other adults can do their jobs. And i'm okay with this as there are so many kids shows where they hide the magic and I assumed this is one. I prefer it that the adults just know, smile along with it and let the tiny magic man help pick up the slack. Mr Conductor was played by Ringo Starr in the first season but since we were only doing a small selction of episodes, Lachey decided

For constancy since a chunk of the cast changes between seasons 1 and 2, and because Season 1 apparently has an ongoing story. So instead George Carlin is our tiny magic man for this special.

Of course there's one other regular in the station who deserved his own section, a man above men. A god above god. A schemer above schemers. The Robbie Rotten of the 90's I present to you HORACE MOTHERFUCKING SCHEMER.

Scheme is a schyster who runs a small Penny arcade over in the corner. WHy he's running an old timey style arcade in the 1980s I don't know but his real passion is various scams of the week, sometimes recurting the kids and eating every inch of scenery while making every minute he's on screen a joy. He's played by Brian O Conner, is somehow not in the movie, and is the best thing that's ever existed. All hail our new god.

Anyways since Shining Time Station is important to the film, we're taking a look at 4 episodes of Lachey's Choice from seasons 2 and 3: Win Loose or Draw, Sweet and Sour, Do I hear and Billy's Party. So join me for train station antics, drawing contests, talking pianos, child explotation, elvis, crooked auctions, and thanksgiving under the cut.

Win Lose or Draw

My first episode.. and going in pretty much blind aside from "this show is a vehicle for Thomas the tank engine". So the werid shit in this series.. caught me off guard as the episode starts with a pretty simple kids show teaching a lesson predicament: the local wise old man from the general store, who I assumed would be more important but is only in one of these 4 episodes, drops off art suplies for a contest and other girl is bummed that Erica Luttrel is better than her at art. We also meet Schemer whose mad the kids are getting paper everywhere and not spending money on his old timey arcade. Is.. is Schemer a time lord? Is he our time lord and savior? This series apparently takes place in the present, but has a penny arcade. Maybe shining times' just really old. Maybe i'm just really old and this series is old even for me, it's only.. four years older than me.

Okay moving past the exestial dread, point is Schemer is great and even off to the side for this one he's a lot of fun.

So Other Girl gets a visit from the Conductor.. who as a refresher is super tiny. Yeah I meant what I said about it being jarring: I had NO idea the Conductor was tiny sized in our world. Once you get used to it it's not that weird: he can travel to other dimensions his size and thus is the size of one of the people in thomas' world, hence how he can tell their stories. Makes sense. But suddenly being ambushed with a tiny george left me asking

Now I get he's just a tiny magic man who lives in the station and watches over these kids alongside the other two main adults and who said adults know exists and are cool with it. And honestly i'd be cool with having George Carlin hang around and despense advice to children too. Who wouldn't. It's like Thomas, it's weird at first but then you just embrace how weird this is and move on.

I do like HOW mr conductor is used. Carlin is clearly having a ball and is a shockingly fantastic children's entertainer, not just good at narrating the thomas segments but at interacting with the child actors and feeling truly like some otherworldly pixie train conductor man. He's really good at this and it's fun to watch.

As for the Thomas segments .. I won't be covering MOST of them again. I didn't skip them as Lachey made the valid point that while I had seen these eps, I hadn't seen them with the george carlin narration. George is really good at the job, easily equiling Michael over in the UK.

It's just.. i've covered these stories. WIth the exception of the one for our final episode today, there's no big diffrence story wise and performance wise Carlin also does the "everyone but Gordon gets about the same voice" thing the other narrators pre baldwin did. Harold also gets an upper class rich person voice

It is nice to get confrmation that Carlin was really good at both jobs, and it was a neat treat.. but there's just nothing really new to add here. The shorts featured are good. There's only one exception, a really weird one, and we're saving that for last. So good shorts as they were before, simply don't have anything new to add for the Carlin Cuts.

So Other Girl asks George Carlin to use his magical powers to help her win the art contest.

What I like though is that the lesson isn't the usual "Oh you shouldn't cheat in competition" aseop. it's a valid one but most kids shows across demographics have done it. Fairly Odd Parents even has it as one of Da Rules.

The real lesson is "it's more fufilling to work hard at something and get better yourself instead of comparing yourself to other people and how good they are". It's a lesson kids really need.. a lesson I honestly needed and maybe I would've kept drawing. You may never be as good as some but doing it is still fun. Just do your art and improvment for you and don't take easy shortcuts. The latter.. is super relevant given the rise of AI and people using it as a shortcut instead of a tool to help them create better work. It becomes about replacing other artists instead of helping artists grow.

Other girl isn't the only one to learn this lesson as one of the jukebox performers learned it. Oh did I mention there' sa jukebox full of magical puppets straight out of pee wee's playhouse who play a song once an episode? Because Lachey sure didn't

So yeah another jarring bit but one I like. I fucking love pee wee's playhouse, so seeing this old style of puppetry again warms my heart. The story is clever too: As a boy the puppet's band leader practiced piano but didn't feel good at it. Turned out the piano didn't and was also alive and thus played the songs for him. Eventually though the boy missed trying himself and the piano concided he was getting better. It's a heartwarming story about not letting sentient insturments play for you that's once again an accidental metaphor for AI somehow.

So she submits her picture instead and unsuprisingly this is what George Carlin hoped would happen. Erica Luttrel wins but they liked something about other girls so she wins a prize.

But enough about children what's SCHEMER been up to: Well he wanted to win, and Billy said his new ink was like magic so he just casually stole it.. only to accidently send a blank picture. We also get a great bit of schemer using a mirror to take a self portrait since no one wanted to draw his face less they summon another schemer into the world. such is the price of such one of a king beauty. Billy chases him and presumibly pummels him, episode over.

Sweet and Sour

So stop me if you've heard this one: a corrupt older man approaches a kid (or kids) with a lemonade stand, offers to be their partner, then finds ways to ruin the place while screwing their new partner over.

Yeah my thoughts exactly.. to my shock the Boondocks episdoe "The Block is Hot"... is a clear remake of the Shining Time Station Episode "Sweet and Sour". Or at least conceptually. After the partnership part both take diffrent paths: Ed Wuncler overworks poor jasmine and cons her parents, while Schemer brings in his nephew Schemee, whose just as hammy at half the size , such a great child actor I swear the two have perfect chemistry and he gets Brian O'Connor's manerisims down perfectly, who cuts production costs, lowers quality and generally ruins the place.

Yet weirdly despite the gaps in when they were made, medium and one being aimed at adults and the other at the childrenest of children, they BOTH have valid advice abotu the economy. For the Block Is Hot, it's how Corporations take advantage of people or buisnesses and will work people to death no matter the age to get as much profit as possible while convincing you their not. It's an episode I don't go back to often for a reason as , while incredibly good at this lesson it's VERY hard to watch, especailly since, resliastically, ed gets away with all of it.

In contrast, the kids learn the equally valuable lesson of not putting profits over quality: how people WILL suck up with bad quality stuff in a pinch once.. but will eventually choose something better.. if it's the same price but hey i'm not expecting a show amed at younger kids to be fully honest about how fucked economics are. I'm just impressed an episode from the early 90's packed that in.

BOth have the lesson of "don't quickly make a deal with someone for the wrong reasons'. For Jasmne she simply trusted the wrong person, something hard not to do and that the episode dosen't blame her for. For the kids.. they KNOW Schemer is bad and when he offers a partnership after seeing them sell cookies to a high class lady, their first reaction is

But they take the deal because he offers a lot of money.. and for once Schemer isn't lying: Schemee's methods do improve things. I also love these two together; Schemer is super supportive of his nephew, is proud when Schemee sells cookie sso bad hteir returned so they can sell them again (Sadly a tactic i'm sure has actually been used), and shows the kid genuine pride and affection I wasn't sure he was capable of showing anyone or anything that wasn't acitvely making him money. I mean he's happy to see him BEFORE he starts cutting corners like a shady man in a gloriously tacky suit.

They then learn the hard way they screwed up as not only ar ebilly and didi not impressed with their new lemonade and cookies, but when they try to complain Schmeer outright steals the buisness. Granted most buisnesses can't be stolen with a "no butts" clause, but Scheemer is dealing with small children not the ftc... this time.

My only beef with this episode is that while the lesson is good.. the adults blame the kids fo rbeing conned by schemer. They did screw up a bit as they knew he was trouble when he walked in, but did the deal anyway.. but loosing their buisness.. was him outright conning them. I get them learning a lesson but you still have to remember these are children IN your care you let be around scheemer unsupervised. And all George Carlin did was vaugely advise them the deal was bad and let them vent later. I get George Carlin can't talk to Scheemer as he dosen't know he exists, Lachey clarified that for me, and if he did he'd of course be constantly harassing the poor miniture george carlin or try to capture him to get his pot of gold. And look I know he's not a leprechaun, you know that, but it's fair to assume Schemer dosen't know his ass from his elbow let alone that george carlin isn't a leprechaun.. mostly because WE don't know that George Carlin, in this series, isn't a leprechaun. I checked the series wiki it just says he's 18 inches tall. He could be a leprechaun, a beyonder, a bit sized timelord, we really DON'T know.

Point is they fucked up too, but they do make up for it as they point out the kids still have a fuckton of lemons they got in the buisness divorce and the kids have a creative solution: ther'es so many things they can make with lemons with Stacy's help they make everything but lemonade.. and quickly gain buisness when Schemer is ineveitbly bit in the ass by karma, i.e the ladies lunchone he was catering boycotting him till he closes up and gladly taking the kids buisness. Happy end for all. A really fun episode with a shockingly timeless moral. Good stuff.

Do I hear

Do I Hear is a decent episode, with a far less clear lesson. it doe shave a random ass music video about some kids little brother destroying anything

I did find out from this shining time ocasionally does music videos with stock footage but like everything else int his series it's a lot to take out of context.

Anyways this one has Elvis show up as a jukebox repair man.

Yeah so backing up the Station is closed for the day but the kids decide to stay behind while Mr Conductor apparently can't do more than just.. tell the kids Billy and Stacy probably had a reason to shut it down.

Naturally Schemer is still here and finds a fake nickle in one of his machines and is pissed.. till he realizes he can use it to get his revenge. So it turns out Schemer has a rivarly with the magical jukebox, which is the least suprising thign in these four episodes. Wha'ts hilarous is that in any other series this would just be a fun rivarly with an inanimate object, like Luke Cage and his coffe machine, or Mr. Parker and his boiler.

Here? The puppets in the jukebox hate schemer.. and given what we've seen of him and how he talks shit about their home and them by comparison regularly, you side with the magic jukebox. So when he tries to use the nickel on them.. they fake being broken.

What intrests me is I thought i knew where the episode was going... after Schemer dicks around on top of a jukebox because Brian O Conner is the best. HE calls a repair man , and I assumed the puppets were either going to be outed, the kids or conductor would have to protect them something. But no the kids don't know and the jukebox repairman.. is elvis.

Yeah they got an actor who honestly looks a lot like the king in his younger days, acts like him and is implied to be him. Either Elivs regenerated into a younger body, cloned himself or simply is reborn every time he dies kenny mcormick styles and rapidly ages. All possible possibly all at once. The lore of his series is rife for fan theory. Send me your own Schemer, Mr Conductor and Reborn Elvis fan theories people!

So turns out Elvis knows the magical puppets exist and tells them to play cool. He then gives Schemer a bill for 11 dollars, who naturally reacts like a mature responsible adult paying for something be broke

So he goes with plan B: have an auction. Naturally this being schemer he auctions anything and everything in the place, and the kids realize "shit we acccidently encouraged him" and try to stop this. Thankfully, while they can't reach Billy, Elvis comes back to save the day. At this point i'm at a loss for jokes.

Schemer even accidently blocks Mr Conductors way into his house.. because he lives here now I guess. Like I said you can write your own lore, mine is that it's the exact layout of snoopy's dog house pre fire. Anyways Billy and Stacy put a stop to this nonsense and instead of arresting schemer just.. scare him off. Though hilarously, and predictably his method of hiding is just.. crouching in front of the banister, which has a railing so they can see him and hoping they forget it. THey also lay into the kids.. again.. even though this time all they did was stay behind. The Schemer shit was ENTIRELY him they just accidently gave him an idea.

The puppets play elvis a song, Mr conductor talks to billy and this episode.. was fine. Not great, but it had some godo schemer acting here and there, the moral is just all kinds of confused.. but it's also hard to hate an episode that has a magical elvis and schemer hanging onto a jukebox for dear life so still good stuff.

Billy's Party

Our final episode for this batch, Billy's Party is a thanksgiving episode, as you can tell by PIlgrim Schemer showing his penis size up there. It's not a terrible idea for the setting either: A train station is giong to be super busy and the episode focuses on railroad tradition in thanksgiving instead of The Pilgrims and the various native tribes

Don't get me wrong, i'd ENTIRELY be up for an episode about Billy's heritage, and the fact the show had a native american main character but did nothign steroptical with him is magical. But I did not remotely trust a 90's tv show to do the story of thanksgiving in a way that wasn't either whitewashing it like I got as a kid, or just plain insulting.

So instead they sidestep it, going into what modern thanksgiving means. And who better to tell us about thanksgiving than thomas the tank engine? Now if you read through my sometimes breif sometimes downright insane thomas reviews, you'll know seasons 1-5.. didn't HAVE a thanksgiving episode. That's not really a thing in the UK, so it's not a thing that exists in a british show about trains.

So rather than just.. find an episode that fit the themes of togetherness.. theyt urned one of the christmas episodes into a thanksgiving episode. Which itself isn't a TERRIBLE idea; both are holidays with lots of travel, and the only real crack is there's tons of mail as that's more a christmas thing.. but then the ending has a fucking christmas tree and i'm just like.. guys. I know you couldn't edit it out but why did you pick one specifically with a christmas tree. Christmas isn't after thanksgiving. Don't start that shit with me Thomas the Tnak Engine.

While the thomas part is sloppy.. the rest... is incredibly well handled: the puppets have thanksgiving and invite a turkey over and in a nice subversion of the "oh you brought a turkey don't kill it" type of stories we get a lot, even Brooklyn 99 good as it was wasn't immune to doing one of these and also lampshading how stupid Charles was for bringing a bird to live kill on thanksgiving day to someone elses house so it worked, their just serving veggies. The turkey is a guest and a rad dude.

As for hte main part the kids wonder why they should give a shit, and Billy is trying to get to his party with , and i'm just quoting it "the yardees and the hobos". I will refer to them as the train workers and homless persons, this was 1993 after all, but it is fun to see them use the terrible h word so casually.

Turns out Billy has nowhere to go unlike the rest of the cast, but was picked to join the rest of the train people. The origin of said meal is also neat: a long time ago they were nemies, the train people not liking hitching passnegers and the homless persons not liking being kicked off their only transportation and sometimes home. But one day a signal didn't get put up in time to switch tracks so the homless persons in the area all rallied to make sure the train didn't crash, and the two sides made peace, having thanksgiving together every year as their the only two groups whose schedules synch up.

Billy ends up not being able to come as disasters keep popping up: they need a train fixed to meet demand, one of the various guests can't reach her apointment so Billy drives her, and Schemer ends up stuck on a train as part of his scam to make the holiday about giving him stuff. If that sounds underwhleming it is. I expect better and stupider from you scheemer. What a disapointing end.

bIlly is left alone.. only for the natural conculsion of everyone coming back to celebrate, including Schemer whose greatful. It's a genuinely heartwarming ending. Why the kidsa re here I don't know, I assume their parents don't exist. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.

This episode wasn't as fun without schedmer at full blast but it's still a REALLY good thanksgiving episode with some intresting ideas, and a fantastic finale.

overally I REALLY loved Shining Time Station, continuting the tradition of any thomas spinoff being better than the source thus far. It's fun, has great performances and I will be coming back here somedya on my own or if lachey wants. or if any of you want feel free to comission it .

Next Time: THE MOVIE THAT ENDED AN EMPIRE.

#thomas the tank engine #thomas and friends #schemer #shining time station #didi cohn #cartoons #children's television #90s #80s #george carlin

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pxmun · 3 months

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Happy Late anniversary Shining Time Station!

#ttte #thomas the tank engine #thomas and friends #ttte shining time station #jukebox band #flexitoon #flexitoon puppets #shining time station

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aaronsworkspace · 4 months

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Obscure Christmas Special recommendations

Christmas is almost here but I still thought I’d share some fun things to watch during the holiday. Most of these are surrounded by my hyperfixatjons so a lot of animated/puppetry content. And are in no particular order

Christmas Eve Sesame Street

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Multiple plot lines going on here but the main plot is about Oscar making big bird worrying about if Santa Claus can't fit through peoples chimneys he won't come. There's also some very good original songs and a sweet subplot with Ernie and bert

Snowden’s Raggedy Ann and Andy holiday show.

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A skating special follows the story of a circus-based around the raggedy Ann and Andy dolls (maybe?) they host a show each year where they make children's wishes come true with the help of the rag dolls and a magical mirror.

3) Shining Time Station (Tis a Gift)

If your unaware of what shining time station is. It is a show delvopled to to bring Thomas the tank engine to the us (due to the episodes 5 minute runtime) so the rest of the show is a framing device with original stories in a train station and other content.

As the adults bicker over playing Santa's Helper in the holiday pageant, Matt and Tanya are left with Vicki, a little girl unwilling to experience the joys of the season. A mysterious passenger, Mr. Nicholas (Lloyd Bridges), arrives, and makes a lasting impression on Vicki. He teaches her the spirit of the holidays, a gift no money could buy.

Olive the other reindeer

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When Santa cancels his annual flight because of a hurt reindeer, a young Christmas loving dog named Olive is convinced she has what it takes to get Santa's flight off the ground and save Christmas.

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Rudolph the red nosed reindeer (1948)

An adaptation before the classic we know today. Except with a splash of uncanny rubber house animation.

A Muppets Family Christmas

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A holiday special featuring like almost every series that can go under the muppets label (ie the muppets, Sesame Street, fraggle rock)

When Fozzie and the Muppet Show gang drop in unexpectedly on Fozzie's mother, she is forced to cancel her winter vacation plans and entertain them all. Soon the Sesame Street gang comes by as carolers, and then Kermit and his nephew Robin discover a Fraggle Rock hole in the basement. A snowstorm blows in, stranding everyone at the house, except for Miss Piggy, who arrives just in time for all the Muppets to celebrate Christmas together.

Those are all I can think of now!

Happy holidays and hope these give you some enjoyment!

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zilabee · 1 year

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Very early in the shoot, the producer heard Beatles music playing in one of the dressing rooms. “So I went to find the source of the music,” he said, “and it was Ringo, listening to all the early Beatles stuff. All by himself. I just sat down and talked about the music and I told him a little bit about what it meant to me. We kind of made a connection there, and then I realized that basically, we’d all been kind of pussyfooting around him. He is one of the most famous people in the world. [...]

He also got along famously with the kids in the cast, who had a little clubhouse in an alcove on the set of Shining Time Station and made Ringo an honorary member of their club. “They really didn’t know who he was, and they felt no inhibition around him... and the way they presented Ringo his honorary membership was such a big deal and it obviously meant so much to these kids,” Siggelkow said. “And he really responded to that, and by the time we did our first press conference the kids were climbing all over him. They were hanging on his arms, running around him. He had clearly made a real connection with them.” [...]

Rick Siggelkow - Ringo With A Little Help, by Michael Seth Starr

#ringo #ringo starr #shining time station #thomas the tank engine #Youtube

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number1spongebobfan · 3 months

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I drew @pxmun's characters Cleo, Darius and Romeo meeting Mr. Conductor!

#shining time station #ttte #not my characters #mr. conductor #stick figures #stickman

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gritsandbrits · 4 months

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The search, the clue, and the happy ending

Im a universe where Magic Railroad was a moderate success enough to get Junior and Mr Conductor inducted into the show. Based on my theory that the Conductors are figurines brought to life by gold dust. To most people they appear as toys but if you really believe they reveal their true sentience. I used a lego piece for junior's hair to give it that right amount of spikiness. For Mr. Conductor I mixed Carlin and Baldwin together. I gave them elf ears to show they're not regular humans.

Alternate daytime version:

#thomas the tank engine #edit #fanart #shining time station #mr conductor #junior conductor #thomas and friends #ttte #tatmr #photomanip #tw eye contact #ibispaintx #pbs kids #ttte fandom #ttte fanart

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amazingnascar221 · 3 months

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Sean Coover meets Mr. Conductor by AmazingNascar221

#sean coover #mr. conductor #shining time station

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steam-beasts · 7 months

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Thomas and the Magic Railroad

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Three: Diesel 10's Plan

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A/N: FINALLY! I finished chapter 3! Sorry about taking so long, motivation kept going in and out of me 😑. Also, a note about Billy, in this version he is played by Tom Jackson.

Splatter and Dodge make an appearance. Dodge has a stutter so it'll be easier to tell the dialogue apart.

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The next day arrived on Sodor quite quickly. Most of the engines had gathered at Tidmouth Sheds to wish Sir Topham Hatt and his family a good holiday, and good luck to Edward

"See you lot in a few weeks!" Edward called out as he departed from the yard, pulling the private coach along. The engines whistled and wooshed happily to Edward and the couple until they were out of sight.

Once they were sure Edward definitely couldn't hear, Gordon let out a loud, pent-up groan of annoyance "Of course EDWARD of all engines was chosen" He commented with distaste. Thomas raised an eyebrow "What's that supposed to mean? Are you not happy for Edward, Gordon?"

"Well, Edward only got chosen because Sir Topham Hatt took pity on him, I bet..."

"Gordon. You better not start..." Duck warned, knowing exactly where this was going.

"...probably since he's so old" Gordon finished, rolling his eyes. Thomas gasped "That's not the reason, Gordon! Yes, Edward is up there in age, but that doesn't mean he's weak!" The E2 retorted, not pleased at all.

"Thomas. Edward was made in 1896, practically a CENTURY ago! He's an antique, and so slow at this point. Sir Topham Hatt obviously felt bad and chose him for it!" Gordon argued. Thomas gritted his teeth at that statement, Mr Conductor felt it was a good time to step in before things escalated.

"Now, now...let's break it up!" The conductor said, getting their attention. Once the two had their eyes on him, Mr Conductor cleared his throat "Ok...now, Gordon. At this point, I sometimes wonder...are you and Edward friends at all?"

Gordon widened his eyes as multiple others fell on him, making him stammer "Well I– of course we are..! It's just...I-I..." Gordon looked down in embarrassment, visibly sweating.

"Real friends don't say that. I know there's always going to be some sort of banter in a friend group, but what you say to and about Edward is just bullying, Gordon"

Thomas chuffed "Yeah! Edward's just as useful as all of us. Besides..." The E2 then grew a smug grin "...if Edward was as weak as you say, then how come he was able to push a big fat engine like you up your hill, hm?" He teased cheekily.

The other engines chortled at Thomas' response. Percy, who was beside him, snickered "Ohohoho...good one, Thomas!"

Gordon wheeshed "Oh that's rich coming from someone who fell down the mine!!"

"I didn't notice the danger sign!" Thomas spat. Gordon scoffed "Little engines are SO narrow minded!"

"No we're not!" Duck said defensively, Oliver and Percy agreed.

The arguing was ceased when an ear-piercing, and broken-sounding whistle ripped through the air, startling the engines. The noise caused a few to reverse out of surprise. The laughing and banter ceased due to this, and Gordon was now lightly jittering "W-w-w-what was that?!" He squeaked.

Mr Conductor laughed at their reactions, but raised a eyebrow at his whistle "Huh, that's the third time..." He muttered before regaining his composure and speaking up.

"Ahem! Sorry about that, gentlemen. My whistle is acting up today"

Percy chuckled nervously "I-It's ok, Mr Conductor. It was j-just unexpected...heh heh..."

The magic man gave Percy a gentle smile and looked up at Gordon with a sterner look "As for you, Gordon. If you and Henry were REALLY his friends, you wouldn't say such things..." Mr Conductor made sure to shoot a glare at Henry, he wasn't innocent in this either "...Sir Topham Hatt told me himself how many times he's tried stopping you. To think, after everything Edward's done for you two..." He shook his head. Henry frowned and gulped now feeling eyes on him as well as Gordon.

The Stanier engine never expected to be dragged into this intervention, but he supposed it was deserved and remained silent.

"Mr Conductor is right, Gordon" Toby chimed in, the others murmered in agreement. Gordon huffed and reversed into his berth in a defeated and ashamed mood. Henry felt his boiler tighten and looked down at his buffers in shame and guilt. A few moments after the quick intervention, everyone had settled. He was handed a schedule board to list everybody's jobs for the day.

"Okay, now that we're all calm and collected...James, you're to pull a freight train of fresh hay bales to Farmer McCole's..." James groaned in annoyance. Great, another goods train. Just what he needed.

Mr Conductor looked over to Gordon "Gordon...the Afternoon Express as usual. Off you pop!" He said. Gordon smiled with pride and tooted his whistle before steaming on to the turntable. A good way to get his mind off getting confronted.

Mr Conductor went on down the list, assigning the engines one by one, who all gladly obliged. It was until he got to Thomas, his chipperness disappeared.

"..And last but not least, Thomas..." As Mr Conductor read the assignment, his smile dissolved into a frown "...oh dear"

Thomas perked up inquisitively at the man's sudden drop in tone "Mr Conductor, what's wrong?" He asked. Mr Conductor looked up at Thomas with a nervous glint in his eyes. The assignment itself was quite upsetting to say the least.

"Well Thomas, it says here you're to take flatbeds of scrapped engines to the Smelter's yard...it's been left for you at the Knapford yard" He said , wincing a little. The other engines gasped and muttered at the mere mention of scrap. An slightly appalled look was splashed on Thomas's face "S-Scrapped engines...?"

Mr Conductor nodded sadly. Thomas sighed, he always pulled scrapped engine beds at least once or twice, but even if it was something he should be getting used to by now, it was still unsettling to do such a task. It was like a human pulling a cart with a few dead carcasses in it to a grave site. Even if they never knew who the carcasses were, the urge to mourn was strong.

"Ok, sir...I will, sir" He said solemnly.

"Alright then..." Mr Conductor then put away the board. He looked towards the other engines and tried looking more bright for them "Well, what are you lot waiting for? Get those pistons pumping!" The tank and tender engines all tooted before all reluctantly setting off.

After most of the engines had left, it was just Thomas, Toby and Mr Conductor left. Mr Conductor's eyes flicked over to the E2's cab, and he couldn't help but notice something odd. He then glanced at Toby's cab entrance and saw his crew standing and waiting. Thomas's crew were still not here.

"Thomas. Where are your driver and fireman?" He asked, hands on hips and looking around the yard.

"They're taking the day off again, Mr Conductor. Its never been the same since Bob and William retired...my new crew are nothing but lazy and slack!" Thomas wheeshed sadly, though his face looked mildly annoyed.

"Oh for goodness sakes! Again?!"

"I can't do my job if they're not operating me, Mr.C"

Mr Conductor tsked, shaking his head in disapproval "How disappointing! I shall have a word with those two! That is what I'll do!" He said, wagging a finger. Thomas snickered at the rhyme.

Mr Conductor then walked over to the E2's cab and climbed up "Well, don't you worry, Thomas. I won't let you become a sitting duck, I'll just have to operate you myself!"

Thomas brightened up happily "Oh thank you, Mr Conductor!" He whistled as the magic man took the shovel and tossed coal into Thomas's firebox. The tank engine whistled merrily and proceeded to leave Tidmouth. Mr Conductor smiled and looked out the cab window.

"It is another beautiful day on the Island of Sodor..."

____________________________________________

Along the rails of the Indian Valley Railroad, the rails glimmered in the summer light. The birds tweeted their beautiful songs of nature. That was the moment when the tracks began to rumble and rattle, and out from around the corner came a Union Pacific FEF puffing down the tracks.

This majestic tender engine was nicknamed "The Rainbow Sun". A locomotive that has been on the Indian Valley Railroad for a long while now. Her driver was a man in his early 40s. He was of Native American descent and was proud of it too. This man was of course, Billy Twofeathers – the railroad technician of the railway.

Billy was leaning out of his train's cab and gazing out at the lovely land of the Indian Valley with an appreciative smile on his face. It was an admirable sight, so it was. Nearly "magical" as some would say. Billy was then thrown out of focus by a clanging noise coming from the Rainbow Sun's undercarriage. Billy raised an eyebrow before noticing excessive amounts of steam clouds gushing out of his engine's pistons and out from between the wheels.

Within every single bit of handyman knowledge he knew, this wasn't supposed to happen.

"Hm, something must be loose. Don't worry, ol' girl. I'll give you a look over once we reach the station" He muttered, giving the Pacific's boiler a pat. But before he could do anything further, he heard a loud revving of a motorcycle nearby. He snapped his gaze to the footpath beside the rails.

He could very clearly see the silhouette of a man riding on a motorcycle. Because of the steam, the features of the man were obscured but Billy could tell the biker was staring at him. The distance between the Rainbow Sun and the biker was a little worrying to Billy, there was a possibility for an accident!

"HEY! Get away from the rails, you'll get hurt!" Billy yelled over the loud pumping and clanking noises coming from his engine. The stranger didn't seen fazed, or even care for that matter. Instead, he grabbed something out of the crate, and that's when Billy's face drained a little – it was a gun.

Billy ducked behind the door of the cab and winced as he heard two shots go off, both bullets hitting the door. Once the engineer found the slim opportunity, he quickly looked out to see the damage.

There were a couple tiny dents in the cab door, but since it was likely a handgun, the damage wasn't severe. Billy could fix it in a few—

BANG!!

"AGH!!" Billy screamed as a burning, agonising pain erupted in his arm. He looked down to see a fresh bullet wound, open and bleeding profusely on his forearm. Billy hissed in pain and glared daggers at the man, all the while mentally scolding his stupidity for revealing himself.

He could just about tell that the man was smirking from within the steam camouflage and spun the weapon around his finger before blowing smoke off the muzzle.

The engineer ducked back behind the door as another bang ripped through the air, gritting his teeth at the painful burn of his wound. His eyes darted around frantically until he spotted a thick clothe – that'll surely slow the bleeding until he reaches the station!

Billy grabbed the cloth and began frantically wrapping it around the injured area, wincing again at the pain. He managed to tie a rough knot around it before hearing a thud outside. He snapped his gaze to the cab entrance and felt a light pang of fear shoot through him as the man had jumped and was now clinging on to the handrails, pulling himself towards the cab door. He stepped into the cab and loomed over him, fists clenching.

The stranger was fairly tall with a slightly wide build. He towered over the handyman with a threatening posture and a toothy grin. He wore a biker helmet with yellow-lensed goggles, as for his clothes, the hijacker wore a forest green turtleneck, a trenchcoat, a practical weapon belt and combat boots. Just from looking at him, something about this guy was familiar to Billy.

Billy shook away the thought and slowly stood up, staring into this strangely familiar man's eyes with a threatening glint, said stranger stared back. Both found themselves in a stand off. In the corner of his eye, his shotgun rested against the wall. Billy knew if he was quick enough, he'd be able to put himself out of harm's way.

In one swift movement, Billy punched the man in the jaw when he least expected it. While the hijacker was momentarily stunned, the engineer snatched his gun and quickly loaded it. Thank god he had a bullet pack in his pocket...just for necessary occasions. Once the man was refocusing, he was face to face with a shotgun pressed against his forehead.

The strange man glared at the shotgun and back at its handler with malice. His lips curled into a snarl as Billy's eyes squinted, his expression was grim. Both men were in a tight situation and were both on nerve. Either could die in a situation like this, but from the way it looked, the unwelcome newcomer was running face-first into death himself before Billy could.

He still said nothing and stared deeply into the other's eyes. Billy did the same, keeping his grim expression printed on his face.

"Well, it only takes one bullet. What'll it be?" He asked with a slightly grave tone to his voice. Sweat beaded from their foreheads, their hands clammy, their movements as still as a rock. All it took was one move and one loud bang. But who would seal the deal? Suddenly, the biker shoved the shotgun away from his face in a lightning-fast movement, catching Billy off guard and by surprise. Before the engineer could even do anything else, the intruder kicked him hard in the shin.

Billy yelled and fell back on the floor, gun still in hand. The man above him pounced and forced him to stay on the ground, holding his wrists together with one hand. Billy grunted and tried pushing him off, only to be stopped by being repeatedly striked in the face with a gloved fist.

Punch after punch, the hijacker kept going and displayed no signs of stopping, much to Billy's dismay. Billy himself hissed, groaned and grunted with each blow to his head. From the feel of it, the hijacker must be wearing a brass knuckle under the glove, as his punches felt a lot harder and more painful than normal punches, which still hurt of course, but not this much. Out of the corner of the engineer's eye, his shotgun still remained in hand. Through squinting, watery eyes, he could see his attacker paying no attention to the weapon, and an idea bubbled up in his head.

Billy seized the chance, gathering all the strength that he could muster, he pulled his legs up to his own chest and performed a ground kick. His attacker let out an audible "oof" as some wind was knocked out of him and he toppled back. Billy grunted, spitting out the bitter taste of copper in his mouth as he stood up with a wobble, glaring down at the man on the ground who was also struggling to his feet.

His face ached and buzzed with pain, but wasn't as bad as the bullet wound.

As soon as the stranger fully stood, Billy tightened the grip on his shotgun and pulled it behind his shoulder before roughly slamming it against the exposed part of his head.

CRACK!!

The hard metal made contact with the other's forehead and a concerning crack was heard. The hijacker growled in pain, stumbling back. One of the lenses of his goggles was cracked and shattered, revealing his eye. Billy groaned quietly, gritting his teeth as he got up. His arm hurt like hell. The man across from him had his gloved hand hovering over where he was hit, a dark bruise already forming. Billy panted, feeling a little dizzy from the barrage of punches but kept a firm hold of his shotgun.

The man's face turned into an angered scowl and he then charged towards Billy, who struck him again with the gun. Then again, then again, then again...

The hijacker stumbled back towards the open cab door in a daze, his back hitting the cold rushing air of the passing country. He looked behind him, a sense of fear lingering within him as he knew he'd get badly hurt if he fell, but did he have a choice? He snapped his gaze back to Billy, who was seething with frustration and desperation.

Billy knew what he had to do, but he knew it wouldn't be pretty. The engineer repositioned his weapon into its proper position and pointed it at the man.

"I'm gonna give you one last chance, get off my train or get shot. I would prefer option one and so should you" He threatened the intruder. The intruder in question narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. He glanced between the passing ground below and Billy before letting out a disgruntled sigh.

He stepped backwards on to the footplate of the train and gave Billy a snarky goodbye wave "Donadagohvi, braid boy!" He jeered. Suddenly, the intruder jumped backwards, much to Billy's surprise. The racial mockery would've only bothered him a little if the man didn't jump. He could've waited for the Rainbow Sun to stop, but that was how it was gonna be, huh?

Quickly, Billy went over to the open cab door and peered at where the guy jumped off. To his confusion, the man was gone. No body, no one. Just himself and the engine. Despite this, Billy could rest easy knowing that the attacker was gone...for now.

Billy sighed in relief and with a trembling hand, rested his shotgun against the wall. The bullet wound in his arm burned, he was incredibly lucky to survive it, but he knew he had to get it tended to very soon. Other than the life-threatening injury, he thought back to the familiar man. Billy just couldn't shake off the feeling that he's seen that guy before...and his voice, yeah...he's definitely heard that voice from somewhere in the past.

Much to the handyman's luck, the Rainbow Sun had finally rolled into the town of Shining Time, so he can forget about that guy for now. The town was filled to the brim with pastel coloured buildings, gardens, clover filled fields, play parks where children thrived. It was all slathered in the sun's warm embrace, there was something magical about the place, he had a feeling.

Even despite his condition, he still pulled the whistle for the children who cheered joyously as they watched the gleaming iron horse pass through. Thank god they couldn't see in the cab from where they were.

As the Rainbow Sun finally pulled into Shining Time Station, Billy looked out the cab for anyone waiting at the platform.

Once he knew the coast was clear, he went back and pulled on the brakes, avoiding using his injured arm. " Hope no one sees me like this right now..." he internally prayed.

"Good morning, Mr Twofeathers!" A new, young voice suddenly called out. Billy felt his hope deflate and slumped his shoulders, he peeked through the window and saw a young boy riding a white stallion. His hair was blonde and scruffy, he wore an open blue flannel shirt, with a vest beneath it. He had ripped trousers and black boots.

This was Patch, a boy who had moved into town from the countryside a few months ago. He often helped out around town to earn some pocket money. He was currently Billy's helper. Bounding behind the horse was his dog, Mutt.

"Good morning, Patch!" Billy called back with a strained smile. He really didn't want to see Patch at the moment, but the universe seems to have other plans "Sorry, can't talk right now. I uh...gotta get inside" as he slowly climbed out of the Rainbow Sun, Patch stopped his horse and watched Billy get out. When the handyman turned around, the farm boy almost instantly noticed the injuries he had sustained.

"Mr Twofeathers, you're hurt!!" Patch exclaimed, hopping off his horse and jogging over to him "and your face is bleeding!" Billy furrowed his brows in confusion and wiped his chin, feeling something wet. Turns out it really was blood.

"Oh dear, I...I suppose I didn't notice" He replied, feeling a bit more lightheaded – supposedly the loss of blood was now getting to him. He never even felt it on his face, so that was why he tasted copper. Patch got a closer look at his wounds – Billy had a nasty wound on his arm that bled horribly, his face looked battered and bruised, plus, his nose was bleeding terribly – It was an awful sight for sure!

Patch's worried face only grew as he saw the blood-soaked cloth "Did...did something happen?" Patch's dog, Mutt came up behind him and whimpered with worry for Billy.

"It's ok, Patch. I-...I accidentally fell out of the Rainbow Sun while refilling on water. This'll all heal in a few...a few weeks" He lied as he placed a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. It wasn't the best lie, but he didn't want to tell him the truth. Patch skeptically stared at Billy for a brief moment, making the older man nervous.

"There's uh– there's a first aid kit in the workshop. I'll get patched up from there"

"Well, come on! We gotta get you inside!" The country boy insisted, gently pushing the engineer into the station. Billy kept protesting, saying that he was fine when really, he wasn't. He felt a bit dizzy.

Schemer was at the mini arcade, counting all the nickels he had managed to recieve. Once he saw Billy and Patch come in, he was immediately put off.

"WOOOAAAH, woah, woooaah!!" He exclaimed, immediately trudging towards Billy. He looked the man up and down, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the bloodied clothes.

"And just WHAT do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going with young Patch here to fetch something from the workshop, Schemer. Is there a problem?" Billy asked. Schemer threw his head back and scoffed "PAH! You're darn right there's a problem, Mr Twofeathers! No one wants to see..." Schemer then dramatically pointed at hisentire appearance "...a disheveled hippie who looks like he got ran over by a train! It's bad for business!"

Patch rolled his eyes. He had visited the station long enough to get to know Schemer, and BOY did he regret it "Oh give it a break, Stinker! Can't you see he's injured?!" Patch spat.

Schemer gasped dramatically at the insult, a hand to his chest. He narrowed his eyes and bent down to get eye-leveled with Patch "Why you little..."

"Oh Billy! You're back!" Said a new voice. It was Stacy, who had just walked in through the front door. Once she had a good look, her face paled with horror.

She instantly zoomed over to Billy, fretting over his condition "O-Oh good heavens, Billy. What happened?! You're bleeding!" She yelped, delicately peeling at the rag to see the bullet wound.

Billy sighed, pushing her hand away "I'm fine, Stacy. Yes, I'm hurt but I'll survive. I just fell from the train" He lied again. Stacy didn't believe him, she knew beatings and bullet wounds when she saw it.

She shook her head "No you didn't! This is a bullet wound, I-I know by the blood and – and the big gash! Tell me the truth!" She said sternly. She didn't like being lied to, especially when it comes to someone she cared about hiding their pain!

Billy looked at Patch, who looked up at him with eyes that pleaded for the truth. Mutt did the same, except of course, in dog form. Schemer was skeptical. He had to tell the truth, didn't he? Oh dear...

"I-...I had managed to stop a hijacking this morning and got in a scrap fight with the attacker. He shot me in the arm and beat me up. Luckily, I managed to shake him off. There, that's what happened" He said, looking away with a guilty face. Schemer was honestly blown away, he had no words or snarky comments, none! Patch was surprised by this reveal, but sympathised for Billy, as well as Mutt who whined and hung his head low. Stacy gasped like a scandalised housewife, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.

"A HIJACKING?! Oh dear, oh dear! Sh-Shining Time Station hasn't had a train robbery in...well, YEARS!! Did he steal anything?" Stacy stammered, gently grabbing Billy's hand and squeezing it. Said man shook his head "No, don't worry. I fought him off before he could...though, I don't know what he was after. He was trying to knock me out!"

The three listeners were flabbergasted at this news. Patch tilted his head, humming thoughtfully "Huh...well, what if he was after the Rainbow Sun ?" He suggested, earning a puzzled head-tilt by Mutt, and an eye roll from Schemer "Poppycock! Who would want a train?"

Patch shrugged "Well, maybe to scrap it? My mom told me how desperate scrappers are to get their hands on steam trains here in the Indian Valley. Perhaps that guy was one of them?" He theorised.

"Aghh...i-i don't know..ngh!..Patch, but if I had to assume with how he greeted me, then that's possibly the case" Billy hissed, clutching his arm. His brain was finally registering the wound and it stung so badly. Stacy huffed and guided him to the outside benches.

"That's it, Billy. I'm taking you to the local hospital" She said sternly. Said man remained silent and went along with her. Conveniently, there was a hospital a couple blocks down.

Patch watched them leave and shook his head "Poor Billy. Who would do this to him, Mutt?" He asked his dog. Even though Mutt couldn't fully understand what he said, he sensed his feelings and whined. Schemer watched as the two disappeared out of the station. He said nothing.

The entrepreneur glanced between the entrance and the arcade, knowing it probably wasn't a good idea to say anything snarky. Meekly, he walked back to the arcade.

The station was still, the station was silent, the station was worried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at Sodor, Thomas pulled into the Smelter's yard with the flatbeds. Mr Conductor meanwhile kept an eye around the engine, in case trouble popped out. It was that strange hunch that ate at him again.

Thomas looked around the yard, seeing scattered wheels, rusty side rods, detached buffer beams...and many engine carcasses, all of which were devoid of a face. The little tank engine shivered at the sight, not liking it one bit.

Mr Conductor gave him a reassuring pat on the cab "Cheer up, Thomas. We'll make this job quick" He said before hopping out and trekking to uncouple the flatbeds.

It felt longer to Thomas, as in that time, he began hearing ominous noises coming from all around him.

First, he heard metal, creaking eerily and loudly.

Second, he heard rattling noises from the left and the right, accompanied by what Thomas could describe as low growling of an engine. Like a diesel...was it Arry and Bert up to their old tricks?

Third of all and last of all, he heard low cackling and snickering from ahead. It came from deep in the smelting shed – the LAST place Thomas wanted to hear such noises.

The inside of the shed glowed an ominous red, and steam was leaking everywhere in it. Some of the steam had even seeped out into the yard itself, making things even more nerve-wracking for Thomas that it made his wheels wobble.

"All done, Thomas!"

"WHA!!" Thomas yelped in fear, only to see it was Mr Conductor who stared back with a confused look "Are...you alright?"

Thomas sighed in relief "Oh! It's just you, Mr C. Sorry, this place just gives me wobbly wheels! Now, can we PLEASE leave? ...I don't like it here" He whimpered. Mr Conductor smiled lightly and put a hand on the engine's buffer.

"Its ok Thomas, we can go now"

"Oh, you're leavin' already? But ya just got here!" Echoed a new voice, startling both of them. They looked towards the smelting shed, where in the darkness rested a pair of eyes with a devious and malicious glint.

"W-Who's there?!" Thomas asked, jittering nervously.

The voice chuckled rather darkly "Well, why do ya come closer for a better look? It's hard to see a thing in this stupid steam!" it beckoned. Thomas was hesitant, even more so was Mr Conductor. That's when Mr Conductor quickly caught on to the silhouette of a claw attached to the engine's roof.

His eyes widened in realisation, he knew that claw from anywhere! He was no fool.

Mr Conductor bolted to Thomas's cab and climbed on the footplate before shooting a glare back at the shed "You can't fool us, Diesel 10!"

The diesel warship clicked his tongue in annoyance as he suddenly oiled out of the shed, revealing himself to Thomas.

"Aw well, it was worth a shot. Nothing gets by you, does it, Twinkletoes?" He sneered, rolling towards the E2 with malicious intent. "That's right. Besides, YOU'RE the only one here with that bothersome claw on your roof!" Mr Conductor spat, pointing at the hydraulic claw.

D10 gasped dramatically, offended "Bold of you to insult Pinchy right in front of me, Twinkletoes..." he said through gritted teeth. "Pinchy", the claw snapped eagerly at the two. Thomas wobbled with worry, but managed to pluck up some courage "W-What do you want, Diesel 10?!"

D10 hummed sarcastically in thought "Good question, puffball. What DO I want...?" He asked himself.

D10's face then perked up "Oh that's right! I'm here to turn you steamies to scrap!" He grinned evily, edging closer. Thomas gasped, reversing back. Mr Conductor spoke up again

"Not so fast, Diesel! There's nothing you can do to these engines while I'M around!" Mr Conductor wanted to give some reassurance to Thomas. D10 groaned and rolled his eyes "Always sidin' with the tin kettles... TYPICAL!!"

Suddenly, Pinchy extended forward, clamping on to Thomas's funnel. Said engine yelped like a kicked puppy, wincing at the pain.

"Well, that'll ALL change when I find the Lost Engine! Once I finish her off, no steam engine will ever see the light of day again! HAHAHA—OW!!" D10 was cut off by having a piece of coal thrown at his forehead by none other than Mr Conductor, who was holding a clutch of coal rocks

"Not a chance!" Mr Conductor retorted. He threw rock after rock at D10 until his claw finally let go of Thomas's funnel. At that moment, the magic man shouted "Go, Thomas, go!" and Thomas did as told.

He quickly reversed on to the other tracks, narrowly avoiding the flatbed and sped backwards, exiting the scrapyard. D10 shook out of his daze and chased after them, feeling pretty pissed off.

"Why I 'oughta...GET BACK HERE!!" He roared, following them out of the Smelter's yard and down the Kildane branchline. Thomas had to make a careful turn at the junction, and it wasn't long before the steamie and diesel warship passed through the town of Cronk.

D10 honked his horn as he chased the E2, giving the locals a fright. After exiting Cronk, they passed Maron, the West of Maron and soon, the chase began to take a turn into Wellsworth, where BoCo was busy shunting trucks. He stopped when he saw something blue in the distance. At first, he thought it was Edward.

"Edward...?" He asked in confusion, squinting. The blue blur soon got closer and more detailed, BoCo then realised it was Thomas "Thomas?!"

Thomas zoomed past, terror struck on his face "HORRORS! BOCO!! HEEEELLLP!!" He yelled. BoCo soon saw why as Diesel 10 was following him.

"D10!! LEAVE THAT LITTLE ENGINE ALONE!!" BoCo shouted angrily. Sadly, there was only so much he could do. He prayed that D10 wouldn't hurt him.

"Careful Thomas, we're heading towards the Mainline" Mr Conductor warned "I'll tell you where to go"

"Okay!" Thomas replied fearfully. D10 was amazingly still pursuing him, snapping Pinchy angrily. The conductor kept an eye behind the E2, glancing now and again at D10. Thankfully, Gordon hadn't shown up once as they were chased down the line, though, Duck and the twins were seen, but they were on different lines.

Soon, Thomas panted as he finally reversed towards Tidmouth, his axles ached and his firebox fizzled. D10 seemed far behind, but suffice to say, he could relax for a little.

James was at the sheds, having finished his goods delivery but he couldn't rest due to a pesky fly buzzing in his face. He knew it wasn't a bee, but any flying insects got him paranoid.

"Oh shoo, fly! Shoo!" He growled, trying to blow at the pest. Just then, he noticed Thomas reverse towards Tidmouth sheds. But instead of reversing on to the turntable, the tank engine missed it and ended up bumping into a pair of buffer stops, just a berth away from James.

"Oof! Botheration!" Thomas exclaimed, feeling dizzy. James tutted "Looks like you weren't concentrating, Thomas!" He half-teased, still being bothered by the fly. Thomas rolled his eyes "It's not that I wasn't concentrating, James! I was being chased so I couldn't focus!"

James quirked an eyebrow "By whom?"

"Diesel 10! 10 out of 10 for devious deeds and brutal strength...a blast from the past" He replied ominously. The red engine jolted at the name, his eyes wide "What?! Really...?"

"Yes, I had a close shave with him and he chased me down the mainline!"

"Hmph, that big bully! Why must stinky diesels like him be on our railway? He's nothing but trouble!"

"Sir Topham Hatt sees both steamies and diesels as equals, and wishes for us to have fair chances! Though, I must agree...Diesel 10 in particular shouldn't be here if he's out threatening us" the E2 agreed, then raising an eyebrow "Also, why are you in the sheds, James?"

James wrinkled his nose "Just got back from delivering that goods train. Too improper for a splendid engine like me"

Thomas just giggled "Hehe, puffy pistons" He teased. The mixed traffic engine rolled his eyes "At least I didn't have to pull rusty, dirty scrap to the scrapyard!" He retorted. Little known to anyone, Diesel 10 had found another route to Tidmouth Sheds, and was creeping up behind, silently eavesdropping the pair.

"Going back on topic, what actually happened at the scrapyard?"

"Well, Mr Conductor and I encountered Diesel 10, and he threatened me, saying how once he finds the 'Lost engine', all steam engines will die!" He explained. James widened his eyes "Lost engine? What lost engine? I've never heard such nonsense"

"Nonsense or not, we better make sure Diesel 10 doesn't find her. You remember how devious and crafty he is!"

"And what makes you think you can stop me, puffball?"

Thomas and James yelped as D10 made his presence known, fully oiling into view with a devious grin.

"HA!! You steamies are such wimps, I wouldn't be surprised if one of ya hid away in a tunnel one day and never came out!" He cackled. James wheeshed "W-What do you want, you big bully?!"

"Oh nothin'! I simply have some unfinished with one of you scrap heaps! Once I find her, you'll ALL be wiped out! Gone! Reduced to...uh...whatever those science guys call it — ya get my point! Your demise is nigh!" He threatened. Thomas glared back "I just can't understand why diesels like you find it so hard to get along with us! We're all meant to be fair, Sir Topham Hatt says so!"

Diesel 10 just scoffed "Pah! Fatt Hatt's delusional. He doesn't understand how superior diesels are to steamies! We're stronger, smarter, better...while you lot are weaker, dumber, and pathetic!"

"Ugh! To think that Juvenile yard would've corrected your behaviour. But CLEARLY not!" James spat. D10 chuckled "Well, those idiots shoulda tried harder!"

The tank engine and tender engine watched as Diesel 10 honked his horn and oiled away, laughing evily "Welp, sorry! Can't stick around, I got folks to see and errands to run! Better count your days, steamies!"

Thomas wheeshed and chuffed forward "You'll never find the Lost Engine and you will never dominate us! We won't let you!!" He shouted bravely. But the warship had already left. Mr Conductor had listened to the entire conversation, and worry began settling in.

"Sir Topham warned me of Diesel...I gotta be more watchful" he thought, rubbing his chin. He better keep a good eye on that warship...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diesel 10 had an evil plan indeed, but he wasn't doing this alone. He wanted every diesel on his side to end steam on the island, he tried convincing Mavis at Ffarquharr, but he wasn't having much luck.

Mavis growled with irritation "I said no, D10! That's that!". Diesel 10 just ignored her words and buzzed up next to her "Oh, c'mon toots. It'll be fun!" He purred. Mavis still wouldn't budge at his encouragement.

"Well, I don't see whats so fun about killing off engines who did nothing to us. Now bog off!" She retorted, she didn't want anything to do with this. Diesel 10 was surprisingly, not angry. He just chuckled as he began reversing "Alrighty, toots. Be that way, but you can always change your mind~" his tone went dark as he said it.

He then went to Brendam Docks to find Salty, and by his luck, he found the dockside diesel shunting some freight cars.

"Ah, Salty..." he said, blocking the track with Pinchy, startling the other. Salty was, suffice to say, shocked to see Diesel 10 here. But he wasn't exactly too fond of the warship, especially for his past deeds "Yarr...Diesel 10. Wha' are ye doin' around here?" He asked, narrowing an eye.

Diesel 10 grinned devilishly "I've got a...proposal for you" He said "Of course, if you're interested?"

Salty let out an exhaust of smoke "Well, whatever 'tis then I be nah interested. Ye give us diesels a bad reputation! Ye nigh-on scuttled a steamer fer goodness sakes!" He grunted. "Grease n' oil, Salty. Do ya have that much sea water rusting away your radiator?! We diesels are superior to those heaps of scrap! We're revolutionary! We're–"

"I don't care how 'revolutionary' we be! I be nah joinin' in on any o' yer blasted plans! I do nah wish t' be responsible again fer engines losin' thar lives!!" Salty snapped, interrupting the larger diesel's preach. Diesel 10 sighed in defeat, knowing there's no other way to convince the pirate diesel. He was as stubborn as a mule.

But in his mind, the warship knew he struck a nerve. Salty once worked at the Southampton docks with his siblings, but he was always miserable, knowing that he and his siblings' arrival resulted in the steam engines before them losing their lives.

Diesel 10 let out his own exhaust of smoke and slowly reversed "Heh, suit yourself....old coot.." he spat, his demeanour taking a 180° turn. Salty sighed, ignoring his tone and went back to shunting, taking his mind off what happened. Cranky was observing things from above (since that's where he always is), and creaked "Ignore 'im, Salty. He's nothing but trouble"

Salty agreed "Right ye are, matey. Right ye are..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the end of the day, Diesel 10 let out a loud groan as he returned to the Smelter's.

"Ugh...how hard is it to get a little help on this island?!" He grumbled to himself. Just then, the sounds of gibberish chatter echoed from within the shed, getting louder as he got closer, a small sigh escaped his lips "Well...guess these goons are all the help I'm gonna get..."

Within the Smelter's shed, two small diesel shunters were waiting. One was a dusty yellow the other a dusty lavender colour. They were both currently on trial, but weren't really fussed in doing their actual jobs, being more interested in harassing steamies and causing trouble. They rarely got away with any of this behaviour, mostly for being quite dumb. These two shunters were named Splatter and Dodge.

"So uhh...when do ya think the big boss is gonna get here??" Splatter drawled to Dodge "I-I dunno! Howzabout we ask the boss?" The yellow diesel replied lazily.

"Yeah but where would he be?"

"M-Maybe he's busy?"

"I'm right here, ya morons!"

The two yelped as the warship suddenly came in, snapping his claw impatiently, the ominous red glow of the building only enhancing his looks "O-Oh! Boss, we didn't hear ya come in! Heheheh..." Dodge anxiously smiled, Splatter frantically agreed.

"QUIET!" Diesel 10 yelled. The two shunters immediately shut up. The warship took a deep breath "Now...I'm glad you've shown up, Splodge"

"Actually, it's Splatter" the purple shunter said meekly.

"A-And Dodge" the yellow one chimed in. Diesel 10 rolled his eyes "I ain't got time to say both names! I'm lookin' for a steam engine!" He said.

"O-Oh that's easy!"

"Yeah, they're everywhere!"

"Not the one I want. She and her driver escaped me once before, and as long as she's still alive, so are the others..." D10 clarified, a dark grin spread across his face, the lights flickering "...but if she can be destroyed..."

Splatter and Dodge gulped, exchanging glances "D-Destroyed???" "Did you say destroyed? Like...killed??"

"Yeah, 'destroyed''. Something wrong, fellas?" Diesel 10 asked, narrowing his eyes at them.

Splatter disagreed "Oh, nothing! It's just...uhhh...one small problem there, boss..." "...M-Mr Conductor won't allow that" Dodge finished nervously.

"I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!!" The warship suddenly snapped "Twinkletoes doesn't tell ME what to do! I'll just kill him as well, WITH PINCHY!!" He rose his claw, Pinchy up to the air and snapped it menacingly, laughing evilly as he did it. But suddenly, the claw ended up swinging down and bonking him on the forehead.

"GAH! Pinchy, I hate it when ya do that..." D10 whimpered. The shunters burst out with giggles as they watched the bigger diesel try to move the claw away from his face.

Once he did, he coughed out of embarrassment "Ahem! Uh...sorry about that, gentlemen. Now...where were we...?"

"Y-You were saying how you can do whatever you want?"

"I–I knew that, dummy! As I said, I can do whatever I want! That means I can take over this whole railway if I wanted, maybe even the whole island!" Diesel 10 proclaimed. His eyes then wandered up to where his driver would be through the window, which was currently empty.

"But...I'll need human help. My old driver is currently stuck at some faraway country. But last week I got word that he's findin' a way here, and when he does...the REAL fun will begin! HAHAHAHAHA!!" He cackled. Splatter and Dodge slowly joined in, laughing with him. But they were oblivious about the reason.

"Heheheheh...u-uh, why are we laughing?"

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sodor-spirit · 1 year

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Sodor Spirits: The true story of Shining Time

A long time ago; groups of magic casting Mages and Clear-sights were being hunted and executed by so-called witch hunters and their unsavory, evil and despicable practices of witch trials.

Driven by fear and worry of their friends, family and their children’s lives, the surviving Mages fled their hometowns and Countries to look for refuge and a new place to call home. Some of the surviving Mages made it to the Island of Sodor, a mysterious island located in the Irish Sea, between the Isle of Man and the English mainland and known for its abundance of magical energy and its residents who evolved into powerful users of magic and the said energy called Gold Dust.

At some point the other surviving groups of refugees made their way to the heart of the Indian Valley protected from view by three mountains. As time passed more and more groups of mages and magic casters of differing ethnicities and cultures from other countries had also found their way to the safety of the valley and soon the many surviving groups were enough to call their numbers of tents, shelters, wagons and carts a town.

With the shared goal of living, surviving and starting a new life; prejudices and bigotry were cast aside and the groups started to build their new town, the Valley hidden from any outsiders’ sight with a mystical barrier. They spend their days building to create their new home and spend their nights crying and mourning over their lost friends, family and children who were still missing or killed by what the present day Mages called “The Purge”. Finally years passed and the town was complete, a new Shining Time for the survivors and their coming generations.

However, even after all those years; the people were still driven by fear of the future. They knew they could not hide inside the barrier forever and it was only a matter of time before any hunters found them and massacred the town. And so all the people came together and began to discuss their solution.

After many days, they came to their solution: All knowledge and ability of casting magic must be taken away to be sealed and any memories of such powers and the difficult journey getting to the Valley must be altered for their safety and their new start of a fresh life. But it was also necessary that there was someone to do this task and keep the knowledge of Shining Time’s true past and its residents' own knowledge of their magical abilities and memories still alive, at the cost of saying farewell to their friends and going into hiding to protect the new town of Shining Time until the time comes when the town’s in danger and everything must come back to the light.

A large family, known for their vast knowledge of the mystical powers and having survived being hunted with the use of their unique size changing ability was chosen for this very role and with the heavy burden and undying loyalty, the family went to door to door, saying their goodbyes and changing the memories of their friends and sealing away the town’s knowledge of their magic, memories and all magical abilities into a relic known as the Well of Dust, which was then moved by the family to an underground chamber built by them and they hid for the rest of their lives, as the town woke up the next day with their memories altered and any trace of magic gone along with the Barrier. The start of the survivors’ new life.

This family are the ancestors of the tiny Conductor family, who still carry out this centuries old duty and watch the population of the town with melancholic and lonely eyes, burdened by their family’s role and years of generational trauma regarding the purging of their own magical kind which they hid behind smiles and the stories they share to the kids at the Station which was built on top of the Conductor family’s chamber and home that can only be accessed through the Station house’s red door, painted on the mural.

End…

#shining time station #ttte #thomas the tank engine #thomas and friends #mr conductor #misc Conductor #ttte fantasy au #lore #fan lore #development #lore development #ttte fanfiction #ttte fandom #ttte fanfic

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juniaships · 11 months

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Rosie Earns A Star Chapter 1:

Rosie gets a new engineer however she is not who she seems. Meanwhile there's news of an actress who disappeared, Schemer violates railway protocol to film his own pilot series, and Arthur tries not to strangle sometime. Mix of TATMR, RWS & TVS because I am not a "purist"; I love Thomas the tank engine in all its form! Not a shipfic, this is purely platonic!!

Times have changed and so have interests. As people think about what they want to do in their lives, some have taken upon themselves to rebuild themselves from the ground up. Others are too busy to realize what they need is right in front of them. Arthur thinks a trip to the seaside could help clear their minds.

Or a well-aimed rock at their heads. - The Author.

"Famous Actress Disappears in Spain!"

Mrs. Stone read the headline aloud as she flipped through the newspaper. It was breakfast time and the Stone family were getting ready to take Lily for her annual trip to Muffle Mountain.

"Who is it?" Lily asked as she looked up from her bowl of cereal.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, dear." Lily swallowed then asked again. Smiling, Mrs. Stone read aloud:

"Brittany Wilson was scheduled to appear at a movie festival later this month. She was last seen at a hair salon in Madrid Thursday afternoon. Her whereabouts are currently unknown, and her family have not spoken to the press."

Lily grew intrigued.

"When they checked the hotel all of her belongings were gone," finished Mrs. Stone.

"Oh that Brittany Wilson! I heard of her before! I haven't watched a lot of her movies but my friends love her. I hope she's alright."

Mrs. Stone nodded in agreement.

"It could be a publicity stunt but who knows in this crazy world we live in."

After breakfast the Stones got in their car and drove to the public transit. Lily bid her mother goodbye and promised to text her when she got to Shining Time.

As the train shuffled along the tracks, Lily couldn't help but feel concern for the missing actress.

In another universe, Mr. Conductor was also getting ready for the day. The tv was playing in the background (he liked a little music to get his engine started, pun intended) when suddenly the news came. It was about the missing actress. They had her picture on the screen: a Black woman with light brown curls and a pink and grey dress sitting inside a salon.

"They still haven't found her yet," he said to himself. "That's troubling."

He wasn't into the celebrity gossip like his cousin. But even he was a little concerned for her wellbeing. She probably had a family waiting anxiously for her return. His thoughts were on his mind even as he sparkled up at the Shining Time office to get his itinerary.

"Let's see, first on the list find a new driver for Rosie."

As he went over the potential substitutes, one of the tulips in his flower vase rang. He went over to answer it.

"Mr. Conductor you have a visitor," Stacy said on the other end. "They're here for the training."

"Training?" He looked over at the whiteboard.

"Oh right! I forgot we have a new hire today! Well bring them on in!"

A moment later the door opened, and in came a person in a dark overcoat and pants. Their hair was tucked underneath a gray hat.

'Odd choice of outfit for this kind of weather,' Mr. Conductor said to himself.

"Are you Mr. Conductor? I'm here for my first day." The woman said shyly. She handed him a folder. He looked over the files, then to her, then over the files again. The lady stared expectantly at him.

"Terri Bud eh? Well, we do need a set of extra hands & these papers are legit," he said.

"They kinda rushed me through training," Terri Bud said quickly. "If you like I can get Miss Jones to corroborate."

"Oh no that's alright love! You are in good hands with us!"

"Cool," Terri said as she shook his hand. "And for future reference just call me Bud."

A cherry red tank engine was in her shed reminiscing about her retired driver when Mr. Conductor arrived with the new hire.

"Good morning Mr conductor! I see you have a visitor," Rosie chirped merrily.

"And good morning to you Rosie," said Mr. Conductor. "And I do! This is Bud. I'm training her today and if it goes well she'll become your new permanent driver!"

Rosie was excited. She had spent the past few months with substitute drivers. While most of them were nice, some of them couldn't handle her bubbly demeanor. Their loss! She preferred a set choice anyways. She hoped this one was nice.

"Nice to meet you Bud, I just know we'll have the best time together," she said politely. "Why don't you get yourself comfortable in my cab?"

"Ehm perhaps you could take off your coat, it gets pretty hot in here." Mr. Conductor suggested.

Bud paused for a moment. Then she tool her coat off, revealing her dark gray overalls and a white t shirt. She took off her glasses and put it inside the coat packet.

Now Mr. Conductor got a good look at her face. Her skin was a light shade of brown and she had hazel eyes. For a second he thought he recognized her face but waved it off as a symptom of the heat.

"Okay then, we'll start with the basics."

He started by showing her the controls and how to start Rosie up. Bud wrote and nodded as he went along.

"Now since she's one of our younger tank engines it doesn't take very long to start her fire," said Mr. Conductor.

"I see and it doesn't hurt her?"

"As long as you keep the fire steady," said Rosie. "I might be a Vulcan but I'm not that immune to overheating."

"Right," Bud nodded. "This isn't as hard as I thought it would be."

"Trust me, once you get through an accident or two you'll be able to navigate the rails like second instinct!"

"Or three," muttered Mr. Conductor.

Back in Shining Time, Lily was waiting in the lobby for her grandfather. He was having trouble with his truck. While she was texting her friends, Mr. Conductor's cousin Junior was talking to a customer.

"Have you heard about what happened in Spain?" Asked the Customer.

"I know it's been all over my Twitter feed," said Junior. "I heard it's part of a new movie they're filming!"

"I heard she got involved in the trade and is running from Interpol," said the customer. He shook his head in dismay.

"Actors these days, at least back in the day when they got in trouble it was entertaining. Now it's all just sad."

"Those are just rumors though, they're not always spoken with truth," replied Junior. "At the end of the day it's not our business." He looks around and leans closer so no one else could hear.

"Then again what business do we have!"

The two gossip hens clucked in humor, and the customer and left the station house. Lily took it as her chance to greet him.

"Junior!"

"Hi Lily! Long time no see!" They hugged. "How's life been?"

"I'm doing fine I was just waiting for Grandpa. Car troubles, again."

Junior sucked his teeth. "Burnett and that truck, I'm all for self repair but he's gotta admit some things are a lost cause."

Junior disliked the idea of his friend struggling, especially when he was getting on in years. He wished he could help him but Burnett insisted on keeping that truck.

"That's alright I'm sure some of Lady's magic could help," said Junior.

"How is she?" Lily asked.

"She's running as smooth as I surf the waves," boasts Junior. "She misses you so much. Everyone on Sodor wants to see you!"

Lily was touched by his statement. "Don't worry I'll come by the island before I go back home."

Just then they heard a truck honking from outside. Lily gasped, "That must be Grandpa! We can catch up later!" She waved goodbye then got her things and went to her grandfather.

As soon as she left Junior leaned back in his chair and laughed to himself.

"Oh Lily is going to be so surprised, she doesn't even suspect a thing!"

"Suspect what?" Horace Schemer's voice nearly made Junior fall out of his chair.

"The heck are you doing here?" Don't you have a psychiatrist appointment or something?" The Blond haired man sneered.

"My psyche is in perfectly good health thank you very much," the arcade entrepreneur retorted as he flapped the front of his vest. "As you know I feel it is time for a career change-"

"Cleaning the toilets?"

"No! I decided to expand my business into the world of cinema!"

"Any movie you'd make would end up at the bin at Savers," grumbled Junior. Schemer ignored his putdown and continued boasting.

"So I'm taking the nephew out to Sodor and see if we could film a pilot to sell to the execs."

Junior was about to respond again until another funny idea popped up in his head. A sly grin crossed his lips.

"Well good luck with the new career," he said. "When you get that series I'll make sure to tune in!"

"You better," said Schemer. "I've wasted too many years living under your family's shadow. Now all of you will see it is my time to shine!"

'Shine so brightly you'll explode into a black hole,' Junior snickered as he gave Schemer two tickets to Sodor. He could not wait to see how it will turn out...

Back on Sodor, Conductor was showing Bud how to run Rosie. Despite her initial shyness Bud was paying attention, eagerly scribbling in a notebook. She asked Rosie a few questions to gauge her comfort level. Later that morning Mr. Conductor decided to go on a test run.

Bud loved the sensation of the breeze caressing her face. If she could she would've let her curls down. The sights along Thomas's branchline whirled by in a haze of colors. So this is what it's like?

"How are you liking it so far?" Rosie asked her.

"It's wonderful! I've been on trains before but not like this!"

Rosie giggled. "I'm glad you're enjoying it Miss Bud!"

"Just call me Bud!"

Suddenly a foreign object whirled by Rosie's head. "Whoa!"

"Are you alright?" Asked Bud.

"I'm fine," huffed the cherry engine. She yelled back, "Whoever did that, just to let you know you're violating railway regulations!"

Bud saw the thing leave. Her heart was racing and not just from the speed Rosie was going. 'No! They can't find out I'm here!'

The object had been a drone sent by two cameramen. Well, if a 70 year old man and 9-year-old boy could be considered professionals.

"Did you get the shot?" Asked Schemer.

His nephew checked on his cell phone. "No, that engine was too fast!" The boy said with a pout.

"Too fast - There's no such thing as too fast!" Schemer said. He watched Rosie go.

"A little troublesome than I thought," he noted with a smirk. "I love a good challenge."

Later that afternoon, Rosie made a stop at the sea station for tea time. While Mr. Conductor busied himself with a giant choco sundae, Bud was sitting on a large rock looking at the sea.

"We call these French fries," she held out a piece of fried potatoes to Rosie.

"It smells so delicious but it'll probably agitate my boiler," said Rosie. Bud stifled a laugh. She liked the tank engine.. She didn't comment on her drabby appearance, and her enthusiasm was pleasantly welcome.

Just then Arthur came by having finished his run for the hour.

"Afternoon Rosie," said the dark crimson tank engine. "You don't mind if I rest here for a bit?"

"Sure," said Rosie. "I love some extra company."

Arthur spotted the woman on the boulder. "Who is she?"

"That's Bud, she's my future driver," said Rosie. "We're showing her the ropes today."

Bud waved at him. "Nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you too Bud." "I'm not from the UK so excuse me if I mess up some things," the woman said.

"That's alright. It took me a while to get used to Sodor when I first arrived," said Rosie. She sighed. "Ah I remember it like it was yesterday."

Bud looked at the ocean. As she watched the blue waves crash along the sandy rocks, she felt a pang in her heart.

"I love the sea," she sighed. "This beach looks a lot cleaner than where I used to live."

"Where do you used to live?" Rosie asked her.

Before Bud could answer there was a buzzing sound. They all looked up to see a tiny helicopter with a camera lens attached at the bottom.

"Ugh it's that drone again," Arthur mumbled. "The owners came by this morning asking if they could film the seaside. I thought they were done but apparently not."

"That same contraption almost hit me earlier!" Rosie wheezed angrily.

"Someone's ought to do something about them," Arthur added.

That was when Bud got an idea. She walked over to a patch of rocks, picked one up and positioned herself as close to the drone. Then with a grunt she threw the rock at the drone! It hit the camera causing it to crack. It flew away before she could reload.

The two engines were shocked!

"Bud! Why did you do that?!" Rosie cried. She didn't her to get in trouble

"Hey it worked for me one time," Bud replied with a shrug.

"That is...quite unexpected!" Arthur remarked awkwardly.

Mr. Conductor heard the commotion and rushed outside.

"What's that noise?"

"Just me taking care of a problem," Bud said, pointing to where the drone was flying away in defeat. Mr. Conductor raised a brow. "And how exactly did you solve the problem?"

Bud walked over to pick up the answer. She held it up with a grin.

"What my folks call it the old fashioned way."

Mr. Conductor groaned and rubbed his temples. He didn't want to deal with a possible lawsuit especially on the first day of training.

"Okay just...don't do that again. I don't think the NWR can handle another scandal and I don't want you to risk losing your job just as it begins," he spoke to her sternly. Bud's face burned with shame.

"I'm sorry, I promise It won't happen again sir!"

Mr. Conductor checked his watch.

"Well, we better get a move on. There's still a lot more to teach you. And hopefully you can learn how to solve problems in a non traditional way." He directed that last part at Bud, who could only grin nervously before meekly going back into the cab.

The two engines whistled their goodbyes and Rosie went off to finish the rest of the day.

At a fishing spot near the boardwalk Schemer's nephew winced at the video.

"What happened!" Schemer barked.

"I don't know some jerk threw something at my drone now the lens aren't working!"

The drone sputtered pitifully back and landed with a dreadful thud. Schemer picked up the drone and groaned.

"Great! That'll cost me a fortune to replace!"

"You mean my fortune," hid nephew mumbled under his breath. Schemer rubbed his chin.

"Hmm. Whoever that person is they're an obstacle. This is even more challenging than I thought."

But the allure of money & rubbing it in Junior's face overrode all common sense. "Well then if it's a challenge they want they got it!" He slapped his hand on his nephew's shoulder and pulled him close.

"I promise after today we'll become rich and famous! But mostly rich!"

Schemer's nephew frowned. He didn't like the sound of that...

#ttte rosie #shining time station #thomas the tank engine #thomas and friends #fanfiction #ttte fanfic #tatmr #ttte oc #oc x canon #crossover #rosie the tank engine #this isnt a romantic rosie x oc story; its simply platonic and a tale of friendship (and the price of fame but whatever)#pretend the events of tatmr happened in the 2010s/2020s

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