Thomas and Friends Fanfiction Series 7

Grip the Rails

Railway lines are all over the Island of Sodor. They help the engines go from station to station and are made with heavy rails and wooden sleepers. The engines depend on their rails and could never run without them. 

(Henry is seen pulling the Flying Kipper on the rails.) 

One day, Thomas was feeling upset. He had an important job and the Fat Controller had just told him what it was. 

"What's wrong with you, Thomas?" asked James. 

"I have to take...George to the woodland where I found Hiro," said Thomas unhappily. 

"George the Steamroller?" cried James. 

"Yes." 

The engines didn't like George. He was a very grumpy and very rude steamroller who hated railways. He had a famous catchphrase: "Railways are no good. Turn them into roads!" 

"Why does George need to work in those sidings?" asked James. 

"The Fat Controller wants to turn that line into a nature exploring attraction," said Thomas, "so George is going to tear up the rails and then turn the line into a pathway that leads around the woods." 

James was now as upset as Thomas. 

"That rolling pest will not just stop with an overgrown line! He will more likely try to rip up the main line with it!" 

"I know," said Thomas, "and I'm his carrier!" 

Thomas puffed sadly away, leaving James very worried. 

"Sir, can George be trusted to not destroy the railway lines?" he asked. 

"George is only to tear up the tracks in that old woodland line, James," said the Fat Controller, "if he causes any other damage beyond what he was told, he will be punished thoroughly!" 

He walked away. 

"...Not if he ruins our way of travel first," muttered James worriedly. 

Thomas collected George from the foundry. 

"I wish I could just roll over to the land, but your stinking railway tracks get in my way, so I have to depend on you steam engines to get there!" grumbled George. "I wish I could just tear them all up and-" 

"Turn them into roads," muttered Thomas. 

(Henry passes them.) 

"Precisely," rumbled George. 

Thomas soon brought George to the woodland where he had first met Hiro. He wasn't exactly going to be sorry to see the area revamped, but he wished that he could feel sure that George didn't cause confusion and delay to the railway. 

"Hello, Thomas!" 

It was Jack and Alfie. They were there to help build the new pathway once the rails were torn up. 

"Hello, Jack! Hello, Alfie!" called Thomas. 

He felt relieved. With his machine friends there to help, George would be kept in order. 

He puffed happily away to fetch Annie and Clarabel. 

Meanwhile, James was collecting his own passengers from Emily.

(Passengers include the Teacher, her husband, the Great Railway Show Judge and the Grumpy Passenger.)

"I hear that Sir Topham is opening a new woodland walkway for nature lovers," said the Teacher. 

"I think we should take little Troy there," said her husband. 

"Hmph! And they'll be going by road, no doubt," muttered James. 

James puffed along the line feeling disgruntled. He came to the place where he knew George was working. He stopped at a signal near there and heard George's voice. 

"Railways are no good! Turn them into roads! Pull 'em up! Turn them into roads!" 

"Honestly, George," laughed the voice of Jack. 

"Anyone would think you were demolishing the whole North Western Railway!" chuckled Alfie's voice. 

"Who's to say I am not?" sneered George. 

James gasped, but his signal changed. He knew he had to rush away to deliver his passengers but if he left George to destroy the railway lines, the passengers would use only the roads instead! He stopped on the junction where the old line joined the main line. He refused to move! 

Meanwhile, Thomas was chatting happily with Annie and Clarabel. 

"So Jack and Alfie will keep that steamroller in his place?" asked Annie. 

"Most certainly?" added Clarabel. 

"Of course, you two," chuckled Thomas, "nothing will go wro-! Huh?!" 

Thomas had to apply his brakes and stop. A train was at a standstill in front of him. 

"James, why have you stopped here?" 

"I am keeping my wheels firmly on these rails," said James rebelliously, "George says he's going to destroy all the lines on Sodor and I will not let him pass!" 

"But James...you need to deliver your passengers!" 

But James was too afraid of leaving the area in case George carried out his threat. 

Thomas had to change tracks and he rushed to warn the Fat Controller what had happened. 

"James and George are as silly as one another," grumbled the Fat Controller. 

Nia was sent to collect James' passengers while Thomas took the Fat Controller to James himself. He had sanded the rails and stuck to them like glue, still refusing to budge. 

"James, what do you think this is? A revolution?!" 

"It's resistance, sir," protested James, "I'm gripping to the rails to save them from that rolling menace!" 

"But thanks to you causing confusion and delay, the passengers are complaining about my railway," boomed the Fat Controller angrily, "so more of them will likely want to use the roads now! A lot of them had gone home from Knapford in Bertie the Bus and Bulgy!" 

James felt silly. George sniggered. 

"As for you, George," shouted the Fat Controller, "your anti-rail talk has caused all of this! When you are finished here, I shall be keeping you in your shed for a whole week- again!" 

George crumpled dismally. 

Thomas winked at James. 

But on the way home, James saw Bertie. 

"Thanks for the passengers, James," he hooted cheekily. 

"Bertie's just teasing you," said Thomas. 

"But I did give the railway a bad name," said James sadly. 

"James, you were only trying to save our railway. That makes you brave and Really Useful. One thing George is not!" 

James smiled, and when the new woodland nature walk was completed by George and the other machines, he and Thomas were the ones to bring by rail, the first holidaymakers to explore it! 

"Paths and roads are all very well," said Thomas to James, "but people still need and love our rails!" 

James happily agreed. 

(The End!)