Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Into the Thigh-Verse

Harry and the Lamps

The sound of a shattering crash filled the shed! The remaining crew threw the shed doors open to an awful sight! Jimmy's brakes had been acting up, and he had been bound for the works that morning, however, when his fire had been lit, he had unwittingly been put into reverse. Jimmy had smashed through the buffers, and backed into the shelf, holding all the lamps! They had all come toppeling down, and smashed on the floor!
"Uh-oh.." Donald's driver muttered. "We're in trouble now."
They were. The Fat Controller came to see the damage, while Damian and Oliver tried to salvage Herbert and his tender. The Fat Controller inspected the pile of now ruined lamps.
"Well." The Fat Controller said. "None of these are usable anymore. We'll have to buy replacements."
"How long will they take to arrive, sir?" Duck piped up. The Fat Controller shook his head.
"I'm not sure." He replied.
"We have none more at the works. Luckily, most of you still had a single lamp each. However, headcodes are out of the question, and each of you will only receive one lamp. Make of it what you can."
Jimmy was beside himself!
"I'M SO SORRY BOYS!" He wailed! "I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"
"Oh shut up!" Derek snapped! "Now we're going to have to rely on sheer wits!"
"That's going to be tricky for some of us.." Ren smiled to himself.

This, worked as well as you expected. During the day, the engines used disks, as a way to keep their headcodes going. However, during the night, this wasn't a luxury, and they each had to find a way to make their lights brighter, so they didn't feel like they were running blind. The engine with the most useful trick was Harry. One evening, Douglas reached the harbour, to find Harry, fitting his lamp, however, Douglas noticed he had placed it, facing down!
"Um, what are you doin lad?" Douglas asked. Harry smiled.
"I'm fittin the lamps on an angle." He explained. "The light reflects off the snow, casting better light!"
"Och aye! That sounds like a useful trick! That's sure to work well eh?" Douglas, was right. Harry's trains were punctual, and he and his crew had perfect vision!
"Good spotting Harry!" They would say. Unfortunately, this quickly went to Harry's smokebox. And soon, he began to take up boasting to the other engines!
"He'd gotten unbearable!" Edward said.
"Aye." Donald replied. "Someone better trim the lads wheels!"
"Exactly!" Wilfred added. "But who's going to be the engine to do it?"
Little did they know, they wouldn't have to do anything...

One night, Harry was heading down the line, with a heavy goods bound for the big station. He was running well, and the trucks were all sound asleep. As they exited Thompson's Tunnel, Harry felt the train lurch to the side!
"WHOA!" Harry cried! "STOP!"
As he said this, he felt something bounce off his smokebox! And in the same instance, everything went dark! Harry's crew brought the train to a stop, and looked him over!
"Looks like your lamp's come off and shattered!" The driver said, softly. "We can't go anywhere now.."
Harry pondered this. Now, his idea, in truth, was stupid. However, what he thought of next, was the worst idea yet.
"Why not use the tail lamp?" He asked. The crew nearly doubled over with giggles, until they realised how serious Harry was being..
"We can't!" His stoker squeaked, waving her beanie in the air! "Do you not understand what that means!?"
Her warnings fell on deaf ears. Harry was determined. And even the guard tried to reason with him, eventually, they had to give up, and fitted the tail lamp to the front.
"How long until we're stopped..?" Grumbled the driver. As they found out, not long. He hadn't gotten far, before Harry passed the signal box. The signalman, quickly noticed the lack of a tail lamp on the back of his train! He flagged down all trains coming from all directions and allerted the station-master at the junction. Who flagged Harry down. Once his crew, deafetidly told her the situation, the stationmaster could only bust up laughing!
"You really are a case!" She guffled! "Wait until The Fat Controller hears about this!"

He did, he wasn't pleased with Harry's carelessness. However, he too could find the humour in the situation. Luckily, the next morning, the new lamps arrived! And Harry never spoke about his own improvements, ever again. Although, the other engines did.
"I wonder if you can reflect light off the snow?" They would joke. "Or would it all just fall off!?"
Harry wished that the joke would 'fall off' itself!