Thomas & Friends Season 12 Reimagined

Push Me, Pull You

"I hope we won't get another really bad thunderstorm," Skarloey chuckled to himself one rainy day. He was taking some puppets and a puppet theatre to a newly built town hall. A puppet show was being put on there for the local children.

Unfortunately, it seemed like there was going to be a thunderstorm. Even as Skarloey buffered up to his train, the rain was getting heavier.

Once he had been given directions, Skarloey set off for the town hall.

By the time he had reached the first junction on his route, dirt and rocks had already been washed onto many of the tracks.

"The weather has been a lot worse than it sounded from in the shed," Skarloey puffed.

As he started down the left track, he felt his wheels slipping a little on the muddy rails.

"I'm surprised the show hasn't been cancelled if the rails are this bad," remarked Skarloey's driver.

"That decision isn't ours to make," said Skarloey sternly, "the children are expecting a puppet show and we can't let them down."

However, the rails were still getting worse. Not only were they slippery, they also had a few rocks and stones on them that battered Skarloey's wheels.

Soon, Skarloey came to a part of the track that went downhill.

"I don't like the look of that track," said his driver, "but that is apparently the quickest way to the town hall. Come on, old boy!"

Skarloey went down the track. He tried to control his speed but the slope and the slippery mud on the rails propelled him forwards. As the ground flattened out a little and he went round a bend, Skarloey saw that a massive mudslide had blocked the track. His driver applied the brakes but it was too late. He splatted into the mud!

His driver said, "We'll have to take a different track. Let's hope we can reverse up that slope!"

No matter how hard he tried, though, Skarloey couldn't even reverse out of the mud, let alone up the slope.

"Send help!" called Skarloey in a muffled voice.

His driver ran as fast as he could back up the slope. Skarloey could only sit and wait.

Eventually, Rheneas arrived.

"Goodness," Rheneas huffed, "I've bounced and jittered all the way here! There are stones all over the track right from the transfer yards!"

"That's odd," replied Skarloey's driver, "we only noticed stones on the track for the last stretch of the way here."

Skarloey mumbled in agreement.

"Maybe more fell onto the tracks," said Rheneas, "anyway, let's focus on what's important right now. I need to get Skarloey out of the mud and we need to get this train to the children!"

Rheneas was coupled to the back of Skarloey's train. He started to pull as hard as he could. Skarloey did his best to move too and with their combined effort, they slowly but surely got Skarloey out of the mud.

"I'll help you up this slope too," puffed Rheneas, "it's quite steep!"

Skarloey paid extra attention to the track as he and Rheneas reversed up the slope and back to the junction. He noticed that there were indeed more fallen rocks and stones than before.

The train started moving backwards faster. The two engines did their best to keep moving at a sensible pace but at the same time, they knew they had no time to lose.

All of a sudden, a loud whistle startled the old engines.

"The points have been changed!" shouted the voice of Peter Sam from somewhere behind them, "Stop!"

The engines slowed down as quickly as they could. Their wheels started to slip a little. They couldn't keep going for much longer but they couldn't risk skidding either.

The two engines just barely managed to stop before hitting the changed points.

"That bit of track got even muddier even after I went over it to help you," gasped Rheneas.

The weather hadn't improved at all. The wind howled and the rain beat down on the engines as much as it ever had. It wasn't actually too surprising how much worse the rails had gotten in such a short time.

"Still a lot of junctions and blocked tracks to go, I fear," said Skarloey's driver gravely.

An idea suddenly flew into Skarloey's funnel.

He said to Rheneas, "Would you be able to stay and help us?"

Rheneas agreed to help and listened intently to Skarloey's plan.

The engines knew they had to work quickly. Soon, Rheneas had been uncoupled from the train, turned around and been coupled up facing the other way.

"It's a little unorthodox," puffed Skarloey, "but if one of us is facing each way, we'll be able to see the danger on both sides. It works for that Mighty Mac engine, right?"

Rheneas had to chuckle a little at the insanity of it all but he was willing to help his friend and very curious to see how well this plan would work.

The two engines' route was long and difficult. With Skarloey pulling the train and watching out for danger ahead and Rheneas pushing backwards from behind, the train struggled on to its destination.

More junctions came and went. Eventually, the engines took the left track on one junction and went over a crossing.

"There was a road going over that crossing," huffed Skarloey, "and I can see lights in the distance. We must be getting close!"

Luck wasn't on their side, though. Skarloey told Rheneas that they needed to stop.

"I'm sorry, Skarloey," said a workman, "but this track is closed for repairs. You will have to take the right-hand track of the junction you've just come from to get to the town hall."

Reluctantly, Skarloey and Rheneas made their way back towards the junction.

"Wait, Skarloey!" called Rheneas, "The track is really slippery and I think I can see cars going over the crossing. We have to go as slowly as we can just in case."

Sure enough, cars were going over the crossing. The engines slipped and slid their way over to the crossing and managed to stop themselves just before reaching the barrier.

"We could have crashed through that barrier," chuffed Rheneas, now very impressed with Skarloey for thinking ahead the way he had.

Once it was their turn to go over the crossing, the two engines carried on towards the junction. What had been a downhill journey was now an uphill one but with Rheneas now going forwards, even this was easier than it could have been.

After many trials and tribulations, the pair eventually reached the town hall. The children cheered like they were meeting heroes...because they were.

All Skarloey and Rheneas could do was smile. They were rattled. They were exhausted. They were dreading the journey home. However, the children's smiling faces told them that it was all worth it.