Thomas & Friends Season 12 Reimagined

Stanley Puts the Brakes On

One frosty morning, The Fat Controller came to see Stanley.

Stanley was excited to get to work. He started talking before The Fat Controller could.

"Hello, Sir!" he peeped, "What job would you like me to do today?"

The Fat Controller was delighted with Stanley's enthusiasm.

"I need you to work with Rocky," he said, "the recent snowstorm has left some fallen trees and made the rails very slippery. You will need to help clear and grit the rails."

Feeling less self-assured than before, Stanley replied, "Right you are, Sir."

As he headed to collect Rocky, he could do nothing but worry.

Rocky, however, was raring to go and very happy to see Stanley.

"So, apparently we are to clear and grit rails," puffed Stanley, trying to keep calm, "have you done a lot of work on icy rails before, Rocky?"

"Oh yes," said Rocky proudly, "lots of times!"

"Ah, good," wheeshed a relieved Stanley, "I haven't so I could definitely use your guidance!"

Soon, the two of them were off. While they were heading for their first fallen tree, Stanley asked Rocky lots of questions about how to safely travel along icy rails. This made Rocky very confused.

"Why are you asking me so many questions?" he asked.

"Because I don't know what I'm doing!"

"It's not that complicated!"

"Maybe not for you," huffed Stanley. He made it clear that he wasn't going to argue.

Soon enough, the pair reached the tree and began work.

However, they couldn't work in peace for long. As soon as they'd cleared the line, Flora approached them with an urgent message.

"Duck has crashed! Rocky is the closest crane. Can you two help him?"

Rocky didn't even hesitate before saying, "Of course we can! Come on, Stanley. Let's go!"

Once he knew where he was going, Stanley steamed away with Rocky rattling along behind him.

"Slow down!" called Rocky.

"Quick, put the brakes on!" yelled Stanley at his driver.

His driver did just that. Stanley skidded along the rails.

"No, stop applying the brakes!" shouted Rocky, "We'll crash into something. Slow down slowly."

Stanley and his driver did as they were told. Stanley was terrified of getting this wrong. As he slowed down, he rounded a corner and came face to face with Duck.

He came to a stop just in time.

"It's nice to know that my matters are so urgent," laughed Duck.

Stanley reversed back to the junction and went down the other track, alongside Duck. Rocky set to work while Stanley calmed down.

When Duck was finally back on the track, Stanley sighed with relief.

"See?" said Rocky, "It wasn't so bad."

Stanley ignored him and focused on heading towards their next stop. Then, just as he was coming up to the next junction, he spotted an old, abandoned track.

"How many of these are there on this island?" Stanley wheeshed to himself.

Rocky heard him and was about to ask what he meant when he too saw the track.

"Well, Stanley? Are we up for an adventure before our next job?"

"The job should come first," hollered Duck as he steamed past them.

"I quite agree," said Stanley. He knew that old tracks could be bumpy and that they could lead to unsafe places no-one knew about. An engine could never go down one and be completely confident that they could make it back home safely.

"We can make up for lost time later," offered Rocky, "and I'm sure you'll feel a lot more useful if you do what no engine has done before...go where no engine has gone before!"

The Fat Controller did seem to like uncovering and restoring things for his railway. Stanley knew that he would be really useful if he found something special.

"Well, I suppose we'd better get back to work, then," sighed Rocky, finally defeated.

"Wait," said Stanley. He delayed for a bit before huffing, "We'll go."

Rocky felt like he could jump for joy.

Stanley turned onto the track and began powering his way through the wall of bushes. It was slow, hard work. Once he was on the other side of it, though, he found himself in an open field.

"How has no-one found this?" said Rocky.

Stanley was just as curious but he was too busy taking in everything he was seeing to even speak.

As he hauled Rocky along the track, he spotted something up ahead. It was made of stone and looked very old.

When the two of them were close enough, they saw that this strange thing was part of a quaint old bridge leading across a small stream. The bridge had high pillars along it, each one with strange markings that looked like everything from trees to grass to running water.

Wanting to be brave, Stanley started to make his way across it. The track was bumpy and small pieces of stone came away from the bridge. It didn't seem safe at all. He was terrified that he'd fall into the stream. Luckily, he was safely on the other side before he knew it.

"Do you want to go over the bridge again?" he joked.

"Sure, why not?" replied Rocky.

Stanley quickly backtracked and the two of them continued forwards.

After a long while travelling, the two of them saw some buildings up ahead.

People and engines were shocked as Stanley and Rocky emerged from some bushes in Great Waterton.

"We must have missed this track!" said Stanley, shocked.

...

Weeks went by as engines worked tirelessly to restore the old track to its former glory.

When it was finally ready, the track was to be opened for tourists. The quiet line along the fields would be a great route to take for picnics, hikes and everything outdoors. A new bridge had been built alongside the old one, which would now just be a tourist attraction.

The Fat Controller spoke to Stanley about this new route one evening.

"I need an engine to run this new line," he said, "I'm acutely aware that you have a lot on your plate right now so I don't want to pile jobs on you. However, seeing as you found the line, I thought I'd ask if you'd like to run it."

Stanley thought this sounded very exciting but he wasn't quite convinced.

"Of course, if you'd rather see if you can discover another disused line and run that instead..." offered The Fat Controller jokingly.

"Ah, no," replied Stanley at last, "I think it's someone else's turn to find all the dangerous tracks they can. I'll stick to my normal jobs...if that's alright."

The Fat Controller was surprised but agreed.

"I'll see if Flora would like to run the line instead."

"That is a good idea, Sir!" chuffed Stanley, doing his best to camouflage his relief, "After all, I'm sure that she knows this town better than any other engine!"

The Fat Controller looked like he was about to speak but thought better of it. He turned and walked away.

Stanley sighed. He hoped this adventure would be his last one for a while.