Thomas and the Great War

Welcome to Sodor/Thomas and Friends

At 5:00 in the morning, Christopher woke up to hear a ship hooting and clanging it's horn in the distance. The boy felt as though he were about to be rammed, had the ship been a four funnel ocean liner with a 200 ton superstructure. All he could hear next was a foghorn and a lighthouse shining it's beam into the early morning, relieved that he had finally found dry land.

Christopher was even more relieved that he had not landed on a deserted island, for the next thing he saw was a little harbour with a small cargo ship, so using the oar, he pushed the boat further next to a barge named Dignity that was stationed on a concrete quay.

Sliding the boat in front of ''Dignity''; Christopher, after having some difficult getting on to his feet, picked up his sack and swung his right foot onto the quay, wobbling as he took a few steps on the new land he had discovered unless someone else had found it first. There were a few men dressed in working clothes like the dock yard crew at Southampton, about to return home after taking the night shift as well as a pair of rails, railway tracks, and a pair of buffers with three coal trucks parked in front of it. A few feet away from the track was a depot, possibly the harbour station for passengers traveling by ship.

Still feeling wobbly, Christopher walked slowly to the platform, rested his back against the brick facade and clutched his sack, going back to sleep while waiting for a train. In this way he could tell the crew where he was.

"I suppose I shall have to ask for the name of the country since I've gone up north," the boy thought, and so he rehearsed his question before he let the drowsiness of sleep take him over. "Please, sir, is this Ireland or Scotland?"

Later, when the sun had fully gone up to it's highest, nobody in the harbour noticed Christopher sleeping on the platform except for a sharp eyed tank engine painted blue with red stripes and the number 1 on it's side tanks. It had six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler and a short stumpy dome with a golden-yellow whistle in-between the cab windows which were circular. The tank engine was pulling two bogie coaches with the names "Annie" and "Clarabel" written in white on their sides followed by seven trucks full of stone and a break van in the back.

As the tank engine pulled into the station, he noticed Christopher sleeping against the wall, which made him curious. His railway had very few visitors and had a populace of people who were born in England ever since the early days of man and animal. The engine wasn't sure if he wanted to wake the boy up, but still feeling curious, he blew his three chime whistle and Christopher's eyes shot open with a startling gasp.

Blinking his eyes, Christopher saw that the answer had come to him in the form of a tank engine with a friendly smile on a grey face where the smokebox door was supposed to be. Never in all his life had he seen an engine with a face, especially one that fluctuated an expression like a regular human face. He was even more surprised when he found out that the engine could talk as well.

"Hello," greeted the engine in a cheeky voice.

"I must be dreaming," Christopher said quietly. "I didn't know trains could...speak."

But the engine heard his every word.

"Well no one really has," admitted the engine. "But just to be more formal with the introductions, my name is Thomas. What might yours be?"

Christopher was just dizzy.

"Things do seem to have gotten a little bumpy on that boat ride," he said and quickly fainted.

The tank engine named Thomas looked down at Christopher and saw the boat he arrived in. It was not secured to the quay and he found it's castaway of a passenger to be something of an interest for the first time in almost 28 years.