Thomas and Friends Fanfiction Series 4

Superb Engine

At Ulfstead Castle, the engines working there make a superb team. Their names are Stephen, Millie and Glynn. They all work for the Earl of Sodor, Sir Robert Norramby. The Earl is very friendly and a fine master of the Estate Railway. He lives in and runs the Castle itself and he has a dinosaur park on the grounds. He is also working on a railway museum, with Sodor's oldest engines, Stephen and Glynn as the main spectacles. 

Stephen is one of the oldest surviving steam engines in the world, Millie is the engine in charge of the tours and grounds of the estate, and Glynn is one of the oldest Sodor engines, built by Sir Topham Hatt himself. 

All three engines feel important in their own way, but sometimes that can lead to rivalries between them. 

One day, Millie was sent by the Earl to collect some slate from the Blue Mountain Quarry. 

(Sir Handel, Rusty, Rheneas and Merrick can be seen.)

"Hello, Millie." greeted Skarloey. 

Millie was surprised to see that Skarloey had come off the rails and was being helped by Duke to be put back on track. 

"Oh my, Skarloey!" gasped Millie. "What happened?" 

"I had a little accident with some Troublesome Trucks." explained Skarloey. 

"But you're the engine in charge." said Millie. "Engines in auth-auth-authoritity shouldn't have accidents!"

"Ho, ho, any engine can have accidents." chortled Duke. "Even scallywags like you and Skarloey, who have authority!" 

Millie thought about this. She hadn't thought of that possibility before. 

"I always thought I was a superb engine who couldn't have any accidents because I was in charge. Maybe I'm not that superb after all." 

Millie told Stephen and Glynn about all this when she returned to the Earl's estate. 

"We can all have accidents." chuckled Stephen. "It doesn't matter if you're old and wise, or in charge or the most clever engine, everybody can make mistakes or have accidents." 

"I don't recall ever having accidents or making mistakes." replied Glynn proudly. 

"Not ever?" asked Millie. 

"No." smiled Glynn. "I got into trouble once because Stephen and I held up the Main Line trains once in a race. But other than that, I don't recall being anything other than a Superb Coffeepot engine!" 

"Don't get boastful, Glynn." said Stephen. "Over-confidence is one of the most popular things that lead to accidents and mistakes." 

Glynn wasn't really listening. He felt proud to be the engine who had never made a mistake or had an accident. 

Later, Glynn had to take some passengers around the dinosaur park. 

(The passengers include Alicia Botti, the Bird Watcher, the Grumpy Passenger and one of Dowager Hatt's Friends.) 

The Earl approached. 

"Ah, Glynn." he said. "The Deputy Minister is coming from the Mainland today to see our splendid estate, and I believe he wants to see the engines too. I would like you to collect him from Vicarstown after this tour." 

"Yes, sir." said Glynn proudly. 

"You might want to fill up on coal on the way too." reminded the Earl. 

But Glynn wasn't thinking about filling up with coal. He finished his tour, took Stephen's special carriage and set off to Vicarstown, but not once did he stop to take on coal. 

Millie and Stephen were preparing for the Deputy Minister's arrival, but they were a bit upset that Glynn the Superb Engine had been chosen to collect him. 

"That's something else that doesn't make me superb." sighed Millie. "I cannot travel to Vicarstown, because I'm only a Narrow Gauge Engine." 

"And I'm clearly too old and too in-superb to collect important visitors." said Stephen sadly. 

"What nonsense!" said the Earl. "All of my engines are superb, all in your own special way! Millie, being a Narrow Gauge Engine doesn't make you less useful or superb. You can pull more trucks than Glynn and Stephen, and you are of great help to the Thin Controller's Railway as well as you are here! And Stephen, you are the oldest engine on Sodor, and that makes you a most beloved and special engine indeed. All the tourists who come here are most excited to meet you! And Glynn is special because he is the last of the Coffeepot engines, the only engine on Sodor to have built by the Fat Controller himself! You are all superb engines, regardless of who you are, or however many mistakes you make!" 

Stephen and Millie were left to think about this, when the Earl received a telephone call from within the castle. 

When he returned, the engines didn't know if he was trying to laugh or to grumble. 

"Oh, I warned Glynn! It seems our talking of mistakes has been a jinx! Glynn's run out of water on the way back to Ulfstead Castle. I'll need you, Stephen to go and get them!" 

Stephen and Millie chuckled to themselves. Stephen went to collect Glynn and the Deputy Minister, and Millie went to the Narrow Gauge Railway to collect some coal for Glynn. 

Glynn was feeling very foolish by the time they returned to the castle, but the Deputy Minister was delighted. 

"All the Estate engines here are good to each other and are all superbly unique in their way. Sir Robert, I hope they all run as wonderfully apart as they do together! I would like a ride round the estate and the park on each of them, to see how well they Really run here!" 

"Of course!" smiled the Earl. 

Glynn, Stephen and Millie were delighted. And by the end of the day, the Deputy Minister agreed with the Earl, that they were all superb engines! 

(The End!) 

(And the end of Series 4!) 

(Series 5 coming soon!)