#Thomas & Bertie

[ohmystarrynight]

Better luck next time Bertie! But Thomas, PLEASE be mindful of your poor aunties they don’t like when you race for goodness sake!!!

I think it’s so cute that they race in so many movies and episodes :,)

Also- hey hey! Thomas art! Woah! Been a minute for sure.

[such-g00d-luck]

you know it hits hard

[shinygoku]

Bertie the Bus backed into his berth, while the passengers he had been carrying bumbled about, some of which were heading for Thomas’ train.

They had time before he was scheduled to depart, though Thomas couldn’t help but to notice that Bertie was a little bit behind his usual schedule.

“Hullo Bertie,” he called. “You seem out of puff, your driver didn’t forget that Petrol stuff, did he?”

“Oh no, of course not! It’s my axels, they’re aching!”

Thomas pulled a face, he knew full well how much of a hassle aging axels could be.

Bertie carried on. “It’s that new school, as there’s so many children in the area, they’ve put in traffic controls. But instead of nice, sensible lights (like your Signals, you know), there’s this horrible new thing. So when I drove over the Sleeping Policeman—”

“You what?!” Thomas almost let off steam in his alarm, but he couldn’t see anything untoward under Bertie, tempering his horror a bit.

“Ah, a Sleeping Policeman! It’s a wretched bump in the road, and now I’ve got to drive over one every day!”

Thomas was gazing into the distance, not really seeing the view before him. “It sounds awful! Why on Earth are they sleeping in the middle of a road, they ought to know better!”

“Oh it is, it’s like if you lot had to roll over stones every quarter mile! I–hold on. What did you just say?”

Thomas was having a realisation of his own, and his face went from quite pale to decidedly flushed.

“A Sleeping Policeman is something hard they put on the road, you daft teakettle! A speed bump!” Bertie laughed in a jolly way. “Goodness me, now my axels are aching even more!”

“Well it’s a very silly name for it! Really now!” But he was somewhat relieved.

It was time to go, anyway. He whistled loudly and chuffed off, taking extra enjoyment from the lump-less iron rails under his wheels.

[hazelcongestion]

imagine looking at google maps streetview on sodor. you get to see the back of trevor and his cart for like an entire road. thomas and bertie are looking suspiciously at the streetview car at ffarquhar station. bulgy is shouting at someone in a street. various trains in the background for 80% of it

[offbeat03]

Screenshot redraw of my favorite episode of TTTE ^^

[masterj]

Bertie racing Thomas be like:

[steam-beasts]

In a general sense, who was infected via bite/scratch ratter than getting the suspicious coal?

Salty - got attacked by a feral Porter. He actually doesn't mind being a reptile-like beast. It means he can go visit Rusty and crawl up Cranky's support beams to talk to him better, plus, he can swim!

Diesel - got scratched up by a feral Duck. Duck suddenly remembered the beef he had with him and just went up and scratched him, then left. He refused to elaborate.

Mavis and Daisy - got cornered by Thomas, Percy and Toby while trying to escape Ffarqhuarr.

Bertie - Got bitten while trying to keep his passengers safe.

Annie and Clarabelle - couldn't go anywhere and got a bit scratched up.

Henrietta - was attacked by a feral Toby. Tried reasoning with him, but it was too late.

Carolyn - was chased around a bit, but escaped. If she could, she would spray water at them. She now treats them like big kittens whenever they act all adorable, and treats Diesel 10 like a dinosaur if she ever sees him.

Cleo - managed to hide from the infected. She's still secretly afraid of them, and has to have Ruth reassure her that they're still the same engines she got to know before.

Ace - escaped, he still treats the engines and infected road vehicles as his friends, but he also treats them like Australian wildlife, and sometimes just pisses one of them off to see what happens. He tried that with Edward to see if he could get on the old guy's nerves. Spoiler; it worked after the 1000th time.

Paxton - got jumped by the NG engines, all at once. He's pretty unnerved now when he goes to the BM quarry and literally squeaks when an engine just suddenly pops out of one of the tunnels without warning. He also struggles to understand Rusty. That little diesel just sometimes spawns everywhere Paxton looks. Rusty's an definite enigma...

[edwards-exploit]

My not entirely serious headcanon is that since the 2000s, the Ffarquhar Branch Line (and Mavis!) has a long running dnd game with Henrietta as a dm. Thomas' stoker introduced it to them and they've been hooked ever since. They also do sidequests and their current one is a murder mystery on an express. Hell, even Bertie joins in once in a while.

Oliver has been begging to join it ever since he heard about it. He has a character sheet ready. Yes it's just a self insert but he swears he can make it work. Thomas. Thomas please.

[esperfruit]

Cover for Bertie's Chase

[duskstargazer]

[1952]

After chasing after Edward, Bertie had gone in for repairs. During that time, the bus company had decided to bring in a new fleet of buses. One of these was Algy.

Bertie had quickly taken a dislike to Algy.

“Imagine! Falling into such a sorry state after racing one old steam train!” Algy laughed. “No wonder you lost to that suburban train in that little race of yours!”

“I've beaten Thomas in races since then!” Bertie argued.

“Did you? Or did he let you?”

Bertie glared hotly.

“Doesn't matter. You barely manage against this “Thomas”, you only just caught that train a few weeks ago-”

“I do just fine, thank you. No bus on any of the Ffarquhar routes can match my time and boast the safety I provide.”

“Not yet. Give me a week and I’ll run you out of that old bumpkin backroad.”

[choc-ice-on-wheels]

Old train art I’ve posted elsewhere, but now it goes here.

[bonhughbon]

DOWNTON ABBEY + Barbie Posters (2/3)

[sparkarrestor]

Trust Thomas

Adapted By: SparkArrester

I suppose you could call this a "RWS" rewrite since it follows the RWS Quarry tramroad but meh

     Thomas the Tank Engine was having a great time. The sky shone, there were no delays, and that dratted policeman had been reassigned. Toby and Henrietta settled in well, and all were soon firm friends. Toby arrived to run the quarry tramway, but after the policeman left, Thomas still helped out from time to time. He much preferred to be with Annie & Clarabel.

“Me and the passengers have a special bond!”, He'd say, “They trust me to be at the station on time!”

One day, the Fat Controller visited Thomas and Toby.

“There are many new houses being built at Tidmouth, and a good portion of the stone shall come from the quarry here.”, He said, “There will have to be lots of extra stone runs, and straight to the big station as well!”

“That sounds like too much work for just one engine, sir…”, said Toby, “And Thomas is needed for the passengers!”

“That is right, which is why James shall come and help out.”, replied the Fat Controller, as he got in his car and left.

Toby rolled his eyes.

“James won’t like this very much…”

“Well!”, chirped Thomas, “I won’t let his sour attitude ruin anything!”

Toby was right. James didn’t like this very much.

“Being on a branchline is bad enough, but spending all my time hauling stone? Yuck!”, he groused, “How do you stomach being cooped up in here?”

“Quite easily!”, Smiled Thomas, “Trust me James, I’m sure you’ll grow to love it! The beautiful scenery, the people, the-”

James snorted and clanked off.

James seemingly ignored the scenery and people in favor of complaining about anything and everything. There were no turntables, the sheds were too cramped, the trucks were too dusty, the sidings were awkward, and that wasn’t even half of it. He seemed to be spreading the bad atmosphere, for the trucks complained at being bumped and Toby grumbled about James’s shunting. For every complaint, Thomas’s smile became a little more forced. 

A few days after he arrived, James was resting at the big sheds. He had just delivered a long line of stone trucks and was resting when Gordon pulled up alongside.

“So? How’s little Thomas’s branchline treating you?”

“Terribly.”, came the blunt reply, “I wish I didn’t have to go up there again…”

“Well…”, snickered Gordon, “If you were ill, you wouldn’t have to do the stone runs, would you?”

“That’s a great idea! I’ll try that now!”, smirked James, “Look, here comes Thomas!”

James put on a sick face as Thomas pulled up alongside.

“Hello Gordon! Hey James… What's wrong? It’s a gorgeous day! For some engines at least…”

“It is lovely, but not for James. He’s ill!”

“Yes he is, I mean, I am! I don’t feel well at all!”, James said quickly.

“That’s a shame…”, said Thomas, hoping to sound as sincere as possible, “Don’t worry, I’ll take your trucks for you.”

“That’d be a great help!”, replied James, and he watched Thomas puff away to collect the empty trucks.

“That was easier than I thought…”, he mused to himself.

Thomas collected the trucks from the yard and started off back to the quarry. His good mood seemed to be returning.

“Things will be far better without a big red nuisance ruining everyone’s day!”, He thought as he arrived at the quarry.

The workmen were surprised, but didn’t really make a fuss as Thomas was uncoupled and ran to collect the loaded trucks. The trucks, however, murmured to themselves.

“We were expecting the red monster, not Thomas!”, said one.

“What, did he enjoying getting ticketed?”, said another.

“Well…”, finished a third, “If we can’t pay James out, we’ll play tricks on Thomas instead! One engine’s as good as another…”.

And with that, the trucks began plotting their tricks as Thomas, blissfully unaware, coupled up to them.

James, being a bigger and stronger engine, was able to take longer trains. Thomas should have remembered this and left a few trucks behind, but he didn’t. As he was coming down the quarry line, the trucks surged into him.

“On! On! On!”, they cackled.

Thomas fought for control, but his wheels only skidded on the rails. The men at the crossing saw this and telephoned the signalman. Thomas shut his eyes as he was switched onto the runaway siding and ran off the end, into a muddy pond. Thomas opened his eyes as the trucks laughed like hyenas and a toad croaked angrily at him. Thomas just grit his teeth.

Edward arrived to help clear the mess, and James arrived to take away the trucks. He looked ashamed as he drew the trucks away.

“Er… are you alright?”, he asked.

“Am I alright?”, grunted Thomas, “No, I’m not. Things were going so well here, and then you had to come along and ruin it with your moaning, and I tried to be nice and I tried to help you see the bright side and now look! I’m-”

“That will do, Thomas”, said a voice.

The Fat Controller strode up to Thomas.

“The damage isn’t too severe, but you will still be at the works for a few days. James, you will do the stone runs and Thomas’s work while he’s away. Maybe you will learn not to tell lies in the future.”

“Yes sir…”, muttered James quietly.

He said nothing as he rolled away with the stone trucks.

The next day, Toby was dozing in the shed when he was woken up by James. He watched with surprise as James collected Annie & Clarabel and made his way to the station.

“That’s odd… I thought he’d grumble about getting up early…”, murmured Toby.

It was the same the rest of the day. Passengers, goods and stone, James hauled it all with no complaints. Soon afterwards, there seemed to be a stark change in the red engine. He began talking to passengers on the platform, as well as admiring the scenery. He even became good friends with Mrs. Kindley.

Thomas returned a few days later. He was waiting at the station by the river when James came in with Annie and Clarabel. He watched, gobsmacked as the passengers thanked him as they got out.

“I should have trusted you Thomas,”, Smiled James, “Branchlines aren’t so bad after all. I’m sorry for lying.”

“Don’t mention it.”, replied Thomas, “I’m just happy you finally had a change of heart.”

James smiled as he left, some of the passengers saying goodbye as they did so. Thomas thought nothing of it until he heard them talk about how charismatic and lovely James was to talk too. To say Thomas was jealous wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

[daikenkki]

Thomas the Tank Engine Cast of Characters by gikesmanners1995

[ilovecharile]

It is so funny to me how in Berite and Thomas's first race. Both drivers just allow it to happen. I expected them to at least tell them "no" but instead they are just like this:

[torchwood-99]

Thomas is coming back, despite the move to America. The fact that Paul Giamatti is coming back makes me think there's going to be a trip to America.

Also no Matthew Goode. LadyMaryDivorceEra is looking all the more likely.

Edith and Bertie are back! Nothing to say there except yay! I hope we continue to see more of Edith the Journalist, like in the last film.

It won't be the same without Violet.