A Well Deserved Rest

A Well Deserved Rest could possibly be a Season 6 replacement for "And Not For Something Completely The Same!"

Plot
"Henry! Henry! Wake Up! Your train is already ten minutes late!"

Henry suddenly woke up, seeing that it was James who was saying that.

"Uh, what do you mean? What (yawns) time is it?"

"It's five minutes after 8:00" James answered.

"Well that's not that bad!" Henry said in a relieved mood.

"The train was suppossed to leave at 7:00. You are an hour and five minutes late!"

"That's impossible!" Henry shouted. He woke up Emily and Oliver, who were sleeping after a late night train. They were most displeased.

"Just get going" yawned Emily. "The passengers are probably cooking Sir Topham Hatt by now..."

Henry tried to follow Emily and James' instructions but found that he could not move. "It seems that I am stuck in place! That explains it! It was not my fault after all!" but it was.

"Sorry, Henry!" said his driver. "I accidently forgot to turn off the brakes! You'll be able to do your job as soon as we get out of this shed!"

Henry had not been feeling good for a while. Ever since he was forced to sleep at Vicarstown Sheds while Tidmouth Sheds were being repaired, his boiler always felt half empty. He always felt like he was not as useful as he used to be. Bill and Ben have noticed this and have told him that he should be retired or moved to a museum or sent to a railway where he would be left in the shed months at a time.

Of course, Bill being Bill, and Ben being Ben, the other engines told Henry to not pay attention to their insults or jokes, as they have all been teased by them before as well, but Henry actually partially believed them. He was nearly one hundered years old and was costing the railway more and more money to find parts for him when they broke, which caused his shape to be changed numerous times since the early '50's, when most steam locomotives that were not working correctly were scrapped because of insufficent parts and supplies. Some engines on Sodor, like most of the engines on Toby's Old Railway in Arlesdale as well as numerous unnamed engines on the North Western Railway, such as 98462 and 87546.

Sir Topham Hatt I disliked this extremely but as the railway was losing money because of the nationalization of railways all around England caused much pressure on the NWR to join the league. Even though they didn't, being the only one in England to survive nationalization, they were forced to make cuts and caused numerous engines to be scrapped between 1947 and 1957. When Henry got into an accident in 1951 while pulling the Flying Kipper, pieces to repair him were not found. The Fat Controller, who owned the engine for a longer time then the others he scrapped, decided to give him a overhaul, which caused him to be given a new shape, even though being given the same paintscheme.

Many years later, Henry needed to be overhauled yet again, giving him yet another new shape and a red undercover, which gave him the displeasure of needing to pull a train James was supposted to take before he crashed. James then told him that he should be retired and, even though he didn't believe these words at first, he has started to believe them.

By the time all of that went through Henry's mind, Henry was daydreaming for about fifteen minutes. His driver and fireman didn't know that he was, however, until he almost ran into a siding. Whenever Henry is not paying attention to his job, his driver usually tells him "Henry, remember, we have a job to do and we have to do it well. If we don't, who knows what will happen!" This didn't help Henry this time, as it just made the situation worse.

When he finally arrived at the big station, nobody was there. That is, except for the current controller, Sir Bertram Topham Hatt IV, who was in charge because when his father retired in 2005, his brother Richard decided that Bertram was a better person who's youth would help the railway. Because of his youth, he could get his point across better, and Henry knew he would not be any different.

"Henry, you have caused confusion and delay! Because of your tendency to sleep in, you have forced Steve to carry your passengers instead of you doing it instead. Steve, who is not owned by me, should not be forced to do a job that is not his perfession, to a man who does not even order him to do a job. Luckily, the high school in Tidmouth has allowed Steve to pull theeir passengers, but who knows what goes on at that school and on that bus! I bet the passengers are getting a daily dose of karma, in no ways helped by your absence."

"Can I talk now?" Henry asked jokingly, trying to calm down Bertram.

"I guess, if you have a good reason."

"Well, I haven't been feelng good lately. Something irritates me in the middle of the night and it has happened every night since I moved into that shed in Vicarstown. It makes my boiler feel uneasy. I also don't get as much work done as I think I should. I always seem tired. For example, last night I went to bed at 5:00 PM, an extremely reasonable time for any engine. Yet, I woke up at 8:05, which is redicuously late in comparison of both times, and I was still tired! Still am, in fact! Do I really need more than 15 hours of sleep?"

"You may be right or you may be crazy. However, it is something I will definently look into in the future. It seems that the best thing for you to do know is to sleep in the sheds at Crosby. Those will hopefully fit better to your needs than the ones at Vicarstown. You don't have a job today, it seems, and since your tired, I shall allow you to sleep. Hopefully you feel better by tonight, as tonight the day you will pull the Flying Kipper! Remember?"

"Yes sir!" Henry responded cheerfully.

Just then, Toby rushed down the line at a faster speed. "There is a runaway train down the line coming this way! I would try to stop it but since I am so slow, I would cause an accident instead of prevent one. See where I'm going?"

"Yes, I think I do" Henry answered. "I shall get on the line as soon as you get off."

"Thank you, Henry!" Toby said cheerfully.

Just then, Henry went onto the line and started to move forward at around the same speed as the trucks. Just then, the trucks rushed past Knapford Station. All Toby and Sir Topham Hatt could see was a blur! "How will Henry be able to keep up with that?" Toby asked to himself.

Henry was thinking the same thing. The trucks rushed behing him and soon he heard a bang! He was almost sure he was going to go off of the rails but, much to his delight, he didn't. Still, he was still moving. This was strange, because he told his driver that when the trucks make contact with his buffers, to put the brakes on.

However, what he didn't realize was that when he had the brakes on in the sheds when he was supposed to go out of them, they were slightly damaged and, even though they were usable for a while, when the trucks banged into him, the brakes, ironically, broke.

Henry was scared at first, but he knew the line and knew that it was flat. This meant that by the time he got to Tidmouth, they would have stopped, and as he expected, they did stop right at Lower Tidmouth Station. The crew at the station, who got an alert a while before, shouted "Three cheers for Henry!" and Henry was extremely happy. Just then, the Fat Controller pulled in with his car and told Henry that he did the best job any engine could do and that he was a really useful engine.

Just then, the driver needed to tell Sir Topham Hatt a few things. First, he asked why a breakvan was not connected to the train. The Fat Controller then answered. "It was a train that was being shunted, and therefore the use of a breakvan was proven unnessesary at the time. However, we will have a rule now, after this incident, that all trains, including ones being shunted, will need to have breakvans."

The driver then told Sir Topham Hatt that the brakes weren't functioning right. Right when he was about to go and inspect Henry, a man rushed out of the station with great news.

"Tidmouth Sheds has been completely re-constructed! How do you like that, Henry?"

"I love it!" Henry shouted with joy. "Oh, this will make up for it completely!"

"However," the Fat Controller said, "We will need to shunt you there, as your brakes aren't working properly." Henry didn't mind this a bit, as he expected it and thought it would be relaxing after such a thrilling event.

The Fat Controller also noticed a small hole in the side of Henry's boiler. "I think we've found the culprit for your boiler issues! It seems you boilers running dry!" Henry then understood, as Gordon had the same issue a while ago. He was relieved that, even though probably being overhaul, and being an older engine, he knows he finally has a well deserved rest, and even Bill and Ben can admit that.

~ The End ~

Appearances (in order of appearance)

 * James
 * Henry
 * Emily
 * Oliver (cameo)
 * Sir Bertram Topham Hatt IV
 * Bill and Ben (do not speak)
 * Toby
 * 98462 and 87546 (do not speak; flashback)
 * Toby's Friends (do not speak; flashback)
 * Sir Topham Hatt I (does not speak)
 * Sir Charles Topham Hatt III (mentioned)
 * Richard Topham Hatt (mentioned)
 * Steve (mentioned)
 * Gordon (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This episode makes references to "Coal," "The Flying Kipper," "Overhaul," and "Gordon Runs Dry."
 * This marks steve's first time being mentioned, even though this story was written after his introductory episode.