Unhappy Landing (remake)

Unhappy Landing is a remake of a magazine story for Thomas New Stories.

Plot
Thomas' Branch Line is a beautiful line that runs from Knapford to Ffarquhar, and through the towns of Dryaw, Toryreck, Elsbridge, and Hackenbeck. Many engines work on it, such as Percy, Stanley, Rosie, occasionally Diesel and Toby and, of course, Thomas, and that's who this story's about.

It starts, however, with Toby the Tram Engine with his coach Henrietta taking passengers from Ffarquhar to Hackenbeck Airfield, where air shows take place every few months. Many people come to watch them, which causes much the buzz on Sodor. This one was going to feature a stuntman that would be jumping off of a plane and doing numerous stunts while in the air. during this train, he was taking one of the stuntmen, instead of one of the usual members of the crowd.

Thomas was waiting for Toby there. When he stopped and let the stuntman get off and prepare for the event, he talked with Thomas. Thomas started.

"Are you usually excited for events like this?" Thomas asked. "I personally don't fancy airplanes but everybody has there own opinions."

"Why, I have never been around for one of these! However, I must say that, even though I'm not the biggest fans of planes either, as my instinces with Tigermoth illustrate, I guess we must keep up with the times. However, I will try to catch this one!"

As the plane with the stuntman on it took off, Toby's driver reminded Toby that Carol would be cross if we weren't there soon helping her with his assinged jobs. Toby said, as he pulled away, "Goodbye Thomas! See you at Tidmouth later today!" Thomas, however, didn't fancy that his conversation got cut short. However, he well understood that Toby had a job too. It was just then that Thomas remembered that he had a train to pull at Knapford in a few minutes! He rushed off as quick as his wheels could carry him!

When he got to the station, Diesel was there shunting his coaches. He bashed them into his rear buffers rather roughly, but this didn't stop Thomas from saying "Thank you very much, Diesel!" Diesel responded with a grunt as he reversed into a junction, crashing into the buffers at the end of the line.

Percy was by Thomas at Knapford Station. Percy, who needed to pull the mail to Ffarquhar, needed to hurry to the first stop, Dryaw, as the mail was later than ever! "Silly Tom!" chucked Thomas. "He has one of the fastest vans on Sodor, yet he still can't get here on time! Nothing to worry about, Percy! He'll be here soon!"

However, Tom, or as Sudrian's call him, Mr. Tipper, did have something to worry about! He was making his way from Ulfstead to Knapford when he got a telephone call from one of the people at the airfield.

"It seems that one of our stuntsmen's parachute's was in a terrible position to land in the area made for him to land on. We know he's okay, because his parachute did deploy and it blew away from the city, but we have no idea where he is! Maybe you should see if you can find him!"

So, Tom decided that finding the stuntsman was something he needed to do, but by the time that he found a replacement, he was already going to be 20 minutes late to the station.

The 20 minutes had finally passed and when he saw a rather unusual looking car pull up with mail in its trunk, he was most surprised! He rushed as fast as he could, as he said he would, to Dryaw, to make sure he could make it there on time.

Tom, however, thought that he should bring the post van with him to inspect the area around it, and when he went off the road for a mile, his van went wheels first into a pupple of mud. Tom got soaked from head to toe and his van was unusable for the moment. Terence, who was also searching by this point, found the truck and said to himself "I knew that the mail was getting less and less used but I had no idea that it ceased to exist completely!"

Thomas was then alerted by the stationmaster that the Fat Controller decided to let Chester pull the train instead and that he was to search for the missing plane. He rushed up to an abandoned line that was used for sending crops from the farms to the main line. It was later replaced by a line that lead up to the Great Western and the restored Arlesdale Standard Gauge Railway. However, the line was still there and was used occasionally for special goods trains. Thomas, however, wasn't pulling any special goods. He was the special goods.

He met up with Terence a few miles ahead. Thomas and Terence once had an argument, many years ago, if caterpillers or wheels were better, but since have became great friends. Thomas once thought Terence was useless, much like he thinks planes are useless, and so it very much felt like a perfect match in Thomas' mind.

"Have you found anything?" asked Thomas.

"I'm afraid not! It seems that he is very far out in the countryside. There is a forest up the line which I can't get through, as I am to wide! However, your tracks, if I'm correct, should run through the whole forest and meet up at Peel Godred at the end of the line. That is as far as he could have possibly gone."

"I hope he isn't hurt!"

"Me either, Thomas! It would be such a disapointing matter!"

Thomas then puffed away, as Terence went north to see if he was there.

Meanwhile, Toby was on a stop on his old tramway, which re-opened recently because of plans to build a museum. Toby was puffing by when he saw a man with a ripped parachute on his back. "Excuse me, good sir" he said, "but aren't you the kind old engine that brought me to the airfield in Hackenbeck?"

"Yes, I believe I am" answered Toby.

"I was stuck in a tree in the nearby forest when my parachute ripped and neaded a lift to Hackenbeck to tell everyone that I'm okay. Do you know the quickest way there?"

"Why yes I do! I know all the abandoned lines around these parts because I worked here for many years! The quickest way there is if we go to Arlesdale End and take a short ride to a junction in the forest. It is close to the airfield but I am too tall to be able to clear the branches now. You'll need to walk for a while. However, to make up for it, Henrietta's guard will make some warm apple cyder for you, as it is cold in these parts!"

"Thanks!" said the stuntsman, and, without further review, climbed aboard Henrietta and Toby set off.

A few minutes later, Thomas was coming across the junction that Toby needed to drop the stuntsman off at. He saw a man walking in the distance with a ripped parachute on. "Thats the stuntsman!" Thomas shouted in relief numerous times. "Thank you," said the stuntsman, "or I would've needed to walk the whole way! You are a really useful engine!"

Within a few more minutes, the stuntsman was sent back to Hackenbeck Airfield. He was assesed for any injures, but all he had was a bruised ankle. "You are a lucky man" said the doctor. "I have seen people that ran into trees that have gotten knocked out, not to mention getting caught in it!" Thomas' crew were given tea and coffee, as well as some carrots and tomatoes that the farmers gave him. "Thank you!" they said. "We are overwelmed!"

Later that day, when everything was back to normal, Thomas went back to Knapford for his afternoon train, shocked to see Diesel snoring in the same siding he saw him in when he left. Annie and Clarabel were also sleeping, as nobody took them. "Good thing that it wasn't a busy day" Thomas commented in relief. Diesel then woke up, and grunted, as if nothing had happened!

Toby, who was at the station waiting for his train, asked Thomas if he found he stuntsman. "Why yes I did, all by myself!" Thomas was rather in a self-pleasured mood as he didn't know about Toby's contribution.

Toby responded, to make him realize, with a very fitting comment: "So, got any branches in your funnel at the junction to Arlesdale End? It's rather a tight squeeze for me, but once again, that's just me." Thomas looked at Toby blankly, with a strait face on. Toby realized he wasn't getting it, and so he asked "So now how do you feel about airplanes?" As Toby puffed away, he was only beginning to realize what Toby was talking about. Thomas asked Diesel what he thought Toby was talking about..... he just grunted.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Toby
 * Percy
 * Henrietta
 * Diesel
 * Carol
 * Terence
 * The Stuntsman
 * Tom Tipper
 * People At The Airport
 * The Alternate Postman
 * Rosie (cameo)
 * Stanley (cameo)
 * Gordon (cameo)
 * Henry (cameo)
 * Tigermoth (mentioned)

Changes in Plot

 * In the original story, the parachutist lands in a river, as in this one, he lands on a tree.
 * In the original story, Toby doesn't set up Thomas saving the stuntsman.
 * In the original story, the parachutist is a citizen, not a stuntsman.
 * In the original story, the Standard Gauge Arlesdale Railway isn't even open, not to mention being in the story.

Trivia

 * Tom Tipper makes his first appearance in this episode.
 * Tigermoth is mentioned in this story, being Tigermoth's second appearance, verbally or physically, in the series. However, he isn't the plane in the story.
 * In the original series and this series, Toby and tigermoth do not formally meet, meaning it hapenned off-camera.
 * This is the first episode that will mention the opening of a museum, which will be completed in "The Great Battle of Harwick" and opened in "Bigger and Yet Smaller."