Percy

## History

When Gordon, James and Henry went on strike in protest of having to shunt their own coaches since Thomas left to run his branch line, the Fat Controller decided that the railway needed another tank engine. Going to the engine workshop, the Fat Controller saw a green tank engine and when the engine confirmed he was willing to work hard, the Fat Controller bought him and named him Percy. Bringing him back to the Island of Sodor, Percy helped running Thomas's branch line while Thomas ran the Main Line with Edward and was allowed to stay after the big engines returned to work. At first, Percy liked to annoy the big engines, but when Percy was later waiting at Tidmouth, but forgot to whistle to the signalman and was scared when Gordon came running towards him with the Express, Gordon managed to stop in time, but Percy was so frightened, he ran away and ended up stuck in a sandbank. He was rescued by Gordon and took up the duty of station pilot at Tidmouth.

One winter, the cold was severely getting to Percy, so he tried to think about warm things. As a result, his workday led to Percy obsessing over scarves and seeing everyone around him wearing them. Henry remarked on the silliness of an engine wanting a scarf, but Percy bit back with a comment about Henry's funnel size. The cold did not affect Percy's cheekiness however, as he planned on startling the coaches by coming in quietly. However, the porters didn't hear him either, and Percy crashed into their luggage trolley, ending up covered in jam with the Fat Controller's hat on Percy's lamp iron and his best trousers wrapped around Percy's funnel. James joked that Percy found a 'scarf' after all and ran off to tell Henry. That night, Thomas and Percy prepared to go to sleep happy that the firelighter had agreed to arrive earlier the next day. Henry and Percy make up, and Henry assures Percy that the weather will be warmer the following day.

Thomas told Percy about some mysterious footprints that he saw at the China Clay Pits. Percy convinced himself that it was be footprints of a monster that was roaming Sodor. Continuing to be anxious for a few days, he caused lots of confusion and delay such as: mistakenly referring to Gator, the new engine as the monster, failing to delivery his mail on-time and running off before the Fat Controller finished talking to him. After talking with Gator, he understood what being brave is like and later used this courage to save James from a huge landslide. He later learned that the monster was really a dinosaur a long, long time ago, which had now become a fossil. He also understood that the footprints Thomas saw, were also only fossils left from the dinosaur. Percy later said goodbye to Gator, who had to return to the Mainland, but the two friends were certain they will meet again someday.

Percy was starting to miss Gator and tried to take his mind off Gator by working hard. When he had to deliver trucks full of precious sculptures and paintings for a special exhibition, he didn't stop to be coupled and the Troublesome Trucks went rolling to the Old Mine. He thought about Gator and his advice of how to be brave. Percy goes into the mine and rescues the trucks. Percy reunited with Gator at Christmas.

Percy was to take the Mayor of Sodor to the Search and Rescue Centre to present a new alarm bell to celebrate their one thousandth rescue. Diesel overheard Percy talking about it at the docks and he played a trick on him, sending Percy to the Old Quarry, which resulted him ending up on a badly flooded railway line and after Diesel unsuccessfully attempted to pull him out of the flood, he too also ended up getting stuck in the water after it badly damaged his generator. The rescue of Diesel and Percy marked the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre Crew's one thousand and first rescue. He was once giving the job of transporting Farmer McColl's ewes to a fair at Maithwaite, however he was late delivering that nights mail. Rushing to get back on time, he bashed his lifestock wagon into a flatbed, and unknowingly created a hole in it. He collected the sheep from McColl Farm, but every time he stopped some of the sheep escaped. By the time he had reached the fair, all the sheep had escaped. Fortunately, Thomas, Annie and Clarabel arrived shortly afterwards with the sheep, much to Percy's relief. Once, he saw some painters at Knapford, talking about the Fat Controller "leaving." He told Thomas and the other engines, and they came to the conclusion he was leaving Sodor because of them, so they decided to create no confusion and delay until he decided to stay. By the end of the day, it appeared their plan was successful, though Percy still had his doubts. His suspicions were seemingly confirmed when he saw the painters clearing out the Fat Controller's office. Now believing the Fat Controller was being forced to leave, the engines decided to go on strike until he was allowed to stay. After much confusion and delay, the Fat Controller explained to the engines that he was just moving to a temporary office while his was being redecorated. With the misunderstanding cleared up, Percy and the other engines worked hard to get the railway back on schedule.

Percy had the job of taking the Christmas Mail to Vicartown for Hiro to take to the Mainland and onwards to the North Pole. Harold offered to help, but Percy refused, determined complete the job on his own. After he left a bag of letters behind at Dryaw, Harold chased after him, but Percy, believing he was mocking his speed again, refused to stop and crashed into a snowdrift at a tunnel. Stuck, he reluctantly agreed to let Harold deliver the Mail. The following day, he heard from Toby that Harold had not returned to Sodor that night, so he raced off to the Mainland to find him. He found him stuck in a field and out of fuel. Not wanting Harold to spend Christmas stranded, he fetched his fuel and the two returned to Sodor. Later, Percy was taking the Mail Train at night, when he came across the watermill bridge and heard a moaning sound which gave him a fright. Percy later told Thomas and Toby about it, and remembering the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, he thought it's a troll that lives under the bridge. The three engines reluctantly crossed the bridge and discovered it was only a lost cow. He was also the only engine to be nice to Hugo, who was being shunned as the others though he had come to replace them. He would then see a zeppelin in the sky and mistook it for Hugo.

In **The Great Race**, Percy was set to take Thomas' place in The Shunting Competition of the Great Railway Show after Thomas had an accident. However, Thomas managed to make it to the Mainland after all and Percy dropped out of the competition so Thomas could compete, and because he didn't want to compete in the first place.