Transcript/Thomas’ Worldwide Travels

**Narrator:** Later that day, Thomas was waiting in a goods yard in the Mainland town of York. Ian and Andy have gone to collect the flatbed lorry. A few minutes later, they arrived.

**Larry:** “Hey there, mate. You must be Thomas. Well, I’m Larry.”

**Thomas:** “Larry the Lorry? Hmm, I like that name.”

**Larry:** “I’ll be your transport for the next few months. I just hope you’re not too heavy for me.”

**Narrator:** The yard had a big breakdown crane similar to Rocky, so Ian and Andy asked some workmen to lift Thomas to Larry’s flatbed. Then, they helped the workmen to tie Thomas’ wheels down tightly and secure with chains.

**Ian:** “Sorry you won't be moving your wheels for a long time."

**Andy:** “But, at least you’ll get to enjoy the scenery.”

**Narrator:** The two researchers then stepped into Larry’s cab.

**Larry:** “Right then,” called Larry, “if we’re ready, let’s go!”

**Narrator:** Larry didn’t go fast at first due to Thomas’ weight, but after a while, he started to go a little faster. The first place the research crew visited was the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. Larry was parked beside a yard. Thomas could see Talyllyn himself by the sheds. He was being rubbed and polished by two little girls, Kathy and Lizzie, before his next passenger train.

**Thomas:** “Are you Talyllyn?”

**Talyllyn:** “The very same. But, what brings you here?”

**Ian:** “We’re on a research trip. We’ve heard your railway was quite a beautiful one.”

**Thomas:** “My friend Skarloey says so too.”

**Narrator:** Once the polishing was finished, Ian and Andy travelled in Talyllyn’s train. He took them to every part of the line, jotting down notes about narrow gauge rails and the gorgeous unique scenery of the hills.

**Narrator:** After they said goodbye to Talyllyn and his railway, Larry made his way to Southampton Harbour. There was a large carrier ship waiting for them. The Fat Controller had borrowed the ship for the journey. He had sent the captain and Ian an estimated schedule for them. It showed them the global route they were to take and when to go to each country. It was evening when Larry and company arrived at the ship. Larry was parked next to the ship, was uncoupled from his trailer and a crane lifted both him, then Thomas on the trailer into the ship’s hanger. It was nearly two days until the crew reached their first international destination: France.

**Narrator:** For the next few months, Thomas, Andy and Ian travelled to all sorts of foreign railways, which started in an electric railway in Paris. They saw Etienne, an engine who runs by using an electric catenary. Ian and Andy found this most impressive. As they wrote down their notes and took his pictures, Thomas could hear Etienne boasting about how he had won the Great Race. Then, they headed north by road to Belgium, where they saw Axel speeding down the line with a long, heavy express train. Next, they travelled east until they reached Germany. On their travels, Thomas saw Hugo again. He was speeding along the line using his trusty propeller.

**Hugo:** “Ah, guten morgen, Thomas. Long time no see.”

**Thomas:** “Yeah, uhh… gluten Morgan to you, too.”

**Narrator:** He didn’t know many languages, of course. Later, Larry rested in a shunting yard in Frankfurt. As Thomas was telling Ian and Andy all about Hugo and how he functions, he could see Frieda in the distance. She was backing into some coaches ready for her Express run, when two tank engine twins pulled up on both sides of her. The two engines, Roary and Lori, blew their whistles in a cheeky way, laughed and puffed away. Their antics make Frieda cross. Thomas couldn’t help giggling though, as she saw her huff away grumpily.

**Narrator:** They then drove through Switzerland, where they met a few electric tram engines going through steep lines across the hills. The mountains close to the railway reminded Thomas of the Culdee Fell engines and their mountain railway. Next, they travelled to the Italian city of Milan. They drove to an archaeological dig site, where they saw a green tank engine called Gina, delivering some digging supplies. The dust and hot weather didn’t agree with Gina, but at least the buried findings peaked her interest. And Thomas’ too. They then reached Genoa harbour where they caught their ship. They sailed for many days and nights to their next destination of India.

**Narrator:** The next few months went as follows. They travelled to India, where Thomas met Ashima again in the shunting yards of a big station. Thomas was surprised to see a diesel and her coaches with passengers covered all around her, but Ashima explained that India has the busiest railways in the world and that there normally isn’t enough room for every passenger in the coaches. They went to China with its massive rail junctions, then sailed across the sea to Japan with it’s gorgeous forests and environments. Australia with the huge, hot and empty Outback, with the occasional railway line, Canada with its massive ploughing engine called Marshal, North America’s beautiful Grand Canyon railway, Mexico where he saw Carlos pulling a very long train of trucks and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where they saw a huge double decker passenger engine called Gustavo. By the time they reached the next Brazilian dock yard, Larry was feeling very exhausted and hot from pulling Thomas around all the time.

**Ian:** “It’s alright, Larry. You’re doing a fantastic job. If you’ve managed to pull an engine for thousands of miles for this long, it shows that you are really useful indeed.”

**Larry:** “Aw, thanks.”

**Narrator:** But Thomas didn’t feel so glad.

**Thomas:** “I miss my friends back home. Percy, Annie, Clarabel, I even miss Gordon and the ‘really useful’ is making me feel worse. I’m not sure if travelling around the world with you was the best idea, after all.”

**Andy:** “Aw, don’t worry Thomas. It’s natural to feel homesick. It happens to everyone, even you and me.”

**Thomas:** “But I’d rather be with my friends, move my wheels and be as useful as Larry here than be stuck on a flatbed all the time.”

**Ian:** “But, you are being useful. We didn’t know anything about your friend, Hugo was it? if you hadn’t told us. Or the Talyllyn railway. Or even your mountain engine friends.”

**Andy:** “Besides. We’ve only got one continent left on our list: Africa. Tell you what, we’ll just go to one African country, then you’ll be back home in no time.”

**Narrator:** That made Thomas feel a little bit better. Ian and Andy climbed into Larry and they drove away to their ship. But little did they all know that will do something completely unexpected when they get there. But, that’s another story.