Rosie & James

*Rosie & James* is the first standalone *Thomas* story by TARDIS9. It was first published on Sodor Island Forums on April 26th 2017, and was first released on YouTube in March 2020.

### Synopsis

James boasts endlessly to the other engines about his smart red paint. Rosie expresses her admiration for it, and wishes to be painted red herself. James is infuriated by this, but his complaints go unheard by her.

Rosie makes her way along Thomas' branch line to help out while Mavis is being overhauled. On her way home, she finds Thomas, who has has broken down with Annie and Clarabel full of passengers. She offers to help out, and takes them to the Junction where Gordon takes them the rest of the way home.

The Fat Controller is very proud of Rosie, and, upon her request, arranges for her to be repainted into her current red livery at the works. When she emerges, all the engines admire her for her new look. James, however, is jealous, and despite the warnings of Edward and Bradford, rams a coal truck into her! Rosie's new look is now ruined, and James wisely disappears.

James is still furious with Rosie while he takes some trucks to Ffarquhar. Unfortunately, a lorry full of blue paint bound for the Sodor Steamworks crosses the level crossing, just as he approaches it. Pushed onwards by the trucks, James collides with the lorry, covering himself in blue paint - much to his horror. When the Fat Controller arrives, he is furious with James' misbehaviour, and sends him to be mended and repainted, with a punishment to follow. When Rosie takes James to the works, she and a newly-fixed Thomas tease him for his actions. James is resentful of this, but now regrets his very poor decisions.

## Characters

Thomas

Edward

Gordon

James

Rosie

Charlie

Bradford

Emily

Percy *(mentioned)*

Toby *(mentioned)*

Mavis *(mentioned)*

Henry *(does not speak)*

Samson *(does not speak)*

## Real-life basis

This story was based on two separate events:

* While Rosie’s accident with the coal truck was fictional, her rescuing Thomas’s passenger train was loosely based on an incident on the Isle of Wight on March 17th, 2016. A power failure saw to it that some passengers were stranded at Smallbrook Junction, next to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, who sent one of their engines to rescue the stricken passengers and drop them off at Havenstreet, where taxis would be waiting for them.
* James’s accident with the lorry was based on an incident on a level crossing at Little Cornard, Surrey, August 17th, 2010, when a train collided with a sewage tanker. The accident was mainly caused by the tanker driver failing to inform the railway authorities that he was about to cross the line, a crime sadly but regularly committed in that area, due to the long delays drivers had until they were given permission to cross. Of the twenty-five passengers aboard the train, twenty-three were injured, five seriously, including the driver. For these reasons, out of respect for those who suffered, the author has decided to let the engine crew escape unharmed, and to replace the passenger train with a goods train.

## Trivia

* The title is a reference to the popular children's TV show, *Rosie & Jim.*
* Because of the author's preference for the *Railway Series* over the TV series, this is the only story to be set exclusively in the latter's universe.
	+ As such this is, to-date, the only appearance of Rosie, Charlie, Bradford, Emily and Samson in a YouTube story.
	+ The story was also written as a fan theory in explaining why Rosie gained her red livery, and was released on Sodor Island Forums two months prior to the twenty-first series of *Thomas and Friends.*
* Several references are made to the TV series:
	+ When James exclaims how he is 'dependable, reliable and seldom late,' he misquotes the song *James the Really Splendid Engine.*
	+ Gordon recalls Thomas' argument that 'blue is the only proper colour for a Really Useful Engine,' to which James reminds him that Thomas went on to get covered in coal, referencing the Second Series episode, *Thomas, Percy and the Coal.*
	+ Rosie's line, 'I’ll get them there, quicker than you can say ‘luckily, no one was hurt!’ and Thomas' responding quip are references to the TV series catchphrase 'Luckily, no one was hurt.'
	+ James' reaction to being covered in blue paint is a reference to the first series episode, *James and the Coaches* and the twenty-second series episode, *An Engine of Many Colours.*
	+ When Thomas teases James, he mentions their repaints in *The Adventure Begins.*
* While *The 'B' Class Bullies* was the first Thomas fanfic written by the author, this story is the first to be adapted and released on YouTube.