Thomas

## History

Thomas worked in Brighton on the Mainland, where he was painted teal and numbered 70.

Some time after James arrived on the Island of Sodor, Thomas was brought to Sodor to shunt coaches for the engine on the Mainline, such as Henry and Gordon. The first engine he befriended on Sodor was Edward. He liked to play tricks on Gordon, but was taught a lesson when Gordon tricked him into being coupled to the back of the Express and was pulled along with it. Tired out, he promised never to tease Gordon again, realising he did not have to to be important.

Soon, Thomas wanted to pull his own passenger train, much to the bemusement of the other engines. He got his chance when Henry became ill and no one else could pull his passenger train. However, Thomas was so excited that he accidentally left the coaches behind, believing he was pulling it easily. He soon realised his mistake and returned to pull the train. He was teased for it, but Thomas still wanted to get out of the shunting yards and see the world. Edward offered him to pull his Troublesome Trucks, which Thomas excitedly accepted, not realising how troublesome they could be. The trucks pushed him down Gordon's Hill, where the Fat Controller told him to learn more about Troublesome Trucks before pulling them again.

Thomas soon proved himself to the other engines when he rescued James after a crash. James was pulling a train of Troublesome Trucks, who were pushing him too fast and his brake blocks caught fire. Thomas chased after him and tried to couple to the back of the train to slow James down, but he failed and James and his trucks derailed. After fetching Judy and Jerome to lifted James back onto the tracks, he was given James' coaches, Annie and Clarabel and his own branch line, which had previously been run by Glynn.

Thrilled, Thomas  began running his branch line with Annie and Clarabel, who he loves very much. He soon considered his branch line to be the most important part of the entire railway, a fact he would constantly remind the other engines of. However, he continued to make mistakes and dream big, which sometimes got him into trouble, such as when he was so impatient that he left the guard behind at Elsbridge or when he wanted to fish. His greatest mistake was when he got his snowplough broken in the winter and ended up stuck in a snow drift, having to be rescued by Terence, whom he had insulted earlier for not having "real" wheels. He soon proved himself again, though, by beating Bertie in a race. He quickly became friends with Terence and Bertie after these events.

Although Thomas' branch line was indeed the pride of the line, on the main line, things were not going well for the Fat Controller, who was having to deal with Gordon, Henry and James' sulking, refusing to shunt their own coaches. After they went on strike, Thomas was brought back to help alongside Edward and the new engine, Percy. Thomas also became friends with Toby after he was asked by the Fat Controller to help their railway avoid a lawsuit from a policeman. But Thomas still had some cheekiness in him, returning to teasing Gordon after he slid into a ditch. He soon needed Gordon's help after he went past a danger sign and fell down a mine. They became friends after that and promised never to tease each other again.

Thomas and Toby later helped Mrs. Kyndley at her cottage when she was snowed in and helped her celebrate Christmas with a very special Christmas party.

After this, Thomas shared a shed on his branch line with Percy and Toby. However, he became conceited about his brilliant blue paintwork and soon paid the price when Percy accidentally caused a coal hopper to pour coal all over him. Thomas was angry at Percy, but the two friends soon made up after Percy had an accident with some coal trucks. Thomas soon met Trevor, a friend of Edward's, who proved his usefulness when he helped Thomas at the newly constructed harbour. Unfortunately, Thomas became ill and had to be sent to the works, while Duck looked after his branch line. When Thomas came back, his brakes were stiff and made it seem as if they were hard on. As a result, one day, when his fireman was ill, a substitute accidentally caused Thomas to run away and Harold had to help stop him. Later, when the Viaduct needed to be repaired, the other engines became late to drop off Thomas' passengers and as a result, made him late for Bertie.

Thomas later became conceited again when he took his driver's compliment to heart and believed he no longer needed a driver. This was untrue, but Thomas was too full of himself to realise and one morning, found himself rolling along the line outside the sheds, when a cleaner had accidentally started him up by messing with his controls. He soon crashed into a stationmaster's house and ruined the latter's family's breakfast. He had to be rescued by Donald and Douglas. As a result, the Fat Controller angrily sent him to the works to be repaired.

Thomas returned a few weeks later just in time to take over from Percy, who just had crashed.

The following Christmas, Thomas was eager to sing carols with the other engines, but had to pick up a Christmas tree for the Fat Controller. Unfortunately, on his way back, he was caught in a snow drift and was lost. Donald and Douglas soon rescued him in time to sing carols with all his friends.

When Thomas often stopped to meet the children, Percy teased him by saying that the Fat Controller would replace him if he is late too often. Thomas started to worry, but he sacrificed being on time to help get some stranded schoolchildren to Bertie. Percy also teased Thomas about being frightened, but after Thomas unintentionally scared him with a lit-up paper dragon, Percy admitted that everyone gets scared sometimes and Thomas told him that he's brave to admit it. When James was bragging about being the most useful, something Thomas used to say about himself, Thomas told him that the Fat controller says they are all useful. When the mail train came under fire for Percy being delayed, spurred on by the threat of being replaced by Harold, Thomas and Percy worked extra hard to deliver the mail on time and Thomas helped a man who missed his train home. The man expressed his gratitude through a letter and the mail train was declared the pride of the line.

When Bertie was saying that the railway was unreliable for failing to deliver tar to mend the roads, Thomas promised to see what he could do. Instead, he forgot about it and offered to do James' work for him, who was pretending to be ill to get off doing work. When he remembered the tar, he told Edward about it, who attended to the problem and Bertie was grateful. Thomas forgave James and Gordon for pretending that James was ill. When Percy and James were feeling down after getting into mishaps, Thomas cheered them up by saying they were still useful for learning something. He was at first excited to deliver mail to the villagers at Ulfstead, but became disappointed when he was needed at the big station. When it turned out that he was needed to rescue the snowed-in villagers, he gathered his snowplough and Terence and set off with Percy to the rescue.

The Fat Controller once sent Thomas to the Mainland to collect special wood for the new Search and Rescue Centre. Travelling via sea, he got lost in a storm and ended up on Misty Island. He befriended Bash, Dash and Ferdinand and discovered wood there perfect for the Search and Rescue Centre. He eventually found an old tunnel that went back to Sodor, but got trapped in it as it collapsed. Percy and Whiff were able to save him.

Thomas still has the occasional annoyance with wearing his snowplough during wintertime, but always learns his lesson afterwards, such as when he hid it on a siding so he could stay in the shed, but when Emily took Annie and Clarabel out, he tried to go find them and got stuck in the snow, leading to Emily rescuing him.

Thomas once had a minor accident at Brendam Docks, but instead of owning up to it, he blamed it on Geoffrey, who he made up, which made everyone curious about who Geoffrey was. He hid in Henry's Tunnel and pretended to be Geoffrey in order to trick the Fat Controller that Geoffrey was leaving, but after Spencer nearly crashed into him, Thomas' lie was exposed and he told the truth.

Thomas was chosen to be the first engine to be inspected by two railway inspectors. After their journey, a gold watch belonging to one of the inspectors was found inside Annie and Thomas gave it back to him.

Later, Thomas became covered in spots after Butch sprayed him with mud by accident, which made Henry think Thomas had chicken pox.

When the Sodor United Football Team was playing the Barrow's Red Team, he and James tried to compete to see which colour was best, only to end up getting into trouble with the Fat Controller. One time, Bertie was teasing Thomas about the other side of the mountain and everyone tried to convince him that he made it up. Eventually, Bertie was going to explain to Thomas but he left immediately because he was really cross. This caused him to miss a red signal and eventually he derailed and ran through the countryside near a road, forcing Butch to rescue him by road since they were too far from the tracks.

Later, Thomas, Annie and Clarabel were at Knapford Station when a mother pushing a pram with her crying baby came in. As he started on his way along the branch line, the baby stopped crying, only to start again each time Thomas stopped at each of his stations. Once Thomas got back to Knapford to take a break, he asked the Fat Controller if he could miss it and took the mother and baby on a non-stop journey, as he realised the baby kept crying every time Thomas stopped. This proved to be quite helpful as the mother and the baby were soon fast asleep. When Thomas returned to Knapford, her husband thanked him for his help and they then decided to name their baby Thomas after him.

Thomas once again started to get conceited, believing his branch line to be the most important. But after an accident caused by him teasing Gordon with the express coaches, he was sent to help with the construction of the Harwick Branch Line, but was still being boastful and accidentally fell into a deep cavern, where he found a pirate ship. Once he returned after having his wheels mended, he found Sailor John and Skiff wandering around the hole he fell into and befriended them. However, he later discovered that Sailor John was only looking for the treasure that Marion had found to claim as his own. When Sailor John stole the treasure from Knapford, he tried to escape on Skiff while Thomas gave chase. Despite receiving help from Mike, Rex, Bert and Ryan, Thomas could not catch them and John and Skiff made it back to sea with the treasure. However, Skiff turned against Salier John and purposely capsized, losing the treasure and Sailor John was arrested. Thomas was later repaired and was given the honour of cutting the ribbon, opening the new branch line and leading Duck, Rocky, Oliver, Toad, Ryan, Daisy, Donald and Douglas down the line.

When Thomas saw Diesel being sweet and gentle to some ducklings, he decided to tell the other engines about it. Diesel begged Thomas not to tell them so Thomas told Diesel to be nice and friendly to everyone, or else he would tell. However, after initially being nice to everyone, Diesel returned to his old ways, causing Thomas to lure 'Arry and Bert to the ducklings, almost hitting him. 'Arry and Bert then revealed themselves to be sweet and gentle with the ducklings.

Once, Thomas was having trouble with the Troublesome Trucks and agreed to use Bradford, who would help keep them quiet. However, Bradford ordered Thomas to stop as the trucks were nine millimetres above the allowed height limit and ordered for some stones to be unloaded, making Thomas very late.

Thomas had a race with Max and Monty until they drive recklessly on the road next to the track in front of him. Edward advises Thomas to ignore them. Thomas had to takes Oliver to be repaired after Monty runs over the rocks and launches it at Oliver, damaging his arm. As Thomas taking Oliver back to the dig site, the track was blocked by a large pile of construction waste, causing Thomas to be derailed. After Judy and Jerome put Thomas back on the rails, he returned home when Max and Monty apologise to him and Thomas accepts their apology, but he will not be racing them again.

Later, Thomas went along his branch line to meet Toby, who said the trees looked very spooky and he noticed a broken fence and told Trevor about it. When Thomas was nearing the bridge at the watermill, he heard a moaning sound and dashed away to meet Percy and Toby. Percy told Thomas the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Toby reminded Thomas about how the littlest goat survived by going across the bridge first and telling the troll to eat his bigger brothers. As Percy and Toby hurried across the watermill bridge, Thomas slowly went across the bridge as Annie and Clarabel listened more carefully and they realised that it was just a cow.

In **The Great Race**, Thomas became eager to go to the Great Railway Show after hearing about it from the Flying Scotsman, but wasn't immediately asked by the Fat Controller to participate. Thomas later witnessed the international engines travelling to participate in the Great Railway Show accidentally arrive on Sodor, where he tried to talk to Raul about it, but was ordered away by Vinnie. After being accidently bumped and saved from falling into the sea by Ashima when she was too late to get back on the ferry with the other engines. Thomas was initially jealous of Ashima and tried several times to change himself for the competition, but all his suggestions went to other engines (being streamlined going to Gordon and being repainted going to James and Emily). He eventually befriended Ashima and was suggested to practice for the shunting competition, but accidently crashed into Norman, damaging him and making him unsuitable to participate in the shunting competition, which the Fat Controller was going to offer to Thomas. However, Thomas managed to go to the Great Railway Show when it was discovered that Gordon's safety valve had not been reassembled properly during his streamlining, but he was too late to warn Gordon as the Great Race started. Thomas later participated in the shunting competition after Percy dropped out, but during the competition, he had to rescue Philip when he was being chased by Vinnie and gave up his chance to win the race when he spotted a derailed flatbed on Ashima's line and swapped his and her tracks, but was allowed joint wins for his excellent sportsmanship. Thomas returned to Sodor with Gordon, James, Henry and Percy, along with Ashima, who was going to get on the ferry in Brendam Docks.

In **Journey Beyond Sodor**, Thomas traveled to the Mainland when he stole James' train after hearing James brag that he's the Fat Controller's favourite engine. He meets Beresford, but he gets lost and met Lexi and Theo, the experimental engines. He soon arrives at the Steelworks and meets Frankie and Hurricane, but they keep Thomas working and prevent him from leaving; as a result, he gradually becomes homesick. After Thomas escapes Hurricane and Frankie, on his way home, he discovers that they have taken James captive as well. Thomas, along with Lexi, Theo, and Merlin, rescue James, but Thomas gets himself stuck to a crane. After Thomas is nearly dropped in a pile of molten slag, he was rescued by Hurricane from having his wheels melted in spilled slag, and Merlin rescues Hurricane. Frankie admits that she and Hurricane only held him and James captive because they wanted help and the other engines were too busy and/or didn't want to work in the Steelworks. Thomas suggests the experimental engines to work at the Steelworks, which they agree to, and he and James return to Sodor.