Emily's Coach Trouble

**Emily's Coach Trouble** is the first story of the first set of *Between the Lines*, as well as the first original story of the SeventyVerse overall. It was originally published on December 12, 2019, with a revision being published August 1, 2022.

## Plot

Note: This will cover the remastered 2022 version, which is the canon version. Any differences between the two will be listed below.

Emily loves her coaches, but Martha and Julian can push her to her limits. They insult Toby and Henrietta for "not being in a farmyard", call Toad 'ugly', told Henry to hide in a tunnel, and called Annie and Clarabel 'beach huts'. No matter what the engines and their rolling stock friends say, the two coaches kept at it. The final straw comes when Martha and Julian insult Duck for taking Emily's spot in the shed, and she bumps both coaches hard off the tracks.

Sir Topham Hatt scolded Emily and her coaches severely, and she went to her shed. Thomas apologised to Emily for being rude to her coaches, but she admits they deserved it after all that happened that day. Emily then admitted that her bossy phase rubbed off on her two coaches. Martha and Julian lament their time in the Steamworks, and wished they hadn't been so rude.

Emily looks around for coaches to borrow. Gordon immediately declines using the express coaches, and the red coaches would have helped, but they were being used for the local train. As Emily was trying to weigh her options, she came across a coach she hadn't seen for a while: Old Slow Coach. She revealed that Duck and Oliver were both very interested in running with the slip coaches, and had left her abandoned. Emily feels sorry for her, and deicides to take her out. Old Slow Coach was delighted.

Emily came to Elsbridge to talk with Thomas, Annie and Clarabel, and they were all shocked to see Old Slow Coach being pulled by her. Old Slow Coach explained about the slip coaches, Duck and Oliver, but Thomas assures her this wouldn't be on purpose. They start talking about Martha and Julian, and Old Slow Coach wonders if she can help them.

Later on, Emily and Old Slow Coach see Diesel. He's very shocked to see Old Slow Coach with Emily, and tells her that Duck and Oliver were worried sick. While Diesel told Old Slow Coach that Duck and Oliver were searching everywhere for her, Emily was in shock to see this kind side of Diesel come out. Not many engines had seen this since Arry and Bert came back to Sodor...

Duck and Oliver apologised to Old Slow Coach and gave her a choice: be their coach again, or be Emily's coach. After sleeping on it, Old Slow Coach chooses to be with Emily, and rename herself Gladys. She also has decided to run with Duck and Oliver once a week.

Emily took Gladys to the Steamworks and united her three coaches together. They went out for their run, and all day, Gladys had Martha and Julian apologise to those they were rude to. Martha and Julian were glad they turned a new leaf, and Emily met up with Thomas. They start chatting about how sometimes, bad things happen, like how Martha and Julian were rude to everyone, and Duck and Oliver accidentally neglected Gladys, so goods things can happen; Emily finding Gladys so she can run with her. Emily also jokes about Thomas having a third coach with him, but he wouldn't want to make Annie and Clarabel jealous.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Gordon
* Percy (2019 version)
* Toby
* Duck
* Oliver
* Emily
* Diesel (2022 revision)
* Arry and Bert (Indirectly mentioned; 2022 revision)
* Annie and Clarabel
* Henrietta
* Sean, Mick, Harry and Randolph (Harry does not speak)
* Old Slow Coach/Gladys
* Martha and Julian
* Sir Charles Topham Hatt
* Edward (does not speak)
* Henry (does not speak)
* Alistair, Mirabel and Benjamin (do not speak)
* Toad (does not speak)
* Rocky (does not speak)
* James (mentioned)

## Voice cast

### Official Cast

* John Hasler as Thomas
* Keith Wickham as Gordon
* Nigel Pilkington as Percy (2019 version only)
* Rob Rackstraw as Toby
* Steven Kynman as Duck
* Joe Mills as Oliver
* Teresa Gallagher as Emily, Annie and Clarabel
* Kerry Shale as Sir Charles Topham Hatt and Diesel (2022 version only)
* Maggie Ollerenshaw as Henrietta

### Fan chosen cast

* Su Douglas as Gladys/Old Slow Coach
* David Holt as Julian
* Harriet Kershaw as Martha
* Ian Hart as Sean
* Thomas Sangster as Mick
* Scot Williams as Randolph

## Trivia

* This is the first original story:
	+ To be co-written with James Riddle.
	+ To take place during the CGI era. Specifically, this story is set during Series 18.
* This is the only original story to be published:
	+ In the 2010s.
	+ During former UK narrator Michael Angelis' lifetime.
* Despite Thomas saying he doesn't want Annie and Clarabel to feel jealous, he does eventually get a third coach in Belinda. Furthermore, he had borrowed Ashley, Dianah and Pearl from the Rolling Hills line on occasion.

## Continuity

* Henrietta is referred to as a hen house by Martha; the latter also calls Annie and Clarabel "beach huts".
* Julian makes a reference to Henry hiding in a tunnel.
* Duck taking Emily's berth at Tidmouth sheds happened in the Series 18 episode *Duck and the Slip Coaches*.
* Martha and Julian talk about Duck and "the little devils", Arry and Bert almost killing him in *Diesels and Westerners.*

## Differences between the 2019 and 2022 versions

* Diesel is not present in the original 2019 version. He expressed great concern about where OSC was as Duck and Oliver had raised their concerns about her to him in the 2022 version. In the 2019 version, Diesel presumably still had negative relationships with Duck and Oliver.
	+ In the 2019 version, Percy was giving Old Slow Coach the lowdown of what was going on while she was sparsely used.
* Duck and Oliver were about to ask Emily where Old Slow Coach was as they hadn't seen her since yesterday in the revised version. This is because, by now, the duo have shared OSC for years. In the old version, this wasn't decided yet.
* Arry and Bert were indirectly mentioned when Martha and Julian mention "those little devils at the Ironworks", when they remember that Duck was almost scrapped by them. This is absent from the 2019 version.
* Emily calls Thomas "Tommy" in the revised version, as they have been confirmed to be a couple. In the 2019 version, they were merely friends.

## Links

* Original 2019 version on DeviantArt
* Remastered 2022 version on DeviantArt
* FanFiction.net