Percy and the Express

Written by Mr.Conductor2 

On Sodor, Percy is one of the smallest engine on the standard gauge track. He, in a way, likes it. But he can not help feeling down, mostly because the bigger engines like Gordon tend to take advantage of him often. One day, Gordon had taken ill. He was unfit to pull the special autumn express. The Fat Controller had intentions for James to substitute, but he realized that he had given James the day off. All of the other engines were doing their jobs; the only engine left available was Percy. So The Fat Controller drove over to the Sheds to give Percy the assignment. When he arrived, Percy was just about to go get a washdown. "Percy," The Fat Controller shouted. Percy stopped immediately, and reversed slowly. "Yes, sir?" he nervously asked, "am I in trouble?" "Oh, Percy, far from it," The Fat Controller laughed, "I need you to go pull the autmn express today, Gordon is ill and can not do the task." Percy lit up with excitement. "Really, sir?" "Yes." "Oh thank you, sir! I shan't let you down." Percy stated. "Good," said The Fat Controller. He promptly left, and so did Percy to fetch the coaches. At first, he was uncertain if he was fit to do the job, but he remembered that Gordon had given him lessons on how to pull the express, so he continued on. On the way to the station, he ran into Thomas. "Percy, what are you doing on this line? This line is for the engines that pull passengers," Thomas said. "But Thomas, I will be! The Fat Controller has given me the important duty of pulling the autmn express," explained Percy. "Oh but Percy-" Thomas could not finish his sentence, for Percy left, too excited to pay attention. Before an engine reaches Knapford Station, he or she comes across a signal. The signal was up, so Percy stopped. He could see the station up ahead, and the coaches, and the passengers. Some time passed. The signal hadn't gone down yet. Percy could not see any engines coming, nor did he see any obstructions on the line. More time passed. The passengers at the station saw Percy stopped at the signal, and they became angry. They had been waiting, and nothing happened. But they did not know--the signal was broken, and the signalman had gone out to lunch! Percy did not know this either. After more time passed, Percy started to realize what had happened. "Oh dear. If the signal isn't busted!" he said. The Fat Controller came out of his office. He saw the angry passengers, and he saw Percy waiting at the signal. Thomas had informed him of the broken signal. Percy came up to the station, quite hurried, and upset. The Fat Controller came over to him and began to speak. "Percy, it wasn't your fault about the signal, but you should have listened to Thomas. If you did, you couldv'e gotten a repairman to fix it. And the express wouldn't have been late. But now it is, " lectured The Fat Controller. "Well, sir, I'm sorry. I should have listened. What can I do, though? The express is late! I cannot take it now, for it is almost tea time." said Percy. "Percy, what I can do is refund all of these poor people's tickets. And what you can do is go fetch a repairman, and go back to the sheds; think about what you have learned from this experience," said The Fat Controller. So Percy did just that, and went back to the Sheds. So, to this day, if you ever ask him to pull passengers, he will refuse. He will not want to risk going through his little "incident" again!