Long Distance Friendships: ThomasNATION Fanstory
September 19, 2020
It was the end of a busy day on Sodor. Thomas was pulling into the Knapford Station shunting yard to drop off Annie and Clarabel. He was exhausted from all the work he had to do on his branch line.
“Goodnight, you two. See you tomorrow!” Thomas said as he dropped the two coaches off in a siding. Just as he was headed out, he saw Nia. She looked as if she was saying something to Tom Tipper, Sodor’s local mailman.
“What’s she up to?” he asked as he went in for a closer look.
“’...and just today, my friend Percy nearly left with the express and not his mail trucks!’” Nia laughed. “’Anyway, I hope you’re able to write back soon. Regards, Nia.’”
“Got it, Nia!” Tom Tipper declared, folding a letter and placing it into Percy’s mail van. “I’ll make sure this letter gets delivered.”
“Thank you, Mr. Tipper!” Nia called out.
“What were you doing, Nia?” Thomas asked as he pulled in closer.
“Oh, that,” said Nia. “I was just writing to my old friend in Africa. You remember Kwaku, right?”
Thomas thought for a second and then remembered. “Oh, yes! That engine! What were you writing about?”
“Nothing important, I was just telling him about my day.” Nia answered.
“Oh. Well, how is he?”
“He’s quite well, thanks.”
“Really? How are his wheels? How’s his boiler? How are his pistons? Are the tracks taking him where he wants to go? And are his…”
Nia was confused for a second, but soon caught on. “…fellow engines treating him well?” she joined in. “Yes, Thomas, all that and more. I’ll tell him you asked if you want.”
“Wow, I actually never thought of sending a letter to one of my friends around the world!” Thomas exclaimed, intrigued.
“Well, why not give it a shot?” said Nia. “I’m sure someone would like to hear from you!”
“Great idea, Nia!” Thomas called as he left. “I’ll do that!” As he left, he ran into a bit of a problem. “It’ll be fun to write to someone I know…but who?”
Thomas had so many friends from across the globe that he just didn’t know where to start. He was pondering this to himself as he pulled into Brendam Docks.
“Let’s see, who can I write to?” Thomas asked himself. “Maybe I could write to Hong-Mei? Though, then again, I haven’t really heard from Lorenzo in a while…Tamika, probably?”
Thomas wasn’t focused on where he was going, and was headed straight for a truck full of marigolds. “Thomas! Heave to!” cried Salty.
But Thomas took no notice of Salty’s warnings, he was too preoccupied. “What about Gustavo, actually? Or maybe Frieda? No, she wouldn’t want to hear from me…”
Just then, Thomas crashed into the truck. Marigolds spilled everywhere!
“Oops!” Thomas called out. “Sorry, Salty!”
“Ah, no need to hang the jib, matey.” Salty chuckled. “It only be a few marigolds. Easy fix!”
“Marigolds, eh?” Thomas thought. “Y’know, this is my friend Ashima’s favorite flower. She was all dressed up in them during a fancy costume contest, and…”
Then Thomas had an idea. “That’s it! I could write a letter to Ashima!”
Thomas was abuzz with his grand idea. It had been a while since he visited India, so he hadn’t seen Ashima in ages and he wanted to hear from her again.
“Why didn’t I think of this before?” he asked himself, excitedly as he pulled into a level crossing, where Nia was waiting.
“Oh, hello, Thomas!” said Nia. “Did you think of who to write to yet?”
“I did, actually,” Thomas replied with a grin. “I was thinking of writing to my friend Ashima from India.”
“That’s great! I’m sure she’d love to hear from you!” Nia responded.
“You think so?”
“I do. Now, I should get going, I need to take the brass band over to Vicarstown.”
Nia left the crossing, leaving Thomas in amazement.
“Wow!” he spouted. “A brass band? I bet Kwaku would love that!”
Thomas then looked at his train. It was a long train full of bags of sand. He started to feel a bit let down with himself. “Hmm…”
Later in the day, Thomas was collecting some pigs from Farmer Trotter’s. Nia then passed by, humming happily as the brass band played their hearts out. He began to feel a little jealous.
“It isn’t fair…” he groaned to himself. “Nia’s always having these great stories and jobs, and my life is just so…mundane.”
And so, Thomas sadly puffed away.
That night, at Tidmouth Sheds, he was talking about his dilemma to Percy.
“Why do you even need to write to Ashima anyway?” asked Percy. “You could just ask Sir Topham Hatt to contact Charubala and visit her yourself.”
“But I have so much work to do on my branchline!” Thomas complained.
“That didn’t stop you before…” Gordon yawned.
“I just need something exciting to write about,” Thomas continuted. “so I can keep Ashima interested.”
“Maybe you don’t need to,” Percy assured his friend. “perhaps she’s just interested in just hearing about how you’ve been.”
“I know, but everyone’s had something amazing happen to them every day,” Thomas moaned. “and I’m just stuck pulling sand bags and pigs.”
“I know!” Emily chimed in. “I’ve got deliver that jet engine to Professor Friedrich’s vacation home, but maybe you could take it.”
“Really?” Thomas asked, lighting up again. “Thanks, Emily!”
“No bother, Thomas,” Emily responded with a smile. “I’m sure Ashima would love to hear about it.”
The next day, Thomas met Salty at Brendam Docks, who was hauling the Blastbooster-7.
“Ahoy there, matey!” Salty hollered. “Have ye written your letter to Ashima?”
“Not yet, Salty.” Thomas replied. “I still need something to write about, and I think this is it!”
“Well, take it easy this time,” Cranky grumbled. “Last time we had that doohickey here, Friedrich nearly pulled his arms out of their sockets.”
Thomas scoffed. “Don’t worry about it, Cranky! I know what I’m doing.”
“I wouldn’t get too confident there, Chuck,” Carly chimed in. “You’ve had some dodgy experiences with jet engines before, you know.”
“I realise that, but you guys can trust me!” Thomas reassured the crane. “This jet engine is much more advanced than that old gizmo!”
“We’ll see about that…” Cranky muttered as Thomas left.
Thomas’ travels to Friedrich’s vacation home were going relatively smoothly. The rails leading to the home were actually very lovely, with lush forests and a beautiful, sparkling river. He was so enthralled with the natural beauty of this pathway that he almost forgot about writing a letter to Ashima. Then, he encountered Harvey, who was clearing a fallen tree.
“Oh, hey, Thomas!” Harvey called out. “I’ll let you through in just a moment, I just need to clear the rails.”
“No worries, Harvey!” Thomas exclaimed with glee. “Take your time!”
Harvey then decided to have a spin of his crane. “Haha! Look at it go!”
“Ha! You’re in a good mood!”
“I know, I just had my crane fixed and it feels brand new!”
Then, Harvey accidentally threw a few branches onto the jet engine, narrowly missing the ignition button.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy, Harvey!” Thomas called out.
”Oops. Sorry!” said Harvey as he went back to lifting the tree. “What is that thing anyway?”
“It’s a jet engine, Harvey,” said Thomas. “It’s highly delicate, so you need to be very careful.”
“Righty-o!” Harvey exclaimed. He then proceeded to pick up the tree, which was really heavy, causing him to lose balance.
“Harvey!”
“I’ll be okay, Thomas!” Harvey called out. “Just go on! Don’t worry about-”
And then, the worst happened. Harvey accidentally slammed the tree into the jet engine, right into the ignition button and giving the machine a mighty dent. “Oh…”
“Harvey, what did you do?” Thomas said in a panic. But before Harvey could answer him…
WHOOSH! The jet engine launched Thomas and sped down the line at a supersonic speed.
Thomas went down the track so fast he felt he was about to derail. “HELP! HELP! I CAN’T SLOW DOWN!”
Somewhere down the Main Line, Connor and Caitlin were having a race, as they always they did.
“I’m going to win today!” Caitlin called out.
“Not if I have any say in this!” Connor responded.
Then, Thomas sped past them, startling the two streamlined engines.
“What was that?!” Connor asked.
Soon enough, Thomas was approaching Friedrich’s vacation home, and the jet engine began to run out of fuel, much to Thomas’ relief. But while that was all well and good, Thomas was coming up to a set of buffers.
“Oh no!” he cried. He applied his brakes, but it was no use. Thomas crashed into the buffers, derailing himself and the jet engine. Friedrich ran outside to see the scene of the accident.
“Ach nein!” Friedrich yelled. “Thomas, are you okay?”
“Not really.” Thomas said in pain.
Soon, Thomas was put on the rails again as Friedrich repaired the jet engine.
“I’m just glad you’re okay, Thomas,” Sir Topham Hatt told the engine as he was lifted onto the rails. “but what happened to cause this?”
“It’s not my fault, sir.” Thomas explained. “Harvey was lifting a tree, but it was way too heavy and he accidentally shoved it into the jet engine.”
“I see. Now, we should get you to the Steamworks to get your wheels fixed,” Sir Topham Hatt ordered. “Nia, you don’t mind, do you?”
“Not at all, sir.” Nia said as she hauled Thomas away. “So, I take it you have something interesting to write Ashima about, eh?”
“Actually, no,” Thomas replied. “I figured I may as well talk about how I’ve been doing and how life on Sodor is, and whatnot.”
“Oh,” said Nia, surprised. “is it because you realised that you don’t need something spectacular to write about and Ashima will accept it either way?”
“No, it’s because I’m still traumatised over what happened!” Thomas chuckled as he and Nia headed to the Steamworks.
A few days later, over on the Indian railway, Noor Jehan was pulling in with with a mail car. The other engines were just waking up, Ashima included.
“Ah, don’t you just love mornings like this?” Rajiv asked with a smile.
“I suppose it is a nice sunrise…” Shankar yawned.
“I wasn’t referring to the sunrise, Shankar!” Rajiv laughed. “I was referring to how my crown glows in the sunlight…”
Ashima rolled her eyes as Charubala approached her, holding a letter. “There appears to be a letter here for you, Ashima!”
“Me?” Ashima asked. “Who’s it from?”
“It says here that the letter comes all the way from Sodor,” Charubala explained, “so I can only assume that it’s from Thomas.”
“Really?” Ashima gasped. “What does it say?”
Charubala opened the letter and began to read.
Dear Ashima,
Hi! It’s Thomas! I decided to write this letter to you just to check in and see how you were doing. Life on Sodor has been doing quite okay. Nothing too spectacular has happened, it’s just been the same old thing that’s been happening every other day. Sorry this letter’s so short, but nothing much has really happened. I hope to hear from you soon!
“Goodnight, you two. See you tomorrow!” Thomas said as he dropped the two coaches off in a siding. Just as he was headed out, he saw Nia. She looked as if she was saying something to Tom Tipper, Sodor’s local mailman.
“What’s she up to?” he asked as he went in for a closer look.
“’...and just today, my friend Percy nearly left with the express and not his mail trucks!’” Nia laughed. “’Anyway, I hope you’re able to write back soon. Regards, Nia.’”
“Got it, Nia!” Tom Tipper declared, folding a letter and placing it into Percy’s mail van. “I’ll make sure this letter gets delivered.”
“Thank you, Mr. Tipper!” Nia called out.
“What were you doing, Nia?” Thomas asked as he pulled in closer.
“Oh, that,” said Nia. “I was just writing to my old friend in Africa. You remember Kwaku, right?”
Thomas thought for a second and then remembered. “Oh, yes! That engine! What were you writing about?”
“Nothing important, I was just telling him about my day.” Nia answered.
“Oh. Well, how is he?”
“He’s quite well, thanks.”
“Really? How are his wheels? How’s his boiler? How are his pistons? Are the tracks taking him where he wants to go? And are his…”
Nia was confused for a second, but soon caught on. “…fellow engines treating him well?” she joined in. “Yes, Thomas, all that and more. I’ll tell him you asked if you want.”
“Wow, I actually never thought of sending a letter to one of my friends around the world!” Thomas exclaimed, intrigued.
“Well, why not give it a shot?” said Nia. “I’m sure someone would like to hear from you!”
“Great idea, Nia!” Thomas called as he left. “I’ll do that!” As he left, he ran into a bit of a problem. “It’ll be fun to write to someone I know…but who?”
Thomas had so many friends from across the globe that he just didn’t know where to start. He was pondering this to himself as he pulled into Brendam Docks.
“Let’s see, who can I write to?” Thomas asked himself. “Maybe I could write to Hong-Mei? Though, then again, I haven’t really heard from Lorenzo in a while…Tamika, probably?”
Thomas wasn’t focused on where he was going, and was headed straight for a truck full of marigolds. “Thomas! Heave to!” cried Salty.
But Thomas took no notice of Salty’s warnings, he was too preoccupied. “What about Gustavo, actually? Or maybe Frieda? No, she wouldn’t want to hear from me…”
Just then, Thomas crashed into the truck. Marigolds spilled everywhere!
“Oops!” Thomas called out. “Sorry, Salty!”
“Ah, no need to hang the jib, matey.” Salty chuckled. “It only be a few marigolds. Easy fix!”
“Marigolds, eh?” Thomas thought. “Y’know, this is my friend Ashima’s favorite flower. She was all dressed up in them during a fancy costume contest, and…”
Then Thomas had an idea. “That’s it! I could write a letter to Ashima!”
Thomas was abuzz with his grand idea. It had been a while since he visited India, so he hadn’t seen Ashima in ages and he wanted to hear from her again.
“Why didn’t I think of this before?” he asked himself, excitedly as he pulled into a level crossing, where Nia was waiting.
“Oh, hello, Thomas!” said Nia. “Did you think of who to write to yet?”
“I did, actually,” Thomas replied with a grin. “I was thinking of writing to my friend Ashima from India.”
“That’s great! I’m sure she’d love to hear from you!” Nia responded.
“You think so?”
“I do. Now, I should get going, I need to take the brass band over to Vicarstown.”
Nia left the crossing, leaving Thomas in amazement.
“Wow!” he spouted. “A brass band? I bet Kwaku would love that!”
Thomas then looked at his train. It was a long train full of bags of sand. He started to feel a bit let down with himself. “Hmm…”
Later in the day, Thomas was collecting some pigs from Farmer Trotter’s. Nia then passed by, humming happily as the brass band played their hearts out. He began to feel a little jealous.
“It isn’t fair…” he groaned to himself. “Nia’s always having these great stories and jobs, and my life is just so…mundane.”
And so, Thomas sadly puffed away.
That night, at Tidmouth Sheds, he was talking about his dilemma to Percy.
“Why do you even need to write to Ashima anyway?” asked Percy. “You could just ask Sir Topham Hatt to contact Charubala and visit her yourself.”
“But I have so much work to do on my branchline!” Thomas complained.
“That didn’t stop you before…” Gordon yawned.
“I just need something exciting to write about,” Thomas continuted. “so I can keep Ashima interested.”
“Maybe you don’t need to,” Percy assured his friend. “perhaps she’s just interested in just hearing about how you’ve been.”
“I know, but everyone’s had something amazing happen to them every day,” Thomas moaned. “and I’m just stuck pulling sand bags and pigs.”
“I know!” Emily chimed in. “I’ve got deliver that jet engine to Professor Friedrich’s vacation home, but maybe you could take it.”
“Really?” Thomas asked, lighting up again. “Thanks, Emily!”
“No bother, Thomas,” Emily responded with a smile. “I’m sure Ashima would love to hear about it.”
The next day, Thomas met Salty at Brendam Docks, who was hauling the Blastbooster-7.
“Ahoy there, matey!” Salty hollered. “Have ye written your letter to Ashima?”
“Not yet, Salty.” Thomas replied. “I still need something to write about, and I think this is it!”
“Well, take it easy this time,” Cranky grumbled. “Last time we had that doohickey here, Friedrich nearly pulled his arms out of their sockets.”
Thomas scoffed. “Don’t worry about it, Cranky! I know what I’m doing.”
“I wouldn’t get too confident there, Chuck,” Carly chimed in. “You’ve had some dodgy experiences with jet engines before, you know.”
“I realise that, but you guys can trust me!” Thomas reassured the crane. “This jet engine is much more advanced than that old gizmo!”
“We’ll see about that…” Cranky muttered as Thomas left.
Thomas’ travels to Friedrich’s vacation home were going relatively smoothly. The rails leading to the home were actually very lovely, with lush forests and a beautiful, sparkling river. He was so enthralled with the natural beauty of this pathway that he almost forgot about writing a letter to Ashima. Then, he encountered Harvey, who was clearing a fallen tree.
“Oh, hey, Thomas!” Harvey called out. “I’ll let you through in just a moment, I just need to clear the rails.”
“No worries, Harvey!” Thomas exclaimed with glee. “Take your time!”
Harvey then decided to have a spin of his crane. “Haha! Look at it go!”
“Ha! You’re in a good mood!”
“I know, I just had my crane fixed and it feels brand new!”
Then, Harvey accidentally threw a few branches onto the jet engine, narrowly missing the ignition button.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy, Harvey!” Thomas called out.
”Oops. Sorry!” said Harvey as he went back to lifting the tree. “What is that thing anyway?”
“It’s a jet engine, Harvey,” said Thomas. “It’s highly delicate, so you need to be very careful.”
“Righty-o!” Harvey exclaimed. He then proceeded to pick up the tree, which was really heavy, causing him to lose balance.
“Harvey!”
“I’ll be okay, Thomas!” Harvey called out. “Just go on! Don’t worry about-”
And then, the worst happened. Harvey accidentally slammed the tree into the jet engine, right into the ignition button and giving the machine a mighty dent. “Oh…”
“Harvey, what did you do?” Thomas said in a panic. But before Harvey could answer him…
WHOOSH! The jet engine launched Thomas and sped down the line at a supersonic speed.
Thomas went down the track so fast he felt he was about to derail. “HELP! HELP! I CAN’T SLOW DOWN!”
Somewhere down the Main Line, Connor and Caitlin were having a race, as they always they did.
“I’m going to win today!” Caitlin called out.
“Not if I have any say in this!” Connor responded.
Then, Thomas sped past them, startling the two streamlined engines.
“What was that?!” Connor asked.
Soon enough, Thomas was approaching Friedrich’s vacation home, and the jet engine began to run out of fuel, much to Thomas’ relief. But while that was all well and good, Thomas was coming up to a set of buffers.
“Oh no!” he cried. He applied his brakes, but it was no use. Thomas crashed into the buffers, derailing himself and the jet engine. Friedrich ran outside to see the scene of the accident.
“Ach nein!” Friedrich yelled. “Thomas, are you okay?”
“Not really.” Thomas said in pain.
Soon, Thomas was put on the rails again as Friedrich repaired the jet engine.
“I’m just glad you’re okay, Thomas,” Sir Topham Hatt told the engine as he was lifted onto the rails. “but what happened to cause this?”
“It’s not my fault, sir.” Thomas explained. “Harvey was lifting a tree, but it was way too heavy and he accidentally shoved it into the jet engine.”
“I see. Now, we should get you to the Steamworks to get your wheels fixed,” Sir Topham Hatt ordered. “Nia, you don’t mind, do you?”
“Not at all, sir.” Nia said as she hauled Thomas away. “So, I take it you have something interesting to write Ashima about, eh?”
“Actually, no,” Thomas replied. “I figured I may as well talk about how I’ve been doing and how life on Sodor is, and whatnot.”
“Oh,” said Nia, surprised. “is it because you realised that you don’t need something spectacular to write about and Ashima will accept it either way?”
“No, it’s because I’m still traumatised over what happened!” Thomas chuckled as he and Nia headed to the Steamworks.
A few days later, over on the Indian railway, Noor Jehan was pulling in with with a mail car. The other engines were just waking up, Ashima included.
“Ah, don’t you just love mornings like this?” Rajiv asked with a smile.
“I suppose it is a nice sunrise…” Shankar yawned.
“I wasn’t referring to the sunrise, Shankar!” Rajiv laughed. “I was referring to how my crown glows in the sunlight…”
Ashima rolled her eyes as Charubala approached her, holding a letter. “There appears to be a letter here for you, Ashima!”
“Me?” Ashima asked. “Who’s it from?”
“It says here that the letter comes all the way from Sodor,” Charubala explained, “so I can only assume that it’s from Thomas.”
“Really?” Ashima gasped. “What does it say?”
Charubala opened the letter and began to read.
Dear Ashima,
Hi! It’s Thomas! I decided to write this letter to you just to check in and see how you were doing. Life on Sodor has been doing quite okay. Nothing too spectacular has happened, it’s just been the same old thing that’s been happening every other day. Sorry this letter’s so short, but nothing much has really happened. I hope to hear from you soon!
Regards, Thomas
Ashima was ecstatic to hear from her friend again. “Oh, what a very nice letter!”
“I don’t suppose you’ll be writing him back, eh?” Rajiv chuckled.
“Actually, I think I will…” Ashima said, as she thought of what to write Thomas.
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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