Careful Charlie - ThomasNATION Fanstory
June 21, 2025
"Charlie!" called out Jack. "Here for the sand, I take it?"
"Yeah, so just fill up my trucks and I'll sand it on my way!" joked Charlie.
As Jack and Charlie laughed, Alfie just rolled his eyes. "Wow, a joke about sand. Never heard that before."
"Aw, don't mind him," chuckled Jack, "he's just not a pun guy."
"Well, here's one I'm sure he'll love." Charlie thought. "Hey, Alfie! What do you call a magician on a beach?"
"Well, gee. Is it a sandwich?" Alfie scoffed.
"...that's even better!" gasped Charlie.
As Jack laughed, he finished loading Charlie's trucks with sand. "Alright, you're all good to go, Charlie!"
"Yeah, our work here is dune." Alfie laughed. "See? I'm not above it."
As Charlie headed off, Jack noticed the stone bridge up ahead. "Hey, Alfie? Does the bridge look a little off to you?"
Alfie looked a little closer as a stone fell from the foundation. "Oh no! It's about to come down!"
Jack noticed Charlie approaching the bridge, still laughing about Alfie's joke. "Great gears! CHARLIE, STOP!"
Charlie was hardly paying attention, he was still occupied giggling to himself.
"CHARLIE!" Jack kept calling. "THE BRIDGE!"
"Eh?" Charlie snapped back to reality as the bridge started crumbling. "Whoa!"
Charlie slammed the brakes, stopping right as Jack began doing what he does best - holding the bridge up.
"Charlie! Go! Now!" cried Jack. Charlie didn't move. He was completely frozen with fear. Jack struggled holding the bridge up. "I can't hold it much longer! Just go!"
Charlie shut his eyes and sped across the bridge, making it safely to the other side. The same couldn't be said for his cargo, as the trucks toppled down onto the ground spilling sand all over Jack.
"Are you okay?" panted Jack. "That was some rush!"
Charlie didn't respond. He just slowly trundled away, completely shellshocked.
The next day, Charlie was still in shock over what happened the day before. That was the first time he ever felt truly horrified.
"Okay, I'm alright now, that was just a little bridge," Charlie thought to himself. "Nothing to be scared of. The worst is over!"
But then he came to the Sodor Suspension Bridge.
Oh no. A tiny stone bridge collapsing beneath him was bad enough, but a massive bridge towering over an even more massive gorge? That was enough for Charlie to flip his lid. He was completely paralysed with fear.
"Charlie?" asked Edward as he approached him. "What's the matter?"
"Um...nothing." fibbed Charlie. "Just, uh...tired."
"Please, I know when something's up. Go on, tell me."
"Okay. You sure, Eddie?"
"I've probably heard it all before."
"Alright, well...I think I'm afraid of bridges."
Edward was a little gobsmacked. "...okay, I've never heard that before. What happened?"
Charlie told Edward all about the incident by the depot - the bridge collapsing, how he barely escaped by the skin of his teeth, and how it was the most horrifying experience of his life.
"Charlie, I assure you," Edward tried to reason with him, "this is all in your head. There's nothing to be scared of."
"Well, I don't want to take any chances," declared Charlie. "From here on out, I'm not going across any bridges!"
For about a week, Charlie was true to his word. Whenever he had a job, he would take a route with no bridges. However, some of these routes would be long. Sometimes he'd get to his destination ten minutes late, others he'd get there two hours late. And not only was Sir Topham Hatt upset with this, but Charlie himself was starting to get burnt out from going from place to place nonstop while also having to avoid bridges. Everyone at Knapford Station one morning was talking about it.
"I have had it wih Charlie!" complained Gordon. "He's always running late these days!"
"I know!" Thomas added on. "He was supposed to deliver some slate from the quarry to Ffarquhar this morning, he got there an hour late. An hour, how is that even possible?"
"He's been acting so differently lately." thought Percy. "Did something happen to him?"
"He told me he was afraid of bridges." Edward explained. "It happened after the bridge near the construction depot collapsed."
"That's it?" sighed Gordon. "That's so...silly."
"I know," Edward replied, "but that accident really threw him off. I've been trying to talk to him for days, but he won't listen."
"Well, you know what they say." James thought. "Actions speak louder than words."
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Gordon.
"Take Charlie onto a bridge." explained James. "Instead of telling him that there's nothing to be scared of, show him."
"James, that's brilliant!" gasped Edward. "I'll get to it as soon as I see him."
The second Edward ran into Charlie that day, his plan was in action as he took him to the suspension bridge.
"Edward, what are we doing here?" sighed Charlie.
"I figured I'm getting nowhere with this fear by just telling you how it's perfectly safe," Edward started, "so I'm just going to show you. Watch."
Edward trundled onto the bridge. No creaks, nothing falling off, it was going swimmingly.
"See?" Edward chuckled. "Aren't you going to join me?"
"Uh...no thanks." Charlie whimpered. "I'm not a fan of, um...falling to my doom."
"Charlie, come on!" Edward kept trying. "It's fine. You don't need to be afraid of-"
"Edward!" cried Gordon. "Out of the way!"
Edward noticed Gordon right in front of him and tried backing up, but no luck. Gordon bumped straight into Edward, knocking them both off the rails.
"EDWARD!" gasped Charlie. "Are you okay?!"
"Yeah, I'll be fine!" called Edward. "Just go get Rocky!"
"By myself?! But what if the bridge collapses?"
"We're going to be fine, Charlie! Just go get Rocky!"
Charlie didn't want to leave Edward behind in case the bridge collapsed, but at the same time, he couldn't just leave them on the ground. He eventually swallowed his pride and fetched Rocky.
"Jolly good, Charlie!" called Edward.
"Now, bring him over here." added Gordon.
Charlie slowly crept onto the bridge, as he started to ease up. He sped up little by little as he started to feel less and less afraid. "Haha! I'm doing it!"
"Yes!" gasped Edward. "That's the Charlie I remember!"
"What is happening?" Gordon sighed to himself.
Soon, Edward and Gordon were back on the rails. Throughout it all, Edward looked at Charlie with pride. "Look at you, Charlie! You did it! Even I didn't think it'd be that easy."
"Me neither," laughed Charlie, "I thought I was about to go off the rails!"
Charlie and Edward left the bridge, laughing the day away.
A day later, Charlie pulled up to Wellsworth, now having fully gotten over his fear.
"Hello, Charlie!" called Edward. "Nice to see you over here."
"Yeah, I thought I'd say thanks for helping me," Charlie said, "it means a lot."
"Anytime." smiled Edward.
"Honestly, I wish I could hear your wisdom more often, Eddie. It's always helped me through the day."
Edward thought for a second before looking at Wellsworth Sheds. They had just rebuilt it with a third berth, so maybe...
"Say, Charlie," thought Edward, "we've just had a third berth put in. Why don't you move in with me and Philip?"
Charlie gasped. "You mean it, Eddie?"
"Yeah! You can tell us some of your jokes before we go to sleep!"
"Thank you so much! I'd love to!"
That night, Charlie entertained Edward and Philip with his jokes as Edward told his stories. And as he went to sleep, he was grateful to be with his close friends in a new home...plus it meant less trips across the suspension bridge.
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