Thomas Leaves Sodor

(The story takes place in the middle of Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, after Thomas catapults most of the dynamite into the cavern, where Rocky found the pirate ship that Thomas had discovered after crashing down there, days ago. Thomas had saved Ryan's life, but Sir Topham Hatt believes that Thomas tried to hurt Ryan on purpose, and he wouldn't even listen to him)

Thomas the tank engine was miserable. Sir Topham Hatt had sent him to stay in the shed for the rest of the afternoon, after his incident with the dynamite. Thomas knew that it wasn't his fault, and that he was only trying to save Ryan. But Sir Topham Hatt wouldn't listen, because he thought the little blue tank engine was making excuses. As he backed further into his berth, he could still hear his controller's stern and furious voice ringing in his smoke box. As Thomas's crew closed the doors, a small tear came as he closed both his eyes.

"I used to be Sir Topham Hatt's number 1 engine… but I guess after this incident, I'm not, anymore," he thought to himself. He felt terrible, and too ashamed to come out or talk to anyone.

So… he stayed where he was for the rest of the day. He even thought back to the time he had let down the engines, Sir Topham Hatt, and himself, during the restoration of Great Waterton. Now he thought for sure that none of the engines wanted him anymore.

As the day went on though, Ryan came to the sheds and stopped on the turntable. As he looked through the windows, he could see that Thomas was asleep, and he knew that Thomas felt sad and alone. "Thomas feels so hurt and bad," thought Ryan to himself. He felt very sorry for his dear friend.

When evening came, and as most of the engines came back to the sheds for the night, Thomas puffed out, making a decision.

"Thomas," asked Edward, "where are you going?" But Thomas didn't answer. Instead, he fetched Gordon's winch and puffed down his Branch Line. "If Sir Topham Hatt doesn't want me on this railway anymore," he said to himself out loud to no-one in particular, "then I'll make it so." At Ffarquar Station, Thomas hooked up to Glynn, the coffee pot engine. "Hello, Thomas," he called to his new friend. "What brings you here?" "Nothing of real importance, Glynn; I had just decided to take you to the Steamworks for a complete restoration." replied Thomas. The little engine still felt hurt and sad, but he made his tone and attitude sound positive.