Special Signal!

"Now you can still use that signal everyday to say hello to Thomas!"

- The Fat Controller to the retired signalman

Special Signal! is a magazine story, published in 1995.

Plot
One day, Thomas is carrying some railwaymen and a new signal. Soon Thomas rolls into a siding near a signal box. The workmen climb out and begin to take down an old signal. The signalman is sad; he will not get to use the new signal as he is retiring the following day. The signalman already knows he will miss his job. Thomas wants to cheer the signalman up.

Later, Thomas returns to pick up the workmen and the old signal. When he returns to the main station, Thomas speaks to the Fat Controller about the retiring signalman. The Fat Controller tells Thomas that he will still see the little tank engine from his house, but Thomas reminds the Fat Controller that he still will not be able to use the signals. Thomas has an idea which he tells to the Fat Controller. The Fat Controller listens, then smiles, and starts making arrangements.

On his final day, the retiring signalman is presented with a gold watch. Then Thomas takes him home. The Fat Controller goes too. At the former signalman's house, the workmen set up the old signal in the garden. It has been repaired and painted. The Fat Controller tells the signalman that he can use the signal to say hello to Thomas everyday. Thomas always lets out a loud whistle when he passes the signal.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Annie