Percy's Predicament (magazine story)

"My engines must work hard. I send lazy engines away."

- The Fat Controller

Percy's Predicament is a magazine story based upon the episode of the same name from the second series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

Plot
One day, Percy grumbles about as he works hard shunting in the station when Toby arrives. Percy tells his friend that he has nothing else to do other than to take the milk tanker that Daisy has left, so Toby decides to switch places as he will take the milk and Percy will fetch his trucks for him. The drivers and the stationmaster agree with the idea, and Percy puffs off happily to the quarry where he begins ordering the trucks about as he shunts them into place. The trucks get fed up of having Percy around and decide to pay him out - without him knowing.

Percy thinks the trucks are under control as he puffs along, until they come to a notice which reads "ALL TRAINS STOP TO PIN DOWN BRAKES." - that prompts him to slow down. The trucks however surge forward and push him along, going much too fast for him to stop! The signalman tries to warn traffic with a red flag, but is too late to switch Percy into a runaway siding. Soon Percy slides into the yard, while whistling for warning, until the runaway ends when he crashes into a brake van, destroying it and ending up perched on top of its remains.

Although his crew jumped clear and are unharmed, Percy is stranded as he remains on his perch of trucks. That evening, Toby and Daisy help to clear the wreckage, and the Fat Controller reprimands Percy, telling him that Toby and Daisy must now do his work as well as their own. He also tells him that he can stay on the trucks until they are ready to rescue him, hoping that it will teach him to be careful with the Troublesome Trucks. Percy understands his "awkward predicament".

Soon afterwards, the Fat Controller speaks to Daisy severely; he says that his engines work hard and he sends lazy ones away, thus making her feel ashamed. But he also tells her that Toby has told him that she has worked hard after Percy's accident, and gives her a second chance, now making her happier than ever. She promises that she will work hard, and Toby will also help her. The following day after, Thomas comes back and Percy is sent to be mended. All the engines are now friends and Toby has taught Daisy a great deal as she often takes the milk for Thomas, and when Toby is busy, she takes Henrietta too.

Characters

 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Daisy
 * The Fat Controller
 * Thomas
 * Henrietta

Locations

 * Elsbridge Yard
 * Ffarquhar Quarry

Trivia

 * This story is based on the second series episode of the same name.

Goofs

 * In the tenth illustration, Daisy's wheels and wheel arches are green.
 * In illustration three, four and five the trucks appear to be filled with coal rather than stones.

Gallery
Kłopotliwe Położenie Piotrusia (historia magazynowa)