A Quiet Delivery (magazine story)

"We need to sleep the entire way to the docks." "After all, a tired train is a cranky train."

- Annie and Clarabel

A Quiet Delivery is a magazine story illustrated using images from the All Engines Go series.

Plot
One day, Thomas arrives at Knapford Station to take Annie and Clarabel to the docks so they can carry passengers that night. Annie and Clarabel tell Thomas that they need to sleep on the way and Thomas promises to be quiet. Carly spreads a blanket over the carriages and Thomas departs on his way to the docks quietly.

All is going well until Diesel rattles past with a flatbed of pipes. Thomas changes tracks to get away from Diesel and the rattly pipes. The new route is certainly quiet, but very bumpy and twisty. Thomas just gets past the bumps when it suddenly begins to rain. Luckily, Thomas spies a tunnel where he waits until the rain stops.

The tunnel is nice and dry, but before long, Percy approaches peeping his whistle happily. Thomas tells Percy to be quiet using a special light signal. Percy wants to help Thomas finish the job and promises to be as quiet as a mouse.

As the daylight fades, both Thomas and Percy start to get tired so they sing a soothing lullaby to keep Annie and Clarabel asleep. The lullaby works on Percy who is soon fast asleep. Thomas manages to stop Percy just before he rolls too far down a hill and crashes. Thomas can see Brendam Docks up ahead, but there's a herd of cows blocking the line. Thomas decides this is an emergency and blasts his whistle as loud as he can. The cows move, but Annie and Clarabel are woken up.

Thomas arrives at Brendam just in time. Percy tells Thomas that he has delivered Annie and Clarabel right on time and well-rested, but Thomas cannot hear him because he has fallen asleep!

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Percy
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Diesel
 * Carly

Locations

 * Knapford
 * Crovan's Creek
 * Brendam Docks
 * Sodor Shipping Company

Trivia

 * This story is based on the All Engines Go first series episode of the same name.