The Big Speech!

"Speech! Speech!"

- The dinner guests

The Big Speech! is a read and colour magazine story where the illustrations had to be coloured by the reader.

Plot
The Fat Controller has to give a speech about railways at Wellsworth Town Hall. When he goes to catch the express, he finds that all trains have been delayed because of a signal failure. Caroline is close by and offers the Fat Controller a lift. Then, her engine overheats. The Fat Controller then manages to get a lift on Bulstrode, but he is very slow so at the next bus stop, the Fat Controller catches a ride on Bertie. Soon Bertie's wheels get bogged down in the mud, so the Fat Controller gets a ride with Farmer Brown on his horse and cart. This is too slow so he has to hitch a ride with a friendly ice-cream van. Thanks to the van, he arrives in time to give his big speech about railways. To everyone's surprise, during the speech the Fat Controller bursts with laughter. He tells them all about his hectic day and the dinner guests laugh and agree that it was the best speech ever.

Characters

 * Caroline
 * Bulstrode
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Lady Hatt
 * Gordon
 * Bertie
 * The Ice-Cream Van

Trivia

 * The events that take place in this story must have happened prior to the episode Special Attraction as Bulstrode is still in service.
 * The plot is similar to that of the fifth series episode, Lady Hatt's Birthday Party.