Frozen Turntable

"There are two free berths at the Search and Rescue Centre." "I don't want to be woken up by emergency sirens in the middle of the night!"

- Flynn and Gordon

Frozen Turntable is a magazine story, illustrated using images from the television series.

Plot
It is an icy cold evening on the Island of Sodor. When the engines return home after their hard day's work, they find that the turntable at Tidmouth Sheds is frozen and they cannot access their berths. There is, however, one accessible berth and Gordon thinks he should have it. Just then, Percy puffs by, still working. Thomas suggests that pulling the mail train is a very important job and that Percy should have the one berth. All of the engines agree to this and set off to find somewhere else to sleep.

After a while, the engines meet Flynn who says there are two spare berths at the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre. Gordon does not want to take the chance of being woken up by emergency sirens in the night and refuses Flynn's offer. Emily and James are all too happy to accept Flynn's invitation and they settle down for the night at the rescue centre.

At the Sodor Steamworks, Victor says he has room for two engines. Gordon adamantly refuses to sleep in a repair shop. Thomas agrees to continue looking for a place with Gordon, but Edward and Henry are too tired to move on so stay at the Steamworks. Victor suggests that Thomas and Gordon try Whiff's Waste Dump. Gordon is not amused with this suggestion.

Before long, Thomas becomes so tired that he can barely keep his eyes open. When Norman clatters past and says there is room at the Dieselworks, Thomas is only too happy to accept Norman's invitation and sets off to get a good night's sleep leaving Gordon all on his own.

Gordon returns to Tidmouth Sheds and wonders where Percy is. As he cannot see him anywhere, Gordon decides to take the one free berth. Presently, Percy pulls in and can see Gordon's tender sticking out of his berth. Percy is exhausted and sadly trundles off to Whiff's Waste Dump for the night. Any hopes Gordon has for a peaceful night are soon shattered when the railway workers continue their noisy work on the turntable.

In the morning, when the railway workers have finally unfrozen the turntable, Gordon puffs out and sees all of the engines glaring crossly at him. Gordon is very shame-faced and realises that he had been very insensitive. The Fat Controller is cross too and tells a very tired Gordon that he will have to take Percy's mail to say sorry. Percy smiles to himself and goes into the shed to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

Characters

 * Gordon
 * Flynn
 * Victor
 * Thomas
 * Norman
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Percy
 * James
 * Emily
 * Whiff

Locations

 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Sodor Search and Rescue Centre
 * Sodor Steamworks
 * Vicarstown Dieselworks
 * Whiff's Waste Dump

Trivia

 * This story is based on the seventeenth series episode, The Frozen Turntable.

Goofs

 * Norman is said to "puff", but he is a diesel.