Thomas and Victoria



"Thomas and Victoria" was first published in 2007. It was written by Christopher Awdry and illustrated by Clive Spong.

=Stories=

Overloaded
Bertie is ill and Henrietta has to carry the workmen to the quarry all by herself, but there's not enough room and some have to crowd on Henrietta's balcony. A policeman sees the event while cycling past, and the next day visits the quarry manager to inform him of a by-law forbidding passengers to be carried on coaches' balconies. Both the manager and the Fat Controller have no ideas, but a few days later Thomas' driver sees an old coach in a garden near Elsbridge. Thomas has an idea, and shares it with the Fat Controller...

Avalanche
Edward is at the Works when he sees a familiar-looking coach. After a conversation, the two discover they know each other from their days on the Furness Railway. Victoria, the coach, worked on a branchline running to Windermere with another coach,Helena, and an engine, Albert, who Victoria notes only ever had one accident. One snowy day after boasting about snow, Albert had stopped outside the mouth of a tunnel while collecting passengers at Haverthwaite. When he started, he gave off so much steam that he caused an avalanche so great he became buried in snow, and although he was rescued the next day he never bragged around snow again.

Eels on Wheels
As summer arrives Daisy often sees grass snakes near the line. When she tells the engines about them Percy is worried, but Daisy simply thinks him silly. Then, some days later Daisy has to take some boxes up to Ffarquhar for a restaurant. One is knocked onto the platform and the cargo - live eels - is spilt onto the rails; to Daisy's horror, some wriggle underneath her wheels. The eels are rescued, but Daisy has blown a fuse and Thomas has to take her passengers while Toby and Percy make jokes about wriggly things.

Toby's Vintage Train
Victoria's restoration is completed and Edward takes her to Knapford, where she is coupled up to Annie and Clarabel. At Elsbridge, they are told Terence is in some trouble and go to see what the matter is. Terence, who had been building a barn, had to swerve for a boulder near a tunnel and his trailer fell down the cutting, balancing dangerously on a tree. The trailer is secured and Thomas makes it to Ffarquhar, where Victoria is coupled to Toby and Henrietta, making a train now known as "Toby's Vintage Train".

=Featured characters=
 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Daisy
 * Henrietta
 * Victoria
 * Terence
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Albert (does not speak)
 * Annie and Clarabel (do not speak)
 * Helena (does not speak)
 * BoCo (mentioned)
 * Bertie (mentioned)

=Trivia=
 * Thomas only speaks once in this book.
 * Henrietta has a face on one of her doors in the last illustration of "Overloaded".
 * These stories will absolutely NEVER be televised.