Express Coming Through! (magazine story)

Express Coming Through! is a magazine story, illustrated using images from the CGI television series.

Plot
At Knapford Station, Dowager Hatt is to hold a "Welcome to Sodor" party with lots of very important visitors. Thomas hopes the Fat Controller will choose him to take the visitors around the island. Gordon thinks he should get the job because he always pulls the express.

At the Docks, Gordon gets a nasty shock when the Fat Controller does indeed choose Thomas to pull the express full of very important visitors. Thomas is delighted and Gordon protests to no avail. The Fat Controller tells Gordon to go to Misty Island and collect some Jobi wood. Gordon puffs away, puzzled and sad. Dowager Hatt and the very important visitors board the express and Thomas sets off too.

Not long into the journey, Thomas realises that the express is too heavy for him as he starts to feel tired. Thomas does not want Gordon to know that the heavy express is too much for him and he soon gets an idea. Thomas decides to conveniently "lose" some of the coaches. At the quarry, some workmen uncouple some of the carriages and Thomas steams away, leaving some of the important visitors behind!

Thomas puffs proudly into Knapford Station. When Dowager Hatt realises that she is missing some guests, she is not happy and demands that the are brought to Knapford at once. Thomas asks Gordon to pick up the visitors. Gordon, who is flushed with pride, steams off immediately. Meanwhile, Thomas sets off to collect some balloons for the party. Later, the Fat Controller is impressed by how Thomas and Gordon had worked together. The Fat Controller then introduces the very important visitors to all his "Really Useful Engines".

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Dowager Hatt
 * Edward (cameo)
 * Henry (cameo)
 * Lady Hatt (cameo)
 * The Mayor of Sodor (cameo)
 * The Duke and Duchess of Boxford (cameo)
 * The Photographer (cameo)
 * Dowager Hatt's Friends (cameo)
 * Three Brass Band Members (cameo)

Trivia

 * This magazine story is based on the sixteenth season episode, Express Coming Through.

Goofs

 * Most of the very important visitors are Sodor residents and all of them have visited Sodor before.
 * Only some of the very important passengers are left at the quarry, but it is referenced later that all of the guests have been left behind.