Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends™

Based on The Railway Series by The Reverend W Awdry.

© 2010 Gullane (Thomas) LLC.

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and Thomas & Friends are trademarks of Gullane (Thomas) Limited.

HIT and the HIT Entertainment logo are trademarks of HIT Entertainment Limited.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Pictureback, Random House, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010922462

eISBN: 978-0-375-98391-7

www.randomhouse.com/kids

www.thomasandfriends.com

v3.1

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

First Page

Other Thomas & Friends e-books

It was a beautiful day on the Island of Sodor, and Thomas was very busy. A new Search and Rescue Center was being built, and there was a lot of work to do.

The Rescue Center would be a place to help people in trouble—plus Harold would have a new landing pad,

Captain would get a dock,

and Rocky would finally get his own shed.

“The Search and Rescue Center will be made of the strongest wood of all—jobi wood,” said Sir Topham Hatt. “It will arrive today at Brendam Docks.”

Diesel wanted to show off and move all the jobi wood by himself. But when he did, the flatbeds holding the wood skipped off the track and over a steep cliff. Thomas saved Diesel, but all the wood splashed into the ocean below.

As a reward, Thomas was given the job of going to the Mainland to get more jobi wood. But the next day, the Dock Manager told him there was no room on the steamboat. Then Thomas saw a raft.

“The ship could pull me on that,” Thomas puffed.

The engines whistled and wheeshed farewell to Thomas. He peeped goodbye to them. Then, with a long, low hoot of its horn, the big steamboat set out to sea, pulling Thomas on the raft.

Thomas was far out at sea when darkness started to fall. Suddenly he heard a creak and felt the raft lurch.

“Fizzling fireboxes!” he peeped. “The chain to the steamboat has snapped!”

Nobody heard Thomas whistle and peep for help as the steamboat chugged away. Waves rocked the raft. Mist gathered around him. Thomas was alone and very, very worried.

“How will I get home?” Thomas wondered.

The next morning, Thomas found himself on a strange island. It was misty and quiet and he didn’t see any other engines.

“There must be a big dock and some ships,” he said to himself. “If I find them, I can sail back to Sodor.”

Thomas searched all over the island. He found many twisty tracks and thick, scratchy bushes. There was even a tunnel through an old fallen tree. But he didn’t find a dock or anyone who could help him.

Meanwhile, on Sodor, Sir Topham Hatt learned that Thomas was missing. Everyone stopped working on the Search and Rescue Center and started looking for their lost friend. Sir Topham Hatt and Captain raced out to sea.

The engines searched all over Sodor, and Harold took to the sky.

Thomas was beginning to worry that he wouldn’t find anyone to help him when he met three engines named Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand. They worked in an old logging camp.

“We’re the Logging Locos,” puffed Dash.

“You’re on Misty Island,” huffed Bash.

Then Thomas made an incredible discovery. “Bumpers and buffers! These are jobi logs. That’s the wood we need to build the Sodor Search and Rescue Center.”

Thomas told the Logging Locos about the Rescue Center. They agreed to help him load the wood.

But Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand liked playing games more than they liked loading logs—and they really loved bouncing on the wibbly, wobbly Shake Shake Bridge.

Thomas definitely did not enjoy bouncing on the bridge.

Ol’ Wheezy, the giant log loader, wasn’t much help, either. He wanted to throw wood instead of stacking it. Thomas thought the work would never get done, but after a day of biffing and bashing, the jobi wood was ready to go.

“Now how will I get these logs back to Sodor?” Thomas peeped.

Luckily, Bash knew a way.

Bash told Thomas about a dangerous old tunnel that connected Misty Island to Sodor.

“I know all about tunnels,” Thomas puffed. “It won’t be dangerous.”

So, pushing their flatbeds, the Logging Locos followed Thomas into the dark and twisty tunnel.

Suddenly there was trouble.

Boom! Crash! Rocks tumbled down around the engines. The tracks were blocked. Thomas and the Logging Locos were trapped!

“I feel air on my funnel,” Ferdinand peeped.

Dash spotted a hole in the roof of the tunnel.

“Huff your hardest,” he said to Thomas. “Someone will see your steam.”

Thomas thought that was an excellent idea and excitedly started puffing.

Back at Brendam Docks, Percy saw three puffs of steam in the sky. His firebox fizzed.

“It’s Thomas!” Percy peeped to Whiff. “He’s on Misty Island.”

Whiff knew about an old tunnel that led to Misty Island. “Follow me,” he puffed.

Percy and Whiff raced through the tunnel and found the cave-in.

“Watch out, Thomas,” Whiff huffed. “Percy and I are going to push through the rocks.”

With that, Percy and Whiff rocked and rolled and pumped their pistons. Then they crashed through the rocks. Thomas and the Logging Locos were saved!

Sir Topham Hatt was very happy that Thomas and his new friends were safe—and with all that new jobi wood, the Rescue Center would be finished in no time.

“Today is a special day made possible by very special engines,” Sir Topham Hatt announced at the opening of the Search and Rescue Center.

All the engines peeped, and Thomas’ pistons pumped with pride.

Hooray for Thomas!

Thomas and the Big, Big Bridge

Thomas and the Treasure

Thomas Goes Fishing*

Percy’s Chocolate Crunch

*A STEP INTO READING® leveled reader