he came across an ad that said: Missing Blue box car with logo "The Gauge". Reward offered. "Great!" Thomas thought. But when he called the number in the ad he got.....
"Once upon a Train"
- Thread starter Virginian
- Start date
..a long distance operator - telling him to deposit 25 cents for the first 3 minutes... Thomas, being an engine had no change. Defeated, he hung up & continued on to see if Mr Top'em hat had change. He did!! 
and Thomas made the call - only to find that the phone number belonged to......
and Thomas made the call - only to find that the phone number belonged to......Crunch & Grind Scrapyard. "Oh my," said Thomas. "I don't care what the reward is, I can't turn this lovely car over to them!" Just then the phone rang. "This us the main office of Crunch & Grind Scrapyard. We *69ed your call and traced the number to where you are. Our recovery team will be there in about 60 seconds to reclain our propety." "Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my." Thought Thomas. What am I going to do?" Without a moments hesitation he.....
...put the car back in the box, jumped into it himself, since he feared what the guys at C & G would think when they saw his steel boiler. but just before Thomas did that, he put a lot of stamps on the package and addressed it to...
The Gauge USA...and that giant 200 ft man (Paul bunyan)took the addressed box and drove it to the post office, and put it in the post box.....
except it wouldn't fit since all mailboxes were made too small to mail dangerous things like bombs and fruitcakes, so Paul scrunched down and took it inside. "What's in it?" asked the Postmaster suspiciously since 200 foot tall men didn't mail packages every day. "I haven't got a clue," said Paul. "In that case," said the Postmaster, "you'll have to.....
...deliver it yourself since we have rules about putting our people in danger". Paul understood and politly asked the postmaster if he knew to get it there, since Thomas left will all the gange in tow on to another adventure. They surely knew, but how could he find which way they went. The postmaster said, "if you look at the address on the label, all you need to do is...
...Follow the Yellow Brick Road out of Austrailia (OZ) and when you get to the end of the rainbow... You'll most likly be able to catch a train to wherever that says on that there label.... Paul cracked a huge smile - bid farewell to the Poatmaster and started off......
...in the wrong direction. (Paul Bunyonseed never had a sense of direction anyway.) Suddenly, Paul found himself under water. He struggled and struggled and finally made his way to land once again. Now you know how the new Chunnel from OZ got started. Paul cleared the mud from his eyes and yelled with astomishment...
"Delivering packages isn't for me. How the heck am I gonna get this to where it needs to go?" Then the answer came to him. He got a huge grin on his face and headed off to the nearest railroad station. When he got there he.....
...thought that the stationmaster looked familiar. "You look a lot like that postmaster in Oz", says Paul.
"Yep, that's my identical twin down there."
"Nevermind, I need to get this package to The Gauge, can you help?" Paul responded.
"What's in it?"
"Don't know."
"Didn't my brother tell you he couldn't take the package unless he knew what was in it? Well, sames goes for around these here parts."
Paul just kinda hung his head down, as tears formed in his eyes, he remembered that...
"Yep, that's my identical twin down there."
"Nevermind, I need to get this package to The Gauge, can you help?" Paul responded.
"What's in it?"
"Don't know."
"Didn't my brother tell you he couldn't take the package unless he knew what was in it? Well, sames goes for around these here parts."
Paul just kinda hung his head down, as tears formed in his eyes, he remembered that...
There was a pony expeess - so why not an "Oxen Express" - He carefully tied the package onto Babe The Blue Ox's Big Blue Black ....err Back!! He tied it on... then pointed her in the direction.......
..of the nearest empty flat car. "Yeah, they won't take the package,but they can't refuse to take Babe, and I know that train is headed to the Gauge" thought Paul. "I can tell because...
the box car ahead of Babe has The Gauge logo on it." As the train rolled off into the distance carrying Babe, and the box a thought came to Paul. The box car with The Gauge logo on it doesn't mean that it is going to The Gauge, just that it is going to a member! Silently cursing himself for being such a dummy Paul took off after the train. "If I can catch it I can leave instructions on what to do with the box." thought Paul. Now a 200 foot tall man can cover ground pretty quickly, but Paul didn't count on.......
...picking up that boulder in his shoe. Two steps, that's all and Paul was helpless. As Paul sat down on that mountain to take his shoe off, he could see the train and Babe chugging off in the distance. Will Paul ever catch up, can he get to the package in time? Will that new ax and load of appleseeds ever show up so he can return to his true calling? Tears once again welled up in Paul's eys, but he thought, "After all, this wouldn't be the first time the Gauge car was lost." Yes, he can remember when...
..it was in Canada - held up by customs...or ...was...it???
hehehe...Only the Shadow Knows!!!..... Or IS the Shadow the Only one who really knows... With this thought in mind, Paul decided to head northward, forgetting about The Appleseeds & forgoing the Ox, for now... He trudged onward toward the Robber Barroness's Summer home... far off in the distant......
hehehe...Only the Shadow Knows!!!..... Or IS the Shadow the Only one who really knows... With this thought in mind, Paul decided to head northward, forgetting about The Appleseeds & forgoing the Ox, for now... He trudged onward toward the Robber Barroness's Summer home... far off in the distant......
...but the thought of leaving that BBQ a while back knawed on him, visions of Val chasing him down Main St. with that fork just kinda turned him off. "Where am I anyway?", Thought Paul. "I think I'll ask this funny looking fella there with that really tiny train under his arm. "Hey there Mr., where ya headin' with that stuff? Mind if I tag along?" "Nope" said the stranger, "My name is Pete, they call me Sumpter250 around here but I don't rightly know why, and I'm heading to...
..the local hobby shop. Ya see, this used to be a big train, but sumptin' happened one night and I woke up and found it had shrunk clear down to about 1/160 of it's size. I just know that my LHS can fix that, why hobby shop people can fix anything, so come one, let's be off in that direction as Pete and Paul...
..watching them, and he was righ. Lo, standing before them, behold is Mary. Yes folks, this is the true story of how Peter, Pau and Mary got together. Well, the three of them headed down the Yellow Brick Road to the LHS singing....
Well, the three of them headed down the Yellow Brick Road to the LHS singing....