10 Stories from Thomas & Friends is a "Play-A-Sound" book of ten stories published by Publications International in 2000. The stories have lots of small icons to indicate which buttons to press at which point.
Stories
Trouble Near the Tracks
The country fair is being held on a beautiful spring day and Thomas is bringing a cow which he hopes will win first prize. However, Thomas notices Bertie in trouble and stops to help. Bertie has a flat tyre and Thomas stays to help. Then James comes along and notices that the cow is wandering away. Thomas does not know what to do, but as James is bringing hay to the fair, he decides to help Thomas by bringing the cow. Thomas thanks James and stays with Bertie until help arrives. The cow wins first prize as the best cow in the county; Thomas and Bertie arrive and join in with James and the happy crowd as they celebrate.
Harold Needs Help
When Harold wakes up in the morning, he has a problem - his propeller cannot turn the way it should. He tells Sir Topham Hatt, who suggests that Thomas should take him to the repair shop near the seaside. Harold is put on a flatbed attached to Thomas and they set off to the seaside. Sir Topham Hatt is waiting at the workshop when Thomas and Harold arrive and Harold apologises to him, explaining how sorry he was that he could not work that day. Sir Topham Hatt says it is fine, as everyone gets sick or injured once in a while.
Thomas Races Percy
As Thomas and Percy have no work for the day, Sir Topham Hatt tells them they can do whatever they want. Thomas suggests they should race to the seaside and Percy agreed. The engines take separate tracks, speeding towards the seaside. Percy zooms in front, but Thomas soon catches up and overtakes him. However, Thomas suddenly notices a cow on the tracks and slows to a stop. Percy roars past Thomas, yelling that he was going to win the race. Thomas wanted to win, but had done the right thing - safety first he told Percy.
James' New Paint
Thomas arrives at the train yard, smelling fresh paint. He asks Henry what the painters were working on and Henry tells him that James was getting a new coat. Thomas is sad as he would have liked a new coat of paint. He sets off to find James. Thomas finds James and starts telling him how much he would like a new coat of paint as well. Sir Topham Hatt overheara and explains to Thomas that he should not be upset - James was getting a new coat of paint as he had not been painted in a long time and had many rust spots and that Thomas should be happy that he does not need fixing. Thomas understands, is glad that he does not need fixing and is happy for James. As people hear what Thomas said, they all start to cheer for James!
Harold's Night-time Search
Henry is off to the seaside to pick up supplies from the cargo ships at the docks. However, he spots a boulder on the track ahead and stops quickly! He cannot get past the boulder. As the sun begins to set, Sir Topham Hatt notices that Henry had not arrived at the seaside yet. He asks Harold to go and find Henry. Harold finds Henry and picks the boulder up in a net. Henry then chuffs on his way to the seaside.
The Dangerous Shortcut
Thomas is late getting back to the train yard, but wants to figure out a way to get back in time, so that Sir Topham Hatt would not think he was unreliable. He decides to take a shortcut he had heard about. While he steaming along, he notices the tracks ahead look dangerous and tries to slow down. Though it is too late; he slides off the tracks and into a ditch. Luckily, Percy was going past on the regular tracks and saw what had happened. Percy pulls him out of the ditch and back onto the rails. Thomas promises never to use the shortcut again and says he knew that he should not travel on old tracks.
Henry Teaches a Lesson
Thomas and Percy are very excited as Sir Topham Hatt has decided that they should follow Henry, so they could learn about the docks and how to be safe there. Henry meets up with Thomas and Percy and soon they arrive at the seaside. Henry tries to show them where to put the cargo, but Thomas says that he and Percy already know what to do. Henry chugs off to a safe area, while Thomas and Percy stay where the cranes are loading crates off from the ships. All of a sudden, one of the cranes drop a crate. Henry shouts at the two engines to look out and the crate smashed onto the ground just in front of Thomas. Thomas realises that Henry is right and that he should always try and learn from more experienced engines.
Thomas Rescues Percy
Thomas is feeling sad as he always sees Harold helping others out when they were in trouble. He thinks that he is not as good as Harold. Sir Topham Hatt sees that Thomas was sad and tells him that he is a Really Useful Engine and that he has a very important job for Thomas to do. Percy is stuck in a tunnel after he ran out of coal and Harold cannot help him - Thomas is the only one who can. Thomas races off to help Percy and soon finds him stuck in the tunnel. Percy thanks him as he couples on and pulls him out of the tunnel. As Thomas rescues Percy, Harold calls down to congratulate him - they were both useful, he said.
Bertie Saves the Day
Sir Topham Hatt is in a good mood and decides that today would be a good day for a music festival. He asks Thomas to bring all of the musicians to Tidmouth station. Thomas picks up several trucks loaded with musicians, instruments and wooden planks to build the stage. But when he is on his way to the site of the festival, disaster strikes - one of his wheels breaks! Bertie saw what happened to Thomas and suggests to have the music festival out in the countryside, where Thomas had broken down. Thomas agrees and Bertie raced off to Tidmouth to collect all the people. Bertie soon comes back and the music festival is under way.
Sir Topham Hatt's Birthday
Sir Topham Hatt is alone in his office and notices that something was not right - the engines had finished their work for the day, but he can still hear Thomas, Percy, Henry and James puffing around. Suddenly, Lady Hatt knocks on his door and tells him to come outside quickly, because something is wrong. He jumps up and runs out the door, only to see all the engines and workmen standing outside cheering. "Happy Birthday Sir Topham Hatt" they all yell. Lady Hatt apologises to Sir Topham Hatt for tricking him, but Sir Topham Hatt said it was OK - he has had the best surprise ever!
Characters
Trivia
- Although the picture and button for the seaside is of Bulstrode, he is not featured in any of the stories.
Goofs
- Henry and Percy don't appear to have wheel spokes.
- The engines' eyebrows keep disappering and reappearing.
- Henry's siderods are incompletely drawn.
- In the illustration of "James' New Paint", there is no coal in James' tender, his siderods are also missing in the same pic.
- All the steam engines have different whistles.
Gallery
