I remember this story from a collection of books I read as a kid.
Browsing through the bookshelves, I was happy to find “The Little Engine That Could” at the library for my train-crazy toddler.
What’s more, it’s the original edition by Watty Piper 
“The Little Engine That Could
A little red train is bringing trucks (or cars here) full of “good things for boys and girls” i.e. toys like
- “giraffes with long necks, Teddy bears with almost no necks at all, and even a baby elephant.”;
- “dolls with blue eyes and yellow curls, dolls with brown eyes and brown bobbed heads, and the funniest little toy clown you ever saw”;
- “toy engines, airplanes, tops, jack-knives, picture puzzles, books, and every kind of thing boys or girls could want”
There are also nice things to eat like:
“big golden oranges, red-cheeked apples, bottles of creamy milk for their breakfasts, fresh spinach for their dinners, peppermint drops and lollypops for after-meal treats”
The train is going over to the other side of the mountain when she stops suddenly…
The train breaks down! And all the toys and animals are sad but the clown cheers everyone up when he sees a train coming by.
A Passenger train, a Freight train, a tired old train all come by but NONE of them would help to pull the little red engine.
Finally, a cheery little blue train (kinda like Thomas!!!) comes by and though she doubts if she can, she helps to pull the little red train and the toys and animals over the mountain, strting and ending with the famous lines:
“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…” and
“I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could…”
Now, Watty Piper must have been a writer with a strong, powerful voice because I got REALLY out of breath repeating the long sentences describing the toys and food on the train. In the end, I skipped the repetitions and just went for brief sentences
But I had a lot of fun coming up with different voices for the different trains.
The funniest part had to be the pleading clown and dolls because without my realizing it, I borrowed Scarlett O’Hara’s Southern Belle slang when I read:
“Please, Kind Engine,” cried all the dolls and toys together. “Won’t you please pull our train over the mountain? Our engine has broken down, and the boys and girls on the other side won’t have any toys to play with or good food to eat unless you help us.”
I sound so much like a damsel in distress! I thought he would go around in this whiny sort of plea but instead, his favourite line is “Our train has broken down!”
A great read, which is a MUST for any kid who loves trains! Do check out the various versions available too on Amazon:
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