(Scene starts with a blue sky across over to Sodor during the opening credits before cutting to Thomas with Annie and Clarabel passing the windmill in a similar to the original opening for the show)
It was a bright summer's day on the Island of Sodor. The sun was shining through fields of green and the birds flew over the sight of Thomas' branchline.
(Rendition of Thomas' original theme plays)
Thomas was busy taking passengers along his branch line to Elsbridge station. He was really in a hurry but his two coaches Annie and Clarabel could not understand his rush.
Annie: Slow down, Thomas. We're almost at Elsbridge you know.
Clarabel: Well said, Annie. Have you ever seen an engine go this fast?
Thomas: I'm trying to beat a new record, Annie and Clarabel.
Annie
And (jokingly) Oh, like we haven't heard that before. (chuckle)
Clarabel:
(Thomas chuckles too as they continue along around the corner towards the corner)
When they got to the station, the passengers got out and Sir Topham Hatt looked at his clock.
Topham: Well done, Thomas. Once again, you were really reliable and right on time.
Thomas: (whistles as he chuffs away) Thank you sir.
Annie: Ooh, right on time and really reliable.
Clarabel: See? What did we tell you, Thomas? You don't need records to keep your branch line.
Thomas: Yes, but this is a better way in which I can work at records. In the yard, it was harder for me to do while fetching coaches and shunting them around all the time. Now the other engines can fetch them quite for themselves.
(Scene fades from Thomas and cuts to Gordon and Henry sulking in their sheds)
Meanwhile, back in the yard, things were not quite well. Henry and Gordon felt lonely since Thomas left to run his branch line.
Gordon: I wish Thomas were still here.
Henry: I miss him as well, Gordon.
Gordon: Just think about all the extra work we have to do. All those dirty sidings. What a chore. (groans at the thought of it)
(Scene cuts to Knapford with Gordon and Henry bustling about)
Since Thomas was gone, there was a lot more work to be done in the yard. The big engines had to fetch their own coaches, a responsibility they felt they were too important to maintain.
(Gordon whistles as he brings his coaches into the station)
Gordon: Get in quickly, please!
James: (whistling as he chuffs into the station) In a hurry, are we, Gordon?
Gordon: If you were an express engine, you'd feel my position deeply, James. Express engines don't shunt their own coaches. That's what little engines.
James: (chuckles) I think you've woken up on the wrong side of the shed this morning, Gordon.
(Guard's whistle blows and Gordon chuffs away)
Gordon just ignored James and went on his way.
Gordon: One day, little James will know what I'm talking about.
And it wasn't long before Gordon was right. James had to go fetch coaches for his own train.
James: (backs up on his coaches in a siding) Dirty sidings! Ugh! Gordon wasn't kidding about this. (shunter couples him up to his coaches as he whistles as he chuffs away)
(Next scene cuts to Knapford Station with James bringing his coaches to the platform. Edward chuffs up beside him)
James: I got no rest!
Henry: (whistling as he leaves the station, moaning) I got no rest either.
Edward: (chuckles) Oh, you engines are just lazy and slack.
(Guard's whistle blows and James whistles as he leaves the station, Edward grinning after him)
Soon the complaining got worse and worse. Together, the engines were causing Sir Topham Hatt a great deal of trouble.
(Gordon whistles as he sulkily leaves the station. Sir Topham Hatt puts his head down to his palm and shakes his head in slight irritation. A rendition of the season 5 song Sir Topham Hatt, as a cover by Robert Hartshorne in D major, begins with Sir Topham Hatt)
His name is Sir Topham Hatt
Though some on Sodor says he's quite stout!
Rather rotund and really quite round but he never sees it like that
(Gordon and Henry sulk about the yard with Sir Topham Hatt watching after him)
He considers he's a gentleman of merit with a railway exquisitely fine
But his primary aim is to know that his trains are running on time.
(Chorus begins as Gordon leaves the station with the express)
Sir Top – Sir Topham Hatt
He's the head of the railway
And there's no doubt about that
Controller of the line
It's plain as plain can be for everyone to see that
It's The Fat Controller's Railway!
(Song continues as Sir Topham Hatt watches over Henry and James at Knapford Station, a sharp look on his face.
When Thomas left to run his branch line, things went awry in the yard
All the big engines took no pride in shunting
And for Topham, this seemed quite hard
A matter of insubordination is what Topham saw in his eyes
'Cause if they kept this up,
It would sure be enough for things to go awry.
Sir Top – Sir Topham Hatt
He's the head of the railway
And there's no doubt about that
Controller of the line
It's plain as plain can be for everyone to see that
It's The Fat Controller's Railway!
(The song raises by a whole step to E major)
Sir Top - Sir Topham Hatt
He's the head of the railway
There is no doubt about that
Controller of the line
It's as plain as plain can be
For everyone to see that
It's The Fat Controller's Railway!
The Fat Controller's Railway!
Sir Top-ham Hatt!
(Song ends with Sir Topham Hatt nodding his head as the scene closes out on him before cutting to Tidmouth Sheds with Gordon backing down on the turntable)
The big stations at both ends of the line each have a turntable. Sir Topham Hatt had made them so that the tender engines could be turned around because it is dangerous for them to go backwards.
(Scene cuts to Thomas and slowly zooms out on him)
Little tank engines like Thomas don't need turntables. They can go just as well backwards as forwards. But one day, to hear Gordon talk, you would've thought that Sir Topham Hatt had given him a tender just to show how important he was.
(Scene finishes zooming out on Thomas at Elsbridge Station with Annie and Clarabel. Gordon is on the other platform with the express)
Gordon: You don't understand, little Thomas. We tender engines have a position to keep up. You haven't a tender and that makes all the difference. It doesn't matter where YOU go but we are important. And for The Fat Controller to make us shunt trucks, fetch coaches and go on some of those dirty sidings, well, well…
Annie: Well, Gordon?
Clarabel: Go on.
Gordon: (sighs) Well, it's just the not the proper thing! (guard's whistle blows and he whistles and chuffs away)
Thomas just chuckled and went off with Annie and Clarabel.
Thomas: (chuckling) Poor old Gordon. Dirty sidings. (jokingly) Didn't you used to live one of those, Annie and Clarabel?
Annie
And (chuckling) Quite so, Thomas. (teasingly) Poor old Gordon
Clarabel:
(Scene zooms out from from Elsbridge with Thomas chuffing along with Annie and Clarabel)