There are many coaches on Thomas' Branch Line.
Henrietta, Old Slow Coach, Victoria, Annie and Clarabel are all coaches on the Ffarquhar Branch.
A coach's job is to pull passengers, but more and more passengers were coming to Thomas' line to see the sights.
However, not enough coaches were on the line for all the passengers, so plans to build a new coach were underway.
The Fat Controller had a plan for this.
One evening, he came to Ffarquhar Sheds.
"Engines, I have something important to say." he said, "Tomorrow a new coach will be sent here. His name is Koby, and he's currently being finished at the Sodor Steamworks."
The engines looked to each other.
"Oh, I hope he's green!" whistled Percy, "You barely see any green coaches."
"Coaches look good in blue," objected Thomas.
"I don't think it'll be brown." chuckled Toby.
The Fat Controller chuckled.
"Actually Thomas and Percy, you're both wrong. He's a red coach."
Thomas and Percy grumbled to themselves.
"Oh, don't look so down." said Toby earnestly, "I'm sure green and blue coaches will pop in from the sky."
The Fat Controller laughed and walked into his car.
"Good night, engines!" he called as he drove away.
"I hope this coach is nice," muttered Thomas.
The next morning, the Steamworks was buzzing with activity.
Victor puffed in with a flatbed full of paint drums.
He puffed alongside the red coach.
"Hello Koby," Victor offered, "The workmen are going to give you one more coat of paint before you go to Thomas' Branch Line."
Koby snorted.
"I don't need any more paint, stupid engine. What I need is a distinguished railway. Seriously, all I see is trees."
Victor was furious.
"I think you need out of this Steamworks." he huffed, "The manager will send an engine to collect you."
Koby was pleased; he didn't like the Steamworks anyway.
The red coach had been stuck in the Works for months, being built from scratch, even if he had the same design as the other red coaches on the North Western Railway.
Kevin drove up to Victor.
"Um, boss?" he whispered.
"What?"
"...is Koby going to be a problem?" asked Kevin worriedly.
"Maybe so, but if that's true, the Fat Controller will deal with him." said Victor quietly.
"Oh..."
Kevin didn't really want to know what Victor meant.
A few workmen walked up to the red coach.
"Even if you won't accept another coat of paint, we're still going to check you over, just in case anything's loose."
Koby rolled his eyes.
"I'm in perfect shape!" he muttered.
But, ignoring the rude coach, they checked to see if anything was loose outside or inside of Koby.
Soon, the inspection was done.
"Everything's in order." said a workman while nodding, "Time for him to leave."
Kevin and Victor sighed with relief as arrangements were made for an engine to pick him up.
Flora was at Great Waterton with Stanley, dropping off passengers when Winston drove up, carrying the Fat Controller, who was trying to finish his English muffin.
"Winston, stop!" cried the Fat Controller as he swallowed a bite.
"More and more deja vu each day..." grumbled Winston as he came to a halt at the station.
The Fat Controller bit into the muffin and swallowed before walking up to Flora.
"Flora, I need you to go to the Steamworks and pick up the new coach, Koby. Then you're going to visit the Ffarquhar Branch Line for a while."
Flora beamed.
"Wow! The Ffarquhar Branch Line? It's been such a long time!"
Then a thought struck her.
"What about my passengers and my tram coach?"
"Oh, Stanley can handle that himself." said the Fat Controller.
Flora was very happy.
Stanley was happy for Flora.
"Go on Flora." he said as Flora rang her bell with excitement.
"Of course! Cannot be late!" she said as she puffed away.
Stanley then looked to the Fat Controller, trying to eat all of his muffin.
"Um...sir?"
"What?" asked the Fat Controller.
"You know it might be a good idea to not eat and drive at the same time." muttered Stanley.
"I'll write that down, thank you." and the Fat Controller drove away.
Winston silently sighed with relief at Stanley's comment.
Flora puffed into the Steamworks, watching all the workmen work hard on making sure everything was in order.
"Wow, it's so busy here." Flora commented.
"Pfft." snorted Koby, who was now behind her.
"Oh...hello." Flora said kindly.
Koby snorted.
"You won't believe how stupid you look. What are you, a shed on wheels? And you're yellow!"
Flora was appalled.
"That's no way to talk!" she huffed.
Koby just laughed mischievously as Flora was coupled up.
"My tram coach would never do these things." Flora thought sadly, "I suppose I'll have to get used to this..."
Flora arrived at Knapford Station with Koby for the run along Thomas' Branch Line.
At the platform, Passengers walked into him, and this already sparked more complaining.
"Stop bouncing on my seats!" Koby cried, "And stop chewing gum! I can hear that from here!"
Flora sighed as the guard blew his whistle and Flora puffed out of the station.
"What's that thing?" spluttered Koby.
"Oh, that's a truck." said Flora.
"...I thought it was a box."
"Oi!" shouted the truck.
Flora rolled her eyes and puffed over the junction to the branch line.
As Flora puffed along the line, Koby kept bumping into her.
"What was that for?" Flora asked angrily.
"That's for you being ridiculous." Koby smirked.
Flora scowled, but said nothing, until Koby bumped her again.
Passengers spilled their tea and their crumpets.
"Ugh, what a disgrace." a man groaned as his tea spilled onto his shirt.
"Quit it!" Flora cried as Koby laughed.
But on top of the bumping, Koby also insulted her and the railway.
"These trees look terrible! You're causing global warming! You're ugly!" Koby spouted off.
Flora sighed sadly as she puffed into Dryaw.
The passengers walked out of Koby, holding their heads with tea stains on their clothes.
They all glared at Flora and a couple shouted at her.
"Clumsy engine!" they scolded as they complained to the stationmaster.
"This engine made a reckless ride for us! Do something or we'll take action!" a woman declared.
The stationmaster was cross as well and walked out of the station building and sternly to Flora.
"Flora, the Fat Controller will hear of this poor service. I expected better of you." and he walked back into the building.
Flora was very upset indeed.
The passengers from Dryaw got into Koby, but looked around, noticing tea stains.
Flora set off on her way again, hoping to not get in trouble.
The tram engine continued along the line, with Koby still insulting and complaining.
"My wheels are hurting! You're going too fast! Why is this line so disturbingly disgusting? The rails are slippery, my roof's about to cave in, and my red paint's being scratched by rocks flying in my face!"
Flora groaned; she couldn't take much more of this.
Koby bumped into Flora, causing her to yelp.
"Ow! Stop it!" Flora cried.
Koby chuckled and bumped into her again.
"On! On! On!" cried Koby.
"You're not a Troublesome Truck!" Flora said crossly, "Coaches never do that!"
"Then I'm a first." chortled Koby as the train stopped at Elsbridge.
Flora sighed sadly as Toby puffed in with Henrietta and stopped on the other platform.
"Hello Flora. How's Koby doing?" Toby asked.
"He's horrible! He insults me and bumps into me like a truck! And he makes my passengers cross, and they blame me for it!" Flora said, clearly upset.
Toby frowned.
"My, sounds like a bad coach."
"Indeed." snorted Henrietta indignantly, "We coaches have higher standards than that."
Koby was furious.
"What do you know? You're an old timer, and your engine is a box on wheels!" Koby snapped.
Henrietta was horrified.
"The nerve!" Henrietta cried.
Toby was cross too.
"I say Koby, your manners are nonexistent!" he said as he puffed away, ringing his bell.
Koby just laughed as Flora let off steam angrily.
For the rest of the day, Flora was constantly bumped and insulted by Koby.
Flora got crosser and crosser as this went on.
By the time Flora arrived at Ffarquhar, she wanted revenge on the nasty coach.
"I know what to do." she growled to herself.
As Flora puffed into the station, she bumped Koby with a hard clank.
"Ow!" Koby cried.
"Serves you right." huffed Flora, who seemed satisfied.
Suddenly Flora's load seemed a lot easier; she knew what that meant.
"Uh oh..." Flora said sheepishly as she puffed into the station.
Mavis was shunting quarry trucks in the yard when she saw the incident.
"Flora, what happened?" asked Mavis.
"Um.. the coupling snapped." admitted Flora.
The red coach slammed into Flora, and Flora jerked forward.
Koby exploded with anger.
"You stupid engine! Why should you even be in service? You belong in the scrap heap! Your color's despicable! Your voice is annoying! You are the worst engine I've ever had an experience with!" he yelled.
Flora felt badly, but still felt that Koby had done worse.
However, the passengers disagreed.
They were just beyond the station platform, and were very cross.
"You stupid engine!" they scowled.
Flora felt worse still and sighed sadly.
"Today was a terrible day..." sighed Flora as some workmen came out to try and mend the coupling.
That evening, Flora stayed in Ffarquhar Sheds, and told the others of her day.
"And then Koby bumped me, insulted me, Toby, and Henrietta, while also making my passengers angry at me!" Flora cried.
Just then the Fat Controller drove up; he didn't look happy at all.
"Flora, I am not only cross, but I am also disappointed." the Fat Controller said sternly, "You know better than to bump your passengers."
Flora was so flustered she didn't even try and defend yourself; she never got into trouble.
"If you keep this up, I'll have to send you back to Great Waterton and replace you. You know how to handle coaches, so this behavior was shocking. Many passengers are saying this is a bad railway. Good night Flora; let's hope you can improve yourself."
The Fat Controller was about to turn away when Toby spoke up.
"Sir? It wasn't really Flora's fault." Toby said.
The Fat Controller was confused.
"What do you mean? The incident at Ffarquhar sure was."
"I mean, Koby's been nothing but a nuisance to us engines." Toby commented, "He insulted me and Henrietta, but Flora got the worst of it. I know two wrongs don't make a right sir, but at least try and see both sides of the situation. Plus she didn't mean to break the coupling."
The Fat Controller sighed and looked up apologetically at Flora.
"I'm sorry Flora. While I'm not quite happy with the incident at Ffarquhar, I suppose I understand how difficult this is. Maybe Koby just needs a new environment. I'll relocate him to the Main Line tomorrow, and swap him with an actual coach." and the Fat Controller left.
Flora felt relieved.
"Thank you Toby, for standing up for me like that." she said gratefully.
"Oh, that's alright." Toby said kindly.
"What a stupid coach!" huffed Percy, "Moving him to the Main Line won't solve anything!"
"I don't want to know what Gordon will do." murmured Thomas.
The others agreed as they worried of what the outcome of this new coach will be.