Gordon was angrily hissing in his shed later on. He was still angry at James for the hill sliding incident and he wanted to punish James for it, but he had very limited options on how to do that.
"Is something wrong, dear?" Molly, his wife, asked him.
"Yes. I want to punish James for the hill sliding incident, because he needs to learn that it is very dangerous and stupid, not to mention reckless."
"What are you going to do?" she asked him.
"I don't know yet, love." Gordon replied grouchily. He really needed a good idea on how to pay James out, but what? He didn't want to pay the Fat Controller out, as he felt that would be taking things too far. He wasn't allowed to ground James either, so he needed to do something else. It needed to have impact, and it needed to deter James from doing it again. Then, he had an idea. What if he staged a fake accident using hill sliding? If he showed James how dangerous it was, he might stop doing it.
"I have an idea on how to stop James from doing it again!" He announced grandly.
"What is it, Gordon?" Molly asked him curiously.
"We punish James by staging a hill sliding accident!" He exclaimed.
"Are you sure that will work?" Molly asked curiously.
"I'm sure!" Her husband boasted. "After all, it can't go wrong as long as we check it over."
"Well, alright. If you're sure it will work, I'll help you." Molly decided.
"Thanks love." Gordon said. "I appreciate it."
"You're welcome, darling. So what do you want to be done?"
"Well, I've decided to have Edward supervise things at Wellsworth, so as to make things less suspicious. I shall get the Fat Controller to take a goods train to Vicarstown from Tidmouth this afternoon and at precisely 4:18 PM, I'll have Percy slide down the hill, only to act seemingly out of control with some Troublesome Trucks!"
"It does sound like it would work, Gordon. But I have one slight alteration I would like to make." Molly said.
"Yes, what is it, honey?" Gordon asked tenderly.
The yellow Hamilton hesitated. "Well, I was thinking that I could help with Percy's stunt. It would help him, and if anything goes wrong, I can step in."
"Ah, that is indeed an excellent idea!" Gordon boomed. "I admire an engine with common sense, and it appears that I have married one with very astute common sense indeed!"
"Thank you. We should tell them,"
"Indeed."
...
So they set off, and they told Edward and Percy about the plan. Percy was alright to do it as long as Molly definitely could help, though Edward was less keen.
"Are you sure that will work?" He asked, worriedly. "It does sound dangerous."
"Well, that is why we are teaching James a lesson," Gordon said. "To warn him of the danger of hill sliding- besides, you will be at Wellsworth, so if anything does indeed go wrong, you can go and get help."
"Alright then, if you're sure." Edward conceded, though he still had a feeling that something would go wrong...
...
Meanwhile, later that afternoon, James was taking the train, which was some fuel tankers, to Vicarstown. He grumbled all the all.
"It's not fair! These tankers are filthy!"
"They are also dangerous." His fireman reminded him. "You better be careful going up Gordon's Hill."
"Alright, alright already- I know that!" The red engine grumbled, and he moved on.
Meanwhile, at the top of the hill, Molly and Percy were waiting with the trucks. They were, unfortunately, filled with timber destined for the docks. This had not been expected, but Hiro had taken ill, so they were the next best options.
"Are you sure we can do this, mum?" Percy asked her nervously.
"Of course we can!" Molly said brightly, though deep down, she was very nervous. "We'll do our best, and remember- Edward's at the bottom of the hill."
But, unluckily for the two engines, the trucks didn't know what they were planning and agreed on a plan to push Percy and Molly down the hill as soon as they started on their way again.
They didn't have to wait long.
Once the two slowly moved over the hill, the trucks rudely pushed them down, catching them off guard.
"Percy, hang on!" Molly gasped, as she tried to apply her brakes, but the trucks simply forced her on. Percy tried to chip in, but his efforts were also in vain.
The two engines blew their whistles frantically, hoping for someone to help them – and that was when Percy saw that James was heading from the opposite direction- straight towards them!
...
James saw his mother and youngest brother rolling down the hill at top speed, and they were terrified- especially when they realised that he was carrying fuel tankers.
The red engine knew that he had to do something, but what? His trucks were too dangerous to handle impact.
Then he decided to try something dangerous – he'll uncouple from his tankers, and allow the guard to stop the train. The guard's van had been fitted by air brakes, meaning that it could brake easily without James.
So once the fireman had uncoupled the train, James blew his whistle to let Edward know to collect the fuel trucks, which the guard had stopped through the brake van.
Meanwhile, James raced up the hill towards his relatives and slowed down right in front of them.
Molly and Percy could do nothing, but they didn't need to- as James had slowed both engines right down to a stop.
Percy could feel his older brother shaking madly. He couldn't blame him- he'd been scared too, as had Molly.
...
Much later, James was congratulated for saving Molly and Percy from having a nasty accident, but he was also reminded that fuel trains were dangerous, and he was lucky that nothing had happened.
Once he left, Gordon felt ashamed.
"I'm sorry Molly and Percy- I hadn't expected that to happen- I know that trucks are troublesome, but I thought you would find it easier if they were empty..."
"It's alright, Gordon." Molly sighed. "It wasn't your fault."
"Thanks for saving us James!" Percy peeped happily.
"Yes, thank you James." Molly added sincerely, smiling at her sons.
"Well, it was no problem at all!" James boasted. "Though I realise why you did it, and I don't ever want to hill slide again!"
With that, everyone cheered over the turn of events. The next morning, Gordon was given a goods train whilst James took the Express, and whilst he wasn't happy about it, he did feel that it had been justified.