Thomas, Percy and Duck fired away from Knapford station and along the amin line. Spencer was out in front quite quickly, with Gordon and Henry in hot pursuit. Daisy, Diesel, 'Arry, Bert and many other diesels were trailing behind the others, just like Thomas had predicted. He Duck and Percy were at the front of the middle section of the race, just behind Murdoch and in front of James, who had loaded his tender too full, so it was acting as a weight, pulling him back. Then the engines began to climb Gordon's hill.

Gordon's hill had been splashed with oil to make it difficult to climb. Most of the engines went shooting up, only to slip back down again. Thomas went up, then slid back down, then shot up the hill faster than a speeding bullet. He cleared the top and hurtled down the other side, Percy and Duck behind him. Thomas looked along the line, and saw Gordon and Henry at the coaling station. Spencer had obviously gone on ahead without stopping. "Arrogant" muttered Thomas. He arrived at the coaling station, and saw Gordon and Henry disappearing into a tunnel.

He soon had full tanks and a full bunker. Percy and Duck arrived, and Duck remarked how fast Spencer was. "Still doesn't beat City of Truro" he said, happy that his famous friend was not beaten. "You're right there" said Percy. "I'm ready, let's go!

The three friends shot into the tunnel. This tunnel was dark, and very bendy. Every few seconds, the engines swerved round another corner. Once Duck nearly came off the rails, but just saved himself. At last, they burst into daylight, panting.

Duck stopped at a water tower to have a drink. He soon caught up to Thomas and Percy. Then the rain began to set in. "This could mean trouble" said Duck. "Hmm, yes" agreed Percy. Thomas agreed too.

The rain poured down on their boilers. "Was this worse than taking Annie and Clarabel into that flood?" Thomas asked Percy. Percy just grunted. He did not like being reminded of his own incidents.

By the time the engines had reached the third coaling station, puddles were everywhere. The three tank engines were worried. The next part of the race went through some very low-lying parts of the island. Sure enough, there were large pools covering the tracks. Gordon was sitting in one, obviously unable to move. Percy had taken the lead, with Duck behind him and Thomas behind Duck. Instead of taking the track next to Gordon's Percy headed for a ramp. There was one on the other side of the puddle too. "This was installed for the Sodor Olympics in 2012. We missed out and the Olympics went to London instead" he had explained earlier. Now, as Percy went up the ramp and over onto the other side he called "Hi Gordon, Bye Gordon!" in a cheeky way. Gordon grunted.

The tank engines jumped the first puddle without too much trouble, only Thomas almost missed the ramp on the other side. In the second pond stood Henry. He looked very glum. "Hi Henry. Bye Henry!" said Duck as he went through the puddle, splattering Henry with dirty water. "Quack quack" muttered Henry.

At the last coaling stage before the finish, Thomas took the lead, leaving Duck behind Percy. As they climbed the big hill before the Docks, they saw a white object hissing. "What on Sodor is that?" asked Duck as he switched onto a track next to Thomas's track. "No idea" replied Thomas. Percy switched onto a track beside Duck. "I don't know either" he said. "We'll find out soon enough". And they did. As they came round the front of it, they saw it was….. Spencer!

"So you couldn't keep going on ordinary supplies?!" chucked Duck as the tank engines rolled past Spencer. "Of course not!" grunted Spencer indignantly. "Be quiet Great Western!". "Well, I don't know what you do over there, but I always said we Great Westerners were better than you North Easterners" said Duck innocently. "Goodbye!" The tank engines puffed up the hill. But when they reached the top, they got a terrible shock.

"Tricked you!" said Spencer, and he raced down the hill towards the finishing line. "We have to beat him! Said Thomas, Percy and Duck together. The three smiled at each other, and pumping their pistons hard, they shot down the hill and tremendous speed.

Duck, Thomas and Percy were puffing harder than they could imagine, but Spencer was still out in front. But as they puffed harder, Spencer moved a little closer. "We're gaining!" Duck shouted, but nobody heard him. With one last great effort, the three engines raced past Spencer and over the finishing line. They had won.

Later, all the engines except Spencer had reached the Docks. Spencer had gone off and sulked. He hadn't even crossed the line. "And the winner of the Sodor Race is….." boomed the Fat Controller, "A three-way tie between Thomas, Percy and Duck". Everybody clapped and cheered, and all the engines honked their horn s or blew their whistles, happy that the result was different from the past few years. As the Fat Controller read out the other positions, Thomas, Percy and Duck all smiled at each other. "Friendship isn't just helping each other" said Thomas. "It's sharing a good race position with your friends".