Here's episode 11, this episode will be longer than normal and the next might be even longer, so it'll all take a while to get out but it'll be worth the wait, with that all aside, i hope you enjoy this!, (:

Douglas was cross, ever since his incident with the Circus train after losing one of the Elephants, James would never let him hear the end of it.

"Keep you trucks in check today Douglas!" James chortled as he passed by, "We don't need any more animals running around the railway".

"Dinna forget your bootlaces today James!" Douglas shot back, leaving the red engine scowling, the trucks meanwhile, just threw insults and laughs at James for his comment.

The two engines were becoming a right hassle, so much so that the other engines would voice their concerns when both engines were busy else where.

"It would drive you off the rails trying to listen to those two" Gordon scoffed, "Their like an old married couple".

"Have you tried talking to Douglas about the arguements Donald?" Alyssa asked.

"Ach, believe me i've tried, but Dougie ain't giving up, not surpising considering James's non-stop heckling".

Edward, who was in the sheds at the time, voiced his opinion.

"There's only so much we all can do, if the two can't get along, i'll speak to the Fat Director about it, but until then i want you three to try and keep the peace" said Edward, he couldn't always be around with his branchline to run and hoped the others would keep tempers low.

Gordon sniffed, "We're not soldiers Edward" as he puffed off, "I'm far to busy to babysit".

Edward glanced over to Donald and Alyssa who gave him comforting smiles, "We'll handle it if anything gets out of hand" said Alyssa.

Edward let out a thankful sigh, "Thank you, i've been very busy as of late with teaching the new tank engine the ropes".

"How's the wee lad getting on?" asked Donald.

"He's only been built about a year ago, so he's very young sort but quite mature for his age and works very hard, but he can be very-, um" Edward paused, considering his words, "Proud of his heritage, talks endlessly about it, which can led to him nitpicking certain things".

"What railway did he come from?" asked Alyssa.

Before Edward reply, his driver and fireman came to start work and he had to leave.

"Oh, im sorry you two, i must get going, i'll tell you's later" Edward said as he puffed out of the sheds.

The two engines watched him go and soon set off shortly after him to continue their work.

Meanwhile, James was resting in Knapford Yards, he had just finished pulling his morning local train and was now resting under the sun until his next passenger train which was due in 20 minutes, but that was soon to change.

The Yard Master came running up to his crew with bad news for James.

"A goods train from Brendam Docks is needed to get to Crovan's Gate urgently, Thomas has been delayed with his passengers and won't have time to take it so you'll need to take it for him" said the Yard Master.

James spluttered in surprise, "B-b-but, im needed here, who's gonna take my next train?!".

"Alyssa will cover for you, now the arrangements have been made, chop chop!" called the Yard Master as he hurried away.

"Come on old boy, it's only trucks, the sooner we get it done, the sooner you can get back to pulling coaches" said his Driver.

James grumbled crossly as he began to make his way to Thomas's branchline, he hadn't forgotten his accident he had on Edward's and was not to keen to be returning to a branchline again.

Soon he arrived at Brendam Docks, his trucks lay in a siding, he noticed a very tired Thomas sitting by one of the ocean liners as his passengers left his coaches.

He grumbled to himself as he banged into his trucks, "Oh!, oh!" they groaned, "Shut up you lot, let's go!, no nonsense!" James huffed as he waited for the shunter to couple him up.

James snorted off as soon as the Guard blew his whistle, he bumped the trucks hard as he left the docks.

The trucks were getting tired of James's constant bumps, "Let's pay him out when we get to the junction" the lead truck giggled. He began to whisper his plan to the other trucks.

James was puffing hard as he made his way along the branchline, his Driver was concerned, James was being very ruff and his boiler pressure was shooting up.

"Easy James" said his Driver sternly, "Just take it easy and keep calm".

James mumbled out a reply as he continued on.

Up ahead was the junction to the Branchline, one set of tracks went off to the right leading to Thomas's branchline while the other tracks continued on straight to the rest of the Mainline.

A signalbox lay just at the junction in order to change the points so trains would run on the right lines, however it's levers were old and stiff, which the poor Signalman found out.

He heard James's whistle in the distance and went to pull the lever to change the points, but it wouldn't budge.

He tried and tried again with all his might, but it would move. He quickly went to set the signal up the branch to danger.

Unfortunately he had changed it too late as James had passed by the signal, neither he or his crew saw it, but the trucks did and took their chance.

The Signalman soon heard the sound of James's approaching and ran out of his box to try and warn him, he waved and shouted frantically as James came around the corner.

James saw the Signalman ahead and than the points set againest him, "OH NO!, STOP!, STOP!" he cried in horror, the trucks ignored his warnings and began to shove James along.

"GO ON!, GO ON!" they yelled, as they knocked James's Driver and Fireman off the footplate.

James tried his best to hold them back, but it was too late, he shut his eyes tight as he felt his wheels come off the rails and a loud crashing noise was heard, followed by the sound of splitered wood and groaning metal.

When James opened his eyes, he found himself inside the remains of what was the signalbox, bits of broken wood and levers lay scattered across his front, his trucks lay behind him, toppled on their sides laughing like hyenas.

James's crew ran over to check if he was alright while the Guard ran up to Wellsworth for help.

The Signalman stormed up crossly to James and pointed at him.

"You stupid engine!, just look at what you've done to my lovely box!" he said with rage as he stared at the remains.

James just looked at his buffers in disgrace.

"Calm down man" said the Fireman, "The trucks pushed us off the footplate, there was nothing else we could do".

Donald soon arrived with the Breakdown Train to help clean up the mess, he also brought with him The Fat Director, who didn't look happy.

Once James was pulled out of the box, he went to speak with him.

"Now James, while the points failure wasn't your fault, your Driver tells me you bumped the trucks hard enough to nearly break the couplings" he said sternly, "I would have hoped by now you'd learned to control you tempure".

"Yes Sir, sorry Sir" James said sadly.

"You most go to works to be repaired, your damages aren't to bad so they should only take around 2 weeks, i hope in that time you will learn to be more careful" said The Fat Director.

"Yes Sir" James replied as The Fat Director walked away.

While James was at the works, the other engines had to manage his workload, Gordon complained bitterly about this, Douglas didn't care, he was to busy laughing over James's incident, Donald and Alyssa were near their wits end.

On top their extra workload, there was another problem that the big engines had to face, the turntable at Vicarstown.

Turntables are a very important part of any railway, they are there so the big engines can be turned round, because it is dangerous for them to run fast backwards.

Tank engines like Thomas don't need turntables as they can go just as well backwards as forwards.

But to hear Gordon talk, you would've thought the reason The Fat Director gave him a tender, what to show just how important he was.

One day he was at Wellsworth with the Express, Thomas was sitting on the other line with his local stopping service, Gordon had just finished telling him about the recent events and was now complaining about his and the others treatment.

"You don't understand little Thomas" Gordon said grandly, "We tender engines have a position to keep up, it doesn't matter where you go, but we are important. And for the Fat Director to have us shunt trucks, fetch coaches and take James's dirty goods trains, well it's-, well it's not the proper thing".

Thomas just chuckled and ran off with his coaches, Gordon puffed away grandly, still complaining.

Once he made it to Vicarstown, Gordon was uncoupled from the Express to get turned round for the return journey.

"It's shameful" Gordon said gravely as he backed down onto the turntable.

The turntable was in a windy place close to the sea and if he was not on it just right, he'd put it out of balance, making it difficult to turn.

Today Gordon was in a bad temper and the wind was blowing fiercely, his driver tried to make him stop in the right place, but Gordon wasn't trying.

The driver got out to try and turn the handle, but Gordon's weight and the strong winds prevented it.

"It's no good" his Driver said at last, "Your tender upsets the balance, if you were a nice tank engine you'd be all right, now you'll have to pull your next train backwards".

Gordon's face fell, he sulked dreadfully as he went to the platform and picked up his coaches, people looked on curiously, some even laughed, Gordon said nothing throughout the whole journey as he was embrassed.

By the time he reached Elsbridge, he was the center of attention and not in the way he wanted.

"Look!" called some boys, "There's a new tank engine!, oh wait it's only Gordon back to front".

"Hello there Gordon" called Thomas, "Playing tank engine?, sensible engine, take my advice, scrap you tender and have a nice bunker!".

Gordon said nothing and just let off steam in a huff.

Douglas passed by with a passenger train and thought it a great joke.

"Take care" warned Gordon, "You might stick too".

"No" chuckled Douglas, "Im not so fat as you" he laughed as he carried on, he thought Gordon and James's inccidents a great joke, but he wasn't to be left out as fate would have it.

"I musten stick myself" Douglas thought as he arrived at the next station.

He was uncoupled from his train and made his way over to the sheds, where he then puffed onto the turntable.

Gordon had just arrived back with the Express just in time to see Douglas's driver turn the handle.

Douglas was much lighter than Gordon so he could turn round easily, too easily unfortunately as due to his lighter weight, the wind begun to spun him round like a top, he couldn't stop.

"HELP ME!, LOSH SAKES HELP!" he cried as he counted to spin, Gordon was in hysterics and couldn't stop laughing.

After what felt like ages, the wind died down and Douglas stopped, his vision was all blurry and he hardly see straight.

"Well, Well" chuckled Gordon, "Are you playing round-a-bouts?".

Poor Douglas who felt quite kiddy scuttled off to the sheds without another word, his face was as green as his paint and he looked awfully pale.

That night, Gordon, James and Douglas all had an indignation meeting in the sheds while the others were away.

"It's shameful to treat us tender engines like this" they said crossly, "Gordon has to pull his trains backwards and people think he's a tank engine. James is asked to go on branchlines because Thomas can't keep to time and has an accident. Douglas spins round like a top and everyone laughs at him".

"And to top it all off" Gordon finished, "The Fat Director still refuses to get a station pliot and makes us go on dirty sidings, bleugh!".

The engines agreed that something must be done, "Listen" said Gordon, "I've an idea" and he whispered it to the others.

James was all for it while Douglas was slightly sceptical, "Are ya sure this will work?" he asked.

"Douglas my dear engine, this is the only way we can get the message out, would you rather being overworked?, or having our demands met?" Gordon asked convicingly.

Douglas was still mixed on the matter but soon agreed to the plan, "Alright fine" he said at last.

"Excellent" said Gordon, "We'll do it tomorrow, The Fat Director will look silly.

The next morning, The Fat Director was having breakfast, he was eating toast and marmalade and his wife had just given him some more coffee, his son Charles sat opposite to him, getting ready for his football practise.

"Try not to ruin your clothes any worse than last time Charles" Lady Hatt said to her son, "It took me days to get the muck off them".

"I will Ma, i will" Charles replied, he then turned to his dad, "Hey dad".

"Yes?" The Fat Director said as he opened the newspaper and began to read.

"When im done with practise, can i-".

"Yes, you can" The Fat Director laughed, Charles was refering to him taking him to see the engines, he enjoyed talking to them, he sometimes would go to the sheds at the end of the day and help clean the engines after a hard days work.

Charles's eyes lit up, despite him being 16, he always loved the chance to go with his Dad to work.

Before he could say anything else, the butler came in.

"Excuse me Sir?" the Butler said to the Fat Director, "But you are wanted on the telephone".

"Bother that telephone!" said The Fat Director, it always rung whenever he was eating, he got up and picked up the phone, "Hello?".

"Bertram!, oh thank christ, you need to get to Knapford now!" it was Ted, his assistant, his voice was almost drown out by the sounds of shouts and complains.

"What going on up there!?" The Fat Director asked confused.

"There's trouble in the sheds Sir" he said, "Douglas is sulking, there's no train and the passengers are saying what a bad railway it is and are demanding to speak to The Fat Controller!".

The Fat Director chuckled a bit at this, his "nickname" was becoming more common and honestly, he didn't mind the name.

But now wasn't the time for that, he quickly grabbed his hat and coat and turned to his wife.

"Im sorry my dear" he said to his wife, "There's trouble in the sheds and i must go at once.

Before Mrs Hatt or Charles could say anything, the Fat Director ran out the door and scrambled into his car.

He quickly drove over to sheds, where he found Gordon, James and Douglas in the sheds.

He strode over to them with a unamused look on his face.

"Come along Douglas, it's time your train is ready" he said sternly.

"Douglas isn't going" said Gordon, "We won't shunt like common tank engines, that was Thomas's job, we are important tender engines, you fetch are coaches and we will pull them, tender engines don't shut".

"Oh indeed" said The Fat Director, "We'll see about that, engines on my railway do as their told" and he hurried away to find Edward.

He sighed heavily as he got in his car, "The yard has never been the same since Thomas left to run his branchline" he thought.

He soon made his way up to Tidmouth, where found Edward and the new tank engine he'd bought talking in the sheds.

"Ready for work today?" Edward asked him.

The engine smiled, "Yes indeed, this time i promise not to be too fussy over my Great Western Way, thank you for helping me yesterday Edward".

"That's alright" Edward smiled.

The Fat Director quickly hurried over to the sheds.

"Good morning Sir" said Edward, "Is something wrong?".

"Gordon, James and Douglas are on strike, saying they won't shunt like tank engines, so i need someone to run the yards for a few days, can you do it Edward?".

"Of course Sir" Edward replied, he looked slightly worried, "I had a feeling that those three might do something like this with all that's happened as of recent".

"That's a good engine" he then turned to the tank engine.

"I trust you can manage the brancline while Edward is away Duck?" said The Fat Director.

Duck beamed, "Of course i can Sir, i'll try my best".

Soon Edward's crew lot his fire and Edward puffed away to the sheds, he was in for one hell of a day, but i mustn't say anymore or i shall spoil the next story.