Oliver the Great Western engine enjoys pulling his autocoaches, Isabel and Dulcie. They were built to go with each other because they can perform a special feature. Whenever they need to make a return journey, instead of turning around or running to the other end of the train, Oliver can just push his coaches back the way they came.

They can do this because autocoaches, like Isabel and Dulcie, have controls that allow engines, like Oliver, to be driven from both ends. This helps save time and helps keep them on schedule. Oliver can even take the coaches while being a middle engine. While the three can do this very well, there are a few things that can throw them off and that doesn't suit the passengers.

If anything goes wrong, there will be usually one passenger complaining to the driver, engine, guard, or even someone else such as a station master or even Sir Topham Hatt. Whoever does it, the engine and coaches agree that it's something they want to avoid.

One afternoon, Oliver was waiting with Isabel and Dulcie at the Arlesburgh West station platform. Rex puffed in, looking rather annoyed. "What's the matter?" Isabel asked.

"One of Willy's sheep ran onto the line," the little tender engine said. "Most of the passengers were angry, but they understood. Except for one." Rex looked over to a family of three.

The father wore a gray fedora that was the same color as his suit. There was a young boy in a yellow shirt and blue shorts, looking rather bored. Then there was the mother; she had short blonde hair, a white blouse, a broomstick skirt, sandals, and earrings. She looked very annoyed.

"How are engine likes this suppose to keep to the time?" she questioned.

"Calm down Sandra," the man said. "They made up for the lost time."

"Which was just rough." She gave a frustrated sigh before she held her son's hand and got on board Dulcie.

"Good luck you three," Rex said. "You're going to need." Oliver was a little worried, but he and his coaches had handle grumpy passengers before. The guard blew his whistle and they pulled out of the station.

The journey went along well until Dulcie felt something moving around inside of her quite fast. "What's going on?" she questioned.

"Is something wrong?" Oliver asked.

"I'm not sure. Hopefully, the guard will take care of it."

Inside, the young boy was running up and down the corridor, irritating some of the passengers, except for the boy's mother. The guard walked over to the mother hoping to sort this problem out. "Ma'am, could you please tell your child to stop?" he asked.

"He's just a child," Sandra responded. "He can't help it."

"He's disrupting most of the passengers. It's incredibly likely he'll..." The guard fell over once the young man collided with him. "...Run into someone."

The man in the suit and fedora sighed. "I'll keep him under control," he said. He helped the guard up and sat his son down. The guard walked back to his position while the boy was starting to get bored. He began kicking his seat, which annoyed the man sitting in front of him and Dulcie.

When Oliver stopped at Bluff's Cove, the man who was in the seat that was being kicked complained to the guard while the mother looked for something in the station's shop to keep her son entertained. "That woman's son was kicking my seat," the autocoach spoke to the other ones in the train.

"Did you hear what the guard said?" Isabel asked.

"The boy ran into him, but I think his father will keep him under control."

"I sure hope so," Oliver said. Soon, it was time to go again. Oliver started pulling away when he felt the brakes slam on. "What's going on?"

"Some's pulled the emergency cable," Dulcie cried. Soon the woman on board stormed out of Dulcie and ran into the station's shop. She soon returned with her purse.

"Okay, now we can go," she said while getting back on board. The engine and coaches weren't pleased.

"That's not a big enough emergency for the cable to be pulled," Isabel said.

"No, it sure isn't," Oliver agreed. He blew his whistle and started off properly this time. When they got to Tidmouth, everything seemed fine. The guard had gotten out to help an old lady get onto the platform. While he did that, the young man decided to look around the yard.

Toby was shunting a brake van up to some empty stone trucks. He was just going to get Henrietta, Victoria, and Elsie the boy decided to see what was in the van. He was about to climb on board until he heard... "What are you doing?!" The voice had come from Toby's driver, who jumped down from the tram's cab and ran over to the boy.

Knowing he was in trouble, the boy ran off back to the platform and disappeared into the crowd before Toby's driver could catch him. The guard blew his whistle and Oliver puffed away before the driver could stop them as the driver went to talk with the station master about what he saw.

When the auto train was heading back, Oliver stopped at Haultraugh again. As his passengers disembarked the station master talked with his crew and the guard. "What seems to be the matter?" the driver asked.

"I've got word from Toby's crew that there was a child trying to get into the brake van on their train," the station master explained.

"I was busy helping one of the passengers," the guard explained.

"We were checking on Oliver," the fireman explained.

"We didn't see anything either," Isabel added.

"Mind if we checking the passengers?" the station-master asked. The guard agreed and they checked with the passengers on the train. This prevented Oliver from leaving until everyone was checked on. When they were done, the autotrain was now six minutes late. Oliver tried to make up for a lost time, but his crew kept him to the speed limit as this could risk derailing the coaches.

When Oliver got back to Arlesburgh West, Mike was waiting for him. "Where have you been?" the red engine questioned.

"I was held back because some lady couldn't keep her child in control," Oliver stated.

"Oh, that's just great. Why do these people try and have something they clearly aren't capable of handling?"

"I don't know. I just hope that the father isn't as bad as his wife and son."

Oliver shunted his coaches into the sidings before heading over to the water tower. Donald was already there almost done filling up. "Awright, Oliver," the scott spoke. "Ah thought you'd be 'ere sooner? whit wis th' footer about?"

"A passenger that needs to take responsibility."

"Ah wouldn't worry aboot it. Surely they'll git whit's comin' tae thaim." Donald's tanks were full now, and he puffed out of the way so his friend could have a drink.

"I sure hope so."

Later that afternoon, Oliver took Isabel and Dulcie back to Tidmouth. They waited patiently for their passengers to get on when they heard something. "I don't want to!" whined a voice.

"Josh, you're going to do it whether you like or not," said another male's voice. Oliver looked and saw the three passengers that caused them problems walking towards his train. He wanted to leave early, but he knew the rest of the passengers wouldn't be happy.

Isabel and Dulcie were curious about what the boy was complaining about. Though, they knew it was going too long and annoying. Soon, the guard blew his whistle and the train started off. The boy, named Josh, was curious about Oliver pushing the train backward.

Things were going along nicely. The engine and coaches were enjoying themselves. Soon, they arrived at Haultraugh, the mother and child got off and took a look at what was inside the station, the father decided to stick around them.

They were taking a rather long time and then they heard the guard's whistle. Oliver started puffing out of the station without the family on board. "No, wait. STOP!" the mother cried. By the time she ran out onto the platform, Oliver was too far away to hear them. "That stupid engine. He ignored us!"

"Or maybe we just took too long and they didn't have to wait for us," the father sighed.

"I'm speaking to the station master." And that's just what she did. She went to make a complaint while the father went to get tickets for the next train.

Oliver didn't have any other trouble on the way back until they made it to their last stop. "Hmm, I guess they finally kept quiet," he commented.

"Who are you talking about?" Bert asked. He was delivering some fruit from the farms.

"Two of my passengers don't know proper manners. I think they finally learned." The Arlesburgh West station master walked over to Oliver's crew.

"Excuse me," he said, "I've been phone about some passengers being left behind.

"Really?" the driver asked. "There wasn't anybody left on the platform when we left."

"Apparently, a woman called out to you and you ignored her."

"I thought I saw someone run onto the platform," Oliver spoke.

"You did?" his crew asked.

"I think so. But we were running late from earlier and I didn't want to make us late again."

"Sir Topham Hatt isn't going to be happy about this," the station master said. "I'll let him know about this."

When Sir Topham Hatt was told what happened, he had a talk with Oliver at the sheds. "I understand if you misjudge a passenger on the platform," the controller said, "I just want you to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Yes sir, sorry sir," Oliver apologized. With their conversation done, Sir Topham Hatt drove away in Winston.

"It's an honest mistake," Duck commented.

"But she got off at the station. I thought that was their stop."

"Urr ye sure ye ken everything?" Donald asked, "Ye did say this passenger wasn't yin o' th' nicest."

"That might be true. The details she gave might've been a little vague."

"Mibbie ye cuid ask that man wis wi' that woman 'n' child," Douglas suggested.

"He didn't us or any of our passengers any trouble from what I could tell. Next time I see him, I think I'll ask."

This would come sooner than Oliver would think. The very next day, he could see the man with the woman and child again. While his wife and son got on board, the man went to talk with Oliver. "Excuse me," he said, "My son was curious about how you pushed your coaches."

"Oh, really?" the engine asked.

"Yes. He wants to know how you see where you're going."

"I was built to take autotrains." And Oliver explained how an autotrain worked.

"Ah, I'll have to tell Josh." He was about to walk away, but Oliver stopped her.

"Sir, hold on! Can I ask you something?"

"What would it be?"

"I've been told I left you and your family behind at Haultraugh. I'm sorry about that."

"It's alright. Sandra was keeping us too busy in the station and when she was nearly done I guess it was time to leave. I tried to tell her, but she was too angry to listen. We caught a bus and..." The man paused when he looked towards the clock. "I think I'll explain the rest later." He quickly got onboard Dulcie with his family before the guard blew his whistle.

Oliver set off, interested in what the man was talking about. At each station, the man explained his part of the story. He explained that Sandra had exaggerated bits of the story after they caught a bus. Every chance she got, she blamed Oliver and his crew for ignoring them. With every bit of information explain, the Great Western engine got crosser and crosser.

After stopping at Tidmouth, the man kept an eye on Sandra to make sure she didn't cause trouble while she held their son's hand. Josh was starting getting bored again. He was amazed at how autotrains work and he looked towards Dulcie. Her guard had walked off to MC Bun with the driver and fireman to grab something to eat.

Sandra was wanting to speak with Sir Topham Hatt about ideas she had, but the station master said he was busy elsewhere. Unable to accept that, she began complaining about the railway not accommodating for people like her.

"If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have a job," she said.

"Sandra, would you please calm down," her husband begged. "The man's just doing his job."

"Well, he's not doing a very good job." With the couple starting to argue with each other, they failed to keep an eye on Josh. The young man began to walk towards Isabel. She, Duclie, and Oliver were resting and didn't notice the boy getting on board.

"Oh, I didn't think he'd be back this soon," Isabel said. "Why is he in my cab?" She had mistaken for who was in her cab. Seeing the controls, Josh started fiddling around. Isabel was confused but soon there a loud "SNAP." Oliver could soon feel his wheel starting to move, forwards.

"Hang on, what's going on?" he questioned. It was one thing to start so soon, but they didn't move forward from Tidmouth. Then Dulcie could see the driver, fireman, and guard running over to stop them. They were unable to reach them. Then there was a whistle.

Neville was coming in with a slow goods train. He had already been signaled through when he saw Oliver. He tried to brake, but his trucks pushed him on. Oliver tried to stop, but something had jammed. He shut his eyes as he crashed into one of Neville's vans.

He was now derailed as his crew ran into his cab and shut off steam. "Oliver, what were you doing?" the goods engine questioned.

"Something went wrong with my controls," the tank engine explained.

"Someone was in my cab," Isabel explained.

"Did you see who it was?" the guard asked.

"I thought I saw something," Dulcie said, "I couldn't make it out though." The guard inspected Isabel's cab and could see the controls had been damaged. They were jammed on from being fiddled with and there was also a small shoe sitting on the floor.

"I'm pretty sure we found a clue."

"That looks like a child's shoe," the fireman commented.

"A child?" Oliver questioned. Then he became furious. "Where's Josh?"

"Who?" Neville questioned. They then saw a man walking towards them while tugging his son by his arm and Sandra following them.

"Excuse me, sirs," the man said, "You wouldn't happen to have a spare shoe, would you?" The guard showed him what they found in Isabel's cab. The man looked down at his son. "Josh, is there something you're not telling us?"

"This is a big station," Sandra spoke. "He could've lost his shoe anywhere."

"You mean the shoe right here?" the guard asked.

"That could be any shoe."

"Ma'am, your son caused this accident," Oliver said.

"Lies! Josh could never do such a thing!"

"Like how he was trying to play with Toby's brake van?"

"He could never do such a thing!"

"Sandra, I've had enough of your lying," the man said. "You always blame others for your irresponsibility. I've made some mistakes in my past but I at least at the decency to admit my mistakes, unlike you, where you just scream at people who are just doing their job!"

The driver and fireman looked at each other feeling like they shouldn't get involved. "Why would Josh ever do something like this?"

"Because you never told him that life has consequences!" The argument was starting to grab the attention of the passengers, staff, and some of the engines. Eventually, Sir Topham Hatt had to get involved.

"What is the meaning of this?" he questioned.

"These men are trying to steal our mon..." Sandra was interrupted by her husband.

"Shut it!" he ordered. "Sir, I can't apologize enough for my wife's behavior. I'm partly to blame as well. We should've kept a better eye on our son." Sir Topham Hatt was furious about this and had the police involved. They began to question the family and staff questions as Daisy arrived to take Dulcie and the passenger back to the Little Western.

Oliver was being loaded onto a flatbed so he and Isabel could be taken to the works. Just Belle coupled up to them, the man looked towards the damaged engine. "I'm very sorry," he said. Oliver simply smiled as he was pulled away.


He and Isabel weren't too damaged and returned to work the next day. While taking on passengers, Oliver could see the same man from the day before. The engine didn't know what to say as the man looked pretty guilty. Fortunately, the man spoke first.

"Hello again Oliver," he said. "I'm hoping you're willing to forgive me for what happened."

"It's not your fault," the Great Western reassured. "I'm just hoping that woman learns to treat your son better."

"Sandra won't be watching him. Because of her refusing to admit her neglect, she's lost custody of him. Hopefully, in my care, he should be a well behaved young man."

"I hope so too. Thank you for standing up."

"I only hoped I did it sooner. Well, I hope you have a good day now."

"You too sir."

"Please, call me Austin." Austin soon boarded the train just as the guard blew the whistle. Oliver soon set off, happy to know that he would have less trouble from his passengers.