James spent several days at the Steamworks whilst his repairs took place. He couldn't stop thinking about what the Fat Controller had said about taking away his red paint.

"Cheer up, James." said Kevin. "We'll have you back to work in no time."

"I know, but what color will I be?" James worried.

"Calm down, my friend." soothed Victor. "Repainting you is the last thing we'll do before you leave, so try to be patient."

"When I was young, the Fat Controller said he would have me painted blue if I didn't behave. Do you think he's forgotten about that?"

Victor sighed. "I'd worry more about being more careful so that you don't have any more accidents."

That night, as James slept, he began to dream anxiously about being repainted.

Thomas and Emily gasped as James puffed into Knapford Station.

"James? Is that you?" exclaimed Thomas.

"Of course it is." replied James. "Who else would it be?"

"Well, I couldn't tell with your new paintwork…" said Emily.

James looked back in horror to see a coat of NWR blue with red stripes.

"Oh no, I'm blue! I look just like Thomas!"

"Me?" laughed Thomas. "I thought you were Edward when you came in!"

Just then, Henry pulled into the station with Gordon in tow. Gordon was coughing and sputtering.

"What's the matter with Gordon?" James asked.

"He's come down with a severe case of boiler ache," Henry replied, "so I'm taking him to the works on my goods train. The Fat Controller wants you to take the express while he's away."

James was delighted.

"Me? Really?"

"Well you certainly look like an express engine now." remarked Henry, observing James' new paintwork.

James was flattered. Gordon, however, wasn't impressed.

"Fancy trying to look like me, little James." he retorted between coughs. "Try not to bump the coaches."

James just sneered back at Gordon. Soon, James was coupled to the express coaches and set off down the main line. To his surprise, the coaches felt much lighter than usual, and they glided along with ease.

"Pulling the express has never been this easy before!" he chuckled. "I can go as fast as I want!"

James was going so fast that he crossed the whole island in what felt like minutes. He rocketed through Vicarstown station, past a very surprised Spencer.

"Where do you think you're going? The express terminates here!"

"I'm going all the way to London!" laughed James giddily.

But as he approached the Vicarstown bridge, he gasped in horror to see that the drawbridge was up. He braked hard, but was going too fast to stop.

"Oh no!" he cried, shutting his eyes just before the collision.

James suddenly awoke panicking back on the hoist in the Steamworks.

"It was just a dream…" he panted.

"You alright there, James?" asked a workman inspecting his undercarriage.

"I'm fine...just a bad dream."

Just then, James noticed Henry through the window, passing by with the Flying Kipper. He noticed that the train was longer than usual, but Henry seemed to have no trouble with the extra weight. James took a deep breath and shut his eyes, already beginning to fall back asleep. But he began to dream again…

James entered the shunting yard to find Stanley and Percy shunting iron flatbeds into a long train. The tank engines gasped when they saw James.

"James?" exclaimed Stanley.

"You look like me!" remarked Percy.

"What are you talking about?" sniffed James.

He looked back and gasped himself to find he had been painted green with red stripes.

"I'm green?"

"Whatever happened to your signature red paint?" asked Percy.

"Never mind that, Percy." said Stanley. "Henry's been held up at the docks, so James needs to take this heavy goods train to Vicarstown."

"A goods train? Ugh…" complained James.

"You're the only engine available. Fat Controller's orders." ordered Stanley.

James looked down the long line of iron flatbeds awaiting him and winced.

"How am I supposed to pull all this? Henry's much stronger than I am."

"You've pulled trains just as heavy as the ones Henry pulls. This will be nothing to you, James!" encouraged Percy.

James just groaned as he was coupled to the train. But to his surprise, he got the train moving quite easily as he pulled out of the yard.

"Maybe being green makes me stronger…" thought James.

Soon, he was making good time up the line. As he approached Gordon's Hill, he noticed Rosie struggling up the gradient with a stone train. James smirked and increased his speed.

"Look at me go, Roise! Who needs to be red when you can be strong and green like Henry?"

"You best slow down at the top!" panted Rosie. "You wouldn't want to careen down the hill and crash again!"

But James just laughed at her warning.

"Whoo-hoo!" he laughed as he sped down the other side.

Suddenly, he noticed Edward with a train of tankers at the bottom of the hill ahead on his line. He applied his brakes, but his heavy train pushed him on.

"Look out, Edward!" he cried.

Edward looked back and gasped in horror.

"James! Slow down!"

"I can't!"

James slid down the hill with his brakes screeching madly, but was still picking up speed.

"Oh no, oh no, oh NO!" he wailed just before smashing into the brake van.

James awoke in fright again to find himself still in the Steamworks.

"Not another bad dream…" he fumed. "I don't think I'll be getting any more sleep tonight."

"Having trouble sleeping, James?" came a voice.

James looked back to see Kevin sitting in his rest area.

"Yeah...two nightmares in a row." muttered James.

"I'm really sorry to hear that." sympathized Kevin. "Whenever I have a bad dream, I usually just think happy thoughts until I fall asleep again."

"Happy thoughts?"

"Yeah, I usually think of the days when I've had a lot of fun." went on Kevin. "For instance, one of my happiest days is when I got to go outside during a blizzard and play in the snow! Well, until, I ended up getting buried and Victor had come looking for me…"

Kevin's rambling went on for so long that James ended up falling back asleep listening to them. But unfortunately, his nightmares were far from over…

James found himself pulling up to the Duke and Duchess of Boxford's summer house with Spencer's special coaches in tow.

"Ah, James. Just the engine we've been looking for." said the Duke. "It's awfully generous of Sir Topham to loan you to us while Spencer is being repaired."

"He even went so far as to have you painted this lovely shade of silver!" remarked the Duchess.

"Silver?" gasped James. He looked back to see his shiny new coat of silver paint. For once, he was delighted by his new color.

"Oh yes, now this is what I call looking splendid!"

The Duke and Duchess boarded the coaches, and James set off with a newfound sense of importance. He gathered up speed once he reached the mainline, and was soon going so fast that he was a mere silver streak. He saw Gordon up ahead with the express.

"Hey, Gordon! Don't I look marvelous?" he laughed as he rocketed past.

Gordon was furious.

"Stop showing off! We already have Spencer, we don't need another silver nuisance mucking about."

James just ignored him. As he approached Gordon's Hill, a radical idea flew into his funnel.

"If this is just a dream, then I can do whatever I want..." he said to himself, "...perhaps that means I can fly!"

James pumped his pistons and began to go faster than ever as he climbed the hill.

"Prepare for takeoff!"

As he reached the top, James left the rails and soared majestically up into the sky.

"Whoo-hoo!"

"James, it's getting rather jumpy back here!" called the Duke from inside the coaches.

"Oops, sorry about that!" chuckled James.

He then saw Harold the helicopter patrolling up ahead.

"Look at me, Harold! I can fly too! Just look at me go!"

And to show off more than ever, James performed two twisty loops around the helicopter. Harold, however, wasn't impressed.

"If you keep being so reckless, chap, you'll have another crash!" he warned.

James suddenly felt rather faint. His euphoric state dropped as Harold's words echoed in his smokebox.

"Another crash!" came a bunch of other voices in an unsettling unison.

James noticed a bunch of other engines flying up beside him. Thomas, Percy, Rosie, Edward, Henry, Emily, Gordon, Toby, Stanley, and Philip all surrounded him, glaring disapprovingly.

"Another crash...another crash...another crash…" they all chanted.

James was terrified.

"Oh no...oh no! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!"

Out of nowhere, Diesel appeared before James, only with glowing red eyes and a much more devilish grin than usual.

"Go on...crash!" he sniggered. "One more good crash will do it. It won't matter what color you are once you're scrapped!"

"S-scrapped?" James whimpered.

Just then, the coupling between James and his coaches broke, and he began to plummet downward. James screamed as Diesel cackled in delight. As he fell, a swarm of troublesome trucks surrounded and began to tease and taunt him.

"Down you go, down you go, one more crash before you blow!" they sang maniacally.

"Shut up, you stupid trucks!" James yelled furiously.

The ground grew closer and closer.

"I really don't want to crash again!" James sobbed as he braced for impact. "Wake up...wake up…wake up!"

When he opened his eyes, he found himself on a turntable that also appeared to be a color wheel. A large figure stepped out of the shadows, towering over James.

"Sir?!" gasped James.

There stood the Fat Controller, except he was ten times bigger.

"What did I tell you about showing off?" he boomed.

James cowered below.

"I'm so sorry, sir! I never meant to be so reckless! I promise I'll never do it again!"

The giant Fat Controller shook his head.

"Too little too late, James. You're finally going to pay."

"P-pay? What do you mean, sir?"

The Fat Controller said nothing. Instead, he spun the turntable with his hand. James screamed as he spun, with his color changing every second.

"Brown...yellow...green...blue...purple...black...orange...aaaaah!"

James awoke on the hoist, still screaming.

"James! James! Calm down, my friend!" eased Victor.

James opened his eyes to see sunlight shining through the Steamworks windows. He sighed a deep sigh upon realizing he was awake at last.

"I'm fine, Victor...just a dream."

"Seemed like quite a nightmare by the sound of it." Victor remarked.

"I really need to speak to the Fat Controller." said James.

"Yes, James?" came a voice.

James jumped to see the Fat Controller standing right in front of him.

"Sir! Oh, sir-" James stuttered, "-I'm so sorry for showing off and misbehaving. I promise that I'll do whatever you need me to do to make it up, even if it means being painted a different color…"

"Well, you do seem quite sorry, James." replied the Fat Controller. "I've thought about the subject over the last few days, and I think it would only be appropriate for you to remain the color that you feel suits you best."

James let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank you, sir!"

"However," the Fat Controller continued, "I'll only be allowing you to shunt and pull slow goods trains for a while. And we'll be monitoring your speed just to make sure you don't have any more accidents."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." agreed James.

"Now, I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you'll be up and ready to work again soon. The Pack is hard at work fixing the sheds, so I'd suggest personally thanking them for fixing them."

"Yes, sir. Will do, sir."

Although James wasn't looking forward to being restricted to slow duties, he was pleased that his signature red paintwork would remain.