It was another autumn morning at Tidmouth Sheds. John had spent the night at with the other engines since Percy had his mail run that night. It had been getting colder and the Firelighters, workmen, Drivers and Firemen had been arriving at the sheds wearing heavy coats and scarves.

"Edward," John asked, "have you ever wondered about coats?"

Edward was puzzled. "Coats of paint?"

"No. The coats people wear when they come to the sheds."

"Well, people use coats to keep themselves warm on cold days," explained Edward. "Hats and scarves help too."

"I know that," said John, "but why do only people wear them?"

"We engines have our fireboxes to keep us warm."

"Oh, yes," said John. "What a silly question." But what John didn't know was that James was shunting nearby and had heard everything.

Later, John brought his coaches into Knapford Station. James was already there. "Look over there!" he called to some children. "John says he's cold and wants a coat to keep himself warm!" And the children laughed along with him.

John snorted in amusement. "I was only thinking out loud," he said. "Do you ever think of silly things, James?" James said nothing and John puffed away.

At Wellsworth, the shops in the town had received deliveries of new coats, hats, and scarves for the winter. The Stationmaster had been asked to sell some to the passengers that day and the porters had been making them all look nice. It had started to rain hard, so they were kept under the station canopy. One coatrack was stuffed with coats with other warm things piled on the bottom.

John's whistle sounded in the distance. As the porters were finishing, one of them slipped and he bumped into the overloaded coatrack. It started rolling towards the edge of the platform. John steamed in and saw the coatrack, but he couldn't stop in time. He crashed into the coatrack and stopped further down the platform.

Everyone came running to the scene. The coatrack lay in pieces on the other side of the line. Boots covered John's footplate and hats and scarves hung from his front. On top of that, colourful coats and sweaters were slung all over his boiler. The passengers couldn't believe what they were seeing, but they couldn't help laughing.

John felt silly, but he was soon laughing too. His Driver and Fireman and the porters started to clear up the mess, but by the time the passengers were ready to leave, the heavy rain had soaked the coats and they were stuck to John's boiler.

"We can't keep the passengers waiting any longer," said his Driver at last.

John puffed away feeling sillier. At Maron he met James again. "Well, well, well," James laughed, "you've got yourself a new coat, eh John?" and he hurried away.

When John arrived back at Tidmouth Sheds to have the coats, scarves and hats removed, all the other engines were there waiting. They were trying not to laugh, but when John started laughing, they did too.

"Are you alright, John?" asked Thomas at last.

"Yes," he replied.

By then, the rain had stopped. John's hot boiler heated the coats until they were dry. His Driver and Fireman removed them and gave John a good clean. Soon his green paint was bright and shiny again.

"You shouldn't feel too bad, John," said Percy and he told him about his trouble with scarves and trousers. Everyone laughed again, but John didn't feel bad. His misadventure was rather funny.

At last, James arrived. He too had heard what happened. "I'm sorry I teased you this morning," he said, "but your green paint does look splendid again."

"Indeed," John replied. "If there's one thing I've learned today, it's that there's only one type of coat that's suitable for engines to wear and that is a coat of paint."

And everyone laughed once more in agreement.