Splendid Engines
Today James is pulling a passenger train. He felt proud of doing this job. When the days work was done James returned to Tidmouth Sheds, feeling very pleased with himself.
"That was a lot of fun," he sighed. The other engines didn't take any notice of James. "Oh well," sighed James. He fell asleep. The next morning, James took the morning passenger train.
"Here I go again," he said. James set off with the first morning train. Both Molly and Rosie were impressed as James steamed by. "He sure looks fast," said Rosie. "Well, he is a proud engine," said Molly.
"That's true," said Rosie. James puffed along the valley with no problems whatsoever, other than a small bump on the track, but it didn't matter to James.
He arrived at the same time when Gordon arrived, too. "Hey, Gordon," James said. "Hello, James," Gordon responded. "As you can see, I'm pulling the passenger train," James said.
"I see," Gordon replied, "You do that a lot of the time. "I know," James said. James had to leave his passenger coaches so that Henry could pull the passenger train. "I'm off," James said, leaving to pull another passenger train.
Skarloey and Duncan watched James working from a nearby siding. "He's having a good time," Duncan said to Skarloey. "Sure he is," replied Skarloey.
Before sundown, James had pulled the last passenger train of the day to Knapford station. He rested for a moment before setting off for home. Then the stationmaster came out of the station with an urgent message.
"What's going on?" asked James' driver. "The engine that was supposed to pull the express train to the Mainland has broken down," the stationmaster explained, "You'll have to take it instead." "We can do that," James' driver said, "Are you up for it, boy?" "Of course I am!" said James. So James was coupled up to the express, consisting of 10 coaches.
"I can do this job, too!" James said out loud. But when the guard blew his whistle and waved his flag to start the train, James had a hard time trying to start with the 10 heavy coaches. "This is actually kind of hard!" James groaned as his wheels kept slipping. "Oh!" James cried as his wheels spun helplessly. "Oh no, I need help!" James cried, stopping.
Luckily, Molly and Rosie were there shunting trucks when they saw James in trouble. The two engines chuffed to him. "Do you need help?" asked Moly. "Yes," answered James in a tired voice, "I really do." "All right," agreed Molly. "Let's go," Rosie said. Molly was coupled up in front of James.
"Now we're a double header," Molly said. While Rosie was coupled up from behind. "I can do this!" she said.
When the guard blew his whistle and waved his flag once again, the three engines steamed off together with the long express train.
In no time at all, Molly, James and Rosie got the express to the Mainland, but when they arrived, it was too late for the engines to return to Sodor. So they slept in a goods shed for the night.
"That was kind of fun," Molly said. "I agree with you, Molly," said James. "We're glad to help out," Molly said. "I knew I couldn't pull all those heavy coaches by myself," James said, "Thanks." "That means we're really useful engines," Rosie said. "In other words," James said at last, "We're all splendid engines." Molly and Rosie agreed. "Yes," sighed Rosie. The three engines fell happily to sleep.
