James was feeling miserable. He'd been stuck in the shed for months, and wasn't even allowed to go out and push coaches and trucks around the yard.
"Oh dear," he thought sadly, "I'll never be allowed out anymore; I shall have to stay in this shed for always, and no one will ever see my shiny red coat again. Oh dear! Oh dear!" James began to cry.
At that moment, the Fat Director walked up.
"I see you are sorry, James," he said. "I hope, now, that you will be a better engine. You have given me a lot of trouble. People are laughing at my railway, and I do not like that at all."
"I'm truly sorry, sir," said James. "I will try hard to behave."
"That's a good engine," said the Fat Director kindly. "I want you to pull some trucks Luci was going to take, but he'll have to cover for Barbara. Run along and find them. If you can handle this, I shall allow you to return to regular service"
So James puffed happily out of the sheds.
"Here are your trucks, James," said Timmy. "Have you got any bootlaces ready?" And he ran off laughing.
"Ha ha. Very funny," groaned James. He soon found things were worse though: the trucks he had been given were the same ones he had taken to Sodor on his first day, and just as troublesome as ever.
"Look who's back! Ready for another beating?" asked one of the trucks.
"Shove it!" James snapped, and he bumped them before they could start laughing.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!" they said. "We want a proper engine, not a red monster!"
James took no notice and started as soon as the guard was ready.
"Come along, come along," he puffed.
"We won't! We won't!" screamed the trucks. But James didn't care, and pulled the screaming trucks out of the yard: he wasn't the engine who'd let trucks and bigger engines order him around.
The trucks tried hard to make the Red Engine give up, but he still kept on. Sometimes, they would slip their brakes on, sometimes their axles would "run hot". Each time, they had to stop and put the trouble right, and each time, James would start up again, determined not to let the trucks beat him.
"Give up! Give up! You can't pull us! You can't! You can't!" called the trucks.
"I can and I will! I can and I will!" puffed James.
At Wellsworth, they had to stop again, to let another train clear the section ahead. Henry, waiting in the other platform with a stopping train, couldn't believe James was out and about.
"What're you doing here? I thought you'd been shut up in the shed," Henry said.
"I'm covering for Luci," replied James. "Something happened with Barbara again it seems."
"You of all engines? I don't get why the Fat Director didn't give up on you. You care too much about your paint."
"And what right have you to say that when you yourself hid inside a tunnel to avoid getting your paint dirty?" retorted James. Henry snorted and puffed away: the tunnel incident was one event he certainly wanted to forget about!
At last the signal dropped and James set off once more. He bumped the trucks as he did.
"Hey! What was that for?!" they complained.
"You're being way too quiet, and I know what you're thinking!" James responded. "Now come on!"
Gordon's Hill came into view. The incline was as treacherous as ever.
"Look out for trouble, James," warned his driver. "We'll go fast and get them up before they know it. Don't let them stop you."
So James went faster and faster. Before long, they were halfway up.
"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" he panted. But it was hard work and it seemed to take forever. "Oh, will the top never come?" Then, suddenly, with a jerk, it all became easier! "I've done it! I've done it!" he puffed triumphantly. "Hurrah! It's easy now."
But his driver shut off steam.
"They've done it again," he said. "We've left our tail behind, look!"
The last ten trucks were running backwards down the hill: the coupling had snapped! But the guard was brave: very carefully and cleverly, he braked them to a stop. Then he got out and walked down the line with his red flag.
"No wonder it was so easy!" scoffed James, as he reversed the other trucks carefully down. "What silly things these trucks are: there might've been an accident!"
"You're going down! We're sending you to the scrapyard whatever it takes!" shouted the trucks, but James, ignoring them, bumped them once more.
Meanwhile, the guard had stopped Edward, who was pulling three coaches.
"Shall I help you, James?" called Edward.
"Thanks, but no thanks," answered James. "I got these trucks here myself and I'll get them over this hill myself."
"Good, don't let them beat you."
James waited as the trucks were coupled back on. The guard gave the all clear, then, with a "peep, peep", he was off once more.
"Peep pip peep peep! You're doing well!" whistled Edward, as James slowly struggled up the hill, clouds of smoke and steam pouring from his funnel.
The trucks began having a breakdown.
"Is it just me, or did he get stronger?" asked a plank truck.
"I blame it on that paint!" another shouted.
Their leader, a cattle van, tried to calm them down.
This time, James reached the top with all his trucks still attached.
"I've done it, I've done it," he panted , and disappeared over the other side.
The trucks were on full breakdown. They'd never expected their punching bag to overcome them.
"What now?!" one of them panicked. "He's managed to beat us!"
"No he hasn't," said the cattle van in front. "We can still…"
But James came to a stop at Maron, cutting off what this truck was going to say.
"You ain't punching me around today or ever again," he said. "I'm James the Red Engine, the best locomotive this railway has to offer, and you lot can't change that for me today or any other day!"
The van didn't speak. To this very day, he hasn't spoken. James would start up once more, and this time, the trucks didn't give him any trouble.
Later on, James was back in Tidmouth taking a rest. It had been a long and busy day covering for Luci. As evening fell, Edward pulled into the station, whistling cheerfully to James as he passed.
Then, walking towards him across the rails, James saw…the Fat Director.
"Oh dear! What will he say?" he asked himself sadly.
But the Fat Director was smiling.
"I was in Edward's train, and saw everything," he said. "You've made the most troublesome trucks on the line behave. After that, you deserve to keep your red coat. I'm sorry I kept you inside the sheds for so long. Consider your career, um, rerailed."
"Oh, thank you sir!" beamed James with pride.