The Island of Sodor was in a terrible mess. A big storm had blown in during the night. Debris was everywhere, Ballahoo Bridge had collapsed, a new billboard had completely blown away and Henry and Emily were in the Steamworks for repairs after an accident.

All the engines wanted to help put things right. Even James knew the summer holidaymakers would be disappointed if they couldn't enjoy the sights of Sodor. "We must hurry, we must," he puffed to himself.

At the Wharf, Colin was hard at work. He was loading and unloading as the engines kept coming and going.

James raced into the Wharf. He had been working very hard and now, he was to collect a delivery of paint for the Steamworks.

Suddenly, Colin's arm shook. "Oh, no!" he cried. His load of paint slipped, dropped and splashed all over James.

"Oh, no!" cried James, "my splendid paintwork!"

Colin was surprised. "I'm sorry, James," he said.

Luckily, most of the paint had already been unloaded, so James was coupled up and he puffed quickly out of the Wharf. Colin felt bad. He hadn't meant to make James look so silly.

James raced to the Steamworks. He was sure Victor would know what to do. "I hope he can repaint me quickly," he said.

"There's no time for that now," said his Driver. "We have to finish clearing the storm damage first."

James was disappointed. When he arrived at the Steamworks, Henry and Emily were still being mended.

"Trembling tracks!" chuckled Victor, "This is no time for a repaint, James."

"It's not funny," huffed James.

"What happened?" asked Emily.

Before James could reply, Charlie puffed in, then he laughed. "Look, Charlie found the missing billboard!"

"Actually, it was a new billboard to replace the one that got lost in the storm," said Charlie. "Kevin, can you help out a superhero?" he joked. Indeed, the billboard was for a new superhero movie and Charlie was looking through where his face was supposed to be.

"What happened to you, my friend?" asked Victor.

"Colin dropped this billboard on my smokebox," Charlie explained.

Kevin's hook was attached to the billboard, and he started to pull, but it wouldn't budge. "Heaving hooks, it's stuck." Kevin pulled and pulled.

Suddenly, the billboard flew off and slipped from Kevin's hook. "Watch out! Flying billboard!" cried the workmen.

But Charlie knew what to do. He raced forward as the billboard came down and it was smashed to smithereens, but the Workmen were safe.

"Charlie saves the day!" called Emily and everyone laughed and cheered.

"Now that that problem is fixed, please tell me what is going on," said Victor calmly.

Charlie explained how the billboard fell on him at the Wharf and James mentioned how he saw Colin shaking when he dropped the cans of paint. The visiting narrow-gauge engines said they had noticed the same things too.

Victor listened carefully. "Hmm, Colin may be in need of repairs too, James," he said thoughtfully. "From what you have told me, his arm is out of order. All that sea air is no good for a crane. We must fix this big problem before it makes anymore smaller ones."

So, James was told to some collect oil and take it to Colin so he wouldn't have any more mishaps. James didn't like pulling such messy stuff, but he had to collect more goods from the Wharf anyway. "At least this means I won't be a rainbow engine again," he sighed.

Back at the Wharf, Colin was still working and creaking and shaking as he did so. Then, he heard James' whistle. Colin was worried that James was cross with him and looked away.

But James was smiling. "Hullo, Colin. I've got just the thing for you and your creaky crane arm." Colin was grateful and deep down in his boiler, James was happy to help his friend.

At last, Colin was oiled up and ready to get back to work. He no longer creaked, and his arm didn't shake. "This is so much better, James," said Colin gratefully. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Colin," puffed James. "I'm happy to help," And he was.

Finally, the storm damage was clear. Ballahoo Bridge had been mended, the billboard had been replaced and the children loved the new superhero movie. The Fat Controller was proud of his engines, especially James and as a reward for his hard work, James received a new coat of paint, and his brass was polished until it shone like gold. James was happy to have been a Really Useful Engine and so was his friend, Colin.