I do not own Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. They are strictly the property of The Awdry Family and Britt Allcroft. This story is purely for entertainment.

Episode 9: Troublesome Trucks, Original Airdate: 6th November 1984

It was night-time on the Island of Sodor and as he had promised her earlier that day, Thomas was going to tell Lucy the story of how James redeemed himself. As he lay her down in her crib, he pulled the chair and sat down in it.

"Alright Lucy, are you ready to hear my story of Uncle James?" Thomas asked his daughter.

"Story daddy" clapped Lucy happily.

Thomas smiled at his daughter's excitement.

"Alright now our story begins a week after Uncle James incident with the coaches and he was punished by Sir Topham Hatt" Thomas began.

"Topham Hatt angry with Uncle James?" asked Lucy, due to her being a toddler she could yet speak full sentences.

"Oh yes Sir Topham Hatt was very angry with Uncle James" said Thomas as he began his story.

(Story Begins)

It had been a week since Sir Topham Hatt had suspended James from engine duties after the incident with the coaches. He was stuck on cleaning duty and was not even allowed to take his engine out to shunt coaches or trucks in the yard. Thomas, Gordon, and Henry all thought that it was very funny and teased him endlessly about it. Edward and Lady however were both sympathetic to him, however they sternly told him that it served him right and that he should not take his anger on railway property. Right now, he was sitting in the bunkhouse at Tidmouth sheds.

"Oh dear" thought James sadly, "I'm never going to be able to take my engine out and no one will ever see its lovely red coat again and all because I went so fast and made a hole in one of my coaches which had to repaired with off all things a passenger's bootlace".

James then lost control of his emotions and began to cry at his misfortune. As he was crying Sir Topham Hatt entered the bunkhouse, as he entered the sitting room, he saw James crying on the coach. He felt sorry for James and knew that he was sorry for everything. He then pulled out some tissues and gave James a light pat on his shoulder as he looked up to his boss.

"Oh Sir" sniffed James as he stood to greet his boss, "I didn't hear you come in".

"That's alright James, I also see that you sorry for what you've done" said Sir Topham Hatt.

"I' am Sir truly I' am" said James sincerely.

"What you did with the coaches has given my railway a lot of trouble, people are laughing at it and I do not like that at all" Sir Topham Hatt told James sternly.

"I know Sir and I'm sorry" said James, "I want to be a better employee, I really do".

Sir Topham Hatt saw that James was being sincere and gave a smile in response.

"That's a good man" he said to James, "I want you to pull a goods train for me please".

"Yes Sir" said James happily.

Sir Topham Hatt gave James a smile before leaving the bunkhouse as James went to get his engine ready. Once the fire was roaring and the steam built up, James left the engine shed and headed to Knapford Station to collect his train. When he got there, he saw Thomas arranging the train for him. The goods train that Sir Topham Hatt wanted him to pull consisted of ten 7-plank trucks filled with various things that ranged from coal to rocks and a BR 20 ton brake van. Thomas had just finished shunting the train for James when he saw him.

"Here are your trucks" he called to him, "have you got any bootlaces ready?".

And he ran off laughing rudely at him as an annoyed James flipped him the bird. Meanwhile the troublesome workers were busy doing the last preparations to the train before James took it out, James backed his engine down on the train. The troublesome workers saw who it was and were not happy.

"Who the fuck's this?" asked one.

"This train needs a proper engine and not a red monster" said another.

"Oh, shut up you idiots" said an annoyed James who did not want to deal with their complaining, "just please finish want you're doing so this train can reach its destination".

This of course made the troublesome workers cross, but they did it well. So, they decided to make his train a little difficult for him. Soon they had finished checking it over and gave him the go ahead, the guard blew his whistle and James set off leaving Knapford station and the troublesome workers who were grinning to themselves.

"Do you think that he's going to give up?" asked one to his friends.

"Most certainly" grinned the other.

"Sir Topham Hatt will have his engine back in the shed before the days out" smirked a third.

Meanwhile James was puffing down the mainline. What he did not know was that the troublesome workers had fiddled with the brakes of the trucks in the hopes that he would give, but unfortunately James was not about to. Sometimes the trucks brakes would slip on and sometimes their axels would run hot. Each time this happened James would stop the train and both he and the guard would try to put the trouble right, everything they did James would then start again determined not to give up.

"I mustn't give up I mustn't give up" said James to himself determined to make Sir Topham Hatt proud.

At last, he saw Gordon's hill, James had heard of how Gordon had become stuck there whilst he was pulling a goods train and had to be helped up by Edward. James however believed that Gordon had deliberately stranded himself on the hill and was determined not to do that.

"Watch out for trouble here James" called the guard through a megaphone.

James gave a wave at the guard, signalling that he understood.

"If I go fast enough then I'll be at the top of the hill before I've even known it" thought James to himself.

He then pulled the engines throttle, and the engine began to speed up the hill. James was sure that he would succeed, and that Sir Topham Hatt would be pleased with him. Just then there was a sudden jerk, and then suddenly everything became easy and soon he had reached the top of the hill.

"I've done, I've done it" shouted James triumphantly.

He then turned to call out his victory to the guard. However, his triumphant spirit was crushed when he saw what had happened.

"Ah shit" shouted James in disbelieve "I've left my tail behind.

The brake van and the last five trucks were rolling down the hill, the coupling had snapped. Acting bravely and quickly, the guard gently brought the trucks to a stop, just by the arch at the bottom of the hill. He then got out to warn approaching engines.

Edward was pulling a passenger train consisting of three old green coaches when he saw the brake van and the guard waving his red flag. He brought his engine to a stop just as James backed his engine and what remained of his train back down to the bottom of the hill. He then hopped down from the cab to help the guard couple up the train again.

"It's a good thing I was able to stop them" said the guard, "they could have caused an accident".

"You're telling me" said James in agreement.

They then coupled the trucks unbroken coupling to the other one. Once it had been done the guard headed back to the brake van and James to his engine.

"Do you want any help, James?" called Edward.

"No thanks Edward, I'm sure I can do it myself" called back James.

James then slowly began to drive his engine up the hill. Unbeknownst to James, a familiar stout man wearing a top hat was watching him from one of the coach windows with a proud smile on his face. James slowly but surely began to ascend the hill he took extra caution to ensure that his trucks did not break away again.

"I can do, I can do it" James huffed to himself.

Then much to his surprise they had reached the top of the hill and soon began to descend it. James looked back to see if the trucks had broken away again, much to his relief he saw that they had not.

"I've done, I've done it" shouted James triumphantly as he continued with his journey.

Later he had parked his engine in the siding at Maron Station after delivering the goods train. He was refilling his engines water tanks when Edward came in with his passenger train, just then one of the coaches' doors opened and out stepped Sir Topham Hatt. James then became worried that Sir Topham Hatt was going to scold him again.

"Oh, dear what's he going to say" thought James to himself.

But to his surprise Sir Topham Hatt was smiling at him.

"I was on Edward's train when I saw you come back for those trucks that had broken away" said Sir Topham Hatt, "and I also saw that you took your time going up the hill".

"It was nothing Sir" said James humbly.

"But it is" replied Sir Topham Hatt, "you were able to make it through the troublesome workers attempts to mess your goods train and proved yourself be a useful employee of my railway and for that your engine deserves to keep its red coat".

James was so happy that he jumped into the air whilst shaking his fists in victory as Sir Topham Hatt and Edward, both watched him with pride.

(Story Ends)

"And ever since that day despite a few hiccups, Uncle James was a hard working employee for the North Western Railway" said Thomas as he finished his story.

Thomas then saw that Lucy had fallen fast asleep. Smiling he kissed his daughters head before turning out her light and heading to own his bedroom to get a goodnights sleep.

And done, it took me two weeks to write this, and I must say it feels good. Its also the shortest chapter I have ever written for this series. Anyway please remember to leave a preview and as always see you next time.