Ringo: So, how tar do we go?

Britt: Really?

Ringo: Yep

…

Toby and Henrietta were both enjoying their new lives on Sodor, likely because Toby could now interact with other engines. He became great friends with Thomas, Edward, Henry, Percy, and Eagle, as Gordon, 87546, and 98462 wanted to burn Toby at a stake, but Edward wouldn't let them.

ANYHOO, Toby and Henrietta did, of course, look old fashioned and need new paint. James was rude to the two whenever he interacted with them.

"EUGH! WHAT DIRTY OBJECTS!", "OH GOD, YOU REEK!", and "GET A LIFE!" he'd say.

One nonspecific day, when James came into Elsbridge, and said the first phrase to him, Toby finally lost patience.

"James." he asked. "Why are you red?"

"Cause I'm a really splendid engine!" answered James. "I'm red-dy for anything! You'd never see my paint dirty."

"Oh!" said Toby innocently while 87546 ran past with a passenger train. "That explains a lot."

"Explains what?" asked James.

"I probably realized that's why you once needed bootlaces to get out of an incident to be ready." grinned Toby.

James gasped.

"Who the hell told you that?!" asked James.

"Eagle told me." said Toby.

James went redder than ever and ran off, as he would have very likely killed Toby and/or Henrietta on the spot.

…

As James arrived at Knapford and dumped his coaches off while Henry ran by with a goods train, James himself had to pull a slow goods train. He also backed down hard on a truck.

"Dirty trucks for dirty sidings!" snorted James.

87546 ran past and subsequently laughed at James' raging.

…

James later arrived at Elsbridge and picked up some trucks that Toby had dumped off. He collected some thoughts that accurately summed up his feelings.

"YEUCK!" whistled James sharply.

He later picked up more and more trucks at each station, eventually having a long train.

James then briefly bragged about his train to a passing Edward, who merely sighed.

James then passed by the field where he had his accident on his so-called first day, and groaned.

Meanwhile at first, the trucks behaved well like normal, except that James' extremely foul mood and constantly beating them up had enraged them so much that they easily agreed on paying James out.

Soon enough, they came to Gordon's hill and nearly reached the top. Heavy goods trains halted here to pin down their brakes and not become runaways, and James, having had accidents with trucks once or twice before, should have remembered this, and also should have realized that the trucks had been suspiciously quiet.

"Wait James wait!" snapped the driver, but James didn't want to wait, as he was too busy thinking of original insults for Toby.

The trucks soon found their easy chance. "GET HIM NOW!" laughed a truck.

The other trucks banged each other's buffers, and pushed him down the hill.

"WHOOOAAAAAAAAA NOT THIS AGAIN!" wailed James.

"ON ON ON!" cackled the vengeful trucks.

"I'VE GOT TO STOP, I'VE GOT TO STOP AT LAST!" cried James.

At Maron station, Eagle was waiting at a signal, as his train consisted of eight tar tankers.

"Huh, why do I hear feeble whistling?" asked Eagle.

James let out another feeble whistle, and he crashed and smashed into Eagle's tar train, briefly bouncing up in the air for a moment. Something sticky and black had splashed all over James. He had smashed two of the tar tankers to pieces, as the other six were still alive, and James himself was tar black from smokebox to cab. He was also more dirty than hurt.

Eagle uncoupled from his train and reversed onto another line.

"James, what the hell?!" cried Eagle. "Are you trying to get yourself killed, brother?!"

"No." spluttered James. "Go and get help."

Eagle ran off to get help. As a result, Toby and Percy were sent to help, and both came as quickly as they could.

"Hey Percy." asked Toby. "Just whatever is that dirty object there?"

"That happens to be James!" chuckled Percy. "Thought you'd know who the vain redball of the Island is."

"Well, I don't know." replied Toby, grinning. "It's James' shape and all, but James is a splendid engine. You'd never see his paint dirty or anything. He's ready for anything!"

James pretended that he didn't just hear any of this. After around five minutes of mocking and laughing, Percy and Toby both remembered what they had to do, and cleared up the mess.

…

As the three arrived at Tidmouth, James was well aware of the fact that he looked like a fool, STH was waiting.

"Great job, Percy and Toby!" He then turned to James. "Losing control of your trucks a second time there?"

"Maybe, sir." groaned James.

STH briefly sniffed the air, and groaned in disgust. "Buhjesus, you're unfit to be seen or smelled! You must get yourself cleaned at once!" He turned to Toby. "Toby, you can have yourself a new coat of paint."

"Can Henrietta also have one?" asked Toby.

"Sure she can." said STH.

James groaned.

"Thank you, sir!" said Toby happily.

James was soon left sitting on his own while the tar hardened.