Starr: Alright, what's James doing now?

Britt: He's now pulling the big express.

Starr: Awesome.

Carlin: What a red rocket.

…

One night at the sheds, Henry and Gordon were alone with James. Edward was out pulling a goods train, Thomas was at his Ffarquhar shed, Eagle was in the nearby goods shed, and 87546 was out pulling an express train.

Despite STH now thinking well of him, whenever a chance arose, the other engines (Primarily Gordon and Henry, as Thomas had learned not to talk of bootlaces in earshot of James from James beating him up offscreen) would talk of nothing but bootlaces.

"Remember when they had to use a bootlace to get you out of trouble, James?" teased Henry.

"YES, YOU BIG GREEN DOLT!" growled James. "I WAS F[BLEEP]KING THERE!"

James tried to get his own back by talking about certain engines getting shut up in tunnels, stuck on a hill, and bursting safety valves. This only had a partial effect on Henry, due to him being rather sensitive himself.

"You honestly talk too much, little James." said Gordon, who unsurprisingly didn't listen to James at all.

"A fine strong engine like me has plenty to talk about." he said proudly.

"Oh really?" asked James.

"Yes, I'm the only engine who can pull the express. When I'm rarely not there, they need two engines, think of that!" replied Gordon.

"Like when I pulled it?" asked Henry.

"Yeah, when you and Edward pulled it. We were both there to know about it.

"Yeah we were there, I was there to laugh at you making a fool of yourself." chuckled Henry.

"I've pulled express trains for years and have never once lost my way. I seem to know the right line by instinct." said Gordon, ignoring Henry.

"Don't those signalmen have control over that?" asked James.

"Yes, yes they do." said Henry.

Every wise engine knows that signalmen set the switches to make the engines run on the right tracks, but Gordon being so full of himself had forgotten this.

…

Next morning, nothing much had changed, aside from Thomas coming to the sheds mainly to apologize to James and sleep there.

"Wake up James!" whistled Gordon. "It's time for the express! What are you doing, odd jobs? Ah well we all have to begin somewhere, don't we?"

"Too early…" groaned James.

"Run along and get my coaches, don't be late!" said Gordon.

"Go shove your oddjobs in your funnel." remarked James as he puffed away.

…

At Knapford station, James went and got Gordon's coaches. They were all shining with new paint, and James was luckily careful not to bang them.

As a result, they followed him smoothly into the station, singing happily.

"We're going away, we're going away!" they sang. They wanted to head to a coach party that Annie and Clarabel were hosting.

"I wish I were going with you." said James. "I should love to pull the express and go flying down the line.*

Gordon, with much noise and blowing of steam, backed down on his train.

STH and so many other important people were on the train, and as soon as they heard the guard's whistle, Gordon started.

"Goodbye, little James! See you tomorrow!" said Gordon.

James watched the train disappear and soon went back to work.

He pushed some trucks into proper places and brought some orange branchline coaches for another train. Eagle pulled into the station, as that happened to be his train.

"Oh thank you, older brother." said Eagle.

"You're welcome, Eagle." replied James.

James soon heard a mournful noise, sounding like frustration, embarrassment, and despair combined. He glanced over and sure enough, there was Gordon trying to sneak into Knapford without being noticed.

"Alright, the yard seems to be empty…" muttered Gordon.

"HELLO GORDON!" called out James cheerfully.

Gordon literally jumped and screamed, as he let off steam feebly.

"Is it tomorrow?" James asked.

Gordon didn't answer, he continued letting off steam feebly.

"Did you lose your way, Gordon?" asked James.

""NO! It was lost for me! I got switched off the mainline and onto the loop! I had to go all around and back again because some signalman slept job!" raged Gordon.

"Perhaps it was instinct." suggested James.

Gordon was about to tell James where he could stick his instinct when the passengers hurried to the ticket booth and rioted.

"WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!" they protested.

STH quickly climbed on top of a trolley and blew a guard's whistle loudly, everyone quickly shut up and looked at him.

He soon promised them a new train at once.

"Gordon apparently can't do it, will you pull it for us, James?" asked STH.

"Yes, sir. I'll try." said James gleefully.

So James was coupled on, and everyone got in.

"Do your best, James!" said STH.

James then started.

"Alright, come along now!" said James.

"You're pulling us well this time!" said the coaches happily.

"Hurry hurry hurry!" puffed James happily.

…

A familiar jazzy tune played as James went across the viaduct.

Bridges and stations flashed by, the passengers cheered, and they soon reached Maron station.

Everyone said thank you, and STH was very impressed.

"Well done there." he said. "Would you like to pull the express sometimes?"

"Yes please!" answered James as his eyes spun around.

…

Next day, when James came by, Gordom was pushing trucks and 87546 was pushing a train of coal trucks while grumbling to himself.

"I like some quiet work." said Gordon. "I'm just teaching these trucks some manners, and I hear you pulled the express well yesterday."

James smugly looked at him.

"HEY! YOU!" said Gordon as he gave some other trucks a bump.

James and Gordon are now best friends. James sometimes takes the express, and Gordon never mentions bootlaces (Not in earshot of James, as advised by Thomas) and they both agreed on the subject of trucks.

…

"Alright, that's the last of it." said Thomas, who was moving to Ffarquhar Sheds for a bit. He then looked at the other six engines.

"Goodbye, everyone!" He said as he puffed off in the distance.

"Welp. No more Thomas for now." said Henry.

"Yeah, just us tender engines with our discussions." said Gordon.

"I'm gonna miss him." said Edward as he shed a tear.

"At least no more of his shunting trucks to the end of our trains." smirked Henry.

"No more of him trying to steal my cigarettes." smirked 87546.

"Dude, we agreed that cigs are bad for you." said Eagle.

"Well we don't have lungs." remarked 87546.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"I have a feeling this is gonna suck." said Eagle.