Britt: Alright, let's see what the bigger mainline engines are up to now.
Mitton: Indeed.
Starr: Let's get this started, I can hear my fans out there.
Britt: We also may have lost footage of Henry's elephant incident.
Mitton: I'm sure Henry's fine with it.
…
Henry and Gordon were both lonely when Thomas had left the yard to run his branchline. They missed him very much.
"You know what I missed most about Thomas?" asked Henry.
"What is it?" replied Gordon.
"How he fetched our coaches with ease." sighed Henry.
"Let's get our freaking coaches ourselves." muttered 87546 as he left the sheds.
As an obvious result, they all had more work to do, and they had to fetch their own coaches. The big engines thought they were too important to fetch their own coaches.
James grumbled too.
"I swear to God, we get no rest!" said Henry angrily.
"You're all lazy and slack!" laughed the coaches.
"OH SHUT UP!" said 98462 as he biffed some coaches.
Altogether, the engines had unsurprisingly caused STH a great deal of trouble.
The big stations at both ends of the mainline each have a turntable. STH had made them so that the tender engines can turn around, because it is dangerous for them to go fast backwards.
Meanwhile, little tank engines like Thomas don't need turntables. They can go as well backwards and forwards with ease.
But to hear Gordon talk while he was on the turntable, you would have thought STH had given him a tender just to show how important he is.
"Hey Gordon, can I have a go now?" asked Eagle, who had been resting in the sheds for the past 23 minutes.
"Fine." sighed Gordon as he reversed.
…
At Elsbridge station, Thomas and Gordon both sat there, letting passengers on and off.
"You don't understand, little Thomas. Us tender engines have a position to keep up, it doesn't matter where you go." began Gordon as Thomas looked away, not wanting to hear his Tender Bias.
"Yeah right. I suppose you do." remarked Thomas. "I see Edward and Eagle being the only ones that can keep their accident free position up."
"But we are important, and for STH to make us shunt trucks, fetch coaches, and even go on those DIRTY sidings! Well it's…" continued Gordon.
"It's what?" asked Thomas.
"It's…IT'S JUST NOT THE PROPER WAY!" finished Gordon.
Gordon then puffed off, while Thomas chuckled and went off with Annie and Clarabel.
…
"Just the disgraceful nerve of it!" hissed Gordon as he backed onto the turntable, while 98462 and Eagle were resting in the sheds
The turntable itself was in a windy place that was close to the sea, even if the sea wasn't seen. If he wasn't on it just right, it was unbalanced and he would be unable to turn.
On this day, Gordon was in a bad mood, and the wind was strong, blowing fiercely.
"Come on! Just stop in the right place!" said the turntable operator angrily.
"I'm trying! It's really windy." said Gordon.
That was half true, as Gordon was and wasn't trying. All the while, Eagle and 98462 snickered at Gordon's misfortune.
The fireman tried to turn the handle, but Gordon's fat weight and strong wind prevented him.
"That's it, it's no good!" said the turntable operator at last. "Your fat tender upsets the balance!"
"If you were a little tank engine, you'd be fine. Now you've got to pull the next train backwards." said the fireman.
Gordon's frustrated scream was loud enough to be heard from Maron Station.
"I think I feel a disturbance." said 87546 as he pulled off with a passenger train.
…
At Elsbridge, Gordon pulled in, backwards.
Some goofy boys laughed at this.
"Look! There's a brand new tank engine!" laughed a boy.
"Oh wait, it's only Gordon back to front." chortled another boy.
"This can't get any worse." muttered Gordon.
Just then, Thomas pulled in while Bertie laughed at Gordon's misfortune.
"Oh hello there, Gordon!" said Thomas. "I see you're playing tank engines right now. You can scrap that fat tender of yours and have a nice bunker like me."
Gordon said nothing, not wanting to offend the passengers.
As an insult to injury, James ran past, laughing his funnel off at Gordon's misfortune.
"Take care!" called Gordon. "You'll stick too, little James!"
"No fear!* cackled James as he ran down the line. "I'm not so fat as you!"
…
At Tidmouth sheds, Edward had just pulled off with a train of milk tankers while Eagle and 87546 rested in the actual sheds.
"I mustn't stick now." thought James as he stopped at just the right place to turn.
Gordon, having finished his awkward train, arrived to see everything.
James turned way too easily compared to Gordon or Henry. The wind spun him around like a top on 4 sugar highs at once, he couldn't stop.
"OHHHH MMMMYMMYYYYYYY GGGGGOOOODDDDD! SSSSOOOOMMMMMEEEEEEONNNNEEEEE SSTTTTTOOOOOPPPPPPP TTTTHHHHHHIIISSSSS CCCCCCCCRRRRRRAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY TTTTTHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!" screamed James.
Eagle, Gordon, and 87546 all laughed at James' spinning misfortune.
After 10 minutes of this, James finally came to a stop, though his eyes didn't stop spinning for another minute.
"Well well." said Gordon. "Are you playing roundabouts, little James?"
James rolled backwards into an empty berth, as his face was as green as Henry.
James then puked into a nearby trash can.
…
Later that night, Gordon, James, and Henry had an indignation meeting, as Eagle, 87546, and 98462 all slept at Knapford sheds.
"It's freaking shameful to treat tender engines like this!" said Gordon angrily.
"Yeah, Gordon has to go backwards and idiots think he's a tank engine." started off James.
"James then spins around so fast that everything was a blur." continued Henry.
"And Henry had to push his train forwards from behind, and STH makes us shunt on those DIRTY SIDINGS!" concluded Gordon.
"YEEUCK!" shouted all three engines. Edward winced, as he was trying to get some sleep.
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Listen up." said Gordon. And he whispered something to the others, and James considered it while Henry looked worried, knowing full well what happened last time he rebelled against STH.
"We'll do it tomorrow." said Gordon. "STH will look like a big fool."
The three engines decided to go on strike.