James and the Coaches

**James and the Coaches** is the eighth episode of the first season. It is based on the stories, *James and the Top Hat* and *James and the Bootlace*, from the third Railway Series book, James the Red Engine.

## Plot

James is settling into his new life on the Island of Sodor quite nicely. The Fat Director tells him that he can take coaches and trucks easily, but must learn from his mistakes. Remembering a nasty accident with trucks on his first day, James knows just what he means by that.

James' first job of the day is to take a passenger train with Edward, who warns him not to bump the coaches. People have arrived on the platform to admire James, who gets overexcited and lets off steam without warning, causing a shower of water to fall on the Fat Director's brand new top hat. It is time for the train to leave and James tries to get out as fast as he can, which bothers Edward and the coaches. This causes trouble at the first station stop when James causes two of the coaches to run beyond the platform forcing the train to reverse to let off passengers. However, it seems that no one knows what happened with the Fat Director, to James' relief.

Next, James and Edward stop at the Junction on Thomas' new branch line where the tank engine greets them before leaving. The train later passes the field from James' accident which is now cleaned up. Finally, the journey ends and after unloading the passengers the two engines start home, with James still wondering what the Fat Director will have to say about his top hat.

The next morning, the Fat Director visits James in the shed and warns him that unless he behaves, he will be painted blue as punishment. James hates the idea of losing his red coat. However rather than calming down, he gets very angry and takes it out on the coaches while bringing them to the station. He grumbles about having to fetch them on his own, unlike Gordon. To make matters worse for James, none of the passengers dare go near him.

James pulls the coaches very roughly and runs too fast for comfort, causing the coaches to force him to stop. The driver determines that James' rough treatment has caused a leak in a coach's brake pipe, and his only recommendation is patching the leak with newspaper and a leather bootlace. Since none of the crew have a bootlace, the guard proceeds to ask each of the passengers and at last finds a man with a leather bootlace, who refuses to give it up. The guard explains that the train cannot continue without the repair, making the other passengers very cross at both the railway and the man for stranding them. Under pressure, the man relents and hands over his bootlaces. The damage is temporarily repaired, and James, knowing that he is going to be in big trouble with the Fat Director, carefully proceeds on his way and makes sure to never bump coaches again.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* James
* Green Express Coaches
* Red Branch Line Coaches
* The Fat Director
* Jeremiah Jobling *(not named)*
* Annie and Clarabel *(do not speak)*
* Troublesome Trucks *(do not speak)*
* Gordon *(mentioned)*

## Locations

* Knapford
	+ Ffarquhar Junction
* Dryaw
* Elsbridge
* The Cow Field
* Gordon's Hill
* Wellsworth
* Tidmouth Sheds
* Henry's Tunnel

## Trivia

* This is the first episode in which Henry and Gordon do not appear, although Gordon is mentioned by James at one point.
* This episode is based on an event that occurred at Ghent, Belgium that was witnessed by the Rev. W. Awdry.