James and the Not-So-Famous Visitor

*James and the Not-So-Famous Visitor* is the third episode of *Sodor I*. It was released on October 4, 2016.

## Plot

The annual airshow at Dryaw is coming up, and the Fat Controller assigns his engines different jobs in preparation for it. James is furious when he is given the dirty task of delivering the fuel for the aircraft. He asks if he can take the Express instead, since Gordon is being mended at the works, but his request is denied. His complaints continue until he speaks to Salty at the Docks, who reassures him that a washdown will be in store for him once his jobs are done. This works for a while, until James has a near-miss with a dangerously low-flying bi-plane. He arrives at Dryaw, where Harold identifies the plane as Orville. The arrogant Orville expresses his disgust that a "dandy old locomotive" brought him his fuel, and because of this he refuses to take any.

At the Steamworks, Gordon finds out that his repairs will take longer than expected. In the meantime, his brother, the Flying Scotsman, arrives to visit Gordon. After some initial animosity, Gordon warms up to his brother's presence, and the two start getting along. Scotsman opens up about the loneliness that comes with being a famous engine; to lift his spirits, Gordon suggests he ask the Fat Controller to let him work on the railway for a while. Scotsman likes the idea, and immediately leaves mid-conversation.

The Fat Controller is impressed that James finished his previous job "efficiently and positively", and lets him take the passengers to the airshow. James is dismayed, as this means interacting with Orville again, but the Fat Controller wants none of it. He is delayed at the big station; initially annoyed, he is shocked to discover that the Flying Scotsman is now taking the Express, and is enamoured when Scotsman calls him "splendid". Scotsman stops at the next station and sees Billy struggling to pull a line of trucks. He offers to swap jobs, which Billy reluctantly agrees to. As Billy departs with the Express, Scotsman starts to leave with the trucks, when a runaway goods train suddenly crashes into him.

As James is taking his passengers to Dryaw, he suddenly crashes into Orville, who had made an emergency landing after running out of fuel. The Fat Controller chastises the pilot for lying about taking on enough fuel, as well as endangering the passengers. Donald and Douglas arrive with the Breakdown Train to re-rail James, and Douglas agrees to take him to the airshow before going to the works.

Later, at the Steamworks, Scotsman reveals that Orville's pilot had been arrested, having been accused of sabotaging the runaway train. Gordon suggests it was a deliberate attempt to crash the Flying Scotsman so that he would not "steal all the tourists", but Scotsman points out that he can't have been the target as he wasn't supposed to take the goods train. They deduce that the pilot is innocent, and ponder who the real culprit is.

Meanwhile, Billy finally pulls into the station with the Express. The passengers are angry about how late they are, while an oblivious Billy says "That went well."

## Cast and Characters

All characters are voiced by CyberRusty99.

* James
* Thomas
* Toby
* Percy
* Edward
* The Fat Controller
* Gordon
* Victor
* Flying Scotsman
* Salty
* Orville
* Harold
* Philip
* Billy
* Winston
* Donald and Douglas
* Arry or Bert (*cameo*)
* Scruffey (*cameo*)
* Henry (*mentioned*)
* Spencer (*indirectly mentioned*)

## Trivia

* This is the first episode to be released as an actual episode of *Sodor*. *One Trick Too Far* and *Skarloey and the Ghost* were both released as standalone specials, before later being retroactively added as the first and second episodes of the series.
* This is the first episode not to feature an omniscient narrator. This would become the norm from this point onwards, with the exception of *Master of the Railway.*