The Smelly Kipper

**The Smelly Kipper** is the twenty-third episode of the eleventh season and the 253rd episode overall.

## Plot

One evening at Tidmouth Sheds, James is telling a scary story of a ghost train to the other engines. They do not take James' stories too seriously, except for Percy, who pulls the mail train at night. When James states that he saw the ghost train, Percy is frightened. Thomas tells James off, but James teases Percy about being scared of the dark, to which Thomas retorts that if he is so brave, *he* should pull the post train at night. James denies, saying it is a job for a small engine, to which Percy says he can do it. Henry challenges James to take the Flying Kipper that night to show how brave he is, and James agrees, saying he is not afraid of fish.

When James arrives at Brendam Docks, he notices a terrible smell. Porter is shunting the trucks for the Flying Kipper, and he explains that the smell is the fish. He asks James if he is there to pull the Flying Kipper, but James denies and explains that he usually pulls coaches, so he goes back to Tidmouth Sheds to wake Henry up.

Back at Tidmouth, James wakes Henry up and tells him he must collect the Flying Kipper. Henry remembers the promise James made, but James tricks the big green engine into thinking that it was just a dream. So, Henry, without dillydallying, sets off straight away in order to pull the Flying Kipper, while James thinks he has been very clever.

Henry rushes to pull the Flying Kipper, but all the deliveries are late. When Henry returns to the sheds the next morning, the Fat Controller asks him what happened. Henry explains he must have overslept, and then the "dream" he had last night that James said he would pull the Flying Kipper for him, but Thomas and Gordon explain that they heard Henry and James' conversation, thus telling him it was not a dream after all.

James realizes he has been exposed, and the Fat Controller asks him if what he said to Henry is true. James admits he really did say to Henry he was going to pull the Flying Kipper, and that he went to collect it, but he says that the fish were too smelly for him. He then makes a feeble excuse that if he was pulling coaches, his passengers might object to his being smelly, but the Fat Controller insists that smelly or not, James is to pull the Flying Kipper tonight to make up for his broken promise to Henry, leaving James horrified.

That night, when James arrives to take the Flying Kipper, he reverses slowly towards the troublesome trucks, who begin to tease James for being scared of fish. James denies this, and he is so distracted from the trucks teasing him that he bumps into Cranky's hook while he is unloading, and the red engine is covered in fish. The trucks and Porter think James looks very silly, covered in fish. Soon James takes the Flying Kipper.

The next morning, the engines wake up to a funny smell, which is the smell of fish. Thomas and Gordon tease James, saying that he is smelly. James immediately notices a fish on his running board, right underneath his smokebox, and tries to explain his situation, but all the engines laugh at him. The Fat Controller arrives and praises James for delivering the fish on time, despite his little accident. Upon smelling James, he immediately sends him to the washdown, which James is very happy to do.

At the washdown, James is happy to be getting cleaned, and he hopes he will never have to see another fish for a very long time.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Emily
* Porter
* Troublesome Trucks
* Cranky
* The Fat Controller
* Edward *(cameo)*
* BoCo *(cameo)*

## Locations

* Tidmouth Sheds
* Brendam Docks
* Tidmouth
* Knapford
* Maron
* Killdane
* Kellsthorpe Road
* Crosby Washdown

## Voice Cast

* Ben Small as Thomas and the Troublesome Trucks
* Teresa Gallagher as Emily
* Steven Kynman as Porter
* Keith Wickham as Henry, Gordon, James, Percy and the Fat Controller
* Matt Wilkinson as Cranky

## Trivia

* Some elements of this episode are borrowed from the Railway Series story Sliding Scales from Henry and the Express, in which James also had trouble pulling the Flying Kipper. The premise of Cranky spilling fish onto James is also used in the magazine story Fish and Fog!
* The events of this episode were mentioned by Thomas in Henry Gets the Express.