One day, James is forced to wait at Wellsworth station for Edward to arrive with his train. James is infuriated by this and grumbles about Edward being late again. Edward finds it funny while James leaves to continue his work. That evening, James is still grumbling when he puffs back to the shed. He complains to Thomas and Percy that Edward is always making the other engines wait and he clanks about like a lot of "Old Iron". Thomas and Percy, who both have a great deal of respect for Edward, are outraged at this remark, with Thomas telling James that Edward could beat him in a race any day, to which James sarcastically says he would like to see.
The next day, James' driver suddenly falls ill while at work and is sent home. Now, with only his fireman on duty, James is relegated to shunting for the rest of the day, much to his annoyance. The fireman leaves to get ready for the day's work when the signalman spots James leaving without anyone in his cab. The fireman tries to run after James but is unable to catch up with him and he heads back to the signal box, exhausted. The signalman sets all the signals at "danger" to halt traffic down the line and speaks with the fireman. It turns out that two boys were seen on James' footplate, fiddling with the controls and they tumbled off and ran away when James started. Suddenly, the signalman's phone rings and it's an engine inspector on the other end, who has been informed of the situation. After finishing the call, the signalman tells James' fireman that the inspector is coming at once and that he wants the fireman to quickly get a shunter's pole and a coil of wire rope. James' fireman is unsure why the inspector needs these items but he gathers them up right away.
The inspector soon arrives aboard Edward and the fireman is ready with the items requested. With James' fireman and the inspector riding along with his own crew, Edward sets off, determined to catch up to the runaway engine. Meanwhile, James happily sails along the line, oblivious that anything is wrong and is simply glad to be free from shunting duties. Before long, he starts going faster and faster and his joy turns into panicked horror when he realizes that nobody is in his cab. By now, Edward is racing out of Knapford and heading down the line as fast as he can in order to catch up to James. Soon, the two are almost neck and neck, with Edward giving it everything he can to keep up. Edward's driver does his best to keep Edward steadily aligned, while the inspector climbs outside and makes his way to Edward's front, with a noose of the wire rope hanging from the end of the shunting pole as he tries to slip the rope over James' buffer. It is difficult for the inspector as James sways and lurches, but the inspector finally manages to hook the rope onto the buffer and tie's the other end to Edward's buffer. Gently braking, Edward's driver checks the engines speed, while James' fireman scrambles across to his engine and takes control, allowing both engines to finally slow down.
As the two tired engines approach Crosby station, James thanks Edward for rescuing him and apologizes for his insult earlier, to which Edward accepts. The engines arrive at the station, side by side and there, waiting for them on the platform is Sir Topham Hatt. He congratulates the crew on a fine rescue and tells James that he can rest before he takes his next train, while Edward is rewarded with a trip to the Works to get his worn-out parts mended. Edward is delighted, remarking how it will be lovely not to clank anymore.
30 авг 2021
