"James did not see the Fat Controller for several days. They left James in the shed and did not even allow him to go out and push coaches and trucks in the yard."
*********************
It had been a week since James' incident with the bootlaces. Henry and Gordon had teased him incessantly about it, while Edward and Thomas felt sorry for him and offered kind words. It was looking to be another long, miserable day in the shed for James until Sir Topham walked up with Matthew and Rarity.
"Hello James," the controller began, "Thomas and Edward have been telling me how sorry you feel, and I believe you are ready to come out again."
"Thank you sir!" James said happily. "I AM ready sir."
"That's good!" Sir Topham replied. "You see, ever since what the papers have dubbed 'The Bootstrap Occurrence', people have been laughing at the North Western, and we simply can't have that."
If James had a moveable head, he would have nodded. "No indeed sir, I will do my best to make you proud." Sir Topham nodded and left, but Janes spoke to his crew as they warmed him up. "Matthew, Rarity, I am sorry for how I acted."
"All is forgiven darling." Rarity replied. "Right Matthew?"
"Sure is Rarity, we know you are sorry as well James, and Thomas told me what he said to you."
"So what's the job for today?" James asked.
"Well James," Matthew replied as they began to leave the shed. "We have a goods train."
The two railway...er...folk, shall we say, braced themselves, as they knew of James' VERY vocal displeasure of trucks. But instead of complaining, James simply squared shoulders that he didn't have, and replied "Then let's get to work." Matthew smiled in surprise as they made their way to the station. As they backed on to their pre-organized train, Marissa, who had organized it, puffed up next to him.
"Hehe, here are your trucks James, I hope you have some bootlaces and newspaper ready." She scampered off, laughing. James was mad for a moment, but took a deep breath to clear his mind.
"Right then," he said "these trucks won't deliver themselves. Let's go!" Matthew let Rarity open the regulator as they started off, however, the trucks screamed and groaned.
"OH OH OH," they cried, "WE WANT A PROPER ENGINE, NOT THIS RED MONSTER."
"Well, that's a shame, because Sir Topham said this red monster is the one you get" James told the trucks. "Now come on!"
"NO NO, WE WON'T GO, NO NO WE WON'T GO." But they did, at first anyway. The train got a little down the line before the brakes on some of the trucks came on. Accidentally on purpose you could say, causing the crew to get out and inspect the train.
"Whatever do you think happened Matthew?" asked Rarity. "Dear James was running far too smoothly for this to be a repeat of our last trip together."
"Rarity, do you remember me telling you about the incident on James' first day, as well as what happened with Thomas and these trucks?"
"Yes? Oh, I see. You're suggesting this is simply a case of Troublesome Trucks."
"Indeed, there is nothing James can do, trucks will always be troublesome and cause problems. The best we can do is manually reset the brakes and start again. It will be dirty, so I understand if you wanna wait in the cab while I do it."
"Really Matthew? How very uncouth of you to suggest I would abandon my friends."
"It wouldn't be abandoning me, because I know why, and know where you would be. If you left without saying anything, then it would be abandonment."
"Either way, it simply wouldn't do to walk away and leave you with all the work."
"Thanks Rarity, how about you start at the front, I at the back, and we meet in the middle?"
"I do believe that sounds like a wonderful idea!" The two set to work and soon had the train sorted. At least, they thought they did. They continued down the line a ways, before Matthew smelled something and groaned, slowing the train to a stop.
"Why are we stopping?" called James.
"The trucks again, they are making their own axles run hot... I can smell it, we need to stop for a moment so they can cool."
Over and over again this happened. And every single time, James simply set off again, determined not to let the silly trucks get to him. Soon, off in the distance, they could see Gordon's hill and Matthew tried to speak in a way that only James and Rarity would hear. "We will charge the hill to try and take them by surprise, then we will be in the home stretch."
"An excellent idea!" Rarity whispered.
"Indeed." agreed James. So Matthew opened the regulator to 100%, and James charged the hill. It was tough, but before they knew it, they were halfway up the hill.
"I can do it, I can do it," James started to say, "I can do it... but will the top ever come?" With a sudden jerk, it all became easier.
"Hurrah!" he said. "It's easy now!" But then he felt the steam stop flowing into his cylinders.
"They've done it yet again!" said Rarity. Matthew groaned in agreement, telling James the problem.
"She's right James, they made the coupling snap, we've left our tail behind." The back third of the train was rolling down the hill. Thankfully, the guard applied the brakes quickly, and the runaway stopped at the bottom of the hill. He set a few detonators on the track and stood behind the breakvan with his flag, ready to wave it if another engine approached. Sure enough, a few moments later, Edward approached, pulling 3 coaches behind him.
"What happened?" called Troy.
"Blasted trucks snapped a coupling. I barely got them stopped." Replied the guard.
"Damned idiots. Well, at least ya got em stopped, an looky there, here's James now" Troy then climbed down from Edward's cab to help get the train in order.
Matthew saw him as the train stopped. Getting out of James' cab, we ran up to Troy.
"No thanks Troy," he began, "It is mine and Rarity's train, we will fix it."
"Understandable." Troy replied. "However, y’all’d do well to remember that there's a mighty fine line between provin a point an foolish pride. That said, here. Ah always keep a few spare couplin hooks an chains in Edward's toolbox. Make sure y'all get it done quick like, now. We got a timetable to keep here!"
Matthew took it and began to fix the coupling, as he did, Edward called out in his kind way. "James," he said, "would you like help?"
"Umm, no thank you Edward. I'll manage," James replied.
"As you wish James," the kind old engine replied, watching them attempt the hill.
As they climbed up, the red engine began to chant again. "I can and WILL do it! I can and WILL do it! I CAN AND WILL DO IT!" Back at the bottom of the hill, Edward asked Fluttershy to blow his whistle in support of James. She flew up and pulled the chain, and Edward gave a loud "PEEP PEEP" on his whistle. While he and Fluttershy cheered James on, Troy simply leaned out of the cab and smirked.
"Give em hell, James." he said.
Soon, they did reach the top, the trucks too tired to even push James down the hill. This resulted in the rest of the journey being much easier as they soon arrived into the yard the goods were needed in. They dropped the trucks where they were needed and James went to a siding to rest. Not long after, Edward pulled in with his train, his crew laughing amongst themselves. As Edward stopped at the station, a certain black suited man stepped out. Sir Topham Hatt made his way across the tracks to James.
"Well now." the controller started. "I was in Edward's train, and saw everything. And I do believe that congratulations are in order. You've managed to make the most troublesome train on the line behave. Why, even our dear Edward and Troy, despite their skill and preference for goods work, struggle with this one!" Edward blushed while Troy grumbled. Matthew tossed a small pebble at Troy, as if to say 'Let James have this, he earned it.'
"T-thank you sir!" James said.
"After a performance like that, I think you deserve to keep your red coat." he turned to Matthew and Rarity. "What do you think?'
Matthew smiled with a nod, "Definitely sir, he worked very hard today," he went on to briefly explain the troubles they faced.
"Well now, that's even more impressive!" he said. "Well, I must be off. Anything else before I take my leave?"
Matthew shook his head and answered, "Unless you have another job for James, no sir."
"Very well. Good day everyone." Sir Topham reboarded Edward's train, and the blue engine soon left. James smiled, resting happily, and when he and his crew were ready, they returned to the shed.
**********************************
"But the Fat Controller was smiling. 'I was in Edward's train and saw everything,' he said. 'You've made the most troublesome trucks on the line behave. After that, you deserve to keep your red coat.' "