Thomas and Friends

Thomas is a blue tank engine who works at a big station on the Island of Sodor, shunting coaches to their proper places. He enjoys teasing the other engines, especially Gordon, the biggest and proudest engine. When his teasing goes too far, Gordon decides to teach him a lesson.

Edward is a little old engine, and has not been out working for a while. His crew feels sorry for him, and decide to use him one day. Not only that, but he helps out Gordon the next day when he gets himself stuck on a hill.

A green engine, named Henry, is afraid of the rain, thinking it will spoil his paint. One day, he runs into a tunnel and refuses to come out. After numerous attempts to move him, the Fat Controller decides to shut him in the tunnel.

Henry has been stuck in the tunnel for a long time now, and wishes he hadn't been so silly. But one day, Gordon goes too fast and bursts a safety valve. Edward is the only engine available, but he can't push the heavy train without Henry's help.

Thomas is getting bored with shunting, and wishes he could pull a train instead of merely collecting coaches. When Henry is ill, his chance comes—with disastrous results.

Thomas is fed up with shunting coaches in the yard, so Edward agrees to swap jobs the next day. However, Edward's train consists of trucks, which love to play tricks, especially on an engine not used to them, like Thomas.

Shunting in the yards, Thomas comes across a strange train called "The Breakdown Train". When James, the red engine has an accident, Thomas quickly comes to the rescue with the Breakdown Train. The Fat Controller is so pleased with Thomas, he gives him his own branchline as a reward.

James, after having an accident on his first day, is now trying to be really useful. He does however cause trouble, when he wets the Fat Controller's new top hat with steam, and then bumps coaches so hard that one of their brakes fail.

James is in trouble with the Fat Controller. He has been confined to the shed for a long time, but is released to pull trucks. He works hard, and then takes a goods train up Gordon's Hill. The trucks misbehave, but James doesn't give up.

James, after proving himself useful, is to shunt coaches in the yard. Gordon, boasting about himself as usual, says he knows the right Express line by instinct. James ignores him, and continues working. Later, James sees Gordon puff into the station quietly and sadly. He finds out that Gordon was switched the wrong way and got lost.

Thomas is very busy working on his branch line with Annie and Clarabel. But one morning Henry is late, and this makes Thomas cross. When Henry finally arrives, Thomas insults him, and hurries away. Because he is in such a rush, however, he leaves the guard behind.

Thomas loves his branch line. He wants to fish after seeing people fishing, but the other engines say he can't. The next day Thomas needs a drink, but the water tower is out of order, so Thomas' crew decides to get water from the river. However, there's a consequence...

Thomas meets Terence the Tractor, and soon says his wheels are ugly. Terence explains that they're caterpillar tracks, and he can go "anywhere", which comes in handy during the winter when Thomas doesn't use his snowplough...

Thomas stops at a signal near the bus depot, and meets a bus named Bertie. Bertie reminds Thomas of the time he took his passengers after he got stuck in the snow and Terence came to pull him out, and Thomas gets jealous. He challenges Bertie to a race.

Gordon, James, and Henry are upset that they have more work to do. Now that Thomas is gone, they have to shunt their own coaches. Because of always having to turn around to shunt, Gordon and James soon have trouble on the turntable.

Gordon, James and Henry are causing trouble for the Fat Controller. They're going on strike for being made to shunt, and refuse to work at all. The Fat Controller tells them off, and goes to get Edward so he can work in the yard again. But Edward can't manage alone, so he finds a new engine called Percy and shuts the big engines up. In the end, Thomas and Edward run the main line while Percy runs the branch line.

Percy, the new engine, is working hard, and Gordon, James and Henry have been let out of the shed after promising to be good. Percy, Edward and Thomas go and play on Thomas' branch line. Edward then goes to the Quarry leaving Percy alone, He doesn't mind that a bit. However, he forgets Edward's warning about going on the main line, and is almost caught in a collision with Gordon and the Express.

Henry isn't feeling well because his firebox is too small, and he can't make enough steam. Sometimes he doesn't even have enough power to pull a train. The Fat Controller addresses the problem, and comes to a conclusion that Henry needs Welsh coal.

Henry, now having new Welsh Coal and feeling better, is chosen to pull the 'Flying Kipper', a train of fish vans to deliver around Sodor. He's happy, and soon sets off for the snowy countryside in the early morning. He's having a good time, but some points that go to the main line are frozen to a siding and he misreads a signal that was supposed to say danger, but was pushed down by snow.

Henry, now having his new shape, tends to whistle loudly and happily. Gordon despises this, and lectures him about it. Henry's miserable after hearing this, but cheers up later when Gordon's whistle jams 'on', and he won't stop whistling! Next day, Henry experiences troubles of his own, when boys throw stones at him from a bridge, breaking his coaches' windows, and annoying him, his crew and the passengers. To teach them a lesson Henry "Sneezes" at the boys covering them in smoke ash.

Toby is a tram engine who works on his own little line. He is happy there with his coach Henrietta, but is quickly running out of work, being replaced by cars, lorries and buses. Soon, he is only carrying a few passengers and shunting few trucks.

Every day Thomas travels down a part of his line, which runs beside a road. Usually the friendly policeman at the crossing lets him pass, but a new policeman has taken over, and does not take kindly to Thomas whistling to him in a friendly way. Things take a turn for the worse when the policeman books Thomas as a lawbreaker for not having a cowcatcher or sideplates. When The Fat Controller hears about it, he buys Toby who brings Henrietta with him.

Toby is still new to the railway, and often gets bullied by James about his and Henrietta's appearance. But one day James gets pushed out of control by trucks, and crashes into some tar wagons, spoiling his own paintwork.

One morning Gordon is very difficult, especially when he's given a goods train. He decides to jam the turntable to prove a point, but only proves to be silly when his attempt makes him slide into a ditch.

Thomas teases Gordon about the time he fell in a ditch, much to the horror of Annie and Clarabel. Thomas doesn't care a bit, and is then sent to work at the Mines. He notices a danger board that says "Danger, Engines Must Not Pass This Board" near the tracks, goes past it to prove there's no danger, and ends up falling down the mine instead of going past it.

It's Christmas on the Island of Sodor. All the engines are busy with passengers and parcels, especially Thomas and Toby. Thomas likes it when he passes Mrs. Kyndley's house while working, and she always waves to him. Thomas says it wouldn't be Christmas without Mrs. Kyndley, and then goes to the shed to discuss to the other engines about throwing a Christmas party for her.