Troublesome Engines

Troublesome Engines is Book 5 of the Railway Series. The Foreward is:

Dear Friends,

News from the Main Line has not been good. The Fat Controller has been having trouble. A short while ago, he gave Henry a coat of green paint, but as soon as he got his old colour back again, Henry became conceited. Gordon and James, too, have been getting above themselves.

I am glad to say, however, that the Fat Controller has, quite kindly but very firmly, put them in their place. And now the trains are running as usual.

I hope you will like meeting Percy. We shall be hearing more of him later.

The Author

Stories
In Henry and the Elaphant, With Thomas gone to run his Branch Line, the bigger engines are left to fetch their own coaches, much to their disapproval. A circus comes to town, and shunting the special trucks helps cheer up Gordon and Henry, at least until James is chosen to pull the circus' train. Later, Henry is called out to clear a blockage in a tunnel on the main line, but when he goes in, the block pushes him back out. It turns out to be an elephant missing from the circus. The workmen calm the elephant by feeding it some sandwiches, cake and lots of water, but Henry surprises it by letting off steam and gets sprayed with water. Eventually the elephant is led away, but Henry continues to grumble over being made to look silly.

Tenders and Turntables has; Gordon is in a bad mood and when he goes to be turned around for his next train he unbalances the turntable and has to take the train backwards, leading to passengers laughing at him. Thomas and James tease him too, but later, James is spun around by the wind on the turntable, making him dizzy. The big engines, with their recent embarrassments combined with their anger over having to fetch their own coaches, have had enough and make a plan.

The big engines refuse to get their coaches and so Edward is brought in to shunt for them in Trouble in the Shed. However, poor Edward is met with hostility and so the Fat Controller buys a saddletank engine, which he christens Percy. The big engines still refuse to shunt and fetch their coaches, so the Fat Controller shuts them up in the sheds and brings Thomas to work with Edward on the main line while Percy runs Thomas' Branch Line.

Percy runs away; After several days in the sheds for being naughty, the big engines finally see sense and agree to get their coaches ready, so the Fat Controller lets Thomas, Edward and Percy play on the branch line. Thomas takes Annie and Clarabel for a run and Edward takes some trucks to the quarry, leaving Percy alone. He strays onto the points, and Gordon scares him when he rushes into the junction. Percy flees, and eventually, exhausted, runs in a sandbank. Gordon later commends him for preventing an accident and Percy becomes the brand new station pilot at Tidmouth.