Air date: September 3rd, 2014 (UK)
It is high summer, when many tourists visit Sodor and the engines are busier than ever. The Fat Controller is concerned about getting them all to their destinations on time. One evening, Duck comes to stay at Tidmouth Sheds to help out with passenger trains in the morning. He tells the other engines about the slip coaches they used on the Great Western Railway that can be uncoupled at stations without stopping. He also says how tricky it is to get the timing right (going too slow at the stations causes the coaches to bump them from behind), and that it needed lots of practice. James finds Duck and his stories annoying but later that night, he tells the Fat Controller about the slip coaches and claims it as his idea.
The Fat Controller purchases three of Duck's old slip coaches from the mainland, which arrive the following morning. Duck is overjoyed to see his old friends, but is crestfallen when James is rewarded with the job of pulling them. James pulls the coaches and releases the first coach at Bluff's Cove, but slows down too much to show off to the passengers on the platform. The last coach bumps into his train, causing the rest of the coaches to bump into James. None of the passengers are hurt, but are very cross and complain.
The Fat Controller speaks severely to James, but Duck intervenes, revealing the slip coaches are his old friends and that James had taken his idea. The Fat Controller promptly puts Duck in charge of the slip coaches, and he manages to pull them perfectly, to the delight of the passengers. That night, the Fat Controller, the slip coaches, and all the engines (except for James) give Duck three cheers.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Body Wipe: Duck's bufferbeam fills the screen shortly after the title card before the transition to the sun.
- Brick Joke: When Duck comes to stay at the sheds, Emily arrives only to find all the berths taken, so she chuffs away sadly. At the end, she arrives back at the sheds due to one berth unoccupied, only for Henry to take it.
- This is also a bit of a
Development Gag, as Emily was included in the "Steam Team" for the series 8 retool, displacing Duck from the main cast. This episode acknowledges a reversal, with Duck getting more screentime and Emily being the one left out.
- This is also a bit of a
- Butt-Monkey: Emily suffers in this episode. When she arrives to Tidmouth Sheds, she discovers that all the berths were occupied and sadly puffs away. Later when she arrives back at the sheds and sees one more berth open, she is about to puff in it, unfortunately, Henry puffs in it before her leaving her out of the sheds again. Even worse no one even notices her!
- Death Glare: The Fat Controller's one reaction to finding out James stole Duck's idea. It's still quite enough.
- Idiot Ball: Oddly enough none of the engines are remotely suspicious about James being credited for the idea of the slip coaches, despite hearing Duck talk about them the previous night and James' unimpressed commentary.
- Jerkass: James spouts his contempt for Duck in excess, and later steals his idea for the slip coaches.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Because Duck is much more experienced at pulling the Slip Coaches than James is, James ends up bumping the Slip Coaches when he tries to drop the passengers off while showing them his bright red paintwork. Everyone gets mad at James for this. Keep in mind that James stole Duck's idea, and refused to listen to his helpful advice on how to properly pull the Slip Coaches.
- "Oh, Crap!" Smile: James after being caught out by the Fat Controller.
- Rule of Three: How the slip coaches talk.
- Small Name, Big Ego: James tries to steal Duck's idea about using slip coaches and thinks he's capable of handling them, but when it comes to the actual job, he bumps them and proves he's far from experienced.
- Stealing the Credit: When Sir Topham Hatt needs an idea on how to drop all the passengers off to their destinations on time, James steals Duck's idea of using Slip Coaches after hearing the latter's story, much to the latter's ire.
- Take That!: Emily not getting a spot in the sheds could be construed as the Emily replaced Duck debate.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: James thinks that he knows how to handle the slip coaches, but he stopped too early that the uncoupled coach bumped to the other.
