The island undergoes a major political reform, with a new Sodor council being created and Vicarstown being declared the capital. The engines take part in a construction project, and are assigned new roles in different regions.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Anger Born of Worry: Because the mainline engines have been given the duty of delivering petrol to the Maston Heights Coal Mines, and Thomas has been reshuffled to branch line duties, his time with Kate decreases. When they haven't visited each other in a month, he begins to worry that they're drifting apart.
- Artistic Licence – Law: The local government reform in this episode involves the dissolution of all the town and village councils in favour of a new island-wide council. No major local government reforms took place between 1933 and 1946 and the result, though recognizable in today's terms as an unparished unitary authority
, does not match up to any scheme of government which existed at the time note . Of course, it is entirely plausible that Sodor was treated as a special case with different laws to the UK mainland note . - Batman Gambit: James suspects that Sir Topham Hatt pulled this. After all, why keep on a financial director and a public relations officer if you're aware of their avaricious and sleazy dispositions?
- Resigned in Disgrace: Despite Sir Topham's willingness to keep them both on board, both Basil Corbett and Giles Freeman end up resigning not too long afterwards. While no concrete reason is given, the rumors indicate that embezzlement and philandering were prominent reasons for their departure, which puts a lot of their individual negative traits in their jobs in a very different light.
- Take That!: James complains about the ramshackle nature of every engine doing every job, and Sir Topham Hatt concedes that the lack of clear roles for each engine has hurt efficiency. This may be a jab at the Sharon Miller era of the television series, which frequently showed assignments being handed out arbitrarily for plot convenience.
- The Bet; James, Henry, Peter, Samantha, Adam, Toby and Donald each wager on what Sir Topham Hatt will announce, with bragging rights as the reward. James had done his homework before hand, and figured that Sir Topham would start with a reshuffle, and uses this preparation to give himself the advantage. He ended up being correct...but at the wrong time, as Sir Topham's first action was a construction project (Toby's bet), then the reshuffle much later. James was not amused.
