Air date: September 8th, 2006 (UK), September 30th, 2006 (US)
The Fat Controller tells Gordon that if he is on time with the express and back he will have set a new record. Gordon is happy, but when he takes on Henry's special coal by mistake he leaves with it thinking it would help him with his record. Henry has to use regular coal, and his firebox does not cope. Gordon soon finds out from Thomas and after seeing Henry looking sick he feels so guilty he stops metres outside Knapford and goes back to tell Henry about what he did. Henry forgives him and the two big engines swap tenders under Gordon's suggestion. Gordon is late, but cheers up when Thomas reminds him that he is still the current record-holder.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- An Aesop: Helping your friends is more important than breaking a record.
- Bittersweet Ending: Gordon fails to break the record, but the good news is Henry is feeling much better and Gordon's still the current record-holder to keep his hopes up.
- Character Development: After the events of "What's The Matter With Henry", Thomas shows more concern for Henry's bad health, and can tell instantly that something's wrong.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: As soon as Gordon was going to break the record, he decides to go back and help Henry.
- Heel Realization: Gordon, after Henry breaks down as a result of him taking his special coal.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gordon, who sacrifices his record to help Henry.
- My God, What Have I Done?: At first, Gordon intends to keep quiet about taking Henry's coal, but when he sees just how sick Henry is, he's guilt-stricken.
- Mythology Gag: Gordon and Henry swapping tenders is what Donald and Douglas did in "The Missing Coach", which was a cancelled Season 2 episode.
- Retcon: Coal was never meant to clog Henry's firebox; the only reason he needed special coal in the first place was that his firebox was much smaller than the other engines and didn't have the power to make regular coal work. (A Railway Series story did involve Henry having similar steaming issues due to a particularly poor quality coal however.)
- Snap Back: Henry didn't need special coal since that problem was resolved in "The Flying Kipper", but this isn't the case in this episode.
- What You Are in the Dark: Gordon is the only engine who knows that he took Henry's special coal (the yard manager never told Henry what happened), and could easily stay silent about it. He initially does, but when he sees just how bad Henry feels, he confesses everything and does his best to make amends.
