Air date: December 22nd, 2017 (UK), March 20th, 2018 (US)
It is the twenty-ninth of December and Spencer meets Gordon whilst taking the Duke and Duchess of Boxford to their summer house, to which Gordon reacts that it is winter. Spencer says it is and calls Gordon a slow coach. Gordon starts racing Spencer down the track, but soon Gordon is to stop at the station with his express with Spencer teasing him, calling him a “regular” engine, much to Gordon’s displeasure.
The very next morning, Gordon and Spencer are at Knapford while the Duke and Duchess speak to the Fat Controller about a New Year’s Eve party at Callan Castle the next day, to which Spencer will take them and boasts that it is the kind of job only a private engine gets to do. Gordon replies by saying that if he were that special, he would be at platform 1, which he always departs from. Spencer questions his importance by pointing out that Thomas is number 1 and Gordon is only number 4, to which Gordon points out that Spencer does not even have a number.
The next morning, Spencer takes his pullman coaches to be cleaned at Knapford. He looks at platforms 1 and 2 then sneakily moves to platform 1. Gordon soon arrives and rudely orders Spencer to move to platform 2, but Spencer refuses, claiming that Gordon told him special engines depart from Platform 1 and that they will both be late unless Gordon moves to Platform 2. Gordon, cross but being flexible, does so.
A few minutes later, Thomas arrives and leaves the Express Coaches at Platform 1, and Philip places Spencer’s coaches at Platform 2. The passengers arrive and board the coaches, and the engines set off, with the fact that they have the wrong coaches unbeknownst to them.
Gordon approaches Wellsworth and stops, but Spencer proceeds on. As Spencer rockets, Gordon notices he is pulling his Express coaches, and realizes there's trouble. Due to an abrupt stop, the party guests tumble out of the pullman coaches. The Fat Controller asks where Spencer is, and Gordon replies that there had seemed to be a mix-up. The guests reembark, and the Fat Controller has Gordon chase Spencer up to the castle.
Once up at Callan Castle, the passengers are cross with Spencer for taking the Express. Gordon arrives, and the Duke demands Spencer to explain himself immediately. Spencer explains that Thomas and Philip must have gotten their coaches confused. The Fat Controller asks Gordon’s side of the story, to which he says that Spencer was at his platform, and Spencer tries to defend himself by saying special engines always leave from platform 1. Gordon admits he may have given him that impression before being interrupted by the Fat Controller, who says they are both to blame and that they have caused confusion, delay, and the Express passengers to end up at the Castle where they didn’t want to go. Both Gordon and Spencer apologise for their actions, disappointed in themselves for causing all this trouble. The two engines are sent to take the Express passengers back to their correct stations.
It is almost midnight when an exhausted Gordon returns to Knapford. Spencer pulls up next to him, just as worn out, and neither engine cares which platform they are on. The Fat Controller, along with his family, the Mayor of Sodor, and the Duke and Duchess, now in better moods, tells the engines to apologise to each other as it is a new year and a new start for both of them. Spencer begins for taking Gordon’s platform and upsetting his passengers, and Gordon apologises for teasing him about which platform was the best and continues by saying the number does not make much of a difference. Thomas and Philip pull in and join them as the New Year’s fireworks begin and they all wish each other a Happy New Year.
This episode contains examples of:
- An Aesop: A number doesn't make an engine special.
- Grand Finale: Aside from being the season finale, this episode marks the last of the Andrew Brenner series before the series goes for a third reboot into the Big World, Big Adventures series.
- Human Snowman: When Spencer and Gordon rush past the Stationmaster, who is shoveling snow at Maron Station, they turn him into this.
- New Year Has Come: This is the series' first New Year's themed episode.
- Ordered Apology: The Fat Controller tells Gordon and Spencer to apologize to each other for the confusion they've caused.
