Air date: September 26th, 2004 (UK), October 30th, 2004 (US)
An overnight storm has swept across Sodor and caused a lot of damage. The Fat Controller assigns his engines jobs to help clean up the mess. James and Gordon hope to make as many journeys as possible, as does Thomas. Whilst Gordon goes to the timber yard, James collects workmen, and Toby goes to the builders for new roof tiles, Thomas is sent to Maron Station where Farmer McColl is waiting with boxes of newly laid eggs. Once the eggs are loaded into the van, Thomas is keen to be off, but Farmer McColl goes with him as his eggs must be delivered safely and Thomas must go slowly. This is the last thing Thomas wants; a slow journey that might take him all day. Thomas gives a sad toot of his whistle and pulls away very slowly with the eggs.
However, Thomas stops at a crossing to let Gordon pass with the express; he has already done his timber delivery, which makes Thomas sad. At Maithwaite Station, four boxes of eggs are unloaded for the village store and James, delivering workmen to mend the station roof, tells Thomas that he is on his third journey. Thomas carries on, feeling miserable. Thomas soon sees Toby taking on coal, even the little tram is on his second journey.
Thomas cannot bear it any longer. It is not fair that the other engines can go faster than he can, so he decides to be fast and careful. Thomas goes too fast and Farmer McColl tells him to slow down, but he does not listen and clatters over some points, causing some eggs to fall off the pile and break on the floor of the van. Farmer McColl orders Thomas to stop, which he does. Thomas apologizes to Farmer McColl for being careless and, now realising the fragileness of his cargo, promises to stay slow and steady for the rest of the day.
On his way to the docks, Thomas hears an impatient whistle blowing behind him; it is James wanting him to speed up, but Thomas ignores James and carries on slowly. That night, the Fat Controller is pleased with his engines, but Thomas feels unhappy that he only made one journey and broke some eggs. The Fat Controller tells Thomas that Farmer McColl gave him the broken eggs for his breakfast and that Thomas was still really useful for doing his job right.
This episode contains examples of:
- An Aesop: Don't rush with your jobs too much.
- Bittersweet Ending: Thomas is only able to get one job done and ends up breaking one box of eggs, but most of the eggs get delivered safely and Thomas learns that sometimes it's better to go slow. The broken eggs get delivered to the Fat Controller so that he can have scrambled eggs for breakfast.
- Necessary Fail: Thomas feels less bad about breaking some eggs when it turns out that they can be used for The Fat Controller's breakfast.
- Product Delivery Ordeal: Thomas is tasked with delivering Farmer McColl's eggs all over the Island of Sodor. Because of how fragile the eggs are, Farmer McColl advises Thomas to move slowly. Thomas becomes upset when his friends are able to do more jobs than him, so he tries to speed up the process by moving faster. Unfortunately, this results in one box of eggs breaking. Feeling bad, Thomas continues his job by moving slowly for the rest of the journey and learns that sometimes it's more important to move slowly. Despite Thomas only being able to complete that one job, most of the eggs are delivered safely, and the broken ones are delivered to the Fat Controller so he can have scrambled eggs for breakfast.
- Rule of Three: Thomas sees three engines - Gordon, James, and Toby - finishing their jobs quickly, which leads to Thomas wanting to finish his job quicker.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Thomas tries to finish his job faster which only causes some of his eggs to break.
