Air date: April 7th, 1992 (UK), December 18th, 1991 (US)
Adapted from: "Hello, Thomas!" and "A Bump on the Line" (the magazine stories)
Every afternoon, Thomas puffs along his branch line with Annie and Clarabel. They pass the watermill, then come to a big farm and see a village nestled either side of it. Whenever children hear Thomas coming, they stand on the bridge to wave at him.
One day, Thomas is waiting at a signal to talk to some children. Percy is waiting too and teases Thomas that if he is late, the Fat Controller will substitute him. Thomas scoffs at Percy, but is secretly concerned.
The next day, Thomas sees an inspector waving a red flag as he approaches the station. He sees some children waving at him on the bridge too, and he becomes concerned as it is a goods station. The children ask Thomas to take them home, and the stationmaster explains to the driver that the school bus broke down. The children climb on board Annie and Clarabel, and Thomas takes them to the next station where Bertie is waiting to take them home. When Thomas finishes his job, he is very late and worries that the Fat Controller will be cross with him.
The next morning, Thomas is relieved that the Fat Controller is nowhere to be seen at the station, but his fears worsen when the rails on the branch line buckle from the hot temperature. He tries to stop in time, but he derails on the buckled tracks. Thomas is concerned for his passengers, but his driver assures him that they will be looked after. Later, he is sent to shunt trucks in the yard while the workmen repair the line. Bertie takes Thomas' passengers for him, but he makes more stops to let passengers off closer to their homes, and Thomas worries that Bertie will replace him.
However, after the line is repaired, the Fat Controller announces to Thomas that his timetable will be changed so he and Bertie can work together more often. To Thomas' relief, the passengers say that while Bertie is a nice bus, they missed Thomas and are glad to have him back, and he thanks Bertie for taking care of them while the line was repaired.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Adaptation Expansion: The episode was based on a short magazine story "A Bump On The Line" (and thus the first episode not based on a story written by Wilbert or Christopher Awdry).
- Break the Cutie: Bertie taking Thomas' passengers upsets him.
- Character Development: Thomas in contrast to his impatient attitude in previous seasons, is willing to risk being late to help some stranded children get home.
- Digital Destruction: In the restored version, one of the shots of Bertie happily driving has mistakenly been replaced with one where he looks sad.
- Honor Before Reason: Thomas was willing to take the children home, even if it meant that he would arrive to the main station late, fearing that he would be in trouble with the Fat Controller.
- Jerkass Ball: Percy spends all of his appearances in this episode telling Thomas that the Fat Controller will send him away if he ends up running late.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Inverted. Thomas helps deliver some passengers after a bus breaks down before he himself is left stranded and is similarly assisted by Bertie.
- Stock Footage: Footage of "Percy's Promise" is used.
- Track Trouble: Thomas tries to run across his branch line faster, having been late the previous day helping some school children get home when their school bus breaks down. One piece of the tracks on his line has been bent by the hot sun, and when he tries to slow down, he ends up derailing when he runs across it.
