Dirty Objects

"Whatever is that dirty object?"

- Toby

Dirty Objects, retitled James in a Mess in American releases, is the twenty-third episode of the first season.

Plot
James teases Toby for his shabby paintwork, but when Toby cheekily reminds him of the bootlace incident James is furious and vows to pay him out. Unfortunately, he concentrates so much on the matter that he allows his trucks to push him down Gordon's Hill and into some tar wagons. Toby and Percy clean up the mess, and as a reward Toby and Henrietta are given a new coat of paint, while James is left in disgrace.

Characters

 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Henrietta (does not speak)

Locations

 * Elsbridge
 * Maron
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Gordon's Hill
 * Knapford
 * The Viaduct (deleted scene)

Trivia

 * This episode is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, Toby the Tram Engine.
 * When James races down the hill the footage is sped up.
 * Stock footage from Troublesome Trucks is used.
 * When James is picking up trucks from one of the stations, you can see that a truck on the next line has an "MS" on it. Due to it being partially blocked off, it may say "LMS", a former British Railway.
 * In Breakvan, Douglas makes a reference to James' accident.
 * In George Carlin's narration, the line "Through the station they thundered" is missing.

Goofs

 * When James arrives at Knapford his brake coach is in the middle of his train.
 * A wire pulls James up Gordon's Hill.
 * When James races through Maron his brakevan becomes brown.
 * In the shot of the tar wagons, look back at the station; James isn't there.
 * When James crashes, the truck at the front is missing its right buffer and its face, a hand is seen pushing the brakevan and blu-tak is used to hold James' crew in place.
 * At least some of James' coal should have fallen out of his tender when he crashed, but it didn't.
 * The covered object in James's first truck is replaced with coal.
 * How can the breakdown crane get in the sidings, when the points are blocked?
 * James' unhurt trucks were cleared away long before the narrator said so.
 * When James crashes in to the tar wagons he comes off the rails but when Toby comes to help clear the mess James is still on the rails.
 * When James, Percy, and Toby arrive at the yards the man next to the Fat Controller has blue-tak on his feet.
 * At the very beginning, Ringo Starr switches from present to past tense.

Episode
left|450px