Tenders and Turntables

"Take care. You might stick too!" "No fear! I'm not so fat as you!"

- Gordon and James

Tenders and Turntables is the fifteenth episode of the first season. In the US, this episode aired on the Shining Time Station episodes Whistle While You Work and Schemer's Robot.

Plot
Life is harder at the yard since Thomas left to run his branch line. With no tank engine to shunt or be the station pilot, Henry, James, and Gordon must shunt in the sidings and fetch their own coaches. Soon, the big engines begin to quote "Tender engines don't shunt!" to express their outrage.

One blustery day, Gordon arrived at the other end of the line with his train and headed for the turntable. The turntable is by the sea, so the wind was very strong and if an engine is not perfectly balanced on the turntable, it becomes difficult to turn. Gordon was in a bad mood and could not get perfectly balanced. Neither his driver nor his fireman could not get him to cooperate. After trying again and again, they gave up and decided to pull his next train tender first.

When Gordon arrives at the junction, a group of boys joke around and taunt Gordon by calling him a tank engine. Thomas, who was waiting at the junction, laughs and suggests that Gordon should "scrap his tender and get a nice bunker". James flew by with his train and laughed at Gordon. Gordon warns James that he may stick as well, but James claims that he won't stick because he is not as fat as Gordon.

When James gets to the sheds, he carefully lines up on the turntable and his crew slowly rotates the turntable. But the strong wind has other ideas and begins to spin James around uncontrollably. Gordon arrives just in time to see the whole thing. When the turntable finally stops, James backs into the shed and does not say a word, looking rather sick and dizzy.

That night, Gordon, James, and Henry held an indignation meeting. They decide it would be best, after the day's events, to go on strike.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Henry (does not speak)
 * Annie and Clarabel (do not speak)
 * Sir Topham Hatt (does not speak)
 * Bertie (cameo)

Locations

 * Vicarstown Sheds
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Elsbridge
 * Shunting Yards

Trivia

 * This episode is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, Troublesome Engines.
 * In the Railway Series, Henry has a mishap with a circus elephant and that, along with the problems in this episode, causes Gordon, Henry, and James to go on strike. In the television series, Henry's mishap does not occur until the fourth season.
 * A freeze frame is used when Thomas talks to Gordon about pulling his train backwards
 * A behind the scene photo from this episode shows that the Marklin engine was used.
 * In the George Carlin version and Japanese dub of this episode, James whistles after being spun on the turntable. This is absent in both Ringo Starr versions.
 * This episode may have been filmed alongside Thomas and the Breakdown Train, as Thomas can be seen in the yards in a behind the scene photo.
 * In the UK narration, after the narrator says "They had more work to do and had to fetch their own coaches", the narrator says "they didn't like that". In the US version, the narrator says "the big engines thought they were too important to fetch coaches".
 * In the UK narration, it is said that "Tank engines like Thomas don't need turntables...", while in the US narrations, the narrator says that "Little tank engines like Thomas don't need turntables..."
 * In the UK narration, Gordon tells Thomas "It doesn't matter where you go, but we are important.  And for the Fat Controller to make us shunt trucks, fetch coaches, and go on some of those dirty sidings..."  In the US narrations, he tells Thomas "...And for Sir Topham Hatt to make us do shunting, fetch coaches, and go on some of those dirty sidings..."
 * After Gordon's driver tells him that the tender upsets the balance, in the UK narration, the driver says that if Gordon were a nice tank engine, he'd be alright.  In the US narrations, the driver says that if Gordon were a little tank engine, he'd be alright.
 * In Norway this episode is named "Big Engines and Turntables". In the Netherlands, it is called "Coal Wagons and Turntables". In Italy it is titled "Angry Locomotive". In Finland this episode is called "Tender Locomotives Merry-Go-Round".

Goofs

 * When the engines say, "We get no rest! We get no rest!", there are two orange coaches behind Henry. But in the next scene when the coaches say, "You're lazy and slack! You're lazy and slack!" Henry is coupled up to three coaches.
 * When the narrator says, "The turntables at both ends of the line...", Henry is shunting the same coaches as he was when James came past shunting his.
 * James' brake coach is backwards when he rushes through Elsbridge.
 * In the close-up of James spinning on the turntable a crewmember's face is reflected in his paintwork.
 * When the turntable stops spinning it connects the last berth on the right, but when James reverses the turntable leads to the middle line.
 * When Thomas and Gordon are at Elsbridge, Clarabel is facing forwards.