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 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

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.
 * 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 Norway this episode is named "Big Trains 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". In Japanese title, this episode is called "Transcription titled large". The Spanish title is "Wagons and Platforms". The Welsh title is "Turning in Circles".
 * James' incident in this episode is inspired by an event that occurred in 1900 at a railway station in Garsdale Head, Cumbria.

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 big stations 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.
 * Gordon' left buffer is crooked when he is talking with Thomas at 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.
 * When James spins on the turntable, the trees in the backround aren't blowing even when the narrator says there's wind.