The Heavy Load is a magazine story.
Plot[]
One day, James is tasked with picking up a special load from the harbour. Straw is placed on the ground of his truck, making James curious.
At the harbour, Diesel is shunting when James arrives and he tells Diesel to make way. Diesel is annoyed but tells James to be careful as the ship with his cargo has been making strange noises. The cargo is revealed to be an elephant, named Samson, and James is bringing him to the safari park. At first, Samson does not want to climb aboard the truck and begins to make noises at the engines. His trainer states that Samson just wants to say hello but James is impatient and wants to get a move on.
James makes his way along the line but finds Samson to be very heavy. Down the line is a sawmill where a big stack of logs is chained together at the side of the tracks. Suddenly, the chain snaps and logs spill across James' path. James' driver is about to go get help when Samson's trainer says that he will let the elephant help out. James is very impressed as Samson uses his big trunk to lift the logs and stack them up again.
Characters[]
- James
- Diesel
- Terence (mentioned)
- Harold (mentioned)
- Sir Topham Hatt (mentioned)
Trivia[]
- The second illustration of Samson is recoloured from an illustration of the circus elephant in James and the Elephant.
Goofs[]
- In the illustration, the front of James' smokebox is white, his side rods are black and his wheel arch lining and firebox lining are yellow.
Gallery[]
