| For other uses, see Troublesome Trucks. |
- "Give up! Give up! You can't pull us! You can't! You can't!"
"I can and I will! I can and I will!" - ― The trucks and James
Troublesome Trucks, retitled Foolish Freight Cars on North American releases, is the ninth episode of the first series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book James the Red Engine.
Plot
It has been several days since James damaged a coach brake pipe requiring a bootlace to be repaired and since then, he has been shut up in the shed as punishment for his bad behaviour. Being left alone and not even allowed out to shunt, James begins to cry, thinking that no one will ever see his red paint again and broods about the humiliation of the incident, but the Fat Controller finally comes to see him. He tells James that he hopes that he will be a better engine as his actions have caused great humiliation for the railway, to which James sincerely apologises and promises to behave. The Fat Controller accepts his apology and assigns him to pull some trucks. James is delighted to be let out and eagerly goes to work.
"Have you got some bootlaces ready?”
At the station, Thomas brings James his goods train and teases him about bootlaces before leaving, to the his anger. James couples himself to the troublesome trucks, who insult him for his red paint. James simply ignores them and despite their protest, firmly sets off with them. During the journey, the trucks make several attempts to hold James back but each time his crew manages to correct the problems and then he continues on. The trucks then begin shouting at James to give up, but it is no use as James is determined to prove himself a better engine.
Finally, the train reaches Gordon's Hill and James tries to pull the trucks up as fast as he can, which is initially difficult. Halfway up, the pulling is suddenly easier but his driver stops him and points out that the last few trucks and the brake van have broken away due to a broken coupling and are running back down the hill. Fortunately, the guard in the brake van manages to bring them to a stop at the bottom and steps out to warn oncoming engines.
James reverses downhill to retrieve the end of his train, while Edward has just been stopped behind it. Although Edward offers to help, James politely declines, determined to do it himself. Edward obliges and encourages James as he makes his way up the hill. Pulling with every ounce of his strength, James finally reaches the top and safely continues to the destined station. Later, as James is having a rest, Edward arrives with the Fat Controller. James worries that the Fat Controller will be cross with him again. This time however, the Fat Controller is happy with James, having seen everything from aboard Edward's goods train. Since James managed to make the trucks behave, the Fat Controller allows him to keep his red paint.
Characters
- Thomas
- Edward
- James
- Troublesome Trucks
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Gordon (mentioned)
- Orange Stroudley Coaches (mentioned)
- Jeremiah Jobling (indirectly mentioned)
Locations
Trivia
- This episode marks the first occurrences of several things:
- The first episode not to have an engine's name in the title.
- The first instance in the television series in which an engine (James) is seen crying.
- The first episode introduced by Bonnie Langford on her first day of Children's ITV.
- The first episode featuring Edward up to the seventh series to end with his second nameboard in Japan.
- The first episode to have a title drop in the UK narration.
- Extended stock footage from Thomas and the Trucks is used.
- In George Carlin's dub, on Thomas and His Friends Help Out, the line "After that performance, you deserve to keep your red coat," is cut. It was re-added in later releases of the episode.
- In George Carlin's dub, James' whistle was not heard when he reaches the top of Gordon's hill.
- In the restored version, an extended close-up shot of James at Maron is used.
- This episode was cut out of the Nick Jr. version of the Shining Time Station episode The Mayor Runs for Re-Election.
- When James goes up Gordon's Hill, a fishing wire can be seen pulling him up, which is more visible on the second time he goes up the gradient.
Goofs
- When the Fat Controller first speaks to James, his head is turned away from him.
- In the opening scene, James' right eye (viewers' left) moves on its own and both his and Thomas' eyes are also misaligned.
- James' tender is derailed while Thomas arranges his train. Also, the siding that James is on has no buffers.
- When Thomas says "Have you got some bootlaces ready?" there is blu tack under his lantern. Knapford is also missing in that scene.
- When Thomas puffs off, James' eyes briefly jitter.
- When James puffs out of the yard, the truck at the front loses its face and regains it as James pulls the trucks up Gordon's Hill the first time. Also, the train next to James on a siding has a brake van in the middle of it.
- When Thomas puffs away laughing, all the trucks are coupled to each other. But when James backs onto the trucks, one at the front is uncoupled.
- When the trucks break away on Gordon's Hill, five trucks are shown to break away, but when they reach the bottom of the hill, one of them disappears. However, the truck reappears in the first shot of James pulling the trucks up the hill the second time.
- James' puffing noise is not in sync with his speed.
- In some synopses of this episode, it states that Edward helped James up the hill. This is incorrect, as James actually declined help and pulled the trucks himself.
- When the narrator says the line, "and sometimes their axles would run hot," a crew member's shadow is seen in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- When Edward is first shown at the bottom of Gordon's Hill, he has no train. However, when James backs down and couples to the lost trucks, if inspected closely, Edward has at least one truck behind him.
- In the close-up of James at Maron, the water tower next to him disappears.
- When James goes up Gordon's Hill the second time, a wire can faintly be seen pulling him up.
- In the last close-up of James going up Gordon's Hill, his driving wheels are not moving and when they start to move, they are going backwards.
- When James couples up to his train, he is outside the station but when he starts moving off, he is inside it.
- When Edward is at Maron, his tender is not seated properly on its chassis.
- When the trucks roll down the hill, a piece of stone falls out from one of them.
In Other Languages
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Merchandise
James (2003 My Thomas Story Library book)- James (2016 Engine Adventures book)
Home Video Releases
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Episode
UK narration
US narration (George Carlin)References
| #01 Thomas and Gordon | #10 James and the Express | #19 The Flying Kipper |
| #02 Edward and Gordon | #11 Thomas and the Guard | #20 Whistles and Sneezes |
| #03 The Sad Story of Henry | #12 Thomas Goes Fishing | #21 Toby and the Stout Gentleman |
| #04 Edward, Gordon and Henry | #13 Thomas, Terence and the Snow | #22 Thomas in Trouble |
| #05 Thomas' Train | #14 Thomas and Bertie | #23 Dirty Objects |
| #06 Thomas and the Trucks | #15 Tenders and Turntables | #24 Thomas' Christmas Party |
| #07 Thomas and the Breakdown Train | #16 Trouble in the Shed | #25 Off the Rails |
| #08 James and the Coaches | #17 Percy Runs Away | #26 Down the Mine |
| #09 Troublesome Trucks | #18 Coal | |