Thomas & Friends series 1

On the Island of Sodor's North Western Railway, Thomas the Tank Engine works as a station pilot at Knapford Station. He believes himself to be the hardest-working engine on the railway and frequently annoys Gordon the Big Engine, the railway's express passenger engine, by calling him lazy. Frustrated, Gordon plots revenge against Thomas; the next morning, Gordon begins his journey just as Thomas gives him his coaches, preventing him from being uncoupled from the back of the train. Gordon forces Thomas along his route at high speed. Afterwards, Thomas travels home slowly and regrets his past actions.

Edward is a blue mixed-traffic tender engine. He is one of the smaller engines on the railway and has not been used recently, prompting the bigger engines to mock him. Feeling sympathetic, Edward's driver and fireman allow Edward to shunt in the train yard and take a passenger train. The next day, Gordon stalls on a steep hill, and Edward is called to push him up. Gordon does not thank Edward, but his crew rewards him with a new paintjob.

Henry the Green Engine hauls a passenger train during a rainstorm. Fearing the rain will ruin his paint, he abruptly stops inside a tunnel and refuses to leave. After multiple failed attempts to force him out, the head of the railway, Sir Topham Hatt, leaves Henry inside the tunnel behind a brick wall with no rails. The soot and dust from the tunnel ruins his paint regardless.

Henry regrets his decisions that led to him being left in the tunnel. Gordon, who planned to mock Henry on his way through the tunnel, bursts his safety valve and breaks down before entering, which Henry laughs at. With Gordon out of commission, Sir Topham orders Edward to pull the train instead, but he is too weak. Henry is selected to pull the train and is freed from the tunnel. He and Edward pull the train together and Henry returns to the railway.

Thomas becomes bored of his usual work and longs to see the world. One morning, Henry falls ill when he is supposed to haul a passenger train. With no other engine available, Sir Topham reluctantly allows Thomas to pull the train. Excited and impatient, Thomas inexplicably starts his journey before being coupled to the coaches and mistakes the workers' alerts for greetings. He is stopped at a railway signal, where a signalman informs him he has no coaches. Thomas solemnly returns to the station and tries again, but is later mocked by the other engines for his mistake.

Thomas remains bored of working in the yard. Edward offers to swap his goods train for Thomas' work. Thomas gets his chance, but ignores Edward's advice about the trucks. When going downhill, the train pushes Thomas too fast and he overruns the station platform. Sir Topham, having witnessed the events, confines Thomas to the yard until he is properly educated on trucks.

Thomas notices a type of train he finds strange; his driver identifies it as a breakdown crane. A new red mixed-traffic engine named James the Red Engine speeds through the yard at dangerous speed; his wooden brake blocks are on fire. Upon hearing that James has derailed, Thomas immediately takes the breakdown crane to the scene of the accident. He spends all day clearing up the mess and rescuing James. Sir Topham rewards Thomas for his act by granting him a new job as a passenger train on his own branch line.

James enjoys working on the Island of Sodor, but repeatedly gets into trouble. He accidentally ruins Sir Topham's new top hat and blows a hole in the brake pipe of one of his coaches, which is repaired using a newspaper and leather bootlace. Sir Topham punishes James for his behaviour by confining him to his shed.

James is stuck in the sheds after the incident with the coaches, but soon he gets let out to pull some trucks. James is more than happy, even though he does get teased by the other engines about his incident. The trucks try to make James give up, but he manages to pull them to their station.

Gordon ends up going down a different track with the express, ironically after boasting to James that he knows the right line. James serves as Gordon's replacement for the day and Sir Topham allows him to take the express occasionally. Gordon gains respect for James and finds joy out of shunting.

Thomas, who successfully runs his branch line with his new passenger coaches Annie and Clarabel, becomes so impatient with Henry being late that he accidentally leaves his guard behind on a platform.

Whenever he passes by a river on his branch line, Thomas sees people fishing and longs to partake. One day, the water tower where he refills on water is out of order, forcing him and his crew to fetch water from the river using a leaking bucket. Because of this, Thomas later feels a pain in his boiler. A railway inspector finds that his feed pipe is blocked by a fish that Thomas' crew accidentally fished from the river. They remove the fish from Thomas' water tanks and eat it for lunch, while Thomas abandons his desire to go fishing.

Thomas meets a tractor called Terence. Thomas mocks Terence's caterpillar tracks and Terence boasts that he is not confined to a pair of rails like Thomas. During the winter, Thomas refuses to wear a snowplow and gets stuck in a snow pile. He is rescued by Terence, after which he thanks Terence and takes back his insults.

Thomas meets a single-deck bus called Bertie, who reminds him of the snow incident and claims to be faster than him. Bertie challenges Thomas to a race to the next station.

Henry, Gordon, and James grow frustrated with shunting without Thomas, believing tender engines should not shunt. Gordon and James both have issues with their turntable: Gordon is unable to get perfectly balanced and is forced to pull his next train facing backwards, and James is spun round at high speed by strong winds, leaving him dizzy and completely humiliated when Gordon witnesses it. Fed up, the tender engines go on strike.

When Sir Topham learns of the strike, he brings in Edward to do the three's work. When he sees Edward being treated poorly, he buys a new saddle tank engine whom he names Percy to help Edward and Thomas. Percy shunts coaches and works on Thomas' branch line, while Edward and Thomas work together to run the mainline.

Sir Topham allows Henry, James, and Gordon to end their strike now that they no longer have to shunt their own trains. While taking a break, Percy stops at a junction on the main line and forgets Edward's instructions on altering the signalman. He almost collides with Gordon and reverses backwards, quickly becoming a runaway. Percy travels far and is eventually stopped by a bank of dirt. Gordon pulls him out and congratulates him on preventing an accident.

Henry has been sick for some time and Sir Topham is concerned about him. He finds Henry's small firebox is unable to produce enough heat using local coal supply and requires an expensive but special Welsh load. By using the Welsh coal, Henry's performance improves drastically.

Henry hauls an early morning fish train, dubbed "the Flying Kipper". Everything goes well until ice freezes the points from the mainline into a siding and snow forces down a signal into red, leading Henry to collide with another goods train in the siding. Sir Topham Hatt sends Henry to Crewe to get a new shape and a larger firebox, allowing him to use regular coal again and making him the engine he always deserved to be.

Gordon is jealous that Henry has been rebuilt and complains that he whistles too much. Ironically, Gordon's whistle jams later on and he is unable to stop whistling. The next day, some boys throw stones at Henry and break the coaches' windows. Henry's crew gets revenge by making Henry sneeze steam at them.

Toby is a tram engine who runs a small railway line with his passenger coach Henrietta. Over time, Toby runs out of work, being replaced by automobiles. He continues to work, but his duties and number of passengers become smaller. Toby's line is closed down, but he and his crew later receives a letter.

Thomas gets in trouble with a police constable for not having a cowcatcher or sideplates to cover his wheels, and is legally forbidden from operating part of his branch line. When Sir Topham hears about it, he buys Toby, who meets both requirements and brings Henrietta with him. Toby befriends Thomas and blows steam at the constable.

Toby and Henrietta enjoy their new life on the Island of Sodor, but James calls them "dirty objects" as they look old fashioned and need new paint. Later, James takes a goods train, but the trucks push him down Gordon's Hill so fast that he crashes into some tar wagons. James is covered in tar, prompting Toby and Percy to call him a "dirty object" in retaliation.

Gordon is mocked by Henry and Percy, retaliating by boasting that he has never had an accident. He is later assigned with hauling a goods train, but refuses. Edward helps Gordon to a turntable, where the latter plans to jam himself on the turntable to avoid work. Gordon accidentally moves too far, slides into a mud ditch, and is stuck. Sir Topham sends Edward to do Gordon's work in his place, but has Gordon kept in the ditch until later. Gordon is freed that night and returns to the shed in humiliation.

Gordon is forced to haul goods trains as punished for his prior behaviour. Thomas insults Gordon by claiming he smells like ditch water. Later, Thomas is sent to collect trucks from a lead mine, but is restricted by a danger sign. Thomas has previously attempted to pass the sign to little success, but manages to pass it by forcing his driver off him. Thomas falls into a hole in the track and is rendered immobile. Sir Topham witnessed the accident and sends Gordon to rescue Thomas. Afterwards, Thomas apologises and the two form an alliance.

Christmas arrives on the Island of Sodor. All the engines are busy with passengers and parcels, especially Thomas and Toby. Thomas likes when he passes Mrs. Kyndley's house while working and she always waves to him. Thomas talks with the other engines about throwing a Christmas party for Mrs. Kyndley to thank her for saving them from an accident a year earlier.