them and Edward the Blue Engine offers to help, but James prefers to go it alone instead. The trucks seem to realize James will keep trying whatever they do, and finally allow James to reach the top of the hill. After hearing about what happened, the Fat Controller deems James worthy of his red coat. James and the Express Gordon the Big Engine boasts to James that he is the only engine who is able to pull the Express. James is resting in the shed the next day when Gordon arrives feeling mournful (he has accidentally been switched to the loop line and had a long, wasted journey). James teases him about it, but a horde of angry passengers arrives and demands refunds. Instead, James pulls the Express and does so well that the Fat Controller allows him to take the Express when Gordon needs a rest. James and Gordon are now the best of friends. Gordon never mentions bootlaces, and the two engines bond over their dislike of trucks. James in Thomas & Friends (the television series) Unlike the books, the TV episode "Thomas and the Breakdown Train" had a red-coloured James from the beginning (most likely done for cost reasons). For unknown reasons, James has also appeared in all episodes before "Thomas and the Breakdown Train" even though this story established him as being a new engine. Like in the books, James is very proud of his red paintwork and does not like getting dirty. This can often get him into trouble. James appears in every Thomas movie (one of only four characters to do so, the others being Thomas, Henry, and Gordon), but only has major roles in four of them. He appears as one of the leads of the 2013 movie King of the Railway, in which he, Thomas, and Percy assist in the restoration of Ulfstead Castle and the construction of the Earl of Sodor’s estate. James appears as the main antagonist of the 2014 film Tale of the Brave. Here, he pulls a prank on Percy which leads the latter to think there is a monster on the island. They make amends after Percy saves James from a rockslide at the quarry. In the film The Adventure Begins, which retells the first seven episodes of the show, James appears in his original black livery. In this version, James arrived on Sodor before Thomas and