- “You stick out like a sore thumb! Thank goodness we're not all red!”
- ― Henry
The End of the Rainbow! is a magazine story.
Plot
One morning, James is being rude about Henry's green paint. He remarks that Henry must be hard to spot when he is travelling through the countryside. Henry snaps that James sticks out like a sore thumb with his red paint and is glad that not all engines are red. Henry puffs away, leaving James secretly concerned about whether he is too bright. Thomas and Gordon fit in nicely with the blue skies and even Diesel fits in with the coal yard, but James doesn't appear to fit in
James is taking a row of old goods vans to the paint shop. When they come out, every one is a different colour. James is puzzled; he thought he was the attraction of the railway, not some colourful old vans. Then, the Fat Controller and a suited man arrive on board Henry. The man is impressed, but Henry is not. James insists that the colourful vans have nothing to do with him, but the Fat Controller tells him that they have everything to do with him. The suited man explains that he has opened a shop called "The End of the Rainbow" and once a week he wants bright red James to do a stock run from the harbour. With the colourful vans, James will be great for promoting the shop.
Characters
- Henry
- James
- Sir Topham Hatt
- The End of the Rainbow Owner
- Thomas (mentioned)
- Gordon (mentioned)
- Diesel (mentioned)
Goofs
- The goods vans are referred to as "tankers".