- Thomas always dreams of going fishing - until river-water is forced to be used to refill him.
- Along his branch line, Thomas often looks forward to the sight of the river, and the people that fish there. He often wants to stay and watch, but his driver won't let him, knowing that the Fat Controller would be mad if they fell behind schedule by stopping to fish. Whenever he meets another engine, he shares with them his desire to fish, but they all tell him that engines don't go fishing which he doesn't take seriously.
One day, Thomas arrives at Elsbridge to find the water tower's out of order. Thomas is cross, but his crew decides to get water from the river.
The crew finds a bucket and rope and hurry to the bridge. Once there, they lower the bucket down to the river. Unfortunately, the bucket's old and has five holes, causing water to leak out fast, meaning that they have to hurry and pour it into Thomas' tank before it drains out. They repeat this several times until at last Thomas' thirst is quenched.
Before long, Thomas develops a sudden pain in his boiler. Steam rushes from his safety valve, and Thomas is alarmed that he may burst. The crew dampens the fire and they struggle on to Ffarquhar. Annie and Clarabel are uncoupled and Thomas, still aching, limps onto a siding while the guard phones an inspector. Workmen put signs saying "DANGER KEEP AWAY" all around Thomas. The inspector and the Fat Controller arrive and console Thomas. The driver explains what happened, and the inspector determines that the feed pipe is blocked.
When the inspector looks inside Thomas' tank, he notices something then climbs down and asks the Fat Controller to take a look in the tank as well. The Fat Controller looks in and is shocked at what he sees, they both agree that it was fish. The Driver deduces that the fish were collected in the process of filling the tank. The Fat Controller jokes that Thomas got to go fishing after all, but as fish don't suit him they must be removed at once. They all fish them out with instructions from the Fat Controller and afterwards they have a meal of fish and chips. The Fat Controller hopes that Thomas has learned his lesson, to which Thomas replies that he now understands why engines don't go fishing; it's too uncomfortable.
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