Toby liked running on the mainline. He could have his governor taken off, and he found that, going down hills, he could really get moving at a high pace. He enjoyed feeling the wind on his face, but it did get tiring to run at high speeds for too long.

One cold morning, Toby was at the Big Station. His driver had taken ill, and a replacement--who was not familiar with tram engines--had to be called in. To make matters worse, his fireman had just been on a date with a very pretty woman, and his thoughts were elsewhere. Toby found a line of empty trucks to take to the quarry.

Toby's governor had been taken off during the trip to the Big Station the night before. Toby wanted to get to the quarry quickly, so he didn't mention to have it set back on. When Toby reached the junction, he stopped for some water, and reminded his driver, "don't forget to put the governor back on when we reach the road." Toby had a fine head of steam as he puffed out of the junction, but his driver took too long fiddling with the water pipe, and he was running late. Toby ran at full steam down the branch line, and the signals were all clear as he rushed past Ffarquhar Station. Toby's relief driver was too busy trying to make up for lost time to notice he was on the tramway. Toby was having too much fun having a good run to notice either, until...
As Toby rushed onto the road, he saw a car turning to cross the rails!

"Stop! Stop!" Cried Toby, and his driver scrambled to put on his brakes.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried the trucks, banging into each other and Toby as he came to a stop. Leaves on the track made them slippery, and Toby found that he was having difficulty slowing down! Honking desperately, the car swerved out of Toby's path, into a ditch. Toby came to a stop just a dozen feet down the line.

A woman got out of the car. "Just look what you've done to my brand new car!" she said, limping over to Toby.

"I didn't mean to, I was--" Toby started.

"I want to speak to your manager!" she demanded.

"That would be me," said a deep voice. Stepping out of an old blue car was the man himself--The Fat Controller. "Toby, why were you going so fast? I am very cross with you."

"YOU'RE cross?" cried the woman, "YOUR car isn't lying dented in a DITCH!"

"Calm down ma'am I'm sure we will be able to compensate you for your damages. Toby, why did you come so fast?" Said the Fat Controller.

"My fault," said the relief driver, "I'm not used to tram engines."

"No," said Toby, "it's my fault. I wasn't paying enough attention."

"You have caused delay, and you have caused confusion, and," the Fat Controller paused. "Well Toby you've just caused a mess, and I'm disappointed in you. I would have expected this behavior from Thomas, or Percy, but not you."

"I'm very sorry sir."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to the lady you've nearly crashed into," said the Fat Controller, gesturing to the woman. Toby did, and so did his driver and fireman. The woman was unimpressed. "Toby, you're going to shunt trucks at the quarry for a few days until I am sure you can behave. Mavis will look after Henrietta." The Fat Controller walked back to his car. Toby puffed sadly--and slowly--to the quarry.