Cranky the Crane gives little engines Thomas and Percy a lot of grief in the title story To make matters worse big engines Gordon and James side with the illtempered lifter and the little guys get nervous and begin making mistakes on the job They redeem themselves however when Cranky topples in a storm and Thomas and his buddy put him back upright Other stories feature twin engines Bill and Ben having teething troubles Toad the brake vans forwardthinking ambition grumpy Gordon crashing through a station wall and storyteller Alec Baldwin adopting a falsetto as Lady Hatt Sir Topham Hatts wife and birthday girl In lieu of a seventh story a chorus of kids sings Night Train while the model trains steam through darkness in a series of dramatic scenarios