The English novelist makes a successful jump to a juvenile, writing sagely and sympathetically of the trials of an outdated engine, its fireman Sam Trolley, and his horse Today. In Britain in the village of Little Snoreing, the heyday of Sam, the engine, and Toby, is brought to an end by mean mayor Briggs of Much Snoreing, (the neighboring town) who has his own men and a new engine take over Sam's duties. Times are bad. But thou one evening while everyone is carousing in Much Snoreing, Toby discovers a fire in a barn, wakes Sam who extinguishes it with his old engine and is reestablished.