Picture Perfect

"Even though you're not on the poster, you've still been Really Useful."

- Edward

Picture Perfect is a magazine story, illustrated using photographs from the television series.

Plot
A photographer is coming to Sodor to take a picture of an engine for railway poster. James is very excited; his shiny red paintwork would look wonderful on a poster. But the Fat Controller chooses Edward to be the poster engine because he never minds doing dirty jobs and always keeps good time. Edward is delighted, but James is very cross.

James is sure he can do all those things, too. So, he races around doing all his jobs and getting very dirty. He then has to go back to the yard for a wash-down. James is so mucky that it takes all day to clean him. When he eventually gets back to work, Edward's poster is already being put up. James feels miserable as he puffs to the station.

At the station, James meets some children who want to ride with the poster engine. But Edward has a damaged cylinder and hasn't had time to get it fixed because of the photo. The children are very upset, but James has a plan. He offers to be Edward's back engine so they can still ride with the famous poster engine. Edward tells James that he may not be the poster engine, but he's still been really useful.

Characters

 * Edward
 * James
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * The Photographer
 * Percy

Trivia

 * This magazine story is based on the tenth series episode, James the Second Best.