He was rescued by Gordon and took up the duty of station pilot at Tidmouth. Gordon managed to stop in time, but Percy was so frightened, he ran away and ended up stuck in a sandbank. Percy was later waiting at Knapford, but forgot to whistle to the signalman and thus was startled when Gordon came running towards him with the express. At first, Percy liked to annoy the big engines. Bringing him back to Sodor, Percy was charged with running the branch line while Thomas ran the Main Line with Edward and was allowed to stay after the big engines surrendered and returned to work. When the engine said that he was willing to work hard, the Fat Controller bought him and named him Percy. At the engine workshop, the Fat Controller saw a green saddle tank.
In 1926, when Gordon, James and Henry went on strike in protest of fetching their own coaches following Thomas' departure to run his branch line, the Fat Controller decided the railway needed another tank engine. He is said to have been found to contain Hunslet parts, among others, according to workers at Crovan's Gate. Percy was most likely built by the Avonside Engine Company sometime after the turn of the century and had a subsequent rebuild in the period before he was sold second-hand to the North Western Railway by a factory on the Mainland.
