| Quadruple Diesel Failure part 1 | |
|---|---|
| Season The Many Adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine and His Friends Series 1, Episode 7 and 8 | |
| |
| Air date | 27th November 2020 |
| Written by | Whywontitletmehavegeneralbacon |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous James' Slippery Arrival |
Next Edward's Special |
Quadruple Diesel Failure is the seventh and eighth episodes of the first series.
Quadruple Diesel Failure[]
| Screenshot | Title | Written by | Original Publication Date | Episode Number | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Part 1 | Whywontitletmehavegeneralbacon | 27th November 2020 | 1 | |
| Bear is about to take a special when he breaks down, can Alex save the train? | |||||
|
Part 2 | Whywontitletmehavegeneralbacon | 27th November 2020 | 2 | |
| When Pip and Emma brake down, Gordon has to come to the rescue! | |||||
Plot[]
Part 1[]
Steam engines will always be welcome on the Fat Controller's railway, but he finds diesels useful too. Daisy helps with passengers on Thomas's branch line, BoCo and Bear are both mixed traffic engines but whereas BoCo works on Edward's branch line, Bear works on the main line, sometimes pulling the express. Pip and Emma pull a special express service all the way from Knapford to London.
One day, Bear was taking a 'special' to Vicarstown. Alex had prepared his coaches and was waiting on the platform next to where the train was leaving. Bear's engine growled as he backed down. The guard fastened the coupling, the passengers got in, the porter slammed the doors, and the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag. Bear's engine roared as his driver opened his throttle, letting diesel into his engine. Suddenly, Bear's engine spluttered and his exhaust began emitting black smoke.
"Oh dear," said Bear "something's happened."
Bear came to a grinding halt after travelling hardly a metre. The guard and some passengers got out to see what was going on.
"Someone else shall have to take my train." he said.
"We haven't time to fetch an engine from the sheds," said the stationmaster, who had come out to see what all the fuss was about. "Alex will have to pull the train, do you think you can?" he asked.
"Oh yes!" Replied Alex. So, he shunted Bear out of the way, got the right headlamps fitted and then coupled up to the coaches. Everyone got back in and Alex started. His driver knew that although Alex could never go as fast as the bigger engines he could still make up for lost time. They made good time but struggled up Gordon's Hill. At last he reached the top. "Well done, boy, well done!" cheered his driver, "As fast as you can!"
"As fast I can! As fast as I can!" puffed Alex triumphantly. He kept building up speed until he arrived at the Vicarstown Station approach where he checked obediently at the distant signal.
“Peep, peep!” he whistled triumphantly as his brakes came on. He arrived punctually at the platform and everyone clambered out of the coaches. The Fat Controller walked up to Alex and addressed him,
“well done, how would you like to work on Thomas’ branch line for a while?”
“Yes, please sir, thank you sir!” replied Alex.
“Well done,” said Gordon, who had seen everything, “maybe you aren’t just a silly tank engine.”
Just then, a diesel’s horn sounded.
To be continued…
Part 2[]
The horn belonged to Emma, who was having trouble. Pip’s cooling system had failed, and she had to pull their train by herself. The train was heavier than usual due to a road closure which led to an increase in passenger traffic. Emma didn’t mind the extra work, but her engine was failing too. Suddenly, her cooling system failed too and the train ground to a halt.
“We’ll never get to London now.” Said Emma.
“Oh dear.” Replied Pip.
“Do you need some help?” asked Gordon.
“Yes please,” replied Pip.
“But you don’t have the right couplings.” Said Emma.
“I could be fitted with one.” Said BoCo who was sitting next to Gordon.
“Then I could couple up to BoCo and we can double-head the train to London.” Said Gordon.
Whilst BoCo got the right couplings fitted, Gordon quickly went to the nearest available turntable to be turned round. Then, he got fitted with two oil lamps, one on the left lamp iron and one on the right to signify an Express as well as fitted with a high-intensity electric lamp to his middle lamp iron as is standard for Mainland trains.
“It’s good thing that when I was being repaired the Fat Controller had me fitted to meet the requirements main line certification on the Mainland.” Thought Gordon.
Just before 4pm Gordon backed down to the train and was coupled up. Everyone quickly scrambled back into the coaches and the guard blew his whistle. But Gordon found it hard to start the train and his wheels kept slipping.
“I’ll start us moving,” said BoCo, “then you can bring us up to speed.”
“Sounds good.” Said Gordon as he began to relax.
“We should be over the Vicarstown Bridge and on the Mainland by now.” Complained Emma.
“You have to remember that BoCo and Gordon much older and slower than us.” Teased Pip trying to lift spirits.
At last Gordon was ready to really start pulling, he began pulling hard and the couplings between him BoCo got pulled tight.
“C’mon, c’mon!” puffed Gordon as he began building up speed. “Poop, poop, poop.” He whistled triumphantly as the cavalcade passed over the Vicarstown Bridge and onto the mainland. They sped through Barrow-In- Furness and before long they passed through Lancaster.
“You’re on the West Coast Main Line now, Gordon,” said his driver, “now you can really see how fast you can go.”
“As fast as I can go, as fast as I can go!” puffed Gordon building up even more speed,
“As fast as you can go, as fast as you can go!” urged Pip and Emma.
BoCo was only acting as minor support by this time as Gordon doing most of the work. They kept speeding through station, past high-speed electric multiple units and over bridges until somewhere in the West Midlands things started to go wrong.
“I think I’m overheating.” Said BoCo.
“Oh, BoCo, don’t give up now, I swear I’m nearly at 100 miles per hour.” Replied Gordon. He was having no trouble. “It’s probably just nothing.”
But by the time they reached Birmingham New Street station they had to stop. BoCo’s engine had completely overheated.
“You’ll have to pull the train by yourself Gordon, do you think you can?” said Gordon’s driver.
“I don’t know if I can,” said Gordon, “but I can try.”
So, they waited until Gordon had built up a nice head of steam before they set off again. As Gordon puffed out of the underground station his wheels slipped fiercely but he was determined not to be beaten. He began getting faster and faster.
“Back in ’67, Henry had his ‘Super Rescue’,” thought Gordon, “now it’s time for mine.”
“Come on Gordon!” supported BoCo, and Pip and Emma repeated it until nearly all of the passengers were chanting it. Gordon began going faster and faster as he passed by other trains and through stations. He worked so hard that sparks flew from his funnel and his driver is sure for just second, if that, the needle on Gordon’s thermometer went over 100mph.
It was dark by the time the train approached London and no one in the near empty station batted an eyelid when the announcement over the PA system said that the North Western Railway service was delayed, but everyone came running when they heard the sound of a steam engine puffing.
“Hurrah!” cried Gordon, “We’ve reached London at last.”
Everyone clambered out of the coaches and cheered Gordon and his crew to the bone. They thanked BoCo too and promised to come back and bring their friends too. Some even took the photos with Gordon.
Gordon spent the entire next day on display at the station and the day after that the entire train was taken back to Sodor by an engine from one of the other railways as there was no turntables near by for Gordon to be turned around on and, even if there were, Gordon was too tired anyway. In fact, he was so tired that he slept through the entire journey home and was only awoken by the celebration the engines held for him back at Tidmouth sheds.
“Well done, Gordon.” Said the Fat Controller, “Needless to say you can pull the express again.”
“You were splendid.” Said Henry.
“Yes definitely.” Said Alex.
Gordon spent the next day resting in the shed and being congratulated by the other engines. BoCo, Bear, Pip and Emma were sent to the diesel works and were soon back in service. And a few days later the express was back being pulled by the one and only, Gordon the Big Engine.
Characters[]
Part 1[]
- Gordon
- Bear
- Alex
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Daisy (does not speak)
- BoCo (does not speak)
- Pip and Emma (do not speak)
- Henry (cameo)
- Caitlin (cameo)
- Diesel (cameo)
- Douglas (role replaced by Alex)
Part 2[]
- Henry
- Gordon
- Alex
- BoCo
- Pip and Emma
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Other Railway Engines (do not speak)
- James (cameo)
- Connor (cameo)
- Samson (cameo)
- Diesel 199 (cameo)
Trivia[]
- Part 1:
- The original story was very different. Originally Gordon and Douglas were going to pull the express after Bear broke down however this was changed to Alex pulling a special after Bear broke down.
- Going by production order this is the fourth episode of the first series.
- Part 2:
- This and the previous episode were originally one episode, with Gordon and Douglas as the main character. However, when said episode was rewritten, it was decided that it would be a two parter with the second of being almost completely new.
- art Instead of the usual ending theme, a snippet of the eighth series song, Ode to Gordon plays during the credits of this episode.