# Thomas & Friends series 17

Thomas & Friends is a children's television series about the engines and other characters working on the railways of the Island of Sodor, and is based on The Railway Series books written by the Reverend W. Awdry.
This article lists and details episodes from the seventeenth series of the show, which was first broadcast from 2013 to 2014.

## Production

During production of the sixteenth series, Sharon Miller stepped down as head writer, and Andrew Brenner, formerly head writer for Fireman Sam, was appointed as her successor. Brenner already had a previous history with the brand, having adapted the first two series and subsequently written several original stories for the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends magazine, published by Marvel Comics from 1987 until the early 1990s. Many of his stories were later adapted by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton for the third series (plus a further one for the fifth) without his knowledge or consent.
This also marked the first series since the fifth to include a railway consultant as part of the production team, with Sam Wilkinson in the role.
This series was narrated by Mark Moraghan for audiences in the United Kingdom and United States; this was his first series as narrator.
The CGI animation for this series was provided by Arc Productions, who took over from Nitrogen Studios following completion of Series 16 in late 2011 and Blue Mountain Mystery in early 2012.
In April 2013, Lionsgate released the DVD "Railway Mischief", which featured five episodes from the new series (episodes 4, 1, 2, 3 & 6) months before they were broadcast on television. The DVD was available exclusively at Walmart.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | TV Order |
| 389 | 1 | "Kevin's Cranky Friend" | David Baas | Lee Pressman | 3 June 2013 (2013-06-03) | 1001a |
| When Cranky is overworked, Kevin is sent to help but Cranky refuses to work with him. |||||||
| 390 | 2 | "Scruff's Makeover" | David Baas | Lee Pressman | 4 June 2013 (2013-06-04) | 1001b |
| After being sent to be cleaned and repainted, Scruff doesn't want to work at the waste dump with Whiff, knowing he will just get dirty again. |||||||
| 391 | 3 | "Wayward Winston" | David Baas | Lee Pressman | 5 June 2013 (2013-06-05) | 1002a |
| After the Fat Controller forgets to put Winston's brake on, Winston begins to roll away down the line without a driver. He enjoys it at first, but he soon realizes why he needs to have a driver. |||||||
| 392 | 4 | "Gordon Runs Dry" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 6 June 2013 (2013-06-06) | 1002b |
| When Gordon leaves with the express down the mainline, a stone from Paxton's goods train hits his boiler, causing a leak and making himself stop at every water tower. |||||||
| 393 | 5 | "Calm Down Caitlin" | David Baas | Davey Moore | 7 June 2013 (2013-06-07) | 1003a |
| Caitlin spends a night on Sodor while the bridge that connects the island with the Mainland is being repaired. She helps take Percy's mail train, but doesn't understand the virtues of being quiet at night. |||||||
| 394 | 6 | "Steamie Stafford" | David Baas | Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson | 10 June 2013 (2013-06-10) | 1003b |
| Upset that he does not make much noise being an electric engine, Stafford starts imitating a steam engine. |||||||
| 395 | 7 | "Henry's Hero" | David Baas | Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson | 11 June 2013 (2013-06-11) | 1004a |
| Henry and Hiro take on some bad coal and start puffing black smoke. Hiro must figure out how to deliver the loads while Henry waits for new coal in the shed. |||||||
| 396 | 8 | "Luke's New Friend" | David Baas | Davey Moore | 12 June 2013 (2013-06-12) | 1004b |
| Up at the Blue Mountain Quarry, Luke finds a scared young deer, so he tries to get the other engines to work quietly. However, that is not an easy thing to do. |||||||
| 397 | 9 | "The Switch" | David Baas | Davey Moore | 13 June 2013 (2013-06-13) | 1005a |
| When Luke is sent to Ulfstead Castle to deliver stone, he meets Millie, the Earl's private narrow gauge engine. They decide to switch jobs for the day. |||||||
| 398 | 10 | "Not Now, Charlie!" | David Baas | Davey Moore | 14 June 2013 (2013-06-14) | 1005b |
| Charlie is a small purple saddle tank engine who likes to tell jokes. One day Charlie discovers an elephant on the line and tries to alert the other engines, but they are convinced that Charlie is telling another one of his jokes again, and don't believe him. |||||||
| 399 | 11 | "The Lost Puff" | David Baas | Davey Moore | 30 September 2013 (2013-09-30) | 1006a |
| When Paxton the Diesel overhears Toby saying that Thomas has lost his puff, he misunderstands and heads off across the Island of Sodor to look for it! |||||||
| 400 | 12 | "The Thomas Way" | David Baas | Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson | 1 October 2013 (2013-10-1) | 1006b |
| Thomas and Duck must learn how to work together when they help Harold after he breaks down near Callan Castle. However, their issues with working together soon lead to trouble in the tunnel. |||||||
| 401 | 13 | "The Phantom Express" | David Baas | Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson | 2 October 2013 (2013-10-02) | 1007a |
| On a foggy night, James ends up causing Percy, Stephen, and himself to have an accident when they get stranded at Ulfstead Castle. |||||||
| 402 | 14 | "Percy's Lucky Day" | David Baas | Davey Moore | 3 October 2013 (2013-10-03) | 1007b |
| A couple of mishaps involving a torn sack of mail and some cargo on the line from Bill and Ben make Percy feel that he is unlucky, so Stephen lends Percy a lucky charm to get him back on the right track, but he loses it. |||||||
| 403 | 15 | "Bill or Ben?" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 4 October 2013 (2013-10-04) | 1008a |
| A new streamlined tender engine called Connor arrives on Sodor, but when Bill and Ben see him for the first time they decide to play a trick on him by challenging him to a race. |||||||
| 404 | 16 | "Too Many Fire Engines" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 5 November 2013 (2013-11-05) | 1008b |
| When a team of railway inspectors come to the Island of Sodor, they question whether the Fat Controller needs two fire engines. This causes concern for Sodor's firefighting team, Flynn and Belle. |||||||
| 405 | 17 | "No Snow for Thomas" | David Baas | Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson | 23 December 2013 (2013-12-23) | 1009a |
| Thomas hides his snow plow because he thinks he does not need it. But he soon pays the price when he ends up stranded with Emily, the Fat Controller, Annie and Clarabel during a snowstorm. |||||||
| 406 | 18 | "Santa's Little Engine" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 24 December 2013 (2013-12-24) | 1009b |
| Thomas is sent to bring a sleigh for Sir Topham Hatt to use when he plays Santa at the Ulfstead Castle Christmas Fair. When the sleigh accidentally slips down the hill, Thomas must rescue the sleigh with the Fat Controller in it! |||||||
| 407 | 19 | "The Missing Christmas Decorations" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 25 December 2013 (2013-12-25) | 1010a |
| The Diesels are left out of the Christmas spirit as the Dieselworks has no decorations, so Diesel 10 heads off to take the decorations from Tidmouth Sheds. |||||||
| 408 | 20 | "The Frozen Turntable" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 26 December 2013 (2013-12-26) | 1010b |
| One cold evening the steam engines return to Tidmouth Sheds to discover that the turntable is frozen stuck, so the engines cannot reach their berths. Gordon sees himself as being important to have the lone berth, but it soon leads to trouble. |||||||
| 409 | 21 | "Away from the Sea" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 5 July 2014 (2014-07-05) | 1011a |
| When Salty the Dockside Diesel develops engine troubles he worries he will be sent away from the docks. When a new steam engine, Porter arrives to help out, Salty becomes convinced that Porter has been sent to replace him. The flashback events of Salty's Secret were recreated. |||||||
| 410 | 22 | "Gone Fishing" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 5 July 2014 (2014-07-05) | 1011b |
| Bill and Ben tease Harvey at the docks by stating that he can use his hook for fishing. It's not until an accident with his goods train proves that what the twins said was right. |||||||
| 411 | 23 | "The Afternoon Tea Express" | David Baas | Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson | 6 July 2014 (2014-07-06) | 1012a |
| Stephen is bringing ingredients for tea for the Earl at Ulfstead Castle. However, after Spencer teases him for being old and slow, Stephen wants to prove to him that he can be fast again. However, he soon learns that this isn't exactly easy for what he is delivering. |||||||
| 412 | 24 | "The Smelly Kipper" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 6 July 2014 (2014-07-06) | 1012b |
| James teases Percy about being scared in the dark, so Henry challenges him to take "The Flying Kipper" that night. |||||||
| 413 | 25 | "No More Mr. Nice Engine" | David Baas | Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson | 21 November 2014 (2014-11-21) | 1013a |
| Diesel proves to be quite troublesome for Hiro after he bashes his trucks and sends milk flying all over the Fat Controller's trousers. |||||||
| 414 | 26 | "Thomas' Shortcut" | David Baas | Andrew Brenner | 21 November 2014 (2014-11-21) | 1013b |
| When Bertie is rerouted, Thomas attempts to find a shortcut to win his race with him; but soon learns why it's important to stick to the branch line after an accident. |||||||

## Voice cast

David Menkin and Jonathan Broadbent join the cast, along with Bob Golding, Jonathan Forbes, Rebecca O'Mara, Miranda Raison and Mike Grady from that year's special.
Following the number of departures for the previous year, Martin Sherman took over role of Diesel in the US, Keith Wickham took over the role of Bertie, Ben Small took over the role of Flynn, Steven Kynman took over the role of Butch in the US and Dart, and Teresa Gallagher takes over the role of Mavis in the US while David Bedella officially takes over the role of Victor in the UK.
| Actor/Actress | Region | Role(s) |
| Mark Moraghan | UK/US | The Narrator |
| Ben Small | UK/US | Rheneas, Flynn, Owen and the Troublesome Trucks |
| Ben Small | UK | Thomas and Toby |
| Ben Small | UK | Charlie |
| Keith Wickham | UK | US | Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Whiff, Harold, the Fat Controller, the Wellsworth Station worker and a workman |
| Keith Wickham | UK | Harvey, Salty, Den, Norman, Stafford, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Bertie, a Railway Inspector, and the Maron Station Speaker |
| Kerry Shale | UK | Diesel and The Zookeeper |
| Kerry Shale | UK | Some groaning passengers (Calm Down Caitlin) |
| Kerry Shale | UK | A Railway Inspector |
| Teresa Gallagher | UK | Emily, Some Children, The Blond Haired Boy, The Schoolboy, and The Blonde Haired Girl |
| Teresa Gallagher | UK | Belle, Mavis, Annie, Clarabel, The Shouting Little Boy, The Ginger Haired Boy, Lady Hatt (The Afternoon Tea Express only), and The Duchess of Boxford (Percy's Lucky Day only) |
| Teresa Gallagher | Matt Wilkinson | UK | Spencer, Charlie, Scruff, Rocky, Cranky, Butch, Kevin, Farmer McColl, the Dock Manager and The Zoo Keeper |
| UK | Matt Wilkinson | Winston, Rusty, Diesel 10 and Merrick |
| David Bedella | UK | Victor |
| David Bedella | UK | Porter |
| Michael Legge | UK | Luke |
| Mike Grady | UK | Sir Robert Norramby |