Diesel's Dockyard Dilemma

**Diesel's Dockyard Dilemma** is the tenth episode of the first season.

## Plot

Brendam Docks is one of the busiest dockyards on Sodor. Visitors come and go, and cargo comes to be unloaded. One morning, Porter was starting to feel homesick after helping out at the docks for a while. Salty asks what's wrong as Porter explains that he missed working in his original homeland, America. He begs Cranky to load him onto a ship that was going to that country, but Salty tells Porter that he has to let the Fat Controller know first. Porter left the docks and went all the way to Knapford to ask the Fat Controller if he could let him go back to America. The Fat Controller tells Porter that he must be back on Sodor within a month or so, as he'll find another engine to take his place. The next day, Cranky loaded Porter onto a ship that was heading to America. Everyone said their goodbyes to Porter, as the ship was out of sight. No sooner had Porter left than Diesel arrives at the docks much to the engines' surprise. The Fat Controller explains to his engines why Diesel had to take Porter's place since he was the only engine available and tells them not to complain about it. The engines were worried as Duck reminded the Fat Controller about the last time he sent Diesel to help out at the docks. Diesel tells Duck to be quiet, as the Fat Controller tells him not to make fun of the great western engine.

As days went by, Diesel shunted recklessly around the docks. Salty is also a diesel engine, but he was very good friends with the steam engines. One day, BoCo arrived with some trucks for Cranky to load onto the waiting ship, and he would need an engine to shunt his trucks away. Diesel comes along and biffs the trucks hard as they roll backwards back down the bend. Another day, Duck returned to the docks to collect some trucks to take along his branch line and asked Cranky when it was ready. As Cranky tells him that Diesel was arranging it while Salty was clearing the sidings nearby, Duck tells the tall crane that Diesel was too rough to be shunting, and that Salty should do it instead. Just then, Diesel appeared out of nowhere and gave Duck a nasty shunt with his waiting goods train. Duck tells Diesel that he is doing the wrong way, and the diesel shunter tells him to go and waddle off. Later that evening, Henry arrived with some vans for the Flying Kipper, and he questions why the docks are all in such a mess. Salty explains to Henry why Diesel made all those messes in the first place, as it made Henry wish Porter would come back soon as it had been two weeks since he was gone. So Henry convened a meeting at Knapford Yards with the other engines to discuss Diesel taking over the docks. The engines talked about how troublesome he was, and they tried to think of something that would get him into trouble.

That night, as Henry left the docks with the Flying Kipper, Timothy arrived with a delivery of china clay trucks, looking very tired as he yawned. As soon as he was uncoupled, he went back to the clay pits to sleep. But no sooner had he left, Diesel oiled over behind the trucks with a very naughty trick. He slowly backs down, charges the trucks, and bashes them off the rails, causing the clay rocks to go everywhere. Salty and Cranky suddenly woke up from the loud crashing noise that Diesel had caused. Salty panics and derails off the tracks. Cranky couldn't tidy up as they had to wait until morning, but Diesel was watching from inside the warehouse and backed away to hide sneakily. The next morning, the Fat Controller was upset when he saw the docks in such a complete mess. Timothy and Salty tell him that it wasn't either of them that caused the accident. But when the Fat Controller saw Diesel in the distance, he called out his name. Diesel backs down towards the Fat Controller, who tells him off severely. And for that, he sends Diesel back to the Dieselworks in disgrace. As days went by, the docks became busier than ever as other engines arrived to assist Salty and Cranky with their work. When Porter finally returned to Sodor after a month away in America, the Fat Controller was pleased to have him back. Salty asks Porter about his time in his old homeland, and Porter tells him everything he did while he was away. Cranky suggests to Porter that he return there every year, but first ask the Fat Controller. Porter thought that was a good idea until he saw him driving away in his blue car and went after it.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Henry
* Percy
* Duck
* Bill and Ben
* Porter
* Timothy
* Diesel
* BoCo
* Salty
* Cranky
* Sir Topham Hatt
* Edward (*cameo*)
* Toby (*cameo*)
* Douglas (*cameo*)
* Stanley (*cameo*)
* Hiro (*cameo*)
* Raul (*cameo*)
* Shane (*cameo*)
* Derek (*cameo*)
* Ivan (*cameo*)
* Henrietta (*cameo*)
* Isobella (*cameo*)

## Locations

* Island of Sodor
	+ Brendam Docks
	+ Knapford
		- Knapford Yards
	+ Arlesburgh (*mentioned*)
	+ Sodor China Clay Company (*mentioned*)
	+ Vicarstown Dieselworks (*mentioned*)
* America (*mentioned*)

## Cast

* Andrew Hager as Porter
* Bikliqi Studios as Thomas
* Crane Engine Studios as Percy
* DarthWill3 as Salty
* Dueling Express as BoCo
* Elliot Killick-Ward as Henry
* Holden Stafford as Cranky
* Joseph's Railway Studios as Timothy
* Mason Hagen as Diesel
* SteamTeam3211 as Sir Topham Hatt
* TidmouthHarbour52 as Bill and Ben
* Tommy Bauer as Duck

## Trivia

* This episode marks the first of a few things:
	+ The first episode to feature Joseph's Railway Studios, TidmouthHarbour52 and Tommy Bauer in the cast.
	+ The first episode to have Tommy Bauer as Duck instead of George Ignatchenko, who originally voiced him in The Runaway Express.
* This is the last episode to have Mason Hagen as Diesel. Starting from Railway Clone Invasion and Season 2, DockTankDylan would eventually take over the role.
* This episodes uses these references below:
	+ Porter mentioning of how he was originally brought to Sodor was a reference to the Season 17 episode, Away From the Sea.
	+ When Ducks tells the Fat Controller about the problems Diesel can cause, he makes a reference to the Season 3 episode, Diesel Does it Again. Diesel saying the Fat Controller's name is also another reference to the aforementioned episode.
	+ When Thomas tells Diesel that steamies and diesels work together, he was most likely referring to the 2005 special, Calling All Engines!.

## Watch Episode

Diesel's Dockyard Dilemma (Thomas & Friends ERTL Adventures; Season 1; Episode 10)