Percy’s Promise

**Percy's Promise** is the eleventh episode of the second season and the 41st episode overall. It is based on the story of the same name from the eleventh Railway Series book, Percy the Small Engine.

## Plot

Every Summer, the Island of Sodor is busy with holidaymakers visiting the Island to see the sights. With no sign of inclement weather, visitors often enjoy going to the mountains or the valleys while children enjoy the seaside. One day, Thomas is busy on a coastal run taking children to the beach. When he reaches the next station, he sees Percy taking some trucks to the harbour. Percy tells Thomas he wishes that he could take children rather than trucks, to which Thomas states that the children he is taking are the Vicar's Sunday School. He will also be busy in the evening, but then offers Percy to take the children back home, in which Percy agrees to do so.

At Dryaw, Harold warns Percy there is inclement weather and to run very carefully. He is also warned by Toby at the next station to be careful of an upcoming storm, but Percy knows what is going on. The children enjoy a fun day at the beach and arrive at the station, at which time the weather turns bad and begins raining hard. Percy arrives at the station he came to earlier, where Annie and Clarabel are glad when he arrives just in time to take the children home. Percy is disgusted by the rain, but (despite thinking of being at the sheds) he manages to get on with it.

As Percy begins his return journey, he battles onwards through coastal villages and the countryside. The heavy rain makes the river rise very quickly. The visibility is poor for Percy while he faces the elements, but there is trouble ahead; the tracks have been flooded and as Percy charges into the floodwaters, his fire is dampened as water floods into his cab. His crew then tries to find more firewood and his fireman asks the guard for some floorboards from the brake van. The guard grumbles that he had only swept the floor that morning, but still agrees to help. Percy's fire is soon burning well and he feels more comfortable again. He soon sees Harold, who he thinks has come to laugh at him. A crate attached to a parachute is dropped out and thuds on top of Percy's boiler, which is hot drinks that Harold has thoughtfully given to the crew hot drinks (for Percy thanks Harold before the helicopter flies away).

Percy bravely continues on with his journey and begins losing steam again, but keeps going. He makes several efforts and triumphantly brings the children home. Thomas congratulates Percy for keeping his promise despite everything. The Fat Director arrives aboard Harold and thanks Percy and his crew. The Fat Director is greatly impressed with Percy's efforts and praises him for being a Really Useful Engine.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Percy
* Toby
* Harold
* The Fat Director
* Annie and Clarabel *(do not speak)*
* The Vicar of Wellsworth *(does not speak)*
* James *(cameo)*
* Bertie *(cameo)*
* Harold's Pilots *(cameos)*

## Locations

* Haultraugh Beach
* Haultraugh Lighthouse
* Tidmouth Hault
* Dryaw
	+ Dryaw Airfield
* Elsbridge

## Trivia

* This episode marks the first appearance of the Little Western branch in the series.
* This episode is based on a real event where a train was stranded in five feet of water near Hunstanton, Norfolk, England, and the crew got the train into Hunstanton by using the floorboards of the guard's van.
* This episode was originally part of the third season in the official TV Series, but it has been moved to the second season in the Sodor Stories series. The reason is so that the story Percy tells the Mainland tank engines in Percy Takes the Plunge has more direct continuity, just like in the original Railway Series book.
* In the original story, the floorboards were actually extracted from Clarabel. A non-sentient brake van was added and cut up in the adaptation to avoid the implication the fireman was using an axe to a sentient coach.