Smuggling

**Smuggling** is the eighth episode of the second season of the Stories of Sodor and the twenty-third episode overall.

Smuggling/Transcript

## Plot

Henry had been severely damaged in his accident with the Flying Kipper. The men at Crovan's Gate did their best to mend him, but just like Peter, Henry would need more extensive repairs was arranged to be transferred to Darlington Works. The day Henry was to be transferred, Donald stopped at Crovan's Gate to visit Henry. Henry feels guilty about killing the guard on the train. Donald then tells Henry the guard's family wouldn't blame him for killing their family member. Henry then reminds Donald to tell the wife and two boys of the guard of how sorry he feels, and Donald promises to do so. Henry thanks Donald for stopping by and the latter has to go pick up a goods train at Barrow-in-Furness.

Donald arrives at Barrow and finds Joey questioning a van who had handled a particular crate. Whiff explains the situation to Donald and remarks how grateful they are to have the police combatting the smugglers. Throughout the years in the existence of railways, many have tried to exploit them for reasons good and bad. Smuggling has always been a problem because trains are able to go further and carry more cargo than any land vehicle. Usually, a passenger can be carrying a small package with themselves or in their luggage. There are also cases of rolling stock being altered to have extra compartments which were designed to hold larger items. Smugglers also usually had railwaymen on their payrolls. After the Railway Security Directorate started cracking down on smuggling after the thieving incident with Wendell, the smugglers began to get more creative in law breaking.

A week after Henry's accident, an inspector at Brendam explains to Mr. Zorro that people have had candle blazes coated in wax and they had tried to pass them off as large candles. The inspector then starts questioning Mr. Zorro's crew since they could be working with someone in port, since the ship had docked in Brendam. Mr. Zorro protests the idea of them smuggling, but doesn't want to argue. The Inspector then goes to question Geoffrey about the blades. Geoffrey claims he doesn't know about the wax-coated blades, despite the fact that he was scheduled to take the train that the blades were found on. Geoffrey can't explain, as Mr. Zorro controls over the schedules. He also tells the inspector that neither himself or Geoffrey know anything about the shipment's illegal goods. The inspector thanks Mr. Zorro and Geoffrey for cooperating. The inspector then questions why Mr. Zorro has kept Diesel with him with his record, and Mr. Zorro answers because he is a good worker. After Mr. Zorro and the inspector leave, Reginald and Geoffrey talk, the former mentions the latter has been a model engine since he got out of Rail Gate. Geoffrey says it doesn't eliminate the stigma of being a crook, before remarking how thankful he is for Rail Gate to convince him to give up his crimes.

The next morning, Thomas, Percy and James are talking about what happened at Brendam and ponder why Sir Topham Hatt had never kicked the Midis off Sodor. Percy then points out that while Sodor is rather small, eight Nor'easters couldn't run the island by themselves, though James also points out that if the LNER had been given complete control, eight other Nor'easters would be called in. Henry's replacement is also supposed to arrive today and he presently meets up with them. The new engine introduces himself as Winston, one of Edward's old friends from the Furness Railway and Thomas leads him to Knapford where Edward is.

At the sheds, Edward is with Eric, who is puzzled as to why Mr. Star has not let him take passenger trains. Eric has wanted to take passenger trains, getting bored from always doing goods work. He thinks Mr. Star thinks he wouldn't be any good at taking passenger trains, and Edward assures him that Mr. Star doesn't know Eric is interested and would let him try. Mr. Star would be impressed by Eric's ambitions and he would be much more of a useful engine to Mr. Star. Presently, Thomas arrives with Winston and Edward is shocked and overjoyed to see his old friend again. Thomas tells Edward that Winston will be filling in for Henry while he is at Darlington. Edward is delighted for the chance to catch up with Winston on recent on goings.

Since the ice wasn't too thick on the island's waterways, the Midis and Nor'easters were kept busy. Winston was also a massive help with the goods work, and he made good friends with Nor'easters and Midis alike. He and Edward also had plenty of time to talk about the Furness Railway and shared them with the rest of the Nor'easters.

A few days into the new year, a guard named Homer tells two other railwayman that he had lost 200 pounds. Homer has not told his wife yet, but he will have to. That night, he runs into a suspicious man with another workman who offers him 300 pounds for work in a single day delivering packages. Homer reluctantly decides to go along with it. The suspicious man explains what his plan is to Homer. The next morning, the workman tells Homer that the package is in the fifth van from the front, and marked with an "X". The workman goes through the plan with Homer once his train is at the harbour. The workman has revealed that he's been doing this long enough to afford a summer home in Jamaica. Homer decides to this only once and never again. Soon, Geoffrey picks up his train and departs and shortly later, Gordon does likewise. Later, the workman meets up with the suspicious man. The former tells the latter that Homer was too desperate to not take the chance. The suspicious man had arranged for his associates to bring in a large quantity of the product and will start next week. Suddenly, police officers arrive and place the two men under arrest.

At Wellsworth, Gordon and Geoffrey have been shunted. Gordon thinks Geoffrey was why they were shunted. Geoffrey still claims he'd done nothing, but Gordon is still skeptical. Presently, Joey arrives and says that a train is suspected of illegal narcotics and tells the engine to uncouple at once and come with Joey, who is Gordon, to his shock.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Eric
* Donald
* Reginald
* Geoffrey
* Joey
* Whiff
* Winston
* Francis
* Mr. Zorro
* Toby *(does not speak)*
* Colin *(does not speak)*
* Douglas *(does not speak)*
* Wendell *(does not speak)*
* Kate *(cameo)*
* Eliza *(cameo)*
* Ten Cents *(cameo)*
* Diesel *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* Stock Footage from Sabotage and Thief is used.
* This would be the first episode where the ending of this episode is immediately followed by the start of the next one.
* Eric's interest in pulling passengers, first mentioned in Carriages, is brought up again.
* Homer the guard, his unseen wife Marge and the kids, are obvious references to Homer and Marge Simpson of the Simpsons.
	+ The crime with the wax coated blades is also a gag once used in the Simpsons.