The Runaway

**The Runaway** is the tenth episode of the second season and the 40th episode overall. It is based on the story of the same name from the thirtieth Railway Series book, More About Thomas the Tank Engine.

## Plot

One day, Thomas wakes up feeling ill; the workmen are unable to make him feel better, so the Fat Director has Edward bring Thomas to the works for a while and asks Duck to take over Thomas' duties on his branch line. Duck is delighted to be given such a responsibility.

Duck is already friends with Percy, and quickly befriends Toby, Bertie and Terence. The friendly tractor tells Duck to take extra special care with Annie and Clarabel. Duck is very gentle with them, and both coaches are left very impressed with the Great Western engine and remark on what a pleasure it is to go out with him. When Thomas returns from the works, the two coaches tell him how well Duck had managed on the line. Thomas does not feel jealous, as he is just happy to be back home.

Although Thomas feels better, he is not in complete working order. The repairs have left his handbrake very stiff, meaning it can feel like his brakes are hard-on when they are actually not. Because of this, Thomas begins to overrun the station platform, which causes him a great deal of embarrassment. Eventually, Thomas' crew learn to compensate for the handbrake and they stop in just the right place.

When Thomas' fireman falls ill one day, a relief man takes his place. After Thomas arrives at the junction, the new fireman couples him to Annie and Clarabel, then joins the driver and stationmaster on the platform while they wait for Henry to deliver his passengers. However, the fireman forgot about the stiff handbrake. When Henry starts to approach with the passengers, Thomas' wheels start to move as his brakes are not completely on and he cannot stop or whistle a warning without his crew. Before anyone realises what has happened, Thomas has left everyone stranded on the platform and runs off without anyone in his cab.

Annie and Clarabel scream for Thomas to stop, but he has plenty of steam and keeps going. Soon, an alarm goes out about the runaway train. An engine inspector makes a plan, boards Harold the Helicopter and flies to a station where Thomas is due to pass by.

When Thomas reaches Ffarquhar station, he is very tired and is moving far slower than normal. But then he sees Harold landing near the next station. The inspector then makes it to the platform and when Thomas passes, he scrambles aboard the cab and puts Thomas' brakes hard-on. Having finally brought Thomas to a stop, both he and the inspector are very relieved and thank Harold, who tells them that it was no problem.

The inspector tells Thomas that they must make sure this never happens again; feeling exhausted, Thomas agrees with him.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Annie and Clarabel
* Terence
* Harold
* The Fat Director
* Engine Inspector
* Edward *(does not speak)*
* Henry *(does not speak)*
* Percy *(does not speak)*
* Toby *(does not speak)*
* Duck *(does not speak)*
* Farmer Finney *(cameo)*
* Harold's Pilots *(cameos)*
* Bertie *(mentioned)*

## Locations

* Tidmouth
	+ Tidmouth Sheds
		- Tidmouth Goods Station
* Sodor SteamWorks *(mentioned)*
* Terence's Field
* The Watermill
* Ffarquhar Station
	+ Ffarquhar Sheds
* Elsbridge
* The Valley Bridge

## Trivia

* Despite being the main character of the entire series, Thomas only has two lines of dialogue in the entire episode, with the first one being a thought and the second being out loud.
* This episode is based on a real event involving one of the "Jazz" trains out of Liverpool Street.