Barry the Steam Engine

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***Barry the Steam Engine*** is the tenth episode of the tenth series of *The Dark Railway Series*.

## Plot

Dave grows bored being in the works, and his attempts to humour Mr. Dark lead to nothing. He is repaired eventually and let out again, only to find that Barry has returned to the railway. Barry is pleased to be back home and see his friends again, and he is quickly caught up on events since his time away. After settling back down, Colossus expresses confusion after seeing Barry at Merecombe one day, apparently having just seen him at Galen Junction. Barry investigates, but he finds no one.

At the same time, Dave is given a surprise: Gary the Steam Engine has returned after coming out of retirement, much to Dave's delight. His brother Stan also arrives, saying that they're here for an upcoming gala. The three engines return to Merecombe, where Gary reunites with Barry, despite the latter not remembering him. In the days leading up to the gala, everyone begins to ignore Barry and focus their attention on Gary and Stan. Feeling jealous and left out, Barry goes to Mr. Smash for a repaint to try and be noticed again. His attempts prove useless, as he is once again dismissed by the other engines in favour of his brother.

On the last day of the gala, Barry makes a last ditch attempt to regain attention by taking a twenty coach train to Merecombe on his own, unknowingly stocking up on the last of the bad coal shipment. He eventually fails at Walschurch with steaming problems, and is forced to admit defeat. News reaches Merecombe and, realising their negligence is what caused this, Dave, Gary and Stan come to Barry's rescue. They apologise to him, and he apologises back for his actions. Together, all four engines pull the heavy train to Merecombe as a double headed and double banked train. Whilst Zeke is rather annoyed with Barry for being reckless, he nevertheless commends him for giving the railway a positive outlook. Gary announces that he'll be going back home soon, whilst Stan intends to stay a while longer. To finish off the day, the four friends spend the night drinking together for old times sake.

## Characters

* Dave
* Brian
* Raymond
* Eddie
* Barry
* Colossus
* Clyde
* Ryan
* Allan
* Turbo
* Gary
* Stan
* Zeke Dark
* Mr. Dark
* Mr. Smash
* Goose (*does not speak*)
* Repulse (*mentioned*)
* Caracus Smash (*mentioned*)
* Lord Stovell (*mentioned*)
* Warrior (*not named; mentioned*)

## Locations

* Caracus Smash Ltd
* Galen Junction Railway Museum
* Merecombe Shed
* Merecombe
* Colhapper Shed
* Axley
* Colhapper
* Walschurch
* Upway Bank
* Manston Fore (*mentioned*)

## Trivia

* This episode marks a number of milestones for the series:
	+ It celebrates the 10th anniversary of both Dark DJ Productions and *The Dark Railway Series*, being released on the 10th anniversary of the creation of the current DDJP channel.
	+ It also marks the 100th official episode in the series (excluding specials).
* To commemorate this milestone, the intro includes the monologue from the very first episode of the series. It is also the only episode of Series 10 to use "9" as the opening theme, with "101" being used as the end credits theme instead. During the intro, clips from Pilots, The Betrayal, Tender Moments of Tender Engines, The Prime Time of your Life, Plunk 'n Bang and Autumn are used, showcasing the evolution of the series over the past 10 years.
* This episode marks the first appearance of Gary the Steam Engine in a main episode of the series.
* When Gary and Stan make their debuts, the most recent theme tunes of their respective series' play: "Thor's Hammer" by Ethan Meixsell for Gary, and the theme for *The Tales of New Wessex* by Reilly Cornwall for Stan.
* A number of references are made in this episode, including to the Thomas the Tanked Up Engine spoof by Bobby Davro, the Critical Drinker and asdfmovie2 by TomSka.
* The episode is a pun to the web series Gary the Steam Engine created by Rhys Davies of Angry Welshman Productions.
* Barry quote ''I'm back, I'm black and I'm here to entertain you all once again.'' A reference to Back in Black by Australian rock band AC/DC.
* Barry calls Mr. Smash - Mr. Smosh, Stan - Stanley Parable bloke (A reference to the video game, The Stanley Parable) and Allan - Alien (A reference to the 1979 release film Alien despite the episode set in the summer of 1978).