Break Van

**Break Van** is the eighteenth episode of the second season and 48th episode overall. It is based on the story of the same name from the 15th Railway Series book, The Twin Engines.

## Plot

The Fat Director scolded Donald and Douglas after the incident with Thomas’ special coach. He says he’s still deciding which of the twins he will send away. But, neither Donald or Douglas wants to stay on Sodor without the other, so they agreed that if they both behave and work hard, The Fat Director might keep both of them.

But, a brake van in the yard takes a disliking to Douglas and causes trouble whenever he has to take him out, making his trains late and causing Douglas to worry. Donald is angry at the brake van for treating his twin in such a cruel manner and bumps him violently, threatening him with more to come if he continues to misbehave. The van starts behaving better afterwards. One day, however, Donald loses control while reversing onto some slippery rails and accidentally crashes tender-first into a signal box. The Fat Director is quite disappointed and speaks severely to Donald, as he had intended to keep him and send Douglas back home. Now Donald will need to have his tender mended and James will have to do his work, which The Fat Director knows he will not like.

The Fat Director is proven right; James is very angry about the extra work and grumbles dreadfully. Douglas teases James and mentions his accident with the tar wagons, worsening his bad mood. He takes a train of trucks, including the Spiteful Brake Van, who decides to make work difficult for James and has the trucks hold back, quickly tiring James out.

Meeting Douglas at Wellsworth, James asks for his assistance in climbing up Gordon's Hill and Douglas agrees. The two engines work as hard as they can, but James starts losing steam while half way up the hill. Because of this and the weight of the trucks holding back, Douglas accidentally crushes the van to pieces while pushing from behind. The Fat Director arrives on Edward, who comes with the Breakdown Train to help clear the mess and is cross that Douglas has also caused trouble. Edward stands up for Douglas, having heard what happened and tells the Fat Director of all the hard work Douglas did. Although the Fat Director understands that Douglas was only trying to help, he does think that Douglas got carried away by destroying the brake van. The Fat Director then turns and walks away, apparently making up his mind about something.

## Characters

* Edward
* James
* Donald and Douglas
* Troublesome Trucks
* The Spiteful Brake Van
* The Fat Director
* Thomas *(cameo)*
* Henry *(cameo)*
* Gordon *(cameo)*

## Locations

* Tidmouth
	+ Tidmouth Sheds
		- Tidmouth Goods Station
	+ Tidmouth Yards
* Wellsworth
* Gordon's Hill
* Scotland *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* The episode's title is a pun and portmanteau of the word "*Break"* and the UK term *Brake Van*.
* This episode marks the first time a character suffers an injury to their face (the brake van is seen with a black eye after the crash).
* A reference to the first season episode, Dirty Objects is made.

## References to Other Stories

* Douglas tells the other engines a story about James getting into an accident with some tar wagons.