Little Engines

## Plot

The episode opens to Patrick Boomer's workshop in 1956. Patrick returns to the workshop to find his son Peter working on a diesel with a mechanical claw. The diesel is started up and comes to life. Patrick and his son celebrate their successful build.

Thomas the Tank Engine has grown lonely working on his branchline all by himself, with only his coaches for company. He longs to have another engine to talk to, particularly a tank engine considering he's the only tank engine on the NWR. Annie and Clarabel comfort him by stating that he's been a valuable asset and that the Fat Controller is bound to purchase another engine soon.

Thomas returns home just in time for Henry to leave to clear the line of an unknown object. The object turns out to be an escaped elephant from the zoo. The elephant pushes and splashes Henry, who feels violated from the incident. Gordon and James later have a run-in with the old turntable at Tidmouth Sheds where Gordon is unable to turn around due to the wind, and James is spun around like a top. The three big engines vent their issues to each other and all agree that changes need to be made. On top of being assigned miniscule work, the big engines have grown tired of shunting. They go on strike and Sir Bertram Topham Hatt tries to talk them into coming out of the shed. He leaves and Henry and James immediately regret their decision. They return to regular service after apologizing to the Fat Controller.

Mr. Hugh suggests purchasing a new tank engine to The Fat Controller, who reluctantly agrees. He purchases a small little green engine named Percy, who arrives on Sodor later that week. He works with Edward to shunt in the yard and pranks Gordon, who has finally been released from his shed. The Fat Controller then announces that he is going on vacation with his family to a tramway on the mainland.

During his vacation with his wife and his two children, Bertram comes across an old tramway and an old tram called Toby. He and his family go for a ride in Toby and Bertram's son Charles begins to have a fascination to the old tram. Upon their arrival at the last station, Bertram begins to ponder whether or not he should purchase the tram. Soon after however, he receives a call stating that Thomas is trouble with the police. He returns to Sodor to find that Thomas has been given a ticket for violating safety procedures with unfenced areas of track. Bertram decides to go back and purchase Toby to run the unfenced line and strikes a deal with Toby's manager.

Toby arrives on the NWR to a warm welcome by some and a not-so-warm welcome from others. James and Gordon eye him curiously while the others grow greatly fond of the old tram engine. Thomas is delighted by the new company and one night, he begins to teach Percy how to control his ambitions and his dreams. The episode ends with a musical number of *Little Engines*.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Sir Bertram Topham Hatt
* James
* Henry
* Gordon
* Percy
* Toby
* Edward
* Jane Brown
* Charles Topham Hatt
* Barbara Jane Hatt
* Mr. George Hugh
* Annie
* Clarabel
* Bertie
* Patrick Boomer
* Peter Boomer
* Diesel 10
* Skarloey (*cameo*)
* Rheneas (*cameo*)
* Falcon (*cameo*)
* Stuart (*cameo*)
* Duke (*cameo*)

## Trivia

* Half of Episode 6 was filmed alongside the entirety of Episode 5 in the summer of 2019, but the project was not picked up again until January of 2020 and wasn't completed again until July of 2020 (mostly due to laziness).
* Either Percy or Toby was meant to be the main character of this episode, but the role was changed to Thomas.
* This episode marks the near end of Thomas' Season 1 Arc. His arc will be completed in the short films.
* This episode is the last episode using a hardcopy script. The script was written in early 2018 and is the last of this batch of scripts. The rest of the scripts were rewrites on Google Docs.
* GTSH plans to retcon the Fat Controller's vacation to Harwick and instead make it take place on the mainland like in the RWS books.
* GTSH had to delay this episode due to not having Henrietta. He received Henrietta in late 2019.
* There is a deleted scene with Gordon pulling his train backwards at Knapford Station. The scene also includes some back and forth dialogue with Thomas and several children making fun of Gordon.
* The Boomer scene at the beginning was initially supposed to be a post-credits scene, but was later moved.