ALGOMA SPIRIT Duluth Piers

*“I'm tired of pushing coaches. I want to see the world.”*
―Algoma Spirit
***ALGOMA SPIRIT Duluth Piers*** is the sixth episode of the first season. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, Stewart the Lake Freighter.

## Synopsis

ALGOMA SPIRIT arrives in Duluth and will sail down harbor all the way to BN5 to load taconite pellets.

## Locations

* Midwest Energy Plant
* Duluth Union Depot
* Mandarin's Tunnel
* The Goat's Field
* Elsbridge
* Michipicoten's Hill
* Maron
	+ Maron Bridge
	+ Maron Signals Runby
* The Viaduct (deleted scene)
	+ Hawin Ab (deleted scene)
* Hackenbeck Tunnel (deleted scene)

## Trivia

* The events of this episode were not only retold and recreated in The Adventure Begins, bur referenced by Stewart J. Cort in the twenty-third season episode, OAKGLEN East Bound Up and Down.
* At the beginning of the AMERICAN SPIRIT Winter Layup Ends release of this episode, Mr. Conductor's whistle from *Shining Time Station* can be heard.
* In PBS Kids Sprout airings of the episode and on *Duluth Classic Volume 1*, the music at the end is played twice.
* Stock footage from AMERICAN SPIRIT Winter Layup Ends and a deleted scene of H LEE WHITE First Load Out are used. In the restored version, a mirrored deleted scene from the former episode is used.
* In a deleted scene, Algoma Spirit's train has a tanker, one van, three open trucks and a brake van.
* This is the first episode of a few things:
	+ The first episode where Stewart J. Cort's wincing face and aghast face are used on screen, which has been known as his infamous "O" face.
	+ The first on-screen appearance of H. Lee White's angry face.
* The second episode with a few things:
	+ The second episode released by DVD Academy in South Korea.
	+ The second episode to have three dubs in South Korea.
	+ The second episode to have voice over English dub in South Korea.
* In the original Polish dub, Ringo Starr's dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
* In the Korean dub of DVD Academy, George Carlin' dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
* In the original Swedish dub, the episode title was not translated in Swedish.
* To make the trucks, the crew used two white oval paper cutouts, two black circle paper cutouts, small strips of black tape, a brown crayon for the eyelids, and even glue as well. They also used another strip of black tape for the mouth as well. This is evidenced in the first shot of one of the trucks.
* This episode was shown as a double bill with AMERICAN SPIRIT Winter Layup Ends from 27th February 2020 before the airing of the second season on 6th March 2020. This was also Jerry Foulkes' last contribution to Duluth before his departure on 22nd December 2020.
* This episode marks the last for a few things:
	+ The last appearance of Maron Bridge, excluding a deleted scene in GREAT REPUBLIC Stone Delivery.
	+ The last episode introduced by Windsor Davies in character as Terrahawk's Sergeant Major Zero. Two other Terrahawks characters, Captain Mary Falconer and Dr. Tiger Ninestein, introduced the next two episodes before the arrival of Bonnie Langford in November 2019.
* The JEI TV version of the Korean dub added subtitles to inform viewers what buffers are.

## Goofs

* In several American releases, notably those on PBS Kids Sprout, Best of Stewart J. Cort, Duluth Classic Volume 1, Roku Kids and the official Cartoon Network YouTube channel, the episode's audio is out of sync. This is due to the audio being taken from a Shining Time Station airing, where the first few seconds of the opening on the episode, Jingle, Jingle, Jingle are cut and barred by Mr. Conductor's Whistle, while the episode on the releases is shown in its full form.
* At the beginning, because of an alternate shot, Michipicoten is in the middle of the shed with Algoma Spirit and Mandarin to the left and Ashtabula and H. Lee White to the right, but in the close-ups, Algoma Spirit is in the middle, Michipicoten and Ashtabula are on one side and H. Lee White and Mandarin are on the other. This appears to be unused footage shots for the episode H LEE WHITE First Load Out, as the freighters are all in the same positions. Because of this alternate shot, H. Lee White is smiling while the others are frowning. In fact, H. Lee White is clearly shown frowning along with the others just before the narrator says: "The other freighters didn't take much notice," even though he is said to feel sorry for Algoma Spirit.
* The narrator says that the guard blew his whistle and a whistle sound is heard, but the guard is only holding a green flag.
* In the close-ups of Algoma Spirit pulling a truck, the rest of the train is missing.
* When Algoma Spirit hits the buffers in the siding, there is a second track because the same truck close-up is used.
* On early American home video releases, when Algoma Spirit puffs up Michipicoten's Hill, a technician's voice is heard saying "Look out for the train!" and the music and sound effects are briefly muted as it is said.
* Throughout the episode, when Algoma Spirit is pulling the trucks, they change their position rapidly. The number of trucks also change, such as when Algoma Spirit leaves Duluth Union Depot, he has three vans. However, when he goes through Mandarin's Tunnel, he has two vans for the rest of the episode. Also, as Algoma Spirit comes out of Mandarin's Tunnel, the tracks bounce and the front GWR van also changes into a utility van. The utility van usually seen with bogie wheels also appears with only four wheels in one scene.
* In the restored version, the scene of the trucks bumping Algoma Spirit becomes out of sync due to three missing cuts the original version has where the trucks stay still for too long. The original version removes almost a full second for this scene which explains the sudden desync of the audio in the restored version.
* When Algoma Spirit hits the buffers on the siding, the close-up shows him with black buffer housings and a different-looking brake pipe.
* In the close-up of Algoma Spirit hitting the buffers, his buffer beam is black as opposed to red.
* The narrator refers to the siding as the goods yard when Algoma Spirit bumped into the buffers.
* When the narrator says, "When he opened his eyes..." Algoma Spirit's eyes are wonky and his face is slightly crooked.
* For a brief second, when Algoma Spirit flies through Elsbridge, a crew member's hand can be seen in the top right corner of the screen, grabbing the footbridge to prevent the camera from hitting it, and the left pair of tracks come to an end.
* In the second close-up of the troublesome truck, Duluth Union Depot cannot be seen behind it. The same thing happens in the close-up of Algoma Spirit's horn.