Strike

**Strike** is the fifth episode of the second season of the Stories of Sodor and the twentieth episode overall.

Strike/Transcript

## Plot

On September 21st, 1938, the workers at the Marston Heights Coal Mine went on strike. The strike continued for weeks and many trains had to be cancelled due to the lack of fuel. The Mid Sodor Railway's engines almost exclusively ran coal trains but despite their best efforts to supply the standard gauge engines, they couldn't do enough and reserves began drying up across Sodor. Eventually, the Island's council arranged for coal shipments to be imported from the mainland and Kate was put in charge.

One morning, Thomas is talking with Kate at Crovan's Gate when Skarloey arrives and Thomas struggles to answer Kate when she asks him if he thinks she looks lovely. After Kate leaves, Skarloey tells Thomas that their line could be experiencing their own strikes soon. At the docks at Ben Glas and at the ballast mine near Boxford, there have been suspicious happenings among the workers. If either of those businesses stops trading, the railway would close up altogether.

Presently, the dockworkers at Knapford walked away from their jobs and no one was able to unload the ships. The Nor'Easters had lost the bulk of their goods traffic almost overnight and all shipping was redirected to Brendam. As a result, the Midis were buried under the weight of the extreme increase of work and were struggling to keep up. Mr. Zorro didn't want to risk his engines going on strike and arranged with Mr. Star to bring his engines into Brendam to help out. Ten Cents was also brought in to help Drollan with the ships entering and exiting the port.

One day, Ten Cents has brought in a ship named Valar Morghulis and Drollan tells him off for bringing the ship into the wrong berth. They get the ship out, but they begin to argue. Percy, Adam and Douglas had been observing this. After some talk with the two Midis, Percy leaves and as he exits the harbour, he sees James and Gordon arguing with Lily and Reginald, respectively. He begins to wonder how much more they can take.

That evening, Percy meets up with Henry at Wellsworth and explains what he saw at Brendam. He thinks the saltiness of the Midis is rubbing off on them. Henry hasn't butted heads with any of the Midis yet, which had been a good thing since Colin was supposed to his banker up Gordon's Hill, but his driver had informed him that Colin had been held up at the docks and Percy can't help, as he has to take a commuter train in fifteen minutes. It seems Henry has no choice but to take his train up the hill by himself when Duck arrives. Duck had arrived earlier that day and had come to Sodor as a good will gesture because the thieving incident with Wendell had damaged the GWR's business relations with the Nor'Easters and the Midis. Duck happily accepts Henry's offer to act as his banker.

Duck buffers up to the back of Henry's train and the guard warns him that the brake van is getting old. Henry and Duck set off. Halfway up Gordon's Hill, Henry suddenly feels the train being heavier than usual and Duck is feeling the weight too. Suddenly, the brake van begins to break and the guard jumps clear just as the brake van is destroyed.

The next day, Diesel and Adam harass Henry, Gordon and James. Gordon soon storms back to Knapford and James and Henry follow suit. Mr. Zorro later reprimands Adam and Diesel for teasing the three engines and that if the strike at Knapford were to end the next day, they would still have to move today's cargo and decides to ask Mr. Star for help again.

At Knapford, Toby calls out the three big engines for their behaviour. Mr. Star arrives and informs the three engines that the Midis are paying the Nor'Easters for their help and they will need every shilling possible to keep running as long as the strike at Knapford continues. Mr. Star then tells the engines that he will want them at Brendam, first thing tomorrow morning, and that if they complain, they will be stuck with garbage duty for a month. Toby then brings Mr. Star over to the station. Gordon, James and Henry, fed up with Mr. Star ordering them around, decide to do something about it.

The next morning, Edward arrives, exhausted and tardy, and told Mr. Star that he had been held up at the sheds because he was trying to dissuade Gordon, Henry and James from their decision. Mr. Star goes to the three engines, who say that they are on strike and voice their complaints. Mr. Star then apologises for the garbage duty remark. The three engines had been expecting a fight, but Mr. Star tells them that it's not how he resolves business disputes. Mr. Star then tells the engines Mr. Zorro has promised that his crew won't be harassing the Nor'Easters and the Midis are very grateful for the help they are getting. Mr. Star then vows to not from using coercion to get his engines to obey his orders. Gordon, Henry and James promptly go over to Brendam.

When they arrived, they were practically greeted as heroes and the docks were quickly put back in order as the Midis and Nor'Easters began working together again, without any antagonistic remarks between them. The Nor'Easters returned to Knapford as quickly as they could once the strike at Knapford had ended and the strike at Marston Heights had ended a week later. In the following days, Duck had helped deliver coal to wherever it was needed. Nobody also teased him about his accident on Gordon's Hill. However, with that accident, there would come severe and unexpected consequences with it…

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Toby
* Duck
* Douglas
* Diesel
* Lily
* Adam
* Reginald
* Kate
* Skarloey
* Ten Cents
* Drollan
* Mr. Star
* Mr. Zorro
* Eric *(does not speak)*
* Colin *(does not speak)*
* Donald *(does not speak)*
* Peter *(does not speak)*
* Franklin Merve *(does not speak)*
* Dominick *(does not speak; as a ghost)*
* Mickey *(cameo)*
* Ivo Hugh *(cameo)*
* Sir Topham Hatt *(mentioned)*
* Wendell *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* The first appearance of the workmen since the Season 1 episode, Luck.
* The events of this episode takes place in September/October 1938.
* This episode adapts the Railway Series stories "Trouble in the Sheds", though a bait-and-switch occurs, as the big engines call a strike because of them working with the Midis and then they call off their strike after Mr. Star apologizes for his unprofessional comments (since Percy was already on Sodor). Duck's incident with the brake van is based on the events of The Railway Series/Thomas and Friends story/episode "Fish".
* Three ships are named "Like" "Share" and "Subscribe".