Season 2 (Thomas & Friends)

## Season 2

* Original
* Remastered
* Restored

The **second season** of Thomas & Friends premiered on 24th September 1986 in the UK. Ringo Starr narrated all twenty-six episodes in the UK as well as seventeen of them on Shining Time Station, with George Carlin later re-narrating all of the episodes for the US.

## Production

The majority of the stories were originally written by the Reverend W. Awdry. However, Christopher Awdry was commissioned to write a new Railway Series book as source material for the second season. Two stories from More About Thomas the Tank Engine provided additional roles for Bertie the bus and Harold the helicopter. The episode Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree was a one-off story written by Christopher Awdry. According to the credits on the Thomas, Percy and the Coal and Other Stories VHS, the episode Thomas and Trevor is "based on the story by Christopher Awdry from original material by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton".

According to Robert Gauld-Galliers, "Gordon Goes Foreign" was originally intended for production, but it was not filmed because its production costs would have gone over-budget. Another episode called The Missing Coach, based on a story from The Twin Engines was due to be filmed. The model crew had gone as far as filming scenes on the Tidmouth Station set with Thomas arriving at the station before Britt Allcroft decided to cut the episode, citing a lack of action and a storyline which was too convoluted for young viewers to follow, so it was replaced by Thomas, Percy and The Coal. "Percy's Promise" and "Double Header" were originally considered but were dropped and replaced by Christopher Awdry's new stories.

## Episodes

(*Note: \* means that an episode was not narrated by Ringo Starr in the US and was only narrated by George Carlin in the US*).

(*Note: \*\* means that an episode was narrated by George Carlin in the US but was never re-aired on Shining Time Station and was only released on VHS or DVD.*)

(*Note: \*\*\* means both reasons.*)

### Cancelled episodes

After an argument with a big city engine over what the name of a station on the Other Railway is, Gordon is determined to find out.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Toby
* Annie and Clarabel
* Henrietta
* Terence
* Bertie
* Troublesome Trucks
* Sir Topham Hatt
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster
* The Elsbridge Stationmaster
* A Porter
* The Signalman
* Some Workmen
* Jeremiah Jobling (*not named; named in Japanese dub*)
* Mrs. Kyndley (*not named*)
* Stephen Hatt (*cameo*)
* Bridget Hatt (*cameo*)
* Farmer Finney (*cameo*)
* The Ffarquhar Policeman (*cameo*)
* The Butler (*cameo*)
* The Little Boys (*cameos*)
* One of the stone-dropping boys (*cameos*)
* Earnest (*portrait cameo*)
* Märklin Engine (*scrapped model cameo*)

### Characters Introduced

* Duck
* Donald and Douglas
* Bill and Ben
* Diesel
* Daisy
* BoCo
* The Spiteful Brake Van
* Trevor
* Harold
* Jem Cole
* The Vicar of Wellsworth
* The Barber
* Daisy's Fitter
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Wife
* Three Engine Inspectors
* Father Christmas (*does not speak*)
* Percy's Ghost Engine (*does not speak*)
* The Naughty Boys (*do not speak*)
* The Lady with the Floppy Green Hat (*does not speak*)
* The Enthusiasts (*do not speak*)
* The Firelighter (*does not speak*)
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Children (*cameos*)
* Harold's Pilots (*cameos*)
* The Careless Cleaner (*mentioned*)
* British Railways Diesels (*mentioned*)
* The Mainland Diesels (*mentioned*)
* Sam the Farmer (*deleted scene; mentioned*)
* Big City Engine (*dropped*)
* The Foreign Gentlemen (*dropped*)

## Trivia

* This was the first of a few things:
	+ The first season filmed at Shepperton Studios.
	+ The first season where trucks have resin faces.
	+ The first season to use stories by Christopher Awdry.
	+ The first season to have diesel locomotives.
	+ The first season to have a female engine (Daisy).
* This was the final season of several things:
	+ Ringo Starr's last season as narrator.
	+ Robert D. Cardona's last season as producer.
	+ Britt Allcroft's last season as executive producer until the sixth season.
	+ The last season made by Clearwater Features.
	+ The last season in which music was composed using the Roland Jupiter 6 synthesiser.
	+ The last to use the nameboards in the UK. However, the nameboards would last up to the fourth season for the US and Japan.
	+ The last season where the end credits would roll over the final shot of an episode.
	+ The last season not to have any Music Videos.
	+ The last appearance of Thomas' infamous "O" face, excluding stock footage from the first season episode, Down the Mine which was used in the fourth season episode, Paint Pots and Queens.
	+ The last season until the seventeenth season to feature the same narrator for both the UK and US for the majority of the season, excluding episodes selected for New Friends for Thomas and Other Adventures which were narrated by Michael Angelis and the original recordings for the twelfth season which were narrated by Pierce Brosnan.
* This is the only production where a character says "Shut Up!" until Thomas and the Magic Railroad. This is likely due to broadcasting concerns after this season.
* Starting from the episode, Pop Goes the Diesel, the laughing sound effect from the trucks was heard. That sound effect was later reused in the following season.
* Henry regains his wheel arches, which were removed when he received his new shape after his accident with The Flying Kipper.
* The biggest space of time between two seasons airing is between this season, which aired in 1986 and the third season, which did not air until 1992, six years later.
* When first broadcast on ITV, two episodes were compiled into one ten minute block with the nameboard sequence featured in between. For subsequent broadcasts, the stories were shown individually.
* In the Ukrainian narration, Ringo Starr's voice can still be heard in the background.
* The Norwegian and Finnish versions credit Ringo Starr as the narrator, even though they were re-dubbed in Norwegian and Finnish respectively.
* The second season later aired in re-runs on CITV from 13th April-6th July 1988, then re-aired with a few episodes skipped on Mondays from 6th March-22nd May 1989 at the same time TUGS aired on Tuesdays. When the first season stopped airing, season two was broadcast every Tuesday from 21st May-27th August 1991 as separate episodes after Clearwater Features had shut down their production arm.
* The UK's iTunes release uses the fifth season-styled remastered footage for 23 of the episodes while Old Iron, Percy and the Signal and Ghost Train are the seventh season-styled restored versions.