Diesel (episode)

**Diesel** is the first episode of the fourth season of the Stories of Sodor and the fifty-first episode overall.

Diesel (episode)/Transcript

## Plot

Edward has only just realised that by concluding his last batch of stories at the end of 1955, he overlooked something very important that had happened in March of that year: The Modernisation Plan. Back when Sir Topham Hatt was chairman of the Railway Board, he once expressed concerns about BR's long-term financial stability and his concerns had been justified, as by this point British Railways was in trouble. The most radical proposal of the Modernisation Plan was to end the production of steam engines in favour of diesels. The workers were concerned that this could lead to potential layoffs, as were the engines of the North Western Region.

Diesel complains to Thomas how unfair it is that the "steamies" who built the railways are now getting retired because of politics. Thomas is really surprised to hear this coming from Diesel, but he feels like he doesn't want to give up the fame of being the only diesel on Sodor. Just then, the yardmaster tells Diesel that Sir Topham Hatt wants to see him at Wellsworth tomorrow morning because he needs to have a word with Diesel and he is bringing an old friend of Diesel's, Walter Paxman, the man who built Diesel. Thomas jokes that they finally have someone to blame.

The next morning, at Wellsworth, Edward and Percy are at Wellsworth with Diesel as Sir Topham Hatt and Mr. Paxman walk over to them. Sir Topham Hatt introduces Mr. Paxman to the engines, and much to Edward and Percy's surprise and confusion, Mr. Paxman addresses his old friend not by Diesel, but by "Bruce". Sir Topham Hatt then reminds the two steamies that they have work to do, and they leave.

Later that morning at Brendam, Edward tells Douglas what he "learned" about Diesel. Douglas is surprised Edward did not know, while the Midis did. Edward thinks this is a joke, but Douglas proves him wrong when he talks to Adam about Diesel, referring to him "Bruce". Douglas comforts Edward on not knowing since Diesel had been with Douglas an entire year before he found out his real name. Douglas does know why Diesel does not go by his real name, but he suggests to Edward to talk to Diesel at night. That night, Diesel goes back to the sheds where Edward, Eric, Douglas and Adam are. Edward gets mixed up on what name to address Diesel by, but he doesn't mind being addressed as Diesel. Eric asks Diesel why he doesn't go by Bruce. Diesel says it goes back to before he arrived on Sodor and begins telling his story.

During the Great Depression, the railways were among the hardest to be hit by the global economic crisis. All four railways tried to economise, especially the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which was the largest of the Big Four and suffered the most from the Depression. Mr. Walter Paxman, an avid rail enthusiast, approached the Midis with the proposal for a new sort of locomotive which promised to be more effective than any steam locomotive. The Midis endorsed his project and gave him access to one of their workshops on a branch line near a junction where the LMS and GWR lines met. After a couple of years, the prototype was completed and ready to be unveiled. Mr. Paxman delivers a speech and reveals his new engine, Diesel.

Later, Mr. Paxman praises Diesel, much to his surprise, although the people were only taken aback by how minimal his arrival was. Despite this, Paxman says that Diesel is revolutionary when a GWR 5700 Pannier Tank Engine pulls up alongside and introduces himself as Duck. Mr. Paxman informs Diesel that he'll be undergoing his trials tomorrow. Duck offers to start now because he needs to assemble a train for his return trip and would appreciate some help, to which Paxman agrees to.

Soon, Duck and Diesel get to work. Diesel thanks Duck for teaching him how to shunt. Duck departs, wishing Diesel good luck on his trials. Mr. Paxman is pleased by Diesel's performance, but reminds him not to mention what he did for Duck because the Midis don't want to hear that their new prototype was helping a competitor. The next day, Diesel is put to his trials, and the inspectors were most impressed with his work. That night, Diesel talks to Duck about his trial and tomorrow they want him to shunt some trucks for the engines working on the branch line. He then asks Duck about the faceless engines and he assures him there are no big differences between them. Duck then advises Diesel to not bump the trucks, especially those that are non-faceless.

The next day, Diesel is marshalling a train of trucks and leaves one behind. Diesel goes to pick him up, but he doesn't want to move and tells Diesel to "shove off", calling him "darkey". Enraged, Diesel bumps the truck hard and he smashes through the buffers, down an embankment and damages a brick wall and a lorry.

The Midis weren't happy to hear this from their new engine on his second day of work. Diesel swore he didn't mean to bump the truck as hard as he did, which could be true, since there was oil on the track leaked from a tanker on Duck's train. A minor row occurred between the LMS and GWR with the latter wanting the former to pay for the damage. As a result, Diesel mostly evaded punishment, making the trucks think that the higher-ups supported his action. Diesel began getting very rough with the trucks, enforcing his iron will. When Duck returned to the Branch line a week later, he was horrified.

Diesel protests that Duck didn't tell him the trucks were racist. Duck does agree, but points out how unfair it is to punish all the trucks because of the actions of one and to not use force to control the trucks. Diesel then says he'll be out of the yard today, taking his first train and then as a banker for one of the engines. Duck remarks how highly the LMS is thinking of Diesel to give him important jobs and gives him advice on taking a train and working as a banker.

Later that day, Duck meets up with Maggie. She tells Duck that Diesel has told her off for being wrong for abusing the trucks as well as Duck's advice, and he has never given him credit for all the tips he gave him. During his shunting trials, Diesel said to the inspectors, "That's the benefit of diesels. We know everything. We come to a yard and improve it. We are revolutionary!" Meanwhile, Diesel is banking a faceless engine up a short incline when his engine blows out, forcing the train to stop and go back to the bottom of the hill. Duck soon arrives and tells off Diesel for not being able to help a train up a small hill and leaves. That night, Duck and Diesel get into a heated argument.

While Diesel had been a success, his repairs took a long time to complete, especially with how scarce replacement parts were and that his crew were learning how to fix him while they were doing so. Diesel was simply far too ahead of his time, so the LMS abandoned complete dieselisation, although they did build some other diesel shunters which were entrusted to Mr. Paxman. By the time Diesel was repaired and back in working order, his hold over the yard had weakened as the trucks began to stand up to him. The trucks came up with a song, "Clear off you Weasel".

After that, Diesel recalled, it was hell working at that yard afterwards and was glad that he was transferred to Sodor. Adam points out that Diesel still had a grudge against steamies, but they were the ones who turned him around. Edward points out that Diesel hadn't exactly answered Eric's question. Diesel replies that after the trucks sang the song, they wouldn't call him Bruce anymore, and soon, everyone else started calling him Diesel too. Diesel then explains that Paxman was given the job to create a new shunting class and they are going to use Diesel himself as the prototype. Over the next few weeks, Diesel was thoroughly examined and his performance history was scrutinised to see if he was to be the ideal prototype, and the result of this was the ubiquitous British Rail Class 08 shunters. Soon enough, 1956 arrived, the year when the elements of the Modernisation Plan started to take effect.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Percy
* Duck
* Douglas
* Eric
* Diesel
* Adam
* Maggie
* Sir Topham Hatt
* Mr. Walter Paxman
* Henry *(cameo)*
* Gordon *(cameo)*
* James *(cameo)*
* Toby *(cameo)*
* Donald *(cameo)*
* Peckett *(cameo)*
* Caroline *(cameo)*
* Montgomery *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* The episode's flashback takes place in 1931, while the rest of the episode takes place in 1955.
* This episode reveals that Diesel's real name is also Bruce (which is a reference to the Sodor Short "Bruce").
* This episode was "leaked" as an unlisted video on April 2, 2020 via the Sodor Short "Prank".
* Part of Walter Paxman's introduction of Diesel is a quote from the 1971 film *Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*.
* Diesel's lines, "We know everything. We come to a yard and improve it. We are revolutionary." is taken from Pop Goes the Diesel.