Reshuffle

**Reshuffle** is the fifth episode of the third season of the Stories of Sodor and the fortieth episode overall.

Reshuffle/Transcript

## Plot

Before 1946, instead of a central government, almost every town on Sodor had its own mayor and administration. As a result of this jumbled up arrangement, the separate councils argued constantly over everything and this made vital infrastructure fall into disrepair. In 1946, the Attlee government amalgamated the various councils of Great Britain into larger ones, which included Sodor. On September 20, 1946, the Sodor Council was sworn in and on that day, the island's capital city was officially declared.

On that day, James and Henry were at the Lumber Yard with Matthew. Henry is in disbelief that Vicarstown has been declared Sodor's capital, as it hasn't changed much since the days of the Sodor and Mainland Railway. Matthew tells them that Vicarstown was originally going to be Sodor's capital when the Sodor and Mainland Railway was formed in the 1850s. It was going to be the catalyst for centralising Sodor, but there was too much resistance and the local councils didn't want to lose their powers. James is happy to be out of the works and back in service, but wanted to tear into Corbett as Henry tells Matthew that both Corbett and Freeman have resigned some weeks back. James and Henry tell Matthew that Sir Topham Hatt is planning something at Brendam and the two engines have to spend the night there as Sir Topham will make an important announcement.

That night, James, Henry, Donald, Peter, Samantha and Adam have gathered at Brendam and have had their bets finalised. The engines list out respectively what will happen, with James' bet being a reshuffle, meaning that they may finally have consistent duties, and no longer will everyone do everything. James has been betting on a reshuffle because based on the inquiries he made, throughout Sir Topham's career, every time he was appointed manager of a particular region, he always began his tenure by assigning specific jobs for his engines and people, warning the others to be prepared for his inevitable triumph, much to their rage. Presently, Sir Topham arrives, and tells them why he gathered them at Brendam for the formation of the Sodor Council, much to James' shock. He then explains to them why Vicarstown has been chosen as Sodor's capital, though Henry points out that Vicarstown is still essentially a village. Sir Topham reveals that a huge redevelopment of Vicarstown has been proposed, for the town, station and yard. The construction project will start the next Friday, with the sixteen engines being given assignments to advance to project, operating on a rotating basis with the redevelopment expected to be completed by April 1st of next year. Sir Topham then asks who won the bet. Sam thinks Toby did, as he bet on a construction project, but James refuses to count it.

Throughout the next few months, the engines and people worked hard and the redevelopment was completed on time. The night the redevelopment had completed, and after an April Fools prank by Thomas, Sir Topham arrives, revealing that a reshuffle is about to happen, to streamline operations on Sodor. He admires the versatility of non-faceless vehicles, but this also means that doing jobs outside their domains reduces efficiency. Sir Topham says he will assign certain engines certain jobs to certain regions of the island so each part of Sodor will be serviced effectively; Beginning with the main line: Gordon and Reginald for express trains, Henry and Peter for goods work and mixed-traffic duties for Donald and James, as well as Samantha being the shunter at Knapford. As for the rest of the appointments, Thomas, Percy and Toby are assigned to the Ffarquhar Branch, Edward and Eric are transferred to the Brendam Branch to work with Diesel, Douglas and Adam and Peckett was assigned as the shunter at Vicarstown.

However, a week after the reshuffle took place, Peter panted into Vicarstown after leaving Carldon late and had to make up for lost time. Reginald had to wait for Donald to go by with a fuel train before Peter could leave Carldon. Peter remarks how tight their schedule is and Reginald thinks they'll get used to it in time. Sir Topham had overheard their conversation as both engines left. Meanwhile, at Elsbridge, James is angry with Thomas because he was late and he had thrown out the timetable. Thomas then lashes out at James and leaves. Toby, Percy and Donald had seen this exchange. Percy and Toby sense Thomas is starting to act out because he hasn't seen Kate in over a month now that the Main Line Engines are delivering petrol to the mines. Toby decides to talk with Sir Topham, and Donald begs him to do so, since the petrol delivery is too much for him and the others.

Later that day, Toby is taking a small goods train when he meets up with Sir Topham at Maithwaite. Sir Topham voices his concerns with the main line crew, having heard about the row between Thomas and James from some of the complaining passengers and will be talking to Thomas. Toby decides to save Sir Topham some time, and next morning, Sir Topham goes to see Thomas. He tells him that it's hard being separated from a loved one and not to take out his anger on others. Thomas apologises and vows to not let it happen again. Sir Topham then says that he had talked Donald the night before and he suggested that he should transfer the fuel deliveries to the Ffarquhar Engines. He had also done this because the trio have had the experience delivering the petrol. He also says he will make other arrangements if it goes against carrying out their duties.

Thomas happily departed for the fuel depot and after picking up the train, he set off down the line. Upon arriving at Knapford, the stationmaster flagged him down as a faulty set of points were blocking his way. While Thomas waited impatiently, a very curious thing happened to him…

## Characters

* Thomas
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Toby
* Eric
* Donald
* Adam
* Reginald
* Peter
* Peckett
* Samantha
* Matthew
* The Fat Controller
* Edward *(narration only; does not speak)*
* Douglas *(does not speak)*
* Diesel *(does not speak)*
* Clive *(cameo)*
* Henrietta *(cameo)*
* George *(cameo)*
* Kate *(mentioned)*
* Basil Corbett *(mentioned)*
* Giles Freeman *(mentioned)*

### Trivia

* The events of this episode took place in the latter half of 1946 and the former half of 1947.

### Goofs

* In the video description, 'construction' is spelt 'contruction'.