The Runaway Express

**The Runaway Express** is the eighth episode of the first season.

## Plot

Gordon is one of the fastest engines on Sodor. He always pulls the big express and even has a brother named the Flying Scotsman. One morning, the Fat Controller tells Gordon that his brother was having an overhaul on the Mainland, and that some spare parts were waiting for him at Brendam Docks. Gordon inquires about who should take the express while he is away, as the Fat Controller announces that other engines will take turns as James goes first, much to the delight of the red engine. But Gordon tells James that he needs to do some trials first before he can let any passengers onboard. James claims to have pulled the express several times before. The Fat Controller even agrees with Gordon, but this annoyed James, as he wished he could take passengers immediately. At Knapford, Percy shunted the express coaches onto the first platform for James to start his trial. Percy asks James how fast he can travel, as the red engine believes he can go just as fast as Gordon would. Gordon warns James not to go too fast or else he could have an accident and goes off to the docks to fetch his train of engine parts for his brother. Once the guard blew the whistle, James went off to start his express trail.

Gordon went to the docks to collect his shipment of engine parts for his brother, as Porter and Salty bid him farewell. Meanwhile, James was speeding along the main line, screeching to a stop every time he approached a station. This annoyed Gordon, as he told James that the passengers wouldn't like that and reminded him not to do the wrong thing. But unfortunately, James did the wrong thing. As Gordon went over his hill, James followed behind, as he wanted to show the big blue engine that he's just as fast as he was. Suddenly, the coupling between his tender and the coaches snapped. The express coaches started to roll backwards down the steepest hill on the island, as James was in a state of shock. So he chased after the coaches as they flew past a surprised Edward, who was collecting passengers at his station. As they flew by Knapford, Thomas, Annie and Clarabel were very surprised to see what was going on, and they even saw James trying to catch up to the runaway express.

The express rolled past Tidmouth Sheds and onto Duck's branch line that went along the coast. Oliver and Toad were collecting passengers at Tidmouth Hault and were amazed to see James chasing the express, as they even recalled the time where Oliver had to rescue a runaway Toad and his trucks. At Arlesburgh Junction, Duck was shunting trucks and coaches until he saw the express approaching towards him. He tells the miniature engines, Rex, Bert, and Mike, to drop the ballast onto the tracks to stop the coaches, but that doesn't work because of how fast they're going. They were even surprised to see James catch up to the runaway train, as he was out of breath. At Arlesburgh Harbour, Skiff was giving boat rides until his captain, Joe, changed tracks to go right so they don't get hit by the coaches. Eventually, they turned left, rolling off the ramp that leads out into the sea. Luckily, the coaches were empty. When James finally caught up with the coaches, he was concerned that his efforts would not be enough to pull the train. When Thomas brought the Fat Controller to Arlesburgh Harbour, he scolded James for causing confusion and delay and had to send him back to Tidmouth Sheds until he was wanted. And for that, Edward would take the express the next day. James pulled the coaches out of the water, took them back to Knapford, and sulkily puffed slowly away back to the sheds.

That night, the other engines recall the times when they first pulled the express while having their own incidents. Emily tells James that he would've come off the rails if he was going fast, but James tells her that he didn't go off the track as it was the express that did so. He thinks there was something wrong with his tender coupling, but Edward tells him that it was his speed limit that caused this chaos to happen. James felt insulted, as he realised that he should've slowed down in the first place. The next morning, he asks the Fat Controller if he can shunt coaches in the yard, much to his surprise, as he couldn't remember telling James to do so. He asks James to promise him not to pull any coaches until Gordon returns from the Mainland. James even tells his controller that he can still pull goods trains even though he is not allowed to pull passengers and would be more respectful to everyone. As James worked at the yards shunting coaches, everyone was pleased with him, especially Edward, who pulled the express with passengers onboard. A few days later, it was time for Gordon to head home to Sodor, as the Flying Scotsman was sorry to see him go, but his little brother promises him that he'll come back again in the coming months. When Gordon returned home, he was very tired as everyone else was already asleep. The next morning, he was woken up by the other engines, who were full of questions about his absence. The Fat Controller was pleased to have Gordon home and asked James if he could make another promise by going slowly when coming to a station while pulling passengers. As Gordon asks James how he coped with the express, James tells him that it was a long story, only for Gordon to say, "Oh, the indignity!" much to everyone's laughter.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Duck
* Oliver
* Flying Scotsman
* Emily
* Porter
* Salty
* Skiff
* Mike
* Rex
* Bert
* Annie and Clarabel
* Toad
* Sir Topham Hatt
* Captain Joe
* Toby (*does not speak*)
* Henrietta (*does not speak*)
* Henry (*cameo*)
* Trevor (*cameo*)
* Cranky (*cameo*)
* Dowager Hatt (*indirectly mentioned*)

## Locations

* Island of Sodor
	+ The Viaduct
	+ Wellsworth
		- Wellsworth Vicarage Orchard
	+ Tidmouth Sheds
	+ Knapford
	+ Brendam Docks
	+ Gordon's Hill
	+ Tidmouth Hault
	+ Arlesburgh West
		- Arlesburgh Harbour
	+ Vicarstown (*mentioned*)
* The Mainland
	+ Crewe

## Cast

* Andrew Hager as Porter
* Bikliqi Studios as Thomas
* Crane Engine Studios as Percy and Toad
* DarthWill3 as Salty
* DockTankDylan as Edward
* Electro Gamer as James
* Eli. J Brony as Rex
* George Ignatchenko as Duck
* HeartCloud Productions as Emily, Annie and Clarabel
* Holden Stafford as Captain Joe
* Mason Hagen as Flying Scotsman, Bert and Skiff
* Oliver gwr 1995 Thomas the tank engine fan as Oliver
* SteamTeam3211 as Gordon and Sir Topham Hatt
* SudrianRailwayStudios as Mike

## Trivia

* This episode marks the first of a few things:
	+ The first episode to feature Eli. J Brony in the cast
	+ The first episode to have HeartCloud Productions as Emily who received the role from Yilin Zhou who previously voiced her in episodes 2-5.
* This is the only episode to feature George Ignatchenko in the cast. He was originally meant to voice Duck for a full time role, but left the series due to some complications he was having with the fandom. The role was given to Tommy Bauer shortly afterwards up until Truly the Truro, which makes Duck the only character in the season to have more than one voice actor change.
* This episode uses the famous *William Tell Overture (Finale)* theme, which was also used in the episodes, Busy Going Backwards, Thomas the Jet Engine and the original UK versions of Rheneas and the Roller Coaster and The Runaway Elephant.
* This episode also uses these references below:
	+ James tells Gordon that he pulled the express before while the big engine was shunting trucks in the yards which references the Season 1 episode, James and the Express.
	+ Oliver and Toad mention the events of the Season 5 episode *Busy Going Backwards*, when they saw James passing them while catching up with the express.
	+ Emily mentions the events of the Season 8 episode, As Good as Gordon, when she tells James about her first experience at pulling the express.
	+ Percy mentions the events of the Season 21 episode, Dowager Hatt's Busy Day, when he tells James about how the Fat Controller's mother made him pull the express while he was ill.

## Watch Episode

The Runaway Express (Thomas & Friends ERTL Adventures; Season 1; Episode 8)