Diesel 199, Dennis and the Fruitful Day

***Diesel 199, Dennis and the Fruitful Day*** is the fifteenth and final episode from the third series.

## Plot

It is market day on Sodor, and D199 is on his way to the harbour when he sees Dennis at Lower Suddery. Dennis is late with his line of trucks, as he should already be at the next station by that point. D199 tells Dennis that engines should always be on time and rolls importantly away. Feeling resentful, Dennis mutters "bossy buffers" under his breath and continues on his way.

D199 arrives at the harbour to see all the wonderful fresh fruits being unloaded from the cargo ships. D199 waits as his trucks are loaded, then he sets off for the branch line. During his journey, he meets Diesel and his express coaches and cannot resist boasting. Diesel knows that there will be trouble ahead for the boastful blue diesel.

Back at Lower Suddery, Dennis is busy shunting in the yard when the stationmaster informs his driver that D199's brakes are jammed and that Dennis has to go and help him at once. Dennis quickly sets off and soon finds D199 stranded on the branch line, which gives Dennis an opportunity to tease him. Dennis' driver soon intervenes and asks Dennis if he can push the trucks of fruit, to which Dennis happily obliges. Soon, Dennis is coupled to the trucks and sets off, leaving D199 fuming. Dennis is in a hurry and is not paying full attention to the line. With the trucks in front of him, he has not seen that the points have failed and that he has been diverted onto a siding. Dennis' driver sees the danger and applies the brakes, but it is too late. The trucks run straight into the buffers and Dennis crashes into the back of the van in front of him. His driver have jumped clear, but Dennis gets covered in squashed fruit. The Fat Controller arrives and sternly reminds Dennis that while the points failure was not his fault, the railway is not a jam factory.

That night in the sheds, all the diesels are silent, with D199 and Dennis feeling very sorry for themselves as they are now both in disgrace. Diesel breaks the silence by reminding everyone that there is more than one way to get into a jam and that even when engines help each other out, things can still go wrong. One of the diesels asks what the point is and Diesel points out that it means they learned a lot that day and therefore they are all Really Useful Engines after all, to which all the diesels happily agree.

## Characters

* Diesel
* BoCo
* Class 40
* Diesel 10
* Diesel 199
* Dennis
* Class 08
* Express Coaches
* Sir Topham Hatt
* Troublesome Trucks (*do not speak*)
* Jeremiah Jobling (*cameo*)
* Famer Trotter (*cameo*)
* Cranky (*cameo*)

## Trivia

* The episode is based off the twenty-fifth episode of the third series from *Thomas & Friends*, Percy, James and the Fruitful Day.
* The truck in front of Dennis has "NE" written on it.
* Stock footage from a deleted scene of the third series episode, Heroes.
* Izzy Gomez, the Fuel Depot Manager's office, a station and a warehouse from TUGS appear.
* This episode marks the express coaches' only speaking roles in the third series.
* This episode marks the only appearance of the Logging Halt to date.
* This episode marks the last appearances of Brendam Drawbridge and The Three Way Road.