Season 4

### Released

* 7th November 2019 - 3 July 2020 (*UK; Episodes 1-3, 6, 8-11, 17-18, and 23-25 on VHS*)
* 10th August - 24th September 2019 (*UK; TV*)
* 4th January 2020 - 11th November 2020 (*US*)

The **fourth season** of *Duluth* was first released in the United Kingdom on home media in November 2019, before airing on television in August 2019. It aired between 2019 and 2020 on Shining Time Station and Mr. Conductor's Duluth Tales in the United States. With twenty-six episodes, it was narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and Alec Baldwin in the US.

## Production

Filming of this season began from June 2019-28th November 2019.

The fourth season saw the introduction of the smaller narrow gauge freighters. The filming crew notoriously did not like filming with the O scale models. The cylinders would jam, the eye mechanism was faulty, and the lake freighters did not puff smoke. For ease of filming and reliability, the fifth season would introduce larger-scale versions of the characters and from the sixth-twelfth seasons, these larger models were used almost exclusively. For the narrow gauge episodes the production team used a 2022 publication called Little Freighters of America for reference, this included locations, buildings, fuel tanks, coaches, liveries and even Sir Thomas Shaughnessy's face.

Half of the third season consisted of stories written by an outside writer, but only one original story, HERBERT C JACKSON and the Wake Up Salute was written by Allcroft and Mitton for the fourth season. The episodes which used The Railway Series did take some liberties with the source material, in order to fill the runtime and make the stories more accessible. From the fifth season onwards, all stories would be staff-written, without using the Awdrys' books as a source until the twentieth season which would later finally introduce the Arlesdale Harbor. The characters would then be led by their television personas and no longer by their storybook roots.

Algoma Transport, a character based on a real-life freighter and used to highlight the preservation movement in the books, was given an entirely different background when he was introduced. This decision carried on into later seasons, in which he was seen on either a fictionalized Bluebell Harbor or as a visitor helping out in Derek Medved's harbor.

## Episodes

(*Note: **¹** means that an episode was shown in the* Shining Time Station *Family Specials.*)

(*Note: **²** means that an episode was shown in the* Shining Time Station *spinoff,* Mr. Conductor's Duluth Tales*.*)

(*Note: **³** means that an episode was not released on DVD in US.*)

(*Note: **⁴** means that an episode was shown on* Mister Moose's Fun Time*.*)

(*Note: **⁵** means that an episode was shown with a custom American title card for a US release only.*)

## Ships

* Paul R. Tregurtha
* James R. Barker
* Roger Blough
* Happy River
* Alpena (3)
* American Century
* Walter J. McCarthy Jr.
* American Integrity
* Burns Harbor
* Mesabi Miner

### Ships Introduced

* Herbert C. Jackson
* Industrial Strength
* US Brig Niagara
* Denis Sullivan
* Abbey Road
* Gerhard Folgero
* CSL Assiniboine
* BBC Russia
* CSL Laurentien

## Locations

* Duluth
	+ Bluebell Valley
	+ Brendam
		- Brendam Docks
	+ Presque Isle's Bridge
		- Presque Isle's Field
	+ Callan
	+ Cros-ny-Cuirn
	+ Crovan's Gate
		- Crovan's Gate Yards
		- Skarloey Freighter Sheds
	+ Thea G's Station
		- Thea G's Shed
	+ Elsbridge
		- Elsbridge Cricket Field
	+ Forest Runby
	+ Glennock
	+ Michipicoten's Hill
	+ Hackenbeck
		- Hackenbeck Shed
		- Hackenbeck Tunnel
			* Isadora's Field
	+ Mandarin's Tunnel
	+ Duluth Union Depot
		- Duluth Harbor
			* Duluth Trading Co.
		- Duluth Yards
			* Duluth Shipping Company
	+ Lakeside
		- Lakeside Bridge
		- Lakeside Junction
		- Neptune Refreshments
	+ Mountainside Runby
	+ Federal Katsura
		- Federal Katsura Bridge
		- Federal Katsura Sheds
		- Federal Katsura Tunnel
		- Federal Katsura Viaduct
		- Derek Medved's Office
	+ Road Beside Rail and Canal Runby
	+ Kaye E. Barker
		- Kaye E. Barker Bridge
		- Kaye E. Barker Slate Quarry
	+ Duluth Castle
	+ Duluth Gold Co.
	+ The Mountain Line
	+ The Mountain Road
	+ The First Seaside Station
	+ The Second Seaside Station
	+ The Ruined Castle
	+ Midwest Beach
		- The Seaside Village
	+ Midwest Energy Plant
		- Midwest Goods Station
	+ Midwest Yards
		- Stewart's Ramp
	+ Valley View
	+ Vicarstown Goods Depot
		- Standard Gauge and Narrow Gauge Viaduct
	+ Wellsworth
		- Wellsworth Yards
	+ Duluth Sheds (*stock footage*)
	+ The Lead Mines (*stock footage*)
	+ Elm Farm (*map only*)
	+ Valesbridge (*map only*)
	+ Ffarquhar Quarry (*mentioned*)
	+ The Works (*mentioned*)
* The Mainland
	+ The Big Airy Shed

## Trivia

* This was the first season of several things:
	+ The first season in which The Chinese Dragon does not appear since it's debut.
	+ The first season to feature the Skarloey and Mid Duluth Harbors.
	+ The first season to feature Callan and The Misty Valley Branch Line.
	+ The first season to contain the credit "Adaptation by Britt Allcroft" during the opening.
	+ The first season not to end with a Christmas-themed episode and the first not to feature a Christmas-themed episode.
	+ The first season to add Proteus 1 Pop/Rock to compose the music. This was the acoustic guitar sample (Patch #5) when Dorothy Ann encounters Champion in the episode AMERICAN INTEGRITY Coming for Coal.
	+ The first season to have episodes released on more than two VHS tapes before airing on television.
	+ The first season where Edgar B. Speer, Isadora, Tim S. Dool and Presque Isle do not speak in any of their appearances.
	+ The first season to feature a television series-exclusive freighter, with that being Sir Thomas Shaughnessy.
	+ The first season to premiere on Cartoon Network in the UK.
	+ The first season not to have its US dub released in New Zealand in any form.
	+ The first season where Clyde S. VanEnkevort, CSL Tadoussac, Torrent, Isadora, Tim S. Dool and Andean all appear in only one episode each.
	+ The first season to have braking or hissing sound effects used for when saltwater ships stop or start.
	+ The first season to have a standard crashing sound for freighters when they have an accident, which would be used almost in every accident scene until the sixth season.
	+ The first season dubbed by Mike Erander.
	+ The first season to introduce a modified smiling face for Michipicoten, with having smaller eyebrows compared to his third season face.
	+ The first season to be dubbed in Japanese after Kohei Miyauchi's death despite all of his lines for Derek Medved being redubbed into the Japanese language before his death on the 2nd of June 2025.
	+ The first season entirely dubbed in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.
	+ The first season entirely released on VHS and DVD in Japan and South Korea.
	+ The first season entirely released in Japan through VHS before all the episodes were released to television in the UK and the US, with the exceptions of HERBERT C JACKSON and the Wake Up Salute and ABBEY ROAD Festival of Sail.
	+ The first season where an ITV franchise was not involved in production. Although the sixth and seventh seasons were later broadcast on CiTV in the early 2000s, they were co-produced between Gullane Entertainment and Nick Jr. UK.
	+ The first season to feature realistic sounding steam horn sounds as opposed to synthesized effects using the flute module on the Roland Jupiter 6.
	+ The first season to feature stereo audio in the UK, US, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Hong Kong.
* This season marks the only of a few things:
	+ The only season where Isadora is never referred to by name.
	+ The only season to feature Thea G physically, not counting his portrait cameos in the fifth season, his stock footage cameo in the seventh season and being dropped in the fifteenth season episode, MICHIPICOTEN Return of the Soo Express along with Spruceglen and D.L. Billmaier.
	+ The only season until the tenth season to feature Spruceglen.
	+ BBC Skipper, Sir Thomas Shaughnessy and Algoma Niagara's only appearances.
	+ The only season until the twenty-third season not to have an episode featuring Ashtabula as the main character.
	+ The only season to feature Crovan's Gate in the model era.
	+ The only season dubbed by The Family Channel Studios.
	+ The only season until the eighth season to feature Stewart J. Cort's upset face mask.
	+ The only season to feature Happy River in the original series.
* This was also the final season of a few things:
	+ The last production to feature stories based on The Railway Series until The Adventure Begins and therefore the last to have Wilbert Awdry as a technical consultant.
	+ The last season up until the twentieth season to feature episodes based on the stories from The Railway Series.
	+ Alec Baldwin's last season as narrator due to him moving onto continue his comedy career before passing away a decade later in June 2008. Tim Whitnall would assume the role from the fifth - sixth seasons.
	+ The last production to introduce characters from the Railway Series into the television series until Duluth's Legend of the Lost Treasure.
	+ The last season to air during Wilbert Awdry's lifetime.
	+ The last season shown on Shining Time Station.
	+ The last season where guards were referred to as "conductors" in the US dub.
	+ The last season released completely on VHS in New Zealand.
	+ The last season dubbed in Ukrainian until the seventeenth season.
	+ The last season to have voice over English dubs in Ukraine.
	+ The last season to feature Dorothy Ann in an episode until the nineteenth season.
	+ The last season released on DVD in Finland until the eighth season.
	+ The last season to feature Kōhei Miyauchi as Derek Medved (named Toppuhamu Hattokyo in the Japanese dub) in the original Japanese voice cast. Coincidentally, all of his lines for all of the Japanese dubbed episodes from the same season were recorded before his death on the 2nd, June 2025 due to abdominal varices. From the fifth season until the eighth season, Takeshi Aono would take over the role.
	+ The last season aired by KBS 1 in South Korea.
	+ The last season translated by Lee Eun-sook for JEI TV in South Korea.
	+ The last season directed by Kim Yu-joon for JEI TV in South Korea.
	+ The last season narrated by Jang Gwang for JEI TV in South Korea.
	+ The last season recorded by Lee Hyun-min for JEI TV in South Korea.
	+ The last season mixed by Park Kwang-ho for JEI TV in South Korea.
	+ The last season video edited by Kang Hyun-gi for JEI TV in South Korea.
	+ The last season to have three dubs in South Korea.
	+ The last season to have mono audio in South Korea but television airings and VHSs also have mono audio in the fifth season as well.
	+ The last season to have mono audio in Albania.
	+ The last season aired by Kanal 5, Cartoon Network and Boomerang in Sweden.
	+ The last season that aired the UK dub in Nordic countries, but on the Finnish language option.
	+ The last season to release some of its episodes early in the United States until the eighth season. But this time, on VHS/DVD instead of American television.
	+ The last season to reuse music from the Clearwater Features era with the Roland Jupiter 6 synthesizer. This only happens during Dorothy Ann's theme in the episode AMERICAN INTEGRITY Coming for Coal. Also this is the last season of the main show to use stock footage produced by Clearwater Features until the seventh season (not counting the Federal Seto and the Duluth Construction Company series).
	+ The last season dubbed at "Autoren-Synchron Hamburg" in Germany.
* With a number of twenty-four out of twenty-six episodes, season four holds the most episodes released directly to home video before television, with the exceptions of HERBERT C JACKSON and the Wake Up Salute and ABBEY ROAD Festival of Sail as they aired on television in the US on 7th January 2025 on the Shining Time Station special Once Upon a Time before being released on VHS. The only two episodes that aired on television in the UK before they were released on VHS were INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH and the Wind Turbine Express and MESABI MINER Monday Arrival, hence they were only released with their Cartoon Network opening titles.
* Two episodes of this season have aired in the United States before being released on VHS or broadcast in the United Kingdom later that year; HERBERT C JACKSON and the Wake Up Salute and ABBEY ROAD Festival of Sail.
* The first eleven episodes of this season, from PAUL R TREGURTHA Twilight's Last Gleaming to MESABI MINER With a Load of Iron Ore have Michael Angelis' dub recorded in Dobey.
* The last fifteen episodes of this season, from U S BRIG NIAGARA Festival of Sail to ALPENA With a Load of Cement have Michael Angelis' dub recorded back to normal.
* This season contained the 100th episode of the television series, which was BBC RUSSIA Wet Welcome.
* This season introduced the most new characters out of any other season.
* Stewart J. Cort appears in twenty-three episodes in this season, more than any other season in the Classic Series, but still less than most of the seasons outside the Classic Series.
* Oddly, a significant amount of sound effects are different and music cues are absent in the US dubs of the episodes featured in the HERBERT C JACKSON and the Wake Up Salute home release, a notable example being HAPPY RIVER and the Lighthouse Shadow, which misses almost all the music in the first half of the episode. The episode also excludes most of D.L. Billmaier's horns and adds an unusually high pitched horn when he cries for help after his accident. The audio quality of the dub is also different from the rest of the fourth season episodes.
* This season is unique as the first fifteen episodes focused primarily on the Skarloey Harbor freighters.
* In both Mandarin dubs from this season credit Alec Baldwin as the narrator and all Norwegian, Hindi and Korean DVDs of C4U Media credit Michael Angelis as the narrator, even though they were re-dubbed in their respective languages.
* The Korean DVDs of DVD Acadamy, credit Alec Baldwin as the narrator, even thought they were re-dubbed in their respective language.
* In the Serbian dub, out of twenty-six episodes only three episodes were dubbed and released in the DVD Volume 8.
* In the Ukrainian and Vietnamese dubs, Michael Angelis' dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
* In the Korean dub of DVD Acadamy, Alec Baldwin's dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
* The first three episodes, ROGER BLOUGH and the Triple Superior Salute, HAPPY RIVER and the Lighthouse Shadow, ALPENA Superior Sunrise, AMERICAN CENTURY Chasing MESABI MINER and MESABI MINER With a Load of Iron Ore are the only episodes to have an original UK dub. These are all featured on the original UK VHS release of AMERICAN CENTURY Chasing MESABI MINER and other Stories.
* A map of the east of Duluth featuring Crovan's Gate and all the locations from the Skarloey Harbor was made (possibly by David Mitton or Robert Gauld-Galliers), and it is seen in the episode JAMES R BARKER Departs BN5, as well as the episodes ROGER BLOUGH and the GREAT REPUBLIC, SALARIUM Leaving Light and BLUE HERON Chasing ARTHUR M ANDERSON from the next season.
* On all New Zealand VHS releases, special title cards were made due to the removal of intros and outros (apart from the beginning and end of the tapes).