Lamp

**Lamp** is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of the Stories of Sodor and the sixty-fourth episode overall.

Lamp/Transcript

## Plot

At Le Havre Port in France during 1917, soldiers board a ship, the *Lady Rose*, bound for England. En Route, the ship goes through a bad storm and one of the men sends out a distress signal just before the ship is hit by a massive wave. The next morning, all the rescue team salvaged from the wreck was a lone soldier with a lamp.

In the spring of 1962, the Skarloey Railway reached the town of Hawin, completing the loop line around the Nartwin Valley. The final phase of the expansion soon began, a slate quarry in the surrounding hills. The factory at Cros-ny-Cuirn was used again to supply the dynamite. It also had a contract with the Ministry of Defence to supply munitions to the military every month, which the SKR's engines would take to Crovan's Gate for them to be delivered to Fort Sudrian. However, the work conflicted with the railway's expansion into the quarry, resulting in delays. The factory's foreman, Billy Shoepack, helped out with catching up.

One day, Rusty and Stanley are with Billy as he talks about how much more of a professional he is before Rusty turns his attention to a circular boulder on top of a ledge, saying it feels like it's watching them. Just then, Stanley is about to leave when the brake lever jams, just before a large piece of rock lands on the tracks. As if on cue, a workman shows up with the Lucky Lamp. The workman says he dropped it when he found it and when he picked it up, he saw what it says on the bottom, surprising Stanley.

At Crovan's Gate, Stanley recollects what the workman said to him to Rosie and James. It turns out the lamp had come from the War Department, built in 1914. Stanley also says he thinks the lamp looks familiar before Benson barges in and tells off Stanley for being late. Stanley then reveals that he and Benson served together in the war before Benson notices the lamp, citing it as a Model 9 headlamp. Stanley is disappointed because he thought the lamp was lucky, and Benson demands it to be returned before ordering Rosie to leave, but she protests that the train isn't loaded first before James jumps in and Benson threatens to talk with Sir Topham Hatt about his behaviour. Little does Benson know that Sir Topham had been invited by Sir Handel to look at how the Skarloey Railway was doing with its expansion.

Meanwhile, Sir Handel takes Sir Topham Hatt to Falcon, Stuart, Duke and Rusty, with him introducing Sir Topham to the latter. Rusty voices his concerns about the boulder and Sir Handel tells them to raise the alarm if something comes up before he and Sir Topham go off to lunch. Duke mentions of the many stories Sir Handel had told his engines about the First World War where he and Sir Topham Hatt first met. Stuart then amazes Rusty with his mathematical ability before pointing out that 24 is an unusually young age to be a colonel. Rusty then tells the others about what Benson told Stanley about the Lucky Lamp, and he confirms it to them that night. Stanley also tells them he did refer to Sir Topham as a colonel but he was a lieutenant in the Railway Operating Division, being assigned to the same depot where Stanley worked and where they first met. Being a jinx, everyone avoided him unless he was needed except for Sir Topham, who always gave him jobs. One day, a fort was under attack. Sir Topham opened fire on the German soldiers and held the position for an hour before they withdrew. His actions spread fast and somewhere his name was mixed up with a colonel. Skarloey is amazed at how this never made headlines, and Stanley recalls how Sir Topham was never the same after the battle. His behaviour eventually got bad enough for him to be sent home on medical leave and he didn't see him again until 1938. Stanley remembers getting his crew to write letters to contact Sir Topham during that time, but he never replied. Stanley then says that Rosie was ordered to take the Lucky Lamp back, thinking it's at the fort and it might be destroyed. Skarloey confidently says the lamp won't run out of luck.

The next day, it was rainy when James arrived at Fort Sudrian with Rosie looking sad. She says they will be experiencing a "strategic infeasibility study" and will most likely be reassigned to Southampton Docks if the fort closes. Rosie then tells James about what she had found out about the Lucky Lamp. The Ministry of Defence had found the archives for the lamp's records and the file for the lamp itself. The lamp had an eventful career, being used in various dugouts across the Western Front with its last entry in 1917 when it was assigned to a hospital ship named *Lady Rose*, which sank in a storm. She then reveals who the headlamp belonged to: Benson. Benson is skeptical of this claim before asking Rosie if there are more munitions available to collect from Crovan's Gate, to which Rosie says she was going to collect, but Benson decides to take the train and will take the lucky lamp with him. He then tells James that Sir Topham Hatt will talk to him later, to the red engine's frustration.

Later, Benson arrives at Crovan's Gate and apologises to Stanley about his own lamp before explaining that he lost it while taking a battalion of British soldiers to the front when it fell off one of his lamp irons, making him brake and lock up his wheels. After being unable to find the lamp, his crew repaired Benson and he set off, but a few miles away from his destination a French farmer stopped him because the area was shelled by chlorine gas. Stanley still doesn't think the lamp seems special, as does Benson, who doesn't mind if Stanley has it back, which he soon agrees to. Stanley then heads off to work as the two exchange smiles.

After the rain stopped, at the slate quarry, Falcon teases Rusty, who has been watching the boulder after the rain. He then tells Falcon about his train of sleepers which are near the shed and Falcon goes to collect them. Suddenly, Rusty sees the boulder starting to move, but Falcon doesn't believe him until it lands behind him with a thud and begins rolling along the line as Falcon goes into a siding, avoiding the boulder as it continues on, destroying the sleepers and everything else in its path. Skarloey sees the boulder coming, as do the workmen who get out of the way just in time. The boulder rounds a bend and charges towards Rheneas who races backwards as fast as he can to get away from it to Hawin where Stanley is. Rheneas crashes through a siding, stopping in front of Stanley as the boulder rolls into vans of dynamite, destroying them and the boulder itself.

Soon, Rheneas was put back on the rails as Sir Topham Hatt and Sir Handel inspect the destruction. Thinking about all the hardships they had gone through, Sir Handel lamentably concludes that they should have left this part of the island alone. Sir Topham and Stanley disagree, and Sir Handel decides that they will repair the damage, complete the quarry and resume operations like the Really Useful Railway they are.  Stanley then says that the Lucky Lamp happened to be on his train and when Sir Topham goes over to the front van, and opens it up, he suddenly develops a state of shock before scrambling into his car and driving away in a hurry, leaving the engines and Sir Handel confused and shocked.

In 1917, at Knapford, Colin and Lily are working when the breakdown crane destroys one of Lily's loads. Lily had been especially stressed due to her trying to make up time with what had happened with the dynamite. Colin had been taking some patients to a hospital and after talking about Anderson, the man who runs the place, Colin sets off through the yard and while going over the road, a lamp falls out of one of the coaches and onto the road. Colin soon arrived at Carldon, where Anderson was waiting. One patient mentions how the lamp belonged to the sole survivor of the Lady Rose and is upset about losing it. After the patient shows him where the man, Topham, is, Anderson goes over to the lieutenant to say, "Don't worry, Lieutenant. We're going to take good care of you."

## Characters

* James
* Rosie
* Benson
* Colin *(flashback appearance)*
* Lily *(flashback appearance)*
* Skarloey
* Rheneas
* Rusty
* Duke
* Atlas
* Falcon
* Stuart
* Stanley
* The Fat Controller
* Billy Shoepack
* Wesley Anderson *(flashback appearance)*
* Edward *(narration only)*
* Thomas *(flashback appearance; does not speak)*
* Ivo Hugh *(cameo)*
* Toby *(mentioned)*
* Adam *(mentioned)*
* Terence *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* This is the first appearance of Lily since the Stories of War episode; Atrocity, as well as Colin's first speaking role since the Stories of War episode; Blitz.
* In the flashback, both Colin and Lily mention how they don't want to be blown up. Ironically, both of them died via explosions in the Stories of War miniseries.
* This is the second episode which has a scene before the intro. The first one being Choices.
* Events from Rusty and the Boulder take place.

## Goofs

* In one shot where Rheneas is running away from the Boulder, he is seen going off the track.