April Fools

April Fools is the sixth episode of the series and the first of Season 2.

## Plot

Ben claims that his prime mover is hurting and needs some repairs. Mr. Brown allows him to take the day off, but promises some repercussions if he is caught lying. Later, Ben leaves when the maintenance crew aren't looking, revealing his fib as a prelude to a string of pranks he has planned for April Fools.

His first victim is Mitchel, who is getting refueled. When Mitchel finds it difficult to get started, Ben reveals that he swapped his diesel fuel with Gwen's bunker C. At the Newnes coal pit, he pranks Rhyon by shoving some hoppers into him and letting another engine push him under the coal shovel, covering him in coal dust. Next, he heads to Port Van Den Hoven, where he swaps Conner's water tender with one filled with diesel fuel, causing all kinds of havoc in his boiler. He attempts a similar prank on Byron, but he's wised up to his tricks.

While Cabott is asleep, Ben detaches him from his tender and turns him around on the turntable. When he wakes Cabott up, he finds that his engine has been flipped the wrong way, to which Ben gives him the nickname "cab-backwards". He then heads over to Jefferson, where he and his driver place a whistle sign on Georgia's tender, which she takes with a laugh. At Blue Sky, he puts a whoopie cushion between Sheldon and his coal hoppers, which infuriates him to the point of chasing Ben out of the yard.

After escaping Sheldon, Ben returns to Port Ogden, where he learns that Gwen is supposed to take an empty railgun on a military train. He and his engineer swap the railgun with an identical twin filled with fireworks to give her scare. However, upon his driver pressing the detonator, the railgun they have explodes with fireworks while the one they left Gwen with doesn't. The ensuing chaos catches Mr. Brown's attention, finally catching Ben.

After Ben is given a severe tongue lashing, Gwen subtly reveals that she swapped the railguns to prank him back. Ben leaves to get back to work, no longer finding April Fools as fun as he used to.

## Characters

* Ben
* Mr. Brown
* Mitchel
* Rhyon
* Conner
* Byron
* Cabott
* Georgia
* Sheldon
* Gwen
* Steven
* Port Ogden Foreman
* DRGW 3504
* UP 74
* Ben's Engineer
* Chief Mechanic
* Gwen's Engineer
* Ryan *(does not speak)*
* UP 9087 *(does not speak)*
* Umit *(cameo)*
* SP 3000 *(cameo)*

## Locations

* Port Ogden, AZ
* Ogden, AZ
* Newnes, UT
* Van Den Hoven, CO
* Port Van Den Hoven, CO
* Jefferson, CO
* Blue Sky, CO

## Trivia

### Fun Facts

* The episode was initially intended to be a short, but it's runtime stretched beyond the 6-minute episode minimum runtime.
* The episode marks the first of several things:
	+ The first episode filmed in Trainz Railroad Simulator 2019, which replaced Trainz: A New Era used in previous episodes.
	+ The first episode produced by NSWSteamFan, who received credit as a script editor.
	+ Rhyon's first appearance in an episode where is voiced by Mr.Oliver\_11 , who previously debuted as the character in the short Welcome to Gwen's World.
* During Ben's prank on Sheldon, UP 74's "check your fuel before you use it" joke implies that he thought Sheldon had gas.
* This episode marks Chief Mechanic's first appearance since Rhyon Stays Home.

### Cultural References

* Ben's prank on Rhyon bears similarities to a scene from the *Thomas & Friends* episode "Middle Engine".
* The whistle sign prank is a reference to the *San Juan Branch Line* episode "Paint It Back", while sharing some similarities to a prank in the *Theodore Tugboat* episode "Big Harbour Fools Day".

### Goofs

* NSWSteamFan's lines are hardly audible.
	+ Also, the audio in Ben's dialogue sounds fuzzy.
* When Ben pushes the coal hoppers into Rhyon, he disappears while DRGW 3504 appears on the same track in the span of two seconds.
* In some shots, the sky fades to a later time setting. This is a result of the editing.
* UP 74's tyres appear to be green instead of silver.
* In the second during Sheldon's "knock-knock joke", the footage briefly starts frozen before playing.
* The greenscreen fireworks sometimes clip through the scenery.

## Media

The Port Ogden Rail Chronicles Episode 6- April Fools