Blue Mountain Mystery

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*Day of the Diesels* | Series 16

***Blue Mountain Mystery*** is

## Official synopsis

*When trouble strikes at the Blue Mountain Quarry, Thomas is sent to help his Narrow Gauge engine friends. While shunting and hauling, he discovers a little green engine hiding in the tunnels. Thomas is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery but discovering the truth is harder than he imagined! Will Thomas be able to help his new friend? Or will the little engine be sent away from Sodor forever? Find out in Thomas' most mysterious adventure yet, a movie the whole family will love!*

## Plot

At the Blue Mountain Quarry, Paxton and the narrow gauge engines are busy mining slate. As Paxton prepares to leave with a train of stone, he comes to a sudden stop when a keystone from Blondin Bridge falls from the upper terraces beside his line. All work is halted and the emergency alarm is sounded, but Rheneas is approaching the bridge and is unaware of the danger until it is too late. He tries to stop, but the heavy trucks push him over the bridge, which collapses just after he passes over it. Rheneas runs out of control and hurdles towards the quarry floor, knocking into walls along the way. When Rheneas finally comes to a stop, his paintwork is badly scratched, but he is otherwise left unharmed. Paxton, however, is buried under the fallen rubble and is in urgent need of repair.

Meanwhile, Thomas is working on his branch line with Annie and Clarabel when he is stopped by the Fat Controller, who pulls up beside him in his new track inspection vehicle Winston. The Fat Controller informs Thomas of Paxton's accident and tells him that he will be filling in for him at the quarry while Toby will look after his passengers while he is away. Thomas drops off the last of his passengers and heads to the quarry, where he spends the entire day working with the narrow gauge engines. That night, he delivers a train of stone to Brendam Docks and returns to Tidmouth Sheds for the night.

The next day, Thomas sees an unfamiliar green tank engine running around the quarry. He asks the others about it, but they all give him various excuses and hastily deny knowing anything of it. He decides to ask Skarloey about it next, when he runs into the engine at a crossing. The engine stares at Thomas and runs towards a nearby tunnel, only to run into Rheneas, whom Thomas overhears apologise and call the engine "Luke". Rheneas moves out of the way and Luke runs into the tunnel. Now feeling frustrated, Thomas confronts the narrow gauge engines and demands to know who Luke is and why he is hiding from him. Since Thomas is their friend, Skarloey tells him that Luke hides at the quarry because he did something bad and fears he will be sent away from Sodor if anyone else finds out about him, but refuses to elaborate further.

When Thomas returns to the sheds that night, he asks the other engines what the worst thing an engine could possibly do could be. Percy mentions the time he tried to sneak up on the coaches, only to crash into a luggage trolley and cover himself and the Fat Controller in jam, Henry recalls when he refused to come out of the tunnel and was bricked up, Thomas remembers when he passed a danger sign and fell down a mine, and Emily brings up the time Diesel lost the Jobi wood. However, they all agree that none of those were bad enough for any of them to have been sent away.

The next day, Rocky has been brought to the quarry to clean away the debris. Rheneas is complaining to Skarloey about needing a repaint when Thomas returns and tells them that he and the other engines are certain there is nothing an engine could do that could get them sent away. Skarloey becomes stern and asks if he mentioned Luke, but Thomas assures him he has not. Satisfied, Skarloey puffs away, but does not notice that Rocky is lifting a load of rubble across the line behind him. Thomas shouts out a warning and Skarloey stops just in time. Luke, who has seen everything, finally comes out of hiding and approaches Thomas. He apologises for hiding from him and asks if they can be friends, which Thomas happily accepts. The two work together the whole day, but Luke hides again when the Fat and Thin Controllers arrive. The two controllers thank Thomas for his work and inform him that Paxton has been mended, meaning he can soon return to his branch line. Once when they leave, Thomas approaches Luke and asks why he fears he will be sent away. Luke makes Thomas promise not to tell anyone else, and agrees to explain everything, unaware that Paxton has already returned.

When Luke first came to Sodor, he arrived alongside a yellow engine who spoke a language he did not understand. When their ship arrived at Brendam Docks, the men planned to unload the yellow engine first, but Luke begged them to take him off first. As he was being unloaded, Luke swung right into the engine, knocking him off the ship and into the sea. The yellow engine was left in the sea for a long time, and when he was finally lifted out, he was in a terrible state. Luke never saw the engine again, and believes that the engine was sent to the Smelter's Yard because he could no longer be useful, blaming himself for the accident. Just as Luke finishes his story, Skarloey shouts at Paxton to get back to work, causing him and Thomas to realise he had been eavesdropping on them. Luke runs into the tunnel and Thomas questions Paxton, who sheepishly claims he has returned to resume his usual duties and rushes off. Thomas tries to say goodbye to Luke, but he has already disappeared.

The next day, Thomas asks Toby to look after his passengers again and sets off to look for the yellow engine.

Thomas remembers that Luke mentioned the engine was rusty after being rescued and concludes that a rusty engine would have to be sent to the Sodor Steamworks to be repaired. When he arrives at the Steamworks, Thomas asks Victor if he can remember mending a yellow engine who spoke a different language. To his surprise, Victor makes an exclamation in Spanish, causing Thomas to realise that Victor *is* the yellow engine. Victor explains his side of the story to Thomas: during the voyage, the chains securing him to the deck broke. When the ship arrived at the docks, he tried to warn the men, but they did not understand him. As Luke was being unloaded, Cranky swung him right into Victor, who could do nothing as he fell into the sea. Victor was fortunate to land on a jetty, but due to the bad weather he had to be left in the sea for a long time. When he was finally rescued and taken to the Steamworks, Victor realised that nobody could understand him and learned to speak English. His first word was "red", the colour he chose to be repainted in for his new life on Sodor.

## Features

### Characters

* Skarloey
* Rheneas
* Sir Handel
* Peter Sam
* Rusty
* Luke

### Locations

* Blue Mountain Quarry
	+ Blondin Bridge

## Trivia

### General

* Andrew Brenner, who became the head writer for the series the following year, worked as a script editor for this film.
* Duncan and Freddie were originally planned to appear in the film, with Bob Golding having already been cast as the latter, but were dropped. Duncan was removed as his basis *Douglas* was undergoing an overhaul when the Nitrogen Studios crew visited the Talyllyn Railway, meaning that they were unable to obtain reference material for his model. The reason for Freddie's removal is unknown, but as his basis *Russell* was also undergoing an overhaul around this time, this may explain why he was not brought back.
	+ Golding would later go on to join the voice cast in *King of the Railway* the following year, albeit not as Freddie.

### Cultural references

* Blondin Bridge is named after the material ropeway system it spans across, the Blondin, which were a common sight around Welsh slate quarries.
	+ The name of the bridge is also a pun on the popular nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down".