Sabotage

**Sabotage** is the seventh episode of the second season of the Stories of Sodor and the twenty-second episode overall.

Sabotage/Transcript

## Plot

The episode begins with Edward recalling that one redeeming quality about Arthur's ghost was he wasn't violent and he only gave them a good scare, and that he would have intended to cause havoc, but his haunting was nowhere near as devastating as Dominick's, and recalls the events of the previous episode. Peter had to be at Crewe for six months, and Mr. Zorro had to find a replacement goods engine, which he had found, and he arrived on Sodor.

Edward and Henry are talking at Vicarstown when they hear a whistle and Geoffrey arrives. The two Nor'Easters are hostile towards Geoffrey at first, but then Geoffrey apologises to Henry about what he had done during his last visit. Henry is taken aback from this, and Geoffrey leaves. Edward and Henry are still unsure if Geoffrey has changed or not, since he had spent thirty days at Railgate.

At Brendam, Coleen, Diesel and Colin are waiting for something, and Coleen suddenly sees Geoffrey approaching them. The two Midis are also shocked by his presence. Diesel thinks Mr. Zorro is off his nut for getting Geoffrey to do Peter's job, then Mr. Zorro, who was in Geoffrey's cab and had heard Diesel, answers that he isn't. Mr. Zorro then tells Colin, Diesel and Coleen about what Geoffrey had said to Henry at Vicarstown, and Geoffrey also apologises to Coleen and Diesel. The former does mention that she could have said no when Geoffrey told her what he was going to do, but Diesel and Coleen forgive Geoffrey anyway. Mr. Zorro then orders the three engines to get to work, since winter is coming.

Geoffrey returned to Sodor on December 7, 1938; The snow typically would start to fall over Sodor around the middle of the month and at this time of every year, the Island's various industries and businesses would desperately try their hardest to get the last of their goods out before the weather could shut them down. The engines always hated this time as they would get tired and irritable from the frenzied jobs.

Thomas has been exhausted from clearing the Anopha Quarry of its remaining stones. He is also puzzled to see Clive not being tired and he claims he can do the work all day through gumption and commitment, which he mentions, is sorely lacking in the younger ones and that the new generation is growing up soft. Thomas sets off for the harbour. Down the line, a man close to the line and an oil barrel, locks a set of points in place and punctures the barrel and oil spills over the tracks. Hearing Thomas approach, the man quickly goes out of sight. Thomas' wheels slip on the oily rails and he goes down another track and into a muddy pond. Luckily, Thomas' crew hadn't been hurt. He finds the unexpected incident humiliating, especially since the day started out so well. Mickey soon arrived and pulled Thomas out of the pond. Thankfully, Thomas hadn't suffered any serious damages. The inspection had also found out that a toad had been idling in his cab. Joey had also responded quickly and conducted an investigation into the incident. The points had been tampered with to send Thomas down the wrong line, the oil barrel had been punctured so oil would spill over the tracks and that barrel had come from a shipment that James had delivered to the Mid Sodor Railway the previous Monday.

Joey meets up with James and Stuart at Arlesburgh, where the latter two explain what happened immediately after they had delivered the barrel. The two engines also recall that there weren't any unusual happenings or any suspicious beings lurking around the yards. Stuart then recalls that nothing had happened up at King Orry's Bridge after he had delivered the train with the oil barrel there. James and Stuart apologise, though Joey tells them they can't tell him what they don't know. Stuart then reveals that his train will be going to King Orry's Bridge, so Joey tells him that two police officers will be going with him to there so they can find a lead. James assumes it's Geoffrey, but Joey is unsure of it since he had only just arrived on Sodor, but also says that a detective never assumes and will question Geoffrey.

Stuart arrives at King Orry's Bridge, where Falcon and Andreas are. He explains to the latter two about the situation and they don't know anything that could help, and Falcon and Stuart remark for Andreas, it is the best, since if he had an idea that led to an arrest, they'd never hear the end of it. Andreas departs, still fuming. Just outside Arlesdale, the same man who had caused Thomas' accident locks another set of points in place before quickly getting away. Andreas is sent down the wrong line, smashes through the buffers and goes down a hill. Andreas' driver isn't hurt, and Andreas wonders if the Lucky lamp is on the fritz. In same ways, it wasn't really. No passengers had suffered any serious injuries and that the recovery operation went very well, as did Andreas' repairs. The police began issuing warnings to all engines to stay aware of any suspicious activities near the railway lines. Sets of points were checked and the authorities patrolled the line. However, despite everyone's best efforts, it wouldn't be enough.

Early one morning, a week later, snow had covered the island and the various industries and businesses were forced to shut down, but this year, the ice wasn't as thick on the island's waterways, which meant shipping could still continue. The workers at Knapford Harbour had taken full advantage of this. A large shipment of fish had come in. Some of the fish is sent via lorry to shops in the towns, while most of it goes in a special train to other places far away that the railwayman have long called "The Flying Kipper". Henry always had the job of taking the train to the mainland, since he had such an excellent record pulling it, but with this run, it would change. Henry had been making good time until, at Killdane, where the home signal was down, but the signal had been set at danger and snow had forced it down. By the time Henry had seen a part of a train in front, he couldn't stop in time, and crashed.

When daylight came, the breakdown gang had come to clear the line, and Mr. Star had come to see Henry. The director tells Henry that the back half of Donald's goods train and broken away and he had told the signalman at the next station to alert the one at Killdane, but the signal was down. Mr. Star assumes the saboteur has made it happen and has graduated to murder, which it was the guard on Donald's train and Mr. Star orders Henry to not blame himself. Mr. Star then goes back to Killdane where workmen had told him that it wasn't sabotage and that ice and snow had forced the signal down.

Many people on Sodor didn't think it was reasonable that a legitimate accident could happen hot-on-the-heels of two connected sabotage incidents. The saboteur's mistress had believed that he had become a murderer and she turned him in to the police. Mr. Star informed his engines about the arrest and the engines were shocked by who was the saboteur: Jacob Burke. He had had an affair while on Sodor and the fallout had lost him his wife and job. He blamed the Island for his downfall and wanted revenge. Since he used to be a signalman, he knew how to sabotage the points and from the garage his lover was working at, he had stolen a petrol barrel. He was sentenced to life in prison and his mistress was given fifteen years for harbouring him. The Nor'easters were satisfied with the results, but it wouldn't undo the damage that had been done. Although it was considerably better for justice to be done instead of nothing.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* James
* Diesel
* Colin
* Clive
* Joey
* Geoffrey
* Falcon
* Stuart
* Andreas
* Coleen
* Mr. Star
* Mr. Zorro
* Percy *(does not speak)*
* Donald *(does not speak)*
* Peter *(does not speak)*
* Mickey *(does not speak)*
* Burke and Blair *(do not speak)*
* Arthur *(as a ghost; does not speak)*
* Dominick *(as a ghost; does not speak)*
* Gordon *(cameo)*
* Toby *(cameo)*
* Douglas *(cameo)*
* Eric *(cameo)*
* Reginald *(cameo)*
* Lily *(cameo)*
* Adam *(cameo)*
* Skarloey *(cameo)*
* Duncan *(cameo)*
* Ivo Hugh *cameo)*
* Stanley *(cameo)*
* Henrietta *(cameo)*

## Trivia

* Events from "Trust Thomas" and "The Flying Kipper" are portrayed in this episode
* Stock footage from Ghost and Spectre are used.