Trust Thomas

"He's sick." "Yes he is - I mean, I am!"

- Gordon and James

Trust Thomas is the thirteenth episode of the third season. It aired in the US on the Shining Time Station episode, Achoo.

Plot
Thomas finds out that Bertie has lost his trust in the railway's service after it failed to deliver tar to mend the roads and resolves to get to the source of the problem.

Meanwhile, James is complaining about having to shunt when Gordon advises him to pretend to be sick. When Thomas arrives James tells him he is ill, and Thomas offers to take his trucks. The trucks, who were cross at James for bumping them, decide to get to take their anger out on Thomas. On the way back from the quarry they push Thomas over some points and onto a jetty, which floats across the pond and sinks.

Duck takes away the trucks and Edward helps Thomas home. When Thomas tells Edward about the tar, he recalls several wagons were left at Wellsworth and collects them. James and Gordon apologise for their trick, and Bertie arrives to tell Thomas that his road is about to be mended. Bertie regained the trust of the railway and Gordon and James went slowly away to the shed.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Bertie
 * Percy (does not speak)
 * Duck (does not speak)
 * Annie and Clarabel (cameo)

Locations

 * Knapford Yards
 * Anopha Quarry
 * The Quarry Tramroad
 * Sodor Shipping Company
 * Toryreck
 * Ffarquhar River Bridge
 * Callan Pond
 * Wellsworth (mentioned)
 * Knapford Harbour (mentioned)

Trivia

 * Parts of the plot of this episode are adapted from the magazine story Bertie's Bumpy Roads and the Railway Series story Trucks!.
 * A deleted scene of Thomas running on Toby's Old Tramway from the first season is used at the beginning of this episode.
 * This is the last time we see the red lining on Thomas' coal bunker until The Adventure Begins.

Goofs

 * The causeway Thomas puffs across is the one on Toby's old tramway.
 * Although James says that he has to do Percy's work while Percy's at the harbour, Percy can be seen in the background in a close up of Gordon smiling in the yard.
 * While Thomas passes the camera while taking the trucks to the quarry, the last truck's face is falling off.
 * In one of the shots of Thomas passing the camera with the empty trucks, one of the truck's faces is off-centre.
 * When Thomas leaves the quarry and when Thomas crosses the bridge, his trucks have no faces, even though they did before and after.
 * Thomas passes the points leading to the muddy pond before the narrator has time to say so.
 * The narrator said that Thomas' driver applied the brakes, but his wheels are still moving.
 * In a rare picture, a camera can be seen at the top left amongst the trees before Thomas runs onto the jetty.
 * In the close-up of Thomas after he rides the jetty, his wheels have already sunk into the pond, but in the next shot of his wheels, they have not sunk yet.
 * Edward says a truck of tar was left at his station, but two appear in the flashback.
 * The toad on Thomas' front at the end has adhesive underneath its feet.
 * In the US version, the narrator says that the trucks pushed Thomas past the points even though this had happened long before the scene had begun.