Gordon Takes a Shortcut

"Stop, Stanley! STOOOOOOOOOOP!"

- Gordon

Gordon Takes a Shortcut is the fifteenth episode of the twelfth season.

Plot
Some workmen and a group of VIP's are waiting at Great Waterton. Gordon tries to take a shortcut to beat Stanley there, but when he ignores advice from Duck, Oliver, and Toad he ends up banging into a log truck, spilling logs onto Stanley's line. Gordon decides to listen to advice this time, and stops Stanley in time. As a sign of friendship, Gordon allows Stanley to take the VIP's.

Characters

 * Gordon
 * Duck
 * Oliver
 * Ben
 * Stanley
 * Toad
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Rocky (does not speak)
 * 'Arry and Bert (cameo)

Locations

 * Great Waterton
 * Knapford
 * Brendam Docks

Trivia

 * Stock footage from Gordon and the Engineer and Percy and the Left Luggage is used.
 * Oliver and Toad speak for the first time since the seventh season episode, Snow Engine, although Oliver previously made a non-speaking role in Steady Eddie.
 * If you go by production order, this is Episode 10 in Season 12.
 * This episode aired before The Great Discovery premiered in the UK, meaning the audience wouldn't known who Stanley was.

Goofs

 * In real life, the log truck should have been crushed and Ben should have been knocked back when Gordon crashes into the log truck.
 * Duck's face is smaller than usual.
 * Stanley's whistle sound has changed since The Great Discovery.
 * Gordon's tender shakes when he arrives at the Logging Station.
 * Duck and Oliver tell Gordon which way to go, but they didn't know where he was going.
 * One of the trucks in the siding with 'Arry and Bert is derailed.
 * When the narrator says, "But Gordon didn't know which track to take to find Stanley", Ben's eyes are wonky.