Snow

"What's the funny part about an avalanche?"

- Thomas

Snow is the twenty-sixth episode of the fifth season.

Plot
Thomas and Rusty become snowed down by a tunnel. So to pass the time, Rusty tells Thomas a story.

One snowy day, Skarloey was traveling up to the slate mine when he passed through a ravine. His driver was concerned that noise could cause an avalanche, and he sets an emergency cap. When Skarloey runs over it, nothing happens, so his crew decide to make a cup of cocoa. Unfortunately, up in the slate mines some "empties" jam the winch and some trucks run down the slope into the ravine, causing an avalanche which buries Skarloey. When Rusty comes to the rescue, they discover that Skarloey's heat has created an igloo, and inside they find Skarloey's crew nonchalantly sipping cocoa.

Thomas grumbles about how trucks can be so troublesome. Gordon then arrives with his snow machine, only to be buried when the noise causes an avalanche. Thomas jokes that if Skarloey could emerge from an avalanche laughing, Gordon could at least do the same.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * Percy
 * Skarloey
 * Rusty
 * Peter Sam (cameo)
 * Duncan (cameo)

Locations

 * The Windmill
 * Skarloey Railway Slate Quarry
 * Echo Pass Ravine
 * Bluff's Cove Junction
 * Stepney's Branch Line

Trivia

 * Stock footage from Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure is used.
 * During most of the flashback, Skarloey's large scale model is used; but during the scene where the narrator says "When the snow came...", his small scale model is used.
 * When interacting with Thomas, Rusty's small scale model is used; but when he appears during the flashback, his large scale model is used.
 * When the trucks plunge into the ravine, music is heard in the US version but not the UK version.

Goofs

 * In various scenes, part of Skarloey's cab roof is snapped.
 * When the trucks race down the incline, the middle truck derails.
 * When the trucks crash through the snow bank and buffers they are coupled, but they fall one by one.
 * A truck is missing when they fall into the ravine.
 * Skarloey's driver said that Skarloey's engine could cause an avalanche, but Skarloey, being a steam engine, does not have an engine.
 * The heat from Skarloey's boiler would've melted the snow, not made an ice sculpture.
 * When the trucks are on the incline, the front truck has a narrow-gauge truck face, but when it crashes through the buffers it has a standard-gauge truck face.
 * In the first shot of Rusty's story, when Skarloey approaches the camera, he bounces.
 * Surely, the driver or fireman would have been hurt when the trucks fell on Skarloey.
 * Why would the driver and fireman think it a good idea to stop for cocoa in the middle of the line?
 * Brakevans should have been added to Skarloey and Peter Sam's trains.
 * Seven trucks are allowed up the incline in this episode, but only five were allowed in Trucks!.
 * When Thomas talks to Percy, his eyes are wonky.
 * What's so funny about an avalanche?