Percy's Promise

"Harold told me you were - a wizard. He says he can beat you at some things, but not at being a submarine! I don't know what you two get up to sometimes, but I do know that you're a Really Useful Engine."

- Sir Topham Hatt

Percy's Promise is the second episode of the third season. It first aired on Shining Time Station in the episode Washout in 1991.

Plot
Thomas is busy and asks Percy to take the children home from Sunday School. Percy accepts, but when he leaves the weather turns bad and it begins raining.

Percy battles onward, but has to pass through a flooded field and his fire goes out. The crew chop up floorboards from the brakevan and Harold thoughtfully drops hot drinks for them - unluckily landing on Percy's boiler.

Percy makes it home safely and is lauded by Thomas, the passengers and the Fat Controller.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Percy
 * Harold
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Annie and Clarabel (do not speak)
 * The Vicar of Wellsworth (does not speak)
 * James (cameo)
 * Stephen Hatt (cameo)
 * Jeremiah Jobling (cameo)
 * Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)

Locations

 * Tidmouth Hault
 * Elsbridge
 * Dryaw
 * The Watermill
 * Arlesburgh
 * The Lighthouse
 * Knapford Harbour (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This episode is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, Percy the Small Engine.
 * In the restored version, the shot of Percy arriving at Elsbridge with Annie, Clarabel and the brakevan is replaced by an extended shot of Thomas waiting for Percy.
 * In the UK narration, Percy says "Pah!" when he is talking to Harold, but in the US narration, he says "Huh!".
 * In the US narration, the line "He set off for the beach. It was a beautiful day, but Edward was worried" is omitted.
 * Some of the music in the US version and the early UK narration is absent.
 * In a deleted picture, Edward is wearing his exausted face instead of his concerned face when he talks to Percy at Elsbridge.
 * The Italian title of this episode is "Rescue". In Japan, this episode is called "Percy and the Floods".

Goofs

 * At the beginning of the episode, Thomas is on Toby's old tramway.
 * When the narrator says "the river was rising fast," it is obvious that the water for the river is coming from a pipe.
 * When Percy plunges onto the flooded tracks, water appears to come above his firebox. However, in the next shot, the water is below the buffers.
 * Why did Percy use a brakevan for the guard instead of Clarabel?
 * In a deleted picture, Percy's roof is lifted.
 * This episode should have come before Percy Takes the Plunge, as the events of this episode were mentioned in the other.
 * When the driver and fireman bring the floorboards to Percy's cab, they drag them through the water, making them wet.
 * When Thomas is on Toby's old tramway, Clarabel is facing the wrong way. Then in the next shot, Annie is facing the wrong way.
 * Despite the fact that the water only reached Percy's footplate, he has a water line across his boiler when he meets Thomas at the end of the episode.
 * When Percy says "Ugh!", his face is tilted slightly.
 * Thomas leaves Annie and Clarabel with Percy because he's busy with another train that evening, and yet, he's shown pulling different coaches at the end. Shouldn't Thomas have taken Annie and Clarabel, since they are his personal coaches, and left Percy with the other coaches if they were both taking passenger trains anyway?