The Missing Coach (cancelled episode)

"Tugboat Annie!"

- Gordon

The Missing Coach was an episode set to be filmed for the second season. It was canceled in the middle of shooting.

Plot
Donald and Douglas (now 9 and 10 respectively) realise they only have numbers painted on their tenders. One afternoon, Douglas is shunting in the yard and worries about being sent away, unfortunately forgetting to shunt Thomas' Special Coach. The twins decide to swap tenders so as to convince the Fat Controller that Donald has taken his goods train, but he isn't fooled and reprimands Douglas severely.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Sir Topham Hatt

Locations

 * Tidmouth
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Ffarquhar Sheds

Trivia

 * This episode was based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, The Twin Engines.
 * Britt Allcroft decided that this episode would be too difficult for young children to understand, and so the crew filmed Thomas, Percy and the Coal instead. It is assumed that Donald and Douglas swapping tenders to fool the Fat Controller is what would have made the plot hard to comprehend for young children.
 * Five screenshots are all that is publicly visible of the filmed footage. One of them can be seen in the 1989 annual. Another is seen in various books and on Douglas' Take-Along card. A very small one can be seen in a Japanese book. Another confirms Duck as a character snd the final shows the ending scene of the episode.
 * In an interview with David Mitton released on SiF shortly before his death, he mentioned that he was in possession of all the original footage filmed for this episode.
 * This is, so far, the only episode known to have been cancelled. However, the first season episode, Down the Mine was originally planned to be the series pilot, but was reshot and pushed back later in the season.