Break Van

"I heard tell aboot an engine and some tar wagons." "Shut up! It's not funny!"

- Douglas and James

Break Van, retitled Donald and Douglas in American releases, is the sixteenth episode of the second season. It aired in the US on the Shining Time Station episode, Sweet and Sour in 1991.

Plot
Donald and Douglas are twin engines from Scotland who arrive on the Island of Sodor to help out, however the Fat Controller had only sent for one engine. While the twins mean well, their identical appearance causes confusion and the Fat Controller has numbers painted on them; Donald is 9, while Douglas is 10. However the Fat Controller still intends to send one of the engines back home.

In the yard, a Spiteful Brakevan takes a dislike to Douglas and does his best to make things go wrong whenever Douglas takes it out. As a result, Douglas' trains are late causing him to get a bad reputation. Donald is angry at his twin's unfair treatment and bumps the brakevan hard before threatening it. The brakevan starts behaving better after that.

However things start to go wrong when Donald travels along some slippery lines and crashes into a signalbox. The Fat Controller is very angry at Donald and informs him that he had decided to keep him and send Douglas back before this incident. Now Donald needs to have his tender mended and James will have to do his work, which the Fat Controller knows James won't like.

The Fat Controller is right and James is very grumpy about the extra work. Douglas jokes about James' incident with the tar wagons, making him angrier. He takes a train of trucks which includes the spiteful brakevan, who decides to make life difficult for James and has the trucks hold back, quickly tiring James out.

Meeting Douglas, James asks for help climbing Gordon's Hill and the Scottish engine agrees. Douglas and James work as hard as they can to climb the hill, however Douglas pushes too hard and accidentally destroys the spiteful brakevan.

The Fat Controller arrives with Edward and is angry that Douglas has caused even more trouble. Edward stands up for Douglas, having heard what happened and tells the Fat Controller of all the hard work Douglas did. The Fat Controller feels that Douglas went too far, but understands Douglas had good intentions and was only trying his best. The Fat Controller is left unsure about what to do with Donald and Douglas.

Characters

 * Edward
 * James
 * Donald and Douglas
 * The Spiteful Brakevan
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Thomas (cameo)
 * Henry (cameo)
 * Gordon (cameo)

Locations

 * Tidmouth
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Ffarquhar Sheds
 * Gordon's Hill
 * Wellsworth
 * Rolf's Castle
 * The Coaling Plant

Trivia

 * This episode is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, The Twin Engines.
 * A Lego brick can be seen beside the tracks when James and Douglas leave the station.
 * In Norway, this episode is called "The Challenging Truck". The Italian tile is "The Twin Locomotives". In Dutch this episode is called "The Caboose". In Japan, this episode is called "The Twin Engines". The Croatian title is "Broken Freight Wagons". The German title is "The Braking Distances". It is called "Trailer Brake" in Finland. The Spanish title is "Donald and Douglas". The Brazilian title is "The Twins Scots".
 * In PBS Sprout airings of this episode, the term "shut up" was cut out due to censorship issues.
 * The first season episode, Dirty Objects is referenced.

Goofs

 * At the beginning, blu-tak is used to hold Donald's face.
 * In the widescreen of the first shot, Douglas' number has been painted on.
 * When Donald says "It's to leave you behind I'd be wanting", the flatbed beside him has been replaced by a platform.
 * When Donald bumps the Spiteful Brakevan, the sound of him bumping him is late by a second.
 * The "M" is partly rubbed off on the sign on the signalbox that Donald crashes into.
 * When James leaves the yard the van coupled to him tips.
 * Ringo Starr does not use a Scottish accent when Douglas says "We'll show them".
 * When Donald approaches the spiteful brakevan his lamp iron disappears.
 * How did Douglas get to Wellsworth before James?
 * A censor bar is seen covering Douglas' nameplate after he crushes the brakevan, then in the aftermath his nameplate is shown. In the restored version, Douglas' nameplate is shown as he crushes the brakevan.
 * When James leaves the yard, Gordon's eyes are crossed.
 * The spiteful brakevan turns brown after Douglas crushes him.
 * When Douglas crushes the brakevan, his wheels are bluish-grey. This is due to the fluid in the model that generates the smoke effects. An extended shot shown in a postcard shows that not only are his tender axleboxes in the same bluish-grey, but his driver's head is also backwards.
 * When Ringo Starr says "things always went wrong when he had to take it out," his voice cracks.
 * In a deleted photograph, Douglas' face is loose when he is coupled behind the brakevan.
 * Douglas is smiling when he breaks the Spiteful Brakevan and when the Fat Controller speaks angrily to him.
 * When the Fat Controller says "I don't know...", Douglas' face mask moves.
 * When the Fat Controller says "I might have known it would be Douglas", Douglas' face is clean and his nameplate is fine, but when Edward says "I heard him from my yard", his face becomes dirty and his nameplate is crooked and crushed.
 * The Spiteful Brakevan doesn't have a face when James passes Rolf's Castle.