Duck and the Slip Coaches

"Hello, Slippies!"

- Duck to the slip coaches

Duck and the Slip Coaches is the eighth episode of the eighteenth season.

Plot
It is high summer and a very busy time on Sodor and all of the engines are busier than ever due to the holiday makers going to the beach. The Fat Controller is feeling worried about getting everyone to their destinations on time. At Knapford, he hurries a girl and her mother onto James' train, causing the girl's inflatable toy to fly out of her hands and land on the Fat Controller's top hat. The girl laughs along with Thomas and James, until the Fat Controller firmly sends them on their way.

One night, Duck stays at Tidmouth Sheds so that he can help out with the passenger duties the next day. Duck likes telling the engines about the summer days reminding himself of his old days on the Great Western Railway, much to James’ annoyance. Duck tells the other engines that he used to pull slip coaches, which are coaches that can be uncoupled without stopping and would simply roll into the station on their own before stopping. He explains that this was more time efficient than using regular coaches and helped get all the passengers to their destinations on time. He also says that if an engine went too slow while uncoupling a slip coach, it would bump into the back; knowing when to uncouple the coaches took a lot of skill. James thinks it sounds easy, but Duck tells him that there are two ways of doing things: the wrong way or the Great Western way.

As the other engines fall asleep, Emily arrives at the sheds only to discover that all the berths were taken, so she leaves to sleep somewhere else. Just then, James sees that the Fat Controller is worried that the next day will be the busiest day the railway has ever seen, so James tells the Fat Controller about the slip coaches and claims using them as his own idea. The next morning, when the engines wake up, three slip coaches from the GWR are waiting on a siding near the Sheds; all of the engines, Duck most of all, are excited; these happen to be the same slip coaches Duck pulled in his younger days. He expects to pull them, but is shocked to hear the Fat Controller saying that it was James’ idea to purchase the coaches and as such he is the one who will pull them. Later in the day, James is pulling the slip coaches, who are sceptical about whether he can handle them, on Duck's Branch Line.

As James approaches Bluff’s Cove, he orders the guard to uncouple the rear coach. Duck, who is also at Bluff's Cove, sees James approaching. After the coach is uncoupled, James slows down to show off his paint. Duck tries to warn James not to slow down too much, but James takes no notice. As he slowly rolls through the station, the rear coach, which has been uncoupled, rolls into the back of the train. Although none of the passengers are hurt, they are very cross and the slip coaches refuse to go any further with James.

The Fat Controller arrives and sees that everyone is not happy, believing that the slip coaches were a bad idea. Duck intervenes and offers to fill in for James; the slip coaches are delighted at the idea; Duck explains that he used to pull these particular slip coaches on the Great Western Railway and that James had stolen his idea. The Fat Controller agrees to let Duck pull the coaches full-time and thanks to Duck and the slip coaches, all of the passengers arrive at their destinations on time.

That night at the sheds, Duck and the slip coaches are praised for their hard work by everyone except James. At that moment, Emily arrives to get to the last berth of the sheds, but Henry comes in and takes it.

Characters
Some grumbling passengers can also be heard. Some of them are voiced by Keith Wickham.
 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Duck
 * Emily
 * Slip Coaches
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Some Children
 * Annie and Clarabel (cameo)
 * The Teacher (cameo)
 * The Bird Watcher (cameo)
 * The Ginger-haired Boy (cameo)
 * The Blond-haired Boy (cameo)
 * Dowager Hatt's Friends (cameo)
 * The Lady with the Big Hat (cameo)

Locations

 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Knapford
 * Animal Park
 * Bluff's Cove
 * Wellsworth
 * Duck's Branch Line
 * Rail Under Road Bridge and Signalbox

Trivia

 * The footage that depicts Duck on the Great Western Railway resembles a 1940s newsreel. In the footage, Duck does not have his number 8, showing he had not yet come to Sodor.
 * The station on the Great Western Railway in Duck's flashback is actually Wellsworth.
 * This marks the first appearance of male coaches in the television series.
 * Sam Wilkinson said in an interview with SiF that Duck being placed at Tidmouth Sheds, thus making Emily leave, was an acknowledgement of fans' belief that Emily replaced Duck as the eighth main character when the Steam Team was created.
 * The Slip Coaches are both rather similar and reminiscent to the Great Western Auto-Coaches from the Railway Series.

Goofs

 * Teresa Gallagher's name is misspelt as "Teresa Gallgher" and Rebecca O'Mara's name is also incorrectly written as "Rebecca O Mara".
 * When Edward arrives at the Animal Park, he has Thomas' whistle sound.
 * Some of the people waving at James as he passes with the slip coaches were seen boarding the train at Knapford.
 * In the first shot of Duck on the Great Western Railway, he is missing his "GWR" lettering.
 * When the Fat Controller ushers the passengers onto the train, the small girl and her family leave their luggage on the station platform.
 * When the rear slip coach detaches at Bluff's Cove, it and the rest of the train are moving slowly, but when the collision occurs they are both moving faster.
 * The rear slip coach is re-coupled to the train when he says "Capital idea".
 * When one of the coaches uncouples at Knapford, some of the children appear to slide out of the doors and several passengers seem to exit through the same door at once. Also, a little girl's feet go through the floor and running board of the coach when jumping out.
 * After a close up of Duck at Tidmouth Sheds, Thomas disappears.
 * Some children are duplicated at Knapford.

UK

 * 1st Class Stories
 * Trouble on the Tracks

DVD Packs

 * 10 DVD Boxset (2015)

AUS

 * Trouble on the Tracks

US

 * Tales on the Rails
 * Season 18 (Digital Download)

Thailand

 * Duck in the Water

China

 * Duck and the Slip Coaches