The Missing Coach (cancelled episode)

"Tugboat Annie!"

- Gordon

The Missing Coach was an episode set to be filmed for the second season.

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.

Featured characters

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

Locations

 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Tidmouth

Trivia

 * 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.
 * Three screenshots are all that is known to remain of the filmed footage. One of them can be seen in the 1989 annual, another in a book which can also be found on a Take-Along card, and a very small one can be seen in a Japanese book.
 * This is, so far, the only episode known to have been canceled.