Train Stops Play

"They have their uses. They can save the wear on a poor car's wheels!"

- Caroline changing her opinion on locomotives

Train Stops Play is the seventeenth episode of the fourth season. In the US, it aired in the Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales episode, Missing Whistles.

Plot
Stepney is enjoying his visit to the North Western Railway, and offers to help Percy with his goods trains. After delivering loaded trucks to the harbour, Stepney goes past a cricket field with some "empties" when a batter hits a "six" and their only ball lands in a truck. Stepney does not realise and, when his driver sees Caroline chasing after them with the desperate cricketers inside, he mistakes them for joyriders and speeds up, much to Caroline's annoyance as she easily overheats when travelling at full speed. At last after being forced over a hill, Caroline arrives at the station and the men get their ball back, but Stepney's driver notes Caroline looks exhausted and suggests that she be rolled onto a flatbed so she can rest during the return journey. The cricketers ride back in a brakevan and Stepney and his crew watch the end of the game.

Characters

 * Percy
 * Stepney
 * Caroline
 * The Elsbridge Cricket Club
 * Thomas (does not speak)
 * Toby (does not speak)
 * Henry (cameo)
 * James (cameo)
 * Duck (cameo)
 * Donald (cameo)
 * Bulgy (cameo)
 * Jem Cole (cameo)
 * The Vicar of Wellsworth (cameo)
 * Farmer Trotter (cameo)

Locations

 * Bulgy's Bridge
 * Knapford Harbour
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Shunting Yards
 * Toryreck
 * Elsbridge Cricket Field
 * Road Beside Rail and Canal Runby
 * Hackenbeck Tunnel

Trivia

 * Going by production order, this is the eighteenth episode of the fourth season.
 * This episode is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine.
 * Edited scenes are used in The Red Balloon song. One shot superimposes the red balloon above the cricket field, and another shows the cricketers smiling.

Goofs

 * After Percy arrives with his trucks, his roof is lifted.
 * Studio equipment is visible in the shots of the cricket field.
 * Stepney has Rheneas' whistle sound.
 * At Knapford Harbour, Henry and James' eyes are wonky and the guard figure in Stepney's brakevan appears to have fallen backwards.
 * One of Percy's lamp irons is crooked.
 * When the narrator says "She doesn't think trains are silly now", paint chips are visible in Stepney's running board.
 * At the beginning of the episode, Duck and Donald are behind Thomas, Stepney, Percy, and Toby, but a few scenes later, some trucks and a green express coach have taken their places.

UK

 * Thomas' Train and 17 other stories
 * Chases, Races and Runaways
 * The Complete Fourth Series
 * Classic Collection
 * Sporty Children's Favourites

WAL

 * Thomas the Tank Engine: Bumper Special 2

US

 * Thomas Meets the Queen and Other Stories

AUS

 * Thomas and the Special Letter and other stories (Australian VHS)
 * The Complete Fourth Series

DVD Packs

 * Complete Series 1-10

JPN

 * New Thomas the Tank Engine Vol.4
 * The Complete Works of Thomas the Tank Engine 2 Vol.1
 * A Nice Little Story of Thomas the Tank Engine

GER

 * Full Steam Ahead!

NOR

 * On New Adventures

ITA

 * Here Comes the Queen

GR

 * A Day at the Station

DVD Boxsets

 * 3 DVD Boxset 2