Mind that Bike

"So I did help, but by accident as you might say!"

- Percy

Mind that Bike is the twenty-sixth episode of the fourth season. It first aired on the Shining Time Station spinoff,  Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales episode Wish You Were Here, in 1996 in the US.

Plot
Tom Tipper is the local Sodor postman who takes the mail from Thomas and Percy's post trains to deliver to the residents of Sodor. He is very friendly and knows he is nothing without his trusty post van. One day, Tom is ill and when he returns he finds his van has been replaced by a bicycle due to maintenance costs. Tom is later called away, and he carelessly props his bike against Percy's mail vans. Percy's driver does not realise this and, as Percy starts, the bike falls onto the line and is crushed under the train. Tom is dismayed as he now will have to walk to deliver the mail, but when the postmaster finds out, Tom is given a new van, to his delight. And Percy realises that he had helped, by accident!

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Percy
 * Tom Tipper
 * Bertie (does not speak)
 * James (cameo)
 * Duck (cameo)
 * Oliver (cameo)
 * Annie and Clarabel (cameo)
 * Toad (cameo)
 * Bulgy (cameo)
 * Jem Cole (cameo)
 * The Refreshment Lady (cameo)
 * The Dryaw Policeman (cameo)
 * Sir Topham Hatt (mentioned)

Locations

 * Road Beside Rail and Canal Runby
 * Callan
 * Toryreck
 * Bulgy's Bridge
 * Lakeside
 * Rheneas
 * The Seaside Village
 * Elsbridge (deleted scene)

Trivia

 * This episode is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, Really Useful Engines.
 * This was the final episode of several things:
 * The final episode to be adapted from a story written by Christopher Awdry.
 * The final episode narrated by George Carlin as well as Trine Lossius Borg in Norway and Mykola Koziy in Ukraine until the seventeenth season as well as Povl Dissing in Denmark and Aku Laitinen in Finland until the eighth season.
 * The final episode to be shown on Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales.
 * The final episode to be based on a story from the Railway Series until The Adventure Begins.
 * This was the first season finale to not be Christmas-themed.

Goofs

 * When Tom Tipper's van passes Bertie, his undercarriage is loose and a wire is visible.
 * After Percy crushes the bike there's a shot of his cab, judging by the amount of space and the shape of the windows, it's really Duck's cab.
 * When Tom drives away in his new van, part of the driving mechanism is visible underneath.
 * In both narrations, the narrators change tense throughout the episode.
 * When Tom Tipper says "This is going to make me later still", he is smiling. This also happens when he props his bike up against one of Percy's mail trucks.
 * The hub caps on Tom Tipper's post van change from red to black throughout the episode.
 * The roof on Tom Tipper's post van change from white to black throughout the episode
 * The font on the station signs change throughout the episode.
 * When Callan is in view from the stone bridge, on Thomas' line there is a van and a brakevan in front of him.