Toby's Special Surprise

"Hello, Toby! Why you looking at old tin cans?"

- Whiff

Toby's Special Surprise is a twelfth season episode.

Plot
Toby is a cheerful, hardworking, and good steam tram. As shown in [http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/You_Can_Do_it,_Toby! You Can Do it, Toby!], Toby tries his very hardest, even though he isn't as strong or as big as the the other engines. One day, Toby goes from his shed to Tidmouth Sheds, and just as he greets the other engines, the Fat Controller drives up in his car, and assigns the engines in the shed three jobs: Henry has to take the Mayor to the Scottish Castle, Emily is to take some schoolchildren to Black Loch, and Thomas is to take the Fat Controller himself to Great Waterton.

Toby waits for his job, but is only told to go to his shed and wait until the afternoon, when he is supposed to pick up some workers from the halt and take them to Great Waterton. Toby is very dissappointed, but being the good useful steam tram that he is, he complies, and as the other engines puff off to complete their very special jobs, Toby puffs off to his shed, downhearted. As Toby waited at his shed, he tried to puzzle out exactly why the other engines got their specials, and it hit him: he hadn't been able to find anything special! Emily had found the seals at Black Loch, Henry had found the flagpole for the Scottish Castle, and Thomas had found the long-lost Great Waterton. So, with higher spirits, Toby leaves his shed with Henrietta, thinking he has plenty of time.

Toby left for the hills of Sodor. He looked very, very carefully as he chuffed along with Henrietta, but nothing special was to be seen... but as Toby puffs up to a tree, he thinks he sees a huge red bird up in a tall tree, and Toby is pleased. He has found something special! But then he puffs closer and looks again, much harder, and he sees that it is only a red gumboot stuck up in a tree. An even more dissapointed Toby puffed on. He puffed even deeper into the hills, getting closer and closer to Great Waterton, when suddenly, he sees a great thing up a loop track on his line, and is happier to think that he might just have found a treasure chest! But as Toby puffs closer, he sees that it is only a very rusty truck full of tin cans, and gets even more dissapointed. Toby hears a different-sounding whistle, that could only be... Whiff! Whiff puffs up to the old rusty truck, says a happy hello to Toby, and asks him why he is looking at a rusty truck full of tin cans. Toby puffs sadly away without a word.

Further along the line, Toby stopped near a water tower just as Thomas came up another parallel line with Annie & Clarabel. Thomas stopped to tell Toby that the Fat Controller was waiting for him at Great Waterton, and Toby started quickly. All because he wanted to find something special.... Toby puffed off quickly to the halt. He was late! Toby arrived to the halt quickly, and picked the workers up in Henrietta. Toby puffed as quickly as he could to get to Great Waterton on time, but Toby gets distracted again... this time, when something glittered on the ground. Toby stopped, and had a closer, look, but it turned out to be a piece of scrap metal. Toby was now sadder than ever. He hadn't found anything special, and when he tried to puff off again, he found that he couldn't move. He had run out of coal! He felt terrible. Toby told the workers to bang on the scrap metal, and he would ring his bell; hopefully someone at Great Waterton would hear them. Otherwise, they'd be stranded, and Toby was already very late indeed... a long way down the track, the Fat Controller and Whiff hear the bell and the bangs, so they quickly set off down the track to the rescue!

When he reached Toby on Whiff, the Fat Controller asked Toby the reaosn why he was here, and Toby said that he had gone on a hunt for something special but hadn't been able to find anything. He was very sad. The Fat Controller pitied Toby, and told him that he was special. He was, after all, the oldest steam tram on Sodor! Toby feels very, very much happier. The Fat Controller fetches Rocky, so he can get the scrap metal to the Smelter's. But as Rocky raises the metal, it turns out to be the sign for the old Sodor Tramway Sheds. Toby had found the site of the old Sodor Tramway Sheds, so he had found something special after all!

Featured characters

 * Thomas
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * Toby
 * Emily
 * Whiff
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Rocky (does not speak)
 * Edward (cameo)
 * Annie and Clarabel (cameo)
 * Henrietta (cameo)
 * The Mayor of Sodor (mentioned)

Trivia

 * Stock footage from "Thomas and the Storyteller", "Thomas and the Lighthouse" and "The Great Discovery" is used.

Goofs

 * When Toby collects the workmen there are three, but when he runs out of steam there are two.
 * Toby actually had made a discovery: finding Bertram in the old mine, and finding the old tracks leading to the Old Mine and the Scottish Castle.
 * Toby is an old, wise engine, as is Edward. Why did he jump to such conclusions about specials, and why did he forget about finding the Old Mine, Castle Loch, and Bertram?