Snow

"What's the funny part about an avalanche?"

- Thomas

Snow is the twenty-sixth episode of the fifth season.

Plot
Thomas and Rusty become snowed down by a tunnel. So to pass the time, Rusty tells Thomas a story.

One snowy day, Skarloey was traveling up to the slate mine when he passed through a ravine. His driver was concerned that noise could cause an avalanche, and he sets an emergency cap. When Skarloey runs over it, nothing happens, so his crew decide to make a cup of cocoa. Unfortunately, up in the slate mines some "empties" jam the winch and some trucks run down the slope into the ravine, causing an avalanche which buries Skarloey. When Rusty comes to the rescue, they discover that Skarloey's heat has created an igloo, and inside they find Skarloey's crew nonchalantly sipping cocoa.

Thomas grumbles about how trucks can be so troublesome. Gordon then arrives with his snow machine, only to be buried when the noise causes an avalanche. Thomas jokes that if Skarloey could emerge from an avalanche laughing, Gordon could at least do the same.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * Percy
 * Skarloey
 * Rusty
 * Peter Sam (cameo)
 * Duncan (cameo)

Locations

 * The Windmill
 * Stepney's Branch Line
 * Standard and Narrow Gauge Tunnel Runby
 * Skarloey Railway Slate Quarry
 * Echo Pass Ravine

Trivia

 * Stock footage from Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure is used.
 * During most of the flashback, Skarloey's large scale model is used; but during the scene where the narrator says "When the snow came...", his small scale model is used.
 * When interacting with Thomas, Rusty's small scale model is used; but when he appears during the flashback, his large scale model is used.
 * When the trucks plunge into the ravine, music is heard in the US version but not the UK version.
 * This was the last episode of a few things:
 * Britt Allcroft's last episode as producer and writer.
 * Angus Wright's last episode as executive producer.
 * David Maidment's last episode as railway consultant.
 * The last episode narrated by Manfred Steffen in Germany, Gérard Boucaron in France and Diego Brizzi in Latin America, and the last episode to be narrated by Tatá Guarnieri in Brazil until Hero of the Rails.

Goofs

 * In various scenes, part of Skarloey's cab roof is snapped.
 * When the trucks race down the incline, the middle truck derails.
 * When the trucks crash through the snow bank and buffers they are coupled, but they fall one by one.
 * A truck is missing when they fall into the ravine.
 * When the trucks are on the incline, the front truck has a narrow-gauge truck face, but when it crashes through the buffers it has a standard-gauge truck face.
 * Brakevans should have been added to Skarloey and Peter Sam's trains.
 * When Thomas talks to Percy, his eyes are wonky.