A Bad Day for Sir Handel

"Whatever next! Those aren't coaches, they're cattle trucks!"

- Sir Handel

A Bad Day for Sir Handel is the sixth episode of the fourth season. It first aired on Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales in 1996 in the US.

Plot
Peter Sam and Sir Handel arrive on the Skarloey Railway. Peter Sam is kind, but Sir Handel is bad-tempered and insults Skarloey and the sheds. Then Sir Handel is chosen to pull the train to the top station. He does so grudgingly, and, after insulting the coaches by calling them "cattle trucks" and surprising Gordon with his knowledge of coaches, makes his way to the top station. There, he is angry to discover by his driver that he is expected to go to the quarry and collect trucks, and refuses to do so, punctuating his point by deliberately derailing himself. In the end, Peter Sam helps Sir Handel back on the rails and the Fat Controller puts Sir Handel in the shed as punishment.

Characters

 * Gordon
 * Sir Handel
 * Peter Sam
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Skarloey (does not speak)
 * Rheneas (does not speak)
 * Thomas (cameo)
 * Percy (cameo)

Locations

 * Crovan's Gate
 * Skarloey Railway Engine Sheds
 * Lakeside
 * Sodor Castle
 * Glennock

Trivia

 * This episode is based on the story Sir Handel from The Railway Series book, Four Little Engines.
 * Some TUGS models can be seen in this episode.
 * When broadcast on Miramax, the episode has no narration.

Goofs

 * When Sir Handel and Peter Sam first arrive, Percy is passing with a train of trucks. However, when Sir Handel looks at Skarloey, Percy is reversing for some reason, and a tar wagon has joined his train.
 * When Sir Handel backs onto his coaches and stops, he can still be heard puffing for another four seconds.
 * From this episode on for the remainder of the fourth season, Gordon has Duck's whistle sound.
 * When Sir Handel goes off-camera on the mountain ledge, the steam platform blows steam too late.
 * When Sir Handel derails, a small rod is sticking up from the tracks.
 * When the Fat Controller says "You're a very naughty engine", a fly crawls on the workbench beside Sir Handel.
 * Sir Handel has Rheneas' whistle sound and Rheneas has Sir Handel's whistle sound.
 * The coaches are cross before Sir Handel calls them "cattle trucks".
 * In a picture of a deleted scene, a wire is visible beneath Sir Handel.
 * Sir Handel claims that the coaches are not what he's used to. This is, however, not true since in the television series, the models of the Skarloey Railway coaches are the same as the Mid Sodor Railway coaches.