Thomas Comes to Breakfast

"You miserable engine! Just look what you've done to our breakfast! Now I shall have to cook some more!"

- The station master's wife yelling at Thomas

Thomas Comes to Breakfast is the eighteenth episode of the second season. In the US, this episode first aired on the Shining Time Station episode, Two Old Hands in 1989 and then later, Nickel In a Pickle in 1991.

Plot
Thomas' driver jokes that Thomas could almost run his branch line without him. Thomas does not realise he is joking though and becomes very conceited. He brags to Percy and Toby later at the sheds and both tell Thomas that he needs a driver, but to no avail.

The next morning, a fire lighter comes and starts up the engine's fires. Thomas wakes up as the warmth spreads through his boiler and then realises his opportunity to run by himself and prove Percy and Toby wrong by stopping and wheeshing in front of them. Thomas slowly starts moving along the track, but does not know that he is only moving because a careless cleaner has fiddled with his controls. Thomas quickly realises he has made a huge mistake, but cannot do anything about it without his driver. At the end of the tracks sits the stationmaster's house. Thomas crashes through the end buffers, the fence and front window just as the family is sitting down to breakfast. The house has rocked, and plaster and broken glass are everywhere. Both the stationmaster and his wife are furious with Thomas for ruining their breakfast. After the stationmaster's wife bangs the door to the dining room, more plaster falls onto Thomas.

After workmen lays rails through the garden, Donald and Douglas arrive and pull Thomas free of the house. Thomas' front has been badly damaged by the impact and is in disgrace.

Back at the shed, the Fat Controller is furious with Thomas for his silly actions and tells him that he is going to have to spend a long time at the works being mended. While he is away, a diesel railcar is going to be brought in to run his branch line. He also tells him that diesels always stay in their sheds until they are wanted, and diesels never gallop off to breakfast in stationmasters' houses.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * The Ffarquhar Stationmaster and his Family
 * The Careless Cleaner (does not speak)
 * Annie and Clarabel (cameo)
 * Bridget Hatt (cameo)
 * Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)
 * Daisy (indirectly mentioned)

Locations

 * Tidmouth
 * The Windmill
 * Ffarquhar Sheds
 * The Watermill
 * The Works (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This episode is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, Branch Line Engines.
 * Stock footage from Thomas and the Guard is used.
 * Footage of the episode was used as a refrence to the original story read aloud by Christopher Awdry in the YouTube exclusive documentary, 70 Years of Friendship.
 * In the US, this episode aired before Toby the Tram Engine and Donald and Douglas, this means that American viewers would not know who Toby, Donald, and Douglas are.
 * A large scale model of Thomas is used for the scenes inside of the house.
 * When the narrator says "The stationmaster was furious," the wall setup behind the stationmaster is different in the restored version.
 * In George Carlin's US narration, when the stationmaster's wife shouts "Now I shall have to cook some more!" the sound of the door being banged sounds quieter.
 * The cereal box that the stationmaster's son is holding is a recreation of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.
 * The Portuguese dub credits George Carlin as the narrator, even though it was redubbed.

Goofs

 * Clarabel is facing the wrong way and her roof is lifted when Thomas comes into Tidmouth.
 * When the narrator mentions Thomas becoming conceited, Thomas is sad. This reaction would not make sense for someone who is conceited.
 * When Toby and Percy are sleeping, Toby is tilted to the left.
 * In the close-up of Toby sleeping, his windows are open slightly, but in the wider shot of the three engines in the shed, Toby's right window (viewer perspective) is completely open. It then returns to be being slightly open when Thomas is rolling out of the shed.
 * Just after Thomas finds that he cannot stop, he passes a station building on his left, but in the next shot he has not passed it yet.
 * In the shots from Thomas' perspective before he runs into the house, the tracks on the right all seem to end abruptly at a wall (presumably the wall is to hide the edge of the set).
 * Just before Thomas crashes into the house, the window did not have glass in the frame.
 * As Thomas crashes into the house, his wheels are not moving, nor do they move as he is being pulled out of the house.
 * In the interior shots of the house, the people are almost as big as Thomas due to the fact that their large scale models are used.
 * When Thomas is rescued, a bush is lying on his buffer beam, but when the Fat Controller is talking to him, the bush seems to have become larger.
 * When Donald and Douglas pull Thomas out of the house, he is wearing his lamp. In the close-up of Thomas' front, the lamp has disappeared.
 * In a close-up of Thomas' driver, he is clean shaven, but in some non close-ups, he has a beard.
 * George Carlin does not use a muffled voice for Thomas when he speaks with the bush in front of him.
 * When Thomas is pulled away from the house, he looks unharmed. However in the next shot, a bush suddenly appears on his suddenly damaged buffer beam and his head lamp vanishes.
 * It is clear to see that a bent buffer beam has been placed on top of Thomas' own when it is damaged.
 * When Thomas says "Silly stick-in-the-muds!" the sheds and the engines are all arranged facing the wrong way.
 * During the close up of Percy looking cross, look closely in the background and you can see Donald's tender still jammed in the signal box. However later in the episode, Donald appears with his tender intact.

Merchandise

 * Wooden Railway (discontinued)