The Coaling Plant

The Coaling Plant, also known as the Coal Mine in Put Upon Percy and A Surprise for Percy because there was a mine enterance next to the coaling plant in the fifth season, was introduced in the second season of Thomas and Friends. It appeared regularly until the CGI switchover when it was seemingly replaced by the Coal Hopper.

The Site
Situated up the coast from Brendam, the coaling plant is where all the standard gauge steam engines collect their coal, all the coal trucks are kept and orders of coal are made here. It also has a Diesel refueling station.

The Truck Hoist
One of the machines at the Coaling Plant is the truck hoist. This is where the coal trucks are unloaded. It is dangerous for engines to go on it. However, Henry accidentally pushed Percy onto the Truck Hoist, though Percy later used it to hide from Thomas. Also, Toby was pushed by Diesel onto the Truck Hoist when the steam and Diesel engines were fighting each other.

The Mine
In the fifth season, the coaling plant had a mine next to it. A train of trucks got stuck on a mechanism at the mineshaft's entrance. Percy gave them an extra-hard shunt to get them moving, but pushed them too hard. The trucks came off the rails, crashing into a support beam. This caused the mine to collapse, destroying the trucks. The mine was evacuated and has not been seen since.

Trivia

 * For some reason, the coaling plant was on the Main Line in the seventh season.
 * The coaling plant caused some issues with Christopher Awdry, as well as coal being carried in open trucks, as originally there was no coal mine on Sodor and all the coal was imported from the mainland.