The Twin Engines



The Twin Engines was first published in 1960. It was written by the Reverend W. Awdry and illustrated by John T. Kenney.

"Hullo Twins!"
The engines are getting dragged down by the amount of work they have, and they are pleased to hear a goods engine is arriving from Scotland. However, the Fat Controller is surprised to hear two engines have arrived and goes to meet the engines, but only manages to discover they have "lost their numbers", as they put it, and they have since named themselves Donald and Douglas. The Fat Controller orders for them to have numbers painted on them.

The Missing Coach
Donald and Douglas (now #9 and #10 respectively) realise they have only numbers painted on their tenders. One afternoon, Douglas is shunting in the Yard and worries about being sent away, unfortunately forgetting to shunt Thomas' special coach. The twins decide to swap tenders so as to convince the Fat Controller that Donald has taken his goods train, but he isn't fooled and reprimands Douglas severely.

Breakvan
The Fat Controller threatens to send one of the twins away and they behave, until a spiteful brakevan delays Douglas' goods train. Donald soon puts the van right, but when Donald crashes into a signalbox and James has to do his goods work the brakevan and the trucks, sensing James' fury, hold back, and Douglas has to help as a "banker". The brakevan holds back again, but gets its comeuppance after Douglas accidentally crushes it. The Fat Controller comes to supervise the clean-up, and has mixed feelings about Douglas staying.

The Deputation
Winter comes early, and Donald and Douglas ask to help clear the line. They manage to rescue Henry from a snowdrift, but they are still worried that they will be sent back. Edward tells Percy that they need a "deputation", and the big engines elect Percy to be their "disputation". Percy tells the Fat Controller that Donald and Douglas will be scrapped if they return to Scotland, but the Fat Controller has already made up his mind: he gives the twins a new coat of paint and allows them to stay.

Characters
Characters marked with an asterisk make their first appearance in this book. A double asterisk means the character appears only in this book. ]]
 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Duck
 * [[Donald and Douglas|Donald and Douglas*
 * The spiteful breakvan**


 * The Fat Controller
 * Annie and Clarabel (do not speak)

Trivia

 * ''"Now, which of you is 57646?"


 * This is a subtle joke, as, had the Fat Controller checked the British Railway rolls, he would have realised it only went up to 57645.
 * Gordon references "Tugboat Annie", a 1950s Canadian television series about a tough old widow who captained a tugboat.
 * David Mitton has said that an adaptation of "The Missing Coach" was half-finished for the second season, but Britt Allcroft scrapped the idea, citing that the plot would be too complicated for young viewers.

Goofs

 * In the fourth illustration of "The Missing Coach", Annie and Clarabel are different lengths.
 * When James approaches the spiteful breakvan his lampiron disappears.
 * When Percy, Gordon and Henry mix up the pronunciation of "deputation" Edward is visible in the Shed; however, he doesn't correct them.