The Truth About Toby

"Old Toby's going to be scrapped!" "Really?" "It's true! Everyone's saying so." "No, no, no, just no! My Toby is in fine shape. There's no way he's going to be scrapped!"

- Paxton, Emily and Henrietta

The Truth About Toby is the second episode of the nineteenth season.

Plot
Toby's sideplates are rattling and Henrietta suggests that they call in at the steamworks to have them looked at. Toby tells her that he doesn't have the time as he has a lot of jobs to do. Toby leaves Henrietta at Knapford to take a trainload of scrap to the scrapyard. Henrietta reminds Toby to have his sideplates looked at and suggests he fill up with coal before he goes. Toby loses patience and tells Henrietta that she doesn't need to tell him everything.

Toby pulls in next to Reg at the scrapyard and sure enough, he does run out of coal. Toby asks if Reg has any to spare, but Reg is a diesel-powered crane. Just then, Edward chuffs past and Toby rings his bell to greet him. After he has gone, Toby realises that he should have stopped Edward to ask him for some coal. Reg tells Toby that another engine will be along shortly and he starts to unload Toby's scrap. Sure enough, Thomas clatters past. Toby calls out to him, but Thomas cannot hear him over the noise of scrunching scrap. Clarabel sees Toby and thinks he looks very sad. A short while later, Edward passes by again. Toby calls out, but like Thomas, Edward cannot hear him over the sound of Reg at work. Edward does manage to hear Toby's bell, which he thinks is odd; Toby shouldn't still be at the scrapyard. Toby tells Reg that he is making too much noise and asks if there's some way he can attract the other engines' attentions. Reg decides he will wave a brightly coloured piece of scrap like a red flag when the next engine passes. Soon, Henry passes and Reg waves an old, red car in the air. Unfortunately, Reg accidently loses grip and throws the car at Henry which scares the nervous green engine.

Meanwhile, at the docks, Edward tells Salty that every time he has passed the scrapyard, Toby has been there. Clarabel says she saw him looking sad, too. Salty comes to the sad conclusion that old Toby is going to be scrapped. Thomas is shocked and says Toby is far too useful to be scrapped.

Back at the scrapyard, Toby spots Thomas puffing towards him in the distance. Reg decides it would be a good idea to lift Toby up in the air so that Thomas will be able to see him asking for help. Toby is not impressed. Thomas passes and hears Toby screaming at Reg to put him down and the little tank engine realises that Salty must be right and Toby is going to be scrapped.

The news of Toby's fate soon travels around the island. Thomas tells Gordon who tells Caitlin. Caitlin then tells Connor and soon Stanley, Edward, Salty, James and Percy all hear the news. It is not long before every engine on Sodor has heard the news.

In the yard at Knapford, Paxton overhears Henry talking to Stafford about Toby. Paxton then tells Emily and Henrietta overhears. Henrietta is adamant that it is not true; there's no way her Toby is going to be scrapped.

As the sun goes down, Toby cannot understand why nobody has stopped to help him all day. Suddenly, Emily clatters in and tells Reg and Toby that there's a rumour going around that the old tram engine is going to be scrapped. Toby says he is not going to be scrapped, he merely ran out of coal. Henrietta tells Toby that she told him to fill up with coal and Toby has to admit she had been right and apologises for snapping at her earlier. Emily then lends Toby some of her coal.

Later on, the Fat Controller gathers all of the engines at Knapford. They are surprised to see Toby pull in. Then, the Fat Controller arrives and makes an announcement saying that Toby the Tram Engine is not going to be scrapped and that he is still a hard working and really useful engine. He goes on to say that whoever started the rumour caused a lot of confusion and probably some delay. Toby has no idea how the rumour started and chuckles as he puffs away with his sideplate still rattling. He remembers that Henrietta had told him to go to the steamworks and laughs as Henrietta sighs.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Emily
 * Stanley
 * Caitlin
 * Salty
 * Paxton
 * Stafford
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Henrietta
 * Reg
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Connor (cameo)
 * Samson (cameo)
 * Mavis (cameo)
 * Cranky (cameo)
 * The Dock Manager (cameo)

Locations

 * Ffarquhar Quarry
 * Knapford
 * Crocks Scrap Yard
 * McColl Farm
 * Brendam Docks
 * Sodor Shipping Company
 * Wellsworth
 * Vicarstown Bridge
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Sodor Steamworks (mentioned)

Trivia

 * Rob Rackstraw takes over the voice of Toby in the UK and Stanley in both the UK and the US.
 * This is the first episode where all of the Steam Team have speaking roles.

Goofs

 * Nigel Pilkington is not credited in the UK dub for voicing Percy.
 * In the close up of Toby's sideplate at the end of the episode, look closely and you can see the ground on the other side of Toby which means his wheels are missing.
 * Throughout the episode, Connor's valve gear is not connected to his crosshead.
 * When Toby leaves Ffarquhar Quarry, Henrietta's door is left open.
 * Reg could not have lifted Toby in the way he did, his claw would not have fitted around his roof.
 * When Toby is lifted up, his underside is shown to only contain 3 railway wheels (like those on trucks).