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 realize 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 came and started the engine's fires. Thomas woke up as the warmth spread through his boiler and then realised his opportunity to run by himself and prove Percy and Toby wrong by stopping and wheeshing in front of them. Thomas slowly started moving along the track, but did not know that he was only moving because a careless cleaner had 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 front window just as the family was sitting down to breakfast. Plaster and broken glass was everywhere - the stationmaster's wife was furious with Thomas for ruining their breakfast.

After workmen laid rails through the garden, Donald and Douglas arrived and pulled Thomas free of the house. Thomas' front has been badly damaged by his visit 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.

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 (mentioned; not named)

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.
 * This episode may have been filmed alongside Break Van, as Donald's tender can be seen in the signalbox.
 * In the US, this episode aired before Toby the Tram Engine and Donald and Douglas, so early 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.
 * The close-up of the stationmaster is different in the restored version.
 * 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.
 * After Thomas has rolled out of the shed, there is a shot of the inside of his cab. At the top right-hand corner, there is a gap where the roof is not joined correctly.
 * 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.
 * While Thomas is being pulled out of the house, a wire is visible underneath him.
 * Bridget Hatt is the Stationmaster's daughter.
 * 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.
 * Douglas' left nameplate is peeling off slightly.
 * George Carlin does not use a muffled voice for Thomas when he speaks with the bush in front of him.
 * At the end of the episode, a piece of hair is on Thomas' front.

Merchandise

 * Wooden Railway (discontinued)