Series 17

The seventeenth season of the television series premiered in the UK on 3 June 2013. In the US, the season started airing on 7 October. This season was the first of a new writing style for the series and ran for twenty-six episodes.

Songs

 * Hey, Hey Thomas!
 * On a Journey Today

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Duck
 * Bill and Ben
 * Harvey
 * Emily
 * Spencer
 * Whiff
 * Hiro
 * Charlie
 * Scruff
 * Belle
 * Stephen
 * Connor
 * Caitlin
 * Diesel
 * Mavis
 * Diesel 10
 * Salty
 * Den
 * Dart
 * Paxton
 * Norman
 * Sidney
 * Flynn
 * Stafford
 * Winston
 * Skarloey
 * Rheneas
 * Sir Handel
 * Peter Sam
 * Victor
 * Luke
 * Millie
 * Rusty
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Rocky
 * Bertie
 * Butch
 * Kevin
 * Harold
 * Cranky
 * Merrick
 * Owen
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Sir Robert Norramby
 * Lady Hatt
 * Farmer McColl
 * The Duchess of Boxford
 * A Zoo Keeper
 * The Dock Manager
 * The Railway Inspectors
 * The Schoolchildren
 * Some Workmen
 * The Ginger-haired Boy
 * The Blond-haired Boy
 * The Duke of Boxford (does not speak)
 * The Engineer (does not speak)
 * Rosie (cameo)
 * Henrietta (cameo)
 * Stephen Hatt (cameo)
 * Bridget Hatt (cameo)
 * Sodor Brass Band (cameo)
 * The Dairy Manager (cameo)
 * The Bird Watcher (cameo)
 * Dowager Hatt's Friends (cameo)
 * The Teacher (cameo)
 * The Great Railway Show Judge (cameo)
 * The Knapford stationmaster (cameo)
 * Mr. Percival (mentioned)
 * Father Christmas (mentioned)
 * Lord Callan (mentioned)
 * Bash (learning segment)
 * Cora (learning segment)
 * Daisy (mentioned in a learning segment)

Characters Introduced

 * Porter
 * The Climbers (do not speak)
 * The Lady with the Big Hat (cameo)
 * The Groundskeeper (mentioned)

Half hour format

 * 1) Look and Listen - The Lost Puff and Steamie Stafford
 * 2) Fire and Water - Too Many Fire Engines and Gordon Runs Dry
 * 3) Just Be Yourself - Scruff's Makeover and Wayward Winston
 * 4) Someone to Look Up To - Kevin's Cranky Friend and Henry's Hero
 * 5) Peace and Quiet - Calm Down Caitlin and Luke's New Friend
 * 6) Taking Turns - The Thomas Way and The Switch
 * 7) Spooky Charms - The Phantom Express and Percy's Lucky Day
 * 8) Tricks and Tales - Bill or Ben? and Not Now, Charlie!
 * 9) Snow Stops Play - No Snow for Thomas and The Frozen Turntable
 * 10) Tinsel and Trains - The Missing Christmas Decorations and Santa's Little Engine
 * 11) Sea and Sand - Away From the Sea and Gone Fishing
 * 12) Food to Go - The Afternoon Tea Express and The Smelly Kipper
 * 13) Take it Easy - No More Mr. Nice Engine and Thomas' Shortcut

UK and AUS

 * Mark Moraghan as the narrator
 * Ben Small as Thomas, Toby, Rheneas, Flynn, the Troublesome Trucks and Owen
 * Keith Wickham as Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Harvey, Whiff, Salty, Den, Norman, Stafford, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Bertie, Harold, Sir Topham Hatt, the Maron Station Speaker, the Wellsworth station worker, a Railway Inspector and a workman
 * Matt Wilkinson as Spencer, Charlie, Scruff, Diesel 10, Rusty, Winston, Rocky, Butch, Kevin, Merrick, Cranky, Farmer McColl, the Dock Manager, and the Zoo Keeper
 * Steven Kynman as Duck, Porter, Dart, Paxton, Peter Sam and a Railway inspector
 * Teresa Gallagher as Emily, Belle, Mavis, Annie, Clarabel, Lady Hatt and the children
 * Togo Igawa as Hiro
 * Kerry Shale as Diesel, some groaning passengers and the Zoo Keeper (Not Now, Charlie! only)
 * David Bedella as Victor
 * William Hope as a Railway Inspector
 * Michael Legge as Luke
 * Jonathan Broadbent as Bill and Ben
 * Bob Golding as Stephen and Sidney
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby
 * Jonathan Forbes as Connor
 * Rebecca O'Mara as Caitlin
 * Miranda Raison as Millie

US

 * Mark Moraghan as the narrator
 * Martin Sherman as Thomas, Percy and Diesel
 * William Hope as Edward, Toby, Whiff, Rocky, Farmer McColl, The Dock Manager, the Wellsworth station worker, and a Railway Inspector
 * Jules de Jongh as Emily and the children
 * Kerry Shale as Henry, Gordon, James, Scruff, Kevin, Harold, Sir Topham Hatt, some groaning passengers, the Zoo Keeper and a workman
 * Jules de Jongh as Emily and the children
 * Steven Kynman as Duck, Dart, Paxton, Butch, Peter Sam and a Railway Inspector
 * Glenn Wrage as Spencer and Cranky
 * Keith Wickham as Harvey, Salty, Den, Norman, Stafford, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Bertie, a Railway Inspector, and the Maron Station Speaker
 * Matt Wilkinson as Diesel 10, Rusty, Winston, and Merrick
 * Ben Small as Charlie, Rheneas, Flynn, the Troublesome Trucks and Owen
 * David Bedella as Victor
 * Togo Igawa as Hiro
 * Teresa Gallagher as Belle, Mavis, Annie, Clarabel, Lady Hatt and The Duchess of Boxford
 * Michael Legge as Luke
 * Jonathan Broadbent as Bill and Ben
 * Bob Golding as Stephen and Sidney
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby
 * Jonathan Forbes as Connor
 * Rebecca O'Mara as Caitlin
 * Miranda Raison as Millie
 * David Menkin as Porter

Trivia

 * This season marks the first for numerous things:
 * Andrew Brenner's first season as head writer.
 * Mark Moraghan's first season as narrator.
 * The first season since the second season to have the same narrator for both the UK and US.
 * The first season to have a different episode order in Australia than the UK and US.
 * The first season animated by Arc Productions.
 * The first season to credit the writers on the episode title cards.
 * The first season not to feature Misty Island, Bash, Dash and Ferdinand since their introduction (excluding Bash's stock footage cameo in a Mr. Perkins segment).
 * The first season since the twelfth season not to feature anyone from the Steam Team in every episode.
 * The first season of the CGI series to not have the engines' whistles bulge up and down when operated.
 * The first season since the eleventh season to have 26 episodes. Though it was going to be 20 in the original plan.
 * The first season since the fifth season to have a railway consultant.
 * The first season since the fourth season dubbed in Ukrainian.
 * The first season since the fourth season to start airing in one year, and finish in another.
 * The first season produced by a separate production team from that producing the season's special.
 * Duck, Bill and Ben, and Harvey's first appearance in full CGI.
 * Kellsthorpe Road and Dryaw's first appearance in full CGI.
 * The first season to have David Bedella as Victor in the UK version, since the executives decided that Matt Wilkinson's voice for the character is not as strong as David's.
 * The first season to feature Steven Kynman as Butch in the US.
 * The first time Sidney appeared in an episode.
 * The first and only time Diesel 10 appeared in an episode.
 * The first season to feature Keith Wickham as Bertie and Steven Kynman as Dart.
 * The first season to have Bob Golding, Rebecca O'Mara, Jonathan Forbes, Miranda Raison, Mike Grady, Steven Kynman, David Menkin, and Jonathan Broadbent as part of the voice cast.
 * The first season where all the engines have lamps as they were requested to be added by Sam Wilkinson.
 * The first season that Rosie doesn't speak in since her introduction in the tenth season.
 * In the UK, this season was released in several stages across a two-year period, rather than being aired all together:
 * The season premiered on June 3rd, 2013 with a run of ten episodes.
 * Another week of new episodes aired from September 30th, 2013. One episode aired on November 5th and four more aired in December.
 * The final six episodes went straight to DVD in March 2014.
 * Four of the final six episodes aired on July 5th and 6th, 2014.
 * The final two episodes aired on November 21st, 2014.
 * This season contained the 400th episode of the television series.
 * For the first several episodes of the season, PBS used an opening title from earlier seasons, with Michael Brandon listed as the narrator and Greg Tiernan listed as the director. The remainder of the episodes would feature the correct opening title, as would the initial episodes in subsequent airings.
 * This is the last episodic season to be in fullscreen 4:3 on DVD in the American version. But all except for the Spills and Thrills episodes from the US version of the DVD, and episodes such as Bill or Ben?, Too Many Fire Engines, The Phantom Express, Henry's Hero and Not Now Charlie as seen in widescreen 16:9 by the US version of Engines to the Rescue.
 * In Norway, this season was shown on the website TV 2 Sumo before airing on television.
 * The final eleven episodes of this season were released in Australia and Japan before their UK debuts.
 * This is the only season to feature a couple of things:
 * The only season to feature Ben Small as Flynn.
 * The only season animated by Arc Productions that Henrietta doesn't have a face. This is also the last season where she doesn't have a face.
 * Although Arc Productions had officially taken over the animation aspects of the television series, starting from this season, the episodes still used the opening titles and closing credits made by Nitrogen Studios which continued until the nineteenth season.