Marion and the Pipe

"Goodness gracious me! I found something!""

- Marion after hitting the buried pipe

Marion and the Pipe is the twelfth episode of the eighteenth season.

Plot
There is only one thing Marion likes more than digging and that's telling the other engines stories about things she has dug up in the past. A lot of the engines don't like to hear Marion's endless tales and try to avoid her.

One day, Marion is repairing an embankment on the main line. Gordon thunders into sight with the express and Marion isn't paying attention. She puts her shovel right across Gordon's line. The workmen shout to warn Gordon who applies his brakes. Gordon stops just in time. Marion tries to tell Gordon the story of the time she dug up the fossil of a woolly mammoth, but Gordon isn't interested and he puffs on his way.

A bit later, Marion has nearly finished repairing the embankment when Thomas pulls up. Thomas loves hearing Marion's stories. Marion tells him about the time she dug up a pirate's treasure chest, but suddenly her shovel hits something hard in the embankment. Marion tells Thomas that she has found a Viking longship, but Thomas thinks it is just a water pipe. Marion is sure she is correct and, after Thomas has left, continues to dig. Unfortunately, she accidently hits the object and water starts gushing out. Marion realises that it is a water pipe after all. The workmen are on a break and not paying attention, so Marion quickly covers the leaky pipe with mud and clatters away.

The next day, Thomas passes the embankment and is shocked to see water trickling out of the ground. Thomas concludes that Marion must have struck the water pipe and heads off to the China Clay Pits to inform the steam-shovel.

At the Sodor China Clay Pits, Marion is playing a game of "Guess What's in my Shovel" with Bill and Ben when Thomas hurries in. He tells Marion that she did hit a water pipe yesterday and it's now leaking. Marion tells Thomas that she had already told him that it was pirate treasure yesterday. Thomas is confused; Marion had tried to tell him it was a Viking longship, not treasure at all. Realising that Thomas has seen through her, Marion agrees to go and have a look at the leaky pipe.

When Marion and Thomas eventually arrive at the embankment, the water has stopped. Thomas is confused; he was sure it was leaking earlier. Just as Thomas and Marion are about to head back to the Clay Pits to look at Marion's rock collection, the ground starts to rumble and shake. Suddenly, water shoots out of the ground. The embankment moves and slides onto the tracks. Marion admits that she knew about the leaky pipe and apologises, but she doesn't know what to do. Thomas tells her to clear up the mess while he warns approaching engines.

As Thomas is reversing back up the line, Gordon suddenly races past him. As Gordon rounds the bend, he suddenly spots the landslide and a big rock on his line. Marion tries as hard as she can to shift the big rock, but it will not budge. As Gordon draws closer and closer, Marion swings her shovel back and smacks the rock like a golf ball. The rock is moved off the line just in time for Gordon to pass through. Both Thomas and Marion are very relieved.

On their way home, Marion thanks Thomas for his help and promises to always tell someone if she encounters a water pipe in future. With that, Thomas heads back to the station and Marion returns to the Clay Pits.

Marion is very tired after her adventure and she feels rather foolish. Bill and Ben decide to cheer her up by suggesting they play her favourite game: "Guess What's in my Shovel". Soon, Bill, Ben and Marion are all laughing again.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * Percy
 * Bill and Ben
 * Marion
 * Some Workmen
 * Stanley (stock footage cameo)
 * Timothy (stock footage cameo)

Locations

 * Sodor China Clay Company
 * The Fenland Track
 * The Main Line

Trivia

 * Edited stock footage from Tale of the Brave is used.
 * The part when Marion was telling Thomas the time she dug up a pirate treasure might be a reference to the special, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure which was released a year after.
 * Going by production order, this is the fifteenth episode of the eighteenth season.
 * This marks the first episode produced solely by Brian Lynch.

Goofs

 * Just as Percy pulls away from Marion, a small black dot suddenly appears and disappears in his porthole.
 * When Gordon screeches to a stop, his leading and trailing wheels spark, but neither are fitted with brakes. This also happens later in the episode.
 * When Gordon goes away his wheel under his cab doesn't turn.
 * When Thomas first arrives at the clay pits, his brakevan disappears due to the use of stock footage.
 * When Marion notices the marsh, her safety corners are missing.
 * When Marion asks Thomas what to do, her supports are folded in, but when it cuts back to Marion, her supports are out.

US

 * Signals Crossed

Thailand

 * Last Train for Christmas