- "I'm mean, lean and clean. That's why they call me 'Super'. You old smokies are for scrap!"
- ― 'Super' E.D. to James
James and 'Super' E.D. is an unmade episode of Thomas & Friends. Originally planned as the eleventh episode of the fifth series, it was scrapped by Britt Allcroft due to its abnormally unrealistic and over-the-top premise.
Plot
One day, Thomas, Percy and Edward are working at the docks, loading coal into trucks that are to be taken to a special coal hopper that sorts the coal. To his chagrin, James is tasked with taking the trucks to the hopper. He begrudgingly does so, worrying about the effects it will have on his paint.
By the time James arrives at the docks, the weather has worsened into a thunderstorm. The crane men are refusing to work because of the less than ideal weather, so James has to sort the trucks on his own. When he gets to the hopper, he has to shunt one truck onto the tipper at a time. James' growing impatience, combined with the trucks teasing him, makes him unaware that his coupling has tangled with the truck he was shunting. When the truck is on the tipper, lightning strikes the hopper, causing it to begin haywiring. James is lifted into the air before the winch stalls under his weight, and he and the trucks roll over onto their side.
The following day, the storm lets up. While James is being repaired, the Fat Controller decides to bring in a replacement engine to help with the coal trucks, and finds a diesel named E.D. However, E.D. proves to be a poor performer, as he continually breaks down. One day, while at the coal hopper, another thunderstorm brews. Lightning strikes the rail in front of E.D., causing him to emit smoke and, amazingly, transform. E.D.'s performance vastly improves, such to the point that he is nicknamed "Super E.D."
The engines quickly develop a dislike of Super E.D., especially after he manages to rival Gordon's speed record. Among the passengers, however, Super E.D. quickly becomes the most popular engine on the island, to the point that even the Fat Controller is impressed by his performance. The engines discover that James is the reason behind the diesel's arrival and kick him out of the sheds.
Because he can't sleep at the sheds, James has to sleep with Super E.D., who talks and insults him throughout the night. The next day, another storm brews as Gordon waits for his train. Super E.D. arrives and begins teasing him, but a lightning bolt ricochets off Gordon's buffer and strikes Super E.D., causing his engine to short circuit and produce an immense amount of smoke that fills the station platform. Furious, the Fat Controller orders for the source of the smoke to be disposed of, unaware that Super E.D. was the source, and Super E.D. is subsequently scrapped. James is welcomed back to the sheds, and Gordon proclaims that it's better to be annoyed by the trucks than by Super E.D. James behaves much better afterwards.
Characters
- Gordon
- James
- E.D.
- Troublesome Trucks
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Thomas (mentioned)
- Edward (mentioned)
- Percy (mentioned)
Locations
- Brendam Docks
- Knapford
- Tidmouth Sheds
- The Coaling Plant
- The Diesel Yards
- The Railway Works
- The Scrapyards
- The Shunting Yards
Trivia
- The episode's script was revealed on 3 October 2025 alongside early drafts of many other fifth series episodes on a YouTube live stream on the Valesbridge Productions channel.[1] The script for this episode is notably entirely crossed out, with a single note left by Britt Allcroft, reading "Is this realistic?".
- The concept of a faulty new diesel engine was reused in the fifth series for Derek in Double Teething Troubles.
- E.D. is presumably an abbreviation of the electro-diesel locomotive classification. Interestingly, British Railways planned to build the BR Class 75 which was projected as a "super electro-diesel".
- The name Super E.D. could possibly be a reference to the British animated series SuperTed.
- James' accident bears some resemblance to Percy's own incident with a coal tipper in the sixth series episode Middle Engine. Interestingly, both stories were David Mitton's ideas.
- James' coupling getting tangled with the truck in front of him is also similar to Duncan's incident in the same series episode Dunkin Duncan.
- Not counting the unmade episodes of the Jack and the Sodor Construction Company miniseries, this is the only known cancelled model series episode that is not an adaptation of a Railway Series story, as well as the only one that was not planned for the second series.
- Had this episode been produced, E.D. would have been the first major engine character in the TV series to be scrapped, and this would have marked his only appearance.
- The grim tone of E.D.'s fate may have also played a part in the episode's cancellation.
- This story was inspired by an anecdote provided by David Maidment about an engine being struck by a bolt of lightning.[2]
Gallery
Script
Reference
| #01 Cranky Bugs | #10 Toby and the Flood | #19 Happy Ever After |
| #02 Horrid Lorry | #11 Haunted Henry | #20 Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday |
| #03 A Better View for Gordon | #12 Double Teething Troubles | #21 A Surprise for Percy |
| #04 Lady Hatt's Birthday Party | #13 Stepney Gets Lost | #22 Make Someone Happy |
| #05 James and the Trouble with Trees | #14 Toby's Discovery | #23 Busy Going Backwards |
| #06 Gordon and the Gremlin | #15 Something in the Air | #24 Duncan Gets Spooked |
| #07 Bye George! | #16 Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach | #25 Rusty and the Boulder |
| #08 Baa! | #17 Thomas and the Rumours | #26 Snow |
| #09 Put Upon Percy | #18 Oliver's Find | Cancelled: James and 'Super' E.D. |