- "Sorry, big engine! I mean, Gordon!"
- ― Philip
The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead is the seventeenth episode of the nineteenth series.
Plot
Thomas is in the yard at Knapford Station when he notices something yellow and odd-looking. Percy jokingly suggests it may be a banana and he steams away. He does not get very far at all, however, when he collides with a strange yellow and green engine. The little, energetic diesel boxcab introduces himself as Philip. The new engine tells Thomas and Percy that he has come to the Fat Controller's railway to shunt trucks and he races excitedly away to find his trucks.
Philip, full of energy and keen to make a good impression, sets to work shunting trucks all over the yard. Presently, Philip introduces himself to a big engine who is filling up with water. The big engine is Gordon, and he finds Philip somewhat annoying. Philip offers to get Gordon some trucks, which the big engine is not impressed by. Philip says he is only trying to be helpful, and Gordon tells him that the most helpful thing he can do is to get on with his work and keep out of his way. Philip does not listen, and Gordon explains that he pulls the express and is very fast. Philip thinks he is very speedy too, and invites Gordon to watch how fast he can pull some trucks to the other side of the yard. Gordon, who is not in the least bit interested, goes away to pull the express. Philip does not know and when he comes back to the water column with the trucks, he wonders where Gordon went. Thomas arrives and says that Gordon will have gone to take the express.
Philip races to Knapford to try and find Gordon, and he sees the big engine pull out of the station with his carriages. Philip chases after him, rushes through a red signal, and has a near-miss with Hiro. Thomas tells Philip that Gordon will be back later.
Philip cannot wait for Gordon to come back and keeps going into the station to check the time on the big clock, which does not please the Fat Controller. As Philip is shunting a train for Oliver, he hears Gordon in the distance and rushes into Knapford Junction to meet him. Philip gets a big surprise when he sees Gordon thundering towards him on the same line. Philip hastily reverses back to the station, where the Fat Controller scolds him.
Later, Philip is still determined to show Gordon just how fast he can go. Philip challenges Gordon to a race, but Gordon is trying to rest and kindly asks Philip to go away. Philip mistakes Gordon telling him to go away as the signal to start a race. Philip races away as fast as he can and Gordon goes back to resting.
Along the line, Philip meets Edward and Emily, and he explains that he is racing Gordon and asks if they have seen him; of course, they have not. Philip thinks this means he is winning. He races all the way to Brendam Docks and is very excited to have won the race with Gordon. Humouring him, Edward, Emily, Salty, and Porter all cheer for Philip the winner.
That night, Philip follows his new friends back to Tidmouth Sheds, where he boasts about winning the race with Gordon, the latter of whom is not at all happy and offers to show Philip just how fast he can go tomorrow. Philip agrees to have another race, as long as Gordon remembers that he won the first one. All the engines laugh, except for Gordon.
Characters
- Thomas
- Edward
- Henry
- Gordon
- James
- Percy
- Emily
- Porter
- Salty
- Philip
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Oliver (cameo)
- Hiro (cameo)
- Paxton (cameo)
- Stafford (cameo)
- Annie and Clarabel (cameos)
- Toad (cameo)
- Cranky (cameo)
- The Teacher (cameo)
- The Birdwatcher (cameo)
- The Blond-haired Boy (cameo)
- A Dark Uniformed Girl (cameo)
- Dowager Hatt's Friends (cameos)
- Headkeeper Jack (cameo)
- The Welsh Birdwatcher (cameo)
- The Great Railway Show Judge (cameo)
- Big Mickey (faceless, cameo)
Locations
Cast
UK
- John Hasler as Thomas
- Keith Wickham as Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Salty, the Fat Controller and the Guard
- Nigel Pilkington as Percy
- Teresa Gallagher as Emily
- Steven Kynman as Porter
- Rasmus Hardiker as Philip
US
- Joseph May as Thomas
- William Hope as Edward
- Kerry Shale as Henry and Gordon
- Rob Rackstraw as James
- Christopher Ragland as Percy
- Jules de Jongh as Emily
- David Menkin as Porter
- Keith Wickham as Salty, Sir Topham Hatt and the Guard
- Rasmus Hardiker as Philip
Trivia
- Going by production order, this is the nineteenth episode of the nineteenth series.
- Rasmus Hardiker and Daiki Kobayashi join the English and Japanese voice casts respectively.
- The title of this episode is a reference to The Little Engine That Could.
- Philip waking up Gordon is similar to how Thomas woke him up in the first series episode, Thomas and Gordon.
- The events of this episode are later mentioned by Philip in the next episode, the special The Great Race, the twentieth series episode Toby's New Friend, and the twenty-first series episode A Shed for Edward and the events of the episode were also mentioned by Percy in The Great Race.
- Other than cheering and laughing, Henry, Porter and Salty do not have any dialogue in this episode.
- In the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Baltic Russian and Vietnamese dubs, UK dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
Goofs
- The Polish title for the episode refers to Philip as a steam engine, but he is actually a diesel engine.
- In the UK dub, when Porter says "Hooray," both his UK and US voices are heard.
- In the Dutch dub, Emily's voice is heard when Porter is supposed to speak.
- When a clip of the episode was released on the Official YouTube Channel, it was listed in YouTube Tour, the error was later fixed.
- When James arrives after Thomas and Percy meet Philip, he whistles, but no steam comes out of his whistle.
- In the shot of Gordon's tender at the water tower, the waterpipe phases through his tail lamp.
- In the Brazilian dub, Edward is confused with Thomas, being dubbed by his voice actor.
In Other Languages
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Home Media Releases
UK
- Start Your Engines!
- The Complete Series 19 (Start Your Engines! Bonus Disc)
US
- Start Your Engines!
- Season 19
AUS
- Start Your Engines!
CHN
| #01 Who's Geoffrey? | #10 Salty All at Sea | #19 Diesel's Ghostly Christmas Part One |
| #02 The Truth About Toby | #11 Den and Dart | #20 Diesel's Ghostly Christmas Part Two |
| #03 Lost Property | #12 Helping Hiro | #21 Thomas the Babysitter |
| #04 Henry Spots Trouble | #13 Slow Stephen | #22 Rocky Rescue |
| #05 A Cranky Christmas | #14 Two Wheels Good | #23 The Other Side of the Mountain |
| #06 Snow Place Like Home | #15 Reds vs. Blues | #24 No Help at All |
| #07 The Beast of Sodor | #16 Best Engine Ever | #25 Goodbye Fat Controller |
| #08 Toad and the Whale | #17 The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead | #26 Wild Water Rescue |
| #09 Very Important Sheep | #18 Philip to the Rescue | |