The Runaway Elephant

The Runaway Elephant is the sixteenth episode of the seventh series.

Plot

A new park is being opened and Duncan is bossing the other engines about and telling them to do their work quicker. When Duncan finishes his jobs, he is asked to take an elephant statue down to the park, but carelessly leaves without a brake van. As a result, Duncan is unable to slow down and thus runs out of control until he finally derails after hitting the buffers at the park, which catapults the elephant statue into the pond. The Fat Controller then scolds Duncan for his carelessness. Thankfully, Duncan is repaired in time for the opening, but is surprised to find the elephant still in the pond due to general favour of the elephant's position, and embarrassed to be lauded by the others for his fortunate mistake.

Characters

• Skarloey
• Rheneas
• Peter Sam
• Rusty
• Duncan
• Sir Topham Hatt
• Lady Hatt
• Headmaster Hastings (cameo)
• Cyril the Fogman (deleted scene cameo)

Locations

• The Depot
• Whispering Waterfall
• Elephant Park
• Rumblin Bridge
• Tea Room Station
• The Old Trestle Bridge
• Rocky Ridge Line

Trivia

• Going by production order, this is the twenty-third episode of the seventh series.
• A deleted scene from The Grand Opening is used.
• This is the fourth episode to use a rendition of the William Tell Overture (Finale) and the second time it was used in the seventh series. The first being Busy Going Backwards, the second being Thomas the Jet Engine, and the third being Rheneas and the Roller Coaster. Like the aforementioned episodes, this was only in the UK and international versions, and unlike the previous episodes, the music was only played briefly instead of starting for the real beginning unknowing that this is the real song.
• The events of this episode were later mentioned by Duncan in the eighteenth series episode Emily Saves the World.
• The elephant statue prop is currently owned by Twitter user IsaacM6991.

Goofs

• When Duncan arrives at the sidings to collect the statue, the trucks that were previously there when he was at the station have disappeared. Also, Duncan arrived from a dead end.
• Just before Duncan arrives at the station to collect the statue, he can be seen standing completely still in the right corner on his line for a few seconds.
• In one scene, Duncan's driver changes appearance.
• When Duncan rushes past Rusty, the narrator says: '"Slow down!" whistled Rusty,' but Rusty is a diesel engine and diesels have horns. Also, the line behind Rusty leads to bushes.
• When the narrator says that people waved and cars tooted, Elizabeth and Sir Topham Hatt's Car's horn sounds are heard, but they are nowhere to be seen.

Quotes

• Skarloey: Duncan thinks he's fast. But he's just a bossy boiler.
• Rusty: Better safe than fast.

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• Stationmaster: You must wait for the brake van. The statue is very heavy.
• Duncan: Nonsense. I pushed heavy loads in plenty of times.
• Driver: Let's go, Duncan, but we must be careful.

Merchandise

• TrackMaster
• Magazine Stories - Elephants and Engines

In Other Languages

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