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This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the VHS, the DVD, the Buzz Book or the magazine story.
For other uses, see Double Trouble (disambiguation).
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"In future, we'll both be more careful of coal."
― Thomas

Thomas, Percy and the Coal, retitled Double Trouble on North American releases, is the first episode of the second series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book More About Thomas the Tank Engine.

Plot

One beautiful morning on Sodor, Thomas is puffing happily along his branch line with Annie and Clarabel and arrives at Elsbridge Station. After Percy compliments Thomas on his paintwork, he brags to Percy and Toby that blue paint is the only proper colour for an engine. When they tell him they like their own colours, Thomas huffily retorts that blue is the only colour for a Really Useful Engine and puffs away.

Later, Thomas is resting by the coal hopper when Percy arrives to fill up some trucks with coal. Thomas warns Percy of the trucks' antics and a set of unsafe buffers at the end of the siding behind him. The trucks push Percy into the siding, causing a large pile of coal to fall on Thomas and cover his paintwork in coal dust. Percy is worried but cannot help laughing as Thomas becomes filthy. Thomas is very cross and blames Percy for the incident. After Thomas is pulled out of the coal pile, it takes so long to clean him that he is unable to take his next train, leaving Toby to take Annie and Clarabel instead. Both coaches feel sorry for Thomas.

That night, in the sheds, Thomas is finally clean and is grumpy, accusing Percy of dirtying his paintwork on purpose. The feeling is mutual as Percy is cross with Thomas for believing so and insults him in turn, leaving them both bitter with each other for the rest of the night, while Toby thinks Thomas' dirty paintwork was a great joke.

Thomas,PercyandtheCoal50

"Now, Percy has learned his lesson too."

The next day, Thomas is feeling more cheerful while watching Percy bring some heavily-loaded trucks from the junction. Percy feels tired and thirsty, so he goes to a siding where the water tower is. However, the siding has unsafe buffers and Percy finds that he cannot stop, crashing through the buffers and landing wheel-deep in coal. Thomas has seen everything and leaves, while a humiliated Percy lays in the coal.

That night, after Percy has been rescued and cleaned up, he and Thomas apologise to each other for what happened and promise to be more careful with coal in the future.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • This episode marks the first occurrences of several things:
    • The first episode adapted from a story written by Christopher Awdry.
    • The first appearance of a truck to use a face made of a resin cast.
    • The first episode filmed at Shepperton Studios.
    • The first episode to feature longer and Red Express Coaches, Cattle Trucks, LNER 12 Ton Vans and an SR 25 Ton Brake Van.
    • The first appearance of Tidmouth Station and Yard, Tidmouth Yards Sheds, the Tidmouth Stationmaster's House, the Branch Line Bridge, the Branch Line Cutting, the Carriage Shed and Elsbridge Engine Sheds in the television series.
    • The first episode where Thomas' front and rear brake pipes become smaller and where the colour of the supports under his whistle change from blue to gold.
    • The first episode where Toby's bell has a new ring sound and pitch to it, which would carry on for the rest of the season and in the third series.
    • The first appearances of Percy's cross, laughing and upset faces.
    • The first appearance of Thomas' laughing and horrified faces, along with a darker coloured happy face.
    • The first appearance of Toby's laughing face.
    • The first episode to kick off a repeat series of fifteen episodes from the second series in 1991.
    • The first time Thomas and Percy get dirty.
    • The first episode video edited by Kang Hyun-gi for JEI TV in South Korea.
  • In the UK dub and the Ukrainian voice-over, when the coal pours down on Thomas, he shouts "Help, I'm choking!" This line was in the original story from The Railway Series. However, in both the Ringo Starr and George Carlin US dubs, he instead shouts "Help!" twice. It was changed due to the "choking" concept being traumatic for young viewers. Despite this, all dubs and the Ukrainian voice-over have the line "'I'm not disgraceful!' choked Thomas," kept in the episode.
  • In the restored version:
    • The shot of Percy laughing at Thomas' misfortune is a different take compared to the original version.
    • Thomas' eyes move when the scene fades to him being cleaned.
  • When the narrator says, "It took so long to clean Thomas, that he wasn't in time for his next train," a first series-style truck is seen.
  • In later versions of this episode, Christopher Awdry is not listed in the credits.
  • This episode was filmed after Thomas Comes to Breakfast, as the hole in the Stationmaster's house can be seen in the shot of "Percy was worried but he couldn't help laughing."
  • In the Nick Jr. airing of the Shining Time Station episode Win, Lose or Draw, the scenes of Thomas being cleaned and Toby taking Annie and Clarabel were cut out to make time for advertisements.
  • The beginning of the Latin American Spanish dub seen on TV airings and Netflix features a brief clip of Thomas passing the Watermill from the third series episode, Percy's Promise for unclear reasons. The Latin American Thomas Comes to Breakfast DVD, however, uses the standard opening to the episode.
  • In a promotional image, Thomas has his original smiling face and he is also still at his same position with Percy covered in coal dust, which could explain why Percy is shown like that after Thomas said, "Now, Percy has learned his lesson too."
  • The line "It was time for Thomas to leave. He had seen everything," became a popular internet meme in the 2010s.
  • If you look up Tidmouth Town Hall on Google Earth, an image from this episode from where Thomas laughs at Percy for falling into the coal is shown.
  • In both US dubs and the international ones (excluding the Ukrainian voice-over), Thomas' whistle is absent, while Toby's bell ringing is absent from Ringo Starr's US dub and the Welsh and Japanese ones.
  • This was the first episode that Matthew Kelly introduced for the second series in a double bill with Cows on 24 September 1986. From there, he would introduce the entire second series until Woolly Bear and Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree on 17 December 1986.

Goofs

  • Throughout the episode of the restored version, the footage is framed higher than on the original print, making studio equipment visible in the top corner when Toby pulls Annie and Clarabel and at the top of the screen during a close-up of the buffers and the water tower.
  • In the scene where Thomas meets Percy and Toby at Elsbridge, his dome and whistle appear to be severely bent.
  • Thomas and Percy's eyes are misaligned in several scenes.
  • In Ringo Starr's US dub featured on the Thomas Breaks the Rules VHS, the A Cow on the Line read-along audio cassette/CD and the Japanese dub, the coal chute sound effects are absent. The coal chute sound effects are present, however, in the Shining Time Station episode Finders Keepers.
  • Percy is smiling when he is pushed through the buffers by the trucks and the biffing sound also does not play at the exact time he hits them.
  • In a close-up of Thomas covered in coal at the coal hopper, the hopper shakes and his face is very dirty while the side shots show him clean.
  • In the panning shot of Thomas being cleaned, a shadow can be seen moving at the back of the shed behind Thomas, possibly that of a crew member and his face is also tilted.
  • When Toby backs up to Annie and Clarabel, his face is slightly loose and blu-tack is also sticking out from the side of his face. In addition to that, Clarabel is also facing the opposite direction and her roof is not attached properly when Toby pulls them away.
  • At Tidmouth:
    • A red express coach is amongst the trucks to the left of the screen but, after that, there are only trucks in that siding.
    • A wall is at the side of Tidmouth Station that is not seen in other episodes.
    • Thomas is also on the middle track with no platform for passengers to get on.
  • Blu-tack can be seen holding up the buffers before Percy crashes into it.
  • Both sets of buffers Percy gets pushed through are referred to as the same, even though they are not.
  • When Percy crashes through the buffers:
    • He is not covered in coal dust but when Thomas puffs past, he does.
    • His face does not appear to be on correctly, which reveals a piece of Blu-tack and steam is also venting out of his face.
  • At the end of the episode, Percy's eyebrow is peeling away.
  • When this episode was originally released on the Thomas Comes to Breakfast 1998 VHS in Canada, it had no narration and only included the music and sound effects. This was later corrected on the 2000 VHS tape release in Canada.
  • The Starz release of Thomas Comes to Breakfast and Other Thomas Adventures mistitles this episode as Double Take.

Quotes

Percy: Hello, Thomas. You look splendid.
Thomas: Yes, indeed. Blue is the only proper colour for an engine.
Toby: Oh, I don't know. I like my brown paint.
Percy: I've always been green. I wouldn't want to be any other colour, either.
Thomas: Well, well, anyway, blue is the only colour for a really useful engine. Everyone knows that.
[he leaves]
Narrator: Percy said no more. He just grinned at Toby.

Thomas: [watches the hopper load coal into Percy's trucks] Careful. Watch out with those silly trucks.
Trucks: Go on! Go on! Go on!
Thomas: And, by the way, those buffers don't look very safe to me.
[Percy accidentally hits said buffers, the last load of coal pours down on Thomas]
Thomas: Help! I'm choking! Get me out!
Narrator: Percy was worried but he couldn't help laughing. Thomas' smart blue paint was covered in coal dust from smokebox to bunker.
Percy: Ha! Ha! You don't look really useful now, Thomas. You look really disgraceful.
Thomas: I'm not disgraceful. You did that on purpose. Get me out!

Narrator: (Thomas is seen at the Works) It took so long to clean Thomas that he wasn't in time for his next train. (Toby arrives and buffers up) Toby had to take Annie and Clarabel.
Annie: (to Clarabel) Poor Thomas.

Narrator: Thomas was grumpy in the shed that night. Toby thought it a great joke but Percy was cross with Thomas for thinking he had made his paint dirty on purpose.
Percy: (insulting Thomas) Fancy, a really useful blue engine, like Thomas, becoming a disgrace to the Fat Controller's railway.

Narrator: It was time for Thomas to leave. He had seen everything.
Thomas: Now, Percy has learned his lesson too.

In Other Languages

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Language Title
Albanian Tomasi, Persi dhe qymyri
Brazilian Portuguese Confusão em dose dupla
Chinese Mandarin 托马斯培西和煤
Croatian Tomica, Pero i ugljen
Czech Tomáš, Percy a uhlí
Danish Thomas, Percy og kullene
Dutch Thomas, Percy en de kolen
Finnish Tuomas-Veturi, Pekka ja hiilet
French Thomas, Pierre et le charbon
German Chaos im Kohlenstaub
Greek Ο Τόμας, ο Τζέρι και το κάρβουνο
Hungarian Thomas, Percy és a szén
Italian Nera come il carbone
Japanese トーマスとパーシーとせきたん
Korean 석탄 속에 빠진 토마스와 퍼시
Latin American Spanish Doble problema
Norwegian Thomas, Percy og kullet
Polish Tomek, Piotrek i węgiel
Romanian Thomas, Percy și cărbunele
Romansh Tumasch, Parcival ed il charvun
Russian Черный, как вороново крыло
Serbian Tomas, Persi i ugalj
Slovenian Tomaž, Poldi in premog
Swedish Thomas, Percy och kollen
Thai โธมัสก็มอมแมม
Turkish Thomas, Percy ve kömür
Ukrainian Томас, Персі та вугілля
Welsh Tomos, Pyrsi a'r Glo

Merchandise

View content

Books

Magazine Story

Wooden Railway

Bath Toy

Puzzle

  • JaymarThomasTobyPuzzle Thomas and Toby (Jaymar puzzle)

Home Video Releases

UK

ThomasPercyandtheCoalVHS Thomas, Percy and the Coal and Other Stories (VHS)
TheBestofThomastheTankEngineandFriends The Best of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends
Thomas'Trainand17otherstories Thomas' Train and 17 Other Stories
Chases,Races,andRunaways Chases, Races and Runaways
TheCompleteSecondSeriesVHS The Complete Second Series
TruckloadsofFunSingleVHScover Truck Loads of Fun
ThomasVideoCollection Chad Valley Video
ThomasPercyandtheCoalDVDcover Thomas, Percy and the Coal (DVD)

UK VHS Pack/DVD Boxsets

TruckloadsofFun Truck Loads of Fun: Includes Free Sooty Video
ClassicCollectionSeasons1-5boxset Classic Collection
BumperPartyCollection&TruckLoadsOfFunDoublePack Bumper Party Collection! and Truck Loads of Fun Double Pack

WAL

TomosYTancVolume4Cover Major Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends Video

AUS

Thomas,PercyandtheCoalandOtherStories1988australiancover Thomas, Percy and the Coal and Other Stories
TruckloadsofFunAustallia Truckloads of Fun!
SeriesTwoAustralianDVD Series Two
Thomas&Friends2007DVD Thomas & Friends

AUS DVD Packs

60thAnniversaryLimitedEditionBoxsetcover Limited Edition Box Set
AustralianS1-5Collection Classic Collection: Series 1 - 5
EssentialCollectionFiveDiscCollection Essential Collection
TrainloadsofThomasFun Trainloads of Thomas Fun
CallingAllEngines!&TruckloadsofFun!AUS2DiscSet Calling All Engines! and Truckloads of Fun! 2 Disc Set
SeriesOneandTwoAustralianDoublePack Series One and Series Two Double Pack
CompleteSeries1-10 The Complete Series 1-10

NZ

SavedfromScrapandOtherStoriesNewZealandVHScover Saved from Scrap and Other Stories
Thomas,PercyandtheCoalNZcover Thomas, Percy and the Coal and Other Stories
BumperVideoCollectionVolume2Cover Bumper Video Collection Volume 2
TrainSetCompilation5tcover Thomas Train Set Compilation Video Volume 5

US

ThomasBreakstheRulesVHS Thomas Breaks the Rules and Other Stories (Ringo Starr's US dub)
ThomasComestoBreakfastandOtherThomasAdventures1998VHScover Thomas Comes to Breakfast
Thomas'UsefulStoriesVHScover Thomas' Useful Stories (Blockbuster-exclusive)
2ThomasAdventuresVHS Two Thomas Adventures
Thomas & Friends Volume 1
ThomasandFriendsClassicVolume2 Thomas & Friends Classic Volume 2

CAN

ThomasBreakstheRulesVHS Thomas Breaks the Rules and Other Stories (Ringo Starr's US dub)
ThomasComestoBreakfastandOtherThomasAdventures1998VHScover Thomas Comes to Breakfast (no narration on 1998 VHS)

US/CAN VHS/DVD Packs

SpecialVideoCollector'sSet Special Video Collector's Set
TotallyThomasVolume9 Totally Thomas Volume 9
AdventureOntheTracks Adventure on the Tracks

ZA

Bertie'sChase(VolumeThree)SouthAfricanVHScover Bertie's Chase (Volume Three)

IND

DowntheMineandOtherStories(IndianDVD) Down the Mine and Other Stories

MYS

Henry'sForestandotherThomasAdventures Henry's Forest and Other Thomas Adventures (VCD)
TendersandTurntablesandOtherAdventuresMalaysianDVDcover Tenders and Turntables and Other Adventures (DVD)

PHL

DowntheMineDVDcover Down the Mine

LATAM

TheVisitofThomasDVD Thomas' Visit

LATAM DVD Boxset

TheAdventuresofThomas(MexicanBoxset) The Adventures of Thomas

BRA

TheEarliestAdventuresofThomas The Earliest Adventures of Thomas

ITA

ADaringRescue A Daring Rescue

FRA

TheMagicofSodorVHScover The Magic of Sodor (VHS)
TheTalkativeTrains The Talkative Trains (DVD)

ROM

ThomasandtheGreatRunawaycover Thomas and the Great Runaway

ROM DVD Boxset

TriplePack1 Triple Pack 1

NL

DirtyObjectsDutchVHS Dirty Objects
Dubbeldik2frontcover Double Feature 2
TheGreatestStoriesTheAdventuresofPercyandGordoncover The Greatest Stories: The Adventures of Percy and Gordon

NL DVD Boxsets

2Volumes-110Minutes!DutchDVDboxsetcover 2 Volumes - 110 Minutes!
KidzBoxDutchDVDBoxsetcover Kidz Box
Thomasdoublebox3dutch 2 DVD Double Box: Dirty Objects + Misty Island Rescue

GER

TheChristmasPartyand4OtherAdventures The Christmas Party and 4 Other Adventures (Direct-to-VHS)
ThomasandhisFriendsVol.3VHSCover Thomas & Friends Volume 3
RailFreeforSteamandDieselDVDCover Rail Free for Steam and Diesel!

NOR/ICE

ThomastheTankEngine3NorwegianVHScover IcelandicThomas03 Thomas the Tank Engine 3

DK

TheRunawayTrainandOtherStories The Runaway Train and Other Stories

SWE

AFriendinNeedSwedishVHS A Friend in Need

FIN

ThomasandTrevorandOtherStoriesFinnishDVD Thomas and Trevor and Other Stories

SVN

Bertie'sRace(SlovenianDVD) Bertie's Chase

HRV

ThomasinTrouble(CroatianDVD) Thomas in Trouble

SRP

ThomastheTankEngine2SerbianDVD Thomas & Friends 2

GRC

The Infamous Thomas (VHS)
AWonderfulTripDVD A Wonderful Ride (DVD)

GRC DVD Boxset

3DVDBoxset1 3 DVD Boxset 1

TUR

It'sGoodtoBeaTrainTurkishVCDcover It's Good to Be a Train (VCD)
It'sGoodtoBeaTrainandFullSpeedAheadTurkishDVDcover It's Good to Be a Train and Full Speed Ahead (DVD)

THA

ThomasandFriendsVolume4ThaiDVDCover Thomas & Friends Volume 4

JPN

ThomastheTankEnginevol6(JapaneseVHS)originalcover Thomas the Tank Engine Volume 6
Thomas,PercyandtheCoal(JapaneseVHS)cover Thomas, Percy and the Coal (rental-exclusive)
The Complete Works of Thomas the Tank Engine 1 Vol.7 2000 DVD The Complete Works of Thomas the Tank Engine 1 Volume 7
CrashandSmash!LookOut! Crash and Smash! Look Out!

JPN DVD Boxset

ThomastheTankEngine(8DVDBoxSet)cover The Complete DVD Box 1

CHN

ThomasSeason1-4DVD Thomas & Friends Season 1-4

HK

Thomas&FriendsVolume3HongKongVCDcover Thomas & Friends Volume 3 (VCD)
ThomasandFriendsVolume6ThaiDVD Thomas & Friends Volume 6 (DVD)

Episode

References



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