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"No one understands our feelings. Now, if you were ill, you couldn't shunt trucks, could you?"
"Good idea! I'll try it!"
― Gordon encouraging Sir Handel to feign illness

Trucks, retitled Rusty Helps Peter Sam on one North American release, is the eighth episode of the fourth series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book The Little Old Engine.

Plot

While returning from a daily inspection, Harold the Helicopter spots a little diesel coming around the mountain. The diesel is named Rusty and he has come to help on the Skarloey Railway. Despite Harold's friendliness, Rusty has little time to chat and regards Harold as being cheeky.

Peter Sam and Sir Handel are glad to see Rusty but Sir Handel remains his usual grumpy self. He often bumps his trucks regardless of their behaviour, so they relentlessly play tricks on him. This makes him dislike working with them. One day, Gordon advises Sir Handel to pretend to be ill in order to avoid shunting trucks. Sir Handel thinks this is a great idea and feigns illness the next day. With no time to examine him, Peter Sam and Rusty are each allocated a share of Sir Handel's trucks. Peter Sam, however, does not mind the extra work.

The two engines take the trucks to the slate quarry and the incline. At the incline, trucks are connected to a winch that, using the trucks' weight, brings up empty trucks while sending loaded ones down a steep hill. Once they reach the top, the empty trucks are loaded with slate tiles and sent down the slope, repeating the cycle. Peter Sam, who never bumps trucks unless they misbehave, waits for his loaded trucks at the bottom of the hill. But the loaded trucks at the top of the hill mistake him for Sir Handel and, despite the empty trucks' warning, break their coupling, hurtle down the slope and crash head-on into Peter Sam, causing severe damage to his front, boiler and funnel. One truck also breaks an overhead water channel, drenching Peter Sam with water. Rusty helps Peter Sam out of the wreckage and the little green engine limps sadly back to the shed.

Sir Handel apologises for the accident, telling Peter Sam that he always stands well back because the trucks dislike him but Peter Sam asks him why he did not forewarn him. Sir Handel admits that he did not think about warning Peter Sam. Since Peter Sam cannot work while he is being repaired, the Fat Controller tells Sir Handel that he must do Peter Sam's work along with his own, a fitting consequence for his malingering. Sir Handel is left planning what he might say to Gordon.

After the mess has been cleared away, Rusty heads back home, spotting Harold again. This time, Rusty mimics Harold's words from their previous meeting and the two part ways amicably.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • This episode marks:
  • In the original UK dub, some lines are indicated that they were later re-dubbed or moved in later:
    • In the scene of Rusty arriving at the scene of the accident, Rusty's lines "Bust my Buffers!" and "Never mind, Peter Sam, we'll get you out" respectively are heard earlier.
    • The lines in the last scene of Harold and Rusty meeting each other again were redone.
  • A model of a bulldozer from Tugs can be seen at Skarloey Slate Quarry.
  • In the original UK dub and US dub, the music is omitted at the incline when the trucks crash into Peter Sam. However, in all later UK and international dubs, music is included during this scene.

Goofs

  • When this episode was released on the official "Thomas & Friends Classics 🚂 Train Tales" YouTube channel, the episode is incorrectly titled "Rusty Helps Peter and Sam".
  • Rheneas appears in the opening shot, even though he is supposed to be at the Works. Additionally, he also has Duke's original whistle.
  • When Harold speaks to Rusty, his battery latch is visible underneath him.
  • When Rusty's driver says, "Not long now," the top of Rusty's engine is off-screen when it should be in front of the cylinder above Rusty's number and thus should have been on-screen.
  • When Sir Handel shunts trucks, the audio is noticeably out of sync.
  • When the narrator says, "He did so next morning," Percy quickly passes the little engines. In the next shot, however, he can be seen passing them again in the same direction.
  • When Peter Sam backs his coaches onto Sir Handel's trucks, his front coach has a face but, when he leaves his coaches at the station, its face disappears.
  • As Peter Sam puffs away with the trucks and coaches, a small piece of hair can be seen by his wheels and he has Skarloey's whistle sound.
  • When the rope is connected to the empty trucks, it becomes taut like it is being pulled. But in the next scene, the trucks at the top of the slope are stationary.
  • Before the crash with Peter Sam, three trucks are shown rolling down from the incline but, during the crash, there is a fourth truck that hits the water channel that was not with the trucks originally. This truck is also not carrying slate and fades away when the water gushes out indicating a film cut.
  • In the shot of the empty trucks going up the incline, there is a truck right besides Peter Sam but, in the shot of Peter Sam shutting his eyes before the crash, the truck is behind him, still on the other track.
  • During the crash sequence, the first shot shows a piece of slate land on the water canal but in the next shot when the second lot of trucks hit, the piece of slate is gone.
  • The trucks' faces are missing when they crash into Peter Sam.
  • Before Peter Sam is pulled out of the wreckage (which is not shown), his funnel is not cracked like it is later.
  • When Peter Sam is at the shed after his accident and the workmen are examining him, Sir Handel is tilted to the left because one of the workmen has his foot lodged underneath Sir Handel.
  • When Sir Handel says, "I didn't think," his left eye sticks and drops back into his head.
  • The Korean title of this episode is "헨리 경의 꾀병" (Henli Gyeong-ui Kkoebyeong), likely confusing the name Handel with Henry. 헨델 경의 꾀병 (Hendel Gyeong-ui Kkoebyeong) would be the correct title.

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Albanian Vagonat
Brazilian Portuguese A mentira tem pernas curtas
Chinese Mandarin 货车厢
Danish Busvogne
Dutch Goederenwagons
Finnish Tavaravaunut
German Keine Lust auf Arbeit
Greek Τα βαγόνια του ορυχείου
Hungarian A haszontalan tehervagonok
Italian Carri!
Japanese サー・ハンデルのけびょう
Korean 헨리 경의 꾀병
Latin American Spanish Furgones
Norwegian Gruvearbeid
Polish Wagony
Romanian Vagoane de marfă
Russian Платформы!
Slovenian Tovorni vagoni
Swedish Godsvagnar
Thai รถบรรทุกก่อเรื่อง
Ukrainian Платформи
Welsh Tryciau

Home Video Releases

United Kingdom UK

Rock'n'Rollandotherstories Rock 'n' Roll and Other Stories (direct-to-VHS, original dub)
BiggestPartyVideoEver!VHS Biggest Party Video Ever!
TheCompleteFourthSeriesVHS The Complete Fourth Series

United Kingdom UK DVD Boxset

ClassicCollectionSeasons1-5boxset Classic Collection

Wales WAL

ThomastheTankEngineBumperSpecial2cover Thomas the Tank Engine: Bumper Special 2

Australia AUS

RocknRollandotherStoriesAUS Rock 'n' Roll and Other Stories (direct-to-VHS)
TheCompleteFourthSeriesAustralianDVD Series Four

Australia AUS DVD Packs

AustralianS1-5Collection Classic Collection: Series 1 - 5
SeriesThreeandFourAustralianDoublePack Series Three and Series Four 2-Disc Collection
CompleteSeries1-10 The Complete Series 1-10

New Zealand NZ

RockNRollNZCover Rock 'n' Roll and Other Stories

USA US

RustytotheRescueandOtherThomasStories1995FrontCover Rusty to the Rescue and Other Thomas Stories (direct-to-VHS)
ThomasTracksideTunesVHS Thomas' Trackside Tunes and Other Thomas Adventures
Thomas'MagicalMusicalRide Thomas' Magical Musical Ride (Blockbuster-exclusive)
ThomasandFriendsClassicVolume4 Thomas & Friends Classic Volume 4

Canada CAN

RustytotheRescueandOtherThomasStories1995FrontCover Rusty to the Rescue and Other Thomas Stories (direct-to-VHS)
ThomasTracksideTunesVHS Thomas' Trackside Tunes and Other Thomas Adventures

USA Canada US/CAN DVD Packs

TracksideTunesandThomasandHisFriendsHelpOutDoubleFeature Trackside Tunes/Thomas and His Friends Help Out Double Feature
AdventureOntheTracks Adventure on the Tracks

South Africa ZA

BulldogSouthAfricanVHScover Bulldog (Volume Seven)

India IND

TrucksandOtherStories Trucks and Other Stories

Malaysia MYS

PeterSamandtheRefreshmentLadyandOtherThomasAdventures Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady and Other Thomas Adventures (Volume 15) (VCD)
PeterSamandtheRefreshmentLadyandotherAdventures Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady and Other Adventures (DVD)

Philippines PHL

Rock'n'RollPhilippineDVDcover Rock n' Roll

Italy ITA

TheSleepingBeauty Sleeping Beauty

Netherlands NL

Rock'nRoll2006frontcover Rock 'n Roll
Dubbeldik4frontcover Double Feature 4
TheGreatestStoriesTheAdventuresofThomascover The Greatest Stories: The Adventures of Thomas

Germany GER

NotintheMoodforWorkand4OtherAdventures Not in the Mood for Work and 4 Other Adventures
ThomasandHisFriendsVol.7VHSCover Thomas & Friends Volume 7

Norway NOR

OnNewAdventuresNorwegianVHS On New Adventures

Denmark DK

FourSmallLocomotivesandOtherStoriesDanishVHScover Four Small Locomotives and Other Stories

Sweden SWE

RockNRollSwedishVHSCover+BackCover Rock 'n' Roll (VHS)
Thomas,PercyandtheDragonSwedishDVD Thomas, Percy and the Dragon and Rock 'n' Roll (DVD)

Finland FIN

Rock'n'RollLocomotiveFinnishVHS Rock 'n' Roll Locomotive

Slovenia SVN

GranpuffSlovenianDVDcover Granpuff

Greece GRC

ReadyforDepartureGreekVHScover Ready for Departure (VHS)
AdventuresattheRailwayStation2005GreekDVDcover Adventures at the Railway Station (DVD)

Greece GRC DVD Boxset

3DVDBoxset2 3 DVD Boxset 2

Thailand THA

Japan JPN

NewThomasTheTankEngineVol5VHSFrontCover New Thomas the Tank Engine Volume 5: Thomas and Stepney (direct-to-VHS)
TheCompleteWorksofThomastheTankEngine2Vol5cover The Complete Works of Thomas the Tank Engine 2 Volume 5: I Understand! Lessons Edition
ThomasandtheMountainRailwayEngines Thomas and the Mountain Railway Engines

South Korea KOR

Thomas&FriendsVolume3(Korean) Thomas & Friends Volume 3
TheStoriesThatFosterResponsibilityEnglishVHSCover Thomas Comes to Breakfast and Other Stories (English)
TheStoriesThatFosterResponsibilityDVDCover Stories that Teach Responsibility

China CHN

ThomasSeason1-4DVD Thomas & Friends Season 1-4

Hong Kong HK

NoImagePlaceholder Thomas & Friends Volume 9 (VCD)
ThomasandFriendsVolume3ThaiDVD Thomas & Friends Volume 3 (DVD)

Taiwan TWN

Thomas&FriendsVolume1TaiwaneseDVD Thomas & Friends Volume 1

Episode

Reference



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