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For other uses, see Off the Rails (disambiguation).
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“Aren't jammed whistles and burst safety valves accidents?"
"No indeed! High spirits! Might happen to any engine! But to come off the rails like Henry did? Well, I ask you, is it right? Is it decent?”
― Percy and Gordon

Off the Rails, retitled Gordon Takes a Dip on some American releases, is the twenty-fourth episode of the first series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Gordon the Big Engine.

Plot

One Monday morning, Gordon is resting in a siding while noting to himself that being an important engine can sometimes be very tiring. Henry suddenly pulls up, rudely waking Gordon with his whistle and calling him names. Gordon is very cross, believing that an engine like him, who has never had an accident, should be respected. After Percy comes and asks Gordon if jammed whistles and burst safety valves count as accidents, Gordon replies that those things could happen to any engine, unlike Henry who came off the rails.

It is Henry's turn to take the Express and, as he prepares to leave, Gordon reminds him about his accident with the Flying Kipper and to keep on the rails, much to Henry's annoyance. After Henry leaves, Gordon tries to go back to sleep, but his driver tells him that they have to pull a special train. Gordon is completely uninterested when he learns it is trucks, as he would rather take coaches.

OfftheRails27

"You're stuck, you silly great engine. Don't you understand that?"

Gordon's fire is slow to burn at first, so Edward pushes him to the turntable to be turned around. Gordon complains the whole way and Edward rebukes him. The movement shakes Gordon's fire, causing it to burn nicely and make steam. As the turntable rotates, Gordon is so cross that he is willing to do anything to get out of taking the special, regardless of the consequences. When the table is halfway round, he moves forward in an attempt to jam it but he cannot stop himself and slides down some some old and unused rails into a marshy ditch. Gordon is horrified and shouts for someone to get him out, but his crew sternly refuse, telling him that he is stuck.

OfftheRails30

"So Gordon didn't want to take the special train and ran into a ditch? What's that you say? The special's waiting? Tell Edward to take it please. And Gordon? Oh, leave him where he is. We haven't time to bother with him now."

The Fat Controller receives a phone call from Gordon's crew, who tell him all that has happened. Seeing Gordon from his office window, he arranges for Edward to take the special train instead and tells the crew to leave Gordon where he is for the time being. Meanwhile, a group of schoolboys notice Gordon's predicament and tease him with a rhyme, leaving him humiliated.

Gordon remains in the ditch until late at night when a rescue team arrives. After getting his tender out of the way and preparing a road of sleepers to keep his wheels out of the mud, strong cables are hooked up to his back end and he is pulled back onto the rails by James and Henry. Afterwards, a filthy and disgraced Gordon crawls back into the shed, sadder yet wiser after this experience.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

OfftheRails28

Ringo Starr: "At the station, Thomas' driver told the Fat Controller what had happened. 'Dangerous to the public indeed!? We'll see about that!' The Fat Controller spoke to the policeman. But however much he argued with him, it was no good. 'The law is the law,' he said, 'and we can't change it.' The Fat Controller felt exhausted. 'I'm sorry my dear,' he said to his wife, 'but Thomas is in trouble with the police and I must go at once.' At the station, Thomas' driver told the Fat Controller what had happened. 'Dangerous to the public indeed!? We'll see about that!' The Fat Controller spoke to the policeman. But however much he argued with him, it was no good. 'The law is the law,' he said, 'and we-'"

  • During the scene where the Fat Controller is talking on the phone, the phone chatter heard on the other end is actually sped-up dialogue from Thomas in Trouble.
  • According to the boys' song, the events of this episode take place on a Monday.
  • A scrap model of Thomas can be seen beside the ditch. According to Twitter user ThomasFan100, when the series was originally planned, early test shoots used O Gauge models with PECO tracks. It is highly likely that this is the scrapped O Gauge model of Thomas, along with the Lower Tidmouth set seen in this episode, were originally made for that test.
  • When Gordon is shown being lifted from the ditch, an engine's lights can be seen passing to the left; this is the unspecified Märklin engine.
  • In George Carlin's dub, the boys' song "Silly Old Gordon Fell in a Ditch" has the same tune as the Mother Goose rhyme "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush." The song is sung in the same way in the Railway Stories audio version of the original book was narrated by Johnny Morris.
  • In the US, this episode aired before Whistles and Sneezes, so American viewers would not understand the "jammed whistles" line until George Carlin narrated the aforementioned episode in 1991.
  • On its original 1985 UK broadcast, this episode was paired up with Down the Mine. However, original UK VHS releases had it paired up with the previous episode, as do original Norwegian and Swedish broadcasts.
  • This episode was never released on home video in South Korea.
  • This episode marks the last appearance of three things:
    • Knapford Sheds' last appearance until the seventh series episode Something Fishy, not counting the stock footage appearance in the fourth series episode Paint Pots and Queens.
    • Knapford Sheds' last appearance in its original roundhouse design.
    • The last appearance of Gordon's original sleeping face, he would later get a new sleeping face mask in future seasons.

Goofs

  • In the opening scene, Gordon's front bogie wheels are misaligned, his buffers are crooked, and a thread is visible beneath on the tracks.
  • Throughout the episode Gordon has several problems with his eyes:
    • They are very misaligned.
    • They jolt several times when he talks to his driver about the special train.
    • His right eye (viewers' left) slightly pops out of his face before he starts moving on the turntable.
    • His left eye (viewers' right) has a little divot.
  • In the close-up of Percy, his coupling chain is up but in the next shot it is suddenly dangling downwards.
  • When Henry pulls up to Gordon with his goods train, Gordon's right trailing wheel is derailed.
  • Henry's top feed is in the wrong place.
  • When Percy puffed up next to Gordon, the former's face is rather misaligned and the latter's tender is also derailed.
  • When Henry is getting ready to take the Express, Gordon's driver has Blu Tack on his feet.
  • Despite being stated that Gordon was out of steam, he somehow changes position from his siding to the Knapford goods platform before Henry leaves with the express.
  • When Henry leaves with the express, there is a random piece of track that leads to nowhere.
  • When Gordon says "Trucks? Puh!", a piece of hair is visible by his right eye.
  • When Edward is pushing Gordon to the turntable, there is steam coming out of his funnel, even though it is said that his fire was slow to start.
  • In the close-up of Gordon on the turntable, a large gap is visible through his left eye.
  • When Gordon falls into the ditch, wires connecting his tender to his cab are visible.
  • Due to portions of the script being taken verbatim from the original book, the narrator says that James and Henry pulled Gordon out of the ditch but only James can be seen.
    • In the long shots of James during Gordon's rescue, he has the rescue cable that Gordon uses in Percy Runs Away and Down the Mine attached to his middle lamp iron but, in the close-up, he has a chain attached to his front coupling hook instead.
  • In the close-up shot of James pulling Gordon out of the ditch, his driving wheels are not moving.
  • When Gordon is being pulled out of the ditch, his buffer beam hits a wooden post.
  • In George Carlin's dub, Percy says "burnt" instead of "burst".
  • 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.

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Albanian Jashtë shinavë
Brazilian Portuguese Gordon, o sabotador
Chinese Mandarin 脱轨
Croatian Izvan tračnica
Czech Mimo koleje
Danish Den store afsporing
Dutch Van de rails af
Finnish Kiskot putoaminen
French Le déraillement
German Entgleist
Greek Ο εκτροχιασμός
Hebrew מחוץ למסילה
Hungarian A vonatsilkás
Italian La locomotiva brontolona
Japanese ゴードンみぞにはまる
Korean 도랑에 빠진 고든
Latin American Spanish El plan de Gordon
Norwegian Ut av sporet
Polish Wypadek (Original)
Wykolejenie (Alternate)
Romanian Pe langă linie
Romansh Gordi fa il bogn
Russian Падение Гордона (Original)
Крушение поезда (Alternate)
Serbian Van šina
Slovak Mimo koľaj
Slovenian Gorazd iztiri
Swedish Ur spår
Ukrainian Зійшов з рейок
Welsh Cadw ar y Cledrau

Merchandise

Home Video Releases

UK

UK VHS/DVD Packs

WAL

US

CAN

  • Better Late than Never and Other Stories (Ringo Starr's US dub)
  • Thomas Comes to Breakfast and Other Thomas Adventures (No narration on 1998 VHS)
  • Best of Gordon
  • The Early Years (UK dub)

US/CAN DVD Packs

AUS

AUS DVD Packs

NZ

ZA

IND

MYS

PHL

LATAM

LATAM DVD Boxset

BRA

ITA

FRA

ROM

ROM DVD Pack

NL

NL DVD Pack

GER

NOR

DK

SWE

FIN

ICE

  • Thomas the Tank Engine 3

SVN

HRV

SRP

GRC

GRC DVD Boxset

TUR

  • Brave Hero (VCD)
  • Brave Hero and Hello Thomas (DVD)

THA

JPN

JPN VHS/DVD Boxsets

CHN

HK

Episode


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