Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
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This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the German VHS, the Scandinavian VHS/DVD, the Slovenian VHS/DVD, the Croatian DVD, the Ladybird book or the magazine story.
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Thomas and the Guard, retitled Thomas and the Conductor on North American releases, is the eleventh episode of the first series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Tank Engine Thomas Again.

Plot

Thomas the Tank Engine is very proud of his branch line and considers it the most important part of the whole railway. His two coaches, Annie and Clarabel, agree with him. Thomas loves his coaches very much, even though they are old and need new paint. When taking trains, both can take passengers, while Clarabel can also take their luggage and a guard. Thomas and his coaches often sing to each other on their journeys. Annie and Clarabel know how important pleasing the Fat Controller is to Thomas and they know too that, if Thomas gets cross, he is not cross with them.

One day, Thomas waits impatiently at Elsbridge for Henry's train. It is coming from the Loop Line but it is late again, which angers him greatly. Eventually, Henry feebly arrives, complaining that his system is out of order. However, Thomas is unsympathetic and assumes that Henry's problem is his own laziness. Desperate to leave, Thomas starts as soon as the guard blows the whistle, leaving the guard behind on the platform. The guard waves his red flag but it is no use as Thomas is already hurrying out of the station.

As usual, Thomas sings to his coaches but Clarabel will not sing as she is upset that her guard has been left behind. Annie is upset as well and tries to tell Thomas that the guard is missing but he is in too much of a hurry to listen. The two coaches try to apply their brakes but they cannot without the guard. Eventually, Thomas stops when he reaches a red signal and he and his crew wait for the guard to tell them what the problem is. However, he has been left behind which only Annie and Clarabel know and they finally tell Thomas once he asks.

Clarabel and the passengers soon notice the guard running down on the tracks as fast as he can. When he reaches the train, he drinks milk to cool down because he is very hot and then tells everyone what happened. Thomas apologises for the incident and, even though it was not his fault, the guard accepts the apology, pointing out that the signal has dropped. Then, Thomas and his coaches proceed with the trip. With Annie and Clarabel's guard back on board, they feel much better and Thomas manages to reach the end of the line quicker than ever before.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • Pre-filmed footage from the next episode and Thomas and Bertie, stock footage from Thomas and the Breakdown Train, a deleted scene from James and the Coaches, mirrored stock footage from Thomas' Train and deleted opening footage from the opening sequence is used.
  • A promotional image shows Thomas with his scared face which would make an appearance in Thomas Goes Fishing.
  • The shots of Thomas passing under the bridge before entering the tunnel and arriving at Ffarquhar station were used for the original opening credits.
  • This is the first episode of three things:
    • The first episode where the outro music is not heard during the ending.
    • The first episode in which James does not appear.
    • The first to be introduced individually by Rod Hull and Emu on 2 December 1985.
  • This is the only episode adapted from Tank Engine Thomas Again not to have a song based on it.
  • This episode was never released on home video in South Korea.

Goofs

  • In the opening shot and towards the end of the restored version, studio equipment is visible in the top-left corner.
  • In many scenes, Annie and Clarabel are facing the wrong way.
  • In some close-ups of Thomas, Annie and Clarabel are not behind him.
  • When Henry puffs into the junction, his brake coach is facing the wrong way.
  • Thomas' eyes are a little misaligned when telling Henry he needs exercise.
  • When Thomas says "Bother that signal! What's the matter?" the background is different showing a set of buffers, but previously, there were just bushes. This can be identified more in a deleted alternate scene which had Thomas facing the signal from the opposite direction.
  • In the close-up of the guard waving his red flag, Henry and his train are not in the background.
  • In the close-up of Thomas' driver, his cap's brim is broken.
  • In the first close-up of Thomas' whistle, the hill beside him is gone. The same thing also happens in the close-ups of the guard.
  • The guard only has his red flag when he is said to have had two flags.
  • The guard's facial hair changes from having a full beard to being clean shaven between scenes. On the platform, he is clean shaven, after catching up to the train, he has a moustache and when talking to Thomas, he has a full beard.
  • Annie is still sad when the guard catches up to Thomas.
  • Some of the figurines have Blu Tack beneath their feet.
  • Before the episode ends, a camera connector is on Thomas' front coupling rod.
  • As Thomas, Annie and Clarabel enter the tunnel, camera equipment can be seen in the top-left corner and Bertie can also be seen for a split second. This is due to the shot being pre-filmed footage from Thomas and Bertie.

In Other Languages

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Language Title
Brazilian Portuguese Thomas e seu condutor
Chinese Mandarin 托马斯和车长
Croatian Tomica i kočničar
Czech Tomáš a průvodčí
Danish Thomas og vagten
Dutch Thomas en de conducteur
Finnish Tuomas-veturi ja junailija
French Thomas et le chef de train
German Thomas und der Schaffner
Greek Ο Τόμας και ο φύλακας
Hebrew תומס והשומר
Hungarian Thomas és a kísérő
Icelandic Tommi og vörðurinn
Italian Thomas e il capotreno
Japanese とりのこされたしゃしょう
Korean 토마스와 차장 아저씨
Latin American Spanish Thomas y el conductor
Norwegian Thomas og konduktøren
Polish Tomek i konduktor
Romanian Thomas şi conductorul
Russian Томас и проводник
Serbian Tomas i redar
Slovak Thomas a sprievodca
Slovenian Tomaž in sprevodnik
Swedish Thomas och konduktören
Turkish Thomas ve Kondüktör
Welsh Tomos a'r Giard

Merchandise

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Books

Name Published Publisher Highlights Photo
The Sad Story of Henry and Thomas's Train and Thomas and the Guard 1988 Ladybird Books
TheSadStoryofHenry,Thomas'sTrainandThomasandtheGuard(LadybirdBook)
Annie and Clarabel 2006 Egmont
MyThomasStoryLibraryAnnieandClarabel

Home Video Releases

UK

UK VHS/DVD Boxsets

WAL

  • Troublesome Trucks and 8 Other Stories

US

CAN

  • James Learns a Lesson and Other Stories (Ringo Starr's US dub)
  • The Early Years (UK dub)

US/CAN VHS/DVD Packs

AUS

AUS DVD Packs

NZ

ZA

IND

MYS

PHL

ITA

FRA

ROM

ROM DVD Pack

NL

NL DVD Boxsets

GER

NOR

DK

SWE

FIN

  • Thomas and the Guard

ICE

  • Thomas the Tank Engine 1

SVN

HRV

SRP

GRC

GRC DVD Boxset

TUR

THA

JPN

JPN DVD Boxset

CHN

HK

Episode

References



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