Thomas & Friends series 2

Thomas & Friends series 2
DVD cover art
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	26
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	24 September (1986-09-24) – 17 December 1986 (1986-12-17)

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends is a children's television series about the engines and other characters working on the railways of the Island of Sodor, and is based on The Railway Series books written by the Reverend W. Awdry. It was produced by Clearwater Features Ltd. for Britt Allcroft (Thomas) Ltd.

This article lists and details episodes from the second series of the show, which was first broadcast in 1986. This series was initially narrated by Ringo Starr for the United Kingdom audiences, who later re-narrated 17 episodes for the United States on Shining Time Station in 1989. The entire series was narrated by George Carlin for US audiences.

Production

Stories

Christopher Awdry was commissioned to write a new Railway Series book as source material for the second series. Three stories from More About Thomas the Tank Engine provided additional roles for Bertie the Bus, Terence the Tractor, and Harold the Helicopter. The episodes "Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree" and "Thomas and Trevor" were both one-off stories written by Christopher. The following series would begin to use original stories by the production staff, with some of the remaining Railway Series stories deemed "repetitive and too 'story-book' orientated".

Filming

Early in production, a third episode based on The Twin Engines was due to be filmed, based largely on the story "The Missing Coach". This was originally to be the episode Donald and Douglas the Scottish twins were introduced in. It was thought that the model crew had gone as far as filming scenes on the Tidmouth Station set with Thomas arriving at the station, before Britt Allcroft decided the episode had too little action and its storyline would be too difficult to understand by younger viewers. Subsequently, the episode was cancelled and the story’s exposition was instead included in the episode adaptation of the story “Break Van”, which would instead serve as the twin engines’ introductory episode.

In August 2020, there was a leak on Twitter that showed that the crew had filmed virtually the whole episode, including and up to the scene where Donald and Douglas swap tenders to impersonate each other (the scene that made Allcroft deem the story too confusing to air on TV), and the audio is the only thing missing. Several promotional stills from the filming of The Missing Coach have surfaced in various Thomas publications over the years, while the series’ original director David Mitton was believed to be in possession of the original film footage.

Episodes

No. overall	No. in series	UK title (top) US title (bottom)	Directed by	Source	Original air date
27	1	"Thomas, Percy & the Coal" "Double Trouble"	David Mitton	More About Thomas the Tank Engine by Christopher Awdry	24 September 1986 (1986-09-24)
28	2	"Cows" "A Cow on the Line"	David Mitton	Edward the Blue Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	24 September 1986 (1986-09-24)
29	3	"Bertie's Chase"	David Mitton	Edward the Blue Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	1 October 1986 (1986-10-01)
30	4	"Saved From Scrap"	David Mitton	Edward the Blue Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	1 October 1986 (1986-10-01)
31	5	"Old Iron"	David Mitton	Edward the Blue Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	8 October 1986 (1986-10-08)
32	6	"Thomas & Trevor" "A New Friend for Thomas"	David Mitton	1987 Thomas Annual story by Christopher Awdry	8 October 1986 (1986-10-08)
33	7	"Percy & the Signal"	David Mitton	Percy the Small Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	15 October 1986 (1986-10-15)
34	8	"Duck Takes Charge"	David Mitton	Percy the Small Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	15 October 1986 (1986-10-15)
35	9	"Percy & Harold" "Percy Proves a Point"	David Mitton	Percy the Small Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	22 October 1986 (1986-10-22)
36	10	"The Runaway"	David Mitton	More About Thomas the Tank Engine by Christopher Awdry	22 October 1986 (1986-10-22)
37	11	"Percy Takes the Plunge"	David Mitton	The Eight Famous Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	29 October 1986 (1986-10-29)
38	12	"Pop Goes the Diesel"	David Mitton	Duck and the Diesel Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	29 October 1986 (1986-10-29)
39	13	"Dirty Work" "Diesel's Devious Deed"	David Mitton	Duck and the Diesel Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	5 November 1986 (1986-11-05)
40	14	"A Close Shave" "A Close Shave for Duck"	David Mitton	Duck and the Diesel Engine by Rev. W. Awdry	5 November 1986 (1986-11-05)
41	15	"Better Late Than Never"	David Mitton	More About Thomas the Tank Engine by Christopher Awdry	12 November 1986 (1986-11-12)
42	16	"Break Van" "Donald and Douglas"	David Mitton	The Twin Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	12 November 1986 (1986-11-12)
43	17	"The Deputation"	David Mitton	The Twin Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	19 November 1986 (1986-11-19)
44	18	"Thomas Comes to Breakfast"	David Mitton	Branch Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	19 November 1986 (1986-11-19)
45	19	"Daisy"	David Mitton	Branch Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	26 November 1986 (1986-11-26)
46	20	"Percy's Predicament"	David Mitton	Branch Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	26 November 1986 (1986-11-26)
47	21	"The Diseasel"	David Mitton	Main Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	3 December 1986 (1986-12-03)
48	22	"Wrong Road"	David Mitton	Main Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	3 December 1986 (1986-12-03)
49	23	"Edward's Exploit"	David Mitton	Main Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	10 December 1986 (1986-12-10)
50	24	"Ghost Train" "Percy's Ghostly Trick"	David Mitton	Tramway Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	10 December 1986 (1986-12-10)
51	25	"Woolly Bear"	David Mitton	Tramway Engines by Rev. W. Awdry	17 December 1986 (1986-12-17)
52	26	"Thomas & the Missing Christmas Tree"	David Mitton	Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree by Christopher Awdry	17 December 1986 (1986-12-17)

Characters

Introduced

• Bluebell the Cow ("Cows")
• Trevor the Traction Engine ("Saved from Scrap")
• The Vicar of Wellsworth ("Saved from Scrap")
• Jem Cole ("Saved from Scrap")
• Duck the Great Western Engine ("Duck Takes Charge")
• Harold the Helicopter ("Percy & Harold")
• Devious Diesel ("Pop Goes the Diesel")
• Donald and Douglas the Scottish Twins ("Break Van")
• The Spiteful Brakevan ("Break Van")
• Daisy the Diesel Railcar ("Daisy")
• Bill and Ben the Tank Engine Twins ("Percy Takes the Plunge" (not named yet) / "The Diseasel")
• BoCo the Diesel Engine ("The Diseasel")

Recurring cast

• Thomas
• Edward
• Henry
• Gordon
• James
• Percy
• Toby
• Bertie
• Terence
• Henrietta
• Annie and Clarabel
• Troublesome Trucks
• Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller