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Thomas & Friends (series 17) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Thomas & Friends
ThomasFriends season 17 DVD cover.jpg
Official cover art for the series 17 DVD
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 26
Release
Original network Channel 5 (Ep. 1 - 20)
Direct-to-video (Ep. 21 - 26)
Original release 3 June 2013 (2013-06-03) – 4 January 2014 (2014-01-04)
List of Thomas & Friends episodes

Thomas & 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.

This article lists and details episodes from the seventeenth series of the show, which was first broadcast from 2013 to 2014. This series was also the first to be narrated by Mark Moraghan for the United Kingdom and United States audiences.

Note: Episodes 1–20 were first broadcast in the United Kingdom in 2013 by Channel 5 (20 single episodes). Episodes 21–24 were first broadcast in the United Kingdom in July 2014 by Nick Jr. (UK), in 2 two-episode programs. Episodes 25 and 26 were first broadcast in the UK on 21 November 2014 by Nick Jr. Too (formerly Nick Jr. 2), in a two-episode program. This was also the first series to be produced by Arc Productions.

Production

During production of the sixteenth series, Sharon Miller stepped down as head writer, and Andrew Brenner, formerly head writer for Fireman Sam, was appointed as her successor. Brenner already had a previous history with the brand, having adapted the first two series and subsequently written several original stories for the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends magazine, published by Marvel Comics from 1987 until the early 1990s. Many of his stories were later adapted by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton for the third series (plus a further one for the fifth) without his knowledge or consent.

This also marked the first series since the fifth to include a railway consultant as part of the production team, with Sam Wilkinson in the role.

The CGI animation for this series was provided by Arc Productions, who took over from Nitrogen Studios following completion of Series 16 and Blue Mountain Mystery in 2012.

In April 2013, Lionsgate released the DVD "Railway Mischief", which featured five episodes from the new series (episodes 4, 1, 2, 3 & 6) months before they were broadcast on television. The DVD was available exclusively at Walmart.

Episodes

No.
overall		 No. in
series		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date TV Order
389 1 "Scruff's Makeover" David Baas Lee Pressman 3 June 2013 (2013-06-03) 1001a
When being sent to be cleaned and repainted, Scruff does not want to work at the waste dump with Whiff because he does not want to get dirty again.
390 2 TBA David Baas Lee Pressman 4 June 2013 (2013-06-04) 1001b
After
391 3 "Wayward Winston" David Baas Lee Pressman 5 June 2013 (2013-06-05) 1002a
After the Fat Controller forgets to put Winston's brake on, Winston begins to roll away down the line without a driver. He enjoys it at first, but he soon realizes why he needs to have a driver.
392 4 "Gordon Runs Dry" David Baas Andrew Brenner 6 June 2013 (2013-06-06) 1002b
When Gordon leaves with the express down the mainline he almost runs into Paxton who is taking stone from the Blue Mountain Quarry and a stone hits Gordon's boiler and it begins to leak and Gordon has to stop at almost every water tower.
393 5 "Calm Down Caitlin" David Baas Davey Moore 7 June 2013 (2013-06-07) 1003a
Caitlin spends a night on Sodor while the bridge that connects the island with the Mainland is being repaired. She gets to take Percy's post train, but forgets to be quiet at night because she is excited, and by morning the sunlight of the sights of the Island make her even more excited. By the time she is back at Tidmouth Sheds she is very tired.
394 6 "Steamie Stafford" David Baas Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 10 June 2013 (2013-06-10) 1003b
Upset that he does not make much noise being an electric engine, Stafford starts imitating a steam engine. With Thomas and his friends, they teach Stafford some common steam engine sounds, which he then uses himself while he is driving along the track. But in the end, he finds himself good enough as well of being an electric engine after all.
395 7 "Henry's Hero" David Baas Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 11 June 2013 (2013-06-11) 1004a
Henry and Hiro take on some bad coal and start puffing black smoke. Hiro must figure out how to deliver the loads while Henry waits for new coal in the shed.
396 8 "Luke's New Friend" David Baas Davey Moore 12 June 2013 (2013-06-12) 1004b
Up at the Blue Mountain Quarry, Luke finds a scared young deer, so he tries to get the other engines to work quietly. However, that is not an easy thing to do.
397 9 "The Switch" David Baas Davey Moore 13 June 2013 (2013-06-13) 1005a
When Luke is sent to Ulfstead Castle to deliver stone, he meets Millie, the Earl's private narrow gauge engine. They decide to switch jobs for the day.
398 10 "Not Now, Charlie!" David Baas Davey Moore 14 June 2013 (2013-06-14) 1005b
Charlie is a small purple engine who likes to tell jokes. One day Charlie discovers an elephant on the line and tries to alert the other engines.
399 11 "The Lost Puff" David Baas Davey Moore 30 September 2013 (2013-09-30) 1006a
When Paxton the diesel overhears Toby saying that Thomas has lost his puff, he misunderstands and heads off across the Island of Sodor to look for it!
400 12 "The Thomas Way" David Baas Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 1 October 2013 (2013-10-01) 1006b

Thomas and Duck must learn how to work together when they help Harold after he breaks down near Callan Castle. Thomas first tricks Duck with that they need to pick up the engineer at Knapford, but his true intention is for Harold to see Knapford from the ground. After Duck has been tricked, he does not listen to Thomas, and causes another near disaster which makes Sir Topham Hatt very cross. After that, Duck thinks that there might be 3 ways of doing things: the Great Western way, the wrong way and the Thomas way.

  • This is the 400th episode of the series.
401 13 "The Phantom Express" David Baas Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 2 October 2013 (2013-10-02) 1007a
On a foggy night, James ends up causing Percy, Stephen, and himself to have an accident when they get stranded at Ulfstead Castle.
402 14 "Percy's Lucky Day" David Baas Davey Moore 3 October 2013 (2013-10-03) 1007b
A couple of mishaps involving a torn sack of mail and some cargo on the line from Bill and Ben make Percy feel that he is unlucky, so Stephen lends Percy a lucky charm to get him back on the right track, but he loses it. Percy was lucky without his lucky charm, even when he helped Bill and Ben back on the line again.
403 15 "Bill or Ben?" David Baas Andrew Brenner 4 October 2013 (2013-10-04) 1008a
A new engine called Connor arrives on Sodor, but when Bill and Ben see him for the first time they decide to play a trick on him by challenging him to a race.
404 16 "Too Many Fire Engines" David Baas Andrew Brenner 4 November 2013 (2013-11-04) 1008b
When a team of railway inspectors come to the Island of Sodor, they question whether the Fat Controller needs two fire engines. This causes concern for Sodor's fire fighting team, Flynn and Belle.
405 17 "No Snow for Thomas" David Baas Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 6 November 2013 (2013-11-06) 1009a
Thomas hides his snow plow because he thinks he does not need it. But he soon pays the price when he ends up stranded with Emily, the Fat Controller, Annie and Clarabel during a snowstorm.
406 18 "Santa's Little Engine" David Baas Andrew Brenner 1 December 2013 (2013-12-01) 1009b
Thomas is sent to bring a sleigh for Sir Topham Hatt to use when he plays Santa at the Ulfstead Castle Christmas Fair. When the sleigh accidentally slips down the hill, Thomas must rescue the sleigh with the Fat Controller in it!
407 19 "The Missing Christmas Decorations" David Baas Andrew Brenner 26 December 2013 (2013-12-26) 1010a
It's Christmas on the Island of Sodor and the diesels feel left out without any Christmas decorations, so Diesel decides to get some decorations from the steam engines at Tidmouth Sheds.
408 20 "The Frozen Turntable" David Baas Andrew Brenner 22 December 2013 (2013-12-22) 1010b
One cold evening the steam engines return to Tidmouth Sheds to discover that the turntable is frozen stuck, so the engines cannot reach their individual berths.
409 21 "Away from the Sea" David Baas Andrew Brenner 23 December 2013 (2013-12-23) 1011a

When Salty the dockside diesel develops engine troubles he worries he will be sent away from the docks. When a new steam engine, Porter arrives to help out, Salty becomes convinced that Porter has been sent to replace him.
410 22 "Gone Fishing" David Baas Andrew Brenner 24 December 2013 (2013-12-24) 1011b
Bill and Ben teases Harvey at the docks that he can use his hook for fishing. After having an accident with some flatbed trucks, Harvey manages to clean up the mess before anyone can notice. He later continues down to the docks, just as the Fat Controller has finished his meeting with the docks manager. He states that Harvey has been a very useful engine, and Harvey adds by saying that he could probably go fishing with his hook as well, and this makes everyone laugh.
411 23 "The Afternoon Tea Express" David Baas Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 25 December 2013 (2013-12-25) 1012a
Stephen is bringing ingredients for tea for the Earl at Ulfstead Castle. Spencer on the other hand, teases him about being slow. So to pretend to being fast, Stephen is pushed by many other engines, until one day, which is when the main tea party is, he does not have anyone to push him. Eventually Spencer does it. The Earl later tells Stephen, that he picked him, because he is reliable and takes it steady. After his own apology, Stephen returns to taking tourists around Ulfstead Castle, and reminding himself that of being slow is not really a bad thing at all.
412 24 "The Smelly Kipper" David Baas Andrew Brenner 27 December 2013 (2013-12-27) 1012b
One evening at Tidmouth Sheds, James is teasing Percy about being scared of the dark so Henry challenges him to take "The Flying Kipper" that night. James tries to fool Henry, but in the morning, the Fat Controller tells James to pull the Flying Kipper. James does so, but was distracted by the Troublesome Trucks and ran into Cranky's load of fish. In the morning, he had a fish stuck under his smokebox and was told by Sir Topham Hatt to have a wash immediately.
413 25 "No More Mr. Nice Engine" David Baas Laura Beaumont and Paul Larson 28 December 2013 (2013-12-28) 1013a
One day Diesel is shunting the Troublesome Trucks in the yards. Edward comes by and tells him to be gentle with the trucks, but Diesel tells him to mind his own business. Later, Hiro arrives to pick up the trucks that Diesel has set up for him and delivers the milk trucks at Knapford Station, but when one of the trucks is opened, milk spills down on the floor and over the Fat Controller's trousers. Hiro feels bad about it. Later he goes down to Brendam and picks up another line with trucks of cream. Determined to prove Hiro wrong, Diesel couples himself onto Hiro's train and acts like a brake van, but at the same time pushes the Troublesome Trucks hardly. The journey becomes bumpy, and the train goes quicker and quicker. Arriving at Knapford again, Hiro slows down; but Diesel is late noticing, and jolts into the rear truck and all the big barrels of cream drops all over the Fat Controller, Hiro and Edward. First, the Fat Controller is cross with Hiro, but Thomas stops Diesel from escaping. As punishment, the Fat Controller wants Diesel to learn how to treat the Troublesome Trucks properly, and the one and only teacher for him, would be Hiro himself.
414 26 "Thomas' Shortcut" David Baas Andrew Brenner 4 January 2014 (2014-01-04) 1013b
Thomas tries to take a shortcut to win races after he learns that Bertie has been re-routed, but soon learns he must stick to his branch line the hard way when he gets stranded on an abandoned track with Annie and Clarabel.

Characters

Introduced

  • Luke
  • Millie
  • Stephen
  • Sir Robert Norramby / The Earl of Sodor
  • Porter

Returned

  • Duck
  • Harvey
  • Bill and Ben

Recurring cast

Voices

David Menkin and Jonathan Broadbent joins the cast along with Bob Golding, Jonathan Forbes, Rebeca O'Mara, Miranda Raison and Mike O'Grady from that years special.

Following the number of departures for the previous year, Martin Sherman took over role of Diesel in the US, Keith Wickham took over the roll of Bertie, Ben Small took over the roll of Flynn, Steven Kynman took over the roll of Butch in the US and Dart, and Teresa Gallagher takes over the roll of Mavis in the US while David Bedella officially takes over the roll of Victor in the UK.

Actor/Actress Region Role(s)
Mark Moraghan UK/US The Narrator
Ben Small Rheneas, Flynn, Owen and the Troublesome Trucks
UK Thomas and Toby
UK Charlie
Keith Wickham UK Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Whiff, Harold, the Fat Controller, the Wellsworth Station worker and a workman
UK Harvey, Salty, Den, Norman, Stafford, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Bertie, a Railway Inspector, and the Maron Station Speaker
Kerry Shale UK Diesel and The Zoo Keeper
UK/ Some groaning passengers (Calm Down Caitlin)
UK/ A Railway Inspector
Teresa Gallagher UK Emily, Some Children, The Blonde Haired Boy, The School Boy, and The Blonde Haired Girl
UK/ Belle, Mavis, Annie, Clarabel, The Shouting Little Boy, The Ginger Haired Boy, Lady Hatt (The Afternoon Tea Express only), and The Duchess of Boxford (Percy's Lucky Day only)
Matt Wilkinson UK Spencer, Charlie, Scruff, Rocky, Cranky, Butch, Kevin, Farmer McColl, the Dock Manager and The Zoo Keeper
UK Winston, Rusty and Merrick
David Bedella UK/ Victor
UK Porter
Michael Legge UK/ Luke
Mike Grady Sir Robert Norramby