Off the Rails

Off the Rails, retitled Gordon Takes a Dip in American releases, is the twenty-fourth episode of the first season. In the US, it aired on the Shining Time Station episodes, Too Many Cooks and Bad Luck Day on Shining Time Station. In this episode, Gordon's stubbornness results in him falling into a ditch

Plot
One morning, Gordon is resting his eyes at the station while bragging to himself just how important he is. Henry suddenly pulls up and wakes Gordon rudely. Gordon is very cross, believing that an engine who has never had an accident should be respected. Percy arrives and innocently asks if jammed whistles and burst safety valves count as accidents. Gordon denies it and tells Percy that those are malfunctions that could happen to any engine, not like Henry who came off the rails.

When Henry is about to take the express, Gordon reminds him "not to come off the rails today", much to his anger. When he leaves, Gordon tries to go back to sleep, but then his driver wakes him telling him that they have been asked to pull a special goods train. Gordon, who is already cross, refuses to take trucks, as he would rather take some coaches.

Gordon's fire does not burn fast enough, so Edward comes to push him to the turntable to be turned around. Gordon complains the whole way and Edward rebukes him as they reach the turntable. By now, the movement has got Gordon's fire burning nicely and making steam.

As the turntables turns, Gordon is so cross that he is willing to do anything that stops him from taking the special regardless of the consequences. When the table gets halfway round, he moves forward in an attempt to jam it. However Gordon cannot stop and slides down the unused rails into a ditch. Gordon shouts for someone to get him out, however his crew refuses and tells him that he is stuck.

In his office, the Fat Controller is called and told everything that has happened. Seeing Gordon from his window, he arranges to have Edward take the special train and leave Gordon where he is for now. Meanwhile, some little boys come by and start to tease Gordon with a rhyme, leaving him humiliated.

Gordon stays in the ditch for hours and no rescue team comes until late at night. After extensive work preparing sleepers to keep him out of the mud, he is pulled out from the ditch by James and Henry.

Afterwards, a filthy and disgraced Gordon crawls back to the shed, much sadder and wiser for his experience.

Characters

 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * Percy
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * James (does not speak)
 * Marklin (cameo)

Locations

 * Vicarstown Sheds
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Knapford

Errors

 * In the opening scene Gordon's front bogie wheels are slightly derailed.
 * When Henry comes up to Gordon and then leaves, Gordon's trailing wheels are derailed.
 * In a close up of Percy, his coupling chain is up, but in the next shot as he rolls over to Gordon it is suddenly dangling down.
 * Gordon's tender was derailed when Percy puffs up.
 * When Henry is getting ready to take the express, Gordon's driver has blu-tak under his feet.
 * When Gordon snaps "Trucks?! Pah!", a piece of hair is visible by his right eye.
 * When Edward buffers up behind Gordon the steam platform is easily noticeable.
 * Gordon was taken to Vicarstown Sheds, which is on the other side of the Island from Knapford.
 * In the close-up of Gordon on the turntable, a gap is visible through his left eye.
 * When Gordon puffs into the ditch his face looks wonky and wires are visibly attached to his cab.
 * When the boys sing the camera shakes.
 * When Gordon is getting pulled out of the ditch, his bufferbeam snags a wooden post.
 * How James and Henry rescue Gordon from the ditch is questionable because there are no tracks leading towards the turntable opposite the ditch.
 * In a rare picture, several workmen have Blu-Tack on their feet.
 * James' drive wheels aren't moving when he pulls Gordon out of the ditch.
 * Henry isn't behind James in the scene of Gordon being rescued as the narrator stated.
 * In the long shots of James during Gordon's rescue, he has the rescue cable Gordon used in Percy Runs Away and later in Down the Mine attached to his front, but in the close up, he has a chain attached to his front instead.

US Home Video Releases

 * Better Late Than Never and Other Stories
 * Thomas Comes to Breakfast and Other Thomas Adventures
 * Best of Gordon