Tales from the Tracks

Tales from the Tracks is a US VHS/DVD featuring six ninth series episodes and three songs. The DVD was released as Little Engines Big Days Out in the UK, Australia and South Africa. The South African release features three ninth series episodes. It was released under the title The Magic Lamp for Danish audiences, Little Trains on a Day Out for Norwegian and Swedish audiences, and The Little Locomotive Excursion for the Finnish audiences'''. It was released under the title Thomas and Friends - Volume 7''' for Spanish audience. It was released under the title, Thomas the Rescuer for Czech audiences which features two eighth series episodes and five ninth series episodes.

US
Ride the rails to fun and adventure as Thomas™ and his friends steam through Sodor in Tales From The Tracks.

Join Thomas for a birthday picnic, discover a ghost engine that's not what it seems and learn the legend of a very special lamp with Peter Sam! Then try and keep up with James, listen to Rusty's beautiful music and make tracks as Thomas tries his best.

There's excitement around every bend in these six stories from the Number 1 Engine.

UK/AUS 2006
It's a fun day out with Thomas & Friends. With over 50 minutes of brand new stories from famous Sodor sights.

UK 2008
It's a fun day out with Thomas & Friends. With over 50 minutes of thrilling stories from famous Sodor sights.

DK/NOR/SWE/FINE
Join Thomas and his friends ﻿on new adventures on Sodor. This time we get to join in on a birthday picnic. Thomas knows about a good place to have it, but what shall they do when it starts to rain?

US/UK/AUS
(*Followed by a Learning Segment)
 * 1) Thomas and the Birthday Picnic * - The Fat Controller has arranged a special birthday picnic for his mother's birthday. Thomas thinks he knows just the spot – beautiful Shen Valley. When a terrible storm appears, Thomas desperately tries to think of another location for the birthday picnic, but none of them are right. Will Thomas find the perfect place?
 * 2) Flour Power * - It's Halloween night and Diesel and Thomas are working at the flourmill. Diesel scares Thomas, pointing out all the spooky things on the way to the mill. Thomas gets his own back by covering himself with flour and pretending to be a ghost. Diesel is terrified!
 * 3) The Magic Lamp *** - Rusty tells the narrow gauge engines all about the legend of “Proteus” - an old engine with a magic lamp. Whoever finds the lamp will have their wish come true! Peter Sam thinks this is nonsense. Later that night, some mysterious goings-on start to make him think otherwise…
 * 4) Keeping up with James * - It's winter and Edward and James have important work to do. The track is icy and Edward warns James to go slow. James is determined to finish his work before any of the other engines and he doesn't listen. When disaster strikes, James realises that there are more important things than being first.
 * 5) Tuneful Toots - Rusty loves the sound of his horn, but not everyone feels the same! When Rusty is asked to take a brass band on a tour of the hills, he loses track of time and runs out of fuel. Everyone is worried about Rusty and the band until they hear a familiar sound echoing through the valley!
 * 6) Thomas Tries His Best ** - It's carnival time! Thomas has to deliver a load of chickens and is worried that he'll miss the fun. James and Gordon suggest ways to get his work done faster, but Thomas doesn't want to let The Fat Controller down. Will he deliver his load and get to the carnival?

(**Followed by a song)

(***Followed by both)

DK

 * 1) Thomas and the Birthday Day Out
 * 2) The Concert
 * 3) The Ghost Train
 * 4) The Magic Lamp
 * 5) Thomas' Funfair Trip
 * 6) James and the Christmas Present Train

NOR

 * 1) Thomas and the Picnic
 * 2) The Musical Train
 * 3) The Flour
 * 4) The Magic Lamp
 * 5) Thomas Does His Best
 * 6) Keeping up with James

SWE

 * 1) Thomas and the Birthday Picnic
 * 2) Catchy Tunes
 * 3) The Pale Face
 * 4) The Magic Lamp
 * 5) Thomas Does his Best
 * 6) Hurry, Hurry!

SPN

 * 1) Thomas and the Birthday Picnic
 * 2) Harmonious Whistles
 * 3) The Flour to the Power
 * 4) The Magic Lamp
 * 5) Thomas Does His Best
 * 6) James Wants to be the First

SA

 * 1) Thomas and the Birthday Picnic
 * 2) Tuneful Toots
 * 3) Flour Power

Czech

 * 1) Thomas the Rescuer
 * 2) Birthday Picnic
 * 3) Haunted Flour
 * 4) Thomas Tries
 * 5) How to Catch James
 * 6) Whistling to the Rhythm
 * 7) Henry and the Tree Wishes (Bonus Episode)

Learning Segments
(**Followed by a song)
 * 1) What Does Toby See?
 * 2) Cool Down Delivery
 * 3) What Goes Where? **
 * 4) Dot to Dot - James

Songs

 * 1) Every Day's a Special Day on Sodor
 * 2) Day and Night (US DVD and Bonus feature only)
 * 3) Engine Roll Call

US

 * Arthur's Tricky Travels game
 * Spot the Difference game
 * Getting Up Gordon's Hill game
 * Percy and the Oil Painting read-along
 * HiT Extras:
 * Toddworld: Worm's Eye View (2006 release only)
 * Bob the Builder: Roley to the Rescue (only on 2009 re-release)

UK

 * Arthur's Tricky Travels game
 * Spot the Difference game

Trivia

 * This is the final US VHS release to date.
 * This is the last US DVD to have HiT Extras to date, not counting on the cancelled bonus feature of Come Ride the Rails.
 * This is the last US DVD to have a bonus episode until Carnival Capers.
 * Michael Brandon narrates the US DVD Menu.
 * This is the first US release to be distributed by Twentieth Century Fox.
 * Henry is mirrored on the front cover, viewers can tell as his brakepipe is on the wrong side of his running board and his eyebrows are a different shape unlike how they're usually.
 * This is the first Thomas US DVD and only UK DVD to feature specially shot live action interactive DVD games.
 * This is the last episodic UK DVD to feature a DVD game to date.
 * In the UK DVD, the games doesn't show the quit sign as the US DVD does.
 * On the back cover, one of the pictures shows Thomas with a Day Out with Thomas face.
 * In the 2006 UK DVD Menu, stills from Saving Edward, Rheneas and the Dinosaur, Thomas' Milkshake Muddle, Bold and Brave and Thomas and the Statue are used in one of the selections.
 * In the 2006 UK menu selections, instrumental music from the episodes is played in every selection with the sounds being heard:
 * In the Select-a-Scene Menu, instrumental music from Thomas and the Birthday Picnic when Thomas arrived at Knapford is played.
 * In the episode selections, instrumental music from the beginning of Flower Power is heard.
 * In the songs selection, instrumental music from Thomas and the Birthday Picnic when Thomas started his journey heading to Shen Valley.
 * In the Learn with Thomas and Games selection, instrumental music from Keeping Up with James when James was clearing snow off the tracks is played.
 * In the subtitles selection, instrumental music from the beginnnig of The Magic Lamp is played.
 * The UK DVD was criticised in 2011 over the stories and interactive segments calling Christmas "Winter Holidays" and "Trees with Decorations" instead of Christmas trees. HiT Entertainment responded saying it was not a seasonal release, but the issue caused them to push back the latest DVD, Merry Winter Wish, for a release in October 2012 instead of 2011 so that they could re-narrate the audio to mention Christmas.
 * In another Swedish version of the DVD Little Engines on a Day Out, Keeping Up with James was renamed, Hurry, Hurry!

Goofs

 * The following features in the DVD menu:
 * James' tender is missing.
 * Thomas' rear wheels sometimes come off the rails when he turns around sharp bends.
 * In Arthur's Tricky Travels, Arthur has Edward's whistle sound.
 * On the back cover of the UK DVD on the description of The Magic Lamp, it says that Rusty told the story about Proteus, but it was actually Skarloey who told the story. The episode is also titled "Peter Sam and the Magic Lamp."
 * On the VHS label, the DVD logo is present.
 * The description in the Danish release says that it rains in Thomas and the Birthday Picnic, but it does not.
 * On the Norwegian back cover, Rheneas is misspelled "Reneas." Peter Sam is also misnamed "Sir Peter."
 * Michael Angelis is credited in the opening in Norwegian releases.