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| Break Van/Donald and Douglas | |
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| Season 2, Episode 21 | |
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| Written by | Rev. W. Awdry (original story) Stephen Patton (adaptation) |
| Directed by | Stephen Patton |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Better Late Than Never |
Next The Deputation |
- “Ye're a muckle nuisance! It's ta leave ye behind I'd be wantin'."
"You can't. I'm essential."
"Och! Are ya? Ye're nothing but a screechin' and a wailin' when all's said and done. Spite Douggie, would ye? Take that!” - ―Donald confronting Spikey
Break Van, retitled Donald and Douglas in American releases, is the twenty-first episode of the second series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book The Twin Engines.
Plot[]
A set of black twin engines named Donald and Douglas have arrived from Scotland to work on the railway; however, the Fat Controller has only sent for one engine. He gives the two engines numbers, Donald 9 and Douglas 10, but still intends to send one of the engines back to Scotland.
A brake van in the yard takes a disliking to Douglas and causes trouble whenever Douglas has to take him out, making his trains late. Donald is angry at the brake van for treating his twin in such a cruel manner and bumps him violently, threatening him witt more to come if he misbehaves. The van starts behaving better afterwards. One day, however, Donald loses control while reversing onto some slippery rails and accidentally crashes tender-first into a signal box. The Fat Controller is quite disappointed with Donald, as he had intended to keep him and send Douglas back home. Now Donald will need to have his tender mended and James will have to do his work, which the Fat Controller knows he will not like.
The Fat Controller is proven right: James is very angry about the extra work and grumbles dreadfully. Douglas mentions James' incident with the tar wagons, worsening his bad mood. He takes a train of trucks which includes the Spiteful Brake Van, who decides to make work difficult for James and has the trucks hold back, quickly tiring James out.
Meeting Douglas at Wellsworth, James asks for his assistance in climbing up Gordon's Hill and Douglas agrees. The two engines work as hard as they can, but James starts losing steam while half way up the hill. Because of this and the weight of the trucks holding back, Douglas accidentally crushes the Spiteful Brake Van to pieces while pushing from behind. The Fat Controller arrives on Edward, who comes with the Breakdown Train to help clear the mess and is cross that Douglas has also caused trouble. Edward stands up for Douglas, having heard what happened and tells the Fat Controller of all the hard work Douglas did. Although the Fat Controller wants to be fair as he understands that Douglas was only trying to help, he thinks that Douglas got carried away by destroying the brake van. The Fat Controller then turns and walks away, apparently making up his mind about something.
Characters[]
- Edward
- James
- Donald and Douglas
- Troublesome Trucks
- Judy and Jerome
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Spikey (not named)
- Henry (cameo)
- Gordon (cameo)
- Duck (cameo)
Locations[]
Trivia[]
- The episode's opening exposition is taken from the stories Hullo Twins! and The Missing Coach from the same book, while the first two shots are taken from the latter's cancelled episode.
- The episode's title is a pun and portmanteau of the word "Break" and the UK term Brake Van.
- This episode marks the first time a character suffers an injury to their face (the brake van is seen with a black eye after the crash).
- The rag used to wipe down Douglas' tender is blu-tack.
- A reference to the first series episode, Dirty Objects is made.
- In the restored version, Douglas has his nameplate when he goes up Gordon's Hill and smashes the Spiteful Brake Van. The nameplate was actually covered by a black bar in the original version. Douglas' nameplate can also be seen in the original version just before the shot of him next to the brake van.
- Because this episode was originally broadcast alongside Better Late Than Never, when it was later released on its own, some versions (most notably on VHS and Cartoon Network) still had Christopher Awdry's episode listed in the end credits.
- The events of this episode were referenced in the twenty-first series episode, Emily in the Middle.
| << Series 1 | Series 2 | Series 3 >> |
| #01 Thomas, Percy and the Coal | #09 Percy and Harold | #17 Percy's Ploy | #25 Percy's Predicament | #33 Woolly Bear |
| #02 Cows | #10 Percy Takes the Plunge | #18 A Close Shave | #26 The Milk Feud | #34 Double, Double Whistle Trouble |
| #03 Bertie's Chase | #11 Gordon Goes Foreign | #19 The Runaway | #27 The Diseasel | #35 Toby and the Old Coaches |
| #04 Saved from Scrap | #12 Double Header | #20 Better Late Than Never | #28 Wrong Road | #36 Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree |
| #05 Old Iron | #13 The Fat Controller's Engines | #21 Break Van | #29 Edward's Exploit | |
| #06 Thomas and Trevor | #14 Domeless Engines | #22 The Deputation | #30 Crossed Lines | |
| #07 Percy and the Signal | #15 Pop Goes the Diesel | #23 Thomas Comes to Breakfast | #31 As Strong as Edward | |
| #08 Duck Takes Charge | #16 Dirty Work | #24 Daisy | #32 Ghost Train | |
| Cancelled: The Missing Coach |