Charubala's Narrow Gauge Railway is a special two part episode of The Narrow Gauge Engines: The Movie.
Plot[]
Part 1[]
Following the previous episode, Sid introduces his army of narrow gauge diesels to Not So Rusty (Rusty's polar opposite alter-ego) and explains that he is ready to take over the Skarloey Railway. Frank, on the other hand, complains that they're still outnumbered, but Sid insists they must work with whatever diesels they have. Just then, Ruth arrives and asks the diesels to help her with a project she's been working on that will "revolutionize the railway forever". Sid, believing that Ruth's project will help with his takeover of the Skarloey Railway, agrees to help her, and forces the other diesels to agree as well.
Elsewhere in the world, Skarloey, Peter Sam, Duncan, Nuria and Settebello finally make it to India with their rotten tomatoes. However, Settebello (who had been pulling the four steamies and their tomatoes) runs out of electricity, resulting in the quintet to be stranded. Fortunately, Ashima arrives with a breakdown train. Charubala, the Indian railway controller, is also on board, and Skarloey tells her and Ashima of his and his friends' predicament. Charubala agrees to have Ashima take the narrow gauge quintet to a refuelling station, but explains that they must leave their train behind.
At the refuelling station, Peter Sam apologizes to Charubala for not having seen narrow gauge engines on her railway before, but Charubala explains that she does in fact have her own fleet of narrow gauge engines (on top of her fleet of standard gauge engines). According to Charubala, her narrow gauge railway runs from New Delhi, India all the way to Beijing, China, and she has six narrow gauge engines in total; three in India and three in China. Peter Sam is amazed at how big her narrow gauge railway is and also curious to meet her engines. After being refueled, Skarloey and co. return to where they left their train of rotten tomatoes, only to discover it is nowhere to be seen. The quintet is forced to split up into groups to find the missing train (Skarloey with Settebello, Peter Sam with Nuria, and Duncan by himself).
Duncan goes down a long tunnel, when he hears the sound of an angry elephant stampeding towards him. Duncan rushes out of the tunnel in a panic, only to realize that the sounds belong to an engine with an elephant trunk named Rajinda. Needless to say, Rajinda is delighted to have pranked Duncan, much to the latter's dismay. Duncan asks Rajinda if he is one of Charubala's engines (to which Rajinda says he is) and if he has seen a train of rotten tomatoes anywhere. Fortunately, Rajinda reveals he has half of the rotten tomato train, and intends on delivering it to the elephant sanctuary, but not before forcing Duncan to listen to some elephant facts. Eventually, Rajinda gets carried away and Duncan, very much fed up with hearing elephant facts, tells him to stop and to simply hand over the train to him. Rajinda laughs and agrees to have Duncan take the train to the elephant sanctuary.
Meanwhile, Peter Sam and Nuria bump into another one of Charubala's narrow gauge engines, an orange tiger-striped steamie named Coran, coupled up to the second half of the rotten tomato train. Nuria hides behind Peter Sam, as she reveals she has a fear of tigers. Peter Sam asks Coran if they could have the train, but Coran refuses, explaining that Nuria has disrespected the legacy of the tiger. Peter Sam explains that they need to deliver the rotten tomatoes, but Coran insists they can only have the train if they answer a tiger-related riddle; Peter Sam and Nuria have to guess what is a tiger's favorite flavor of ice cream. Peter Sam volunteers to solve the riddle, as believes he knows a thing or two about ice cream from the refreshment lady. However, this proves to be more challenging than he realized, as the flavors he is familiar with (chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, heavenly hash, mint chip, ect.) are all incorrect answers. Nuria then sees a tiger's tail pop out from one of the bushes, and she guesses that a tiger's favorite ice cream flavor is tiger tail. Coran congratulates Nuria for solving the riddle and gives her and Peter Sam the train of rotten tomatoes. Peter Sam asks Coran where he intended on taking the train, and Coran explains that he was to take it to the elephant sanctuary.
Duncan, Peter Sam and Nuria meet up at the elephant sanctuary with both halves of the rotten tomato train. The keeper arrives and explains he will use the rotten tomatoes as fertilizer for his crops, so the elephants will have plenty of food to eat. The three engines are pleased to finally deliver the rotten tomatoes, but then realize that Skarloey and Settebello have not returned yet.
Part 2[]
Peter Sam, Duncan and Nuria team up to find Skarloey and Settebello, when they notice a large narrow gauge diesel with wings parked on a siding. The diesel introduces herself as Abiar, and explains that she broke down and had Skarloey and Settebello deliver her passenger train to Beijing. The three engines ask Abiar how they can get to Beijing quickly, and Abiar explains that the narrow gauge railway runs through the Himalayas, and the engines that work there know a shortcut to Beijing.
Peter Sam, Duncan and Nuria follow Abiar's directions to get to the Himalayas. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Charubala's Chinese narrow gauge engines: Yen, Da Li and Xiao Hu. Peter Sam asks them if they know how to get to Beijing, but the three Chinese engines are rather playful in nature, and challenge him, Duncan and Nuria to a game of hide and seek.
Peter Sam finds Da Li, while Nuria finds Xiao Hu. However, Duncan cannot seem to find Yen. Suddenly, they hear the sound of an engine's whistle echo around the mountains. Da Li and Xiao Hu recognize that the whistle belongs to Yen. They are able to find Yen, who is on the edge of the mountain, in danger of falling into the ravine below. With teamwork, Peter Sam and the others pull Yen back onto the rails.
Soon, Yen, Da Li and Xiao Hu tell their new friends that the quickest way to Beijing is through a secretvtunnel built inside the mountains. Peter Sam, Duncan and Nuria bid farewell to the Chinese engines and go through the tunnel to reunite with Skarloey and Settebello. The quintet learn that there is a rail ferry that will take them back to Sodor.
Characters[]
Part 1[]
- Skarloey
- Peter Sam
- Duncan
- Ashima
- Rajinda
- Coran
- Sid
- Frank
- Blister I and Blister II
- Charubala
- Ruth
- Rusty (as "Not So Rusty")
- Cleo (does not speak)
- 19 and 20 (cameo)
- Fred (cameo)
- Sigrid of Arlesdale (cameo)
Part 2[]
- Skarloey
- Peter Sam
- Duncan
- Nuria
- Settebello
- Abiar
- Da Li
- Xiao Hu
- Yen