Ghost Train, retitled Percy's Ghostly Trick on North American releases, is the twenty-fourth episode of the second series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book Tramway Engines.

Plot

Percy tells Thomas and Toby about a ghost train that his driver saw the previous night. Thomas laughs at the story and ridicules Percy for believing it. The next morning, Percy tells his driver about Thomas' disbelief in the ghost, only to learn that it was just television fiction.

That evening, Percy is returning to the Sheds when he crashes into a cart of lime on a level crossing, leaving him covered in white dust. Percy runs to the nearest signal box, where he meets Toby. The signalman remarks that Percy looks like a ghost, and Percy decides to play a trick on Thomas, with Toby's help.

At the Sheds, Thomas is being oiled up for his evening train when Toby arrives and tells him that Percy was in a fatal accident. He says that the line has been cleared but he thinks he saw Percy's ghost claiming it was coming to warn them. Thomas is unconcerned, but soon after, Percy enters the shed and impersonates a ghost. Terrified, Thomas rushes off to collect Annie and Clarabel and does not return to the Sheds for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Thomas meets Toby at the station and reveals that he slept in the goods shed, claiming that he did not want to intrude on Toby's grief. At that moment, Percy's whistle cuts through the air, causing Thomas to flee. Percy rolls up beside Toby, who chuckles that Thomas is behaving as if he has seen a ghost.

Characters

• Thomas
• Percy
• Toby
• Annie and Clarabel (do not speak)
• Percy's Ghost Engine (does not speak)
• Sam (mentioned; appears in a deleted scene)
• Terence (deleted scene)

Locations

• The Viaduct
  • Hawin Ab
• Tidmouth
  • Tidmouth Yards
    • Tidmouth Yard Sheds
• The Branch Line Cutting
• The Watermill
• The Windmill
• Ffarquhar Quarry
• The Harbour Line Signal Box and Siding
• Crowe's Farm Crossing
• New Harbour (mentioned)

Trivia

• This is the 50th episode of the television series overall.
• The ghost steam engine is just Percy's model covered in flour and white streamers with Edward's whistle sound.
• In the restored version of the episode:
  • The scenes at Ffarquhar Quarry take place near dusk instead of midday and morning. It's unknown if this was an error or if it was intentional to make the episode feel spookier.
  • The fade effect after Thomas leaves Tidmouth Station is removed.
• Percy and Toby's exchange at the sheds is a spoof of The Three Little Pigs.
• The crate of treacle, later used in the next episode, is seen twice: first at the scene of Tidmouth Station in between one of the Breakdown Train's cranes and the two brake vans, followed by the second when Percy scares Thomas at the end.
• In the English dubs and the Ukrainian voiceover, when Toby says "Anyone would think that our Thomas had just seen a ghost", a reverb effect is used on the word "ghost" to resemble a spooky echo.
• Ringo Starr's US dub of this episode was broadcast on Shining Time Station, but has never been released on home video in any form.
• A promotional image of a deleted scene shows Terence pulling the lime cart. This image was used on the cover of the Ghost Train Swedish VHS released in 2001 and Ghost Train and Henry and the Elephant Swedish DVD released in 2002.
  • Terence's inclusion in the episode was a creative liberty by Britt Allcroft that Wilbert Awdry strongly disapproved of, citing four reasons why the story would fundamentally break with the inclusion of Terence pulling the cart in a revisions letter sent during production of Series 2.^[3] Despite Awdry's grievances, the scene appears to have gone far enough in production to have been filmed, but was ultimately cut from the final episode.
• This episode's name would later be shared with an episode from the first series of Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
• The events of this episode were later mentioned by Percy in the third series episode Thomas, Percy and the Dragon.
• According to Mr. Conductor's 2002 trading card, it claims that he was one who helped Percy plan his "Ghostly Trick" on Thomas in the episode, even though he is not present in the episode.^[4]
• Unlike other episodes, Percy's lamp is placed on his middle shaft, not the one on his right (viewers' left). This is mainly due to him using the original UK headcode of "Light Engine".
• In the original version, as Toby leaves Percy to go to the sheds, he looks straight ahead of him. In the restored one, he looks to his right.
• This episode marks the first of a few things:
  • The first episode narrated by George Carlin in the US alongside the third series episode Thomas, Percy and the Dragon during its Shining Time Station premiere.
  • The first episode released in the US narrated by a narrator born in that country.
  • The first time fog is shown throughout an entire episode.
  • The first supernatural-themed episode of the entire franchise.
  • The first appearance of Toby's surprised face. It would appear from the third series onwards but with different eyebrows.
• This episode marked the only occurrences of several things:
  • The only appearance of Percy's Ghost Engine, although it was mentioned in the third series episode Thomas, Percy and the Dragon.
  • One of the three second series episodes where Thomas' fearful face is seen without teeth, with the others being Thomas, Percy and the Coal and Thomas Comes to Breakfast.
  • The only appearance of Toryreck Junction until the twenty-first series episode Hasty Hannah and its only appearance in the model series.
  • The only appearance of Crowe's Farm Crossing until the seventeenth series episode Thomas' Shortcut and its only appearance in the model series.
  • Had the scene not been deleted, this episode would have marked the only appearance of Sam in the television series.
  • The only appearance of The Harbour Line Windmill.
• This episode marks the last occurrences of a few things:
  • The final episode to feature Thomas' aghast face, excluding stock footage in the fourth series episode, Paint Pots and Queens. The reason why it never properly appeared again after this episode was because the production crew considered it "too jarring" for younger viewers.^[5]
  • The last second series episode released on DVD in Croatia.
  • The last episode to feature the viaduct being repaired.
  • Toby's last speaking role in the Clearwater Features era.
• CEL Home Video did not release this episode, Edward's Exploit, the next episode nor Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree on any of their 1989 VHS releases in New Zealand. Instead, these four episodes later premiered on home video in New Zealand on Endeavour Entertainment's VHS release of The Deputation and Other Stories in 1992.

Goofs

• In the shot of the viaduct at the beginning, the light on the scaffolding is turned on by a one-second delay.
• Percy's left (viewers' right) cylinder is loose during the first half of the episode.
• At the quarry, both Thomas' dome and whistle appear to be crooked.
• When Percy is puffing through the valley, he has a black box attached to his cab. This is most likely the power source for both of his lamps. This can also be seen on the back of Percy's Ghost Engine, earlier in the episode.
• When Percy passes the windmill, his tail lamp is not red.
• At the signal box:
  • Percy's face moves while he is talking to Toby.
  • Percy's driver's hat appears to have a chip on the top.
  • Toby's eyes are misaligned and his face also does not appear to be on properly.
• In the restored version, as Toby leaves Percy to go to the sheds, the puffing noise starts before he moves. This is because an alternate take of Toby leaving was used instead of the original shot.
• Percy is nowhere to be seen in the shot of nearby Tidmouth Station and the shunting yard when he arrives.
• At the sheds:
  • Thomas and Toby's eyes are misaligned.
  • Toby's eyes also jerk from up to down when telling Thomas about Percy's accident.
  • Toby's face mask is loose and his left lamp iron is broken off with a white stress mark left behind.
  • Percy's lamp is slightly crooked.
  • As Thomas leaves:
    • His lamp is off and slightly tilted to the left (viewers' right).
    • There are also wires next to the windows outside.
    • A piece of wood can also be seen behind the doors, which cracks open a bit when he leaves.
• During the scene when Thomas visits Toby at the station after his scare, Thomas is right next to Toby for the wide shots but is a little further forward during his close-ups.
• Clarabel is facing the wrong way when Thomas leaves Tidmouth.
• In the French dub, the cart's content was described to be "green lemon", but the content does not look like the fruit. It is mostly an error of translation.
• The iTunes description reuses the one from Percy Runs Away.

Quotes

[in Percy's story, a ghost engine runs across the island]

Percy: And every year, on the date of the accident, it runs again as a warning to others, plunging into the gap, shrieking like a lost soul. [cut back to the quarry]

Thomas: Percy, what are you talking about?

Percy: The ghost train. Driver saw it last night.

Thomas and Toby: Where?

Percy: He didn't say. Oh, it makes my wheels wobble to think of it.

Thomas: Puh! You're just a silly little engine. I'm not scared.

Percy: Thomas didn't believe in your ghost.

Driver: Neither do I. It was a pretend ghost on television.

[after Percy's work in the harbour, he returns home that evening]

Narrator: Percy knew where he was, even in the dark.

Percy: Crowe's Farm Crossing. We shan't be long now.

[after Percy's driver explains about the unexpected encounter with the lime cart]

Signalman: I'll see to it but you'd better clean Percy or people will think he's a ghost.

Percy: Do let's pretend I'm a ghost and scare Thomas. That'll teach him to say I'm a silly little engine.

Toby: Percy's had an accident!

Thomas: Poor engine. Botheration! That means I'll be late.

Toby: They've cleared the line for you but there's something worse.

Thomas: Out with it, Toby. I can't wait all evening.

Toby: I've just seen something. [stutters] It looked like Percy's ghost. It said it was coming here to warn us.

Thomas: Puh! Who cares? Don't be frightened, Toby. I'll take care of you.

[Percy creeps up behind the sheds]

Percy: [imitates a ghost] Peeeep! Peeeeeep! Pip-pip-pip, PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! Let me in, let me in!

Toby: No, no! Not by the smoke on my chimney-chim-chim!

Percy: I'll chuff and I'll puff and I'll break your door in!

[the doors slowly open]

Thomas: Oh, dear! It's getting late. Oh, I had no idea. [leaves the sheds] I must find Annie and Clarabel.

Toby: Where have you been?

Thomas: Ah well, I knew you'd be sad about Percy and I uh, I didn't like to intrude. I slept in the goods shed and... [cut to a shot with a "ghost train" heard in the distance] Oh! Sorry, can't stop. Got to see a coach about a train. [leaves]

[later, Percy arrives, having overheard everything]

Percy: Well well well, what do you know about that?

Toby: Anyone would think, that our Thomas had just seen a ghost!

In Other Languages

Merchandise

TrackMaster

Name	Released	Discontinued	Highlights	Image
Ghostly Percy	2010	2012	Glows in the Dark Includes glowing ghost slate truck and blue van Target Exclusive

Home Video Releases

Episode

Ghost Train - UK

UK Narration

References