RWS #13: Duck and the Diesel Engine

It's been a week since I reviewed The Eight Famous Engines - now we move onto Awdry's darker era, starting with the book that introduced Sodor's iconic villain.

THE OPINIONS, THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS IN THIS BLOG POST ARE SOLELY THOSE OF ZACK WANZER, NOT THE THOMAS FANDOM IN GENERAL

(special thanks to the Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia for the images)

The Railway Series Book #13

Duck and the Diesel Engine

Written by The Rev. W. Awdry

Illustrated by John T. Kenney

Published 1958

By the end of the decade, dieselization was rapidly replacing steam traction, so it made some sense for Awdry to reflect on this period by introducing a diesel to Sodor.

Dear Friends,
We have had two visitors to our railway. One of these, City of Truro, is a very famous engine. We were sorry when we had to say goodbye to him.

The other visitor was different. "I do not believe," writes Sir Topham Hatt, "that all Diesels are troublesome, but this one upset our engines and made Duck very unhappy."
The Author

Domeless Engines/Gordon and the Famous Visitor

Season 3, Episode 4

Duck is excited to meet another Great Western engine, City of Truro, the first engine to reach 100mph. Gordon is unimpressed, calling City of Truro a domeless engine, saying they're not to be trusted, but he reckons 100mph would be easy for him. Unfortunately, he loses his dome on the viaduct and gets laughed at.

Kind of odd that it wasn't adapted before the following story, but either way, Duck would've still been proud of his GWR heritage. The model of City of Truro is remarkable, and thank goodness that he and Flying Scotsman weren't treated like Sudrian engines, unlike Stepney, but I'll get to it soon enough. Even with issues like Thomas telling Gordon about City of Truro and Duck and Diesel being here, I think it's still a good adaptation.

RWS Rating: 8.5 out of 10
TV Series Rating: 8 out of 10

Pop Goes the Diesel

Season 2, Episode 12

Duck talks endlessly about doing things the Great Western way, but it's put to a stop when a Class 08 shunter comes to the yard and Duck is asked to show him around. The Class 08, known as Diesel, brags about how diesels are revolutionary, and Duck asks him to fetch his trucks for him. Diesel takes some rusty trucks and runs into trouble with them and feels humiliated, especially when the trucks sing at him.

Ah yes; the story that introduced the series' first villain, Devious Diesel. Although, he isn't exactly a villain, more or less on the lines of an arrogant idiot. I do love his theme music, though. I know it doesn't have anything to do with the review, but I actually voiced Diesel for the Thomas the Tank Engine Community remake of this episode for the US dub, influenced from George Carlin. Not much to say here, really; it's my favorite of the trilogy.

RWS/TV Series Rating: 9 out of 10

Dirty Work

Season 2, Episode 13

Blaming Duck for making him look foolish, Diesel plots vengeance by telling lies about him to the trucks, saying that Duck called Gordon, Henry and James rude names, and the big engines are furious with him. The Fat Controller listens to each side of the story, and sends him away to Wellsworth for the time being.

Like Duck Takes Charge, the set up of Tidmouth Sheds in the TV adaptation doesn't work; there's two extra spaces in the sheds! Maybe if Thomas and Percy were there as well, it'd make more sense. Yes, it sounds like shoehorning, but still. Despite that error, the episode is good with the moral on jumping to conclusions. On a sidenote, I prefer the US title Diesel's Devious Deed since it makes better sense for the story.

RWS/TV Series Rating: 8 out of 10

A Close Shave

Season 2, Episode 14

Edward helps Duck settle in at Wellsworth, where the pannier tank serves as banking engine. One day, a goods train breaks away and gives chase to Duck. Luckily, he manages to slow them down just enough to prevent crashing into another train, but he runs into a barber shop, much to the barber's fury. The Fat Controller explains everything, praises Duck for his heroism, and allows him to come home having sent Diesel packing for telling lies.

This was the episode that won Duck the respect of many fans (why Emily didn't get that in her debut episode, I'll never know). The crash was amazingly filmed, and I don't think I have much to say, really. Is it in my Top 10 for season two? Err... not really.

RWS/TV Series Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Stray Observations

In the first illustration for Domeless Engines, you can see two men observing Duck; they're believed to be the Rev. W. Awdry (the man dressed like a vicar) and C. Reginald Dalby (the man with the bowtie). Brian Sibley implies that Awdry might be showing Dalby what Duck looks like.

A Close Shave has the most illustrations for any story; nine. It is only matched by Little Old Twins in the following book. The story is also inspired by an accident at a railway station in Hull, Yorkshire.

Diesel's nickname for Gordon, Galloping Sausage, was intended for Gresley's experimental W1 No. 10000 4-6-4 streamlined "Hush-Hush" prototype. Speaking of nicknames, they were expanded upon in three of Christopher's annual stories from 1990-1992, explaining how Diesel came up with those nicknames.

Overall

So, the $64,000 question; is it the best RWS book in my opinion? Er... no. Maybe it's down to my personal bias against Duck because of... you know what, but on the other buffer, the story presented in the book (with the possible exception of Domeless Engines) really flowed nearly seamlessly and gave us a taste as to what was to come. Duck might not be my most favorite right now, but his book does earn a respectable rating from me.

Overall Book Rating: 8.5 out of 10

The Railway Series Scorecard

1. The Three Railway Engines: 8.4

2. Thomas the Tank Engine: 9
3. James the Red Engine: 7.5
4. Tank Engine Thomas Again: 9.5
5. Troublesome Engines: 8.1
6. Henry the Green Engine: 8.4
7. Toby the Tram Engine: 9
8. Gordon the Big Engine: 8.6
9. Edward the Blue Engine: 9.3
10. Four Little Engines: 8.8
11. Percy the Small Engine: 8.9
12. The Eight Famous Engines: 8.8
13. Duck and the Diesel Engine: 8.5

Thomas and Friends Season 2 Scorecard

2. Cows: 8

3. Bertie's Chase: 9

4. Saved from Scrap: 9.5

5. Old Iron: 10
7. Percy and the Signal: 9
8. Duck Takes Charge: 8
9. Percy and Harold: 8.5
11. Percy Takes the Plunge: 6.5
12. Pop Goes the Diesel: 9
13. Dirty Work: 8
14. A Close Shave: 8.5

Thomas and Friends Season 3 Scorecard

1. A Scarf for Percy: 8.5
2. Percy's Promise: 6.5
3. Time for Trouble: 6
4. Gordon and the Famous Visitor: 8

9. Henry's Forest: 9
10. The Trouble with Mud: 4

26. Thomas and Percy's Christmas (Mountain) Adventure: 7.5 (UK) / 4 (US)