Airdate: June 12th, 2017 (UK), July 6th, 2018 (US)
Adapted from: Small Railway Engines, "Mike's Whistle"
One day, Thomas arrives at Arlesburgh Junction to pick up some ballast for his branch line. He is laughing to himself and explains to the miniature engines that Duck's driver boiled an egg on his whistle and some of the egg got stuck, resulting in Duck's whistle making high-pitched raspberry noises. He tells the engines not to laugh, but cannot hold in his laughter as Duck arrives. As Duck and Thomas leave, Mike tells the others that if an engine cannot whistle properly, they are not a proper engine. Rex teases him, causing Mike to get cross, and his steam pressure goes so high that his safety valve blows off. The Small Controller finds out that Mike is overheating and puts him on passenger duties and Bert on goods duty, much to Mike's annoyance, as he hates passenger trains.
As Mike is pulling his passenger train, he becomes convinced that Rex and Bert are making fun of his whistle because they are jealous. To reassure himself, he begins whistling at everything in sight, even though he is only required to do so at certain points on the line that are indicated by boards.
Mike's driver checks him over and cannot figure out what is wrong. On the return journey, his driver hears something rattling, but Mike objects to have it checked until they get back to Arlesburgh. However, the line is blocked by a cow, and Mike attempts to shoo it off with his whistle. He blows it so hard and so loud that the cap shoots off and lands in a field. His driver and guard look for it without success. The passengers are getting impatient, and Mike's driver and guard cannot search anymore. Instead, the passengers volunteer to whistle for him by making noise whenever they pass the boards where he is required to whistle.
Mike is late returning to Arlesburgh, where he finds Duck, whose whistle has been fixed. Duck sympathizes with Mike, but has to leave as Thomas arrives. Rex calls Mike an "improper engine," prompting Bert and Thomas to join in on the teasing. Mike regrets getting annoyed so easily, but is finally able to have a laugh at his expense.
This episode contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Despite being teased by the other engines about losing his whistle, Mike finally laughs about his situation.
- Bowdlerization: Mike exclaims "Get out of my way, you silly animal!" at the cow, instead of "Get out of my way, you stupid animal!" in the original book. This was likely to avoid any criticism for alluding to profanity in the television series.
- Disneyfication: In the book version, Mike is scolded by the Small Controller for losing his whistle and is later laughed at by the other engines. In here, he isn't scolded, and while the other engines tease him, Mike eventually laughs about the whole situation.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: Thomas, Rex, and Bert tease Mike about losing his whistle.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Mike's temper is what causes him to lose his whistle.
- High-Pressure Emotion: Mike was so cross that his steam pressure was high, resulting in his safety value blowing off.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Mike says that "engines without whistles aren't engines at all". Guess what happens when he tries to whistle away a cow.
- Toilet Humor: Due to Duck's drivers using his boiler to cook eggs the night before, Duck's whistle makes a sound that is played out to be humorous to the other engines. In the original Railway Series story, the sound was only described as "burpling noises". Here, it's interpreted as the whistle making fart noises.
