Air date: September 6th, 2018
Thomas is working on the Indian Railway. He is amazed by all the animals on top of trains, cows sleeping on the track and elephants wandering around the countryside. He disapproves when his friend Ashima tells him the elephants used to help shunt the carriages, but when Thomas ends up derailed in a paddy field, an elephant comes to his rescue.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Trusty Trunky.
- Also, Rajiv the Royal Engine.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Due to his prideful nature, Noor Jehan doesn't return Rajiv's crush on her.
- An Aesop: There are different ways of doing things.
- The Bus Came Back: Ashima and Rajiv, two engines that were introduced in The Great Race, finally return in this episode.
- Continuity Nod:
- Thomas mentions in his narration that he met Ashima back on Sodor, obviously referring to Thomas & Friends: The Great Race.
- During the And Knowing Is Half the Battle segment, Thomas recalls the events of "Toad and the Whale".
- Distracted by the Sexy: The second he sees Noor Jehan go by, Rajiv gets distracted while introducing himself to Thomas.
- Honorable Elephant: Early in the episode, Ashima tells Thomas that elephants used to work in the shunting yards by shunting trucks when the engines were busy. Trusty Trunky helps push Thomas back onto the rails after he derails, much to the ire of Rajiv when he goes to fetch a breakdown crane. She even washes the mud off Thomas' face afterwards.
- Imagine Spot: Thomas has a rather bizarre one in which Sir Topham Hatt is an elephant and picks up Thomas, Percy, and Emily like toy trains.
- Lampshade Hanging: After he gets derailed, Thomas remarks that he needs to stop daydreaming. Fantasy sequences have become common in every episode as of Season 22 due to the new change in writing style.
- Leitmotif: A variant of "You Can Only Be You", Thomas and Ashima's duet from "The Great Race", can be heard when Ashima first appears in the episode.
- Meaningful Name: Noor Jehan's name means "light of the world", which fits her due to Rajiv's crush on her.
- Screen Tap: The elephant squirts water on the screen at the end of the episode.
- Shown Their Work: Elephants really did
help on railways. - Small Name, Big Ego: Rajiv, who is very prideful of his railway and his crown. You could say he's the Indian equivalent to James.
- Suddenly Voiced: Rajiv, who now has proper speaking roles starting from this episode. Also goes for Shankar, whose first appearance was a brief cameo.
- Toilet Humour: When the elephant shoves its butt in Thomas' face in order to get him back on the track. Thank God that the brown stuff on Thomas' cheek was just mud.
