Air date: September 2, 2019 (UK), August 3, 2019 (US)
Bulgy thinks people should travel by bus instead of rail, and when he sees an accident at the construction site that pollutes the water tower, he does not tell anyone.
Tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: For Bulgy. In fact, this is his first spotlight episode since season 7's "Bulgy Rides Again".
- Affectionate Parody: The Imagine Spot is one of cheesy '60s superhero shows.
- An Aesop: Everyone likes to do a job they can feel proud of, but that doesn't mean you have to be the only one who does it.
- Blue Is Heroic: In Bulgy's Imagine Spot, where he and Bertie are superheroes, they wear blue masks.
- Continuity Nod: In the life lesson segment, Thomas recalls the events of "Saving Time".
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Said word for word by Bulgy after realising the Fat Controller heard him lamenting contaminating the water in the first place.
- Gone Horribly Right: Bulgy accidentally contaminates the water tower, causing the engines to fall ill, and he gets to steal their passengers. However, the sheer amount of passengers causes Bertie to break down. Bulgy takes Bertie's passengers, but they all get squished, and he breaks down too.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Even after he reformed in "Bulgy Rides Again", Bulgy's anti-rail ways are in full swing in this episode, wherein he does anything he can to convince the passengers that roads are better than rails.
- Imagine Spot: Bulgy has one where he and Bertie are superheroes, and they save the townspeople from Percy's evil forces.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bulgy causes a bag of soil to contaminate the water inside a water tower. While the contamination was an accident, he deliberately says nothing of it for his plan to get people to travel by bus instead of train to succeed. When Bertie breaks down, Bulgy tries to take both Bertie's passengers as well as his own, and ends up breaking an axle. To add insult to injury, due to Butch having to take Bertie to the garage to be repaired, Bulgy has to be taken to the garage by train, specifically a very amused Thomas.
- Luminescent Blush: In his Imagine Spot, Bulgy blushes after a woman kisses him.
- Mythology Gag:
- Both the episode title and Bulgy's chant "Free the roads from railway tyranny", a line he used in his original appearance in The Railway Series.
- From this episode onward, Bertie gains his "CRD 54" license plate, also from The Railway Series (and a reference to his original illustrator, C Reginald Dalby, who threw in the visual gag in the 1954 book Edward the Blue Engine).
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: While it's set about through convenient accident, it almost seems that Bulgy has indeed set railways back significantly for a while. However this works a little too well for Bulgy in the end and he is discovered.
- Obliviously Evil: Bulgy is implied to be this. Bulgy makes himself out to be a superhero in his Imagine Spot, when he's far from it in actuality. In addition, he portrays Percy as a villain, forcing passengers against their will to travel by train instead of bus, again, unlike in actuality.
- Out of Character: In Bulgy's Imagine Spot, Percy is portrayed as a villain, when he's actually extremely kind and empathetic. However, it is from Bulgy's point of view.
- Planes, Trains, and Imbeciles: Bulgy successfully manages to overtake the engines when he (accidentally) contaminates a water tower and (intentionally) says nothing about it to them. He and Bertie have to take the engines' passengers, which first results in Bertie overfilling and breaking down, then the same happening to Bulgy when he tries to take both the railway's passengers and Bertie's.
- Smooch of Victory: In Bulgy's Imagine Spot, after saving everyone from Percy, a woman kisses him, calling him her hero.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In his debut episode, Bulgy called Bertie too small in size to be of any use. In this episode, he's a lot friendlier towards Bertie, if only because he wants to help him prove that buses are better than trains. He even offers to take Bertie's passengers when Bertie breaks down.
- Unreliable Narrator: Bulgy. He makes out Percy to be evil, when Percy is actually very sweet.
- Vanity License Plate: Bulgy gains a license plate that says, "BLG1".
- What the Hell, Hero?: Sir Topham Hatt calls Bulgy out at the end of the episode for causing confusion and delay.
