U.S. Title: A Close Shave For Duck
Air date: November 5th, 1986
Adapted from: Duck and the Diesel Engine, "A Close Shave"
Duck tells Edward that Diesel has been telling lies about him and made the big engines and the Fat Controller think he told tales to the trucks, but Edward assures him that the Fat Controller doesn't think he's horrid. Edward then asks Duck to help him with his trucks and Duck happily agrees. Soon, Duck helps Edward push the trucks up Gordon's Hill. When the job is done, Duck strolls down the hill only to hear a Guard's warning whistle. The troublesome trucks have broken away from Edward's coupling, knocked their guard off the brake van, and are chasing Duck down the line. Duck tries his best to stop them from crashing into James' passenger train and is diverted into a siding where a barber has set up shop.
Duck crashes into the barber shop. He apologises to the barber for crashing into the building, but the barber doesn't accept his apology because he frightened his customers, and lathers shaving cream all over his face, leaving Duck embarrassed. As Thomas arrives with the breakdown train to clear the mess, the Fat Controller arrives too and explains that Duck and his crew prevented a serious accident, referring to it as "A Very Close Shave". The barber realises his mistake and washes Duck's face with water, apologising for misjudging him.
The Fat Controller then informs Duck that after he's washed and mended, he's coming home to the yard, but Duck is confused. He thinks that the big engines still don't like him and prefer Diesel, but the Fat Controller also informs him that he found out about Diesel's lies and sent him away in disgrace, and that the engines are sorry and want him back. The Fat Controller is good as his word and everyone welcomes the Great Western engine back with cheers of whistles.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Adapted Out: The foreign engines from the book were not adapted here, and Edward and James respectively took the role of pulling the runaway goods and passenger train Duck nearly crashed into.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: While not directly stated, the illustrations of the book imply the barber shop is a good distance from the end of the track, as the crashed Duck and brake van are sitting on soil with grooves Duck's wheels created (which would have slowed him down compared to the smooth rails). Due to the models in the show being track-powered, the track leads straight into the barber shop, making one wonder what was going through the barber's head when he set up shop and leaving no opportunity for outside forces to slow down Duck such that he wouldn't just barrel through the shop and kill everyone inside.
- Artistic License – Physics: It is most likely that the barber and his customers would... not have survived Duck crashing into the barber shop if this was Real Life.
- Barbershop Episode: A variant; Duck crashes into the C&B Barbershop as a result of trying to slow down the Troublesome Trucks (and just barely manages to avoid crashing into James' passenger train in the process). The Barber, who was in the process of shaving a customer, lathers Duck's face with shaving cream as retribution, but when the Fat Controller tells him about how Duck saved the lives of everyone on board James' train, the Barber apologises to Duck and washes the shaving cream off.
- Big Damn Heroes: Duck and his crew prevent the heavily loaded trucks from hurting anyone further down the line.
- Book Ends: Considering that this is the third and last episode of the Duck/Diesel saga, the episode ends with Duck on the rotating turntable just like in the beginning of "Pop Goes the Diesel", only this time he goes with the other engines celebrating his return.
- Car Meets House: Engine meets barber shop, to be specific.
- Composite Character: In Duck and the Diesel Engine, the engine leaving the station that Duck and his crew barely avoid crashing into is an unnamed foreign engine. Here, the character's role is taken by James.
- Compressed Adaptation: A few examples.
- In the book, Duck's time spent in Edward's station lasted for a few days (with a mention of Gordon, James, and Henry ignoring Duck as they pass by), but in this adaptation, it was only one.
- The number of runaway trucks was five and not 20.
- Duck's fireman had to pin the brakes on the guard's van.
- Diesel was sent packing because he was caught spreading Malicious Slander about Henry for no good reason, causing the Fat Controller to conclude that he was a petty engine who would gladly cause trouble just for the fun of it. In this adaptation, he was sent packing because the Fat Controller never believed Diesel in the first place.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: The barber lathers shaving cream all over Duck's face.
- Deus ex Machina: It seems that the trucks are going to push Duck into the coaches, but he gets diverted into a siding. Subverted in that he crashes into the barbershop.
- Didn't Think This Through: Sure, barber, set up shop at the end of a train track without any buffers. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? note
- Digital Destruction: In the restored version, one of the stop motion frames when the barber lathers Duck's face is omitted, causing a much jankier-looking scene.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After everything that happened to Duck in the previous episode and after crashing into the barber shop, the Fat Controller and the other engines now realise that Diesel had lied and was sent away, and the engines give Duck a warm welcome back to the sheds after coming home from being mended.
- Failed a Spot Check: You have to wonder how nobody In-Universe noticed the obvious danger of a barber shop being built at the end of a train track without any buffers.
- Failsafe Failure: The trucks knock their guard off his van, preventing him from bringing them to a controlled stop at the foot of Gordon's Hill, nevertheless he was able to whistle a warning to Duck.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The brake van gains the face of a troublesome truck in the first and third Suddery Junction scenes.
- Grand Finale: Of the "Duck and the Diesel Engine" arc.
- High-Speed Train Reroute: Crosby's signalman switches Duck and the runaway trucks into the yard at the last second.
- Hope Spot: When the runaway trucks reach Duck, the first plan of action is to let them run out of momentum in a mile. However, that all changes when the crew sees James pulling out from the station in front of them.
- Jerkass Realization: The barber washes Duck's face when the Fat Controller explains Duck's actions.
- Karma Houdini: Reconstructed. The trucks are in a heap as a result of the accident they caused, but all the same are left feeling very pleased with themselves.
- Lack of Empathy: The trucks attempt to push Duck into James' train, knowing full well that many passengers could die. After the crash into the barber shop, they didn't show any concern for the Guard whom they've knocked off of the brake van since they were too proud of the chaos they've caused.
- Lethally Stupid: The barber endangers his customers (and himself) by setting up shop at the end of a train track without any buffers. Fortunately, Artistic License prevents them from being killed by Duck crashing through the wall.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: The trucks are more dangerous here than in most episodes, where they are usually more mischievous than malicious. This is because they try to push Duck into the back of a passenger train, which would have likely resulted in the deaths of many innocent passengers had Duck not held them back in time to be diverted into a siding.
- Offscreen Karma: The Fat Controller told Duck that he had realised Diesel's lies (explained in the novel as finding him directed Malicious Slander to Henry this time) and sent him packing to the other railway.
- Oh, Crap!: When Duck sees James pulling out on his line from the station ahead, realizing at any moment there will be a deadly crash.
- Pet the Dog: The Fat Controller is very proud of Duck and explains while the barber has every right to be upset his shop was damaged and demand compensation, he has no right to attack his heroes who saved his and many other people's lives. In the book, he promises to tell his idol City of Truro all about his bravery.
- Once he realises the full situation, the barber washes off the shaving cream on Duck's face and apologizes for his rudeness.
- Rail-Car Separation: The Troublesome Trucks break away from Edward after Duck helps Edward to the top of Gordon's Hill. They chase after Duck, who does his best to slow them to a halt. Though they just barely manage not to crash into James' passenger train, the trucks continue to push Duck, causing him to crash into a barber shop.
- Rejected Apology: When Duck apologizes to the Barber for destroying his shop, the Barber refuses to accept his apology and lathers his face as retribution for frightening his customers.
- Runaway Train: What the troublesome trucks deliberately cause.Troublesome Trucks: Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! We've broken away! We've broken away! Chase him! Bump him! Throw him off the rails!
- Skewed Priorities: The barber is angry at Duck for frightening his customers more than the hole in his wall. However, he realises his mistake after the Fat Controller explains to him how Duck stopping the trucks prevented an even worse collision.
- So Proud of You: The Fat Controller commends Duck for his bravery in stopping the trucks.
- Tempting Fate: Duck's driver during the chase:Driver: Another clear mile, and we'll do it. [sees James' train, which is right in the runaway's path] Oh, glory, look at that!
- Too Dumb to Live: The barber and his customers conduct their business at the end of a train track, with no buffers for protection. They never realise anything wrong with this. They would have all been seriously injured at best and most likely killed, if the same accident happened in real life.
- Trauma Conga Line: As if Duck being accused of calling other engines names wasn't enough, he ends up in a situation where he has to hold back a Runaway Train, with the trucks pushing him into the barber shop. As if to add insult to injury, the barber puts shaving cream all over him.
- Visual Pun: The Fat Controller explains that Duck had prevented the trucks from crashing to the coaches and then tells him it was a very close shave while looking at Duck's mouth covered in shaving cream.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Duck holds off Edward's Runaway Train to keep them from crashing into James' train.
