Air date: July 27th, 1995 (UK), November 11th, 1996 (US)
Adapted from: The Little Old Engine, "Home at Last"
When Skarloey finally returns home, he is met by a new, little Diesel named Rusty. Rusty explains to Skarloey that he helps to mend the line and do odd jobs. Rusty then brings Skarloey back to the shed to meet a glum Peter Sam, who is sad about his accident with the slate trucks and his cracked funnel. Peter Sam tells Skarloey of a rough, rocking and rolling engine called Duncan who came in his absence, who, as discovered minutes later, has just stuck in a tunnel. Skarloey goes to help, and after leaving some workmen behind to fix the tunnel, he helps Duncan home, where the Fat Controller reprimands Duncan.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Adapted Out: Likely due to time constraints and a lack of relevance in the series proper, no mention is made of the open-air coaches Ada, Jane, and Mabel, Cora the brake van, or of the bogied coaches Millicent and Gertrude.
- Deadpan Snarker: The Fat Controller with this quote when he scolds Duncan.Sir Topham Hatt: There is nothing wrong with that tunnel. You stuck in it because you tried to do "Rock 'n' Roll". Tunnels are not dance floors, and you are not a pop star."
- Disneyfication: A comparatively downplayed example. In the book, the Thin Controller outright threatens to cut down Duncan's cab and funnel. In this adaptation, the threat is only implied with the Fat Controller (who takes the Thin Controller's role) warning Duncan. But between the Fat Controller's threat to have Duncan "cut down to size" and the pointed shot of Duncan's funnel right afterwards, there's little doubt what he means.
- Freudian Threat: The Fat Controller threatens to "cut Duncan down to size" if he acts up again, referring to his long funnel. Duncan immediately stays silent for the rest of the day.
- Jerkass: Duncan is rude, vulgar and something of a blame-shifter with a grudge against Rusty.
- Never My Fault: After a tunnel collapses due to Duncan's "Rock and Roll", he blames it on shoddy construction. His driver and the Fat Controller quickly rebuff this.Duncan: Tunnels should be tunnels, and not rabbit holes!
