Air date: May 20, 2020 (UK)
One evening, Percy is in a hurry to deliver an important delayed piece of mail. When Sir Topham Hatt receives it, he recognises the seal on the envelope as being from the Queen of England, immediately piquing the interest of Gordon, James, Emily and Rebecca. The other engines initially assume that she is coming to Sodor again, but Sir Topham Hatt learns that Her Majesty has invited him to Buckingham Palace to receive a special award for his services to the railway. The letter states that the ceremony is to be held the following day at 3:00 p.m. and that Prince Charles has specifically requested for Thomas to be the engine to bring Sir Topham Hatt, much to Gordon's annoyance. Thomas arrives shortly afterwards and is informed of tomorrow's plan.
The next morning, Thomas is given a washdown and decorated with banners, while Sir Topham Hatt tries on his new hat and prepares an acceptance speech. Gordon is still bitter that he was not chosen to go, but Henry points out that Gordon has confused the station names in London before. Thomas borrows one of Spencer's coaches and departs Vicarstown with Sir Topham Hatt, bound for London. However, he eventually loses his way and finds himself at Beresford's canal. Beresford is happy to see Thomas again and lifts him up, but Thomas loses one of his banners. Thomas and Sir Topham ask Beresford for directions and he sends them on their way.
Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt eventually make their way into a forested area of track, where tree branches tear off Thomas' other banner, scratch his paintwork, and rip Sir Topham's suit. They emerge on the other side, where a big cream-coloured tender engine runs through a puddle and drenches Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt in muddy water. Further down the line, they stop at a station to be cleaned up. While Sir Topham Hatt goes inside, the same big engine from before rolls up next to Thomas and chastises him for taking her coach, while Thomas tries to explain it does not belong to her. The stationmaster corrects the engine, Duchess, and tells her that her coaches are being checked over. She leaves to collect them, while Thomas goes to the washdown.
At the yard, Thomas is about to pull into the washdown when Duchess accidentally pushes him under a coal hopper on her way to the same washdown. Duchess apologises for her earlier behaviour and formally introduces herself as Duchess of Loughborough, and Thomas allows her to be washed first. She begins to panic that she has forgotten something, but brushes it off and leaves to collect her important passengers. Thomas is then told that the water tank is empty and needs to be refilled before he can be washed, but since he's pressed for time, he will have to go to another washdown further down the line.
Thomas returns to the station, where his fireman offers to go inside to make a phone call to the other washdown to let them know they are coming. Meanwhile, Sir Topham's hat is accidentally crushed when it falls on the ground and a passenger subsequently drops a suitcase on top of it. The clock then strikes 2:00, immediately causing Sir Topham to panic and tell Thomas to get going immediately. Thomas is forced to leave his fireman behind, but Sir Topham Hatt is not made aware of this.
Without his fireman, Thomas is moving extremely slowly because his driver has to both drive him and shovel coal. He encounters Duchess again, who apologises again for earlier but still cannot remember what she has forgotten. As she leaves again, Sir Topham Hatt complains that Thomas is going so slow, which leads Thomas to explain that he had to leave his fireman behind. With no time to lose, Sir Topham Hatt offers to be Thomas' fireman himself.
Further down the line, they encounter Duchess again, who has burst her safety valve, which was what she forgot to check over. Duchess is heading to London too, so Thomas offers to push her the rest of the way.
When they reach the station, Sir Topham disembarks and notices the royal crest on Duchess' running board along with the crowd of people and policemen. He and Thomas realise that they have rescued the Royal Train, much to Thomas' shock. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles both exit Duchess' coaches, surprised to see Thomas and Sir Topham both so dirty. Duchess explains that Thomas ensured that she would be on time, which pleases the Queen. The young Prince tells Thomas that his adventures in the books and his travels around the world have been inspirational to him. The Queen then decides to do the award ceremony at the station to avoid further delays. Sir Topham is hesitant because of how messy he is, but the Queen reasons that the reason he is dirty is because he has proven himself worthy of the award. Prince Charles then presents Thomas with an award for his actions as the crowd at the station erupts into cheers.
This episode contains examples of:
- Back for the Finale:
- Queen Elizabeth II's second (and final) appearance since "Paint Pots and Queens". She even had a speaking role.
- Beresford also returns after his only other appearance in Journey Beyond Sodor.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Being this is the series finale of the series as a whole, it has a lot.
- Sir Topham Hatt remembering the letter from the Queen from "Paint Pots and Queens".
- A photograph of Sir Topham and Lady Hatt can be seen on Sir Topham Hatt's bedroom locker.
- Thomas remembering the mainland canal and the way Beresford picks up Thomas are references to Journey Beyond Sodor.
- Thomas references Henry being rebuilt at Crewe.
- For the second time, the Fat Controller takes over the role of Thomas' fireman.
- Thomas saying "A cow straight on the line and we had to..." is a callback from "Gordon and the Gremlin".
- While helping Duchess, Thomas says "little engines can do big things", which is a reference to Thomas and the Magic Railroad. Thomas sneezing is also a reference to the movie.
- Prince Charles mentions Thomas' travels around the world, which is a reference to Big World! Big Adventures!.
- Book Ends: The series starts and ends with Thomas pulling into a station.
- Cut and Paste Environments: Victoria Station is reused from Vicarstown Station on Sodor, only with British flags inside, and a view of London outside.
- Doomed New Clothes: The Fat Controller's new hat is crushed by a suitcase.
- Grand Finale: Production-wise, this is the final episode of not only Season 24, but also the final episode of Thomas & Friends overall. It was succeeded by its Continuity Reboot, All Engines Go.
- Forgotten Framing Device: The original UK airing and Netflix releases opened with a live-action prologue featuring Prince Harry, which was not acknowledged again.
- Mythology Gag:
- Henry and Gordon talk about events of the cancelled Season 2 episode, "Gordon Goes Foreign".
- The Fat Controller mixing up 'suspicious' and 'auspicious' is similar to the final Railway Series story, "Centenary", in which Percy does the same.
- Prince Charles can be seen holding a faceless toy version of Thomas - this is a reference to Wilbert Awdry's original Thomas models.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Thomas' fireman doesn't appear for the rest of the episode and is not seen at the party. This is justified due to Thomas accidentally leaving him behind. Though, the fireman made a cameo appearance in "Emily's Best Friend".
