History Recap / ThomasTheTankEngineS4E2SleepingBeauty

'''Air date''': April 16th, 1995 (US,) October 17th, 1995 (UK)

'''Adapted from''': ''[[Recap/TheRailwaySeriesB25DukeTheLostEngine Duke the Lost Engine]]'', "Sleeping Beauty"

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ttterecapsleepingbeauty.png]]

This episode is part two of Thomas' story about the Mid-Sodor Railway. After the Railway closes down, Duke is left in his shed to sleep until he is needed again. Decades pass and one day a team of people approach the Fat Controller with the intention of finding Duke. The railway has since been overgrown by nature, but the team has maps that will lead them to Duke.

After many hours the search ends, quite by accident, when one of the team members falls through the roof of Duke's shed, having not realized he was standing on it and age had weakened the roof to where it could collapse. Duke wakes up and asks the men if they are vandals, but they assure him that they are there to rescue him and reunite him with Stuart and Falcon. After digging him out of the shed, they take Duke to his new home, the Skarloey Railway. Falcon and Stuart - now Sir Handel and Peter Sam - reunite with their old friend, who complained that they woke him up and started to tell them about the good old days.

!!Tropes featured in the episode:
* CobwebOfDisuse: Duke is covered in cobwebs as a result of spending decades sleeping in a shed that was buried by an overgrowth of vegetation.
* CompositeCharacter:
** The Fat Controller takes the role of the Small Controller from ''[[Recap/TheRailwaySeriesB25DukeTheLostEngine Duke the Lost Engine]]'' in their search for Duke.
** Skarloey's train was used to represent Bert's train from the original story and also he was used to represent an Arlesdale Railway engine despite not being introduced until they were in ''WesternAnimation/SodorsLegendOfTheLostTreasure''.
* FloorboardFailure: A rescuer searching for Duke unknowingly stands on the roof of his shed, which collapses under his weight, causing him to fall inside and find Duke.
* HappyEnding: The story ends on a happy note when Duke gets a new home on the Skarloey Railway with his old friends, Stuart and Falcon.
* InsultOfEndearment: After Stuart and Falcon leave, Duke says "impudent scallywags" with a smile on his face.
* PreviouslyOn: Because this is the second part of the story, Thomas first briefly retells the previous episode for clarity.
* RipVanWinkle: Duke spends several decades sleeping in his shed. He is awakened when one of the rescuers searching for him falls on him after the roof he is standing on collapses under his weight.
* StockFootage: Footage from "Granpuff" is used.
* TitleDrop: When the rescuers find Duke asleep in his shed, they say, "We found him! We found our sleeping beauty!"
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Thomas continues his story about Duke.

* TitleDrop: When the rescuers find Duke asleep in his shed, they say, "We found him! We found our sleeping beauty!"

* AttentionWhore: At the start of the episode, Percy wants to wake the other engines up so they can see his new paint.
* HappyEnding
* HypocriticalHumor: James accuses Percy of wanting to show off his new paint. Never mind how much he loves to show off his paint himself.
* PreviouslyOn: Because this is the second part of the story, Thomas first briefly retells the previous episode for clarity.

* Happy Ending

This episode is part two of Thomas' story about the Mid-Sodor Railway. After the Railway closed down, Duke was left in his shed to sleep until he is needed again. Decades pass and one day a team of people approach the Fat Controller with the intention of finding Duke. The railway has since been overgrown by nature, but the team has maps that will lead them to Duke.

This episode is part two of Thomas' story about the Mid-Sodor Railway.

* Happy Ending

This episode is part two of Thomas' story about the Mid-Sodor Railway.