Henry Gets the Express

"Express coming through!" "But, that's my line!"

- Henry and Gordon

Henry Gets the Express is the third episode of the twentieth series.

Plot
One morning, Gordon is not ready to leave the sheds, as his firebox had not been cleaned out the previous night. Thomas tells Gordon not to be surprised if another engine replaces him for the express and suggests that Henry could do it based on his own experience. However, Gordon doubts that Henry would be capable of doing it, claiming that things have changed since the last time he pulled the express. When Henry becomes nervous, Thomas cheers him up, and the two engines leave the sheds.

Thomas brings the coaches to Knapford, where the Fat Controller is waiting for Gordon. Thomas tells him that Gordon is not ready yet and suggests that Henry fill in for him, to which the Fat Controller agrees, believing it will teach Gordon a lesson.

Later, Henry sets off with the express. At first, he is a little nervous but soon starts to enjoy himself. Meanwhile, Gordon finally has had his firebox cleaned out and arrives at the station to fetch his train, but finds the Fat Controller there instead. He explains that Henry had to take it and Gordon now has to pull Henry's goods for the rest of the day, to Gordon's disappointment.

Meanwhile, Henry is making good time with the express. His passengers and the railway staff are impressed by his affability. Gordon, on the other hand, is not enjoying his work, and grumpily arrives at Brendam Docks with his goods train, only to be given a train of coal as soon as he arrives. As Gordon is taking the coal train, he stops at a junction where Henry passes by with the express and becomes annoyed when Henry mimics him.

When Gordon returns to Knapford, he asks the Fat Controller if he can go back in pulling the express, but the Fat Controller says that he has to go to the Blue Mountain Quarry. Rheneas greets Gordon when he arrives at the quarry, but Gordon is still in a bad mood. As Gordon begins to leave, the trucks put on their brakes, and then release them, causing Gordon to jump the points and hit a buffer stop. Gordon is finally annoyed with his work, and orders to be uncoupled at once so he can get back to his shed.

That night, Henry returns to the sheds and tells Gordon that he will be more than happy to let him pull the express again. Gordon begins to grumble about the work he had to do. The Fat Controller arrives at the sheds and scolds Gordon for not doing all of his jobs earlier that day. He then orders Gordon to pull the Flying Kipper as punishment and threatens to make Henry the permanent express engine if he refuses to do it. Henry and Thomas outsmart Gordon by claiming that the Flying Kipper is not an easy job, referencing the time when James had an accident with the flying kipper twice, but Gordon is determined to prove them wrong and leaves the sheds.

When Gordon returns to the sheds the next morning, the Fat Controller praises him for successfully delivering the Kipper on time and tells him that he can now go back to being the express engine again. Gordon is delighted, but when the other engines notice how smelly he is, he quickly leaves to go for a wash-down. Henry jokes that Gordon is the stinky express, and all the other engines laugh.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Porter
 * Salty
 * Rheneas
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * Cranky
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * The Kellsthorpe Road Stationmaster
 * The Man with the Green Waistcoat and Grey Hair
 * Edward
 * Percy
 * Emily
 * Paxton
 * Philip
 * Skarloey
 * Peter Sam
 * The Teacher
 * The Blond-haired Boy
 * The Welsh Bird Watcher
 * The Lady with the Big Hat
 * Albert's Wife
 * The Female Puppet Show Entertainer
 * Big Mickey

Locations

 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Tidmouth Goods Station
 * Knapford
 * M.C. Bunn
 * Gordon's Hill
 * Kellsthorpe Road
 * Brendam Docks
 * Sodor Shipping Company
 * Blue Mountain Quarry
 * The Washdown

UK

 * John Hasler as Thomas and Rheneas
 * Keith Wickham as Henry, Gordon, James, Salty, the Fat Controller and the Kellsthorpe Road Stationmaster
 * Steven Kynman as Porter
 * Matt Wilkinson as Cranky
 * Christopher Ragland as the Troublesome Trucks
 * Rob Rackstraw as a Passenger

US

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * Kerry Shale as Henry and Gordon
 * Rob Rackstraw as James and a Passenger
 * David Menkin as Porter
 * Keith Wickham as Salty, Sir Topham Hatt and the Kellsthorpe Road Stationmaster
 * John Hasler as Rheneas
 * Glenn Wrage as Cranky
 * Christopher Ragland as the Troublesome Trucks

Trivia

 * Going by production order, this is the fourth episode of the twentieth series.
 * This episode is one of seven in the twentieth series produced by Robert Anderson, the rest being produced by Tracy Blagdon, along with Sidney Sings, Letters to Santa, Toby's New Friend, Henry in the Dark, Three Steam Engines Gruff and The Christmas Coffeepot. This episode is among the former four that have a copyright date of 2015, while the latter three are dated 2016 like all the other episodes in this series.
 * John Hasler joins the US voice cast, taking over the role of Rheneas in the US dub from Ben Small starting with this episode. This is the only episode to feature him in the US cast, the only episode in the main series where he voices someone other than Thomas and the only episodic production in which he does so until the Thomas & Friends Storytime podcast episode, Thomas and the Gingerbread Train.
 * This episode marks Rheneas' only speaking role in the twentieth series, as well as his last speaking role.
 * When Gordon moans about having to take Henry's trucks, his line, "A goods train, a goods train. The shame!" mirrors his line said in the first series episode, Edward and Gordon, as well in the beginning of the special, The Adventure Begins.
 * Thomas stating that Henry has taken the express before is a reference to the first series episodes, Edward, Gordon and Henry, The Flying Kipper and Off the Rails, the third series episode, The Trouble with Mud, the eighth series episode, Henry and the Wishing Tree and the ninth series episode, Respect for Gordon.
 * When Henry passes Gordon with the express, his line, "Hi, Gordon. Bye, Gordon," mirrors the line Thomas speaks in the sixth series episode, Thomas the Jet Engine when he passes Gordon at high speed.
 * When Gordon attempts to stop the trucks from misbehaving, he tells them he will have none of their nonsense and the trucks reply with "We'll give him nonsense," a reference to the second series episode, Percy's Predicament.
 * A reference to the seventeenth series episode, The Smelly Kipper is made by Thomas.
 * Throughout the entire episode, a reworked arrangement of Gordon's grumpy theme from the third series can be heard.

Goofs

 * The narrator reads the episode's title before it appears onscreen.
 * The Dutch dub incorrectly credits Andrew Brenner as the episode's writer.
 * The Spanish title card is miswrites the word "Tira" ("Pulls") as "Pira."
 * When Gordon backs up to his coal trucks at the docks, his whistle sound is out of sync with the steam emitting from his whistle.
 * When the stationmaster said he wished Henry could pull the express forever, the express coaches have vanished.
 * When Gordon pulls up next to Cranky, his brake van changes from a grey one to a brown one. Also when Gordon couples up to the coal trucks, his previous train on the other track disappears.
 * Paxton can be seen on the upper terraces of the Blue Mountain Quarry, but there are no standard gauge rails up there. As the trucks say "Not so useful," Paxton disappears, then reappears in the following shot.
 * When Gordon is asked to pull "the Flying Kipper" and he reverses back into the shed to sulk, he goes back way too far, indicating he passed the buffers at the back of the shed.

UK

 * Tales from the Rails
 * The Complete Series 20

US

 * Ultimate Friendship Adventures
 * Season 20

IDN

 * Diesel and the Ducklings

Henry Gets the Express Henry Tira del Expreso Henio Prowadzi Ekspres Экспресс Генри