The Twin Engines

"Did you say two engines, Inspector?" "Yes, sir." "Then send the other back at once!" "Certainly, sir. But which?"

- The Fat Controller and the Inspector

The Twin Engines is the fifteenth book of The Railway Series.

Foreword
Dear Friends, The Fat Controller has just been having a disturbing time! He ordered one goods engine from Scotland and was surprised to receive two!

They had both lost their numbers and no one knew which was which. So he didn't know which engine to keep. The Author

"Hullo Twins!"
The engines are pleased to hear a goods engine is arriving from Scotland. However, two engines arrive. The Fat Controller goes to meet the engines, attempting to sort the matter, but only manages to discover they have "lost their numbers", as they put it, and they have since named themselves Donald and Douglas. The Fat Controller orders for them to have numbers painted on them and puts them to work, but is determined to find out which engine should not be here and send him back.

The Missing Coach
Donald and Douglas (now #9 and #10 respectively), before setting off to be shown around the yard by Duck, realize they have numbers painted only on their tenders. One afternoon, Douglas is shunting in the Yard and worries about being sent away, thus indicating that he is not the engine that was supposed to come here and that Donald was. Unfortunately, he ends up forgetting to shunt Thomas' Special Coach. To evade the angry complaints of the passengers, the twins decide to swap tenders so as to convince the Fat Controller that Donald has taken his goods train, but to no avail. The Fat Controller, not being fooled, reprimands Douglas severely.

Break Van
Under the threat of one of the twins being sent away, the twins behave fairly well, until a spiteful brake van causes trouble for Douglas. Donald soon puts the van right, until he crashes backwards into a signal box in a siding. The Fat Controller scolds him, despite deciding to send Douglas back and keep him, having upset his arrangements again; assigning his goods work to James in the meantime. With the brake van and the trucks sensing James' fury, they give him a hard time pulling his train. Eventually, Douglas has to help James up Gordon's Hill as a banker. The brake van holds back again, but gets its comeuppance after Douglas, while straining up the hill, accidentally crushes it. The Fat Controller comes to supervise the clean-up, and has mixed feelings about Douglas staying.

The Deputation
Winter comes early, and Donald and Douglas ask to help clear the line. They manage to rescue Henry from a snowdrift, but they are still worried as it now looks like both of them will be sent back. The engines, upset over the possibility of the twins being sent back, under Edward's advice to Percy, organize a deputation, assigning Percy as their representative. Percy talks to the Fat Controller, telling him that Donald and Douglas will be scrapped if they return to Scotland, prompting the Fat Controller to finally make up his mind. He gives the twins new coats of paint and nameplates and allows them both to stay. The news is met with thunderous whistles and cheers of joy between the engines.

"Hullo Twins!"

 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Sir Charles Topham Hatt II

The Missing Coach

 * Thomas
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Sir Charles Topham Hatt II
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * The Foreign Gentlemen
 * James

Break Van

 * Edward
 * James
 * Donald and Douglas
 * The Spiteful Brake Van
 * Sir Charles Topham Hatt II
 * Henry
 * Gordon

The Deputation

 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * Percy
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Sir Charles Topham Hatt II
 * James

Locations

 * Island of Sodor
 * Tidmouth
 * Sir Topham Hatt's Office
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Tidmouth Yards
 * Kanpford
 * Ffarquhar Branch Line
 * Wellsworth
 * Gordon's Hill
 * The Mainland
 * Scotland
 * Barrow-in-Furness

Trivia

 * The Fat Controller's line "Now, which one of you is 57646?" is a subtle joke as, in reality, the 812 class' numbers only went up to 57645.
 * Gordon references Tugboat Annie, a 1933 MGM film about a tough old widow who captains a tugboat.
 * A television series adaptation of "The Missing Coach" along with "Break Van" and "The Deputation" was planned for the second series, confirmed by David Mitton in 1985. However, Britt Allcroft scrapped the idea halfway through production, citing that the plot would be too complicated for young viewers.
 * The illustration on the front cover shows one of the twins with the British Railways Cycling Lion crest.
 * The title of the third story, "Break Van" is a pun on the word brake van, as in the story, the van breaks.
 * This book has the smallest amount of illustrations in it, with only twenty-six.
 * The events of this book take place in 1959.
 * This is the first Railway Series book released in the 1960's.

Goofs

 * When Percy, Gordon and Henry mix up the pronunciation of "deputation", Edward is visible in the shed; however, he does not correct them. Furthermore, it is mentioned that Percy ran back to the shed quickly, implying that he went immediately back. Edward was previously seen with some coaches, so if he had to take a train or shunt the coaches, then Percy should have arrived at the shed long before he did. In addition, one of the twins is missing in the scene.
 * In the fifth illustration of "Break Van" the Spiteful Brake Van is facing forwards, but in the next illustration, he is facing backwards. Also in this illustration, James' black lining along his wheel splashers is gone and his cab roof is red.
 * In the fourth illustration of "The Missing Coach", Clarabel is longer than Annie and Thomas is missing the red lining on his left wheel splasher.
 * In the fifth illustration of "The Missing Coach", Thomas has black wheels.
 * With the exception of Thomas in the fourth illustration of "The Missing Coach", none of the other Engines have lamps/codes.
 * In the second illustration, James is missing his handrails.

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