Thomas & Friends Windmill

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There is something on Muffle Mountain, a secret that Burnett only shared with his childhood friend and future wife Tasha: he promised he would drive an engine and take her with him. When Patch sees the engine, Burnett reveals the engine's past - her name is Lady since she was sealed inside Muffle Mountain after Diesel 10 crashed and nearly destroyed her long ago. Burnett has fixed her up but informs Patch that she still needs coal to fully run again. Unfortunately, Lady requires special coal to build up steam, which he has not found yet. During the song Really Useful Engine, the captions read "Now he's got a workshop" instead of "Now he's got a branch line." This also occurs during " 'Cause the Fat Controller, he told him so," as the captions instead read "Cause the Last Controller, he told him so." All engines previously with silver side rods (With the exception of Bill and Ben, whomst siderods were removed) gained white siderods after November 2012 starting with 'Welcome Stafford Edition'. That night, Percy finds Splatter and Dodge at the magic buffers. Splatter suggests telling Diesel 10 about the buffers tomorrow and Percy races to warn Thomas.

Mr. Conductor goes to the windmill in search of more gold dust, but ends up lost. He tries to blow his whistle, but his gold dust is completely gone. Meanwhile, the engines gather for a meeting. As Bertie passes by and tells them to smile, all have their individual concerns about Diesel 10 destroying Lady. Thomas heads off to look for Mr. Conductor to help him. Bertie offers a race with Thomas, but Thomas declines the offer and decides to help Mr. Conductor solve some mysteries. Toby goes home to his shed, sad about the trouble he had caused. That night, a fierce storm sweeps across the island and lightning strikes the windmill, destroying it. The next morning, Toby carefully puffs along surveying the storm damage, especially the old windmill. The miller is unable to afford any timber, so he has lost his job. Not wanting to lose the windmill, Toby tries his best to help.

This episode provides examples of:

In the first teaser for the film, Thomas has his regular whistle sound, albeit pitched down a few tones.

Its original sails - more similar to those of the Post Mill - were replaced by the set which it carries today.Diesel 10 was a new engine who came to help while Sir Topham Hatt was away, instead creating problems on the railway. It is possible that this movie is not canon to the show as Chris Lloyd has stated in his interview with SiF, and that Lady does not exist in the show's continuity. However places from this movie have been featured on Sam Wilkinson's 2014 map of Sodor and Diesel 10 has appeared since the movie. This was the only sixth series song to be released in the UK on VHS/DVD until James the Really Splendid Engine on 7th August 2017 although it was the CGI version of the music video instead. Bertie's horn is the same one as the other one used in the first to third series, but in a higher pitch.

The only time for Thomas & Friends production that Shelley Elizabeth-Skinner worked on involved in production (not counting the sixth series and seventh series) For the 16:9 widescreen release, the top and bottom of the film are cropped to fit the widescreen frame, however, several scenes were filmed in 16:9 widescreen, such as:Cranky was meant to have a non-speaking role. In the scene where Splatter and Dodge ask Diesel 10 why he let Mr. Conductor escape, Cranky would have dropped a crate of fruits and vegetables on them. In the final film, Diesel 10 is covered in coal from a hopper. Cranky's model still appears in the film, albeit as set dressing at Knapford.

From the encyclopedia series onwards, the designs of multiple characters were tweaked to be more accurate to their television series designs, such as correct wheel colours (Harvey, James, Whiff, etc), updated face molds (Emily, Edward, Diesel, etc), and other small details (Oliver and Duncan's footplates, the narrow gauge engines gain taillamps, Donald, Douglas, and Oliver gaining siderods, etc). In February 1996, Allcroft was approached by Barry London, then vice-chairman of Paramount Pictures, with an idea for a Thomas film. Allcroft signed a contract to write the script for the film with the working title of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. According to a press release, filming was due to take place at Shepperton Studios in the United Kingdom and the United States, with the theatrical release set to 1997. However, Paramount shelved the plans for the film after London left the company. This led Allcroft to seek other sources of funding. Discussions about the film were held with PolyGram, which did not did not go on any further as the company was in the middle of a corporate restructuring and sale. Mr. Conductor and Lily camp out with Thomas. Mr. Conductor tries to keep Lily entertained, but she is worried about being late as her grandfather told her to return by sunset. After a conversation, they realise that Burnett may hold the key to the clue of the gold dust.The town beside Knapford is replaced with trees, but many cottages and houses are seen during the windmill or at Knapford. Quotes Now, don't look so surprised. I know you haven't seen me since-- You stuffed party poppers down my funnel! Hey, we had a laugh. You did! According to multiple SiF interviews, several of the models were either damaged or lost in transit after being shipped from Toronto to Shepperton. The railway was undergoing major repairs throughout the film, which would explain why Tidmouth Sheds was under repair in the final cut.