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For other uses, see Down the Mine (disambiguation).
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“Fire and smoke! I'm sunk!”
― Thomas after falling down a mine

Down the Mine is the twenty-fifth episode of the first series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Gordon the Big Engine.

Plot

One day while Thomas is waiting at Lower Tidmouth, Gordon - who is in disgrace after recently causing trouble by falling into a ditch - pulls in with some trucks. As soon as Gordon stops, Thomas jokes about him smelling of ditch water. Before Gordon can respond, Thomas leaves with his coaches.

Annie and Clarabel are shocked at Thomas' rudeness and scold him for it, but he does not care. Thomas is pleased with his clever joke as he heads off to collect trucks at the lead mines, leaving his coaches still in shock. The mine has many underground tunnels dug up long ago. The tunnels' roofs are strong enough to hold up the weight of trucks, but not engines. At the points, there is a board warning engines not to enter the area.

DowntheMine31

"Please get me out. I won't be naughty again."

Thomas has often tried to pass the board but has always failed. This time, however, he has made a plan. When his fireman leaves the cab to change the points, Thomas bumps the trucks hard enough that he knocks his driver off the footplate, allowing him to pass the board. He moves over unsafe rails, which collapse under his weight, leaving him lodged in a small chasm and feeling very silly. The Fat Controller arrives having seen everything; and chastising Thomas for his naughtiness, begins to think how to get him out. A crane would be too heavy for the ground to support, so he decides to call in Gordon to pull Thomas out. Thomas feels uneasy about this, given how much he has teased Gordon.

Once he hears about Thomas' situation, Gordon heads to the rescue laughing. Arriving at the scene with a winch attached to his buffer beam, Gordon promises to have Thomas out in no time. A long cable is fastened between them and after a lot of hard work and pulling, Gordon manages to finally free Thomas from the chasm. Thomas apologises to Gordon for his cheekiness. Gordon accepts Thomas' apology because he had made him laugh. Now that both engines are in disgrace, they agree to form an alliance and help each other in the future. With that, the two allies head back to the sheds.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • A deleted scene from Thomas and the Guard and stock footage from Thomas and Bertie is used.
  • The dialogue script for this episode was completed on 8 March 1983.
  • This episode was originally written and filmed in 1983 as the test pilot for the television series. The pilot had simpler, fewer characters, and flatter lighting. The pilot was test screened in 1983 and was greenlit by ITV. As of 2023, footage of the pilot has never been seen other than short clips used as stock footage in the final episode.
    • A copy of the pilot was given to Rick Siggelkow, who showed it to his wife and then to a preschool class. The results were positive, launching Shining Time Station, with Siggelkow being the show's co-creator.
    • According to Ian McCue, the pilot footage currently resides in Mattel's storage unit in Southampton with plans of remastering it to be released as a bonus feature on a special DVD for the 80th anniversary in 2025.[citation needed]


  • The events of this episode directly continue into the fourth series episode, Paint Pots and Queens. The events of this episode are later mentioned by Thomas in the second series episode, Percy Takes the Plunge, Thomas again in Blue Mountain Mystery, James in Journey Beyond Sodor, Diesel in Big World! Big Adventures! during the song Where in the World is Thomas? and Thomas again in the twenty-third series episode, Deep Trouble. Furthermore, there is a full-on flashback to this episode in Blue Mountain Mystery. The scene where Thomas falls down the mine was recreated in full CGI. In the flashback, he frantically tries to reverse out of the chasm after falling in, which did not happen in the episode.
  • When originally broadcast in the United Kingdom in January 1985, it was paired with the previous episode. However, VHS releases and later broadcasts instead paired it with Thomas' Christmas Party.
  • Some of the trucks at the mine have "N.E." written on their sides, which is likely a reference to the livery worn by LNER rolling stock (including locomotives) during World War II.
  • The buffers on the truck Thomas bumps into are lowered specifically so that Thomas can hit them properly.
  • According to Britt Allcroft, this episode and the third series episode All at Sea are her favourites.
  • In the Welsh dub, Thomas is not seen bumping the trucks.
  • The Korean title of this episode shares the same as the series premiere.
  • Pictures of this episode were used for the end credits section of Mister Moose's Fun Time and for Storytime with Thomas.
  • This episode marks the first time a danger sign is used. Coincidentally, the one shown in this episode would later appear in the second series episode Percy Takes the Plunge, where Thomas references the events of this episode.
  • Roland Rat introduced this episode alongside Off the Rails when the pairing was first aired in 1985. On its airing in December 1985, the episode was introduced by Rod Hull and Emu on 20 December 1985 individually before the airing of Thomas' Christmas Party just four days later.
  • This marks the first of two things:
    • The first time an engine has shed tears on screen.
    • The first time the full "Danger" theme is used in the series; the last few bars of the theme were first heard in Thomas, Terence and the Snow.
  • This is the only episode narrated by Ringo Starr not to be featured on any other DVDs in the UK apart from The Complete Series 1.
  • This episode marks the last appearance of Thomas' first series worried face until the third series episode, Thomas Gets Bumped with eyebrows modified to resemble a concerned face in future seasons, and his cheeky one.
  • Scenes from this episode were recreated for the Japanese web video series, Salaryman Thomas.

Goofs

  • The Croatian dub uses the dubbing track of Off the Rails.
  • At the beginning of the episode, the narrator refers to Lower Tidmouth as "the junction".
  • In a close-up shot of Clarabel, a white wire is visible behind her left window (viewers' right).
  • When Thomas shunts Annie and Clarabel, his eyes are misaligned, and the coaches are also missing their nameplates.
  • Because footage from the unaired pilot is used:
    • The lining on Thomas' cab and splashers are missing.
    • Thomas is missing his lamp irons.
    • Smoke can be seen coming out of Thomas' eyes due to the model's performance.
    • Annie and Clarabel disappear from their position beside the signal box.
  • In the close-up of the danger sign, it says "Engines must not pass this board," but in the shot just before, and when Thomas passes the sign, it says "Engines must not pass this point" instead. The same is true with several promotional shots.
  • After the fireman goes to turn the points, he disappears in the next shot.
  • A small piece of hair can be seen on the left side of Thomas' smokebox in the close up of Thomas after the Fat Controller suggests that Gordon will pull him out.
  • Thomas' side rods are in different positions before and after Gordon pulls him out of the mine.
  • After Gordon pulls Thomas out of the mine, Thomas' eyes are slightly misaligned.
  • Thomas' wheels drag along the line for a few seconds before he blows his whistle when he and Gordon leave the lead mines.

Quotes

Thomas: Phew! What a funny smell. Can you smell a smell?
Annie: I can't smell a smell.
Thomas: A funny musty sort of smell.
Gordon: No one noticed it until you did. It must be yours.
Thomas: Annie, Clarabel, do you know what I think it is? It's ditch water!

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Albanian Poshtë në miniërë
Brazilian Portuguese Rumo à mina
Chinese Mandarin 去矿山
Croatian U rudniku
Czech V dole
Danish Ned i minen
Dutch De mijn in
Finnish Kaivoksilla
French Dans la mine
German In der Mine
Greek Στο ορυχείο
Hebrew המכרה
Hungarian A bánya
Italian La locomotiva sprofondata
Japanese あなにおちたトーマス
Korean 토마스와 고든
Latin American Spanish En la mina
Norwegian Nede i gruva
Polish W kopalni
Romanian În mină
Romansh Giu en la mina
Russian Паровоз провалился
Serbian U rudniku
Slovak Dolú v bání
Slovenian Padec v rudnik
Swedish Ner i gruvan
Ukrainian Глибоко у шахті
Welsh I Lawr y Pwll

Merchandise

Take-n-Play

  • Tales from the Past Engines Pack (discontinued)

Books

Magazine story

Home Video Releases

UK

UK VHS/DVD Boxsets

WAL

US

CAN

  • Better Late than Never and Other Stories (Ringo Starr's dub)
  • Thomas and His Friends Help Out
  • Thomas and His Friends Get Along
  • Best of Gordon
  • The Early Years (UK dub)

US/CAN DVD Packs

AUS

  • Coal and Other Stories
  • Series One

AUS DVD Packs

NZ

ZA

IND

MYS

PHL

LATAM

BRA

ITA

FRA

ROM

ROM DVD Pack

NL

NL DVD Pack

GER

GER DVD Boxsets

NOR/ICE

DK

SWE

FIN

SVN

HRV

SRP

GRC

GRC DVD Boxset

TUR

  • Brave Hero (VCD)
  • Brave Hero and Hello Thomas (DVD)

THA

JPN

JPN DVD Boxsets

KOR

CHN

HK

Episode


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