05/09/2026
Granpuff is the first episode of the fourth series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book Duke the Lost Engine.
Plot
One cold winter night on the Island of Sodor, the howling wind keeps the engines in the shed awake. Toby decides that the engines need to listen to a mysterious story, though Duck wishes to hear a story with a happy ending. Thomas then tells the others a story his driver had told him recently of three little engines who lived on a little railway in their own sheds. The story features a green engine named Stuart, a blue one named Falcon and an old brown tender engine named Duke. He was the oldest engine on the line and named after the Duke of Sodor.
Duke felt very proud of this and decided it was his responsibility to keep the younger engines in order. While other engines came and went, Duke outlasted all of them. Stuart and Falcon gave Duke the nickname "Granpuff". The two were very fond of him but they did sometimes tire of hearing about "His Grace" and would occasionally tease him.
One day, Duke soon warned Stuart and Falcon that, if they did not behave, they would end up like Smudger, an engine he used to work with. Smudger was a showoff who was very cocky, conceited and careless, and ran roughly and often derailed, spilling his loads. Duke tried to warn him but Smudger simply did not care about some spills and laughed at Duke to mock him. However, his madness came to an end one day when the manager told him they were going to make him useful at last by taking his wheels away. From then on, the only running Smudger did was as a generator behind the shed and he was never able to move again.
Stuart and Falcon began behaving better after hearing about Smudger. They both became very useful and all three remained happy friends for years. However, over time, the mines in the hills closed, and it was not long before the rest of the railway followed suit. As a result, the engines were all put up for sale. Stuart and Falcon were bought but no one wanted to buy an old engine like Duke. Stuart promised Duke that he and Falcon would find another railway for him to run on.
Duke's crew oiled and greased him one last time, put tarpaulins on him and bade him a final goodbye as they locked him in his shed and left to find new jobs. Duke went to sleep, waiting for the day he would be able to run again. As time went by, torrents of rain washed soil down from the mountains and plants grew all around, burying the shed. Nobody would know that a small shed was there nor an engine asleep inside it.
Percy is disappointed that the story does not have a happy ending. Thomas assures Percy that there is one but it will have to wait for another night.
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