Thomas and the Endorsements

Thomas and the Endorsements is the eighth episode of the first series.

Plot
It was a sunny morning on Thomas' Branch Line, and Thomas was sent to take coal to an arbitrary location. When Thomas arrived at to collect the coal, he saw an 0-4-0 blue tank engine who he had never seen before. The engine's name was Michael Simpson, and he was from South Africa. He had been sent to Sodor to provide air conditioning for the engines' cabs. Thomas was confused, as the engines had no need for air conditioners in their cabs. He thought about how pointless it was to have an engine to do a job that was not needed at all.

When the coal was delivered to Ffarquhar, Thomas saw another steam engine. The little green tank engine's name was Holden, and his job was to take passengers all around the island. Thomas told the engine that to take passengers was his job. Thomas also asked the point of Holden's arrival. Thomas left in huff to continue his work.

Later, Duck delivered some passengers to Ffarquhar and saw two engines that looked very similar to him. The one of the engines says to him that they are his cousins from the West Country. Duck then questions why he as a West Country accent when he is from Paddington. The pannier tank says to him that they can all work on the Little Western together, but Duck tells the engine that they can manage fine. Duck left Ffarquhar as he complained about the Fat Controller's bad decisions.

When night fell, Percy had to share a shed with Michael Simpson. He was teaching Percy some South African swear words.

The next morning, as Duck pulled into Ffarquhar with some goods vans, he nearly crashed when he saw the plethora of new engines blocking the trains that ran on schedule. No one could move and there was nowhere to go. The Fat Controller began to quiet the noise. Thomas asked why there were so many new engines. The Fat Controller tells Thomas that HiT entertainment pays the Fat Controller money to endorse new engines to create new toys for the Thomas and Friends Take 'n' Play Range. Thomas' driver says that the Fat Controller can't give the workers a pay raise, but he can pay for new engines and drivers just to endorse some toys for extra pocket and if he continues, the workers will go on strike.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Percy
 * Duck
 * Michael
 * Holden
 * The Fat Controller
 * Bob
 * Padstow (not named)
 * Duck's West Country Cousins (mentioned)
 * Dudley (cameo)
 * Torrington (cameo)
 * Phil (cameo)
 * Sterling (cameo)

Locations

 * Ffarquhar

Trivia

 * This is the first episode to be co-written by Matt Rynkiewicz.
 * Holden, Michael Simpson, and Padstow all share the same face mask.
 * This episode's original title was Thomas and the Endorsement.

Goofs

 * In the first shot of the traffic jam at Ffarquhar, Michael and Padstow are missing their face masks. But in the closeup of Thomas and Michael, he has his face mask.