Scott and the Herring Gull

"Scott and the Herring Gull" is the eighth episode of The British Railway Series: The End of the LNER.

Plot
The yard is once again busy after New Year, and all the engines have lots of work to do. As the bigger engines go about pulling passenger trains and goods trains, Nigel and George shunt about in the yard. Allen, however, is soon driven mad by the two tank engines' constant talk about cricket. One day, he yells at them to stop, and asks them to talk about something else, like football. Soon, the three engines are chatting away, until the Foreman orders them to get back to work.

Allen takes his passenger train to the junction, and stops under the signal gantry. Just then, an express roars past, and Allen and the engine in front whistle to each other just before the express is out of sight.

The next day, Allen finds the engine on the express talking to Tavish in the yard. He introduces himself as Scott, believing that Allen and Tavish will know him. When they simply exchange glances, he becomes indignant, and even more so when he learns that Allen knows about City of Truro, but not him. After sadly saying that the engine who pulled the famous Flying Scotsman train is now forgotten, Allen asks Scott to tell them about his history. After a long time talking about his past, Scott turns his attention to the yard itself, and asks who lives there. Tavish proceeds to tell Scott about the engines there, but when he mentions Sir Ralph, Scott becomes very surprised. He quietly says that his friend, called Sir Ralph Wedgwood, was lost to a bomb during the war. He tries to deny that there is a Sir Ralph working there, but is absolutely astonished to see the A4 Pacific back down towards him. However, when Sir Ralph sees Scott, he stops and quickly flees the yard. Tavish and Allen are both left very confused.

After avoiding Scott for the rest of the day, Sir Ralph finally comes face to face with Scott, who claims that his secret is safe with him, for the moment. Sir Ralph quietly thanks him. Scott then says that the other engines will get "no red herring gulls", before leaving. Sir Ralph is left extremely worried, but what about?

Characters

 * Allen
 * Sir Ralph
 * Nigel
 * Tavish
 * Scott
 * George
 * Stephen (does not speak)
 * Herbert (does not speak)
 * The Foreman (does not speak)
 * Gadwall (mentioned)
 * City of Truro (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This was the first episode to use the second layout.
 * This episode marked the first speaking role of Scott.
 * This episode was part 1 of the "Sir Ralph Wedgwood Trilogy".
 * Originally, George's role was going to be Herbert's, but Herbert's model was damaged beyond repair prior to filming, so he was almost completely cut from the script.

Goofs

 * Once again, different parts of the room where the episode was filmed can be seen.
 * Scott seems to be running at a dangerous speed.
 * The edge of the set could be seen in a few shots.