ThomasNATION Reviews - All Wheels on Track
July 11, 2026
Lots of the engines on the Island of Sodor are steam engines, they run on coal and water. They collect their coal from the coal hopper and they get water from the water tower. But steam engines aren't the only types of engines that ride the rails of Sodor, since diesel engines get their power to make them go from running on diesel fuel and are driven by turning a lever in the cab. But there's also another type of power that engines can use since there are also modern electric trains who get their power from special cables high up above the tracks from a big arm on the roof of the engine called a pantograph that slides along the cable and collects the electricity. Trains like these are very long and very fast, they can carry a lot of passengers over very long distances. Three different trains and three different types of power to make them go. But no matter which type of engine that you prefer rather if it's steam or diesel or even electric, and even if the engines of the Sodor aren't always able to get along due to their differences in power, each of them have one goal in common: to be really useful for the North Western Railway. But whenever there's a power shortage, it's always good to know that the engines have each other's backs and are willing to help out however they can. But in today's episode, we're thankfully not dealing with any more power outages but instead dealing with something much more serious when it's a race against time to deliver parts in order to repair broken water lines all over Sodor. Will the engines save the day or have their chances all dried up? Let's take a look.
Remember how we got a first for the Thomas & Friends franchise a few episodes ago in the form of a Cranky and Bulstrode spotlight episode with "A Cranky Goodbye"...which I may or may not be reviewing next month? Well, if you were to remove the engines from the plot of this episode completely, then this episode gives us another first for the franchise by having Skiff and Terence share the spotlight together which is something that they never did throughout the entirety of the original series. So okay, this episode sounds like it could be really promising especially with this brand new character pairing? What could possibly go wrong? Well, while the stakes for this episode are higher than they were with episodes like Season 1's "No Power, No Problem" and Season 2's "Blackout" and maybe it's just me, but there’s only one problem with the movie and sadly it’s kind of a big one: the story. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just something that we've seen before and thus feels predictable.
While I can appreciate the things that this episode teaches like when Kana tells Skiff that water and electricity do not mix and while the stakes are high for this episode like I said before, the combined plot elements from "No Power, No Problem" and "Blackout" along with the overused steamies versus diesels conflict and message of "just be yourself" with the characters of Terence and Skiff almost make this episode feel like a snore fest since you can easily see a lot of plot points coming before they happen and you're just sitting there waiting for the episode to end which is not something that any fan of Thomas, whether longtime veteran or aspiring newcomer, wants to do.
So in reality between the unique character pairing of Terence and Skiff being treated more like a novelty than anything else on top of overused plots and morals, not even a callback to Season 19's "Wild Water Rescue" with Diesel can save "All Wheels on Track" from feeling like a bore and that is sadly why it gets a 2.5/5.
Final Rating: 2.5/5
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