The Evergreen Express! | |
Season 3, Episode 9 | |
Air Date | 1988 |
Previous | Strictly by the Book! |
Next | Trouble Shooter! |
The Evergreen Express! is the 30th episode of The Raccoons.
Premise[]
As Cyril Sneer faces losing his mansion over a huge unpaid debt, Bert discovers an abandoned old steam locomotive where an infamous train robber stole it several decades ago and apparently stashed $10,000,000.00 aboard it!
Plot[]
The episode beings with Bert and Cedric using Cedric's metal detector to look for hidden treasures. When the detector finds something big and reacts wildly, Bert thinks that they've hit the jackpot, but when Cedric looks through the bushes, he reveals that they had actually found an old set of railroad tracks, which were a part of the old Evergreen Line and had been abandoned for years. Bert and Cedric then decide to follow the tracks to see where they lead to. It eventually, it leads them through a tunnel and into an open valley where they find an old abandoned steam train!
Meanwhile at Sneer Mansion, Cyril Sneer's latest business investment, an elevator shoe factory, is failing miserably and no one is interested in buying it. The pigs think that it couldn't be that bad, until Cyril then reveals to them that he had he had borrowed $1,000,000.00 from Mr. Knox to finance the factory and that he had put Sneer Mansion up as security against the loan, so if Cyril Sneer can't pay Knox back in 2 days, he would lose Sneer Mansion.
Meanwhile, as Bert and Cedric have told Schaeffer about their discovery, he comes to help them restore the locomotive to full operating condition. As Bert is excited about being able to drive a real steam train, Schaeffer reveals that the engine's steam dome doesn't work properly. When Cedric asks if they could get a new one for the engine, Schaeffer tells them that a new steam dome would cost $200.00, so Bert says that they had better try to fix it. After that, Cedric managed to scrape some of the rust off of the engine's number plate, which is revealed the engine is numbered #504. Bert takes a picture and sends it to Ralph and Melissa at the Evergreen Standard headquarters.
After talking on the phone, Ralph tells Melissa that the 504 was built by the Blue Spruce Rolling Stock Company, which went out of business long time ago so Bert and Cedric would be able to donate the train to the Evergreen Museum. Just then the Pigs arrive and request that they place an add in the paper for a few items for sale (including 40,000 pairs of elevator shoes they have, which Ralph and Melissa just laugh), then the Pigs leave to head back to Sneer Mansion, but not before telling them that they're trying to raise $1,000,000.00 for Cyril Sneer.
Back at Sneer Mansion, Cyril Sneer is trying to come up with ways to save themselves money so they'd be able to pay back Mr. Knox, including hanging up laundry to dry inside the dining room and making the pigs eat only one single bean a meal. When Cyril asks the pigs how they've been raising money, they tell him that they've been doing various odd jobs and have so far raised $200.00, which means that they wouldn't be able to raise enough money in time. When one of the Pigs suggests to Cyril Sneer that Cedric could help them come up with an idea, Cyril tells them not to mention anything about it to Cedric so as not to worry him about losing their home.
When Cedric comes in and asks them what's going on, Cyril just makes an excuse that they were doing spring cleaning. When Cyril asks Cedric what he's been up to, Cedric tells him how he and Bert found the Evergreen 504 and how they're restoring it to steam and planning on donating the engine to the Evergreen Museum. After Cedric leaves the room, Cyril notices that Cedric mentioned the Evergreen 504, so he and the Pigs go into the library to look up something. Cyril then find what he was looking for: Several years ago, the Evergreen 504 was highjacked and stolen by Snake Eyes LaTour, a notorious train robber back in the dying days of the old west. Back then, the locomotive was carrying the railroad company payroll of $10,000,000.00 aboard its caboose, only for Snake Eyes to hijack the train and hide it somewhere on an abandoned spur line in the Evergreen Forest. Snake Eyes was shortly caught by the law afterwards, but neither the 504, nor the payroll money on board, were ever found. Cyril then plans to find the $10,000,000 on the train and use it to help pay off the debt with Mr. Knox.
Meanwhile back with the 504, Schaeffer had been trying to repair the 504's steam dome, but with all the rust on it, he tells them that they're going to need a new steam dome. Shortly after, Cyril Sneer arrive with the Pigs on a motorcycle pulling a trailer that had something on it covered with a sheet. He pretends to be impressed how they're restoring the 504 and that they're doing a good job on it. When Bert asks Cyril when he became interested in steam trains, Cyril tells them that he used to remember riding on old steam engines back when he was a child and had longed desired to own one, until Bert tells Cyril off that they were the ones that found the engine and that they were going to donate it to the museum once they've restored it. Cyril then says that he wishes there was someway he could help, and Schaeffer tells them how they need a new steam dome, Cyril then reveals that the object they had hidden under the sheet was a brand new steam dome (which he used the $200 the Pigs earned to buy it). He then offers them to exchange the new steam dome for the old one so he could use it as a plant pot or something, so after they replaced the old one with the new one, they place the old one on Cyril's trailer and he and the Pigs drive off.
Bert and Cedric both become a little curious about Cyril's behavior, but are then distracted by Schaeffer when he tells them he found an old wanted poster of Snake Eyes LaTour inside the engine's firebox. When Bert sees the poster, he then imagines himself in his fantasy dream as a locomotive engineer, and driving the Evergreen 504 engine, and stopping Snake Eyes LaTour from robbing the train. His fantasy is then broke up when Schaeffer tells him he needs to help fire up the engine for a steam test. Back with Cyril Sneer, as the Pigs think that the steam dome will look great with flowers in it, Cyril then reveals to them that he didn't exchange the new steam dome for the old one to put plants inside it. He then tells the pig that every time Snake Eyes LaTour stole a train, he would hide the money he stole from it inside the engine's steam dome and would come back for it later, but because he was caught by the law after hiding the 504, he wasn't able to do so. He had hidden the train so well, they were unable to find it, so the $10,000,000.00 would be inside the dome. The Pigs become worried that because it's stolen money, Cyril could get in even bigger trouble. Cyril tells them that he isn't dumb enough to spend stolen money, but tells them that there's usually a %10 reward for returning it, so he would get the $1,000,000.00 necessary for paying off the debt.
When Cyril arrives at back at Sneer Mansion, he is surprised to see that Mr. Knox and Lady Baden-Baden are there looking around his garden. When Mr. Knox approaches Cyril Sneer and asks him if he has the $1,000,000.00, he has the Pigs break a hole in the steam dome to get it out, but when Cyril reaches inside to retrieve it, he finds that it isn't there, and becomes dismayed that Snake Eyes LaTour had changed his motives on his very last robbery. Cyril then tells Knox that he still has six hours before the deadline and that he'll be able to give him the money he owns him before then. Mr. Knox tells Cyril that he'll be waiting, but when Lady Baden-Baden asks Knox what they were waiting for, he just tells her that they were just talking business. When Lady Baden-Baden tells Mr. Knox that she wished they had gardens like those at Sneer Mansion, Knox tells her that she just might, making Cyril worried that he's going to lose the mansion.
A short while later, Bert, Cedric, and Schaeffer have finally finished restoring the 504 back to it's former glory and is looking as good as new. Since Bert is eager to the get the train going, Schaeffer tells him that they need to make sure the track is safe for the train to run on since it hadn't been used in such a long time, so they go along the tracks on a handcar to check the track. They soon come up to an old trestle bridge and Schaeffer has them stop the handcar and go along the bridge on foot. Bert quickly concludes that the bridge is safe enough for the 504 to cross, until he steps on an old wooden tie which breaks, nearly causing him to fall, and as Schaeffer and Cedric luckily catch him just in time, Bert says that they're going to have to wait until they've repaired the bridge until they can get the engine moving.
Meanwhile, Cyril Sneer and the Pigs drive back to the 504 to try and find where Snake Eyes LaTour hid the money on board. Cyril has the Pigs search inside the engine's cab while he looked inside the caboose, but while the pigs look inside the cab, they accidentally pull the throttle and set the train in motion. As they jump from the engine, Cyril Sneer is still in the caboose, unaware that the 504 is now moving on it's own. The Pigs catch up to the 504's caboose and tell Cyril that the 504 is now a runaway train, so Cyril starts to climb on top of the caboose to get to the engine's cab and stop the train. Meanwhile, Bert, Cedric, and Schaeffer are heading back to the 504. When Schaeffer tells them that they could have people come out to see the 504 until the bridge has been repaired, they see the train itself speeding down the track right toward them. As Cedric shouts for to jump, Schaeffer tells them that the train will derail if it hits the handcar, so he switches Bert and Cedric onto a siding and gets them out of the way just in time as the 504 engine speeds past. As Cedric then becomes shocked when he sees his father climbing onto the train's caboose, Schaeffer tells them that they have to stop the train before it reaches the bridge.
Back on board the 504, Cyril finally reaches the engine's cab and tries to get it to stop (but since he doesn't really know anything about steam locomotive, he tries to find an ignition key, which steam trains don't really have, before he accidentally pulls on the engine's whistle which startles him). Bert and Schaeffer manage to catch up to the 504 engine and jump on board its caboose, just as the train starts to cross the trestle bridge. Fortunately the train manages to get across just in time, just before the bridge collapses into the ravine below, but unfortunately, as it's going up a hill, it runs out of steam and starts to roll backwards. At first, Cyril is relieved that the train stopped, until he then gets scared when he sees that the train is now rolling backwards toward the collapsed bridge! As Bert then calls from the caboose to tell him that they're on board as well, Schaeffer calls to Cyril to stoke the fire to build up the steam pressure so they could stop rolling back toward the bridge. Cyril immediately begins to shovel coal into the engine's firebox and the train begins to slow down from rolling backwards. But just as it's nearing the end of the bridge, Cyril then stops shoveling when he finds the $10,000,000.00 Snake Eyes LaTour stole many years buried beneath the coal in the tender and is excited that he'll be able to pay off his debt to Mr. Knox. However, this is short lived when the train begins to roll slowly backwards again and the caboose begins to go over the edge of the bridge, but since there's not enough coal to stoke the fire, Cyril has no choice but to, regretfully, stoke the fire with the $10,000,000. Luckily this manages to get the train moving again and away from the collapsed bridge. Bert calls out to Cyril that they owe him one. When Cyril mourns over the of the $10,000,000. Bert just says that they don't owe him that much.
A short while later, the #504 finally pulls into Evergreen Station, where a crowd is excitedly waiting to see the train arrive. As the train arrives, the Pigs notice that Cyril Sneer is not looking too happy, making them realize that he might not have found the money (which he did but had to sacrifice it to save his, Bert, and Schaeffer's lives). When they ask Lady Baden-Baden if she would like them to work for her at her new home, she asked them why there were asking her that question. As they are, Cyril regrettably hands the keys to Sneer Mansion over to Mr. Knox. When Cedric sees this, Cyril sadly tells him that they had just lost his home, but just as Lady Baden-Baden walks up to Knox and asks him if it's true that he's really taking away Sneer Mansion from Cyril and Cedric over a $1,000,000.00 debt. As Mr. Knox just tells her that business is business, Lady Baden-Baden tells him that Cyril and Cedric Sneer are their friends and that friends are friends, and demands him to return the keys to Cyril at once. After that, she climbs into the cab of the Evergreen 504 and pronounces that she is officially forming the Evergreen Steam Heritage Foundation, along with some help from Knox. Cyril then says that they could work out some way to help pay off the debt, to which Knox has already come up with a solution.
Shortly after, Lady Baden-Baden officially opens the steam service on the Evergreen Line by throwing and breaking a ceremonious bottle of champagne on the 504's number plate. As for how Cyril is going to pay off the debt with Mr. Knox, he has to work as the train's conductor while the Pigs work as firemen shoveling in the coal up in the engine's firebox before everyone starts laughing.
Characters[]
- Bert
- Broo (silent cameo)
- Cedric
- Cyril
- Evergreen 504
- Mr. Knox
- Lady Baden-Baden
- Narrator
- Ralph
- Melissa
- The Pigs
- Schaeffer
- Snake Eyes LaTour
- Sophia (silent cameo)
Songs[]
- Run With Us
- Sooner or Later (instrumental)
- The Sweet Smell of Success (instrumental)
Trivia[]
- Sharon Lewis is credited as the voice of Broo, who is silent in this episode.
- First appearance of the old steam engine Evergreen 504, which was built by the Blue Spruce Rolling Stock Company, and only consists of the engine, it's coal tender, and a caboose, but if the Evergreen 504 were to carry passengers and mail, one or more passenger cars and one or more mail cars would have been added between the tender and caboose since the coach should have been at the front, the boxcar in the first middle, the mail car in the second middle, the flatcar in the third middle, and the caboose at the end.
- The caboose seemed to also act somewhat as a passenger car for the 504, but a caboose was actually used as a living space for the train's crew, and passengers wouldn't be allowed in it. But nowadays, railroads don't use cabooses anymore. They now use an End of Train Device, but many cabooses have been preserved in railroad museums and on tourist railroads. Some people can climb or even ride in them.
- The Evergreen 504, which is an old 4-4-0 engine, that is also an American type steam locomotive, that has a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, with four leading wheels in the front, eight driving wheels in the center, and no trailing wheels in the back. Locomotives of this wheel arrangement were used most common on American railroads during the 1800's, and from the 1830's until 1928. The 4-4-0 was officially named the "American" type in 1872, because of how these types of engines of that wheel arrangement did all the work on just about every railroad in the United States.
- The Evergreen 504 is similar in appearance to Canadian Pacific No. 29. It was built in 1887 by the Canadian Locomotive Company for the Canadian Pacific Railway. It hauled freight and passengers on the CPR until it retired from revenue service in 1960. It's now on display at the CPR headquarters building in Calgary, Alberta.
- Usually a steam locomotive's tender would have two four-wheel trucks, which would make for a total of 8 wheels, except for the 504, which has four wheels on its coal tender.
- Usually whenever trains carried money, it would be stored in the mail car or in the express car, which usually had a safe fitted inside the car to store the money or other valuables. Both the express car and mail car became targets for outlaws when they robbed trains back in the days of the Old West. Since the Evergreen 504 engine never had either an express or mail car, it's money would have most likely have been kept in the engine's cab with the engineer or somewhere in the caboose with the conductor. It also might have been possible that the train was disguised as "Going Light" (Meaning that the locomotive is heading back to the roundhouse or heading somewhere else for another assignment with only a caboose in tow) in order to sneak the payroll money towards it destination, but only for wind of it to go around and get found out by Snake Eyes LuTour.
- The Evergreen 504 engine also appears in The Sky's the Limit and A Catered Affair.
- Cyril tells the pigs that there was a %10 reward for stealing stolen money, but instead of taking the money to the authorities, he just brought it straight to Mr. Knox.
- After the train pulls into the station, Lady Baden-Baden forms the Evergreen Steam Heritage Foundation, which was most likely formed to help preserve and operate more steam engines along with the 504.
- In this episode Cyril has to pay money to Mr. Knox and is worried about losing the mansion. If he is rich, he should have just use his own money to pay Mr. Knox, unless he doesn't want to lose any of his own money that he earned for himself.
- The money that Snake Eyes LaTour stole and hid would probably already be worthless when Cyril Sneer found it, since it was stolen 100 years ago, so it wouldn't have mattered if Cyril used it to keep the fire in the firebox burning when the train was going over the collapsed bridge.
- The train robbery must've happened sometime in the early 1900s since the first train robbery in Canada didn't occur until 1904.
Quotes[]
- Bert: Boy, this metal detector works great! It's gonna make us a fortune! Dubloons, pieces of eight, maybe even pieces of nine!
- Cyril: Come on Knox! You wouldn't throw me out of my own house, would you?
- Mr Knox: Heavens, no! I'd wait six hours, then throw you out of my house!
- Cyril: It's a good thing I don't crack under pressure.
(Cyril notices that the train engine is losing its power until he sees that the train is starting to reverse back toward the broken bridge)
- Cyril: YEAAAAGH!
(Cyril picks up a coal shovel and starts to stoke the train engine's furnace to stop it reversing off the broken bridge into the ravine)
- Cyril: I thought stoking was bad for your health!
(Cyril runs out of coal and reluctantly throws the money he found on the train into the fire)
- Cyril: I've heard of money to burn but this is ridiculous!
- Bert: Thanks Cyril! We owe you one!
- Cyril: (wails) Ten million dollars!
- Bert: We don't own him that much!
Gallery[]
- Main article: The Evergreen Express!/Gallery
Credits[]
- Main article: The Evergreen Express!/Credits