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"Strangers on a Train"
Season/Series: 11
Number in season: 5b
Original Airdate: United States June 29, 2007[1]
Canada December 31, 2007[3]
United Kingdom December 14, 2007[2]
Credits
Written by: Gentry Menzel
Storyboard by: Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous
"Baby Kate and the Imaginary Mystery"
Next
"The Making of Arthur"
Read transcript

"Strangers on a Train" is the second half of the fifth episode in the eleventh season of Arthur.

Summary[]

Sue Ellen finds a mysterious diary on board an old-fashioned train.

Plot[]

Sue Ellen and her mother walk into Elwood City Station. Sue Ellen is excited about traveling on the Crown City Star. She thinks about how it will be like in the old movies. After her daydream, Sue Ellen and her mom walk outside and Sue Ellen looks at the train and gasps in surprise.

Strangers on a Train

Sue Ellen is still staring at the train in great shock. Then they board the train only to find that it is run down on the inside. The ticket collector comes by and tells Sue Ellen that they still have an available snack car. An old lady bumps into Sue Ellen and apologizes. Soon, Sue Ellen and her mom find their seats. Her mom goes off. Sue Ellen lets out a sigh as it begins to rain. The same old lady comes back and chats with Sue Ellen for a little bit. Then Sue Ellen remembers the snack car and wants to check it out. When she leaves her seat, she notices a lost diary. She looks inside and it says Property of Betsy Johnson, Age 8. Sue Ellen is excited that there is another girl on the Crown City Star and even tries to return the diary. She makes it to the snack car and looks inside and realizes that Betsy Johnson has gone on many travels. Before Sue Ellen leaves, she sees taffy on the table that spells ENJOY. She wonders who put it there. She goes back to her seat and finds a note from her mom. She finds another note about the taffy on the table. The writing looks familiar so she compares it with the diary. Sue Ellen realizes that they are the same. She goes everywhere to find Betsy, but she still can not find her. She walks, but the train goes around a bend and she falls in a dark room.

The ticket collector finds her. Sue Ellen stutters as she tries saying that she is looking for another girl on the train her age. The conductor replies there is no other girl, unless she means The Ghost of the Crown City Star; Sue Ellen shivers. The conductor tells the story of a girl who lost her ticket during the train ride. Because she had no money, she wasn't allowed to get off the train. She went around wandering the aisles all these years, searching for someone else to take her place. Sue Ellen is surprised by this tale. Soon the train comes out of the tunnel and the conductor opens the window. When Sue Ellen heads for her seat, a loose slip of paper falls out of the book. It was written in 1935. She reads the farthest entry: Once again I am on the Crown City Star. It's been very long and I hope to meet someone fun this trip. Sue Ellen remembers everything and runs back to her mom, afraid. She is talking with the old lady, whose name is revealed to be Betsy. Sue Ellen begins to scream; as her mother calms her down, she asks if she knows who owned it. Sue Ellen replies that the owner is named Betsy. Mrs. Armstrong is surprised because she was talking with Betsy, who has traveled on the Crown City Star many times. Betsy offers Sue Ellen taffy: in fear, she shrieks. Sue Ellen realizes Betsy left the taffy on the table and wrote the note. Betsy said it was to lighten things up. Then, Betsy thanks Sue Ellen for returning her lost diary. Sue Ellen wonders what happened to the girl who wrote it. Mrs. Armstrong tells Sue Ellen that the diary is going to be published. After Sue Ellen learns about a little about Betsy's travels, they exchange stories, having learned more about each other.

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Trivia[]

  • Lookalikes of Wanda Deegan and Marie-Hélène are seen during one of Sue Ellen's flashbacks of the 1960s.
  • This is one of the episodes where Arthur never appears at all (except the title card).
  • Two train whistles are sound effects that were from Thomas and Friends used for Lady and Millie, and Rainbow Sun, Ferdinand (at a lower pitch), Carlos and Lexi. These are based on the whistles of the SJ F1200 and Canadian National 3254 (from when it's whistle was fouled up in the 1980s).
  • The Crown City Star is powered by a Milwaukee Road Streamlined Hiawatha steam locomotive but with a Berkshire 2-8-4 configuration and minus the tender, much like Olwin and Speedy from Chuggington.
    • Unlike its' real-life steam locomotive counterparts, the Crown City Star engine carries water in the water tanks and coal is stored in the cab.
  • When the conductor tells Sue Ellen the legend of the Ghost of the Crown City Star, he tells her that the girl, Betsy had lost her ticket, and because had no money, she became forbidden of getting off the train. A similar story was told by Francine to Arthur in the episode, "Lost!", where she tells him about a kid who became forbidden of getting off the bus because he didn't have any money to pay his fare.

Cultural references[]

  • The title of this episode may be based on the movie Strangers on a Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1951 from Warner Brothers.
  • Sue Ellen's fantasy of the train in its glory days is a reference to the The Thin Man film series. Rick and Lola refer to Nick and Nora.
  • The celebrity's name at Grauman's Chinese Theater looks like “Myrna Coy”, a possible reference to Myrna Loy, who played Nora Charles in "The Thin Man" and was a famous actress at the time.

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