Shining Time Station - Overview

Overview

Shining Time Station is a train station that resides on the Indian Valley Railroad. It is managed by Stacy Jones, the station master whose grandmother, Gracie Jones (who gave the station its name), ran it when she was Stacy's age. Its workshop is run by railroad engineer and mechanic Harry Cupper. In the second season, he is transferred to a new station in Fort Farley and is replaced by Billy Twofeathers.

A local named Horace Schemer (simply called Schemer) runs the station's arcade and is always finding new ways to make more money or to protect it. He serves as the series' comic relief. He believes that strange goings-on in the station happen because it is haunted. Starting in the second season, he would often be aided in his schemes by his nephew, Schemee.

Harry's granddaughter, Tanya, and Stacy's nephew, Matt, also visit the station. In the second season, three new children visit it: Harry's second granddaughter, Kara; Stacy's second nephew, Dan; and a new girl named Becky.

Other visitors to the station include various townspeople, such as socialite and gossip Midge Smoot, farmer Ginny, general store proprietor Barton Winslow, bus driver Felix Perez, newspaper reporter Jake Scoop, Mayor Osgood Bob Flopdinger of East Shemp (The town name likely a reference to comedian Shemp Howard), and Mr. J.B. King, Esq., the superintendent of the Indian Valley Railroad.

There is a jukebox in the arcade that houses a band that perform for the nickels that are dropped inside. It consists of lead singer/drummer Didi, twin guitarists Tex and Rex (who play one oversized instrument together), bassist/vocalist Grace, and pianist Tito; their manager is J.J. Silvers.

Mr. Conductor is a tiny man who lives in a signal house inside the station's mural and tells the stories of "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" to the kids. He can teleport in a cloud of his magic gold dust. In the second season, it is learned that he went to the North Pole at the end of the Christmas special and his cousin, also named Mr. Conductor, moved into the signal house and took on the role that his cousin played in the first season.