John Oliver Exposes Freight Train Industry With Terrifying Thomas The Tank Engine Remake

Last Week Tonight host John Oliver on Sunday turned to what he described as the most disturbing episode ever of childrens TV to shine a light on the issues facing Americas rail freight industry.

Oliver aired clips from a 1984 episode of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, a British series later named Thomas & Friends. In the episode, a train named Henry ends up being bricked inside the tunnel he refuses to come out of over fears the rain will damage his paintwork to expose the effects that deregulation of railroads in the U.S. have had on workers and communities.

I love trains, Oliver emphasized during his deep dive into the topic, in which he noted that nasty derailments maybe shouldnt come as a surprise, given the widespread deregulation of the industry more than 40 years ago.

Oliver ended with a 2023 remake of the iconic Thomas & Friends show, which imagined what would happen if Henry were plying his trade in America today.

Watch Olivers full monologue here:

","type":"video","meta":{"author":"LastWeekTonight","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3XTzVzaHQEd30rQbuvCtTQ","cache_age":86400,"description":"John Oliver discusses freight trains and railroads, how theyve put profits over safety, and, crucially, what shows he watched as a child that explaineverything. \n\nConnect with Last Week Tonight online... \n\nSubscribe to the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens: www.youtube.com/lastweektonight \n\nFind Last Week Tonight on Facebook like your mom would: www.facebook.com/lastweektonight \n\nFollow us on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news: www.twitter.com/lastweektonight \n\nVisit our official site for all that other stuff at once: www.hbo.com/lastweektonight","options":{"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"_end":{"label":"End on","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"_start":{"label":"Start from","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until clicked","value":false}},"provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AJ2keSJzYyY/maxresdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Freight Trains: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)","type":"video","url":"https://action.news/watch?v=AJ2keSJzYyY","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"mobile","editionInfo":{"id":"us","name":"U.S.","link":"https://action.news","locale":"en_US"},"originalEdition":"us","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"6576d2a3e4b0881b7917c15b","entryPermalink":"https://action.news/entry/john-oliver-trains_n_6576d2a3e4b0881b7917c15b","entryTagsList":"john-oliver,last-week-tonight,railway,thomas-the-tank-engine,@us_huffpost_now","sectionSlug":"entertainment","deptSlug":"entertainment","sectionRedirectUrl":"https://action.news/entertainment","subcategories":"tv,us-news","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"us.entertainment","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc111dcf87c2cd2f5d8bf","overrides":{"front_page_top_videos":{"desktop":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","mobileweb":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d"},"top_media":{"desktop":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","mobile":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"anthology":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"content":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"}},"playerUpdates":{"5668ae6ee4b0b5e26955d6a6":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","56aa41bae4b091744c0440d8":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81","5841b2b5cc52c716ec6e5a7f":"60b8e355cdd90620331ba185","58b5e2b8d85a10302feee895":"60b64316b171b7444beafdb2","58b74698f78ced31417819ae":"60b8e5bec5449357a7ad9b52","58b74ccecebcea57e2c3a3d1":"60b8e5eac5449357a7ad9ca5","58cff690d85a100b9992bc39":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","58cffb3fb6d9b972a49a3c9d":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","58cffdd74d96935d7d6ec180":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","58d03a84f78ced6518eb2fa7":"60b643c82e76be41f112735c","592edf20e0fa177b0c26f7fd":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","5b35266b158f855373e28256":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","5c116f29f79c4171d82b7c2a":"60b64440b171b7444beb040b","5c1170fc600c9a697bf0c6b9":"60b646102e76be41f1127ffc","5c47791afa1b317df8ae0c4f":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","5c477987a6b48b35f164773d":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","5c4779ee943c3c2a64f28371":"60b8e747cdd90620331bb861","5c477a26fcd67b26879bc7c2":"60b8e788c5449357a7ada67b","5d8921a78c3ae845f366c9b6":"60ae7be5f3a7c13a30417ff9","58b98b00ba82aa39a6534321":"60d0de7c9340d7032ad1146c","58b9d14cb6d9b96c9ec32af3":"60d0dec19340d7032ad115a0","58cff8eccebcea42931e0436":"60d0e005b627221e9d819d44","592edf5de0fa177b0c26f95b":"60d0e38fb627221e9d81adcf","58cff72fd85a100b9992c112":"60d0e447b627221e9d81b0da","56b4d34fe4b022697697c400":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","60b8e4c0c5449357a7ad957d":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b","clickToPlayPlayer":"d014396e-b366-4c17-aeac-3ce906fa3fd0","videoPagePlayer":"f010447b-d244-4111-a314-7b4542ae4145","verticalPlayer":"e58cb05a-0bc8-4210-9108-fea82726c065","stickyPlayerControl":"52ea1755-d601-4ad1-bccc-d8cce3f0e5da","stickyPlayerON":"8055e9e5-3bda-4933-8d45-9ad814fb6e22"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"https://img.connatix.com/3e2677c7-164e-4da4-bb0b-03ac0bfaa462/1_th.jpg?crop=480:270,smart&width=480&height=270&format=jpeg&quality=60&fit=crop","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":0},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":1},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"6576d2a3e4b0881b7917c15b","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"mobile","page_edition":"en-us"},"tags":[{"name":"John Oliver","slug":"john-oliver","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/john-oliver","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/john-oliver","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/john-oliver"},"department":{"name":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"section":{"title":"Comedy","slug":"comedy"},"topic":{"title":"John Oliver","slug":"john-oliver","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/entertainment/topic/john-oliver"},{"name":"last week tonight","slug":"last-week-tonight","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/last-week-tonight","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/last-week-tonight","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/last-week-tonight"},"department":{"name":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"section":{"title":"Comedy","slug":"comedy"},"topic":{"title":"John Oliver","slug":"john-oliver","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/entertainment/topic/john-oliver"},{"name":"railway","slug":"railway","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/railway","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/railway","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/railway"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/railway"},{"name":"Thomas the Tank Engine","slug":"thomas-the-tank-engine","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/thomas-the-tank-engine","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/thomas-the-tank-engine","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/thomas-the-tank-engine"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/thomas-the-tank-engine"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">