Last Train to Pixley

With only three more episodes to run in the final season of "Petticoat Junction," "Last Train to Pixley" indeed evinces an elegiac air, particularly since Floyd Smoot is retiring as the engineer of the Hooterville Cannonball--and there is no heir apparent to take over the controls of the only transportation system in Hooterville Valley. To make matters worse, the Shady Rest Hotel's only guest is a Mr. Bellingham (Parley Baer), who just happens to be employed by the C & FW Railroad, which is looking to scrap the Cannonball as a tax write-off.

Actually, Uncle Joe volunteers to take the Cannonball's throttle from Floyd, but he institutes a strict timeline intolerant of tardiness and that ignores unscheduled stops--in other words, how the cozy, informal rail line had been run for as long as anyone can remember--and it takes intervention from Janet and Mike to save Uncle Joe from the angry mob baying for his head.

Principal series writers Charles Stewart and Dick Conway (also executive producer and script consultant, respectively) blend gentle humor and wistful reflection into an engaging episode that hinges on Mr. Benton's (Percy Helton) act of defiance against Uncle Joe and Janet's ability to read a legal document at the conclusion, although the various reflections by the cast on what they believe to be the Cannonball's final run might just be the official goodbye to "Petticoat Junction."