History WMG / ThomasTheTankEngine

* Based on this, Lord Harry/Patrick could be a reincarnation of God.

* Another analogue could be to the narrow gauge Harz Mountain Railway in Germany or Wolsztyn steam operations in Poland, in that the steam railway is equal parts tourist attraction/museum and everyday transportation system (there seem to be no major motorways on the Isle of Sodor, so presumably car ownership and road transport have a lower modal share here than it does on mainland Britain).

* This is why the Fat Controller can use equipment from all of the Big Four, such as taking on Duck and Oliver from the Great Western and sending Henry to Crewe (an LMS facility) for a rebuild, without any apparent difficulty caused from favoring one company over another.

Being pulled along by Gordon's express in "Thomas and Gordon" caused substantial strain on his inner workings and boiler, causing his boiler to violently explode. The rest of the series are his AdventuresInComaLand as he slowly fades away from life (hence all the MerchandiseDriven aspects becoming more apparent in later seasons). The [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad magic railroad]] is {{Heaven}}, and Lady is [[spoiler:God]].

[[WMG:"The Magic Railroad" as seen in the movie is not the only Magic Railroad.]]

[[WMG:The Island of Sodor is in the same reality as [[Creator/StephenKing Stephen King's "Trucks"]].]]

[[WMG:Sir Topham Hatt is jinxed.]]

[[WMG:Sodor Island has been hit by mass retardation.]]

[[WMG: The entire series is Music/Ringo Starr playing at his train set at one of Music/TheBeatles' houses, while stoned]]

[[WMG: Thomas' boiler exploded in the first episode [[AdventuresInComaLand and the 24+ seasons that followed are his]] DyingDream.]]
Being pulled along by Gordon's express in "Thomas and Gordon" caused substantial strain on his inner workings and boiler, causing his boiler to violently explode. The rest of the series is his DyingDream as he slowly fades away from life. The [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad magic railroad]] is {{Heaven}}, and Lady is [[spoiler:God]].

Being pulled along by Gordon's express in "Thomas and Gordon" caused substantial strain on his inner workings and boiler, causing his boiler to violently explode. The rest of the series is his DyingDream as he slowly fades away from life. The [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad magic railroad]] is the afterlife.

There's a possible OrphanedReference in the actual episode, when the Fat Controller congratulates the Twins and tells them to join the Carol Party. Edward and James are present in that scene, and helped Thomas back to the station after he is dug out in the source material. They didn’t contribute to the rescue in the TV adaptation.

Douglas soon realized what Donald had done and why, but for a while all he could do was simply work as best he could under the circumstances. A short time later, however, James asked for help getting the trucks up Gordon's hill. Douglas, being the good-natured and hard-working engine he is, of course agreed. As he got to the back of James's cars, though, Douglas immediately recognized the Spiteful Brake Van and quickly realized that he was the ultimate cause of James's woes.

At this point, Douglas put everything together. Not only was the Spiteful Brake Van trying to get him scrapped, but he also would likely try to do the same to other engines in the future if he succeeded with Douglas. Now Douglas knew he would have to deal with the Brake Van once and for all. When James became too exhausted to continue, Douglas snapped. He furiously pushed the train as hard as he could, completely ignoring the Spiteful Brake Van's screams and the conductor yelling that the van was getting crushed. He did not slow down at all until the van was in pieces.

Thankfully, Donald quickly caught on to his plans and basically threatened to murder the Spiteful Brake Van if he didn't stop trying to get Douglas scrapped. The Brake Van was so scared shitless that he quickly improved his behavior. Unfortunately, Douglas was still not looking so great as far as Sir Topham Hatt was concerned, so Donald was forced to have an "accident" in order to ensure both he and his brother remained on the Island of Sodor as long as possible.

[[WMG: The Island of Sodor is a dictatorship, controlled entirely by Sodor Railways]]
There's no sign of any government aside from the mayor and the railway seems to be in charge of a lot of things. Clearly, at some point, the railway, led by Sir Topham Hatt, seized control of the island and everybody who disagreed with their rule... disappeared (Jeremiah Jobling from "James and the Coaches" was the first to go, however when Old Bailey from "Haunted Henry" turned against Topham, he was simply [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassigned to the Blue Mountain Quarry]], which would explain the man working at the quarry who looks like him, and Mrs. Kyndley and her husband were simply exiled to the mainland when they turned against Topham which would explain why Kindley was mentioned in "The Great Race"). The Mayor of Sodor is in fact a puppet installed by Topham, and he makes him do acts that suggest he is in charge while in reality, it's the railway that runs the island.

There's a possible OrphanedReference in the actual episode, when the Fat Controller congratulates the Twins and tells them to join the Carol Party. Edward and James are present in that scene, and helped Thomas back to the station after he is dug out in the source material.

* When they first appeared, they and other diesels were more antagonistic towards the steam engines. It makes sense that a mix of the Dieselworks' early setbacks, Sidney not getting mended for ages, Diesel and Diesel 10's influence, and the steamies' [[NotHelpingYourCase occasionally standoffish attitude towards diesels]] led them to put on a defensive mean facade, as well as let their more aggressive Diesel brethren do most of the talking. By Season 17, things have started to improve and Paxton has became more comfortable showing his true colours, though it takes Sidney being fixed to win Norman over (he is already nicer to Thomas by the very next episode).

[[WMG:The series finale will be a special adapted from "Centenary" from the final Railway Series book ''Thomas and His Friends".]]

* It will include every single character that ever appeared throughout the series (though not all of them such as the international engines will not make an appearance). Returning characters like [=BoCo=], Murdoch, Stepney, and Arthur will be seen in CGI for the first time. Pip and Emma will make their debut appearance.

The story goes like this... In 1947 when the USA class were introduced the inexperienced engine took the spot in the shed that formerly belonged to a popular E2 engine that had been lost in a bombing raid. The other engines saw it as an insult and vowed revenge. At first it was just harmless fun until the crews became involved and people got sacked. With the introduction of more of these new foreign engines nerves became raised and quiet sabotage went on. The most common form of sabotage was the E2's would have their coal stolen from their bunkers making them seem inefficient (they were scrapped mostly because their coal bunkers were too small to make them able to travel any distance. This grudge grew worse until the E2's were all scrapped.
Then one day a USA class heard there was still an E2 left. This engine had been sold in 1915 to the newly formed North Western Railway and had escaped the USA's genocide. One engine was selected to go and finish the job.... Rosie. Rosie however has a stalkerlike crush on Thomas, her hate turning into a kind of lust over her victim.

To bring the mode locked TransFormers theory and the spheus magna= cyberton theory at WMG/{{Bionicle}} full circle, maybe Sir Topham Hatt is a fully oranic Mavarah.

The Island seems to be too small for such a varied a train network to be very useful, and there's no reason to keep them around when diesel and electric engines are available. Clearly the old-school trains are a big tourist draw. The engines themselves are either in denial or don't like to bring it up, and it would explain why diesel engines look down on them.
* The network isn't that expansive, at least not in the Railway Series - the standard gauge lines only cover about half the island (if the populated one), and consists of a single mainline with half a dozen branches - but still enough to keep at least 80 locomotives in work, according to background material. Diesels are used, and one of the branches was electrified from the start, but alongside steam instead of replacing it. The engines are still doing real work, but tourism probably does matter though - the books exist in the Railway Series universe, and made the engines famous long before they were ever at risk. The Narrow Gauge lines are tourist attractions (being based on real ones), although two of them do transport goods, and were built for that purpose.

* Another analogue could be to the narrow gauge Harz Mountain Railway in Germany or Wolsztyn steam operations in Poland, in that the steam railway is equal parts tourist attraction/museum and everyday transportation system (there seem to be no major motorways on the Isle of Sodor, so presumably car ownership and road transport has a lower modal share here than it does on mainland Britain).

The trains run off standard [=AnthroPC=] AI, which is prone to all kinds of [[Main/RidiculouslyHumanRobots personality quirks and conflicts]]; the continued presence of steam power is because locomotives evolved differently in this verse than ours. Sentient steam locomotives don't show up in QC, either because passenger trains are even less a part of the transportation system in the US than they are in Main/RealLife, or because Sodor is an experimental test bed for them.

[[WMG:"The Magic Railroad" as seen in TheMovie is not the only Magic Railroad.]]
Rather, it has numerous branchlines that connect to other worlds, and these also have engines which travel back and forth on them.

The trains eventually took over, forcing the humans to build tracks everywhere, which is why they're able to go pretty much anywhere they please. The "conductors" are merely humans who sit in their control boxes, pulling levers that do nothing as the trains guide themselves to make the humans think they're in control somehow. Sir Topham Hatt is just a puppet who kissed up to his locomotive overlords, and thus they make him perform acts that suggest he is in charge, when really the trains themselves are. That's why trains that are "sent packing" come back so soon- he has no real authority in Sodor. As for non-trains, such as George the Steamroller, Terrence the Tractor, and Bulgy the Bus: they're plotting to take over Sodor and rule over the humans, as evidenced by their hostility towards the trains (Bulgy's anti-rail league sticker should be enough proof).

Every bad that that happened in Sir Topham Hatt's presence is a direct result of him simply having been near by. This is because he is haunted by the spirits of the Coffee Pots, four engines Word of God states were built by Hatt as a young engineer which were later scrapped.

[[WMG:Sodor Island has been hit by a mass retardation.]]

* Why not just fire their drivers? I'm sure you can import at least a couple drivers from the Mainland and be done with it. Railways are businesses, you know.

After his beloved railway buff son was hit and killed by one of his trains, The Fat Controller (a lifelong spiritualist) wondered if his soul may have clung to the blue tank engine that killed him. British Railways wondered if sentient locomotives, able to actually hear orders for themselves, might make train service more efficient. With assistance from Creator/AleisterCrowley and biomechanics developed in undisclosed experiments by distinguished [[ThoseWackyNazis Ger]]-[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial umm]]...French scientists, the "Living Train" was a success. However, due to the psychological trauma of engineers melding their ''souls'' with the locomotives (as well as the locomotives' occasional unwillingness to blindly follow 'all' orders), and a number of mysterious deaths of railway personnel, the British government immediately ended the experiment and ordered the engines [[NightmareFuel scrapped]].

Starting off as a meek, excitable, and childish engine, he loved playing jokes on the engines, but he wasn't particularly well liked by them, except Edward, who could be said to be a big brother figure to him. It became obvious that his constant jokes were cries for attention, as he was tired of shunting in the yard and wanted to explore the world. He wasn't happy with the mundane, he wanted to be special. However, the first few tastes he had of the "real world" were not pleasant (tricked into running with Gordon's train, forgetting his coaches, being pushed by freight cars). Despite this, he was determined as ever to go out on his own. Recognizing this, he was given his own branch line as a reward for saving James.

However, he clearly overestimated himself. He'd leave his conductor behind, beat up his snowplow because it was uncomfortable, and in general was a kid being given a big shiny toy. Despite this, he was convinced he was the most important part of the railway. He eventually meets Percy, who takes his old job as the shunter in the yard. The two become fast friends and Thomas acts as a mentor to him as well, however questionable of an influence he may be. Even though he was running a branch line, he was still irresponsible and goofy, teasing Gordon about falling into a ditch until he ran into a mine. Despite this, he would still tease Percy, fancying himself to be above him. The two bickered a lot, from coal to ghosts to wooly bears, possibly stunting Thomas' growth. For most of the second season Thomas is out of focus, though what we do see of him he seems rather arrogant until he has his accident with the stationmaster's house.

It's obvious to tell from here that he has what could be considered a heroic BSOD. He isn't the invincible engine he cracked himself up to be, and to add insult to injury, he's temporarily replaced with a diesel. The idea of the steam engines being replaced hangs over them for much of the series, and even temporarily, it took a toll on Thomas' psyche. He comes back a wiser, smarter engine, and after one more childish quarrel between him and Percy, he matures into a role model to the little green engine.

By season 3 he takes an extremely different tone. While he does make occasional quips, he mentors Percy much like Edward did the same to him and almost always works with a smile on his face. We see his anxiousness of being replaced again reappear in Thomas Gets Bumped, where he puts his job on the line to get some children home. However, the Fat Controller recognizes his big heart, and lets him off for it. Similarly, whereas he used to think himself as the best, he clearly takes offense when James insists the same, and says "we're all useful, the Fat Controller says so, and he's the head of the whole railway." None of this is any more prominent than Trust Thomas, where he works his hardest to make all of his friends happy, and even when he gets hurt, he still wears a big smile on his face. His replacement complex is evident in Thomas And Stepney, where Thomas is jealous of the attention Stepney gets, along with the fact that he was shunted to let him pass. Despite this, Thomas is a sympathetic individual and the two become good friends.

Thomas begins the series with most everybody looking down on him, and through steam, coal and tears, becomes one of the most respectable and admirable characters on the whole railway, who pours his heart and soul to make sure he does a good job and everyone is happy. While the series deconstructs the troubles that come along with wanting to be "special" it also shows that it is also possible to overcome these troubles.

Sir Topham Hatt spent much time mending him, and eventually put him back in service. Whiff had forgotton about his previous life due to the amount of repairing they did. Not wanting to attract too much attention because he was the original and also to avoid being arrested for stealing the engine, Sir Topham asigned him to work in the waste disposal yard and gave him glasses to help his sight. However, sub-consciously, Whiff carries greater skills other than shunting. Also explains why he knows alot about of Sodor history, having spent his time at the Works hearing the tales of the railway.

Why? Quite simple. It is book number 42. [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Univere and Everything.]]

If you've watched the opening to Thomas & Friends' sixth series, you'll notice that it contains footage from the Series 3 episodes "Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure" and "Thomas Gets Bumped". Considering Series 6 introduced a new look to the models and sets, it seems odd that they'd replace the existing intro footage with that from a season that was about ten years old at the time. That is, unless the intro was a scrapped idea from the third series that was never broadcast. Both Series 3 and Series 6 brought big changes to the show, but it can be assumed that the producers didn't want to replace the iconic opening sequence as early on as Series 3.

In a promotional cassette tape given away to members of the Thomas the Tank Engine club in the late 1990's, The Fat Controller mentions that he was originally the controller of the North Western Railway, before it merged with all the other railways on the Island. This would explain several inconsistencies regarding the TV show:

- Several towns having more than one station. For example, Tidmouth has Tidmouth Station, Lower Tidmouth and Tidmouth Halt. these stations most likely belonged to different railways prior to the merger.

It's obvious that in their first meeting with the Great Western engine in "Duck Takes Charge", they bullied him around, but he soon stood up to them, and were severely called out by The Fat Controller. When they first met Diesel, they actually liked him better than Duck who kept [[MotorMouth endlessly bragging about his Great Western heritage]]. And because they got tired of Duck, they would find any excuse to send him away as well as getting back at him for the previous incident in aforementioned episode. When Diesel blames Duck for making the troublesome trucks laugh at him, the engines claim that he would never do that, but deep down, they sympathized with Diesel and believed that Duck may have made a fool out of him just as he did to them. When the big engines heard about the trucks calling them names they claim that Duck made about them, although it was really Diesel who told them that, they willfully believed in this and decided to use this opportunity to get back at Duck. That was until they saw how Duck was saddened on being sent to Edward's station for the crimes he didn't do, the big engines [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone had an epiphany]] and decided to take back on what they have done. What better way to do it than to side against Diesel for making those names about them? After The Fat Controller sent Diesel away in disgrace, the big engines patched things up with Duck and became good friends with him.

* Based on this, Lord Harry/Patrick could be a reincarnation of Godred.

* There have been a few hints about the CFR in some of the recent movies and other material. The Blue Mountain Mystery mini-site mentions the Culdee Fell railway as a narrow gauge line under the control of Mr. Percival. Additionally, the description of the movie mentions an engine with a sloping boiler, which is a trait of all the mountain engines.

** The way I see it, I picture engines as being like draft horses; they go where the driver tells them to, but can move of their own volition if they're really angry or panicking.

As the railways on the island are not a part of British Railways, they disguised one of their diesels to recon the area in the hopes of having the island absorbed into BR territory and having all the steam engines replaced with diesels. They chose a Southern Railway Q1 as the disguise because it looks to most convincing. In reality Neville is an English Electric GT3 with the front bogie removed. This also explains why he hasn't been seen since Season 12.

A fact that wasn't in the TV Series, but was in the Railway Series, was that Falcon and Stuart were not directly sold to the Skarloey Railway following the closure of the Mid-Sodor. Instead, they were sold to the Aluminum Works up at Peel Godred, where they worked for a few years before then being purchased by the Skarloey Railway. I propose that the Aluminum Works already had another engine...Freddie. Falcon and Stuart befriended him and worked alongside him as they completed the project, and Falcon and Stuart were sold away when the project was completed. Who knows what happened? Freddie was kept on the run the Aluminum Works? He was bought by the Skarloey Railway with Falcon and Stuart and simply waited on the side for repairs? Anyway, that's why Sir Handel knows Freddie and Skarloey and Rheneas don't.

Ruling out Edward's dream, why would Gordon, James and Percy be used as a playground, a carnival game and a rollercoaster, respectively? Because their brightly coloured paint would make them appeal to children. The engines are going to be put out of use ''eventually'', and seeing as they are alive, why scrap them?

In the Thomas universe, the Reverend Awdry (as "evidenced" in the forewords of the books), Britt Alcroft, David Mitton and others exist alongside the engines. The railway is closed for about a month each year so that each season can be filmed, and recently, even longer thanks to the movies, and the Fat Controller gets paid in return. The crashes are made with non-sentient mock-ups of the "actors", and the engines who feature in each episode all given a debriefing before filming. It takes roughly a day to film each episode.

In the original draft of Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, Ryan was going to have a much more different personality. He was going to be arrogant and cocky as opposed to the the nice engine we saw in the film. Another question we have about the film is "how does Sailor John get the pirate ship atop the hill?" The answer is this; Ryan pulled it there, at least in the script's original draft. Presumably the scenes of Ryan inviting Thomas into the shed were not in the original script. I'm assuming we would have seen Ryan buggering up on the branch line, causing Daisy to want to tear her bonnet out at him, giving her more of a role. Ryan would have messed up a passenger service, resulting in him being sent to run on the Arlesburgh-Harwick project, with Percy taking his work. Ryan would have been eager to prove himself, and as a result takes on some bad coal after volunteering to take dynamite. Thomas saves the day, and gets all the glory for it despite not doing so from the Fat Controller. However, as opposed to being thankful, the more antagonistic Ryan is jealous of Thomas. After the treasure is recovered by Marion, Ryan is sidelined yet again, and he begins to hate Thomas. After seeing that Thomas will not help him get his treasure back, Sailor John approaches Ryan with a job, which he is happy to accept if it will get Thomas in trouble. In the dark of night, Ryan steals the pirate ship and pulls it to the top of Gordon's Hill. However, he begins to feel guilty when he sees that John plans to harm anyone in his way. This results in the scene with him feeling guilty at Arlesburgh Junction; he's not heading to check on Thomas, he's returning home from helping John steal the ship. When Ryan sees the ship sailing down the line, in a panic he reverses. Ryan realizes what he did was wrong, and rushes into action, taking the rope and tipping over the ship. This is what causes Ryan to be rewarded the Arlesburgh-Harwick Branch Line, while Daisy manages the passengers to keep an eye on him. Ryan and Thomas now become friends, and Ryan is no longer as spiteful and jealous as he was before, although still a little cocky. This would have made for a much more complex Ryan, but I understand why they changed it.

[[WMG:The Fat Controller lied when he said his doctor had forbidden him to push or pull.]]

[[WMG:The engines' AI and their drivers are becoming more 'in-sync' as they go.]]

* Then in the Big World Big Adventures movie where they not only allow, but straight up enable Thomas to abandon his duties on Sodor to go travelling round the world.

[[WMG:Henry was never actually afraid of the rain ruining his paint.]]

[[WMG:None of the trains talk.]]

[[WMG:Charlie and Billy are the same engine.]]
Bily was on loan during the events of Season 11 and then sent back afterwards. During Season 12 he was transformed into Charlie (hence why he wasn't seen that season). Also he had a bad accident that caused him identity amnesia which is why he doesn't remember his previous time on Sodor. The Fat Controller doesn't know this either.

Billy only appeared in Season 11 and Charlie appeared Season 13 onwards

Neither were confirmed to be brothers

Neither were seem at the same time

* This could also apply for Dennis and Norman, since Dennis' last appearance was before Norman's introduction, and only one of their basis existed in real life.

Diesel knows that he has hurt Duck really bad with those lies, and it may trigger some really scarring flashbacks if he saw him again. Duck knows that [[RealLifeWritesThePlot jumping the gun about Diesel replacing him]], [[FridgeBrilliance also hurt]] [[FridgeHorror him badly]], same rules apply. The others that were on Sodor at the time know it, and choose not to bring it up to either of them. Maybe one day, Duck and Diesel will talk it out, but now is just not the time. The newbies that came after the whole Duck VS Diesel debacle have no idea of Diesel's misdeeds back when (hence why Emily thought Diesel was never sent away to begin with in ''Blue Mountain Mystery'', and why Salty doesn't bring it up in ''Diesel's Ghostly Christmas'').

* I'm pretty certain this will be Jossed, because it looks like the only countries Thomas is visiting are China, India and Australia. Besides, Mattel probably doesn't care about two characters who haven't shown up in like, 20 years.

[[WMG: Mr. Arkwright and Mr. Perkins are blood related to the [[Series/ShiningTimeStation Conductor family.]] ]]

** Alternatively, he's still in service, but we don't see him because neither Nitrogen, Arc, nor Jam Filled have bothered making a Sodor Airport set to date.

* With Big Mickey's appearance in Season 21, the Star Tugs' appearances are now within the realm of possiblity. They would be perfect for the American episodes, as TUGS takes place in the United States of America.

* Diesel's theme song, unlike the other engines' theme songs, has a vaguely Middle Eastern sound. This is because unlike the steam engines, who use British coal for fuel, Diesel uses oil imported from the Middle East (the show seems to take place in the 1950s/early 60s, before North Sea oil was discovered).

Everything about that movie is just so weird and out of place in the ''Thomas'' universe. From the live-action humans, to the inclusion of magic, to a ''talking tumbleweed'', to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Edward suddenly being deleted from existence]], and possibly more. Why is the movie like this? Simple, because it was Thomas' dream. We all know the number 1 tank engine has a bit of a wild imagination, if his imagine spots in Season 22 are any indication. It's why the movie has so many typical characters - a hammy, ruthless villain, his goofy sidekicks, and a bland damsel in distress - because Thomas is so familiar with these character archetypes. It's why the movie is pretty much non-canon and never referenced again. It's also why he specifically gets to be the hero.

In ''TATMR'', Diesel 10 was incredibly villainous, but also somewhat one-dimensional. In ''CAE'', though, Diesel 10 is nicer and a bit of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold this time around. This characterization also carries over to the CGI era; granted, he is a bit more villainous there, but still has a soft side. JerkWithAHeartOfGold Diesel 10 is D10's canon persona, and his ''TATMR'' persona was completely made up by Thomas. It's why Thomas was initially afraid of him in ''CAE''. His cronies, Splatter and Dodge, are also completely made up, since they have never appeared in an episode or special following ''TATMR''.

[[WMG: The entire series is Music/RingoStarr playing at his train set at one of Music/TheBeatles' houses, while stoned]]
The WMG could really just stop there. But, out of ''all'' Music/TheBeatles, if one of them would do this while high, it's Ringo. Ringo narrated the adventures of Thomas to whichever other Beatles were stoned enough to be interested, or too stoned to get off the sofa and escape being his captive audience. When the story began to feel repetitive, John and George decided to give Ringo some new inspiration, and fed him some mushroom pizza. The very next adventure was WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad.

[[WMG: To add to the "WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue for the Seasons 6-12 characters" theory, here's the current whereabouts for other characters we don't see nowadays or haven't seen in a while, and for the Railway Series-only characters that never showed up in the TV series:]]

* Smudger: He was sold to Japan, restored to working order, and currently works under a different name (this theory is based off a [=fanfic=] this troper once read).

There's no sign of any government aside from the mayor and the railway seems to be in charge of a lot of things. Clearly at some point the railway, led by Sir Topham Hatt, seized control of the island and everybody who disagreed with their rule... disappeared (Jeremiah Jobling from "James and the Coaches" was the first to go, however when Old Bailey from "Haunted Henry" turned against Topham, he was simply [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassigned to the Blue Mountain Quarry]], which would explain the man working at the quarry who looks like him, and Mrs. Kyndley and her husband were simply exiled to the mainland when they turned against Topham which would explain why Kyndley was mentioned in "The Great Race"). The Mayor of Sodor is in fact a puppet installed by Topham, and he makes him do acts that suggest he is in charge while in reality it's the railway who runs the island.

When Emily first came to Sodor, she started off as nice and mature, but when season 8 began, she became rude, bossy, and haughty. The reason for this gradual change of character, which occurred somewhere between season 7 and season 8, is the case of AcquiredSituationalNarcissism. It has been very common for some engines to become conceited after being given important jobs or letting the praises for their accomplishments get into their smokeboxes, and somewhere between those seasons, Emily had fallen victim to this. Also, Emily's attitude may be because of the influence of the boastful engines like Gordon and James (which may explain why she was with them teasing Thomas and Percy in the episode "Spic and Span"). She went back to her original persona at the start of Season 17, but she still has her flaws.
** In addition, Henry socialised less with Gordon and James as the series went on, explaining why his personality mellowed out around the same time. Indeed a large amount of times Emily or Henry [[CharacterCheck go back to being arrogant]] is when they're around the other tender engines again.

The reason the brake van in that episode blew up easily as Percy crashed into it was because the Spiteful Brake Van was rebuilt after Douglas accidentally smashed it. After Percy's accident, the Spiteful Brake Van was beyond repair and was scrapped entirely.

[[WMG: Trains (and all other vehicles) are a species of techno-organic beings who where created in ancient times by technologically advanced humans]]
They have Human faces, personalities, are sentient, and could theorectially rise up, but are completely subservient to Humans.

It explains all the inconsistencies in the timeline like different characters appearing in episodes before they're introduced like James. It also explains how Rebecca can appear in the Royal Engine even though it would mean that she would have came to Sodor before Donald and Douglas since Prince Charles is only about 10 years old. Also how else can Kenji in Marvelous Machinery exist when his basis was built between 1964 and 1986 when the show supposedly takes place during the late 40s early 50s?

This is why you can have characters visit Sodor from countries like Japan (whose conventional trains use Cape-Gauge track), or broad-gauge countries (like Brazil, Russia, and India), and why Thomas can visit places like Kenya (which uses Meter Gauge on its older lines) without there being any compatibility issues or need to re-gauge. Narrow gauge still exists, but is found on only a few isolated lines like the one Duncan, Peter Sam, and Sir Handel work on and not on any large-scale national rail networks.

The Fat Controller saw how flawed the 1955 Modernisation Plan was (among other things, it had called for the replacement of steam engines by diesels on a one-to-one basis, resulting in a number of underpowered and often unreliable designs; furthermore, they were purchased from a number of different manufacturers with a variety of different designs, so training staff to drive and maintain so many different designs and having to keep spare parts for them was a logistical nightmare). In addition, the steam trains can be powered with locally-mined coal, not imported oil. For these reasons, the Fat Controller decided to keep using steam on the Isle of Sodor; later, when steam ended elsewhere, he kept using steam because of the extra tourist revenue steam drew in.

Just as ''The Railway Series'' ended in that story, the television series may as well end in this manner, too. If this is case, then here are some things that could happen:

* It will include every single character that ever appeared throughout the series (though not all of them such as the international engines will not make an appearance). Returning characters like [=BoCo=], Murdoch, Stepney, and Arthur will be seen in cgi for the first time. Pip and Emma will make their debut appearance.

In earlier seasons Diesel deemed steam engines as redundant to "revolutionary" diesels and constantly gloated their fate in the scrapyard. However, in spite of the show's static timeline compared to the books, diesels have no doubt shown fallibility, there have multiple cases of them breaking down or suffering design defects, many of the early models that replaced steam were in fact being retired by the time [=BoCo=] arrived even, and several other hot topic locomotives have appeared. Diesels can be outclassed and ''scrapped'' as well. Hence Diesel himself taking on a more desperate personality that wants approval, with the threat of mortality making him far less complacent. Of course due to their history, bad blood still exists between steam and diesels. Both want desperately to dissuade the Fat Controller from thinking they're old news after all.

* When they first appeared, they and other diesels were more antagonistic towards the steam engines. It makes sense that a mix of the Dieselworks' early setbacks, Sidney not getting mended for ages, Diesel and Diesel 10's influence, and the steamies' [[NotHelpingYourCase occasionally standoffish attitude towards diesels]] led them to put on a defensive mean facade. By Season 17, things have started to improve and Paxton has became more comfortable showing his true colours, though it takes Sidney being fixed to win Norman over (he is already nicer to Thomas by the very next episode).

* Facial hair specified changes with the prevailing fashions of the period and country; this is why the Beau, the American old west locomotive, has a bushy mustache, and Lorenzo and Etienne (Italian and French mid-20th-century designs) have shorter "pencil" mustaches. Most of the other locomotives have a clean-shaven appearance because that was the prevailing style for much of the early to mid 20th century.

Think about it; they're the only ones who live on Misty Island, and there are no established rules, meaning they can do whatever they please. So by the time Thomas came there, they have well become AxCrazy anarchists.

*** The Boco/Daisy thing I can buy (I can see Daisy's behavior, such as refusing to haul a single wagon, as a form of a trans woman's "overcompensating" and acting overly feminine), Edward seems like more of a case of ShesAManInJapan, James makes sense, and I haven't seen the episodes with Belle, Caitlin, Rebecca, or Lexi so I can't really comment on them.

** Original poster here: these are just little headcanons I have, and most of them only have a very tangential basis in the show. For example, Britt Allcroft sought to make Rusty gender-neutral when he debuted on the show; some news articles said that Lexi was genderfluid (can't find them now); Daisy looks very similar to Boco, and they were never seen together, so Boco might have transitioned to Daisy; Similarly, some parts of the fandom believe that Arthur transitioned to Belle; I think Edward is a trans man because when the show came to the US, he was originally going to be called a girl named Alice, but then stayed the same gender; James shows several CampGay mannerisms; Thomas is bi is just a little headcanon because I'm bi myself; Caitlin had some LesYay with Emily in "Best Engine Ever"; and I can see Rebecca being pansexual. I don't think Sodor is a homophobic Island at all, even the diesels have standards.

* Do you have any evidence to back up any of the claims other than the one regarding Byron/Brenda?

Byron left the show after the episode "Mud Glorious Mud", did some soul-searching, and later came out as a transgender woman named Brenda. Brenda is a bulldozer just like Byron, and she's "new" to Sodor because no one knows her or that she was assigned male at build. Brenda worries that the other Pack members, especially Max and Monty, will find out she's trans and will bully her about it. In reality, Sodor is very LGBT friendly (at least in my headcanon). Rusty is non-binary, Lexi is genderfluid, Daisy is a trans woman, Belle is a trans woman, Edward is a trans man, James is gay, Thomas is bi, Caitlin is lesbian, Rebecca is pan, etc. Even the ''diesels'' are pro-LGBT.

* Ironically, the class 08/09 (Diesel's basis) was one of the most successful first-generation diesel designs, with several examples still in service even today, while the Class 28 ([=BoCo=]'s basis) lasted barely a decade in service even after being returned to the manufacturer to be modified following "teething troubles" such as the cab windows falling out.

In earlier seasons Diesel deemed steam engines as redundant to "revolutionary" diesels and constantly gloated their fate in the scrapyard. However, in spite of the show's static timeline compared to the books, diesels have no doubt shown fallibility, there have multiple cases of them breaking down or suffering design defects, many of the early models that replaced steam were in fact being retired by the time Boco arrived even, and several other hot topic locomotives have appeared. Diesels can be outclassed and ''scrapped'' as well. Hence Diesel himself taking on a more desperate personality that wants approval, with the threat of mortality making him far less complacent. Of course due to their history, bad blood still exists between steam and diesels. Both want desperately to dissuade the Fat Controller from thinking they're old news after all.
* Ironically, the class 08/09 (Diesel's basis) was one of the few successful first-generation diesels, with several examples still in service even today.

In earlier seasons Diesel deemed steam engines as redundant to "revolutionary" diesels and constantly gloated their fate in the scrapyard. However, in spite of the show's static timeline compared to the books, diesels have no doubt shown fallibility, there have multiple cases of them breaking down or suffering design defects, many of the early models that replaced steam were in fact being retired by the time Boco arrived even, and several other hot topic locomotives have appeared. Diesels can be outclassed and ''scrapped'' as well. Hence Diesel himself taking on a more desperate personality that wants approval, with the threat of mortality making him far less complacent. Of course due to their history, bad blood still exists between steam and diesels. Both want desperately to dissuade the Fat Controller from thinking they're old news after all.

* The special ends with TheEnd like in the book.