History YMMV / TheRailwaySeries

** ''The Railway Series'' in general has this reception from the wider RailEnthusiast community. Many adult railfans view the books as a gateway point to the hobby they experienced as a child. Enthusiast events for fans of the books such as the Tallylyn Railway's "Awdry Extravaganza" draw large crowds and global attention. Other railfans are annoyed with dealing with other railfans whose knowledge on real railroad practice comes exclusively from the books. This can be particularly frustrating when dealing with railway practices outside of the United Kingdom where the books are set, as terminology, designs, and procedures vary immensely between nation to nation.

** Many fans expressed disappointment the Culdee Fell engines only appeared in a single book. Of the eight engines that work there (well, ''[[KilledOffForReal worked]]'' in the case of Godred), we only really get to know three of them, No. 8 (Eric) doesn't even show up in illustrations, although No. 2 (Ernest) is only seen from the side, and the last one (Shane Dooiney) is only referred to in the foreward!

** In ''Old Faithful'', it's quoted that Sir Handel thinks that Skarloey is the "best engine in the world". Yeah, try picturing that in your mind 15 books later...
*** While on the topic, in ''Very Old Engines'', we see Peter Sam in a state of panic when he hears that engine dukes were scrapped. Skarloey seems to take this as a joke, and we don't know how Sir Handel took the whole thing. What had Sir Handel come to?

*** Also thanks to the show, many view Thomas as being younger than the tender engines, since that is how the show frequently portrays him. However, this is not true as far as ''The Railway Series'' is concerned. According to ''The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways'', Thomas is actually older than ''Edward'', being the first proper engine to arrive on the North Western Railway (hence why he has the number 1), making him more of a CoolOldGuy and a GrumpyOldMan in the books than the youthful cheeky engine that many see him as.

* RonTheDeathEater: 98462 was stated by Reverend Awdry to have been sent away because he was rude and nasty. In Trainz-based Thomas fan videos, 98462 is often [[IncrediblyLamePun derailed]] into an AxCrazy BloodKnight named Alfred who murders (or tries to murder) other engines.

** Bear is one of the crowning examples of a wasted character. His appearances in ''Enterprising Engines'' presented him as a more affable diesel than D199/Spamcan, but one with a fair amount of experience living on the modern-day Other Railway who is thus very unused to the ways of the North Western Railway compared to say, [[NiceGuy Rusty or BoCo]]. One might think that this would provide enough material for an entire book or at least a spotlight story, but Bear pretty much falls off the wayside after his introduction. Many have stated that he could've played a decent role in ''James and the Diesel Engines'' by taking the place of the unnamed Works Diesel in rescuing James, or, perhaps by simply having him act as the {{Deuteragonist}} of the book as a whole alongside James. Instead, James has already overcome any discomfort or suspicions of Bear, and he plays no particular role in Chris' run.

** Similarly, the stationmaster and his family from "[[Recap/TheRailwaySeriesB16BranchLineEngines Thomas Comes to Breakfast]]" are rather unsympathetic. While Thomas wrecked their house after taking his driver's joke about not needing him anymore way too seriously, the stationmaster's family could have easily avoided their situation if they had simply chosen a sensible place to live, instead of, you know, [[TooDumbToLive at the end of a train track]]. The fact that Thomas could only move because a careless cleaner had meddled with his controls, and gets blamed for the accident while [[IdiotHoudini the cleaner receives no punishment]], doesn't do the family any favours either.

** Many fans expressed disappointment the Culdee Fell engines only appeared in a single book. Of the eight engines that work there (well, ''[[KilledOffForReal worked]]'' in the case of Godred), we only really get to know three of them, another three don't even show up in illustrations, and the last one (Shane Dooiney) is only referred to in the foreward!

** This trope was partly why Christopher Awdry didn't like the story "Drip Tank" due to it involving an outdated phrase, and for this reason, remained unadapted in the TV series (in a book that was created ''specifically'' to adapt stories into episodes).

** Many fans expressed disappointment the Culdee Fell engines only appeared in a single book. Of the eight engines that work there (well, *worked* in the case of Godred), we only really get to know three of them, and another three don't even show up in illustrations!
** After Duke is brought to the Skarloey Railway, we don't get to hear much about his new life there.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: While they've only appeared in one book. Culdee and the other Culdee Fell engines have certainly made an impression on readers due to their very unique designs and the interesting setting they inhabit. Unsurprisingly, they're amongst the most requested characters to appear in the TV show by fans and this is likely the reason why they got a good amount of merch dedicated to them under the show's branding, in spite of them never actually appearing in the TV show.

* FanNickname: The red engine that briefly appears in "The Sad Story of Henry" has no name officially[[note]]The engine was intended to be James according to Awdry, however, due to children questioning why [[SeriesContinuityError he's painted red in the story when the book after it had him in a black livery before he got repainted to red]], Awdry made him a different character instead[[/note]]. However, the ''Extended Railway Series'' fan project has decided to give him the name "Eagle", which quickly took off and spread like wildfire in the fandom shortly after. Nowadays, even those who are otherwise unfamiliar with the ''Extended Railway Series'' stories will often call him Eagle as it's become that ingrained into the community.

*** Because Thomas is the main protagonist in the show, many tend to assume that Thomas is also the main protagonist in the books, especially since compilations of the series tend to use the "Thomas the Tank Engine" name. However, this isn't exactly true, as while Thomas is a protagonist, he is only one of several protagonists in the books, as the books focus on a large EnsembleCast of engines instead of a singular protagonist, with the engines sharing a roughly equal amount of screen time and focus. In fact, in contrast to the show, which tends to focus on Thomas to the point of having him appear in nearly every episode, ''The Railway Series'' doesn't give him much focus at all outside of a couple of books, and it isn't uncommon for him to be absent entirely.

** As a result of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' being [[AdaptationDisplacement far more popular than the books]], there are a few assumptions that many familiar with the show, but not the books tend to make about the books that are not wholly accurate, particularly in regards to Thomas:

** As a result of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' being [[AdaptationDisplacement far more popular than the books]], there are a few assumptions that many fans tend to make about the books that does not actually apply to them, particularly in regards to Thomas:

** As a result of AudienceColoringAdaptation and AdaptationDisplacement stemming from the popularity of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'', there are a few misassumptions about the books that, while true to the show, does not actually apply to Awdry's original books, particularly in regards to Thomas and his role in the series:

** Also thanks to the show, many view Thomas as being younger than the tender engines, since that is how the show frequently portrays him. However, this is not true as far as ''The Railway Series'' is concerned. According to ''The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways'', Thomas is actually older than ''Edward'', being the first proper engine to arrive on the North Western Railway (hence why he has the number 1), making him more of a CoolOldGuy and a GrumpyOldMan in the books than the youthful cheeky engine that many see him as.

*** Because Thomas is treated as the main protagonist in the show. It is common for fans to assume that Thomas is the main protagonist here as well, especially given that compilations are often given the "Thomas the Tank Engine" moniker. However, this isn't exactly true, as while Thomas is a protagonist, he is only one of several protagonists in the books, as the books focus on an large EnsembleCast of engines instead of a singular protagonist, with the engines sharing a roughly equal amount of screen time and focus. In fact, in a complete contrast to the show, which tends to focus on Thomas to the point of having him appear in nearly every episode, ''The Railway Series'' doesn't give Thomas a ton of focus at all outside of a couple of books and it isn't uncommon for him to be absent entirely. Especially in Wilbert's later books.
** Also thanks to the show, many see Thomas as being younger than the tender engines, since that is how the show frequently portrays him. However, this is not true as far as ''The Railway Series'' is concerned. According to ''The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways'', Thomas is actually older than ''Edward'', being the first proper engine to arrive on the North Western Railway (hence why he has the number 1), making him more of a CoolOldGuy and a GrumpyOldMan in the books than the youthful cheeky engine that many see him as.

*** Because Thomas is treated as the main protagonist in the show. It is common for fans to assume that Thomas is the main protagonist here as well, especially given that compilations are often given the "Thomas the Tank Engine" moniker. However, this isn't exactly true, as while Thomas is a protagonist, he is only one of several protagonists in the books, as the books focus on an large EnsembleCast of engines instead of a singular protagonist, with the engines sharing a roughly equal amount of screen time and focus. In fact, in a complete contrast to the show, which tends to focus on Thomas to the point of having him be in nearly every episode, ''The Railway Series'' doesn't give Thomas a ton of focus at all outside of a couple of books.
*** Many fans tend to view Thomas as a young tank engine who is less experienced than the "older" tender engines, since that is how the show frequently portrays him. However, this is not true as far as ''The Railway Series'' is concerned. According to ''The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways'', Thomas is actually older than ''Edward'', being the first proper engine to arrive on the North Western Railway (hence why he has the number 1), making him more of a CoolOldGuy and a GrumpyOldMan in the books than the youthful cheeky engine that many see him as.

** Because of AdaptationDisplacement, it is common for fans to assume that Thomas is the main protagonist here as he is in the show. While Thomas is indeed a protagonist, he is only one of several protagonists in the books, as opposed to being the main protagonist, as the books have an EnsembleCast with the engines sharing a roughly equal amount of screen time and focus (in fact, most of the books don't give him much focus or screen time at all outside of a couple of books). The fact that compilations would be titled "Thomas the Tank Engine" due to the show does not help.

** Everyone knows Thomas is a young tank engine. However, this is not true as far as ''The Railway Series'' is concerned. According to ''The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways'', Thomas is actually older than ''Edward'' himself, being the first proper engine to arrive on the North Western Railway (hence why he has the number 1), making him more of a CoolOldGuy and a GrumpyOldMan in the books than the youthful cheeky engine that people see him as, with the later books frequently pointing out his old age. This is a perception caused by the TV show, which does depict Thomas in a more youthful light compared to the books, especially in later seasons after they deviated away from adapting the books.

* RonTheDeathEater: An example for a character that didn't appear much, 98462 was stated by Reverend Awdry to have been sent away because he was rude and nasty. In Trainz-based Thomas fan videos, 98462 is often [[IncrediblyLamePun derailed]] into an AxCrazy BloodKnight named Alfred who murders (or tries to murder) other engines.

* FanNickname: The red engine that briefly appears in "The Sad Story of Henry" has no name officially[[note]]The engine was intended to be James according to Awdry, however due to children questioning why [[SeriesContinuityError he's painted red in the story when the book after it had him in a black livery before he got repainted to red]], Awdry made him a different character instead[[/note]]. However, the ''Extended Railway Series'' fan project has decided to give him the name "Eagle", which quickly took off and spread like wildfire in the fandom shortly after. Nowadays, even those who are otherwise unfamiliar with the ''Extended Railway Series'' stories will often call him Eagle as it's become that ingrained into the community.

** The Island of Sodor during UsefulNotes/WorldWar1 and UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 isn't explored much in depth in the books, so unsurprisingly, there are many fanworks based on the series that are set in those periods, showing and exploring how the island operated in times of violence and great war. Unsurprisingly, many of these works tend to frequently be DarkerAndEdgier due to the period they took place in.

** A common criticism for ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' was how silly and unrealistic it got, especially in its later seasons. However, this was something that had existed in the books too, as although both Wilbert and Christopher Awdry did try to stick with realism as best as possible, beyond the obvious fact that the engines could talk and emote, some of the stories do occasionally break from reality at times and feature scenarios that were unrealistic, especially in the [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness earlier books where things weren't as consistent or well-defined]]. However, this wasn’t really considered a problem in the books, because many of the breaks tend to largely be AcceptableBreaksFromReality that don't detract from the stories. On top of this, the books kept a consistently grounded and down-to-earth tone that can ground and restrain the sillier elements and prevent it from being too over the top (it also helps that many of the sillier and seemingly out there stories are still [[AluminumChristmasTrees inspired by real life events]]). The TV show, by contrast, lacked this restraint and would skew with reality more and more until it eventually abandoned any and all semblance of realism in its later seasons, leading to the aforementioned criticisms to pop up and quickly grow over time.
** One of the biggest criticisms that ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad'' received from fans is how Lady was a completely fictional engine with no real life basis. However, one of the most beloved characters in the books and TV show, Percy, is also a largely fictional engine with no real life basis, being a heavily hybridized mix of several steam engines instead of being based off a real class like the other engines. The reason why Percy tends to receive a pass over Lady in spite of this is that Percy is still depicted as a realistic and grounded engine in spite of lacking a specific real life basis (it helps that steam engines made for industrial use in real life were often unique and/or modified, so there is a real life precedent for this). Lady by contrast, is portrayed as an entirely supernatural and magical being, making her far more jarring and out of place compared to Percy.

* IconicCharacterForgottenTitle: Commonly called "Thomas the Tank Engine" after the show became popular. It doesn't help the merchandising between the two products sometimes interchanges and some versions of the original novels are even released officially with the Thomas moniker. That said, this is a slight case of OlderThanTheyThink as some pre-TV show material were released under the ''Thomas the Tank Engine'' moniker, such as the annuals from 1979 and 1980.

** Everyone knows Thomas is a young tank engine. However, this is not true as far as ''The Railway Series'' is concerned. According to ''The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways'', Thomas is actually older than ''Edward'' himself, being the first proper engine to arrive on the North Western Railway (hence why he has the number 1), making him more of a CoolOldGuy and a GrumpyOldGuy in the books than the youthful cheeky engine that people see him as, with the later books frequently pointing out his old age. This is a perception caused by the TV show, which does depict Thomas in a more youthful light compared to the books, especially in later seasons after they deviated away from adapting the books.

* ContestedSequel: Christopher Awdry's books get this in comparsion to Wilbert's. While many adored his stories and consider them to be worthy continuations of the original stories, others felt they were too bland, technical, and dry compared to Wilbert's and lack the charm and wit that his books had, seeming to just play it safe instead of attempting anything new. In Christopher's defense, ExecutiveMeddling is partially to blame as his attempts to continue developing Sodor for the time period were [[{{Pun}} shunted]] aside in favor of stories focusing on the original cast, particularly [[BreakoutCharacter Thomas]], due to the success of the TV show.

** A common criticism for ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' was how silly and unrealistic it got, especially in its later seasons. However, this was something that had existed in the books too, as although both Wilbert and Christopher Awdry did try to stick with realism as best as possible, beyond the obvious fact that the engines could talk and emote, some of the stories do occasionally break from reality at times and feature scenarios that were unrealistic, especially in the [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness earlier books where things weren't as consistent or well-defined]]. However, this wasn’t really considered a problem in the books, because many of the breaks tend to largely be AcceptableBreaksFromReality that don't detract from the stories. On top of this, the books kept a consistently grounded and down-to-earth tone that can ground and restrain the sillier elements and prevent it from being too over the top (it also helps that many of the sillier and seemingly out there stories are still [[RealityIsUnrealistic inspired by real life events]]). The TV show, by contrast, lacked this restraint and would skew with reality more and more until it eventually abandoned any and all semblance of realism in its later seasons, leading to the aforementioned criticisms to pop up and quickly grow over time.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: One of the biggest criticisms that ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad'' received from fans is how Lady was a completely fictional engine with no real life basis. However, one of the most beloved characters in the books and TV show, Percy, is also a largely fictional engine with no real life basis, being a heavily hybridized mix of several steam engines instead of being based off a real class like the other engines. The reason why Percy tends to receive a pass over Lady in spite of this is that Percy is still depicted as a realistic and grounded engine in spite of lacking a specific real life basis (it helps that steam engines made for industrial use in real life were often unique and/or modified, so there is a real life precedent for this). Lady by contrast, is portrayed as an entirely supernatural and magical being, making her far more jarring and out of place compared to Percy.

** Because of AdaptationDisplacement, it is common for fans to assume that Thomas is the main protagonist here as he is in the show. While Thomas is indeed a protagonist, he is only one of several protagonists in the books, as opposed to being the main protagonist, as the books have an EnsembleCast with the engines sharing a roughly equal amount of screentime and focus (Thomas wasn't even in the first book). The fact that compilations would be titled "Thomas the Tank Engine" due to the show does not help.

** While the fourth Hatt to succeed Stephen Hatt is implied to be his first son Richard Hatt (given he has the name Topham like the current Fat Controller and the previous two), a common speculative theory that has popped up in more recent years is what if [[BreakingOldTrends Emily Helen (his only daughter) succeeded him instead, becoming the railway's first female controller]], and how would the engines react to such a massive shift in the status quo. Unsurprisingly, numerous fan works have explored this idea in greater depth.
* {{Fanon}}: Thomas is interpreted by fans as being an experimental prototype based on the LBSC E2 basis as opposed to an actual E2, largely as a way to explain why Thomas seemingly lacks the problems his real life basis is infamous for having[[note]]The real life E2's suffered from a low coal supply and small side tankers (the latter of which was slightly rectified by a later upgrade), making them only useful for shunting and for small run freight trains[[/note]], as well as the fact that he is far smaller and shorter than real life E2s. It helps that there is precedent for this in canon, as ''[[AllThereInTheManual The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways]]'' reveals several engines as being experimental prototypes.