Audio Play / Trampy Movies

Trampy Movies is a series of audio plays by one Trampy, with all characters voiced and narrated by the creator. The subject matter at hand? Adult-themed audio retellings of The Railway Series and Thomas & Friends, adapting the stories once again in audio format, but, essentially, without the child filter on, in a way not unlike TUGS. The audio play takes a somewhat minimalist method compared to other Thomas-themed fan works, relying primarily on edited screenshots from the TV series itself for visuals, whilst eschewing the narrator and any musical effects, relying more on basic sound-effects.

The series can be watched here. There is also a set of Quickies, which preceded the concept before being given a full series. As of this writing some of these Quickies have been expanded into episodes proper, while the rest cover material that the series has yet to reach.

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The audio play contains the following tropes:

• Achilles in His Tent: Given that it adapts the original stories, Henry's refusal to come out of the tunnel and the big engines' strike immediately fall into this. It works about as well as they did in the original stories, which is to say, not at all.
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: Thomas' catharsis and schadenfreude over the big engines getting shut up on top of already having his branch line makes him incredibly arrogant and insufferable, easily passing over Edward's level of tolerance.
  • If Quickies 3: Water is of any indication, Percy is constantly boasting about saving Thomas' passengers from a flood. While Bill & Ben are in awe, Henry is not.
• Actually Pretty Funny: The ending of Main Line has Gordon admit this to Percy's pun at the end. Henry on the other hand, considers it the worst joke he's ever heard.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Edward in the first few stories was notably depicted as being somewhat weak-willed and thin-skinned. Edward in Trampy Movies after the first episode is depicted as significantly more no-nonsense when it comes to tomfoolery, notable when he actively calls the big engines' strike as the most idiotic thing he has ever seen, as opposed to the original episodes and book where he was worried about being said to have "black wheels" and being wheeshed at.
  • Unlike in The Adventure Begins, Thomas is able to couple up to James' train and slow him down. Downplayed in that he still fails to save James from derailing, but a point is made that the accident could've been much worse otherwise.
• Adaptation Amalgamation: Used a few times:
  • The books used a red engine similar to James, and in a Mythology Gag, James in his black coat was used as that engine during the Henry flashback as seen in The Adventure Begins. The model series used Thomas as the engine. Trampy Movies has both engines called in to push Henry out...of course, they still don't succeed.
  • Runaway notably adapts the runaway scene from The Adventure Begins, which had already adapted most of the basics of The Breakdown Train.
  • Flying Kipper primarily adapts the episode of the same name, but includes elements of Tenders and Turntables (James getting spun around like a top by the wind), A Scarf for Percy (The engines all waking up early due to the cold and complaining about it) and High-Speed Gordon (Gordon suffering wheelslip upon starting up the express in the cold, though he quickly recovers here compared to the base story), and the crew in James' brake van recount the events of Thomas and the Guard.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Given the freedom from strictly needing to keep to a child demographic, the series delves more into the character's psychologies and usage of their TIOS backstories to construct their current ages.
  • With Thomas in the original stories, his desire to leave the yard was akin to a childish desire to see the world, and thus his Character Development revolved around him having to mature to earn it. While the latter is kept for Trampy Movies, the former is changed to Thomas being more stuck in a toxic, dead-end environment filled with thankless work, as the series maintains his TIOS background of him and Edward as being the first engines on the railway.
  • James gets this as well, as many of the events in the series seem determined to beat him down; his crash in Runaway is caused by him fearing Thomas will replace him and bumping the trucks, and he even voices this out to the tank engine after he's saved (with it being noted that, with his crew having been bumped off in this version rather than just having wooden brake blocks, the accident could have been critical). Triumph showcases him being totally crushed after bumping the coaches so hard they needed bootlaces, and him joining Gordon's strike is more due to peer pressure...with the obvious consequences of that being seen on him.
  • Percy's background is shown, and while he's The Pollyanna concerning his situation, it still bears mentioning that his owner dumped him at the workshops, and not even the foreman knows who his maker is. His titular movie expands on this; he wasn't even allowed to sleep in the sheds on his old railway, and had to sleep in the sidings, nor was he ever noticed in the workshops in the first place.
• Adaptation Distillation: The series notably shuffles or distillates events corresponding to the original canon should the need arise.
  • The books have Henry shut up in the tunnel and subsequently let out before the events of "Thomas and Gordon" while the TV series has them happen afterward. Here, Henry is shut up in the tunnel before the events of "Thomas and Gordon" and is only let out afterward; one of the original scenes is Henry, still bricked up, witnessing Gordon dragging Thomas past the tunnel and deciding he isn't missing much.
  • Triumph adapts all three of the first three stories of James the Red Engine, which the original series had already done by combining the first two stories in one episode already. James' incident with the bootlaces happens while he and Edward are double-heading, and James is immediately put on goods work the next day as punishment rather than being cooped up in the sheds.
  • Strike does this with much of the original arc of Troublesome Engines; Henry and James' incidents with the elephant and turntable are Adapted Out, leaving much of the impetus of the conflict being Gordon's fury and damaged pride about needing to shunt his own trains and constant usage of the turntables, upon which he proceeds to stoke the other two's respective egos and desires to initiate the strike in the first place. James would later get his trip on the turntable in Flying Kipper.
    • Edward shunting the trains for the others is not adapted either, with Sir Topham Hatt instead immediately shutting Gordon's demands down by consigning the big engines to the sheds so that Edward and Thomas can work the main line together, with a soon-to-be purchased Percy on the way to look after Thomas' branch line.
  • Firebox adapts a scene from Thomas and the Guard, specifically the one where Henry is late to the junction for Thomas. In the books, this was used to set-up the plot thread of Henry's recurring illness ^note And originally write him out, as Awdry intended., whereas here, with the plot thread already set-up, it immediately segues into the discussion Sir Topham Hatt has with Henry about his illness.
• Adaptational Dumbass: The 2023 Christmas video established none of the engines can read, in sharp contrast to the books and TV series where they are shown to be able to at least read the signs and clocks at the stations (such as the first scene in Thomas and the Magic Railroad where Gordon tells Thomas to read a sign aloud so he can mock him for being late).
• Adaptational Early Appearance: James, who was not formally introduced in the books until Thomas the Tank Engine appears in stories taking place before that, starting from the very first movie. Trucks later establishes that he is still the newest engine on the railway in this continuity however, with Express confirming that he's been on the railway for two years.
• Adaptation Expansion: Even in audio readings, the original stories rarely passed the seven-minute mark, whilst the original model series only went up to four-and-a-half minutes in the Classic era, and then seven in the HiT era. Trampy Movies at first began at around ten minutes, with subsequent ones getting longer and longer, each detailing events of canon in different and somewhat more detailed ways.
  • Percy, while mostly the first original episode, is technically an expansion of the denouement of Trouble in the Shed...to almost twenty-two minutes, acting as the titular character's introduction to the railway and the results of it. It likewise adapts the start of Percy Runs Away as its own denouement scene.
  • Snow is another episode that takes a rather simple story; Thomas, Terrence, and the Snow, and expands it into a seventeen-minute episode, giving Henry a minor role, and in particular, expanding a bit on Terrence's character, to the point where the edited screenshots notably give him many more facial expressions than the model series did.
• Adaptation Name Change: While the series is ostensibly set back in the original setting of The Railway Series and early seasons of the show, Sir Topham Hatt is never referred to as "The Fat Controller" and is always referred to by his name.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • James in several regards. While still a very prideful and somewhat vain sort, he is depicted in a more go-getter sort of way that still maintains the basics of his personality. Incidents with him delve more into his Fatal Flaw of anger rather than just his vanity, and he displays a great deal of hesitance to go along with Gordon's strike, given that he just impressed Sir Topham Hatt by pulling the Express, to the point where he's basically peer-pressured into doing so. He's also the first one to apologize for the strike.
  • Troublesome Trucks are still a bunch of rude and vengeful assholes, but display some more altruistic qualities; The trucks Thomas pulled in Edward's place apologize to Sir Topham Hatt for their tricks (even though one of them admits he still found the whole situation funny), and the group Thomas pulls as practice during "Runaway" offer him genuine words of encouragement.
  • Sir Topham Hatt has a bit of this going for him as well. Whilst still every bit the stern Controller he was in the books and early seasons, in those, he could take on a slightly antagonistic role or make very harsh decisions, as seen with the Caledonian Twins...and of course, Henry. In the books, he seemed ready to throw in the towel and send Henry away to be scrapped, whereas this series establishes his fatherly traits much faster, so instead of threatening to scrap Henry, he merely intends to relegate him to spare engine due to his steaming issues. It also helps set him apart more from the mainland controllers, as Percy mentions the original intent as a trait of his old controller.
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • Henry is portrayed as the grumpiest of the three big engines, a stark contrast to the official canon in which he is the nicest of the trio. His short temper is best displayed in the Quickie Water, in which he is repeatedly a smartass to Percy and makes barely-provoked threats to him, Bill, and Ben compared to the light ribbing from in canon.
  • Terence the Tractor in both the books and television series is a bonafide Nice Guy who shrugs off any insults and doesn't hesitate to help out. Here, while still friendly overall, he's visibly offended by Thomas insulting his caterpillar tracks, acts smug when explaining their advantages to Thomas and when he comes to rescue him from the snow, and waits until Thomas apologizes to pull him out.
• All for Nothing: James and Henry immediately realize that the strike was this, considering how quickly Percy was brought in. Gordon can only stare in shock.
• Armor-Piercing Response: When it comes to light that Sir Topham Hatt and Edward knew about Henry's flawed design, the screwed-up A1 demands to know why the former didn't send him away. Sir Topham Hatt's response shuts him up.
  Sir Topham Hatt: Because you are my engine, Henry!
• Big "SHUT UP!": In Quickies 3: Water, Henry does this when Percy starts singing about how an "Engine attached to a train, was afraid of a, what was it you were afraid of Henry?".
  • James has the mother of all these in Percy as Gordon and Henry blame each other for why the strike failed.
    James: Oh, SHUT UUUUUP! SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!
• Bittersweet Ending: Flying Kipper ends this way. On the bitter side, Henry's hopes to prove himself a worthy Express candidate have been dashed by his accident putting him out of commission, and his self-esteem clearly took a major hit, with Percy not being happy about the state Henry is in. On the sweet side however, Henry will be getting a rebuild to increase the size of his firebox.
• Black Comedy Animal Cruelty The second half of Quickies 4: Cows has Henry suggest that if a cow doesn't get off the tracks, then an engine should collide into it full-speed, much to Edward's disgust. Gordon however, proudly proclaims that he will do just that the next time he sees one. Henry immediately backtracks, claiming that he was just joking. What follows is the two rambling about how dark the "Joke" was, with Edward leaving in disgust while Toby just chuckles knowingly.
  Gordon: That was a joke?!
  Henry: Of course it was a joke Gordon, I love animals, you know that!
  Gordon: Well, uh, I don't, actually! You've got a sick sense of humor Henry, I thought you were being serious.
• Blatant Lies: Bob does not buy Thomas' explanation that rocks broke his snowplough. As he points out during his angry rant, it was an open field with a single track going through it.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Edward is usually the one to utilize this when consoling the other engines.
  • In Tricked Edward utilizes this when comforting Thomas. As much as Thomas is jealous of Gordon for seemingly doing nothing and being showered with praise, Edward reminds Thomas that Gordon was built to pull express trains...but at the same time, Thomas' shunting work is critical to the workings of the railway.
  • In Percy Edward again invokes this after the titular character helps him and Thomas out of a bind with pulling a heavy passenger train, claiming that he was getting too hard on Thomas due to the situation, but before he can finish, Thomas willingly takes all the blame for their situation because as harsh as Edward was, he was completely correct that dealing with the strike was a serious matter.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Quickies 3: Water establishes that this is still very true for Bill & Ben, who quickly get into a spat about Percy's story of braving a flood.
  Ben: I could've never done that [Driving through a flood] Percy!
  Bill: Of course you wouldn't Ben, you'd be screaming like a wuss!
  Ben: I would not! You would!
  Bill: I'd punch that rain in the face, what you talking 'bout?
• Breather Episode: Main Line is this after the dramatic two-parter that was Strike and Percy, acting as a capoff for the Story Arc. Snow likewise, is a much lower-stakes story after Firebox.
• Brutal Honesty: Edward when scolding the three big engines for going on strike. He somewhat lampshades it when James (very weakly due to being more peer-pressured into joining the strike) tries to claim that he just wants things to be better on the railway.
  Edward:: Well excuse my bluntness James, but they're not going to. This is the stupidest thing each of you have ever done!
• Call-Forward: Main Line confirms that Gordon's relation with Flying Scotsman is still true in this continuity ^note Flying Scotsman only had a nameless cameo/mention in the model series due to budget and his relation with Gordon was never touched on until the CGI seasons. when he tries to have Percy recognize who he is.
• Comically Missing the Point: Edward gives the hard truth of Henry's steaming issues to the others. Gordon is in shock. James however...
  James: Oh my god...Henry could have been an Atlantic!
  Gordon: *Completely unamused*
• Composite Character:
  • Edward gets this with his book series depiction and HIT era depiction; while currently the wise old engine everyone is familiar with, he describes himself in his youth as reckless and impatient, with edited flashbacks of several HIT-era episodes depicting Edward (whose personality did get hit with these traits in spotlights for the sake of teaching a moral) in his early days on the Furness Railway.
  • Annie and Clarabel are mostly based on their book and early model depictions but incorporate aspects of their CGI depictions as attempted voices of reason for Thomas who sometimes share his cheekier aspects.
• The Cynic: Henry is grumpy, dour, and doesn't believe that Gordon's strike will work at first, only joining because he assumes that Sir Topham Hatt won't get a new engine. When the strike fails, he immediately regrets joining up with Gordon. Much later on, he and Percy have this exchange:
  Henry: Can I rest in peace now that you've soiled my good mood?
  Percy: Henry, quit lying to yourself, you're never in a good mood.
• Darker and Edgier: Somewhat, since this is basically the same stories told without a child filter on. The engines swear at several points and the Black Comedy is more pronounced. The stories also have a greater sense of character drama overall as well. However, given that it's still Thomas & Friends and/or The Railway Series, nothing too outlandish or dark really takes place.
• Decomposite Character: Acting as a Mythology Gag as well, as stated in Adaptational Nice Guy, Sir Topham Hatt does not intend to scrap Henry when his steaming issues get critical, but does plan to get a new engine and relegate Henry to small, spare jobs regardless. The original intent is instead given to Percy's old controller, who was going to do this to one of his engines until a driver persuaded him to use Welsh Coal instead.
• Determinator: A usual core theme for Thomas & Friends, and is discussed by Edward, who uses it to encourage the little blue tank engine.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Henry's steaming issues due to his small firebox, and thus, needing Welsh Coal to work properly, can still very much be seen as an example of people who need medication in order to function in their daily lives due to conditions with their bodies. All but stated by Percy...
  Percy: He [Henry] isn't a flawed design sir, he's just built different.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Henry thought that dodging the rain by hiding in a tunnel would help his appearance after learning Gordon doesn't care about his paint. He didn't realize that it would piss off all of the passengers and get him holed up in said tunnel.
  • Gordon's "plan" to teach Sir Topham Hatt a lesson and have the big engines be treated better is about as much a plan as it is a block of swiss cheese. He assumes that the threat of closure will be enough for Sir Topham Hatt to consider their demands, and if not, then the big engines will be purchased by other railways. Their controller's solution is to shut them up, assign Edward and Thomas to run the main line trains, and bring in Percy to run Thomas' branch line.
    Henry: What plan? We've discussed NOTHING!
• Dislikes the New Guy: Thomas and Henry have this reaction to Percy due to his naivety (Thomas) or size/humiliating them (Henry). While Thomas comes around about to accepting Percy, Henry still maintains a grudge until Firebox, where Percy is the one to come up with the idea of giving Henry Welsh Coal, which causes Henry to re-evaluate his opinion on the saddletank.
• Dramatic Irony: The reason Henry ultimately joins Gordon's strike is because he believes that Sir Topham Hatt isn't going to purchase a new engine to do the shunting. The next day shows Sir Topham Hatt reading over documents, about to make some sort of decision. The end of the movie has him immediately head off to the engine workshops to buy a new engine, meaning that he likely had already made plans to do so, thus making the strike even more meaningless.
• Ensemble Cast: While the series uses screenshots from the show, it ultimately utilizes this just as in the original books, with character focus being set in arcs.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Gordon and Henry have little respect for James, but neither of them makes any jokes at his expense about his crash. Henry looks downright depressed when he hears the news.
  • While most of the other engines don't think fondly of Henry's illness...that changes when Edward reveals the full details of Henry's problems. Thomas seems to be the exception.
  • Adding onto the second point as while he was just as unsympathetic towards Henry’s illness, Gordon seems genuinely shocked when James states that if Henry needs that much coal, then he’s not working hard enough.
  • Henry actually tries to warn Thomas about the dangers of snow, even though Thomas keeps blowing him off as the weather gets worse and worse. It's worth noting that when a blizzard hits Sodor, all three big engines are wide awake, clearly concerned.
• Friendless Background: Percy was never allowed to sleep in the sheds with the other engines, and his driver just parked him wherever for the next day's work. He was likewise ignored in the workshops after being unceremoniously dumped there until Sir Topham Hatt noticed him.
• Funny Background Event: While James is spinning on the turntable at uncontrollable speeds, Henry and Gordon continue their argument while James can still be heard panicking and screaming.
• Gilligan Cut:
  • In Mine, Sir Topham Hatt says he knows Gordon won't be too happy to come and rescue Thomas. Cut to Gordon laughing about Thomas going down a mine on the way to help.
    Thomas: Yeah, I'm not so sure about that one.
  • In Flying Kipper, James' driver chatting with the guard in the brake van says it took some time to adjust to the night shift but he's sure James likes it now. Cue James shivering and complaining about the cold.
• Jerkass Ball: Thomas, as can be expected, grabs it hard during Percy, thanks to getting completely puffed up in the smokebox about getting to the big engines' work while they're shut up in the shed. He dismisses Percy completely, and even acts up around Edward, to the point where he stops a train in the middle of a hill on a rainy day out of spite. Obviously, this last one screws him over.
• Jerkass Has a Point: This series notably explores this a bit more compared to the original show and books thanks to the longer runtime and freedom to explore this in-depth.
  • Gordon's arrogant behavior, while certainly something to be worked on, has a few justifications. In Rain he completely dismisses Henry's new coat of paint, commenting that compared to his responsibilities on the Express, it's "just paint". This is proven when Henry, who wants to be as good as Gordon, cares so much about his paint, he stops himself in a tunnel, inconveniencing the passengers. And later on in Tricked, as Edward tells Thomas, Gordon may whine about pulling goods trains, but he was built to pull high-speed Express trains and it's still a very important responsibility.
  • Edward, due to Adaptation Personality Change, gets this from time to time due to a much blunter attitude towards stupid actions.
    • In Strike, he quite bluntly tells Gordon and the others that the strike is not going to work, outlining numerous reasons as to why, but to no avail.
    • Percy depicts Edward at perhaps his most desperate; dealing with the big engines abandoning their work is one thing, but not helping matters is Thomas wasting time and energy on taunting them when only two engines are available to run the main line, as well as Thomas' complete dismissal of Percy. Thomas considers Edward the jerk for "not trusting him", but it's easy to see where Edward is coming from. Thomas ultimately admits to this at the end while Edward apologizes for his harshness.
  • Thomas attempts this earlier in Percy, refusing to trust the titular character with his branch line due to Percy's lack of experience outside of a yard and apparent stupidity. This would usually make some sense, but Edward points out to Thomas that Percy has never gotten to experience such a thing and needs instruction, not immediate condemnation. Thomas doesn't listen and thus Edward has to teach Percy instead.
• Jerkass Realization: Unlike most depictions of their relationship, Thomas is rude and dismissive towards Edward in the first movie. Later on however, in Tricked, after Edward comforts Thomas after an argument with Gordon, Thomas notes that, unlike the other engines, Edward treats him as an equal and shunts his own trains. Thomas thus apologizes for his rudeness and his respect for Edward (and later friendship) is cemented from this movie onwards.
  • He gets another one after grasping both the Jerkass Ball and Idiot Ball in Percy, deciding to stop a train he's double-heading with Edward after thinking that the latter doesn't trust him due to his concerns over all that's going on, not to mention being totally dismissive of Percy. He has to eat his words when Percy helps get them over the hill and apologizes to Edward for letting his ego get to him.
• Heel Realization: Henry has this when he realizes how stupid it was to stay inside a tunnel to avoid the rain...where instead he is alone, cold, and bored with nothing to do.
• Hidden Depths: Henry, big grouch and grump that he is, is a nature-lover, as confirmed in Cows. It's somewhat deconstructed however, with Gordon, having never known this, questioning why Henry would joke about running Cows over.
• Idiot Ball: At the height of grabbing the Jerkass Ball, Thomas decides to pick this up as well, at his limits of listening to Edward's caution about the train's speed. He chooses to deliberately stop the train...in the middle of a hill. On a rainy day. Suffice to say, they can't start up again. He lampshades it after his Jerkass Realization, calling it the stupidest thing he's ever done.
• Ignored Epiphany: After Thomas commiserates with Terrence once he's been saved from the snowdrift, he thinks back to when he also misjudged Percy for his appearance. Unfortunately, instead of admitting this, he switches gears to talk about he came to respect Edward instead.
• In Spite of a Nail: Combined with Adaptation Amalgamation, both Thomas and James are called in to push Henry out of the tunnel and the corresponding screenshots are edited to showcase James' presence. They don't succeed.
• Kids Are Cruel: The children in Strike have shades of this, teasing Gordon for having to pull the Express backwards and laughing at his situation.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Taking a page from the source material, this is rampant. If an engine is acting particularly rude or haughty, you can imagine that their actions will inevitably bite them in the buffer. Special mention goes to Thomas in Snow when he acts rude to Terrence and believes that he doesn't need his snowplow. Predictably, he crashes into a snowdrift and needs to be rescued by the tractor.
• The Last Straw: Gordon is ultimately motivated to go on strike after his screwing around on the turntable means that he's forced to pull his next train backwards, allowing a bunch of bratty little kids to taunt him. He outright says this word for word.
• Laughing Mad: James in Flying Kipper gets so angry about having to wait 35 minutes in the cold for the Kipper to pass that his response to the Troublesome Trucks mocking him is to crazily laugh before growling at them.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: As stuck-up and prissy as coaches can be, all of the engines agree that they're still leagues above better than Troublesome Trucks.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Main Line has a bit of this when Percy's driver leaves to get to the signalman to switch them off the express line. Percy comments on how the drivers usually only ever become relevant when a situation they can't deal with pops up, but says that he respects it.
• Malicious Misnaming: Thomas does this with Terrence the Tractor when they first meet, deliberately mispronouncing his name as "Tyler" or "Travis".
• The Mentor: A trait of Edward's that is emphasized more in his interactions with Thomas and James. It's worth noting that his approach to both varies slightly based on their personalities; Thomas, who is determined to get out of the yard, receives fairly straight-forward instruction and encouragement. James on the other hand, due to nervousness from his first passenger run in a long while, receives a more blunt and honest approach to get his focus back. Percy, due to his naivete and background, is treated with a more paternal attitude.
• Monochrome Past: Several flashback sequences are given this, such as Edward's past as a younger engine. Henry's arrival on Sodor is presented in this way as well.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Near the start of "Rain", Henry brings up an incident from the week before where James didn't want to come outside because of leaves, and James defends himself by saying his paint was still wet. The season 20 episode "All in Vain" has James leave the Steamworks before his paint has dried and gets leaves and twigs stuck to himself.
  • Both James and Thomas try to push Henry out of the tunnel; in the book an unnamed red engine resembling James tried to push Henry out and was outright James in The Adventure Begins, while the first season of the show has Thomas try to push Henry out.
  • The idea Sir Topham Hatt ordered an Atlantic and ended up with Henry is taken from the "The Island of Sodor, Its People, History and Railways" book.
  • Snow directly references the Season 6 episode, It's Only Snow, with Thomas saying "Big Horrid Awkward Thing" (minus the "big"), him using the excuse of sharp rocks damaging his snowplow, and even the accompanying edited pictures using the damaged plough as a reference.
• Naïve Newcomer: Emphasized in Percy's debut. Having never been able to work outside the station yard at his old railway and having no friends in the past, the little saddletank is a bit clueless on a lot of things, like the layout of Sodor's railway and what a branch line is. Thomas is not impressed.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Edward hoped to give Percy a bit more experience in having him take a train up to the quarry, but said act and Percy not quite paying attention results in Gordon very nearly crashing into him. Gordon calls him out on it, but Edward retorts that at least he was trying to give Percy a sporting chance.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: This series shuffles this up a bit in regards to the three big engines. James is the Nice character here, with his go-getter attitude and while still vain, is surprisingly friendly and is notably the first one to apologize for when things go wrong. Henry is the In-Between, being a cynical grouch with a bit of an arrogant streak, but at the same time having his own moments of sympathy and acknowledgement of the others. Gordon is the Mean, being arrogant through and through and while having his own moments showcasing that he isn't quite as bad, tends to take the more antagonistic roles in several movies.
  • While the big engines are on strike, this dynamic also applies to Percy, Edward, and Thomas. Percy is the Nice, being The Pollyanna and excited to be on a new railway, Edward is the In-Between for while he is as encouraging as he can be, he needs to put his wheel down concerning the situation the railway currently is in. Thomas is the Mean, getting completely puffed-up in the smokebox and totally disrespecting Percy on top of stopping a train with Edward out of spite.
• No-Respect Guy: Thomas and James both believe this of them; for Thomas, it's because he feels he gets no appreciation for his shunting work, and James of course, has his usual vanity and desire to prove himself. They ironically bond over this after James' accident.
• No, You: Henry mutters this to himself after Thomas calls him fat.
  Henry: I'm not fat. If anyone's fat it's him. He's the one who looks like a giant fish-tank.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: A rare positive example of this trope arises once Henry receives the Welsh Coal. His steaming issues vanish, and he starts feeling happy for once, shooting down on the line at great speeds. James and Thomas are both shocked.
  James (after seeing Henry whoosh by) : ...Oh my God, what did Percy do to him?
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Quickies 3: Water has Percy taunt Henry about being stuck in a tunnel, much to Henry's fury.
  Henry: Why would someone write a song about that? Why don't they write a song about my funeral next?
• Pet the Dog:
  • Main Line ends with Gordon bonding with Percy a bit, even finding the cheeky little tank engine's pun near the end to be Actually Pretty Funny.
  • Firebox has Henry come around to Percy when he's the one who comes up with the idea of getting Welsh Coal for him.
• The Pollyanna: Percy has been through a lot; never allowed to sleep in the sheds with the other engines and having to make do with a siding, getting dumped into a workshop unceremoniously, and then being ignored. He reacts to all of this by seeing the positives and is overjoyed to be on Sodor.
• Rage Breaking Point: Usually with James.
  • In the first half of Triumph, when James overhears the coaches talking about him behind his tender, calling him unsuited for the job and never able to be a proper passenger engine, it prompts him to bump them all in a blind fury...thus causing the infamous bootlace incident.
  • At the start of Percy, James explodes at Gordon and Henry blaming each other for the failure of the strike, furiously telling Gordon off, calling himself an idiot for going along with Gordon's plan, and telling Henry to "actually" shut up.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Charlie the driver gives a brief, but fitting one to Gordon in Edward when the big blue engine refuses to pull a goods train up the hill, even when he's apparently embarrassed by needing Edward's help.
  Charlie: You're a fraud, you know that?
  Gordon: WHAT?!
  Charlie: You're a fake! You're no "pride of the line"!
  • Thomas' driver Bob gives a similar one to him in Snow, when the tank engine gets stuck in a snow drift and angrily tells him that the snowplow, that he broke to get out of wearing, would've easily barreled through it. And now he's stuck because he stupidly thought he didn't need it. Unlike Gordon, Thomas is left with a big Heel Realization.
• Reimagining the Artifact: Much of Season 1 of the original show utilized the Early-Installment Weirdness of the books, which depicted Sodor in a somewhat less realistic fashion, as well as evidence of Awdry having yet to finalize the timeline and backstory that would be depicted in The Island of Sodor, Its People, History and Railways, things that would not truly be set in stone until at least getting to Henry's book. Trampy Movies adapts the basic events, but also uses Adaptation Expansion to play them out in ways that would be closer to how later books would depict events in a more grounded manner.
  • As the timeline in the IOS book confirmed that Thomas was technically working on the railway by the time of The Three Railway Engines, Movie 1, Edward has him play a somewhat minor role.
  • The most prominent of these is seen in Rain, where Henry's "fear" of the rain is contextualized with him having a fresh coat of paint and being infuriated that Gordon doesn't consider it to be important despite his position in the railway. As such, him stopping in the rain is firmly shown to be a case of arrogance, and his refusal to come out, even with the efforts of Thomas and James to push him out, is what convinces Sir Topham Hatt to brick him in the tunnel (later movies showcasing that he was stuck in there for two weeks).
    • The impact of this is shown in the next movie, Tricked, where Thomas complains about Henry's workload being dumped onto everyone, with Rescue opening up with Sir Topham Hatt acknowledging the difficulties of running the railway with Henry out of commission to the other engines.
  • James in his debut was depicted with wooden brake blocks, hence his brake failure in The Breakdown Train. Here however, he's the newest engine on the railway by about two years, and as Sir Topham Hatt would likely never allow for such a thing, the wooden brake blocks are Adapted Out. James' accident in Runaway is thus caused by him fearing Thomas will replace him, and his bumping the trucks cause them, in turn, to push him down Gordon's Hill...with his crew knocked off the footplate, preventing them from being able to stop him.
  • There's never any concrete explanation as to why Gordon is not allowed a second try at pulling the express when forced onto the loop line in either the books or show ^note The Dalby illustrations show him at the back of the station, so it's presumed it would take too long to turn him around . Here, an additional plot point of the railway board visiting is added, and after Gordon's screw-up, refuse to ride in a train pulled by him, specifically requesting James.
  • In the original story, the signalman at the junction was "too busy" to worry about Percy, despite the fact that it should be quite obvious to switch a stalled engine off the main line, not to mention Percy's crew should have been able to figure it out. Here, Percy still forgets to whistle, but his driver does head over to get the signalman's attention. As it turns out, he's fallen asleep...thus nearly causing Gordon to smash into Percy.
  • Instead of the engines just dismissing Henry's issues just due to his attitude, they're revealed to simply not have known due to both Henry and Sir Topham Hatt keeping mum about it. Edward is the exception, due to having managed to overhear Sir Topham Hatt discussing this, and having some experience with engines with flawed designs. The others (except Thomas who isn't present for the conversation), immediately become concerned.
    • Likewise, Thomas calling Henry fat, of all things, gains a basis here, where it's firmly established that due to the poor design of his firebox, Henry tends to consume a larger amount of coal than the other engines, which results in his inconsistent performance.
• Ruder and Cruder: Ignoring the increased focus on drama, the Trampy Movies are this compared to the show and books full-stop, thanks to the increased swearing and even snarkier dialogue.
• Rule of Symbolism: In Percy, while Thomas and Edward are double-heading a passenger train, it begins storming hard. Fittingly, both engines are in turmoil with one another, Thomas' ego getting out of control while Edward attempts to reign him in while his own temper is rising. After the train is stopped because Thomas stops them on a hill, and after Percy gets them over said hill, the rain is cleared up and the sky is clear as the two make peace.
• Runaway Train: Thomas with the trucks in Trucks, and later James in Runaway
• Skewed Priorities: Flying Kipper features two concerning the infamous crash. James' driver Allen is more concerned about getting his hot cocoa than getting out of the brakevan to avoid getting crushed by a speeding Henry, while Henry, in an example that is Played for Drama, insists that he's fine and can be rerailed to continue his journey, all so that he can be deemed worthy of pulling the express. Percy has to set him straight on that one.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: A downplayed example, but in Snow, a huge blizzard hits Sodor around the episode's midpoint. Gordon, Henry, and James are all wide awake throughout and are concerned...and yet Thomas slept through the entire thing and remains ignorant of the dangers it brings. Henry is both aghast and incredulous.
  Henry: You're telling me you slept through that blizzard?
  Thomas: I was inside.
  Henry: Oh. Oh, my bad. I thought you slept outside in the blistering cold. My bad.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Gordon may be the North Western Railway's express engine, but his view of himself is still overinflated. He says he is "too famous to die" in response to hearing he will die if he tries to continue pulling the express with a burst safety valve, believes that his build heritage is sufficient leverage to use for a strike, and is absolutely mortified when Percy doesn't know who he is.
  Thomas: Gordon, no one in a three-mile radius knows who you are.
• Stating the Simple Solution:
  • James suggests that instead of going on strike, they just wait for Sir Topham Hatt to buy the new engine. Henry, being the cynical grump that he is, believes that it won't happen and James ultimately joins the strike.
  • While Gordon and Henry argue about who is better fit to pull the Express, Percy asks why they can't just share the job, a prospect Edward is quick to agree with. Both engines have an ego far too large to even want to consider the idea and shoot it down in disgust.
• Strike Episode: Strike focuses on this. It turns out about as well for the big engines as it did in the original source material.
• Suddenly Shouting: Henry has this from time to time. Mostly whenever Percy is teasing him. Here's an example from Water.
  Percy: How's the story go again Henry? Once an engine attached to a train...
  Henry: No, no, don't sing it.
  Percy: Was afraid of a...
  Henry: Shut up.
  Percy: Ooohhhh, what was it Henry?
  Henry: SHUT UP!
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Moreso especially as the series essentially brings in line the wackier stories of the first five books with the consequences seen in later stories.
  • Henry getting shut up in the tunnel in Rain might knock him down a peg, but as Thomas complains in Tricked, that basically means all of his work is squashed onto everyone else.
  • Gordon's trick on Thomas is displayed as him deliberately starting without waiting for the guard so he can pull Thomas on the express. Sir Topham Hatt yells at him to stop, and in the next movie, scolds him for it.
  • Discussed by Henry and James for reasons why they won't join Gordon's strike; not only will this destroy all of the effort they've made to get back in Sir Topham Hatt's good graces, but if the railway closes, which Gordon plans to use as his backup plan, it'll put them out of a job and potentially get them all scrapped. Gordon rebuffs this, believing that they'll simply be bought by other railways, aside from Edward due to his age, which ultimately convinces them.
    • It then gets turned around because Sir Topham Hatt simply counters Gordon's plan by shutting them up in the sheds, getting Thomas to help Edward pull slower main line trains, and purchases Percy to run Thomas' branch line, thus thwarting Gordon's entire scheme.
    • For further bonus points, beforehand, Sir Topham Hatt was already making plans to purchase a new engine to act as shunter, since they play a critical role in running a railway in the first place.
  • Throughout the strike, Thomas takes great joy in teasing the big engines about their predicament...but as Edward keeps trying (and failing) to remind Thomas, this is no joking matter; they're having to carry the main line on their own and can't afford to waste time.
• Time Skip: Snow jumps to two months later after Thomas' first meeting with Terrence the Tractor. Which makes sense since the original story began in the fall and jumped ahead to winter time to begin with.
• Team Mom: Not so much with the mainline coaches, who are terribly gossipy, but Annie and Clarabel certainly are this when they're pulled by Thomas, telling him not to go so fast or fussy and telling Percy that they'll put in a good word for him when Thomas returns to his branch line duties. They also rebuke him for his harsh words towards Henry.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Besides Thomas leaving the coaches behind as in the original story, his taking Edward's goods train is depicted as this. Unlike in The Adventure Begins where it was discussed, Edward stresses to Thomas the need to get permission from Sir Topham Hatt to switch jobs. Unfortunately, Thomas doesn't listen...
• Underestimating Badassery: Thomas and the big engines have this perception of Percy due to his size ^note As a reminder, Percy is a 0-4-0 saddletank, making him even smaller than Thomas.. Henry, as in the original story, gets shock-wheeshed by Percy, while for Thomas, he has to eat his words when Percy gets him and Edward out of a bind by helping them up a hill in bad weather.
• Upper-Class Twit: Jeremiah Jobling is depicted as this in Triumph; speaking with a very posh accent and refusing to give away his leather bootlaces to fix the coaches' brake pipes. As can be expected, he's immediately lambasted by the passengers, and some of the railway staff know of him, and correspondingly, aren't fond of him.
  • Thomas believes Gordon to be this for his refusal to fetch his trains and only pulling the Express. Edward later on gently reminds Thomas that Gordon was built to run such trains, and it is still a very important job regardless of Thomas' grievances. Of course, Gordon's haughty attitude doesn't quite discredit Thomas' opinion of him...
• World of Snark: Everyone on the Island of Sodor, from the crew to the engines is a Deadpan Snarker in some way.

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