Web Animation / The Stories of Sodor

Don't believe the smiles and colours. There are things that are not suitable for kids.

The Stories of Sodor is a 2017 YouTube series by Victor Tanzig based (somewhat loosely) on The Railway Series.

The series is set in an Alternate Universe in which the North Western Railway is not formed until the 1990s. Instead, Sodor is divided between the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER, also known as the Nor'Easters) and the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway (LMS, also known as the Midis). The series' first season takes place during 1935-38 in the midst of The Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War, the latter of which creates a large refugee crisis on the island. The second season takes place in 1938-39 in the leadup to World War II. A mini series titled "Stories of War" takes place between the second and third seasons, and covers World War II itself. The third season takes place during 1945-55 and deals with the aftermath of World War II and the resulting nationalization of Britain's railways along with other industries such as coal. Season 4 takes place between 1955 and 1964, and is split into parts (1 covering 1955-59, and 2 covering 1960-64), it deals with the modernization of British Railways and the coming of the mysterious SCP Foundation (no, really.) The fifth season covers 1965 and was released on October 21st.

Also by Tanzig is a series called Sodor Shorts. These shorts are not canon to the main series, and are more comedic in nature. Common themes include:

• Poking fun at Australian stereotypes.
• A Running Gag in which Percy pops up out of nowhere shouting "GUYS!" and teleporting himself and the others by saying "#Abracadabra".
• Parodies of various shows, movies, and comedy skits, such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Ghostbusters, Law & Order, Red vs. Blue, and Boot to the Head.
• Discussing recent episodes of Game of Thrones.
• Complaining about the recent Star Wars movies.
• Satirizing various aspects of the Thomas & Friends series.
• Lampshade Hanging of the various limitations of Trainz.
• Whiff being a Mad Scientist.
• Eric being a Lethal Chef.
• Diesel and Duck arguing.
• Gordon hating on the French.
• Characters replying "Plot convenience" to handwave a question.

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The Stories of Sodor provides examples of:

• Adaptational Context Change: Certain plot points are adapted from The Railway Series itself but with a different context and in more larger narratives, and often with much more realistic consequences. Some examples include:
  • In "Scrap", Percy states he would never go past the danger board at the harbor as in "Percy Takes the Plunge", and Thomas goes down the mine (as in "Down the Mine") after someone moves the danger sign, not because of his own cheekiness. It also adapts Trevor's predicament from "Saved From Scrap" albeit without the threat of being scrapped.
  • "Cows" adapts the Thomas episode of the same name but with Edward's incident occurring after Gordon's run-in with Bluebell. Diesel also runs into a bull just like Daisy did in "Bulls Eye."
  • "Carriages" retells "Break Van" in a much darker context. For starters, when Donald bumps the Spiteful Brakevan (here named Dominic), he is "shunted" (the in-series term for imprisoned) for two weeks for assaulting rolling stock. Also, when Douglas does destroy the brakevan, he and James panic. In the second season episode "Spectre", it goes even further, with Dominic returning as a vengeful, murderous ghost, the episode "Strike" showing exactly why.
  • "Jinxed", in addition to adapting the TUGS episode of the same name, adapts Falcon's cliff-side derailment from "Bulldog" but with Stanley pulling him up rather than Duke as well as Peter Sam's accident at the slate quarry's incline from "Trucks" except here it's when he was Stuart. The drain pipe that Peter Sam used as a hasty funnel replacement in "Special Funnel" was a humorous mix-up in the delivery of Stuart's proper new funnel and wasn't used at all.
  • In the second season premiere "Visitor", Gordon doesn't try breaking City of Truro's record (as in "Domeless Engines/Gordon and the Famous Visitor"), and his dome comes off because a brick falls off a bridge and hits it. Also, the events of "Thomas Goes Fishing" are averted when Thomas' fireman manages to spot a fish in the bucket (though we don't actually see it, because Thomas was simply retelling the story to Eric).
  • "Strike" pulls an amusing Bait-and-Switch. An adaptation of "Trouble in the Sheds" is averted when Mr. Star apologizes for using coercion, while "Fish" (the fourth season episode) is averted by way of a brake van being on the back (though it does serve to foreshadow the next episode, "Spectre").
  • "Sabotage" adapts the events of "Trust Thomas" and "The Flying Kipper"; in both cases, they are the work of sabotage by a vengeful Burke, who blamed Sodor for his fall from grace. What's more, in the Flying Kipper incident, the guard in the brake van is killed.
  • "Maintenance" adapts the events of "Gallant Old Engine" and "Percy's Promise"; in the case of the former, Rheneas is called such because he backed a passenger train away from a falling tree despite being in alot of pain (he had put off his own maintenance, rather than the SKR going through hard times). Meanwhile, in the case of "Percy's Promise", Percy doesn't get submerged in the flood, merely only dipping his front-end, both because the water was deeper than in the original story, and because Harold hasn't been introduced yet because helicopters are strictly experimental in the timeframe of the episode.
  • "Shunted" adapts the events of "Thomas & Bertie", showing the severe legal consequences their race has by having Thomas and Bertie put in prison for racing at dangerous speeds. Several others get in trouble, as well: Eric for egging Thomas on, Mr. Starr for his attempt to cover up the race to avoid bad publicity, Thomas' driver and fireman for willingly going along with it, and the Knapford stationmaster and the owner of the Sodor Bus Co. for illegally gambling on the race. "Pop Goes The Diesel" is also adapted, with Diesel being tricked by Kate into pulling quarantined faceless trucks due for scrapping, rather than trying to pull old trucks from a siding to prove a point to Duck about the superiority of diesels. Kate also gets put in prison for her troubles.
  • "Atrocity", the final episode of the Stories of War miniseries, adapts the events of "Escape", though in this case, Oliver is a radio picket engine, and Thomas is present. As is Blair.
  • "Management" adapts the events of "Percy and the Signal", revealing that it's a common prank among engines, and that Gordon did indeed pull it on Percy in the past. Diesel then plays it on Samantha.
  • "Books" reveals that Henry did stop in a tunnel like in "The Sad Story of Henry/Come Out, Henry!", but for different reasons; instead of hiding from the rain out of vanity, he hid in the tunnel during the air raid on Knapford in 1941 (the same air raid where Colin made his Heroic Sacrifice). It also reveals that "A Close Shave" was rooted in reality.
  • "Amends" adapts the second half of "The Deputation" by having the engines send Percy as their deputation. In this case, though, it's not because of the threat of Donald and Douglas being sent back to Scotland (and certain doom), but instead, because Henry and Douglas' feud had gotten out of hand.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Stanley (the narrow-gauge locomotive) is depicted in The Railway Series as a rude American hick. This series, meanwhile, depicts him as a very nice, very pleasant Irish-accented engine who is jinxed (and, as revealed in "Inspection", served with The Fat Controller during World War I).
  • The trucks, surprisingly. They never cause accidents intentionally, with the incidents in the books and television series being made up for plot convenience. This is because, as Edward points out, the trucks aren't fitted with any form of propulsion, meaning they can't bump an engine or hold them back, and they would never intentionally cause an accident since this would be certain death for them. The worst they get is some harmless teasing. That being said, there do exist some antagonistic trucks, such as Colleen (who Diesel throws into the back of Percy), and Dominic (the Spiteful Brakevan who later reforms after a talk with Mickey, only for the same fate as canon to befall him and then become a demonic, murderous ghost).
• Adaptational Villainy: Several engines in the source material that were nice are antagonists in this series:
  • Donald and Douglas, in canon, are very nice engines, while here, they work for the LMS (the main antagonists of the series), though they are still very pleasant and friendly (though they do have an active rivalry with Henry, and Douglas and James utterly hated each other before the incident with the Spiteful Brakevan).
  • Colin, Lily, and Adam (from Sodor the Early Years) are also members of the LMS, and are particularly nasty (though Lily is shown to be nicer, even working with Thomas to catch the lorries in "Thief", and Colin is a Harmless Villain who more often causes trouble for his coworkers than the LNER). Colin and Lily also ended up sacrificing themselves during World War II to save the lives of others.
  • Peter is also working for the antagonists, though he is also very friendly. Averted, when does commit a war crime in season 3, shelling a German hospital during World War II.
  • Arthur is the most jarring example, being a pompous Jerk with a Heart of Jerk who was never late, and his trying to make up for lost time ended with him, his crew, and his passengers all being killed. He later returns as a ghost, albeit a harmless one unlike Dominic. Through, the other Arthur on the other hand thankfully subverted this.
  • Farmer McColl is a grumpy old farmer who is referred to as "Mongrel McColl" by the engines and bribes a customs agent so he can dupe an engine into taking his diseased cattle to market.
  • Murdoch is introduced as a pompous Jerkass who believes he is superior to engines of pre-nationalization designs, and mocks them thusly. He gets humbled when he stalls on Gordon's Hill and needs Henry and Reginald to push him.
• Adaptation Name Change: Several examples:
  • Lady is named 'Kate' in this universe.
  • City of Truro's real name is Montgomery.
  • Diesel’s real name is Bruce.
  • Gordon's Hill is originally called the Preston Incline (after the owner of the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway) before Gordon gets stuck on it.
  • The third season episode "Extension" reveals that Pug is named Paul.
  • "Nationalisation" shows that Sixteen is Glen and Jinty is Justin. In the former's case, this makes Sixteen a completely separate character from Sheffield, which was confirmed in "Modernization" when Samson confirmed Glen and Sheffield are twins.
  • Although it has since been taken down, the preview for the fourth season episode "Imposter" revealed that Cuthbert (an original character created by Sodor Workshops) is not the character's real name, but the preview ended before it's revealed, and viewers are encouraged to guess his real name. "Imposter" was eventually scrapped and replaced by "Robbery", which reveals Cuthbert's real name: Johnny Cuba.
  • The fourth season premiere "Diesel", which was released early for April Fools 2020, reveals that Diesel's real name is Bruce, and Old Slow Coach is Maggie.
  • The episode 'Mountain' reveals that Lord Harry is simply named 'Harry' in this series.
  • Diesel 10 is renamed Joshua.
  • BoCo's real name is Bob.
  • Bulgy's real name is Rupert.
  • Inverted with Falcon and Stuart, who keep their names when they're transferred to the Skarloey Railway, instead of being changed to Sir Handel and Peter Sam.
• Adaptational Nonsapience: Henrietta isn't sentient due to lacking a face, and thus is only known as "Toby's coach" and plays no significant role.
• Adapted Out:
  • The 1930s setting requires Harold the Helicopter to be omitted from the events inspired by "Percy's Promise", along with nearly all the diesel-fueled locomotives.
  • In the fourth season episode "Mountain", the Culdee Fell Railway owns four engines: Ernest, Patrick (called Harry,) Wilfred, and Alaric. Godred, Culdee, Shane Dooiney, and Eric are nowhere to be seen, the former three because their names are too outlandish to make the Revenant Theory plausible, and the latter to avoid confusion with the standard gauge Eric.
    • Zigzagged with Catherine, as although the engines are using Skarloey Railway coaches, one of them shares her name.
• Alternate Universe: As mentioned above, the series has many, many differences from the series we're all familiar with. These are just a few of the differences:
  • The North Western Railway is not formed until British Rail is privatized in 1996, with Sodor instead being contested between the LNER and LMS following the 1923 Grouping, and later being a region of BR.
  • Vehicles with faces are classed as "Non-Faceless Vehicles". Most are able to start themselves up, drive themselves (with crews still being present because it's common sense), and have certain rights, including that they cannot be sold without consent, and they cannot be scrapped unless they've already been killed in a crash, or have undergone the "Final Firing" (a process in which a chemical colloquially known as "black water" is used to euthanize engines).
  • Diesel is built in 1931 as a prototype for a fictional LMS diesel class called the Paxam V1, and was the only member of the class built, a distinction he is proud of.
  • Several engines are older than in canon. For example, Toby was built in 1879 instead of 1914, Arthur was built in the early 1900s instead of between 1946 and 1952, and Diesel, as mentioned above, was built in 1931 instead of any time between 1952 and 1957. Conversely, Ivo Hugh is younger in canon, arriving on the Skarloey Railway in the 1930s, when in the Railway Series, he was built by the SKR in 1996.
  • The Mid-Sodor Railway, in canon, was struggling in 1937. In this series, however, it is thriving. As the intro shows, however, it will close at a later date and be replaced by the Arlesdale Railway. Which it does in 1954.
  • Henry received his rebuild shortly after arriving on Sodor in the early 1920s.
  • Thomas is built at Crovan's Gate Works, rather than Brighton.
  • The Fat Controller doesn't become controller of Sodor's standard-gauge railways until 1946. In the books, he was in charge of Sodor since the North Western Railway was formed in 1914.
• Anachronism Stew: Though the chronology is kept consistent, there are some story elements which do not fit. Victor acknowledges and often lampshades this.
  • Diesel is a BR Class 08, whose production ran from 1952-1962. As this series begins in the 1930s, he has to be Hand Waved as an early prototype for a different class known as the LMS Paxam V1. There is some Truth in Television here, though, as the basic Class 08 design was first built by the LMS in 1934, the year the first episode "Percy" takes place, though in a Sodor Special, Edward states Diesel was built in 1931, three years earlier.
  • Henry's new shape is an LMS "Black Five", which entered production in 1934. This is not a problem in itself as the series begins in 1935, but the expositional narration places his rebuild in the 1920s.
  • "Smuggling" shows the storefront of a Bonmarché - a retail chain founded in 1982.
  • The prominent human characters are in period clothing, but background extras in crowd scenes are often seen dressed for the 1990s.
  • In "Armaments", Mr Starr refers to the Ministry of Defence, 25 years before it was established. He should have called it the War Office.
    • "Controller" features the Department of Transport, which existed from 1976 to 1997. The organisation was known as the Ministry of Transport during that timeframe.^note From 1941 to 1946 it was called the Ministry of War Transport.
  • In "Prototypes", BoCo is referred to as a Class 28 (as well as a Metropolitan Vickers Type 2), and Joshua is referred to as a Class 42. This story takes place in 1958, and these designations were given to the classes by the Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) system, which wasn't adopted by BR until 1968 at the earliest, mainly because the system was created in the United States by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). The terms Class D12/2 (for BoCo) and Class D22/1 (for Joshua) would have been more era-appropriate.
  • On a production level this also applies to Victor's models. The series launched in 2017 and is made in TRAINZ: A New Era (released in 2015), and he upgraded to Trainz Railroad Simulator 2019 (released in 2018) in January 2020, but the bulk of the engine models (including all the familiar "steam team") are the SI3D versions from 2010^note Notably, their faces are flat screenshots from the television series and often have jagged edges, whereas later models have purpose-made 3D sculpted ones.. Others - such as Micky, Alfred and Samantha - are from as early as 2006, since SI 3 D allowed the 2006 models to be reskinned left and right, but when someone reskinned the 2010 and later models, they pitched a fit, and later shut down entirely when a DeviantArt user illegally uploaded the 2010 models that had already been updated to 2012 standards. Also thrown in are some of Wildnorwester's models (used in Sodor: The Modern Years from 2014 onwards) and a few newer characters such as MainlandStudios' Wendell.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • "Strike" has Mr. Starr defuse Gordon, Henry, and James' strike through appeasement before the events of "Trouble in the Sheds" can truly happen.
  • When in the preview for "Trial" was released, the viewers were treated to Peter being arrested for war crimes. Even Adam, the one who actually did commit a war crime onscreen by pushing a coach full of prisoners of war into the sea, is surprised.
  • "Aviation" gives us the set-up for the events of "Percy and Harold" but Percy's driver puts a stop to it before the race can begin. Later Harold reveals he wasn't interested in a race at all and would have reported Percy for speeding dangerously had the engine done it.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • "Parade" ends after a successful parade, but Edward then brings up the day the parade occurred on: August 31, 1939. It shouldn't be a mystery what happens the next day.
  • The "Stories of War" miniseries, natch. While the war ends the exact same way it did in real-life, it doesn't change the fact that millions are dead, among them Colin, Lily, Alfred, and Mr. Starr (Jeffreys is also dead, but his death doesn't have much impact because he was a Hate Sink).
• Boring Return Journey: "Sodor Short: Song" has engines returning from Australia. Edward, upon seeing the bridge to Sodor, remarks "Friends, it's been a long journey here filled with details and explanations that I'm sure nobody is interested in."
• Born as an Adult: Non-faceless vehicles awaken with knowledge of how to speak, their purpose, and (mysteriously) their names.
• Breather Episode: To name a few:
  • "Cows" is a much more comical episode in comparison to its predecessor "Ghost" which deals with Arthur’s ghost coming to Sodor. Even Adam’s crash while still life threatening, is only briefly touched upon.
  • The season two finale "Parade" is a much needed break from all of the hardship that occurred in the second season and comes right before the mini series.
  • "Competition" is a much lighter episode that comes in between "Vandalism" which ended with Geoffrey and his crew dying and right before "Enthusiasts" where due to numerous circumstances, Halifax is killed in a accident.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Thomas towards Kate.
• Canon Character All Along: A very odd and zigzagged example. In the fourth season episode robbery a new engine is introduced named Cuthbert who seems to be a friendly war veteran until it's revealed he's this series' incarnation of Johnny Cuba the villain from the Tugs episode High Winds. Zigzagged because while Johnny wasn't a part of the Thomas series he was a part of Tugs which Stories of Sodor is heavily inspired by.
• Catchphrase: Characters often say "too right!" This is an Australian expression for emphatic agreement, and not usually used in the UK (since the creator is from Australia, this is understandable).
• Cliffhanger: The end of the second season finale, "Parade", is most certainly this.
  Edward: Something I haven't mentioned before now is the specific date Godred's Day fell on; August 31st. And, given this was the year 1939, if any of you know your history, then you'll know what happened the very. Next. Day.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Sodor Short: Adaptation, which makes The Thick of It sound tame.
• Dark and Troubled Past: "Armaments" gives James a major Freudian Excuse for his grumpy disposition. Back on his old line, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, he was involved in a major accident with a piece of rail-mounted artillery that was loaded due to a failure in communication amongst the yard crew. Upon buffering up to it, the gun fired, and not only was the munitions factory destroyed, but 43 people were killed. As was Amanda, James' girlfriend.
  • "Secrets" reveals why Sheffield has been rather rude towards everyone. While speeding, he accidentally missed a danger signal and derailed causing him to crash into a car that was being driven with the driver dying. After returning to work, he was terrified of going fast and began to do his work much slower. This angered engines and staff and whenever Sheffield tried to explain himself, he’d get ignored which made Sheffield lash out.
  • "Revelations" has Duncan’s past brought to light. He used to work on the Rotten Railway where fights were the commonplace, unity didn’t exist and Duncan himself was abused and overworked causing him to develop a sour disposition.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • In general, the series is darker and more realistic than most fan-made series, though thankfully it's much lighter than other works such as Shed 17. Incidents adapted from the books and television series have more realistic consequences, people get hurt or even killed in crashes, paranormal activity is a regular occurance that causes disruption or even death, non-faceless vehicles have the right to assisted suicide, the dubious methods used by the Z-Stacks in TUGS are deconstructed, and Sodor and its inhabitants are directly affected by the outside world.
  • The second season episode "Spectre" is by far the darkest of the series, to date. It features the ghost of Dominic (The Spiteful Brakevan) returning as a malevolent spirit who pulls apart various trains and destroys their brakevans. The first train he attacks ends in the death of the guard, who was going to be a father, and the second sees the recently-engaged guard live, but he spends the rest of his life institutionalized (exactly what Dominic did to him is unknown, but fan theories range from visions of Hell itself, to a preview of the coming war). The second incident caused by him also sees Peter heavily damaged, and his crew hospitalized, but living (Peter ends up having to go to Crewe for repairs, and The Stinger reveals Mr. Zorro is planning to bring Geoffrey back to Sodor). Dominic's ultimate endgame was to kill Douglas as revenge for his own destruction, but Douglas sends him back to Hell with a scathing and threatening speech. The episode also mentions the increasing persecution of the Jews in Germany and Austria.
  • During Greetings & Salutations #16, Victor revealed he had created another episode of the second season that he forgot about, which is titled "Prejudice". The plot involves the British Union of Fascists creating trouble on Sodor in the lead-up to World War II.
  • "Armaments" deals with the heavy topic of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), in regards to James' Dark and Troubled Past. It also reveals that Mr. Starr is a veteran of World War I, having been involved in the Gallipoli Campaign.
  • The trailer for the Stories of War miniseries breathes this trope. In no particular order, it involves:
    • Many of the engines volunteering to go to North Africa to fight Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korp., which also involves non-faceless German engines.
    • Civilian deaths, mainly represented by a skeleton sitting down and Nazi soldiers executing civilians by firing squad.
    • Sodor getting bombed by the Luftwaffe.
    • And finally, the confirmation that someone will be Killed Off for Real.
  • The miniseries itself is indeed very dark and grim. Among other things, there are multiple instances of swearing, culminating in Adam dropping a Precision F-Strike upon seeing one of Josef Mengele's most gruesome experiments, and multiple characters being Killed Off for Real, these being Colin, Lily, Alfred, Mr. Starr, and Jeffreys.
  • If the trailer is anything to go by, season 5 appears to be the darkest season yet. Highlights include:
    • Increasing road competition from lorries and buses.
    • A act of revenge committed by a currently unknown party.
    • And worst of all, the Munitions disaster taking place with the conformation that someone will die.
  • "Vandalism", the very first episode of Season 5, contains the sudden and completely unexpected demise of Geoffrey and his crew, and it is strongly hinted that they will be the first of many to die.
  • "Revenge" makes "Vandalism" look like a minor roadbump, with two murders and a suicide, though the last one is in a flashback it does little to dull the horrors.
• Downer Ending: While many episodes in the series end with a mixture of tragedy and hope, some episodes outright end tragically:
  • "Closure" averts this since the engines are all relocated to the Skarloey Railway.
  • "Expansion" ends with the death of Andreas which causes the newest project to experience the first of many setbacks.
  • "Revenge" has the deaths of Peter and Mr. Zorro by acts of vengeance and worse, the killer of Mr. Zorro is just about to cause a even larger disaster.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In the early episodes, Victor was quite the Motor Mouth in terms of narration and dialogue. He was so ashamed of this, that he actually went back and renarrated them in a slower fashion, as well as changing several details. The old versions are still available.
• Fantastic Racism: In "Diesel" a very unpleasant Truck refuses to move when Diesel comes to shunt him and even stoops to calling him a slur, which gets him bumped so hard it goes flying off a hill.
• Foregone Conclusion: Because he already had the job loooooong before this series was created, no viewer is surprised by Sir Topham Hatt becoming controller. ^note That, and the 1945-55 synopsis video kind of spoil it.
• Foreshadowing: Several elements appear first in the Sodor shorts before migrating to the series proper.
  • Monster includes railguns and explosion effects. This stops being a joke in The Stories of War.
  • The Fat Controller appears first in the shorts.
  • One short has Edward tell off Percy for his Offscreen Teleportation, claiming it will give Jeffries a heart attack.
  • In the final scene of "Atrocity", Edward mentions that many changes were coming. In the final shot, he passes Pug, who is wearing British Railways' livery, foreshadowing the nationalization of Britain's railways on January 1, 1948.
• Go Out with a Smile: Adam chooses to undergo final firing after suffering metal fatigue, and dies with a smile on his face.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In "Modernization", Kate can be seen glaring at Samantha when the latter is talking to Thomas.
• Heel–Face Turn: Onslow the lorry actually learns sense after the events of "Competition" and becomes far kinder to the engines.
• Heroic BSoD: Of all people it happens to Sir Topham Hatt when he finally comes across the Lucky Lamp and it turns out to be a relic from his past that at first causes him to lash out at the engines thinking he's being set up, before he rambles incoherently about a hospital before hurriedly driving away. In "Revelations" it's revealed that after World War 1, he along with many others were shipped off to a mental institution with a crooked doctor who used them all as experiments in memory alteration procedures. The Lamp was what he used to flag down help while adrift at sea and he lost it on his way to the hospital.
• Hufflepuff House: The Southern Railway. Of the "Big Four", the LNER and LMS get most of the focus, and several GWR engines have notable roles, but the SR is rarely mentioned at all, and only a couple of minor characters are confirmed to be a part of it.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Adam gets off lightly for pushing a coach full of German prisoners into the sea, as there are no laws concerning what would happen should a non-faceless vehicle commit murder, particularly against humans. Besides, since it was Axis prisoners, nobody really cared, they were just happy to have less prisoners to deal with.
    • Justified in "Extension", in which Joey reveals that the prisoners in the coach were all notorious conmen involved in the Holocaust. Investigators deemed Adam's actions a "global service", and the UN chose not to charge Adam with war crimes out of fear of the public backlash that would inevitably ensue.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • Dominic, a.k.a. the Spiteful Brakevan, suffers the same fate as in canon in "Carriages".
  • Several major characters were killed off in the Stories of War miniseries. In order:
    • Colin pulls a line of gunpowder vans out of Knapford during a Luftwaffe raid. He saves the station and engines, but a bomber drops a bomb on the vans, completely obliterating him.
    • Station Master Jeffreys collapses and dies while Toby is standing up to him. It is later revealed he was poisoned by a member of the British Union, after it was assumed he had a heart attack from getting so angry at Toby.
    • After a bomb planted by a British Union member is discovered in a brakevan at Knapford Harbor, Alfred pushes the train away, right next to James' goods train. Alfred is killed in the ensuing explosion, as is Mr. Starr, who was in the brakevan of James' train.
    • Lily puts herself between Henry and a live artillery shell, sacrificing herself after Henry's safety valve burst.
  • In "Diagnosis", Adam chooses to undergo the 'final firing' after finding out he has metal fatigue.
  • In "Expansion", Andreas pushes Duncan out of harms way when a landslide occurs in a narrow gorge at the cost of his own life, which rattles Duncan enough to invoke his Heel–Face Turn
  • In "Vandalism", Geoffrey is derailed at speed by debris on the track, sending him and his goods train tumbling violently down the hillside, killing him and his crew on impact.
  • In "Revenge". both Peter and Nigel Zorro are both killed by acts of revenge in different ways. Peter is shoot by one of his victims while having metal fatigue. This combined with the shooter hitting all of the worse spots kills him. Mr. Zorro meanwhile is killed by one of the Hall children while out for some drinks.
  • In "Munitions", Benson is blown up when he bumps a train full of munitions that has a bomb in it.
  • In "Fallout", Thomas, of all engines, succumbs to his injuries from the fuel tanker explosion in the above mentioned episode.
• Knight of Cerebus: Dominic's Ghost. He kills a guard that was about to become a father, breaks the mind of another that was recently engaged, and incapacitate Peter, all because he was mad at Douglas for accidentally smashing him to pieces. He really is a spiteful brake van.
• Leit Motif: Tunes from the TV series are frequently used, but not always reserved for their intended character. Sometimes the leitmotifs of unused characters (such as Oliver or Harold) are reassigned to Victor's originals who lack music of their own. On other occasions a leitmotif may be used simply as incidental music.
• Limited Animation: As with many other such fan series, The Stories of Sodor is made with TRAINZ using models and sets created by fans — notably Si3D. This works brilliantly for standard scenes of locomotives and rolling stock, but often results in Special Effects Failure when the filmmaker wants to go beyond this:
  • Human characters are often extremely crude, with pointy limbs, jagged faces, and clothing that doesn't line up with the body. Most notable are the engine crew with eyes and mustaches on the backs of their heads as well as the front. They are only intended to be set dressing, so long scenes focusing on people require huge Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
  • "Stories of War" features combat scenes and bombing raids. These repeatedly feature a stock explosion effect superimposed onto the screen.
  • In "Ghost", the haunting spirit of Arthur is represented by Timothy the Ghost Engine, despite he and Arthur looking nothing alike. ^note There wasn't a silver, faceless model of Arthur's locomotive type available. This is lampshaded by other characters in the story, then promptly shrugged off, and later joked about in the Sodor Short Busters.
  • The various limitations of Trainz are lampshaded to hell and back in the Sodor Shorts.
• The Lost Lenore:
  • "Armaments" reveals that James once had a girlfriend named Amanda, who was scrapped after being damaged beyond repair in an incident involving a loaded rail-based artillery piece firing at a munitions factory.
  • Douglas loses Lily in "Atrocity" when the latter sacrifices herself to save Henry from an unexploded artillery shell. Lampshaded in a Sodor Short called "Nevermore", which is a Whole-Plot Reference to The Raven, more specifically The Simpsons version in first Treehouse of Horror.
• Lower-Deck Episode: The episode "Nationalisation" focuses primarily on the mainland characters.
  • Two in season 4. 'Mountain' focused mostly on the CFR engines, while 'Robbery' focused on the engines of the Peel Godred branch.
• Mythology Gag:
  • "Ghost" has Henry joking about meeting an elephant.
  • "Strike" has Ten Cents and Drollan arguing about the latter delegating, much like in Sodor the Early Years.
  • "Spectre" has Douglas remark that he'll paint himself blue, like he was in The Railway Series.
    • The episode also features ships named Big Mac, O.J, Warrior, Hercules, and Sea Rogue.
  • "Shunted" uses Sir Handel and George's feud in "Steamroller" as an example for non-faceless vehicles shunted locally.
• Name-Meaning Change: In canon, Skarloey the engine is named after the Skarloey Railway, which is named after the Skarloey Lake. But since engines come pre-named here, the railway used to be called the Crovan's Gate Railway, but was later renamed the Skarloey Railway after the engine became famous.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • The Spiteful Brakevan is named Dominic.
  • The Foreign Engine from "Gordon Goes Foreign" is named Reginald.
  • The drivers and firemen are referred to by name by their respective engines, giving a feel that they really are all workmates.
  • Even the dime-a-dozen trucks, coaches and brake vans each have names when they are non-faceless.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: In "Mainline", a Spanish refugee names her son "Thomas Eric" after the engines who brought her to the station while she was in labour.
• Never My Fault: Averted BIG TIME.
  • Mr. Starr blamed himself for Thomas getting stopped by the police officer, reasoning he had been lax in making sure his engines were aware of the various railway laws, and also took partial responsibility for the bootlace incident since he had deferred the scheduled maintenance for the coach involved in the incident to save money.
  • The Fat Controller also takes partial responsibility for ignoring Henry and Douglas' grudge and allowing it to eventually cause problems.
• Not Always Evil: In canon, the trucks are an Always Chaotic Evil Hive Mind who like to push engines off the rails for kicks. Here, Edward explains that the worst thing a truck can do is keep their breaks on, and they would never intentionally cause a crash because they're far more likely to die than the engines. He even has a pleasant conversation with one.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: The Horrid Lorries. In the source material, they do nothing more than insult the steam engines and suffer comical accidents. Here, however, they kidnap one engine and use him to force another to steal goods.
• Original Character: Victor Tanzig has created several for the series, among them being:
  • Mickey, a fire and rescue engine who fills the role of the Fire Tug. His model is a reskinned version of Edward's Trainz 2006 model available on NWR 3 D with a different face, with the initials "FR" on his tender originally standing for Furness Railway.
  • Constable Joey, a police engine based on the obscure magazine-exclusive character Thirteen. He fills the role of the Coastguard.
  • Reginald, the Midis' express engine and Gordon's primary rival, who is based on the Foreign Engine who argues with Gordon and Duck over the station in London in "Gordon Goes Foreign".
  • Station Master Jeffreys, the tyrannical station master of Elsbridge who is extremely rude to everyone (except the Rev. W. Awdry himself, who actually managed to get him to compliment Edward for once), demands that everyone address him as Station Master Jeffreys, and sent an ambulance away that had been called for a Spanish refugee in labor. Many have likened him to Bluenose of TUGS.
  • Mr. Star and Mr. Zorro, the local LNER and LMS controllers, respectively. They are the counterparts of Captain Star and Captain Zero.
  • Burke and Blair, a pair of snooty LNER inspectors who plotted to have Toby retired (but not scrapped, since scrapping a non-faceless vehicle while they're still living is illegal). Burke hits the skids after some trucks expose his affair, and he, in turns, sabotages Thomas and Andreas' trains before getting life in prison, while Blair ends up being an army radio operator during World War II and encounters Thomas and Douglas behind enemy lines. They are, of course, the counterparts of their TUGS namesakes.
  • Billy Shoepack, a demolitions expert based on the character from TUGS.
  • Benson, an officious steam engine from the Railway Operating Department who fills the role of Bluenose.
  • Samantha, an Austerity tank engine reskinned from an older model of Wilbert.
  • Glenn, an austerity tank engine who resembles Sixteen gets in an argument with Oliver in "Nationalisation."
  • Original Characters by other creators have also appeared, including:
    • Colin, Lily, Adam, Eric, Peter, Alice, William, and Andreas from Wildnorwester (Iris, Owen, and Hugh also appear in several shorts and specials, indicating they will be introduced at a later date).
    • Wendell from Mainland Studios.
    • Peckett by Skarloey Rheneas appears in a short parodying the Bridge of Death sequence from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and debuted in the series proper in the third season episode "Replacements".
• Precision F-Strike:
  • In "Luck" there is a single, unsubtitled "Scheisse" by a German character, for which Victor sheepishly apologizes in the wrap-up video. This is later contrasted with The Stories of War in which English profanities are used many times and Victor almost becomes Sir Swears-a-Lot.
  • In "Trial", Peter delivers one to the Germans as a whole.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: In addition to the familiar leitmotifs from the television series, Victor draws heavily from Kevin Macleod.
• Replacement Goldfish: Defied slightly. In "Replacements", the second episode of the third season, will see Peckett (an original character created by SkarloeyRheneas) and Samantha (an original character created by Victor using a reskinned model of the RWS character Wilbert) arrive on Sodor to take over Colin and Lily's work, both of whom were Killed Off for Real during the WWII miniseries. However, Mr. Zorro delayed getting them for the longest time because he didn't want to make the other engines feel like they were being heartlessly replaced.
  • Again slightly defied in "Diagnosis". Adam's Final Firing creates a vacancy on the Brendam Branchline, which is quickly solved by having Donald transferred there, much to Douglas' delight. This, in turn, leaves a vacancy on the mainline that will be filled in the next episode, which the trailer pretty much spoils is BoCo.
• Rewatch Bonus: Some of Duncan’s lines in both "Expansion" and "Creature" make much more sense when it’s later revealed he used to work on the Barnhill Rayway.
• Sadistic Choice: Both Reginald's brother Randolph and Edward find themselves in critical condition at the works. The former due to a previously undetected case of metal fatigue and the latter after a faulty set of switches led into a head-on collision that caused his boiler to split open. Reginald is faced with a difficult decision: As a family member he can declare the repairs to his brother as an emergency and have them begin immediately but doing so would delay Edward's repair and he might not make it from being under the green water for too long. After much hesitation, he chooses to expedite his brother's overhaul. He unfortunately doesn't make it, as an overhaul to stop metal fatigue runs the risk of the engine not waking up again, which vindicates Adam's fear of the procedure. Edward however pulls through, only suffering mild hallucinations from being under green water for longer than he should have, and holds no ill will towards Reginald for wanting to save his brother
• Sentient Vehicle: Reconstructed. Ever since the mid-19th century, vehicles have had a chance to gain faces the first time they're activated, and no-one can figure out why. Non-faceless vehicles can move on their own if they have fuel, but usually have humans with them just in case. They also have rights; for example, they can't be bought or sold without their permission, they can't be scrapped while they're still alive, and they can be euthanised. Most non-faceless vehicles are happy with their purposes in life.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: James and Mr. Starr, as revealed in "Armaments".
  • After World War II, the entire cast (especially those who fought in North Africa) are this.
  • Sir Topham Hatt of all people when he comes face to face with the Lucky Lamp, which is revealed to be a relic of a traumatic experience he suffered in a mental institution after the first World War
• Ship Tease: Quite a few:
  • Thomas/Kate
  • Thomas/Lily
  • Gordon/Lily
  • Eric/Molly
    • The fourth season episode "Diagnosis" reveals that Eric and Molly had concluded they were better off as Just Friends.
  • Douglas/Lily
  • Reginald/Samantha
  • James/Rosie
  • Winston/Alice
  • "Affection" shows off several other teases (some of them characters who haven't been introduced or even built yet):
    • Henry/Emily (basically confirmed in the Season 4 Part 1 trailer; the episode "Secrets" takes it a step farther by revealing that they are Happily Married; and no, we are not making that last part up)
    • Jinty/Mavis
    • Mickey/Daisy
    • Mike/Olivia
    • Bertie/Caroline
    • Alfie/Isobella
• Shout-Out:
  • Ships seen in the series often have Freeze-Frame Bonus references in their names. Such names include Winter-Is-Coming, The Frying Dutchman, Imonarollagay, Bardot, Nothingtolookat, and Slith-R-En.
  • "Smuggling" stars a guard named Homer who has a wife named Marge and 3 children.
  • "Parade" has 2 reporters named Kent Brockman and Tom Tucker.
  • Albert's Driver in "Blitz" is called Christopher Robin.
  • In "Atrocity", the unexplored shed in the concentration camp is Shed 17, and just as horrifying.
  • The Sodor Shorts "Monster", "Castle", and "Bridge" are parodies of several sequences from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (the Killer Rabbit, Taunting French, and Bridge of Death scenes, respectively).
  • The third season episode "Choices" has a trio of scrapyard owners named Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, and Ray Stanz.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: In "Combat", Benson says that Colin is not a hero for sacrificing himself to save Knapford because he didn't live to do it again. Mr. Zorro is not amused and tells him off.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: This series puts a fair amount of emphasis on cause and effect. And also adds realistic aspects to sentient machines:
  • Non-faceless vehicles, being sapient, have certain rights, including that they cannot be sold without consent due to anti-slavery laws, they cannot be scrapped while still alive, and they have the right to assisted suicide. Furthermore, they DO feel love, but unlike humans, they can only express it exclusively through emotion.
  • If a Non-faceless vehicle commits a crime, the maximum sentence they can serve is thirty days, as vehicles are meant to serve a purpose, and can’t very well do that locked up. That's only under British law, however; international law is a different story, as Peter is tried under it for war crimes and gets 15 years.
  • In the pilot episode “Percy,” the LMS is fined for corporate espionage when their scheme is uncovered, unlike the Z-Stacks, who got off rather lightly.
  • Adam stealing Percy's train in “Legality” sees swift involvement of the police.
  • Speeding recklessly at night in the winter down a steep hill is a recipe for disaster, as Arthur, his crew, and all of his passengers tragically find out.
  • As the mini-series shows, you don't fight in a war without having some sort of trauma.
  • In "Shunted", Thomas and Bertie have their famous race just like in the original series. It's played mostly the same save for a few minor changes, but it's after the race that the other shoe drops. Whereas in the original series Thomas is gently reminded not to go too fast, here Thomas and Bertie wind up in serious trouble for speeding and potentially endangering their passengers all in the name of a petty contest (which in this version, both Thomas' crew also have money riding on, resulting in their suspension) and lands Thomas and Bertie in Railgate for time. Edward even remarks to Thomas how speeding with a passenger train is what got Arthur, his crew, and all of their passengers killed in a fatal accident
  • In "Trapped", a large boulder rolls down on the main line and grinds the railway to a halt. After several attempts by the engines to remove the rock on their own, it's Billy Shoepack, a blast-happy demolition expert who saves the day by blowing the boulder up and leaves a comically large hole in the middle of the line as a result. It's initially brushed off as a cartoonish gag until "Maintenance" reveals that it took a week to repair (and that's with round-the-clock working), an extra two weeks to get through the backlog of work that piled up due to the main line being under repair, the munitions company lost money having to pay for the repairs which led to mass lay-offs, and finally Billy himself got thrown in prison for two years for his crazy stunt.
  • The third season premiere "Aftermath" reveals that the so-called non-faceless German engines who fought the Steam Corp. in North Africa were actually regular faceless locomotives with faces painted on, as Germany seems to lack any non-faceless vehicles. This is likely because Hitler viewed the idea of sentient vehicles as an affront to his vision for the Master Race, but had faces painted on locomotives for psychological reasons.
  • As "Industry" shows, it will take a lot more than a mere story to change Andreas' views on Atlas.
  • In "Aviation", Harold the Helicopter is introduced and just like in the original series he views railways as slow and out date and develops the same antagonistic relationship with Percy. Later Percy sees Harold flying overhead and when Harold remarks he'll see him at the harbor, all the pieces are in place for an adaptation of their race from "Percy and Harold". Except Percy's driver stops him from going through with it and checks his speed. Later, Percy ends up beating Harold to the harbor anyway and when he rolls up to gloat about it, Harold is rather surprised and informs him that he wasn't interested in having a race anyway and warns Percy that if he was speeding just to prove a point he'd be obligated to report him for it. Percy backs down rather quickly, and even his crew have a laugh about it.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: In "Atrocity", Adam's driver does this after seeing the horrors inside the concentration camp's Shed 17.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Many of the stories are adapted from TUGS:
  • "Percy" is adapted from "Sunshine".
  • "Scrap" takes elements from "High Tide".
  • "Quarantine" is adapted from the episode of the same name.
  • "Thief" is heavily based on "Pirate".
  • "Trapped" is also adapted from the episode of the same name, though with a boulder like in "Rusty and the Boulder" instead of a tramp steamer. A human version of Billy Shoepack also puts in an appearance. A later episode, "Maintenance", reveals that the incident saw Billy get a two-year prison sentence for destruction of railway property, and his company suffered a major financial hit because they had to pay for the repairs, forcing them to lay off most of their staff and then downsize, moving their operation to Cros-Ny-Curin on the Skarloey Railway.
  • "Parade" is based on "Regatta", but omits the Grampus plot in favor of focusing on the Lillie Lightship plot.
  • It has been confirmed that "Munitions" will be adapted, but not during the "Stories of War" miniseries.
  • "Choices" adapts the Grampus plot from "Regatta".
  • "Robbery" sets up this universe's version of "High Winds" which later occurs in Storm.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Part of the reason Adam chooses to undergo the Final Firing. He feels that, even if he did survive the risky overhauling process, it would only be delaying the inevitable as Dieselization slowly pushes steam engines out, and he would much rather go out on his own terms.

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