History WesternAnimation / ThomasTheTankEngine

*** "Thomas' Anthem" starts in A♭ major for the verses and E♭ major for the choruses, then, after the middle eight, shifts up two whole steps to C major for the final verse and the last two choruses respectively sung in F and G major.

*** The original theme shifts down one and a half steps from C to A♭.
*** Thomas' theme from Seasons 1-4 shifts down two steps from F to D.
*** Edward's theme from said manner shifts up from C to D.
*** For Gordon, his theme shifts up from B♭ to C towards the end.
*** James' Season 1-2 theme shifts up from E♭ to G.
*** Percy's theme from Season 1 shifts down from E♭ to C. His Season 5 theme shifts up from A♭ to B♭.
*** Toby's original theme is mostly in C, but the TriumphantReprise is in D.
*** The "busy station" theme shifts up from A♭ to B♭ to C, then back to A♭.
*** The original "runaway" theme starts out in C, then shifts up to D.

** Donald and Douglas also used this early in their tenure on Sodor, when Sir Topham Hatt was still trying to decide which one to send home. If one ever seemed to be outperforming the other, they'd switch tenders (the only places their numbers were painted) and do each other's work until their records evened out, so the boss couldn't make a decision.

* WellExcuseMePrincess: Daisy, Mavis (initially), and Emily.

* WithFriendsLikeThese: The engines are such assholes to each other, sometimes it's hard to remember that they're supposed to be friends. Especially evident in the earlier seasons. Examples include everyone teasing Gordon for his size, making insensitive remarks about Henry's condition, belittling Thomas and Percy for being small engines, jokes involving Edward and scrapping, having your embarrassing accidents [[NeverLiveItDown brought up again and again]], and so on.

* TerribleTrio: Diesel sometimes forms one with [[ThoseTwoBadGuys 'Arry and Bert]] in later episodes. Gordon, James and Henry were a lighter example in the earlier seasons (being more just arrogant peers than villains) while Diesel 10 formed one with Splatter and Dodge in ''Thomas And The Magic Railroad''.

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: 'Arry and Bert.

The series has been known to have had a following among people with disabilities, especially people with autism and Aspergers, in part thanks to the usage of static imagery in the model seasons.

After 12 seasons of having ShiftedToCGI, the 25th season, which will begin in Fall 2021, will switch to 2D animation and give the characters new redesigned appearances, to make them appeal to younger modern viewers, in addition to having a new continuity.

The series has been known to have had a following among people with disabilities, especially people with Autism and Aspergers, in part thanks to the usage of static imagery in the model seasons.

* NeverMyFault: The engines getting blamed for the railwaymen's mistakes. This helps contribute to the FridgeHorror and NightmareFuel of the series - no wonder the trains look ''sad'' when they're in an accident!
** Compared to the books, the show does at least have a handful of subversions however. In "Thomas And The Rumors", when Gordon crashes into an unfinished tunnel, the Fat Controller is explained as having a stern word with the driver, not the engine. Also in "Wayward Winston" the Fat Controller ''himself'' takes blame for Winston becoming a runaway, when Winston reminds him he forgot to put his brakes on.

*** "Thomas' Anthem" starts in E♭, then shifts up two whole steps to F and G.
*** "Let's Have a Race" is in C, but shifts up to D♭ for the final chorus.

*** "Don't Judge a Book By its Cover" shifts up from C to E♭ for the chorus, then to E towards the end.
*** "It's Great to Be an Engine" shifts up from E♭ up to E.
*** The "Island Song" shifts up from D to F for the choruses then to D♭ for the last verse.
*** "Really Useful Engine" is mostly in B♭, then shifts up to E♭ for the bridge, then returns to its original key for the rest of the song.
*** "Sir Topham Hatt" modulates up a whole half step from B♭ to B for the final chorus.
*** "Night Train" starts out in A, then it shifts up to F, then back to A, then to G♭.
*** "5 New Engines in the Shed" begins with an intro that shifts up from D to B to B♭ to D♭, then ends in G.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: In season 15, "Firey Flynn". Thomas's firebox catches on fire. Let that sink in for the moment.

** Lady is voiced by Britt herself, and also shares the same color scheme as the Queen of Night from Mumfie, another show Allcroft worked on before.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Season 17 had a ''lot'' of these; to compare, the amount of episodes dedicated to secondary characters (18) were more than double the amount which focused on the core cast (8). This is almost certainly [[InvokedTrope an attempt]] by the writing team to avoid having LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters existing purely for merchandising reasons.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Seasons 8 through 12 had them in small doses, and seasons 13 through 16 had them in ''every episode''.

** "Snow is silly soft stuff! They won't bother me!"

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Harvey's crane, Peter Sam's special funnel, Sir Handel's wheels--although these make him egotistical until the events of "Steam Roller".

* CompressedAdaptation: A number of episodes based from ''The Railway Series'' books are this, mainly because of time management of the episodes (the episodes from the classic series were 4 and a half minutes long). An example includes the episode "James and the Coaches" which were merged from the two stories "James and the Top-Hat" and "James and the Bootlace". Also, "Whistles and Sneezes" were based from the two books "Gordon's Whistle" and "Henry's Sneeze" while "Percy's Trousers" was to take place between the two stories, but was adapted in season 3.

* ContinuityNod: An early episode has Henry crashing because snow weighed a lower-quadrant signal down to its "clear" position. In the next series Percy is confused when he sees an upper-quadrant signal which points "up" to its "clear" position. In the third series, upper-quadrant signals are seen frequently in the background.

* CreatorCameo: The Reverend Awdry made cameos in the Railway Series and in ''WesternAnimation/SodorsLegendOfTheLostTreasure'', where he was known as, in the Railway Series at least, as the Thin Clergyman.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Season 5 is often viewed as this. It featured more darker plotlines and crashes than the other seasons.

** Many of the feature length specials have more actionized plots and involve the characters getting into mortal peril. ''Tale of the Brave'' is quite possibly the shining example of it, being the most dramatic and emotional special to date.

* DarkReprise: In "Reds vs. Blues", an intense minor key variation of James' S8-12 theme is heard as Thomas and James are racing each other to the station.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Thomas pulls this off in "The Great Discovery", and because of this, Great Waterton almost doesn't get completed in time.

* {{Oireland}}: Luke has an Irish accent despite being based on a British locomotive design. May double as TruthInTelevision however, as many Irish narrow gauge engines were British-built. Connor and Caitlin have Irish accents as well. This is extremely strange, considering [[{{Eagleland}} where their prototypes are from...]]
** Although this is justified, as apparently this is a reference to how the New York Central and Chesapeake & Ohio were built by Irish immigrants.

* OutOfContextEavesdropping: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NolKsx27tRo Percy's Big Mistake]]" had Percy overhearing The Fat Controller say something about scrap and thought it meant he was to be scrapped (he's a steam engine). [[spoiler: The Fat Controller actually said that Percy was working to hard recently and so after taking some scrap metal to the smelters he would be given the somewhat easier job of carrying the mail for a week]].

** From season 5 onward due to the well of Railway Series stories drying up. Admittedly not every story from the original books has been adapted and the direction the television series is taking means it will probably never happen. Among the most notable books never adapted were "Small Railway Engines" and "Mountain Engines", most likely because it would have been a nightmare to create the Arlesdale Railway engines, and the mountainous landscapes of Culdee Fell. EnsembleDarkhorse Bear was also noticeably left out of the TV series. This is complicated further by the show also adapting stories from other medias such as the magazines and annuals (mostly during Season Three, though a handful of episodes from Season Five onward are also adapted roughly from the magazines).

* YouDidntAsk: Duck and Diesel in "Pop Goes The Diesel".

After 12 seasons of having ShiftedToCGI, the 25th season, which will begin in Fall 2021, will switch to 2D animation and give the characters new redesigned appearances, to make them appeal to younger modern viewers.

The 25th season, which will begin in Fall 2021, will switch to 2D animation and give the characters new redesigned appearances, to make them appeal to younger modern viewers.

* John Hasler (as Thomas): 22-present

* Joseph May (as Thomas): 22-present

A 2D redesigned ContinuityReboot is scheduled to begin with the 25th season sometime in Fall 2021.

* ArtEvolution: The twelfth season incorporated CGI elements while still using models. Season 13 onward switches to entirelly CGI.

A redesigned ContinuityReboot is scheduled to begin with the 25th season sometime in Fall 2021.

A ContinuityReboot is scheduled to be released sometime in 2021.

A ContinuityReboot is scheduled for Spring 2021.

* {{Adorkable}}: Thomas himself along with Percy are perhaps the most prominent examples. Other engines such as Henry, Toby and Edward are this DependingOnTheWriter.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: All the episodes based on the Reverend's original books were in turn inspired by real life railway events. Everything in the railway series has happened to some engine, somewhere, at some time. [[http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/database.htm This site]] has an entire database of the real-life anecdotes which inspired the Reverend's stories.

* BadDreams: In ''Calling All Engines'', the characters have bad dreams about what might happen to them if no holiday makers came to Sodor anymore.

** Duke himself was abandoned in his shed, which was covered over by nature and buried for many years, until he was unearthed in "Sleeping Beauty".

* Pierce Brosnan: ''The Great Discovery''.

* Alec Baldwin: 5-6.

** At the end of "A Cranky Christmas", Cranky admits to [[spoiler:dropping the crate full of ice rink supplies]]. Right after it starts snowing, he asks if they could just [[{{Disney/Frozen}} let it go]].

** Further supporting characters from ''The Railway Series'' have never been introduced due to the transition to mostly original material after Series 4.