In Dirty Work, when the Big Engines tell The Fat Controller about the names Duck allegedly gave them, Gordon and James are visibly enraged. Henry on the other hand has a saddened expression, something that honestly makes quite a bit of sense when you remember that he was the first to defend Duck earlier in the episode.
The Season 1 episode Dirty Objects ends in a Humiliation Conga for James, who gets his red paint ruined by tar after he calls Toby and Henrietta "dirty objects" for being old-fashioned and needing new paint. But the kicker? He helped them get new coats of paint. If he hadn't had that crash, Toby wouldn't have been called to help, or rewarded for his efforts with new paint. Thanks a bunch, James!
The Series 3 episode Gordon and the Famous visitor reveals that Gordon believes that engines without domes are 'not respectable'. It's worth noting that Flying Scotsman (Who is Gordon's brother) was exhibited at the 1924 Wembley exhibition alongside a much smaller express locomotive with no dome, and this loco was proven to be the more powerful of the two engines, so Gordon's dislike for domeless engines may just be an act of jealousy.
Fast forward to the Series 7 episode 'Gordon and Spencer', where Gordon begins to take a dislike to Spencer before even getting to know him. Spencer has no visible dome.
James is shown to be very proud of his red paint. While this is logic is lost in the show, in the original books when James was first introduced, all the current engines in the Fat Controller's railway were blue. (Henry, who similarly was pompous about his green paint at first, asked to be painted blue as sign of humility, and regained his green when he becomes conceited again later on). This also explains why James is furious at the idea of being painted blue. His red paint makes him individual and unique in a band of similar engines.
Also in the original books, James was originally black, not unlike Donald and Douglas. It's a bit analogous to a teen having just left a school where uniforms are mandatory, transferring into one where they aren't, but a "non-compulsory" uniform exists. James is tired of being "just another" engine.
At first this troper wondered why Diesel 10 needed Paxton to help him steal the Christmas decorations in season 17's "The Missing Christmas Decorations", despite being the only one able to do so thanks to his claw. But then, the one time Paxton refused to go along with him, Diesel 10 was caught in the act by Percy who happened to pass by. Diesel 10 needed Paxton to keep watch while he does the dirty work. Without him, the whole plan would've gone to pieces much quicker.
Some fans have noted that the flashbacks in Blue Mountain Mystery weren't completely accurate to the episodes they were based on. Of course they weren't; the flashbacks were described by the engines, whose memories were unlikely to accurately recall the minor details.
In the same special, Emily says "But even he (Diesel), wasn't sent away from Sodor", even though he actually was. She wouldn't know the Duck and Diesel trilogy story cause she wasn't on Sodor yet! Still begs the question of why no one else corrected her though...
In the Japanese version of "Horrid Lorry", after the lorries are "smashed, broken and sunk", Thomas, just like in the English version, names them for their accidents: Pechanko, Enko and Donburako, respectively. It seems rather straightforward at first, but look at the last two letters in each name. That's right — -ko (こ, コ, 子) appears in countless girls' names. Thomas was effectively calling the lorries sissies for getting into trouble without having much of a chance to back up their claims! Way to hit it where it hurts, Thomas.
By going with the narration of the TV Series and the Railway Series, it would seem that it's not just the face and feelings that both engines and humans have; some parts and functions of an engine seem to mirror that of a human. The firebox, smokebox and boiler appear to represent the heart, head/brain and stomach respectively, blowing a safety valve is like having a heart attack, bad coal is like having constipation as a lot of water is needed, boiler sludge is practically excrement and a washout is somewhat akin to an enema.
A major complaint about the Great Race special is Flying Scotsman's personality, wherein he seems like just a more arrogant version of Gordon, and constantly heckles him, whereas in the books, both got along just fine. However, keep in mind that there is no indication at all that Dr. Beeching's Modernization plan or any international equivalent of it happened in the television series. As such, instead of Flying Scotsman being a symbol that steam would endure, he's just going off on the basic accomplishments of his career. No wonder his and Gordon's relationship is so different in the TV Series.
Sodor still uses brake vans. In real life, railways had stopped using brake vans (and by extension, American cabooses) because the trucks themselves are fitted with brakes. The trucks on Sodor are also fitted with brakes. So why do they need brake vans? Because you can't trust troublesome trucks. If an engine loses control on a hill, the trucks aren't going to use their brakes to slow down; they're the ones pushing!
When people reference The Fat Controller blaming engines for accidents that weren't their fault, they like to point to the scene in "Thomas Comes to Breakfast" where the Fat Controller reprimands Thomas for the accident that was actually caused by the cleaner. However, it should be noted that when Thomas started moving on his own earlier in the episode, the narrator stated that Thomas didn't know the cleaner had moved him and thought he was moving on his own. Thomas thought that the accident was his fault, and thus, accepted the blame because he believed it to be true. It still wasn't his fault, but The Fat Controller would have no way of knowing this, as the only people who truly would have known what had happened were Thomas and the cleaner.
Season 22's "Rosie is Red" has a She Is Not My Girlfriend plot involving Thomas and Rosie. After they're teased about it, Thomas acts rude to Rosie to avoid teasing from the other engines. Toby and Henrietta advise him that he shouldn't be rude to her. Why them specifically? Since season 18 (when Henrietta gained a face), Toby and Henrietta have had an "old married couple dynamic", and they're the closest of any engines and/or rolling stock on the North Western Railway. "Hasty Hannah" all but confirmed their love for each other, so it makes sense for them to be giving advice to Thomas on love.
For being a Canon Foreigner not included in the original Railway Series books, Rosie and her relationship with Thomas make sense for realistic reasons. The USACT S100, Rosie's basis came to Southampton Docks becoming the Southern Railway's "USA Class" after World War 2. The other famous steam engine class assigned to Southampton, the E2 class Thomas is based on! So for a time up until the end of steam, the image of E2's and USA's working the Southampton area together was a common sight. Likewise, Salty's basis the Ruston 07 was another Southampton regular and the diesel locomotive which ultimately replaced the E2 and USA engines there. Its enough well chosen locomotive classes with a shared real life history that it probably stopped Rev. Awdry from spinning in his grave briefly to chuckle that the TV show got at least one thing right.
In later seasons Toby seems to have regained access to his old tramway and even his shed. The North Western Railway has obviously expanded a fair amount throughout the series, and it would make sense to come to places where old tracks already exist. Combined with the Fat Controller's fond personal memories with Toby and his old line, it would make sense for him to simply reinstate it with its original engine when profit and opportunity arose.
In the HIT rebooted seasons, Emily becomes more self important while Henry becomes more humble and tame. This is a somewhat stark character change at first, but around the same time, Emily is shown interacting with Gordon and James more often, while Henry, since the series branched from the books, had begun to take other interests and distance himself more often. It has been made apparent with engines such as Oliver or Scruff that the big tender engines are seen as the "in-crowd" and getting their approval can make some of the other engines conceited.
So why on earth is there a BARBER SHOP at the end of a railtrack? Perhaps it's actually an old shed that was later converted. The fact there re no buffers at the end of this may be a production error - but even then, Duck was going so fast that he would have just blown through them.
Thomas the Tank Engine is based on a LB&SC Railway E2 tank engine, but he doesn't exactly look like an E2. If you know anything about railway history, the E2's were notoriously unreliable and hard to work on. However, Sir Topham Hatt's railway is known not for replacing engines with faults but for helping amend those faults, as Henry, James, and even the resident Cool Old Guy Edward can attest. So, it's possible that they helped to remedy Thomas' faults as well, which explains why he looks so different to a default E2 and lacks those unreliable elements. Sir Topham Hatt literally made him into a really useful engine.
Gordon brags about pulling the Express at every opportunity, and becomes very insecure when someone else takes the job or even worse, does it even better than him. In Awdry's concept notes, Henry was Sir Topham Hatt's original Express engine, with Gordon brought in to take that job due to Henry's earlier performance issues. It also adds Brilliance to why Gordon feels the need to make put downs at Henry after he is rebuilt. While Sir Topham Hatt was fine keeping Gordon as default Express engine afterwards, Henry, now capable, sometimes took turns at his old job. From Gordon's perspective, he risked being not needed for his original purpose anymore.
At the climax of Blue Mountain Mystery, Luke saves Thomas from falling off a cliff despite feeling betrayed by him just minutes prior. Think about it from Luke's perspective: he thinks he's been exposed as a murderer and his life as he knows it will be over, all while Diesel taunts him about it. Saving Thomas isn't just a confirmation that they're still friends; Luke sees this as a chance to redeem himself by preventing another engine from falling to their (supposed) death.
Also keeping in mind that Thomas only got in danger trying to reach Luke since he refused to talk to him. Luke had already deemed himself practically a murderer for what was blatantly an accident, with his impatience indirectly getting an engine in danger. Given what happened to Thomas is practically the same deal, no wonder Luke instantly tried to prevent history repeating itself.
In a case that is more Hilarious in Hindsight, in "Thomas in Trouble", Thomas makes no hesitance asking James to take Annie and Clarabel for him after he takes ill, despite usually being overprotective of them. This is not only to show how much he wants to make things up the passengers he let down, but in The Adventure Begins, Annie and Clarabel were originally James' rolling stock (which is carried over into All Engines Go), of course he would know how to take care of them.
First and foremost—how in the world did the engines actually come alive?
Victor Tanzig provides several theories that actually make sense.
Though the later seasons have slipped on this a bit (more and more after each), the engines really can't do anything without humans helping them. They need a driver, a brakeman and, in the case of steam locomotives like Thomas, a fireman to move, the foundry crew to keep them in good repair. The possibility for blackmail is enormous.
Which leads to a disturbing afterthought, just who exactly would be steering the likes of Diesel, 'Arry and Bert as they menace the other engines?
*cough*Dr.Beeching*cough*
On a similar note, take away the cutesy elements of the show, and it's really pretty apparent that the engines are in slavery. Even though they're fully sentient, none of the humans seem to carenote Though Sir Topham Hatt is generally fair and sympathetic, he is still, essentially, the 'master' He got very upset with Percy and some of the others in 'The Deputation,' for instance, when they tried to interfere with his decision-making process.. They've been bought and sold, banished for minor offenses, callously separated from 'family,' have no say whatsoever in where or how they work, they're automatically blamed when things go wrong, and don't appear to ever get any R&R.
Mentioning of the engines getting rest is mentioned every once in a while, even if it usually means another engine working twice as hard to compensate. Thomas and Toby have both been shown given whole days off, only to be guilt tripped by the other working engines into doing their jobs anyway. Granted it helps a lot that the engines actually seem to enjoy most of their work in moderation.
According to the Word of God, most of the characters are at least 20 years old, and some of the narrow-gauge engines are more than 100. They've been putting up with that crap for a long time.
The slavery theory can be best seen in "Train Stops Play". Because some cricket players lost their ball, and no one thought to bring a spare, they take their car (which happens to be sentient) and pushes her far past her limit to catch up with Stepney (who was pulling the truck that the ball was in). By the end she's overheating and smoking. Considering cars can break down much easier than engines, it's a bit disturbing.
The slavery theory, of course, requires a certain degree of anthropocentrism regarding the psychology of an engine. Any sci-fi writer worth his/her salt will be quick to point out that other sentient beings needs, desires and motivations are different from our own most of the time. The engines genuinely seem to delight in being deemed "really useful", potentially beyond human comprehension. Without actually speaking to a sentient train, I personally would hesitate to assume slavery.
Then there's the whole thing with scrapping. Edward and others occasionally work in the scrapyards and smelter's yards, where the engines are taken apart and melted down. The scrapyard tracks are lined with literally dismembered engines. Think, for a second, how badly most people would be messed up by seeing the human version on a battlefield or crime scene, and how many years of counseling they would need to attempt to get over that. The engines get no such sympathy.
A few of the diesels— Iron 'Ary and Bert—actually seem to enjoy working in this sort of "funeral home" so much that they tried to scrap Stepney, just for fun.
The real kicker? Word of God sets the show in the 1950s. Anyone not in the movie is likely in a scrapyard or worse. And most of the humans are gone too.
Jossed. Thomas and Victoria, set around 2007, features Toby, Daisy, and Boco. Also, the show is set between the 1920s and the 1970s.
Why are the engines so happy to be deemed "really useful"? If they're not, they'll be slowly hacked to pieces while they're still alive.
Think back to Donald and Douglas' intro episode Brake Van for a moment. There was the possibility that one of them was going to be sent back for scrap. Then, when Donald crashes into the signalbox, he finds out this information!
Sir Topham Hatt: I have decided to send Douglas back and keep you, Donald.
The Logging Locos from the special Misty Island Rescue were apparently sent away to the titular island because of their bad behavior. Judging by the abandoned state of the island's railway, the fuel shortages, and the dilapidated states of the three when Thomas discovers them, it quickly becomes apparent that they weren't sent there to do work, but to die.
There's an episode where Thomas's driver tells him that he's doing so well that soon he won't even need a driver anymore! Thomas takes this to heart and goes out on his own the next day... an adventure that is soon over when he crashes through the wall of a house. So basically, don't ever take responsibility for your actions or do things without an adult's help, even if they encouraged you to do it, because you'll cause destruction and possibly death.
The Flying Kipper is creepy enough, even without Fridge Horror, but there's a very dark Freeze-Frame Bonus if you're paying attention: There are three men in the brakevan that Henry smashes into, but only 2 of them are mentioned jumping clear of the wreck.
May be an oversight, since the original novel mentions all three shooting out when Henry crashes (the driver is left tending to both whining firemen in a comical fashion, implying all three came out fine).
Even worse: That story was based on a real life accident in which 14 people were killed.
In 'Ghost Train', Toby says "Percy's had an accident" as well as "It looked like Percy's ghost". Toby is basically implying that Percy died. This was just part of their trick but Thomas treats it as if it happened. His reaction is "Huh, who cares?" Thomas and Percy are meant to be best friends by the way.
This Troper is under the assumption that Toby was talking about a ghost Percy had been joking about earlier.
In the books this seems to the case; in "Main Line Engines", Gordon's fireman is mentioned to be new on the job.
New train engineers are often told that at some point in their career their train will kill someone. These accidents are almost never the train crew's fault - people try to beat trains over crossings, play on the tracks, or just commit suicide. This is traumatic enough for someone sitting in a cab; many engineers suffer from PTSD, and a few have even taken their own lives. Now imagine being a sentient engine able to feel the metal crumple under your buffers. How many engines have been traumatized with the knowledge that they accidentally killed someone?
Hiro goes back to Japan at the end of "Hero of the Railway", but is back on Sodor in the TV series. Discontinuity? Maybe...except that Hiro had previously stated that he was the oldest engine on Sodor, and he wanted to go home to see his friends again. His friends would be as old as he was, and many of them would have had to be scrapped...in other words, he returned to Sodor because all his friends are dead.
What even happens when an engine is scrapped? Are they given some sort of special fuel that kills them when burnt, like a cyanide pill, then melted down or ripped apart, or are they dismembered by the giant claw at the Ironworks while still alive and conscious?
From what I understand, they're just ripped apart and that kills them.
In Tale Of The Brave, when Bill and Ben scare Thomas at the clay pits, he remarks that they nearly made him 'blow a safety valve'. Clearly the writes see this as akin to a heart attack. Recall in Season 1's Edward, Gordon and Henry, Gordon blows his safety valve while pulling the Express. In other words, Gordon overworked himself so much that he gave himself a heart attack.
Edward's Exploit. In the televised version, the only damage that Edward sustains is losing his siderods, but in the RWS version, the illustration shows the splashers and running board above Edward's right driving wheels completely churned up, almost macerated by whatever happened to him. It's quite hard to imagine just how much pain the poor engine must have been in.
Does Sir Topham Hatt truly care for ALL his engines? He treats Thomas and the steam team well, but Hiro was abandoned and left to rust. The same thing happened to Glynn, Which is especially jarring considering Sir Topham BUILT Glynn, and Sidney was left on a hoist for 2 years without wheels. Either Sir Topham Hatt picks favorites or this is just incompetence.
In Spencer's VIP, Hiro acted just as eager and reckless as the other engines in order to be chosen to take the deputy minister home and back. It may have been funny... if it weren't for the fact that Hiro was nearly outed and scrapped for being an ancient engine in Hero of the Rails. He may have wanted the job because it would mean even lower chances of being scrapped this time.
Given that Stepney's a real engine, The Fat Controller would've likely gotten into a lot of trouble had 'Arry And Bert succeeded in scrapping him, possibly getting sued by Stepney's owners and losing his position of power. In addition, 'Arry and Bert themselves would likely have been scrapped as punishment.
At the end of Horrid Lorry, the broken lorries vow to come back for revenge. But as the narrator notes, they never did. This is a happy ending for the engines at face value, especially with what Jerkasses the lorries were, but then the implication sinks in that those in charge likely deemed them beyond repair and just scrapped them.
Hannah's rough treatment by a reckless James in Hasty Hannah is meant to be just a slapstick comeuppance, but last time we saw Hannah, she had passengers inside her. Either they left after Toby abandoned Hannah (and had to find their way back through miles of countryside) or got a very rough ride.
As The Unlucky Tug pointed out in his Journey Beyond Sodor review, Frankie says Thomas is her "favourite one yet", implying they've kidnapped other engines before. Did she and Hurricane kill them once they'd outlived their usefulness?
It's easy to assume that Luke thought Victor drowned in Blue Mountain Mystery. However, the wording he uses — "By the time they pulled him out, he was rusty and ruined. He must've been sent to the smelter's yard!" — implies that he assumed Victor survived falling into the sea, but had to be put out of his misery, which is even more horrifying.
The station master's house that Thomas crashed into. You can only wonder why a house was placed that close to a train track meant to capture a runaway train.
Similar cases are shown throughout the series, such as a barber's house and a chocolate factory. Worth noting that none of them even have buffers, just a track leading straight towards the building. Tempting Fate enough?
Well, in the books Thomas went off the rails and onto the road first before crashing into the house, so it was probably an oversight on the TV producers. Then again, that siding near the road had no buffers.
Fridge Brilliance: Perhaps they were going so fast that the buffers got pushed into the barber's shop with them.
and losing his position of power. In addition, 'Arry and Bert themselves would likely have been scrapped as punishment.