All Aboard! Let's Go!
The Story of Casey Jr.: The Tale of a Little Engine Who Saved a Circus and All The Animals is a story created by Disney that serves as an origin to Casey Jr., the sentient steam locomotive from Dumbo. Much like the little elephant who would follow him in due time, Casey is an outcast amid the circus, having been bought by them to pull their train, but is constantly picked on due to his small stature. He's determined to prove himself, but eventually the teasing gets to be too much and he decides to just ignore everyone mocking him. But when disaster strikes, he becomes the only chance the circus has to avoid a disaster.
This story contains the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: For Casey Jr., as the story delves into how he wound up in the circus' possession, and his attempts to prove his worth to himself.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Poor Casey. Much like Dumbo, nobody seems to respect the guy on account of the fact he's a small, outdated locomotive. The clowns and signals in particular like to make fun of him, which eventually leads him to try and ignore the latter.
- Call-Back: Much like in The Reluctant Dragon, Casey nearly gets into a collision with a streamlined train because of a piece of railroad equipment sleeping on the job. It's thankfully avoided, but it just pushes his patience over its limits and he decides to ignore them from now on.
- Call-Forward:
- Casey is teased by members of the circus for his appearance, especially the clowns, but he proves himself to the troupe in the end. Sounds an awful lot like Dumbo himself, although Casey's a sentient steam locomotive whose mockery comes from being small and outdated, while Dumbo was just picked on for his big ears.
- Like in the movie that follows this story, Casey conquers a mighty mountain by pulling the train up it with all he's got.
- Determinator: Casey's goal in the book is to prove to himself that's he worth his weight despite not being a modern locomotive. He manages to do so by saving the circus.
- Didn't Think This Through: After Casey decided to ignore all the signals, one warning signal tried telling him to stop, but Casey took no notice. Unfortunately, the signal was serious, the bridge ahead had collapsed. Luckily, Casey was able to jump over the bridge along with all the cars and saved the circus.
- Downer Beginning: The story begins when Casey Jr. had a "For Sale" sign on him, but no one bothered to buy him and he was lonely, sitting in the yard for a while. Thankfully, the WDP circus was able to purchase him to help out with transporting the circus from town to town. Sadly, it doesn't get any easier for him since people start picking on him for looking so small and out of date.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Nobody seems to think anything about Casey other than "he's just outdated and small", which doesn't help his self-esteem. He tries to prove himself to everyone, and does so when the circus is saved from falling off a broken bridge.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Casey gets this big time. After spending the entire story being teased and mocked for his appearance, he saves the circus train from falling off a broken bridge, and is rightfully hailed a hero by everyone.
- Fantastic Racism: Zig-Zagged. People don't hate Casey because he's a talking steam engine; they hate him because he's not a modern, larger steam engine.
- Jerkass: The clowns and the signals both mock Casey's small, outdated appearance for no other reason other than they can. It gets to him pretty badly.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although the clowns teased Casey earlier, they redeemed themselves to him by helping him back onto the tracks after the locomotive saves the circus.
- Just Train Wrong:
- The book's artwork consistently depicts Casey with his rods not attached to his cylinders, making one wonder how exactly he's able to move without that critical component needed to make him go.
- Ignoring the fact that the switch signal is anthropomorphic, it should not have been sleeping on the job given how extremely safety sensitive any railroading position is. Casey was justifiably angry at it, but even then he was just as guilty of violating railroad safety regulations by ignoring a warning signal about a broken bridge just because he was pushed past his limits (though that, at least, makes it where he's able to save the circus and earns the respect he's been working for).
- No, it's not possible for a train to Olympic Jump a broken bridge; gravity alone would immediately send the train plummeting to its doom. Granted, Casey is a cartoon, but still.
- Kick the Dog: Or Kick the Train in this case. Casey is out practicing when a rabbit gets on the tracks. He stops and asks why the rabbit didn't hear him coming with those big ears of his, but the rabbit just tells him that he thought it was a bumblebee and to "go back to the toy shop where [he belongs]". Casey is hurt by this, but he decides to keep going to build up his confidence.
- Mirror Character: The book confirms that Casey is one to Dumbo, as both were mocked for their appearances before they managed to become important figures in the circus. In Casey's case, he was made fun of for his small, outdated appearance until he saved the circus from plummeting off a broken bridge, while Dumbo was mocked for his big ears until he learned to fly using them and became a star.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After a near-miss with a streamliner because of a sleeping signal, Casey decides to ignore all the signals from now on. He ignores one such signal who's trying to warn him about a broken bridge, which nearly sends the entire circus train plummeting to its doom. Luckily, Casey is able to leap across the gap and save everyone, which gets him the respect of the entire troupe.
- Origins Episode: For Casey Jr. and how he joined the WDP Circus.
- Pet the Dog: After all their teasing early on, the clowns sincerely thank Casey for saving their lives after he jumps the broken bridge. The clowns even helped Casey back onto the rails.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse:
- Just like in the film, Casey was able to pull the circus train over the mountain.
- Despite his size and how long the circus train was, he was able to rescue the entire circus by jumping over the bridge.
- Prequel: This book is set before the events of Dumbo, showing how Casey came to join the circus.
- Rage Breaking Point: After being teased for his appearance, the switch signal sleeping on the job and making him nearly have a nasty accident with a streamline train, and not being taken seriously, Casey finally lost his patience and decided to ignore all the signals.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: A switch signal falls asleep on the job and nearly causes a streamlined train to smash into Casey. It's luckily avoided at the last minute, but it causes Casey to become fed up with being ignored and decides he's going to do the same to the rest of the signals.
- Track Trouble: A bridge winds up breaking and nearly sends the entire circus train to its doom. Luckily for Casey, unlike last time he jumped a bridge, he's able to leap across with the whole train and save everyone onboard, making him a hero.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A switch signal decides to take a nap on the job, which nearly causes a collision between Casey and a streamliner. This near-miss causes Casey to become fed up with being ignored and leads him to snub any signal he encounters from now on. Unfortunately, the first signal that he happens upon tries to warn him about a downed bridge and he just ignores it out of spite, which nearly results in the circus falling to its doom had Casey not managed to jump the train across the gap.
