History Literature / TheRailwaySeries

* ExtremeOmnivore: In ''Literature/TheThreeRailwayEngines'', a goat eats the Fat Controller's hat for its tea.

* AdaptationDistillation: the Skarloey Railway events borrow heavily from the real life history of the Talyllyn Railway, but comparing them to historic books on the real railway (such as ''Literature/RailwayAdventure'') shows a few changes especially noticeable in ''Four Little Engines'' and ''Gallant Old Engine.''

** Sir Haydn had multiple derailments on the Talyllyn before it was finally decided to side-line the engine. Even the addition of "steamroller wheels" on the trailing bogie is not able to help Sir Haydn function well, and it takes a full track maintenance program to finally bring the Talyllyn's track to good enough condition to allow the engine to run reliably. In comparison Sir Handel in the books only has one big derailment, and is never seen out of the action for a long time with his "steamroller wheels" seemingly a good enough fix for the railroad.
** Edward Thomas (the real life counterpart to Peter Sam) and Dolgoch were the primary engines of the 1952 season on the Talyllyn running alongside each other. In the books by this point Rheneas is already depicted as having been sent away from repairs and its implied Peter Sam and Sir Handel don't get to really know him until his return. As well to depict Peter Sam as a reliable runner, Awdry glosses over some of the major derailments the real Edward Thomas endured during this era.

** Peter Sam was subject of this due to his broken funnel.

* AlwaysFemale / AlwaysMale: All of the coaches and trucks are females and males respectively, with the exception of the Culdee Fell Railway's truck.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: The big engines think the "verra wee engines" (Rex, Mike, and Bert) are some sort of magic, despite the fact they met small engines before (e.g., the Skarloey engines).

*** Clive Spong's illustrations for his first novel "Really Useful Engines" and some early tie-in books used a more cartoony style reminiscent of Dalby's and the TV adaptation, especially concerning the engine's facial expressions. Afterwards a more realistic, detailed design took over.

** Some fans have made the comparison that the locomotives in Thomas are very similar to the toys in ''Franchise/ToyStory'', since although a locomotives' life seems very limited by human standards; the characters in the books simply ''want'' to be useful and do work, much like how the toys in ''Toy Story'' want simply to be played with and be used.

* BreakoutCharacter: Thomas was a popular character after Book 2, but was only the focus of a few books before the TV series.

* CastHerd: the standard gauge and branch lines, Skarloey engines, the Culdee Fell engines, the Small railway engines etc.
* ChristmasEpisode: A few stories are Christmas-themed, including "Mrs Kyndley's Christmas" and "Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree". In a non-Christmas episode, James' nose turns red when he is stung by a bee, and somebody says "it's a pity it isn't Christmas; then we could call you James the Red-Nosed Engine".
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: A few background characters in the earlier books.

** In the first five books, Thomas was the only engine with a number. This was, according to WordofGod, because his number was the easiest to draw. Everyone else received a number later on.

** Gordon also says "Never trust domeless engines; they aren't respectable". He then loses his own dome.

* MagicRealism: The only fantasy element is that the engines and other vehicles possess personalities. Otherwise the events of the series are entirely mundane and realistic, with the plots of each story being based on real-life incidents on Britain's railways drawn from Rev Awdry's large archive and collected anecdotes. Likewise, the island of Sodor is neither magic nor another dimension, but a completely mundane island between Cumbria and Man with a plausible invented history.

** Its a railway after all (one that serves many mines and shipping docks too) ''there has to be'' many SirSwearsALot characters who are being censored for the audience!

* OutOfGenreExperience: try reading about the history of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godred_Crovan King Godred]] or Jarl Sigrid, the church houses on Sodor, the rebellion against the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell Cromwell's Roundheads]], the engineering works to clear the island or the history of local mead labels in ''The Island of Sodor'' without forgetting this is still a series about ''talking trains.''
* PintSizedKid: Rex, Mike and Bert.

** The events of "Old Faithful" and "Gallant Old Engine" split the incidents as having happened on both Skarloey and Rheneas. On the real Talyllyn Railway both events happened with Dolgoch (Rheneas's real life counterpart) and were only weeks [[TraumaCongaLine ''if not days'']] apart from each other.

** "Gallant Old Engine" is a straight up adaptation of [[Creator/LTCRolt L.T.C. Rolt's]] book ''Railway Adventure'' and Awdry notes such in the foreword to the story.

** Some fans have made the comparison that the locomotives in Thomas are very similar to the toys in WesternAnimation/ToyStory, since although a locomotives' life seems very limited by human standards; the characters in the books simply ''want'' to be useful and do work, much like how the toys in Toy Story want simply to be played with and be used.

** On the Mid Sodor Line, [[IHaveManyNames Falcon/Sir Handel]] [[TeamDad Duke]] and [[IHaveManyNames Stuart/Peter Sam]]. Peter Sam is very bubbly, cheerful and near impossible not to get along with. Sir Handel has quite a temper and you have to have a lot of patience to get along with him. Duke however, may be wise and kind, but is also a bit [[GrumpyBear grumpy]]. Quite the contrast to Skarloey and Rheanes.

-->-- '''Rev. W. Awdry on what inspired the series.'''

* LegacyCharacter: The Fat Controller.

* {{Barsetshire}}: The whole fictional setting of the Island of Sodor (which is supposed to be just west of the Cumbrian and Lancastrian coast and to the east of the Isle of Man). "Sodor" is an ecclesiastical in-joke -- the real world Diocese of Sodor and Man now covers the Isle of Man and a few tiny islets in the vicinity, which led Awdry to imagine an "Isle of Sodor". "Sodor" was actually the Norse name for what are now the Western Isles of Scotland.

* {{Barsetshire}}: The whole fictional setting of the Island of Sodor (which is supposed to be just west of the Cumbrian and Lancastrian coast and to the east of the Isle of Man).

* AlwaysFemale / AlwaysMale: All of the coaches and trucks are females and males respectively.

* MoodDissonance: try reading about the history of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godred_Crovan King Godred]] or Jarl Sigrid, the church houses on Sodor, the rebellion against the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell Cromwell's Roundheads]], the engineering works to clear the island or the history of local mead labels in ''The Island of Sodor'' without forgetting this is still a series about ''talking trains.''

* PoliceBrutality: A humorous and not very violent example, but ''The Island of Sodor'' book makes it clear the constable who threatened Thomas was extremely heavy handed and hated in Ffarquhar for his zealous enforcement of the law. The local pub "The Toby's Jug" renamed itself to just "The Toby" after the locomotive of the same name startled said constable with his whistle once, and the pub in the engine's honor painted the locomotive onto their signage ''just to continue taunting the constable'' about how he was scared by a train! The constable ultimately got his come-uppance when he ticketed a group of cars parked outside a church on Sunday, not realizing that one of the cars he ticketed was of his ''[[DaChief own Sergeant]]''.

* TheNeedForMead: Ffarquhar is famous for its local mead brand, and has a popular pub/tavern that the locals attend. After Toby one-upped the local [[BadCop constable]] the tavern was renamed ''The Toby'' in the locomotive's honor to spite the constable!

* TheNeedForMead: Ffarquhar is famous for its local mead brand, and has a popular pub/tavern that the locals attend. After Toby one-upped the local [[BadCop/IncompetentCop constable]] the tavern was renamed ''The Toby'' in the locomotive's honor to spite the constable!