Fanfic / Thomas Abridged

Also, he'll want some more ciggies. He's nearly out and his driver won't give him any.

Thomas is many things. A prat. A lover of many (or so he tells himself every night to try and make himself feel better), but he's also a tank engine, who lives at the Big Station on the Island of Sodor.

Now, many of you might be asking two things. One, what the hell is an engine doing living in a station? And two, what the hell's a sodor?

— Narrator, "Thomas and Gordon"

Thomas Abridged is a Thomas & Friends Fan Fiction by ToonGuy, and as you might expect from the title, it's The Abridged Series of the misadventures of everyone's favourite attention-deficit-stricken tank locomotive.

The Island of Sodor is quite different to the one we're used to on screen; the engines are decidedly more cynical and arrogant, and in some cases more alcoholic, than their TV conterparts. The Fat Controller also has it worse off, having to deal with his unruly engines, his matriarchal and irritable wife, and avoiding an aneurysm.

Along the way, though, a much, much Darker and Edgier subplot emerges in Season 2, which at first concerns the ghost of a background engine and Diesel getting possessed on his first week, and gets more and more significant as the story continues. There is a lot of things featured in the 'fic that you wouldn't ever see on the TV show; including time travel, parallel universes, portals, demonic possessions, and recreational drugs, just to name a few.

Filled to bursting point with British humour and an (un)healthy dosage of the Cerebus Rollercoaster, the longest Thomas 'fic on fanfiction.net (so much that it had to be split into two volumes, maybe even three) is most certainly worth a read.

The author has also written three (as of yet uncomplete) side-'fics; one is ''Now Playing, So Don't Go'', where a Humanised cast try to put on a production of Peter Pan in a run-down Knapford theatre, the keyword being 'try'. The other is ''Tales From The Abridgement'', set in the same universe as Abridged and where the cast get up to not-so-wacky shenanigans that more often than not involve alcohol, such as trying to pass the time when the power cuts out in Tidmouth Sheds, and enduring the abject horror that is "Comedy Night with Billy and Charlie". There's also ''TUGS Abridged'', which is... well, what do you think?

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CUE THE TROPES!

• 10-Minute Retirement: Edward disappears at the height of Season 4's mayoral race after a (supposedly) incriminating tape detailing what he did in the Second World War is on the verge of being released by Drampf and the Fat Director. Once the tape has been played to the inhabitants of Sodor, proving Edward's innocence, he returns to business a few days later.
• Abstract Scale:
  • James has two named after him: the James Level of Smugness meter, which Emily nearly hits an eight on in "In Which No One Gets To Sleep", and the James Hatred scale, which Class 40 obliterates in "Bowled Out".
  • "Gallant Old Engine" makes mention of a Blandness Scale; Vanilla Ice is the worst possible level.
• The Ace: Edward and Duck are among the most skilled engines on the railway; the first can be trusted with nearly any job and the second is part of the Iron Circle. On the other hand, you have Thomas, James and Gordon, who think they're highly competent but actually have little to no redeeming qualities.
• Accidental Innuendo:
  • In-Universe, Caroline is described as being "pounded" up a hill in "Train Stops Play". The narrator actually apologises for being immature.
  • Actually, there's usually an innuendo every episode, and the narrator feels it necessary to tell the readers to stop sniggering.
• Accidental Misnaming:
  • Derek calls Bill and Ben "Bodger and Badger" the first time he meets them.
  • In "In Which A Grouch Steals Christmas", The Grouch (actually Diesel) addresses Peter Sam as Sir Handel.
  • Duck has been called Goose on two occasions. First by Class 40 in "Bowled Out" and again by Past Gordon in "Paint Pots and Queens".
  • Stepney has been misnamed as Stepford by Thomas, and Shadnell by Class 40.
  • James is deliberately called Jerome before his proper introduction.
  • Rusty refers to Mr. Conductor as Mr. Condiments in Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
• Achievements in Ignorance:
  • The engines are able to shrug, write and punch despite the fact that they can only move their wheels and faces.
  • Thomas is somehow being accepted as a candidate for the Mayor of Sodor.
  • Edward manages to write a book, titled "What Were They Thinking?! 100 Tales of Stupidity from The Island of Sodor", despite not having hands. Said book also includes accounts of James' endeavours in religion and Gordon's Grand Designs-inspired attempts at building a shed.
  • Percy, Skarloey and Rheneas managing to carve an anatomically correct penis into the side of the quarry. Somehow.
• Action Girl: Jinty and Duchess of Hamilton. Both of them are part of the Iron Circle, and the former even has twin AK-47s hidden in her buffer housings.

• Actually Pretty Funny: In "The Trouble with Trees", the other engines in the yard attempt to stifle their laughter after the trucks insult James, and even the narrator admits it was a legitimately funny quip:
  Rickety: Nice color, James!
  U.L.P.: Pity about your face, though!
• Adaptational Jerkass: Pretty much everyone in the fic is far ruder than their Thomas & Friends counterpart; it’d probably be easier to list the characters that aren’t hit with this.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Henry, Gordon and James carry over their trademark catchphrase from the TV series of:
  Gordon: Disgraceful!
  James: Disgusting!
  Henry: Despicable!
  (Beat)
  James: That was nice, the way you did that.
  Henry: You think? You know, maybe that should be our thing, you know, Gordon says Disgraceful, you say...
• Affectionate Parody: Of the TV series, as the author dutifully points out in the author's notes for "Thomas and Gordon". All and any inconsistencies in the show are ruthlessly picked apart, including:
  • James being seen before his introduction, and whenever he tries to talk before the events of "Thomas and the Breakdown Train" the other engines refuse to acknowledge his existence or call him by his correct name.
  • Terrence the Tractor being a Perpetual Smiler, making Thomas wonder if there's something wrong with him.
  • Percy claiming he can see into the future when he correctly "predicts" the events of "Percy's Promise" a season early. Stepney later states that this is because of the immense amount of magic on Sodor.
  • Rheneas being seen on the Skarloey Railway when he's meant to be at the works getting an overhaul, so for the first half of Season 4 the narrator calls him "Rheneas' stunt double". It later turns out that the Stunt Double is an Other Railway spy, and then that it's a Brainwashed and Crazy narrow gauge engine engine-napped by the Other Railway.
• Afterlife Express: The Death of the engine world is Ivor the Engine, whom Carlin meets in "Oliver's Find" when he goes back to 1944 with Mr. Benn to attempt to spare Edward the memory of being tortured by Germans.
• The Alcoholic:
  • Skarloey, to the point where BoCo gives him the name Drunky in his half-arsed bedtime story for Bill and Ben. In fact, Skarloey Lake got its name after he fell into it when extremely intoxicated.
  • Bertie is also one as of "Lady Hatt's Birthday Party", but he's in rehab, paid for using money he scammed off Thomas.
  • Derek is shown to be an even worse alcoholic than Skarloey in "Double Teething Troubles", as he is completely pissed throughout the episode.

• All Just a Dream: In "In Which Bodies Hit The Floor", a B-Movie villain kills the engines one by one. It's actually just in James' head, fueled by a twenty-four hour binge of slasher movies.
• Almighty Janitor: Duck may just be a tank engine, albeit a skilled and level-headed tank engine who's belittled and underestimated by the bigger engines, but he knows a hell of a lot about Sodor, especially concerning the Magic Railroad and Lady.
• Alternate Universe: Played with in Season 5 in some of the Carlin and Benn subplots, but in Part 5 of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad", Mr. Conductor states that the titular railroad is a passageway throughout the Thomas Abridged multiverse. We get glimpses of the other universes as Edward travels through with Lily and the Conductors in tow, which are (assuming that the TV series is the current universe) The Railway Series, a genderbent version of the TV universe, a post-apocalyptic reality where the diesels win, a human version of the TV universe, Shed 17, and something with horses. Consecutive trips through the Railroad by Thomas reveals even more. Namely, The Adventure Begins, one where the engines are huge robots (this one is explained further in an episode of "Tales from the Abridgement"), one where they encounter strange Japanese creatures, a disturbing Nineteen Eighty-Four-esque universe where the engines rule over the humans, and an even more disturbing one with James and Edward tongue kissing. The return trip reveals Now Playing, So Don't Go, a Power Rangers-style universe (lampshaded by Lily), one where the engines are aliens, one where Thomas is a zombie and the official YouTube channel videos. But Burnett sees a final, seemingly unrelated universe, with nothing in it... except for a pair of pinprick glowing dots.
• Ambiguously Gay: The other engines are convinced that James is gay, to the point that they place bets on when he'll come out of the closet to pass the time.
• And I Must Scream: Marklin's fate, pre-Diesel. The details of what happened exactly aren't told to us, but a botched operation at the Works is what caused his death and left him, to quote the narrator, "gutted like a fish". After that, his restless spirit wandered the area, before he left for the Other Railway.
  • Boomer's fate at the end of Magic Railroad is downright chilling. After watching the Malevolence "reward" (read: ruthlessly murder) its followers, Boomer attempts to use his lightning powers to defend himself... only to have the Malevolence rob him of said powers and send him to the Magic Railroad. There, he finds Burnett, Carlin, Hatt and Starr waiting for him, who beat the snot out of him and leave him to die. He slips and falls through one of the gaps in the ground, and, as rather nonchalantly noted by the narrator, he is still falling to this day.
• And This Is for...: Carlin elbows Boomer in the stomach for killing Mr. Benn.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • Captain Zero's interests include making money, taking over the world, and Judge Judy.
  • In Part 10 of "The Magic Railroad", Lady sends the Steam Team inside the Malevolence (figuratively) to take it down from the inside. It responds by manifesting the seven engines' worst fears or sworn enemies as a kind of psychological warfare; most of them are twisted versions of colleagues or relatives, or even themselves in Henry's case. James faces St. Eustace, Gordon faces Flying Scotsman... and then Percy faces Mr. effing Blobby.
• Ascended Extra: Many, many smaller characters in the Railway Series and the TV series get more developed personalities and larger roles, like Jinty and Pug, the unnamed engines seen in "Edward's Day Out" in "The Three Railway Engines", the Fat Director, and characters like P.T. Boomer and Marklin that made no appearances whatsoever.
• Asshole Victim: Hargreaves is abrasive and manipulative, and never really takes either side, which makes it all the more (strangely) satisfying when Boomer snaps his legs in two.
• Author Appeal: The author's Welsh heritage means that a few in-jokes and references about the language and culture crop up throughout the series.
• Badass Crew:
  • The Steam Team, along with Duck, Donald and Douglas, and occasionally Oliver, are definitely this by the end of "The Magic Railroad".
  • The Iron Circle, a secret society of famous engines and assorted badasses, who are largely tasked with being Sodor's first line of defence. Downplayed by the fact that one of their leaders is a two-faced backstabber, and that the Sodor lot more or less do their job for them.
• Bad Boss: The Fat Director is so feared that even his equals (bar P.T. Boomer) dread having to talk to him.
• Banned in China: In-Universe. Edward, Henry, Gordon and James are permanently banned from the city of Manchester after James told a joke that pissed off the entire city.
  James: What does Manchester United and a pile of poo have in common, aside from the obvious?
  • Thomas' talk show "Tankin' with Thomas" is banned in seven countries, and passed around on bootleg DVDs everywhere else.
• The Bartender: Percy was one at The Sidings for a while. If that's even possible.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: The Steam Team do this with the Malevolence in the finale of "The Magic Railroad", but the trope is inverted, i.e. the engines battle it in it's mind instead of the other way round. The Malevolence responds by presenting each engine with their worst fears or sworn enemies.
• Bedmate Reveal: In James' Dream Within a Dream in "In Which Bodies Hit The Floor", after he wakes up from his first dream, he sees Busta Rhymes next to him, realises he's still dreaming, and promptly screams.
• Berserk Button: James has a few: the other engines deliberately getting his name wrong prior to the events of "Thomas And The Breakdown Train", the other engines mimicking his pronunciation of "Rabbish!", and Dean Martin.
  • Gladys (a.k.a. Old Slow Coach) being called, well, Old Slow Coach, instead of her proper name.
• Bestiality Is Depraved: Toby claims in "Bull's Eye" that only weird people like to get up close and personal with animals.
  Toby: I'm sure that there are some people who like getting stuck into farm animals, but those people are what we call weirdos. Or farmers. Or weirdo farmers, if you want to combine the two.
• Big Bad: The Malevolence is the real villain, but there had been several other antagonists before it was even revealed to exist; see below for a concise list.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: The Thomas Abridged universe has seen so many baddies across the series that it's almost a Rogues Gallery in terms of diversity. In order of appearance, we have:
  • Marklin, tank engine. A background engine in Season 1, he dies offscreen inbetween Seasons 1 and 2 and returns to haunt Sodor. It's revealed that he's the manifestation of one of the Malevolence's souls.
  • The Fat Director, chairman and leader of the Other Railway. Has known the Malevolence for a long time, and knows how to summon it in times of need. He's revealed to be Lowham Hatt, Topham's brother, and is turned from a sadistic leader to a simple fool following mental damage sustained in the Battle of Shining Time.
  • Captain Zero, captain of the Z-Stacks. Worked alongside the Fat Director and is decidedly less evil but still a force to be reckoned with. Survives the Battle of Shining Time essentially unscathed, and returns to takeover the "documentary" to destroy Sodor's reputation.
  • Adrian Gotch, bus driver. The most ambitious, least successful of the lot, starting as Bulgy's driver he proposed to just rip up all railways and replace them with roads. He gets cornered and crushed by Trevor, Terence and Bertie during the Battle of Shining Time.
  • Drampf, political figure. Thomas' rival in the Season 4 mayoral election. Dies in the explosion that destroys Knapford Harbour in "Mind That Bike!".
  • The Juggernauts, heavily modified steam engines.Two of Edward's old friends from the Second World War, killed by Nazis, then resurrected to work for the other railway. The first dies in the Battle of Shining Time, and the second dies fighting the Duchess.
  • P.T. Boomer, biker. A sworn enemy of Burnett Stone following a Love Triangle, he is a loyal follower of the Malevolence and had his magical powers bestowed upon him by it... only for it to betray him.
  • City of Truro, tender engine and Iron Circle member. The only one on this list to have no affiliation with the Other Railway, he acts as Duck's commander-of-sorts concerning Iron Circle duties and is one of their leaders... but he ordered the Juggernauts to kill St. Eustace and the Duchess and routinely wipes his colleagues' memories if something goes wrong.
  • The Malevolence, demonic entity. As said by the thing itself, it's the greatest evil the universe has ever or will ever see. Its many forms include a dragon, Marklin, Diesel 10, and as a final form, a giant cloud with an enormous single eye. The Steam Team take it down from the inside by facing their fears, manifested by it to take them out through sheer psychological pain.
• Big Damn Movie: "Thomas and the Magic Railroad", or to give it its full title, "Thomas and the Magic Railroad Abridged With 100% More Edward Than The Actual Movie".
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In-Universe. When the power goes out in Tidmouth Sheds in "In Which Bodies Hit The Floor", Percy attempts to liven up the ensuing conversation by asking how The Clangers procreate. The other engines respond accordingly, that is, by being very worried for Percy's mental state.
• Bilingual Bonus: The Sodor Railway Worker's motto is "Confusio et mora", which is Latin for "confusion and delay".
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: City of Truro is probably the most reasonable and nicest of Duck's associates, but it turns out he's a racist, backstabbing murderer who killed St. Eustace and routinely wipes his associates' memories if something goes wrong.
• Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: Just as Burnett and Tasha are getting married, a very angry Boomer and a resurrected Malevolence show up and proceed to fuck shit up. By the time the battle is over, Jock is dead, the rest of the Small Railway engines are entombed in a mountain with a Willo-turned-Boulder keeping guard, and Lady flees Sodor for Shining Time.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Repeatedly. Often in the form of the characters in-universe yelling at the narrator for an unflattering comment.
  • Edward attacks the author in "In Which There Is An Anticlimax" for making him waste an entire night on a murder mystery which didn't even have a murder in the first place.
  • The greatest example has to be in Thomas and The Magic Railroad:
  Toby: Simple! A simple scene break of three dots should be enough time to make sure that we're prepared! Observe!
  ...
  Thomas: Wow, that was amazing, Toby!
• Brick Joke: James mentions early on in his Dream Within a Dream that waking up next to Busta Rhymes must be a shocking experience. Guess who he sees in the shed later.
• Broken Pedestal: After Duck reveals his status as a spy to save Oliver's life in "The Magic Railroad: Part 2", the other engines, especially Edward, treat him coldly until he tells them the truth. Except Toby, who knew it all along.
• Buffy Speak: Annie calls one of the features on Thomas' branchline "The Bridge With Urine-Coloured Water".
• Buried Alive: This happens to Lorry 2 courtesy of Terrence.
• Burn the Witch!: Edward mentions a Noodle Incident in which James is nearly drowned for being a witch.
  • Gordon and Henry initially believed that Toby was an incarnation of the Devil, and the former suggested burning him.
• Butterfly of Doom: Mr Benn mentions off hand that his time-traveling results in the extinction of The Clangers and the destruction of Mars in 2068.
• Butt-Monkey: Since nearly every character has suffered equal amounts of humiliation, it's hard to name one of these, but under his workload and having to deal with idiocy on a daily basis, Edward is probably the closest.
  • The Fat Controller also suffers quite a lot.
  • Mr. Conductor, the one from Thomas and The Magic Railroad, and Junior also qualify.
• Cabin Fever: Gordon, James and Henry go straight off the deep end after being locked in their shed at the end of "Trouble In The Shed".
  James: I'M THE SPECIAL ONE!!!
• Came Back Wrong: Marklin is confined to the spirit world after dying in an operation at a workshop on the mainland, but he returns to haunt Sodor and the Other Railway.
• Casanova Wannabe: Both Percy and Gordon try and fail to woo Daisy. Percy gives up within a day after discovering how horrible she is, but Gordon manages to linger on a little longer.
• Cerebus Retcon: Remember the funny quirks that The Pack had in their series? Turns out that most of their quirks come from the trauma that they faced from Zero and the Malignance.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: The 'fic changes in tone repeatedly, and often with little contrast; see Cerebus Syndrome below.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The 'fic gets hit with this hard in Season 2, when it's revealed that Diesel was possessed. It gets Lighter and Softer during Season 3, though, but it gets Darker and Edgier at the end of 3 and throughout 4, where we get to see the Other Railway in more detail and learn more about Edward's past.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Marklin makes a few, largely unimportant appearances throughout Season 1. He returns to possess Diesel in Season 2 and becomes a major player on the Other Railway.
• The Chosen One: Or Ones, more like. The Steam Team were foretold in an ancient prophecy dating back to the era in which anthropomorphic vehicles were first created, to be the only ones capable of truly defeating the Malevolence.
• Church of Happyology: James invents the "Church of James" in "Tales From The Abridgement", after being inspired by Tom Cruise and his exploits in Scientology. While it does have a couple shreds of generosity (namely selling poorly-made, overpriced merchandise to its followers), it's a thinly-veiled attempt to further inflate James' massive ego.
• Cloud Cuckooland: Sodor in a nutshell.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Peter Sam is by far the Ditziest of the narrow gauge engines and has a tendency to retreat into the company of his numerous imaginary friends.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Being George Carlin, Henry's (and later Percy's) driver is susceptible to this.
  • Percy drops a huge one on the Fat Controller in "Percy's Predicament".
• Cold-Blooded Torture: The Germans do this to Eagle, Albert, Biggles and Thistle in Edward's WWII flashback.
• Comic Trio: The big tender engines have one. Gordon is the schemer, Henry is the voice of reason and James is the idiot.
  • Thomas' Branch Line has a more defined one. Thomas is the schemer, Toby is the voice of reason and Percy is the idiot.
• Comical Overreacting: In "Thomas and the Rumors" the three big engines, Gordon especially, take things too seriously with the apparent rumor that Harold is out to try and replace them. Percy tries to get everyone to calm down...
  Percy: He's not trying to kill us!
  Toby: You see! Thank you, Percy! Someone smart, and sensitive, and thoughtful-
  Percy: He's just counting sheep!
  Toby: I give up.
  Gordon: PAH! HE'S JUST COUNTING HOW MANY LITTLE ENGINES HE CAN PICK OFF AND SKIN ALIVE!
• Commie Nazi: Oliver accuses Bulgy of being one.
  Oliver: Evil commie Nazi!
  Duck: Oliver, I'm fairly sure that the terms 'commie' and 'Nazi' are mutually exclusive, but what the hell do I know about politics?
• Comically Missing the Point: Happens many times.
• Companion Cube: Tom Tipper the postman is really quite attached to his van. Perhaps a little too attached...
• Composite Character: Bertram is revealed to be the resurrected Smudger in "The Magic Railroad".
• Couch Gag: Throughout Seasons 1 and 2, and part of Season 3, each chapter opened with a conversation between the narrator and the producers. This was eventually phased out, and chapters now just start with "CUE THE THEME!"
• Crapsack World: The Other Railway is dark, grimy, and never sunny. Oh, and it's populated by "fakes", which are mindless clones of Sodor diesels with a taste for human blood, and it's also the headquarters of an operation trying to take over Sodor and capture Lady.
  • Sodor itself isn't far behind, though it is somewhat more comedic in nature: On top of being dotted with abandoned mines and polluted rivers, the railway that connects it all is disorganized, underfunded, and run by a depressed, violently temperamental overweight man in the process of a drawn-out divorce proceeding, and its staffing consists of a group of dysfunctional locomotives who are just as surly and cynical as the railway workers that drive them. The infrastructure somehow keeps going despite of this, and despite of the fact that everyone on the island appears to be alcoholic, even the locomotives. Especially the locomotives.
• Curse Cut Short: Many times.
• Cynicism Catalyst: It's probable that a lot of Edward's deadpan attitude and status as The Cynic came from being tortured during the Second World War.
• Darker and Edgier: Things take a turn for the serious when "A Close Shave" reveals that Diesel was possessed by the vengeful spirit of Marklin. The latter is confined to the sideplot for the rest of the season and throughout Season 3 and 4, but still keeps a heavy presence.
• Dark Fic: Far, far darker then the books and the original Tv series. Pretty much every character is hit with Adaptational Jerkass, more adult themes are featured, and there are many genuinely evil villains (Arry and Bert murder Boco, something that their Tv series counterparts would never do. If that’s not enough, it’s not afraid to kill off characters.
• Dark Reprise: Oliver sings a menacing version of "Pop Goes Ol' Ollie" in "The Magic Railroad: Part 8" when he finishes off S.C.Ruffey once and for all.
  Trucks are dying all around, blood is flowing freely,
  Here's a fool who thought himself wise, and demeanor steely.
  But now he's really figured out, that he's no bloody toughie,
  His friends are gone, now he is too-
  (crushes face beneath his wheels)
  -pop goes S.C.Ruffey!
• Deadpan Snarker: Practically every character has had bouts of sarcasm. Percy and Edward are particularly susceptible to getting snarky.
• Dead Person Conversation: Edward and BoCo talk while the former is trapped at Shining Time in "The Magic Railroad: Part 5".
• Delayed Reaction: From "Diesel Does It Again":
  Duck: I said to him, I said, 'now listen Gordon, you can be a prat to me, you can be a prat to the coaches', and here he turned red-
  Diesel: Good morning.
  Duck: Good morning, Diesel- and so I said, 'but you cannot, under any circumstances, call my friend a -DIESEL?!?
• Demonic Possession: The ghost of Marklin does this to Diesel. He also takes control of Class 40, but nobody seemed to notice.
• Denser and Wackier: Than the TV series.
  • By extension, "Tales From The Abridgement" is Denser and Wackier than Thomas Abridged.
• Distant Reaction Shot: Happens three times in "Thomas, Percy and The Dragon" with Percy when he screams in terror. The first his scream reaches Brendam Docks, the second time it reaches Hatt Manor and finally on the third occasion in goes as far as London.
• The Ditz: The average IQ on Sodor isn't very high, especially when James, Oliver, and most of all Peter Sam are thrown into the mix.
• Doorstopper: So much so, that it had to be split into two volumes; the first volume alone consists of 140 chapters and over half a million words.
• Dragons Are Demonic: The Malevolence's original form before it was 'killed' was a jet-black dragon.
• The Dreaded: Having to work with Bill and Ben is viewed akin to the death sentence. Edward and BoCo are the worst off, considering they have to sleep in the same shed.
  • This is Played for Laughs with Terrence, who due to his permanent smile manages to unnerve everyone who meets him. At one point Thomas even calls him "a grinning demon from hell".
  Terrence: Also, does my face frighten you? People say I should smile less.
• Dreadful Musician: Nobody (except the engine himself) can bring up James' disastrous singing career with a straight face.
• Dream Within a Dream: In "In Which Bodies Hit The Floor", a serial killer stalks and kills the engines one by one. It's just in James' head, but when he wakes up next to Busta Rhymes he realises he's still dreaming and screams.
• Drives Like Crazy: Bulgy and George are this. It doesn't exactly help that their driver works for the Fat Director.
• Dwindling Party: In "In Which Bodies Hit the Floor", the engines are killed off one by one by a slasher movie villain, the order being: Edward, Neville, Gordon, Percy, Donald, Douglas, Emily, Oliver, Henry, Toby, Thomas, Duck and Rosie. James kills the murderer after Rosie dies... but it's just in his head, fueled by a 24-hour binge of B-Movies.
• Early-Bird Cameo: If a characters appears earlier than they should in the main series, such as James, expect ToonGuy to comment on it.
  • For an example pertaining to Thomas Abridged many characters have made appearances in Tales From The Abridgement before they appeared in Thomas Abridged, like Emily and Spencer.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Malevolence's final form, which is created when Marklin and the soul inhibiting Diesel 10 rejoin, fits this to a tee. It's described as a giant, black cloud, with an innumerable number of limbs, a wide mouth stretching as far as you could see, and a lone, massive eye in the centre.
• Enemy Mine: Duck and an unpossessed Diesel enact a truce in "Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday".
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Daisy puts on a faux French accent (that sounds more like Essex) to try and impress Percy and Toby. It dies a horrible death when she sees the shed.
• Evil Knockoff: D1, D2, D3, and D4 are this to Diesel, Daisy, BoCo, and Mavis respectively.
• Eviler than Thou: Marklin kills Davidson by possessing a truck and then bashing Davidson into the water causing him to electrocute himself to death.
• Expecting Someone Taller: When most of the engines see Lady in Magic Railroad, they comment on her height. Lampshaded by Lady later in the story:
  Lady: Hello, Edward. Are you going to make a crack about thinking me taller?
• The Faceless: City of Truro's real face is hidden behind a nigh-permanent faux smokebox door, making him both figuratively and literally two-faced.
  • Butch is missing his face in Horrid Lorry, this does not go unnoticed by the characters.
• Fairy Tale Episode: BoCo tells Bill and Ben the story of "Mavis White and the Seven Narrow Gauge Engines" which is, obviously, a bastardisation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" in "In Which A 'Story' Is Told". Daisy becomes the evil queen, whereas Mavis represents the eponymous White. Duke, Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Rusty and Duncan become Duke (again), Drunky, Blandy, Pissy, Pratty, Saney and Snarly.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence: Some of the major accidents are described in a lot of detail, as is the torture of Edward's friends by Germans during the Second World War.
• Fantastic Racism: Bulgy is probably the biggest racist on the show. He only sells the Daily Mail on board, and his passengers are entertained by fake Margaret Thatcher speeches recorded by his even more racist driver.
  Bulgy: (spits at railway) Probably built by some bloody immigrant.
  • City of Truro is equally racist, but towards diesels.
• Fat and Skinny: Pug and Jinty, in that order.
• Faux Affably Evil: The Fat Director is an evil, heartless man. Which he masks under an initially friendly demeanor, even when he's sending his workers to their untimely deaths at the hands (buffers?) of the Fakes.
• Flashback: Edward has one in Season 4, about the torture of his friends by Germans in the Second World War.
  • The subplot of Season 7 is Captain Zero telling his son about he found out about him.
• Flat Character: Rheneas is this intentionally, with his blandness being to an almost comical degree. For example, Skarloey can't even tell him apart from a piece of cardboard. His dwarf name that BoCo makes up for his half-arsed bedtime story in "In Which A 'Story' Is Told" is Blandy.
  • Toby, Mavis and several of the non-rail characters are also lacking in the personality department, but nowhere near as bad as Rheneas. Though this isn't much of a problem for either of them any longer.
• Food Eats You: Spencer gets eaten by Mike's cake in "In Which Baking Happens".
• Freudian Excuse: The Fat Controller claims his father never loved him and uses it to get more sympathy from his employees.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: While James is friends with a lot of other engines (and we're really stretching the word "friend" here), there are few that can stand him. This is also the same case for Thomas, Gordon, Sir Handel and Duncan.
  • Top Hat is this in TUGS Abridged.
• Future Me Scares Me: From "Paint Pots And Queens":
  Present!Gordon: Yes. Drink it in. This is your future! You only get better with age! I cannot promise I can answer any questions, but-
  Past!Gordon: When did I get so old?
• Gender Flip: Jinty was a male engine in the Railway Series, but is female here.
• Giver of Lame Names: James is usually quite witty when it comes to taking the piss out of others, but he has been shown to emulate this. In "In Which No One Gets To Sleep", he calls Emily "Miss Haggis".
  Emily: James, ye're losin' yer touch wit' tha insults!
• Grand Theft Me: Marklin takes control of Diesel in an attempt to have Duck killed.
  • He also takes over Class 40 in order to infiltrate Sodor again.
• Gratuitous German: Spoken by Nazis during Edward's WWII flashback.
  • Marklin, when either alive or dead, tends to pepper his speech with German phrases.
• The Grim Reaper: Represented In-Universe by Ivor the Engine of all things.
• Groin Attack: P.T Boomer gets kicked in the balls by Sir Topham Hatt.
  • Sir Topham Hatt gets pinched in the crotch by a crab in Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday.
• Gone Horribly Right: A tank locomotive signing up as a mayoral candidate seems absurd, but every one of his friends bar Edward, initially, happily support it, and somehow Thomas becomes one of the prime candidates for the Mayor of Sodor. He comes third, though, with Bedella claiming victory.
• Good Is Not Nice: Jinty and Pug are part of an organization trying to save the very core of Sodor, but they're some of the most abrasive characters in the 'fic. This is also the case for St. Eustace.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: This is Rheneas' mode of speech. All the time.
• Hand Wave: Done in the very first chapter.
  Narrator: Also, yes, there are talking trains on this island. There's probably a reason but I don't care, and quite frankly I don't think any of you want me to waste time with explaining it. Moving on.
• Healing Hands: One of Lady's many powers in her arsenal is the ability to heal an engine's wounds in seconds, which she puts to use on the Steam Team in "The Magic Railroad" following a fight with Diesel 10.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: After getting possessed by an evil spirit, and then exorcised, Diesel goes from downright evil to relatively kind, but then he goes straight back to being horrible again.
• He Knows Too Much: Duck knows a lot about the Fat Director's plans, so it's not surprising that he was at the top of Marklin's hit list.
• Hero of Another Story: When George Carlin comes to the Island in Season 1, nobody thinks much of him other than as a foul-mouthed, alcoholic engine driver. But once he leaves at the end of Season 4, it becomes apparent that there is much more to him than initially seems. For starters, he's not even the real George Carlin, and his possession of a whistle filled with gold dust cements his ties to Shining Time and the hunt for Lady. He goes back in time with Mr. Benn at the start of Season 5 to try and track her down that way.
  • Duck also counts as the reason he is on Sodor in the first place is because he's a spy for the Iron Circle.
• Heroic Sacrifice: We get quite a few in Magic Railroad.
  • Alec, Percy’s Driver, punches one of Boomer’s guards in the face to buy the citizens of Sodor more time to escape, which gets him gunned down.
  • The Spiteful Brakevan, Rickety, Fred, and U.L.P. start a fight with a bunch of diesels knowing full well there was no way they would win.
  • Duke blows up Crovan's Gate station with him still inside, which kills several diesels.
  • Skarloey shoves Rheneas through a Magic Railroad portal to save him from being captured.
  • Percy nearly kills himself by causing a landslide at Boulder Mountain to take out a horde of diesels. He also lets Gordon, who was far less injured than him, get healed by Lady.
  • The Works Diesel jumps in front of a rocket launcher blast to save Donald which ultimately gets him killed.
• Hope Spot: Played for Laughs in "Bye, George!" when Percy takes said steamroller away. Skarloey and Rheneas are relieved to see the back of him... only to realize that they're stuck working with Sir Handel and Duncan.
• Horrible Camping Trip: The theatre troupe embark on one in "Now Playing, So Don't Go". A whole host of things go wrong. Very, very wrong.
• Hostile Show Takeover: HiT Entertainment's takeover of the "documentary" at the end of Season 6 was orchestrated by the ex-captain Zero to attempt to destroy Sodor's reputation from the ground up.
• Hypocrite: In TUGS Abridged, Captain Star immediately believes Ten Cents neglected to deliver the barge in "Pirates"... after having just taught a moral about not jumping to conclusions. He apologizes, and says he probably shouldn't have done that, though excuses it because he was irritable from having to go to work so early.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every chapter in "Tales From The Abridgement" starts with "In Which A..."
• Incoming Ham: From "The Runaway":
  Thomas: WHAT HO YOU LOT!
  Percy: Oh God, he's back.
  Toby: Well, it was nice while it lasted.

• Incredibly Lame Pun: Gordon and Henry make some really bad cow puns in "Cows".
  Henry: They'd have to moooove out of the way!
  Gordon: Yeah! 'Cause we're a cud above the rest!
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Edward tends to embrace the alcohol in stressful moments.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • Almost all of the engines call the Fat Controller "Fatty" when he's not listening, while the drivers and other railway employees tend to refer to him as "The Fat One".
  • One of the big engines' (although it's mostly James) many derisive nicknames include calling Percy "pea-green".
  • 8783 is called "Biggles" by Eagle, on the account of him liking to watch the planes go by.
  • Eagle and the others deliberately call Edward "The Blue Engine" to undermine him.
  • St. Eustace refers to James as "brake blocks".
• Insistent Terminology:
  • Bill and Ben don't work with drugs, they work with clay. CLAY.
  • It's not a railROAD, it's a railWAY, as stated several times by Thomas in "The Magic Railroad".
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Bert can only communicate by grunting. For some reason, 'Arry can understand him completely.
• It Makes Sense in Context: The Fat Controller purchases anti-aircraft guns for Sodor, despite the fact that the Cold War is over.
• It's All My Fault: Edward blames the deaths of Eagle, Albert, Flying Thistle, and Biggles on himself.
• Jerkass: A lot of characters are any one of the following: rude, selfish, big-headed, just to name a few. In fact, it would probably by easier to list the characters who aren't one of these.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: James may be narcissistic and rude, but at least he had the kindness in him to get Edward a Dean Martin CD for Christmas. He also gets information from St. Eustace about Drampf being a draft-dodger after he revealed that Henry was bisexual during the election.
  • Sir Handel is one of the more disagreeable engines on the Skarloey Railway and frequently acts like a complete arse, but he does show genuine concern for Peter Sam after the latter's accident with the slate trucks. He was also very grateful to Duke after he saved him from falling off the side of a mountain.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Unsurprisingly, the Malevolence. After causing pain and strife for millenia, it promises to reward its loyal followers after Marklin and the soul in Diesel 10 rejoin in "The Magic Railroad: Part 10"... only to brutally murder the Mooks and rob the key humans, most of all Boomer, of any power they have.
  The Malevolence:I AM THE GREATEST EVIL THAT THIS UNIVERSE HAS EVER AND WILL EVER SEE. I LIE. A LOT.
• Kafka Komedy: Percy often feels like his life is one of these.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: In the canon series, Iron 'Arry and Bert receive no punishment for trying to get Stepney scrapped during "Stepney Gets Lost". Here, after their murder of BoCo mentioned below, piling onto their attempt on Stepney's life, they're slain during battle, which requires the creation of substitutes to replace them.
• Killed Off for Real: The Spiteful Brakevan, as per the TV Series in "Break Van". He later gets rebuilt by the other railway.
  • 'Arry and Bert kill BoCo at the end of "Double Teething Troubles".
  • Eagle, Albert, Biggles and Flying Thistle are all brutally killed by Nazis during the Second World War.
  • Glynn was apparently killed by Marklin.
  • Jock is killed at Burnett and Tasha's wedding by Boomer.
  • Vicar Teddy is killed by genetically enhanced bees.
  • St. Eustace gets killed by one of the Juggernauts.
  • Drampf, Thomas' political opponent, gets blown up by Edward's fake tender.
  • Davidson gets knocked into the sea by a truck possessed by Marklin and electrocutes himself to death.
  • In Thomas and the Magic Railroad, the following characters die;
    • D199 gets killed during his chase with Duck.
    • Jinty and Pug get killed by Diesel 10.
    • Schemer gets killed by Marklin.
    • Lorry 1 and 3 get killed by Bertie and Butch. Lorry 2 only gets buried alive.
    • Smudger/Bertram gets killed by a lucky shot from his fireman activating a Kill Switch the Fat Director had installed in him.
    • Alfred/(98462)/The Juggernaut gets killed by Henry.
    • Gotch gets ran over by Trevor.
    • S.C.Ruffey gets killed by Oliver.
    • The Spiteful Brakevan, Rickety, U.L.P, and Fred die fighting off a horde of diesels.
    • Marklin gets blasted to death by Edward.
    • 'Arry and Bert get killed by Bill, Ben, Oliver, and Stepney.
    • The Works Diesel gets blown up by a rocket protecting Douglas.
    • D3/Fake BoCo dies from a rust disease created by the Other Railway.
    • D2/Fake Daisy is killed by Gordon.
    • Class 40/Bowler dies getting shot at by Edward.
    • Bulstrode gets blown up by tanks.
    • Splatter gets electrocuted to death by Toby.
    • Dodge gets killed by the Malevolence.
    • Duke seemingly dies after blowing up Crovan's Gate.
    • Percy's Driver (Alec Baldwin) gets gunned down by Boomer's minions.
    • Thumper died during the attack on the quarry.
  • The Duchess of Hamilton gets killed by one of the Juggernauts.
  • Nigel died before the events of the Pack spin-off.
  • The Coast Guard, The Fire Tug, Top Hat, Hercules, Puffa, OJ, and Zak all die during Captain Zero's raid on Bigg City Port.
  • Bulgy gets killed by Terrence during season 7.
• Knight of Cerebus: Marklin, a background engine who made but a footnote in the early seasons and dies following a botched operation on the Other Railway at the end of Season 1, is arguably one of the most frightening characters the 'fic has come across so far. He makes his first non-corporeal appearance possessing Diesel in an attempt to kill Duck, and he seems to be one of the masterminds behind what goes on at the Other Railway. From then on, he appears as a dark, shadowy engine-like shape that makes even Duck shudder. Hell, even his speech is in bold writing to make it stand out!
• Large Ham: The Fat Controller has done a great deal of shouting as the series has gone on.
  • Thomas, James and Gordon also tend to leave their inside voices at home.
  • The aeroplane Tiger Moth is also shown to leave his indoor voice behind.
  Tiger Moth: LOOK AT ME! I'M TIGER BLOODY MOTH!
• Lethal Klutz: Bill and Ben are so accident-prone that they've managed to burn down Brendam harbour. Three times.
• Local Hangout: The Sidings, Knapford's nearest pub. Percy has a short stint as a bartender in Season 1.
• Long Runner: It has been updated at least fortnightly for over a year.
• Love Triangle: Burnett, Tasha and Boomer have one.
• The Man Behind the Man: The Fat Director is the first character to be introduced as an alleged Big Bad, but in Season 2 & 3, it's clear that Marklin takes that role. However, Marklin is upsurped in Season 5 by the Malevolence, which is also revealed to control Marklin.
• Manipulative Bastard: Diesel is this during the "Duck & Diesel Trilogy". He was possessed at the time, explaining why he isn't like this in future appearances. S.C.Ruffey also manipulated Bill and Ben into burning down Brendam Docks, as revealed in "Toad Stands By".
• Massively Multiplayer Crossover: Every British TV show exists in this universe. Included, but not limited to, Count Duckula, Bagpuss, Postman Pat, Willo the Wisp, Alias the Jester, Noggin the Nog, and TUGS.
• Medium Awareness: The characters in BoCo's bedtime stories for Bill and Ben know they're in a story.
  Narrator: He was lightning fast, and was there almost at the very moment she called for him.
  (Beat)
  Narrator: I SAID, HE WAS THERE ALMOST AT THE VERY MOMENT SHE CALLED FOR HIM.
  (Beat)
  (Beat)
  Narrator: GORDON, THAT'S YOUR BLOODY CUE!
• Meet Your Early-Installment Weirdness: Thomas and Gordon meet their former selves in "Paint Pots and Queens" and it plays out exactly as you'd expect.
  • Henry's hallucination while he is inside the Malevolence is of his pre-Kipper self, back when he was always ill.
• Memetic Mutation: In universe. James' mispronunciation of rubbish as "rabbish!" has become this.
• Mood Whiplash: See Cerebus Syndrome and Cerebus Rollercoaster above.
• More Dakka: Jinty has twin AK-47s hidden in her buffer housings. We only see her use them once before Diesel 10 kills her.
• Motor Mouth: Oliver has a tendency to ramble on, mainly about how he escaped from scrap. This eventually gets on the nerves of everyone.
• The Multiverse: The TV Series (i.e. the one we're watching) takes place in one of many similar, but different universes. The Magic Railroad acts as a passageway between said universes (see Alternate Universe above).
• Murder the Hypotenuse: This is Boomer's response to the aforementioned Love Triangle. He fails to kill Burnett, but manages to seriously fuck up their wedding with the help of the Malevolence.
• Mushroom Samba: Edward, Gordon and James endure one of these in "Toad Stands By" when Henry spikes their drinks.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: The Stunt Double gets this treatment from the narrator.
  • Happens to James in "Paint Pots and Queens".
  Sir Topham Hatt: "Ladies, gentlemen, engines and whatever the hell James is."
• Named by the Adaptation: The Vicar gets the name Teddy.
  • Old Slow Coach gets the name Gladys.
  • The Foreign Engine gets the name St. Eustace.
  • 98462 gets the name Alfred and 87546 gets the name Cecil.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Malevolence, The Man Behind the Man and main antagonist.
• Nice Guy: Sodor is severely lacking in these, and only a handful (Edward, Duck, BoCo, Rusty, and Peter Sam) can really qualify as 'nice'.
• Negated Moment of Awesome: Tiger Moth’s attack on the Malevolence ends with Tiger Moth landing face first in the ground and having his propellers broken.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The three big engines fill the role nicely, with Henry being the nice, Gordon the inbetween and James the mean.
  • The three tank engines also fall into this category, with Toby being the nice and Thomas and Percy alternating being the mean and inbetween.
• Noble Fugitive: Stepney, a famous engine in preservation circles, gets kidnapped (enginenapped?) by the Fat Director's goons and held hostage on the Other Railway. As per the TV Series, he's eventually rescued by Rusty.
• No Inside Voice: James loses the ability to talk quietly in Season 5, and every single announcement he makes is shouting.
  • The Fat Controller has also forgotten how to speak in a normal tone as of same season.
  • Jack is another character who doesn't know how to talk with an indoor voice.
• Noodle Incident: Edward mentions one in "Tales From The Abridgement" where James is almost drowned for being a witch.
  • Donald admits in "In Which There Is An Anticlimax" that he has experience of grave digging.
  Donald: Don't panic.
  Douglas: What?!
  Donald I think Thumper may or may not be dead.
  Douglas: WHAT?!
  Donald: I mean, I dinnae know what we were expecting.
  Douglas: WE'RE STANDING NEXT TO A HOLE WITH A CORPSE!
  Donald:...it wouldnae be my first time.
  Douglas: Donald!
• No Sympathy: If a character is feeling down or ill, do not expect anybody else to care.
• Not Your Problem: From "Granpuff":
  Edward: BoCo?
  BoCo: Hmm?
  Edward Island's on fire.
  BoCo: Huh.
  Edward: Bill and Ben are definitely locked in the sheds?
  BoCo: Uh huh.
  Edward: Then it's not our problem.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "Bye, George!", Percy, Skarloey and Rheneas managed to drunkenly carve a penis into the side of a quarry. Somehow.
• Oh, Crap!: James in "The Flying Kipper", when he realizes that Henry isn't moving or responding after his crash.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Nobody lets James forget the time that he mispronounced "rubbish" as "Rabbish!"
• One Crazy Night: "In Which No One Gets To Sleep".
• Older Than They Think: In-Universe. Everyone refers to the pack as a bunch of Bob the Builder rip-offs, however the pack came before Bob the Builder.
  • "In Which A Dinner Party Is Held"/"In Which There Is An Anticlimax" also counts.
• One-Winged Angel: Davidson lets loose his electrical power during his fight with Duck in "Mind That Bike". It ultimately kills him after a displeased Marklin rams him into the sea, electrocuting him.
• Only Sane Man: While a hell of a lot of the engines are missing something in the smokebox, a few other engines are the only ones that can keep them from going (figuratively) off the rails, namely Edward, Duck and BoCo. Toby too, but he can only stop Thomas and Percy from doing stupid things and is just as prone as the others to cocking up.
  • The Fat Controller is the smartest amongst the humans on Sodor, but he too makes just as many brainless decisions.
  • On the Skarloey Railway, Rusty is the only level-headed one there, especially when you consider that two of his workmates need psychiatric help, and the others are an alcoholic, an narcissist, and a Scot.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "The Magic Railroad: Part 7", the ever-cheerful Terrence gets a serious upgrade in badassery when facing down Lorry #2.
  [The Lorry's] mocking one-liner died quickly in his throat, as Terrance turned around. And then he realized just how damned he was, because he had the exact same reaction as any single person or vehicle who had known Terrance the Tractor in all the long years he had been on the Island, would have had. Because Terrance wasn't smiling.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: After his untimely death, Marklin returns to the corporeal realm as a ghost. Usually, he's confined to a misty silhouette of his former engine self, but his primary method of enacting the Fat Director's plans is taking control of the diesels that visit Sodor on occasion; so far, Diesel and Class 40 have been taken over by Marklin.
• Overly Long Gag: From "Escape":
  Edward: Listen, Douglas, I wanted to talk to you about earlier.
  Douglas: Aye.
  Edward: Now, Trevor and I are old friends. I would appreciate it greatly if you could be perhaps a tad more polite? I think he gets the idea that you hate him.
  Douglas: Aye.
  Edward: (frowning) Douglas, Pancake Day is being transformed into National Reich Celebration Day.
  Douglas: Aye.
  Edward: You're saying aye just to get me to leave, aren't you?
  Douglas: Aye.
• Parody Fic
• Perpetual Smiler: Terrence the Tractor can often be seen "grinning like a loon", and everyone who sees him thinks he's a little off-the-chain.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Lampshaded by Percy in the finale of "The Magic Railroad" after Toby electrocutes Splatter.
  Percy: Did you say something witty like "How shocking!" or "I think you'll find this electrifying!" while you were at it?
  Toby: Percy, an engine is dead in front of us.
• Precision F-Strike: Duck does this on occasion to help get a point across.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When a particularly heavy cliffhanger is dropped, the "TO BE CONTINUED" is this.
• Pyromaniac: Just what is it with Bill and Ben and Brendam Docks?
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Percy unleashes an absolutely volatile one on the Fat Controller in "Percy's Predicament", thanks to several shots of morphine and his driver's foul mouth.
  • Diesel gives a harsh one to Gordon in "Tender Engines", which triggers the latter's Heroic BSoD.
  • Edward delivers one to Thomas in "Thomas And The Special Letter" after the latter crashes through a wall thanks to his own sheer incompetence.
• Red Herring: Sodor is this for the Other Railway and the Malevolence, which Stepney states might have been intentional; the last known location of Lady was on Sodor, so that's why it's crawling with OR informants and spies. But actually, Lady's true location is in a cave near Shining Time.
• Replacement Scrappy: In-Universe example, Percy prefered his old driver, Carlin, over his new driver, Baldwin.
• Revenge of the Sequel: In-Universe. Sodor's own slasher movie franchise, Scratch, has twelve sequels. The series is, as follows: Scratch, Scratch II, Scratch: Something Wicked, The Return of Scratch, Son of Scratch, The Return of the Return of Scratch, Scratch's Curse, Scratch In Da Hood, Scratch On Vacation, Scratch in Jail, Scratch IN SPACE, Scratch (remake), and Daughter of the Son of Scratch. It's actually in James' head, fueled by a 24-hour marathon of horror B-Movies in "In Which Bodies Hit The Floor".
• Rocky Roll Call: Happens in Magic Railroad when Thomas arrives on the Other Railway.
  Edward: THOMAS!
  Thomas: EDWARD!
  James: JAMES! Sorry, seemed like fun.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Captain Zero, a TUGS villain, is one of the main villains here.
• Running Gag: Whenever a character says "Rubbish!" as an exclamation, it's pronounced as "Rabbish!", like the way James did so in "Duck Takes Charge".
  • Oliver mentioning that he'd escaped from scrap.
  • Rheneas' blandness.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Schemer is introduced in Part 6 of Thomas and Magic Railroad and is killed very quickly by Marklin.
• Sacrificial Lion: St. Eustace, The Duchess of Hamilton, BoCo, and Jinty and Pug are killed by the Juggernaut, 'Arry and Bert, and Diesel 10 respectively to show that they aren't messing around.
• Sanity Slippage: Henry, Gordon and James go off the deep end when they get locked in Vicarstown sheds for two weeks straight after the events of "Trouble In The Shed".
  • Edward goes through this when the Fat Controller makes him work with Bill and Ben in "One Good Turn".
  • Percy suffers one at the end of "Percy's Predicament".
  • Peter Sam as well, in "Special Funnel".
  • Gordon goes through an existential crisis in Season 4 after he meets Sir Handel, believing he's come across a miniature version of himself.
• Saving Christmas: The Engines and Carlin attempt to save Christmas in "In Which Christmas is Ruined Again".
• The Killer Becomesthe Killed: Quite a few
  • Gotch was responsible for the death of the Vicar in season 3, and later dies by getting ran over by Trevor
  • Marklin has been responsible for a large number of deaths in the series, he later dies by getting blasted by Edward
  • ‘Arry and Bert killed BoCo and later die after getting in a fight with Stepney, Oliver, Bill, and Ben.
  • 98462 (Alfred)/The Juggernaut killed St. Eustace, and is later killed by Henry.
• The Scream: Percy manages three in "Thomas, Percy, and the Dragon". The first reaches Brendam Docks, the second Hatt Manor, and the third one goes all the way to London.
  • Edward's scream is apparently heard all around the world in "Heroes" after the Fat Controller forces him to work with Bill and Ben.
  • Duncan's scream of terror reaches the works and it wakes up Sir Handel, Duke and Betram in "Duncan Gets Spooked".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Henry seriously nopes out when he sees a light in an abandoned station in "Haunted Henry".
  Henry: OOOOOHH NO, I'M DONE, THE TRUCKS CAN DELIVER THEMSELVES, I'M OUT, I'M DONE, I'M BOTH! IT'S G-G-G-G-GHOSTS! EDWARD WAS RIGHT, I WAS WRONG, I DON'T CARE! SCOOBY DOOBY DOO, WHERE ARE YOU?! ANSWER: NOT FUCKING HERE! NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The reason why Diesel was so horrible to Duck in the D&D arc of Season 2? He was possessed by the vengeful and angry spirit of Marklin. He's later exorcised, though.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Willo the Wisp is transformed into Boulder after his fight with the Malevolence.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: In "Stepney Gets Lost", Captain Baxter and Adams argue over if nose is a necessary design for an engine.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Edward survived the Second World War and watched the torture of his friends with a pneumatic drill and a hacksaw at the hands of Germans and was unable to do anything. When he goes into hiding at the height of the Sodor mayoral race in Season 4, Gordon and Henry use the noise of a drill to "trigger" Edward back to his senses.
• Shout-Out: There are a couple references to Ivor the Engine and Star Wars scattered throughout the 'fic and Now Playing, So Don't Go.
  • In "Thomas and the Magic Railroad: Part 4", Lily mentions she has an Aunt Matilda. This could also count as an Actor Allusion, since Mara Wilson, who played Lily in the actual film, "Thomasandthe Magic Railroad", also played Matilda Wormwood in the titular 1996 film.
  • At one point in "Bye, George", George quotes Android 16's lines from Episode 55 of Dragon Ball Z Abridged, which was released the week prior.
  • Ivor the Engine/Death's mode of speech is based on that of Death from the Discworld books.
  • In "Duncan Gets Spooked", two of the slate trucks are named Steve and Perry.
  • The author has confirmed that the scene in Thomas and the Magic Railroad where the engines chase after the bull was based/stolen from the Dad’s Army Movie.
  • Part 5 of Thomas and The Magic Railroad includes many references to Queen even the title is a reference to one of their songs, I Want It All.
  • 98462 and 87546's names, Alfred and Cecil, came from Sodor: The Dark Times.
  • Thomas sings Space Oddity at the beginning of "Thomas Comes to Breakfast".
  • He later sings part of it again in "Jacks Owns Up".
• Shown Their Work: ToonGuy has an impressive amount of attention to detail from the original series, often integrating certain goofs into the narrative as funny background events or odd glitches or facial tics. He even worked a major series of goofs (the engines' face masks being stuck or contradictory to their current emotions) as a humorous b-plot involving someone messing with the engines' facial ointment.
  • Case in point, one would be forgiven for believing Davidson to be a completely fictitious character of ToonGuy's creation, but he's actually based off a locomotive mentioned in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, a reference book written by Reverend Awdry himself. The basis is described as a "black, beetle-like" electric locomotive that handles munitions trains brought in on the Skarloey Railway, which reflects Davidson's loathing for his "Beetle" moniker.
• Signs of Disrepair: Apparently how Sodor got its name. The original Iron Circle wanted to keep the island's magic a secret from the developing world, so they posted a large sign that simply said, SOD OFF. Over time, however, the sign eventually wore down so that instead said SOD Or.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Expect George Carlin to swear at least once per sentence.
  Narrator: He spoke in asterisks a lot, he was a very strange man.
  • Captain Baxter of the Bluebell Railway also tends to curse at everyone he talks to. Though according to Stepney it means he likes you.
• Skyward Scream: Percy manages three in "Thomas, Percy and the Dragon".
• Smoking Is Cool: Thomas tries to invoke this when he gets addicted to ciggies in Season 1. He gives it up come Season 2 after Edward got him nicotine patches for Christmas.
• Soul Jar: Both Diesel and Class 40 have been taken over and controlled by the ghost of Marklin.
  • Ivo Hugh is currently the host body for the Maliagnance.
• Sound-Effect Bleep: From "Diesel Does It Again":
  The Fat Controller: YOU- (horn)! YOU ABSOLUTE CRAP EATING SON OF A- (horn again)! YOU UGLY SON OF A- (horn yet again)! AND A- (and again)!
• Spared by the Adaptation: The Spiteful Brakevan is rebuilt in this version. Subverted as he bites the dust in Thomas And The Magic Railroad.
• Spin-Off: TUGS Abridged.
  • An In-Universe example is Jack and the Sodor Construction Crew.
• Spiritual Successor: To ''Tales From The Other Railway'', due to them both being cynical yet humourous twists on the original stories and giving several one-shot characters larger roles. It can also be seen as one to the stories from the ''Sodor Island Parody Pack for similar reasons.
• Taken for Granite: The Malevolence turns Willo the Wisp into Boulder during the fight at Burnett and Tasha's wedding. A heavily injured trio of the Small Railway engines entomb themselves into a mountain near the quarry, leaving a petrified Willo on the surface to guard them. When the rock around said mountain is quarried, Boulder starts moving to cause havoc and protect Rex, Mike and Bert.
• Take That!: Drampf is a very thin Expy for a certain American politician.
  • The Fat Director's Other Railway is described as having a "double arrow" logo. And this is British Rail, for comparison. That logo familiar?
  • The Narrator takes numerous potshots at the series itself following the Magic Railroad arc, namely the numerous characters introduced specifically for merchandising purposes.
• The Dog Bites Back: Oliver and Stepney get back at Bert for trying to scrap them by killing him.
  • Marklin gets dragged into judgement by all his victims, which includes; BoCo, Davidson, Drampf, Arry, Bert, Splatter, Dodge, Class 40, Alec Baldwin, Jinty, Pug, and Vicar Teddy. And those are just the ones he recognizes.
  • Boomer gets beaten up by Sir Topham Hatt, Carlin, Starr, and Burnett and is then left in the Magic Railroad, where he gets dragged into the ground and begins falling for the rest of eternity.
• The Stoner: Henry claims in "Henry and the Elephant" that he was high during the events of "The Sad Story Of Henry".
  • He also gets Edward, James and Gordon high on an acid-like substance in "Toad Stands By".
  • In "Thomas & Stepney", Rusty reveals to Stepney that they've been trying to stop Rheneas from sniffing glue.
  • Oliver the Excavator is usually stoned whenever he appears.
  • Henry manages to get Thomas high at the beginning of "Gordon and Spencer".
• Team Dad: Edward and BoCo are begrudgingly this for Bill and Ben, and the former is occasionally this for Thomas and Percy.
  • It gets to the point where Thomas accidentally calls him his dad. Thomas is dreadfully embarrassed and even afraid Edward will be furious with him, but in reality the blue engine is overjoyed by Thomas' slip.
• Team Rocket Wins: Captain Zero and Norris Von Stig get the Pack spin-off cancelled.
• Time Travel: "Paint Pots And Queens" nicely explains away the problem that arised when "Down the Mine" and the former episode were adapted three seasons apart by having a Past!Thomas and Gordon and a Present!Thomas and Gordon. While the Present pair are away in London, the Past pair emerge through a portal at Bluff's Cove and go back to the past when the Queen has left. Marklin also enters the portal and witnesses the future, and the events of Misty Island Rescue, Day of the Diesels, and The Great Race, all of which happen more than ten seasons in the future.
  • Carlin leaves Sodor at the end of Season 4, only for him to join forces with the main characters of classic British animation and join the hunt for Lady. At one point he goes back in time to witness the Malevolence's original form and the beginning of anthropomorphic machines.
• That Came Out Wrong: Trevor feels that saying "I like children" is this.
  Trevor: You know, I keep forgetting that that sounds rather wrong.
• Those Two Guys: You'd be hard-pressed to find an instance where Bill and Ben aren't seen together.
  • Jinty and Pug also count. Well, sort of, since Jinty's female.
  • Donald and Douglas as well, but to a lesser extent.
  • Max and Monty in the Pack spin-off.
  • 98462 (Alfred) & 87546 (Cecil) were considered this by Edward, Henry, and Gordon.
• Those Wacky Nazis: Averted in "Passengers and Polish"; the Germans that torture and kill Edward's friends during WWII are not Played for Laughs.
  • Played straight when Oliver calls Bulgy a Nazi.
• Unabashed B-Movie Fan: The engines watch a twenty-four-hour marathon of cheesy horror movies in "In Which Bodies Hit The Floor" which indirectly gives James a nightmare where all of his friends are brutally killed by a stereotypical slasher villain.
• Violent Glaswegian: Donald and Douglas can be this if they're particularly angry. Duncan is this more often.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: The main cast, while they all have something against one another, do have a solid friendship between them.
  Henry: If we hurried across the viaduct, it might collapse! And then, not only would you have no passengers at all, not only would you be lost a dear and close friend who puts up with your crap far more than he ought to, but you'll also be seeing the backside of a lawsuit for an unsafe working environment and several from the victim's families! What would you do then?!
  Thomas: Run my train on time for one thing!
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Implied in Chapter 5.
  The Narrator: Speaking of which, let's check on Henry.
  Henry: BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
  The Narrator:...And that is all we needed to see.
• Was It All a Lie?: This is what Percy asks Duck when the latter reveals he's been a spy all along. Thankfully, it wasn't.
• Wham Episode: There are an awful lot of these, often in quick succession.
  • The "Diesel and Duck" trilogy, and Diesel's introduction in general, is arguably one of the earliest, as it is where the story gap between Thomas Abridge and Thomas The Tank Engine really begins to show.
    • "Pop Goes the Diesel" sees Diesel revealing that he knows of a connection between Duck and Shining Time.
    • "Dirty Work" reveals in the end that Diesel is planning to kill one of the steam engines.
    • And finally, "A Close Shave" reveals that Diesel was possessed by the angry and vengeful ghost of Marklin, who had been killed following a botched operation to change his identity and subsequently possessed a BR Class 08 shunter.
  • "Mind That Bike" brings about the end of the Sodor mayoral race, Davidson's and Drampf's deaths, the destruction of Knapford harbour, and the 'trailer' for Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
  • "Cranky Bugs" reveals that George Carlin isn't the real George Carlin, and that all classic British animation series exist in the same universe.
  • "Double Teething Troubles" sees BoCo leave Sodor, only to be killed by 'Arry and Bert, who intend to use his body to help build Diesel 10.
  • In "Toby's Discovery", it's revealed that Bertram is actually a resurrected and rebuilt Smudger, sent to infiltrate Sodor by the Other Railway and to get revenge on Duke.
  • In "A Suprise For Percy", Stepney tells Duck that he has discovered an old prophecy, telling that Lady has the ability to grant great power to seven engines in order to defeat the Malevolence. In a flashback in the same episode, this is revealed to be true.
  • In "Busy Going Backwards" it's revealed that City of Truro was indeed involved with St. Eustace's death. Truro also reveals that there are two Juggernauts, which are actually two of the engines that worked on Sodor during the war, then resurrected (although nowadays they go by Alfred and Cecil). Duck then gets his mind wiped, though not before Truro reveals this is not the first time he's had it done to him, Diesel (who fails to get away) is brought back to the Other Railway to be reprogrammed. Furthermore (if this episode wasn't whammy enough by now), Alfred and Cecil are actually working for the Other Railway and not for Truro (as he thought).
  • In "Rusty and the Boulder" a flashback to 1955 sees the return of the Malevolence (this time back in dragon form, pre-Marklin, who battles it out with Lady and the small engines. Jock is killed while Bert, Mike and Rex are all badly wounded in the ensuing battle. Lady is seriously injured by Boomer and The Malevolence, but still strong enough to move under her own steam. Carlin, Benn and Tasha get involved in the battle too, allowing Burnett to hightail back to the Magic Railroad. Willo is then transformed into Boulder, while the three small engines seal themselves into a mountain to recover from their injuries while !Boulder/Willo acts as their guardian, as Carlin and Benn chase after the Malevolence.
  • In "Snow", continuing on from the previous episode, The Malevolence continues to tail Lady and Burnett. Lady uses her last bit of magic on The Malevolence, which allows her, Burnett and Tasha to escape to Shining Time. The Malevolence then transforms himself into a smoke-ikel apparition and makes a beeline for a newly opened time portal. Carlin and Benn quickly give chase in a hot-air balloon, but almost immediately after Boomer shoots Benn dead, and the Malevolence makes it through the portal. It then cuts to the modern day at the smelters where 'Arry and Bert are completing the final touches to Diesel 10 by adding his claw. The Big Bad Ensemble of the series is present (The Fat Director, Captain Zero, present day Boomer, Gotch, Marklin, one of The Juggernauts, Class 40, George, The Three Horrid Lorries, Scruffy and several other trucks and Other Railway workers); The Malevolence then comes through the portal and enters Diesel 10's body. After a few a seconds Diesel 10 opens his eyes and smiles as all the villains cheer in triumph.
• When It All Began: Stepney tells a story in "Train Stops Play" about how the steam train came about, explaining that magic is the reason for the engines' sentience, and that Sodor is the place where the steam locomotive was invented. It's also said that Lady and Proteus were the first of their kind. After all, Stepney said it was just a story, but it's implied to be much more than that...
  • It's solidified as being real in "James and the Trouble With Trees", when Carlin goes back in time to when Sodor was uninhabited and witnesses the beginning.
• Why Am I Ticking?: After trying and failing to ruin Edward's reputation by informing the public about his experiences in the Second World War, the Other Railway takes a new approach by planting a bomb in his tender. Edward first notices the ticking in "Fish", but it could go off any time...
  • It detonates in "Mind That Bike" with enough force to destroy Knapford harbour, but instead of killing Edward it kills Drampf.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Malevolence kills all his followers after he has been freed.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: 98462 (Alfred) and 87546 (Cecil) kill the original Juggernaut and become the new Juggernauts.