The Railway Series / YMMV

For tropes related to Thomas & Friends, go here.

Accidental Innuendo: To the gutter-minded, Trevor's frequent whispering of "I like children..." can sound like he likes the children a bit too much.
Awesome Art: The paint and watercolor illustrations in the books are not only iconic, but they are downright gorgeous to look at as well, and it’s clear much time and care has been given to make them as rich and true to life as possible. Particularly the later illustrations done by John T. Kenny and Gunvor and Peter Edwards.
Broken Base:
- Mountain Engines. An unnecessary entry since the Culdee Fell Railway and its engines never appear in another book, or a welcome glimpse into an obscure part of Sodor, with its limited spotlight adding to the mysterious aura of the railway?
- Fans are divided on Clive Spong's illustrations. Some hate them, finding his illustrations to be boring, ugly and not as striking or memorable as the likes of Kenny and the Edwardses, while others don't mind it, arguing that his art can be seen as Boring, but Practical, combining the bright colors of Dalby with a more technical eye. Sure Kenny or the Edwardses had more dramatic scenes, but Spong often captured realistic railway locations well and the only book he illustrated for Rev. Awdry (spin-off entry Thomas's Christmas Party) got the picky Reverend's praise for finally illustrating the train stations right.
Common Knowledge:
- As a result of Thomas & Friends being far more popular than the Railway Series, there are a few assumptions that many tend to make about the books that are not wholly accurate, particularly in regards to Thomas:
  - Because Thomas is the main protagonist in the show, many tend to assume that Thomas is also the main protagonist in the books, especially since compilations of the series tend to use the "Thomas the Tank Engine" name. However, this isn't exactly true, as while Thomas is a protagonist, he is only one of several protagonists in the books, as the books focus on a large Ensemble Cast of engines instead of a singular protagonist, with the engines sharing a roughly equal amount of screen time and focus. In fact, in contrast to the show, which tends to focus on Thomas to the point of having him appear in nearly every episode, Wilbert Awdry's run of The Railway Series doesn't give him much focus at all outside of a couple of books, and it isn't uncommon for him to be absent entirely. Christopher Awdry's books do make Thomas the title character more often, though that itself is due to the show's actual influence on marketing.
  - Also, thanks to the show, many view Thomas as being younger than the tender engines, since that is how the show frequently portrays him. However, this is not true as far as The Railway Series is concerned. According to The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, Thomas is actually older than Edward, being the first proper engine to arrive on the Northwestern Railway (hence why he has the number 1), making him more of a Cool Old Guy and a Grumpy Old Man in the books than the youthful cheeky engine that many see him as.
- The illustrations of Thomas the Tank Engine are often misattributed to C. Reginald Dalby, when in reality, the illustrations were originally done by Reginald Payne, not Dalby. It doesn’t help that Payne is often uncredited for his work on the book and that Dalby did go back and revise the illustrations in later editions of the book.
Contested Sequel: Christopher Awdry's books get this in comparison to Wilbert's. While many adore his stories and view them as worthy continuations of the original stories, others felt they were too bland, technical, and dry compared to Wilbert's and that they lack the charm and wit that his books had, seeming to just play it safe instead of attempting anything new. In Christopher's defense, Executive Meddling is partially to blame as his attempts to continue developing Sodor for the time period were shunted aside in favor of stories focusing on the original cast, particularly Thomas, due to the success of the TV show.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- While they've only appeared in one book. Culdee and the other Culdee Fell engines have certainly made an impression on readers due to their very unique designs and the interesting setting they inhabit. Unsurprisingly, they're amongst the most requested characters to appear in the TV show by fans and this is likely the reason why they got a good amount of merch dedicated to them under the show's branding, in spite of them never actually appearing in the TV show.
- D199 a.k.a. Spamcan only appears in a single story but is a popular choice as a villain character in fanfics with many wishing he had been adapted into the TV show.
Fan Nickname:
- The red engine that briefly appears in "The Sad Story of Henry" has no name officially^note. However, the Extended Railway Series fan project has decided to give him the name "Eagle", which quickly took off and spread like wildfire in the fandom shortly after. Nowadays, even those who are otherwise unfamiliar with the Extended Railway Series stories will often call him Eagle as it's become that ingrained into the community.
- D199 from "Super Rescue" is often called Spamcan.
Fandom-Specific Plot: While the fourth Hatt to succeed Stephen Hatt (the current Fat Controller) is implied to be his first son Richard Hatt (given he has the name Topham like the current Fat Controller and the previous two), one idea that has been explored in several fanworks (most notably Sodor the Early Years) is the possibility of his daughter Emily Helen succeeding him instead, becoming the island's first female controller, with these stories often going into detail how the engines deal with such a massive status quo change.
Fanfic Fuel:
- Given the heavy real world influence of the series. It should come as no surprise that the series has become an absolute gold mine for fanworks, many of which often explore certain topics and ideas that were not explored in depth in the series proper or not touched by the series at all.
- The Island of Sodor during World War 1 and World War 2 isn't explored much in depth in the books, so unsurprisingly, there are many fanworks based on the series that are set in those periods, showing and exploring how the island operated in times of violence and war. Unsurprisingly, many of these works tend to inherently be Darker and Edgier due to the period they took place in.
- According to The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways, the North Western Railway has a total of at least eighty locomotives.
Fanon:
- Thomas is interpreted by fans as being an experimental prototype based on the LBSC E2 basis as opposed to an actual E2, largely as a way to explain why Thomas seemingly lacks the problems his real life basis is infamous for having^note, as well as the fact that he is far smaller and shorter than real life E2s. It helps that there is precedent for this in canon, as The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways reveals several engines as being experimental prototypes.
- An increasingly common theory amongst fans is that James' red livery is inspired In-Universe by the Skarloey railway livery, due to how identical it is.
- Some fans assume that, due to their shared basis, Sixteen is actually Wilbert in his younger days with Wilbert making him up as an alter ego.
First Installment Wins:
- The original 26 books by Wilbert Awdry are far more popular, widely-known and beloved than the later books by Christopher Awdry. So much so, that whereas Wilbert Awdry's books continue to see frequent rereleases and acknowledgement by the current owners of the Thomas & Friends IP, Christopher's books are largely completely ignored and forgotten about outside of the fandom. (This is partially due to the fact the TV series adapted the majority of Wilbert's work, with only a handful of Christopher's stories made into episodes.)
- Also true within Wilbert's own run. While his later stories are still often beloved among fans of the series, it's his earliest books (especially The Three Railway Engines and Thomas The Tank Engine) that are the most renowned and commonly retold.
Franchise Original Sin:
- A common criticism of Thomas & Friends was how silly and unrealistic it got, especially in its later seasons. However, this was something that had existed in the books too, as although both Wilbert and Christopher Awdry did try to stick with realism as best as possible, beyond the obvious fact that the engines could talk and emote, some of the stories do occasionally break from reality at times and feature scenarios that were unrealistic, especially in the earlier books where things weren't as consistent or well-defined. However, this wasn’t really considered a problem in the books, because many of the breaks tend to largely be Acceptable Breaks from Reality that don't detract from the stories. On top of this, the books kept a consistently grounded and down-to-earth tone that can ground and restrain the sillier elements and prevent them from being too over the top (it also helps that many of the sillier stories are still inspired by real life events). The TV show, by contrast, lacked this restraint and would skew with reality more and more until it eventually abandoned any and all semblance of realism in its later seasons, leading to the aforementioned criticisms to pop up and quickly grow over time.
- One of the biggest criticisms that Thomas and the Magic Railroad received from fans is how Lady was a completely fictional engine with no real life basis. However, one of the most beloved characters in the books and TV show, Percy, is also a largely fictional engine with no real life basis, being a heavily hybridized mix of several steam engines instead of being based off a real class like the other engines. The reason why Percy tends to receive a pass over Lady in spite of this is that Percy is still depicted as a realistic and grounded engine in spite of lacking a specific real life basis (it helps that steam engines made for industrial use in real life were often unique and/or modified, so there is a real life precedent for this). Lady, by contrast, is portrayed as an entirely supernatural and magical being, making her far more jarring and out of place compared to Percy.
Growing the Beard: As beloved and iconic as the first five books are, the sixth book, "Henry the Green Engine" is regarded to be a turning point for the series, with the engines and world becoming more consistent and solidified than prior (particularly Henry, thanks to his redesign). It was also the point in which the real world and real world events truly began to seep into and influence the stories in a major way, which would result in many of the best stories in the series.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- Small Railway Engines begins by explaining that the Fat Controller has obtained a new source of weed-killing ballast (for which the Small Railway was built): waste stone from a closed lead mine. Considering how toxic lead waste is, one wonders if the Fat Controller had a massive cleanup on his hands after a few years.
- In Toby The Tram Engine, Henrietta barely escapes being a henhouse. Guess what Bulgy is made into in book 24...
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Mountain Engines involves an engine who has his name changed to his number which is six who is later renamed Patrick.
- Awdry once referred to one illustrator's depiction of Percy as "a green caterpillar with red stripes", and not kindly. Even if Awdry didn't think kindly of this interpretation, this becomes the central plot of a story later on under a different illustrator: in "Wooly Bear", Thomas gives the exact insult to Percy about his working with hay, with Percy later accidentally getting tarred and covered in hay later on to cement the joke.
Iconic Character, Forgotten Title: Commonly called "Thomas the Tank Engine" after the show became popular. It doesn't help the merchandising between the two products sometimes interchanges and some versions of the original novels are even released officially with the Thomas moniker. That said, this is a slight case of Older Than They Think as some pre-TV show material was released under the Thomas the Tank Engine moniker, such as the annuals from 1979 and 1980.
Jerkass Woobie: Some fans say that Sir Handel's rude, cynical, and foul-tempered because of him missing Duke and the trauma of losing his old home of the Mid Sodor Railway.
My Real Daddy: While Wilbert Awdry created Thomas, many fans attribute his design to Thomas the Tank Engine illustrator Reginald Payne, as he is the one who made Thomas into an E2 tank engine instead of the engine Awdry had intended for him (which was allegedly a j50).
Nightmare Fuel: Has its own page here.
One-Scene Wonder: Many of the minor background and one-off engines tend to frequently be this amongst the fandom. Notable examples include the Red Engine in the Sad Story of Henry, Big City Engine in Gordon Goes Foreign, and especially the Flying Scotsman in Tenders for Henry, amongst other characters.
Only the Creator Does It Right: Within the series itself, Christopher Awdry's books, while not regarded as being bad, are generally regarded as being inferior to his father's books.
Ron the Death Eater: 98462 was stated by Reverend Awdry to have been sent away because he was rude and nasty. In Trainz-based Thomas fan videos, 98462 is often derailed into an Ax-Crazy Blood Knight named Alfred who murders (or tries to murder) other engines.
Sacred Cow: The original 26 books by Wilbert Awdry have this status amongst the greater Thomas fandom and are beloved to the point of being worshipped by many. Unsurprisingly, any criticism made towards them is very likely gonna be met with some level of backlash.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: After Egmont bought the rights to the books in 1998, they began to rerelease them under a new format, which was heavily poorly received by both fans and even Christopher Awdry himself, due to the updated versions heavily cropping, modifying and even outright removing the original artwork. The negative feedback would cause Egmont to not only scrap the new format, but put the series on hiatus altogether. Egmont would eventually rerelease the books again under their original format in 2004, with the series properly resuming in 2007.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Many fans expressed disappointment the Culdee Fell engines only appeared in a single book. Of the eight engines that work there (well, worked in the case of Godred), we only really get to know three of them, No. 8 (Eric) doesn't even show up in illustrations, although No. 2 (Ernest) is only seen from the side, and the last one (Shane Dooiney) is only referred to in the forward!
- Bear is one of the crowning examples of a wasted character. His appearances in Enterprising Engines presented him as a more affable diesel than D199/Spamcan, but one with a fair amount of experience living on the modern-day Other Railway who is thus very unused to the ways of the Northwestern Railway compared to say, Rusty or BoCo. One might think that this would provide enough material for an entire book or at least a spotlight story but Bear pretty much falls off the wayside after his introduction. Many have stated that he could've played a decent role in James and the Diesel Engines by taking the place of the unnamed Works Diesel in rescuing James, or, perhaps by simply having him act as the Deuteragonist of the book as a whole alongside James. Instead, James has already overcome any discomfort or suspicions of Bear, and he plays no particular role in Chris' run.
- After Duke is brought to the Skarloey Railway, we don't get to hear much about his new life there, he plays no major role in either of the two books written by Christopher, not getting a spotlight story or even a supporting role.
- Ivo Hugh, the titular "New Little Engine" from the fortieth book, only shows up in the final story and never speaks.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- The original run of the books ended when Wilbert Awdry felt like he was scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas, owing to a sudden lack of steam-engine based incidents with modernization. However, as this post brings up, the upcoming Standardization process and preservation movement kicking into high gear still offered quite a bit of material to draw upon and could've continued the arc that seemed to have ended in Enterprising Engines, perhaps bringing the Steam vs. Diesel conflict to a proper end as both sides are shown to be similar. By the time the series resumed under Christopher's pen, that opportunity was lost, and the one book that could've explored this, Barry the Rescue Engine, was not accepted by the publishers simply because it didn't star Thomas.
- In general, the Christopher Awdry run can feel like this, though to be fair to him, this was primarily due to Executive Meddling shooting down his more original suggestions. In short, Christopher was moving to develop Sodor as a rail network reflecting the change in times as his father had done, but for every book that seemed to touch on this plot point and how the characters had changed in-between the Time Skip, two more focusing on Thomas would be written and not develop any greater sense of change compared to the second half of Wilbert's run. Because of this, the second half of the books can feel very bland and dry, playing it a bit too safe.
  - For example, in Great Little Engines, the third book written by Christopher, the central premise is that Sir Handel visit the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. Given how it was inspired by Prince Charles and Princess Diana vising the Talyllyn, and it is mentioned in the book, it would have been neat to see Sir Handel on the actual Talyllyn, and even see the story about how he got a black eye from a tree branch. Instead however, the stories focus on Peter Sam and Duncan being oddly OOC ^note, with Sir Handel's adventure only being told via flashback.
- There were never any stories about the electric engines of the Peel Godred Branch Line, a sad waste as the rivalry between steam and diesel could be overshadowed by the arrival of these trains, until one day a particularly haughty electric locomotive comes unstuck as their pantograph strikes the overhead lines leaving them immobilized.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
- It's rather difficult to sympathise with the barber from "A Close Shave" when he's angry at Duck for crashing into his shop, considering that he somehow thought it was a good idea to set up shop at the end of a train track without any buffers. While he does get a Jerkass Realization when the Fat Controller explains to him that Duck prevented a more serious accident^note, nobody In-Universe calls him out on his lethal stupidity regarding where he set up shop.
- Similarly, the stationmaster and his family from "Thomas Comes to Breakfast" are rather unsympathetic. While Thomas wrecked their house after taking his driver's joke about not needing him anymore way too seriously, the stationmaster's family could have easily avoided their situation if they had simply chosen a sensible place to live, instead of, you know, at the end of a train track. The fact that Thomas could only move because a careless cleaner had meddled with his controls and gets blamed for the accident while the cleaner receives no punishment, doesn't do the family any favours either.
Values Dissonance:
- The boys who made James become a Runaway Train are described as being "soundly walloped" by their parents when they are caught.
- This trope was partly why Christopher Awdry didn't like the story "Drip Tank" due to it involving the outdated insult "drip", and for this reason, it remained unadapted in the TV series (in a book that was created specifically to adapt stories into episodes).
- "Henry's Sneeze" originally described the schoolboys covered in soot as "black as niggers". Thankfully this was changed in later editions and Awdry gave a public apology for including the slur.
- The very antagonistic approach the early books took to the arrival of diesel engines replacing steam can come off as this to modern readers, who are far removed from the messy modernisation process of the 50s and 60s and are used to efficient diesel and electric locomotives being the workhorses of any present-day railway network. The books did acknowledge this shift with time; while the Steam vs. Diesel rivalry will forever be a staple of the series, the two are treated in later books as being more equal, and many diesel locomotives are given prominence as positive additions to the Island of Sodor.
Villain Decay / Time Marches On:
- In the 1960s, books like Stepney the Bluebell Engine and Enterprising Engines dealt with the subject of Modernisation; in the former, Percy goes as far as to demonize controllers on the mainland, only for Awdry to set the record straight in the foreword by saying British Railways officials are not cruel, and are in fact supportive of the preservation movement (though he also assures the reader that Percy's views are out of kind-hearted naivety, rather than malice). Examples are shown in Enterprising Engines among the controllers who helped keep Oliver, Toad, and Isabel safe. In James and the Diesel Engines, published in 1984, a visiting diesel notes that on BR, "steam engines are kept in their proper places, and aren't allowed out on the mainline without special permission". (referring to the red tape surrounding steam-hauled railtours that has only become stricter as the years passed, due to evolving railway safety standards and environmental laws.)
- Additionally, even before the end of the Reverend Awdry's run as author, many of the diesels that brought about the end of steam were often finding themselves prematurely retired owing to mechanical faults and standardization. Class 35 "Hymeks" like Bear were retired starting in 1971, three years after his introduction in Enterprising Engines, while Class 28 diesels like BoCo were retired just over a year after his debut in "Main Line Engines". By the end of the Christopher Awdry run, even the venerable High Speed Trains like Pip and Emma were themselves approaching retirement.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The "Other Railway" of course was the nationalized British Railways network, meaning any critique towards it is a critique towards (via proxy) the government. While Wilbert Awdry does pull his punches a bit towards the national network due to his children's book focus, the same can't be said for contemporary authors such as LTC Rolt or John Betjeman who shared similar views as Awdry on BR's flagrant disregard of history. The dissolution of British Railways and the formation of Network Rail and the private railway system would remove most possibility for political subtext for most of Christopher Awdry's tenure with the series.

YMMV / The Railway Series

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