#Thomas the tank engine and friends season 1

[lomotunes2008]

When you realise that the first TTTE episode released 40 years ago

Happy 40th birthday you little blue rascal

[dailyttteedward]

S1, Whistles and Sneezes

[unpopularvivian]

Incorrect Ttte Quotes 129:

*Henry is in hell looking like a fucked up 3D model of his engine form while having human limbs coming out of it*

Fucked Up 3D Henry: *In a text-to-speech voice* Where am I? What is this place? Hello?

*Suddenly, James appears in front of him*

Fucked Up 3D James: *In a text-to-speech voice* Dear Avonside 0-4-0ST, hooray. I must express my unbounded elation that you have returned. Where have you been all this time, Percy?

Fucked Up 3D Henry: I am not Percy.

Fucked Up 3D James: Eew. Henry, why do you look like that? You're even uglier than I remember you, which is saying something.

Fucked Up 3D Henry: I humbly request that you to stop acting so impolite, James. Furthermore, I will also request you look at yourself. *Hands James a mirror*

Fucked Up 3D James: *Looks in the mirror* dddddddaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA-

*Without any warning, Edward, Toby and Emily all arrive to meet with James and Henry*

Fucked Up 3D Emily, Toby and Edward: *In text-to-speech voices* Dear L&YR Class 28, have you any conception of what is happening right now?

Fucked Up 3D James: Warmest greetings, GNR 1003 Stirling Single, GER Class C53/LNER J70 and FR 21/K2 class. I, like you three, have no conception of what is happening right now.

Fucked Up 3D Toby: *In a text-to-speech voice* That is sorrowful news. I would like to alert you the combustion happening near me is at a temperature far above my comfort level.

Fucked Up 3D James: Combustion? Unfortunately, I am unfamiliar with the definition of that word.

*James then bursts into flames*

Fucked Up 3D James: Oh, you mean fire.

Fucked Up 3D Toby: You are correct in your assessment.

Fucked Up 3D James: Congratulations to us for our clear communication-

Fucked Up 3D Toby: Congratulation to us for our clear communication.

Fucked Up 3D Emily: *In a text-to-speech voice* I would like to join the conversation too.

*Later*

Fucked Up 3D Emily: Distinguished colleagues, I find it of utmost importance to deduce how we were transported to this alternate dimension.

Fucked Up 3D Toby: Dear GNR 1003 Stirling Single, it is my belief that we are here because we reached a state incompatible with life in the Overworld all in the same manner and by the same engulfing vacancy.

Fucked Up 3D Emily: Dearest GER Class C53/LNER J70, what is your implication?

Fucked Up 3D Edward: *In a normal voice* Toby's saying that we all got yeeted into a black hole after somebody blew up our spaceship up and that's how we got here. I don't know why you're all talking like that but I'm not going to do it.

*James then stretches his arm in a cartoonish manner and squishes Edward into a boxed state*

Fucked Up 3D James: Cherished compatriots, I must posit that the speech of this deluded fellow was of extreme difficulty to understand.

Fucked Up 3D Emily: I concur.

*One hour later, Thomas and Gordon are standing around James, Henry, Emily, Toby and Edward*

Fucked Up 3D James: *Still in flames* Admired acquaintances, I warmly appreciate your gracious company. However, I am still combusting and I am frankly disappointed none of you are taking initiative to assist me with this.

*Everybody just stares at James in silence*

Fucked Up 3D Henry: I ain't helping someone who called me ugly.

[str33tydr1ft]

| Sodor's Dragons : Season 1 |

Fellas, I'm happy and hyped to announce that THE FIRST HALF OF SEASON 1 OF SODORS DRAGONS IN COMPLETE!!!!

6 out of 12 stories are completed and up and posted on Wattpad! I'll post the links to them right here!

The Narrow Gauge

Fight

Anna

The Little Western

Thomas and The Hunter

Rheneas and Toby

Enjoy them, I put a shit ton of effort into them. :D

[bruhstation]

You seem like a Train Professional so where would one begin in order to get into the funny little talking train show?

these are all my own opinions so take it like a grain of salt -- the common go-to would be the thomas and friends tv show. start off from season 1 then work all your way up to the top (not actually really. you can skip some later seasons like s17 if you want to). the model seasons are considered to be some of the greatest because 1) they set the foundation of the cast (besides the railway series books) 2) they contain some of the most iconic scenes from the show like gordon's ronan kirk crash, the flying kipper accident, james and the shoelaces, etc and 3) they're the originals so you know what their personalities and relationships to their peers were like and how their characterization was supposed to be like before the cgi era flip flopped them up

also check out the railway series books in the meantime! the funny talking train show was based on the book series created by reverend awdry for his sick son! the first book feature edward, henry, and gordon. thomas appears in the second book. fast forward decades later and britt alcroft created a tv show called thomas the tank engine. there are many eras of the show, from models, to model/cgi hybrid, to computer animations where the show gets passed around like a volleyball from studio to studio

here's a google spreadsheet that contains all the thomas and friends episodes in various languages. feel free to watch the show for yourself and decide which seasons you like the most

some more of my thoughts under the cut

I recommend you steer clear of the big world big adventures seasons and specials because it's probably the most controversial seasons in the fandom. replacing two of the core cast members, "pandering" to certain audiences, putting in lackluster representation for the sake of selling toys, SAID representation turns out to be racist depictions, all of it reflected the current state of mattel when handling thomas and friends. they also didn't contribute anything to the overall show, like by the time the bwba seasons were out, people dgaf and just focused on the older seasons. you can ignore bwba and you won't miss anything important about ttte. not that I'm stopping you! you have your own free will.

the thing about ttte that made many adults get into it (if not for train autism) is how ttte was a show grounded in reality. idk if that makes sense but basically despite being a show about mean talking trains for little kids, reverend awdry and britt alcroft handled the characters with care. they gave the engines so much charm by making them bicker with each other like the cranky old engines they are BUT they're not reduced to singular personality traits too. thomas is cheeky and kind of a meanie but he wants to prove himself useful. edward is old and acts as a mentor to thomas but he also wants to show that he still got it despite his old age. gordon went from being a pompous grand young express engine to a humble old engine being a mentor to the newer ones and so on! they also put a lot of historical references related to the engines' basis too and tie their backstories in (henry's a stolen faulty design hence his cynical, miserable personality at the early seasons of the show). there's even irl engines mentioned in both the books and show (flying scotsman and city of truro) and it's just neat!!! because awdry cares about history so much!!!! that he even made an "encyclopedia" about sodor, its railways, and its history

the books and the earlier seasons of ttte didn't shy away from themes of death and usefulness and all that (the story of godred, henry being a faulty engine and getting cask of amontillado'd for being uncooperative, all of gordon's siblings scrapped sans flying scotsman) because the thing about them being engines are important to them. it's their reison d'etre. they get scrapped if they cannot be of use anymore, because that's how things have always been. they get into accidents often because their ego got to them. dieselization is starting on the island of sodor and the diesels are asserting their dominance over the oldschool steam engines. the engines just exist there. they just happen to have faces and talk. idk. I think it's interesting how they view life a bit differently than humans. thank you for listening to my ramble

[whirligig-girl]

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends aired on this day 40 years ago. Here's a portrait of the tank engine of the hour.

I usually draw Thomas as a sort of freelance design or "railway series" inspired design, with a few more realistic features and so on, if not as a straight up accurate or slightly modified E2.

But this drawing is a study of the Gauge 1 (1:32 scale) plastic prop built for Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends season 1. Proportions could be a little better; the wheels might be a little small and the boiler a little big. oh well.

A fun detail about the design is it's mostly using flat plastic-card and tubing of just a single radius. So the curve on the front footplate is actually the same curvature as the boiler. I believe the splashers are also the same diameter, but I'm not sure. The cab roof is probably slightly curved plastic-card. I'm not sure how the boiler and funnel are made, probably some amount of sculpting went into it. The chassis is a heavily modified german gauge 1 model built by Marklin, and the details like the vacuum brake pipe (the big tubing of the S1 version of the model looks way better to me than the like, floating pipe we see in later variants of the model), headlamp, and screw-link couplers are also taken from Marklin engines.

There's often discussion of what makes an engine a "RWS" version of an engine, but comparing the Gauge 1 prop to the first illustrations of Thomas from the Railway Series books, it's pretty much spot on. The double-whistle seems to be a slight misinterpretation of the safety valve assembly, and the lamp isn't especially accurate, and the font on the "1" is a little different, but it's basically like the drawing come to life. By comparison, it's usually the later versions of Thomas that people are attempting to evoke with "RWS" versions.

I also noticed that the lining appears to have like, white around it, almost like it's a print-out or something, rather than painted directly onto the model. So that's in my drawing too; and it actually kinda helps blend between the red lining and the blue paint a little better.

[pxmun]

Cleo Cupper S:F Parents: Schemee & Kara Cupper Age: 11 Siblings: Darius Cupper, Romeo Cupper Birthday: July 21 Conductor # 401 Height: 4' 10" First Appearance: Season 1, Episode 2 Special Notes * Cleo is the youngest sibling out of the "Trainyard Trio" and the only girl. *She is a history fanatic, Cleo loves reading and researching various historical events. *Her grandpa Schemer lovingly gave his granddaughter the nickname "Piggybank". *Cleo is Near Sighted; her glasses help Cleo see objects further away. *Cleo helps her older brother Darius and grandpa Schemer with their taxes. *Her favorite band is the Beetles, favorite song "Octopus's Garden". *Cleo looks up to her godmother Stacy Jones.

Cleo is a very clever girl, highly intelligent, Cleo can regularly be seen making high grades in school. Cleo does struggle greatly with being social and making friends, usually due to a form of anxiety. When Romeo disappeared, Cleo helped her oldest brother Darius and grandpa Schemer track down his trail to the abandoned Shining Time Station. Cleo and Darius were transported to Sodor by riding aboard Lady the magic engine. The realm of Sodor is strange and frightening to Cleo as the reality she knows is broken by this real of magic and sentient vehicles. However, with the help of her brothers, the Hatt's, and Thomas the Tank Engine, Cleo begins to warm up to Sodor and begins to befriend its human and vehicle residents. Teaming up with Thomas the two help the Earl of Ulfstead Castle in his quest to uncover the hidden history of Sodor, its magic, and why the island was sealed away from the rest of the world. Thomas and Cleo While afraid of Thomas at first, Cleo is able to become friends with the little blue engine and help balance each other. Cleo keeps Thomas's cheekiness in check by making sure he doesn't go over board with his jokes and pranks on the others, while Thomas's friendly nature helps Cleo break the ice and interact with others.

The two bond over their adventures throughout Sodor. Thomas learns a lot about the normal realm through Cleo and wishes to one day see her world and explore it with his friends.

Cleo, Annie, and Clarabelle Along with Thomas, Cleo also befriends his two faithful coaches Annie and Clarabelle. The three girls get along very well, and Cleo will often speak up for them if the coaches feel unheard. They often enjoy playing little games during long trips or if there is a long stop/wait at a platform or signal.

[cerenemuxse]

TGR but There's a Roleswap - Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - Goodbye

All in Vain (Season 20 Episode 16)

Word Count: 1,111

The story can be found at @tgr-2x5-roleswap-au for easier access.

~

As James filled up with water, the rest of the North Westerners approached him.

“I’m sorry, James but we couldn’t find him,” said Emily, feeling sorry for her little brother.

“He’s probably already left with the rest of his group,” suggested Henry. “Like some of the others have.”

“He could’ve at least said ‘goodbye,’” remarked Philip, only for Emily to shoot him a look.

"Philip!" hushed Thomas.

"What?"

“He probably had to leave quickly,” prompted Emily. “Who knows what they're having him do.”

“Yeah, I guess,” muttered James. Emily did have a point, for she had a sister who was preserved, the ex-GNR A1 Stirling Single No. 1.

Gordon stopped by with the Fat Controller in his cab, who peaked out from it. "Alright, everybody! Get yourselves refueled before we head home! We've still got a railway to run!"

"Yes, sir!" everyone, but Gordon, replied. Once the temporarily streamlined engine puffed away, Emily moved closer to James.

"We'll be near the entrance waiting for you, Jimmy," mumbled Emily before she puffed away, soon followed by the rest.

Once everyone had left, James was left brooding alone, wishing once again that he could see Edward one more time and say goodbye. But at the same time, he didn't because he knew it would hurt just as much or even more. James could vividly remember saying goodbye for the last time to one of his old LMS friends, shortly followed by his sister a few years later. After that, he was terrified every time he said goodbye to Donald and Douglas when heading over to Barrow-in-Furness. Thank goodness the Fat Controller bought both of them.

He didn't want to say goodbye. Not yet, at least, but he didn't have time.

"We need to get moving!" someone exclaimed. It was loud enough to snap James out of his thoughts. "Come on, Twenty-One!" they called out again.

Twenty-One? he thought as his eyes suddenly widened with hope.

"Aye, Coppernob," replied "Twenty-One." The accent pulled him out of his thoughts as it was swiftly followed by the whistle in that same solemn tone he heard yesterday.

James looked around, searching his surroundings. Just as he expected, his eyes quickly landed on a very small group of engines, far away and chuffing towards the entrance. One was a diesel pulling a flatbed with a small four-driver tender engine. On the track furthest away was a large tender engine. It was Edward with an expression he didn't quite recognize. It looked stiff and forced. Nothing like the looks he became familiar with.

As soon as his crew finished filling his water tank and got into his cab, James let out a shrill whistle. Some engines and people ignored it but others stopped and stared. He didn't care that others did so. He only cared if Edward did.

Edward came to a gentle halt. "James?" he immediately hollered out, getting stares from the other Furness engine.

James' lips curled into a wide grin with hope, just knowing that Edward recognized his whistle so easily. "Edward!" he exclaimed as he rushed forward, calling out for points to be switched.

"James!" Edward exclaimed as he finally caught sight of the engine coming towards him. Quickly, he reversed and started crossing over points, ignoring Coppernob calling out for him, and didn't notice the nasty glare from said engine.

Within a few minutes of maneuvering over points, both engines got onto the same track, facing one another.

"James! I-I'm sae sorry for leavin'!" Edward quickly sputtered out. "I didn't mean to leave! B-But the trust-"

"Don't worry about it!" James hastily interrupted, receiving a surprised look from the other, which shifted to a smile. "I'm just… glad to see you again…" He could feel his tubes tighten. "...and say goodbye."

Edward's smile faltered.

"But-!"

"Go on and say your farewells, Twenty-One!" interrupted Coppernob furiously. "The boat can't wait any longer, and neither can the trust! They didn't spend thousands of pounds on your restoration so you could go off meandering!"

"Give me a minute!" Edward yelled.

Coppernob was ready to retort when his crew and another man whispered something. James noticed Edward eyeing the older engine cautiously.

"Fine, but hurry. We don't have all the time in the world," Coppernob huffed. The diesel engine continued pulling him towards the entrance. The larger tender engines silently watched them move along.

"I'm sorry. Aboot him, thon is," said Edward, breaking the silence as soon as they were out of hearing range, getting James' full attention. "He's like thon."

"Is that normal?"

"Aye."

"But that's not okay."

"It's fine. I-I just ignore him. Most o' the time," said Edward, reassuring James. "Ye were sayin'?"

"Wha- Oh!" James began to panic. "I-I just wanted to say that, well, thank you."

"Thank me?" Edward let out a laugh. "I should be thankin' ye."

"For?"

"For bein' ma friend," replied Edward nervously. "I-I dinnae have any friends back home. And I mean anes thon are engines! It's just… me and the folks at the Furness Railway Trust. Nawthin' but human company, s-sae it's nice tae be able tae jist talk and have company wit' another engine after a while… No' thon human company is bad or anything! It's jist… ye ken?"

"It's nice to be around your kind?"

"Aye. Thon's whit I meant…"

"So… I'm the first engine you've spoken to in decades?"

"T-Thon’s Old Coppernob.Ye're ma first friend. I… I appreciate it. I dae, really."

Having seen the way Edward looked at Coppernob was enough to null James' curiosity. "Of course!" he replied cheerily, getting a smile from the other engine.

Before either one could say anything, they heard a barrage of whistles shrill, the sound getting louder.

"You found him!" exclaimed Emily as the other NWR engines approached the two. "We thought you'd left!"

"T-The trust wantit tae speak wit' me," replied Edward, flustered at the sudden attention. "Ma apologies! It wis'nae ma intention."

"No need! We're just glad we could catch you in time."

Edward chuckled. "I'm afraid I dae need tae go'. It wis nice meetin' ye all! Very nice.”

"The pleasure was ours," hummed Henry.

"Alricht! Well… guid-bye, everyane!" he exclaimed as he backed up and called out for the points to be switched. Once he switched over, he hesitantly said, "Guid-bye, James…"

"Good-bye, Edward," James replied hesitantly as he saw Edward leave and the others exclaimed their farewells, including the Fat Controller. As the goodbyes continued, Emily moved closer to James. "Come on, James. Let's go home," she hummed in a thoughtful tone. "I've got an idea, and I just know you'll like this one!"

That was enough to catch James' interest.

~

[doiefy]

fuck it, why not, nct 127 as engineering students

it's midterm season and i needed smth fun to do lmao. partially inspired by dumb shit i’ve seen/done

taeil: social butterfly exchange student studying something super obscure like petroleum or mineral engineering. on his first day of school (after getting run over by a roomba), he made up some stupid lie about his home country in an effort to appear more interesting. shit escalated, the lies continued, and now four years later he’s sir moony dal tae-1-methyl-cyclohexane-il from the glorious country of kwangya on planet mars. he’s actually from korea.

johnny: biomedical engineering student who will literally never shut the fuck up about going to med school. drinks redbull for breakfast, lunch and dinner. brushes his teeth with redbull. puts redbull in his diffuser. smokes redbull. did i mention he’s drinking redbull right now so he can stay up studying for the mcat? and that he’s trying to get into med school? in all seriousness he’d be a great doctor. but he’d also prescribe redbull.

taeyong: overworked mom friend studying electrical engineering. in a perpetual state of panic, sleep deprivation and electrocution; but he always has essentials on hand for his kids. be it bandaids, tampons or condoms, all you have to do is ask. oh also he modifies roombas to chase people down hallways while singing the thomas the tank engine theme song. he’s like michael reeves but giggly and with good intentions.

yuta: part time chemical engineering student, full time drug dealer. accepted his offer to the program because he watched one episode of breaking bad while stoned out of his mind, so it's all over for you when he figures out how to cook meth in the lab. the only issue right now? yeah he failed the lab safety training like six times and thought hydrofluoric acid was edible. he's not allowed into any undergraduate lab, much less onto campus at all. yeah he got expelled.

doyoung: obnoxious industrial engineering student. won't shut up about optimization and how his very optimized schedule has allowed him to maintain a 4.20 gpa, do 50+ extracurriculars and get multiple bitches. eventually his extensive spreadsheets creep out every girl he gets with and he has a crisis over his sexuality. gets suspended for public indecency with jaehyun two days before graduation.

jaehyun: goes into civil engineering thinking he can convince everyone he's straight by working with straight members and supports in infrastructure. resident hetero fuck boy up until he learns about bending moments in his second week of school, at which point he comes out. often struggles to finish exams because he's too busy thinking about how the pipe or beam he's analyzing looks too much like a penis.

jungwoo: the nicest mechanical engineering student you'll ever meet. is so sweet and innocent that people are constantly mistaking him for a freshman. mentors younger years, has the most cracked linkedin, brings coffee and donuts to class, generally just a good guy. oh, and the guy who looks exactly like him, who gets fucking hammered at every event and once did a line off a portrait of Isaac Newton? pfft nah that's not jungwoo. no way.

mark: aerospace major and music minor, but he spends so much time in the music faculty that no one believes him when he says he's in engineering. makes a "it's not rocket science" joke at least once in every conversation. probably giggling like a fucking buffoon in the back of a class, so loud that you can hear him in lecture recordings. he also can't go anywhere without recognizing 30 people and fist bumping all of them in turn like "brooooooo."

haechan: stinky computer engineering student who only ever wears the same two hoodies in slightly different shades of grey and considers walking in the rain to be an acceptable substitute for showering. claims he's grinding league and valorant during exam week so people underestimate him. everyone's surprised when they find out he's been on the dean's list since year one AND knows how to do laundry. again his laundry is two hoodies in slightly different shades of grey.

[laughlulee77]

* I N T R O *

[DISCLAIMER: This is (mostly) a t-word blog. I will randomly post non-tkl related things according to my fandoms/interests and will mark them accordingly in the tags, but I will share mostly tkl-stuffs as I don’t feel comfortable with sharing this interest with irl friends or friends on my other socials. If you aren’t into tickling in any shape or form, or just see it as a NSFW k*nk/f*tish, then kindly go away.]

◄●►

STUFF ABOUT ME :

• I’m an adult (I’m not yet comfortable sharing my age yet, but if you want to know you can ask. If this bothers you then you don’t have to interact with me. Thank you!)

• I’m a cisgendered male

• I’m asexual ! (Came out about five years ago)

• I’m agnostic but was raised Catholic. I don’t practice Catholicism anymore as the values I was taught did more harm than good. (I don’t discriminate against anyone’s religion btw you believe what you believe in, but please keep it to yourself. I don’t want to be converted, I want tiggles lmao.)

• I have ADHD and am an INFJ personality type. A very shy introvert, but somewhat extroverted online!

• I love helping friends with issues they’re going through and try my best to offer them so sage advice or just be there for them in general.

• I live in America. Yahoo.

◄●►

THINGS I LIKE :

• Tickles (duh…)

• Drawing/Art

• Writing

• Singing

• Role-playing (if you do, please add or message! I need more friends who RP!!)

• Photograpgy

• Filming

• Video Editing

• Cooking/Baking

• Video Games

• Set Design

• Acting/Voice Acting

◄●►

FANDOMS :

(subject to change to add/remove)

(These are in no way tickle related!)

• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

• Back to the Future

• The Amazing World of Gumball

• Sims 2

• Thomas the Tank Engine

• Blue’s Clues (I love Steve, Joe and Josh!)

• VeggieTales (I’m agnostic, but those songs…)

• Jordan Peele films (Get Out, Us, Nope, etc…)

• Green Day

• *NSYNC (since childhood)

• Knives Out film series

• Home Alone film series (obviously not “4”)

• Tales from the Darkside (TV series and film)

• Creepshow (films and Shudder series)

• Pixar films (Toy Story, Cars, Incredibles, etc…)

• Kevin Smith films (primarily Clerks!)

• Disney’s Primos (yes, that Primos. It’s a good show! Fight me.)

• Fairly Odd Parents: OG (from Season 1 to Channel Chasers) and A New Wish

• High Potential

• Beetlejuice (1&2)

• South Park

• The Last Of Us

•Among Us

• Marvel (mainly Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man series, and the Spiderverse series. Not too much a fan of any of the Avengers movies and any of its spin offs.)

• DC (primarily Batman! No not you, adam west..)

• Goosebumps (excluding the film series and messy asf reboot)

• Star vs the Forces of Evil

◄●►

NSFW/18+ CONTENT DNI

[hazzthesazz3]

well at long last, I can finally say that season 15-21 of the Thomas and friends review has finally been completed and are ready to read.

that's it for Thomas contet for now, I do have something else planed but that's a secret for now

p.s: was going to do another shipping review but it seems like the fandoms I'm in are really toxic at the moment.

anyway back to happy vibes since I don't have time to worry about shit like that. see ya all soon

[lomotunes2008]

Good News: They found the original S1 Thomas prop!

Bad news:

I swear this had better be some kind of joke-

Source: https://propstoreauction.com/auctions/catalog/id/399?page=1&view=grid&cat=8845&catm=any&order=order_num&xclosed=no&featured=no

[ratslovepinktoo]

What are the relationships between the character of my au?

Part 4

💙4️⃣Gordon:

💙1️⃣: VERY annoyed by Thomas. He personally had a strong dislike for him because of his cheeky demeanor and small size, thinking he would just get in the way. (He events from season 1 ep 1 happened) Thomas was pissed with him afterwards, but they made amends and, even though he tries not to show it, he cares a lot for Thomas.

🩵2️⃣: He tends to look down on Edward (even though he’s one of the best characters imo) because of his smaller stature and age. He and Henry allegedly replaced Edward with James which faltered their relationship. Edward has done a lot for Gordon and the railway, which makes him give Edward SOME respect (but not as much as he deserves)

💚3️⃣: Much more stuck up than Henry, but treats him as an equal despite the fact that he is (slightly) smaller than him. He and Henry have been very close friends ever since they came to work on the railway, leading them to make a rather romantically intimate connection.

❤️5️⃣: He used to think James was a “silly red engine”, as he has a rather snarky and cheeky temper. He does interact with him quite often though, and has become rather close even after the strike they had.

💚6️⃣: He thought of Percy as a nuisance when he first arrived as he would get teased by him and weeshed at. He did eventually grow closer with Percy, giving him tips and having conversations with him. Despite thinking of Percy as a “silly little tank engine”, he secretly appreciates him.

[theyellowroseofsodor]

Traintober 2023!

So excited to be here! I’m going to be writing this for the next month so it may be a bit for the next Yellow Rose update, but don’t think that it’s going away forever! It’s being written too! Enjoy!

Day One - Free Day!

Gordon was surprised to say the least when he returned to Tidmouth Sheds and the adjacent manor that night. When he first left the manor that morning there was nothing out of the ordinary. Now? There were cobwebs hanging across each doorway of the roundabout shed. He slowed to a stop at the turntable, letting his driver and firemen out, who looked equally surprised. He shifted to his human form and rolled his head, a light crackle of his bones feeling excellent after a long day, and he waved goodbye to his team. As he approached the manor’s door he could hear music getting increasingly louder, till he opened the door was blasted with a loud bass. He winced, growing irritable at the sound and it was making him increasingly cross at the assault. The manor looked the same as always as he walked through the door and found himself following the sound as he walked up the steps to go upstairs.

Spooky scary skeletons

Send shivers down your spine

Shrieking skulls will shock your soul

Seal your doom tonight

As Gordon reached the upstairs living room, he found Camille dancing by herself to the music as she placed a few skeletons on the mantle of the upstairs fireplace. With her back to him, he found the Bluetooth speaker and began pushing the button rapidly down to a lower volume. She quickly turned around as the volume died and she grinned at him.

“Gordon! You’re home!”

“And my ears have never been so assaulted in all my life. What on earth, Camille?” He looked at her admonishingly.

She only grinned back at him and held her arms out to the room, “It’s spooky season!”

He cocked an eyebrow at her, “Spooky season?”

“Yeah, you know, Halloween.”

He looked at her not understanding, “Halloween is one day and it’s at the end of the month. Today is only the first.”

She walked over to him and took his hand, spinning herself though he found himself aiding her, “But it’s my favorite time of year and there’s no harm in decorating now.”

Gordon looked over at a small tote of decorations and rolled his eyes, but her smile was contagious. He smirked down at her and shook his head, “Fine, but keep the volume down at least. For me?”

She tiptoed to kiss him and he leaned down to his lips, “Of course. I know you like to watch the news or crime shows when you get home. I lost track of time. I’ll turn my music back to my earbuds.”

Gordon grunted in response and moved to his favorite blue recliner to turn on the TV. He eyed the little box once again and shrugged. There had never been many decorations for the Halloween holiday at Tidmouth or anywhere on the island that he could recall. A few decorations could do little harm.

The next day, when Gordon returned home, there were skeletons in the yard and hanging around the sheds. Some were full sized, some were small, others were just bones placed around the yard strategically with a few grave stones. Where on earth had she found those? He ignored them as he walked up the path to the house.

The day after, Gordon began to look around in an almost frustrated awe as there were gooey window stickers to spell out the words “HELP” or “BEWARE” with red blood decorating them. There were even a few bloody handprints and he found that on some of the sidetracks that weren’t used in the yard there was caution tape and cones around some fake blood and a dismembered limb.

He chastised Camille about her poor taste, but James and Thomas defended her and talked about how great the décor was. There were even little odds and ends inside the house, including but not limited to skeletal animals (a dragon, raptor, unicorn, and gryphon to name a few), sugar skulls, a few venus flytraps and piranha plants next to Henry’s plants in his indoor garden cabinet lit by their warm lights and also a few decorative orange and black lights, table clothes with spiderwebs and decorative towels, and this was all just in the main room! She had replaced his own blue mattress set for a Halloween themed one. There was a little “trick or treat” block on his desk and a Halloween countdown calendar as well.

But the last straw was when he came home one day and found a tall animatronic witch on the front porch, by the door. She was the stereotypical green, warts and all, in all black clothes with the pointed hat and the broomstick in hand. He glared at the witch and she looked blankly ahead.

Gordon sighed and went to walk right past her when she moved and started cackling in a high pitched laugh. He about jumped out of his skin and turned to scowl at the robot who continued to laugh.

“Hiya, sonny! How about a kiss?! Eeeeeehehehehehehe!!”

Gordon had never wanted to punch something so badly. He looked the witch over in disgust and stomped into the house as she continued to cackle.

“Camille!!”

“You love me!!” She said laughing from the upstairs.

Gordon shook his head as he removed his shoes and work jacket.

This was going to be a long month.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

A real change of pace... To cool off... Here's a hyperfixation of mine that dates waaaaay back, to when I was little...

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE & FRIENDS...

I've been thinking about the show's third season (1991-92) lately, for some reason.

Season 3, as I had learned in the recent years, was filmed in two separate portions - unusual in that every season in the classic series (approximately Seasons 1-7, 1984-2003ish) was typically filmed in one go. Not Season 3, for whatever reason.

It's been speculated by some fans that a showcase of the many props in London sometime in late 1991 impacted the filming, thus newer sets were built to accommodate the last portion of episodes. Maybe something else came up. Maybe something pertaining to the Japanese special THOMAS AND THE U.K. TRIP. Who knows...

And upon knowing the season's production history, you can't unsee it...

The first portion of Season 3, first released all at once on VHS - albeit with alternate, earlier narrations from Michael Angelis - in the UK in November 1991:

vs.

The second portion, aired in the spring/summer of 1992:

I kind of look at Season 3 as the coziest one. If Season 1 had a more pastoral, simplistic look with a chuffy synthesized soundtrack, and if Season 2 had a more dirty, sooty, industrial look... Season 3 is bright, colorful, cute, just warm and cozy really. Especially the nighttime scenes, which are real standouts here. Glossy models and softer faces constructed for the engine characters, too.

The music, composed by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell, is what holds the season together - tonally, along with Angelis' narrations - or George Carlin's, if you grew up with the U.S. version like I did.

Sets in Season 3, Part 1 included the likes of Henry's Forest in addition to a lot of countryside paths, and a much more spacious beach. Knapford is the big station here, while Tidmouth is the big station in Part 2. The roundhouse interior is a real giveaway, too. Season 3, Part 2 seems a little greener, you have the the three-way set (bottom left), those big harbor buildings (top right), and the castle tunnel. Whatever the story called for, they built it: A scrapyard that Oliver escapes from, the China Clay Works, Bulgy's bridge, etc. Even without their major sets, they still made up for it with the new ones.

It's still quite cohesive and distinctively season 3, but someone like me? I notice the minute differences. You can easily tell which episode is 3A, or 3B.

Season 3 is one that I didn't have much of on VHS growing up in the late '90s/early '00s. I had seen pretty much all of them via tape volumes I rented back in the day, or through SHINING TIME STATION when it returned to air in 2000 to promote the movie. SHINING TIME, the show that essentially trojanhorsed THOMAS onto American airwaves. The VHS tapes... Particularly the volumes "Thomas Gets Bumped", "Daisy", and "Percy's Ghostly Trick". All grab-bags of episodes from the first three seasons - but they had those Season 3 episodes I often couldn't come by. They were elusive in a way because of that. Everything else I saw was via a compilation tape, like "Thomas' Christmas Party" and "10 Years of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends".

And years later, I would be surprised to learn that an episode like 'Henry's Forest' was from that period - it feels like it could be a stealth Season 2 episode, albeit a calmer and less industrial-looking one. Maybe because it was on the aforementioned Christmas tape, my brain - as a 7-year-old kid - placed it in that era. Ditto 'A Scarf for Percy'. When I got a little bit older, I was able to place - sort of aesthetically - where each episode fell. A skim through IMDb would also help. Most I could reckon were from the '80s, and the rest from the early-to-mid '90s. Even with George Carlin narrating the majority of them.

Something about those episodes hit different to me when I was little, for sure, so I have a bit of an odd soft spot for them despite how I feel about that season overall. I think SHINING TIME's aesthetics and look also helps. I watched STS whenever it was on, as a really young kid circa 1995-96ish? I would remember asking "Why do the trains have faces? But no cowcatchers?" Then it was just the Thomas stories on VHS after that. I wouldn't really check out STS again until reruns came to Nick Jr., again, to promote THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD - which Shining Time Station itself was a big part of. And yet my head links that season and STS, more so than 1 & 2. The coziness of both, the nostalgic American train station setting of STS and the comfy visuals of Season 3, just goes together quite nicely. Throw in some unrelated other things I loved back then, and that's one of my nostalgia cocktails in a way lol.

[whirligig-girl]

NWR 4 idling in a siding between express runs. ca 1920s

image ID:

A shaded pencil drawing of a large british steam locomotive on a railway siding. There are some goods trucks in the siding to the left, and a station building or shed behind it. The engine is a long tender engine, seen foreshortened from the front, with a 4-6-2 "Pacific" wheel arrangement and a three wheel tender. The locomotive is in fact Gordon The Big Engine as he appears in Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends' first season, but with a simple black painted smokebox door instead of a grumpy face. 

End ID.

Screenshot redraw from Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends season 1. I should do more drawing from photo reference more often. My understanding of the geometry and perspective of objects is pretty strong but lighting and shading is a bit of a sore spot, at least when dealing with imaginary scenes.