#also sorry there's only skarloey

[skarloeyspa]

hi hii me again

final interest check for these skarloey candy charms before i submit the order! (old post for more info)

the keychains will be priced at $10 CAD each. Shipping within Canada will start at $5 CAD (could be waived if shipping to Ontario!), shipping to United States will start at $10 CAD, and if there's enough interest, international shipping will start at $15 CAD.

thanks for the support!!! if everything goes well they should be coming before the end of the year :>

[weirdowithaquill]

Okay okay okay

I just

*need* to hear more of you rambling about trains being shipped together I don't care who it is

Although if I am allowed to request a couple I find very cute myself it'd be Culdee and Catherine

Sorry it took me a hot minute to answer (I got sick) - but let's dive in!

Ok - Catherine and Culdee are the very definition of an adorable old married couple, perhaps even moreso than Toby and Henrietta. They *need* each other - and Catherine gets jealous when Culdee takes the Truck out. Likewise, while some of the engines just take whichever coach out, Culdee has specifically requested Catherine be taken off the rotation roster (especially after the Lord Harry era). They are absolutely adorable together, but they can have a... possessive streak.

It comes from the codependency.

(They legit need each other... to survive Culdee Fell.)

At the opposite end of the adorable old married couple is Toby and Henrietta. These two actually recently made history when they became the first two (to steal the term) non-faceless vehicles to marry. Ever. Previous to this, there had been a lot of legal battles and red tape and a whole heap of "they can't marry, they're machines" which the pair fought through... since the 1920's. (Culdee and Catherine legit married the next day, and are still jealous that Toby and Henrietta got hitched first).

Furthermore, Henrietta and Toby adopted Mavis in the early 70s the moment she stopped actively ignoring their advice. It is entirely thanks to Henrietta that Mavis asked Daisy out.

(Toby continues to enjoy watching his wife verbally beat other men into dust.)

Speaking of, Mavis and Daisy really are the very essence of disaster lesbians. There is no understating how ridiculous this pair can be - see the fact that Mavis spent nearly a full decade with her jaw hitting her bufferbeam every time Daisy entered the yards. And to make matters worse, Daisy had no clue! She thought (wrongly) that Mavis had a thing for Toby... which she vehemently objected to because - and I quote - "Toby is too old for such a powerful, commanding woman." Somehow, Daisy also missed the part where she liked said 'powerful, commanding woman'. Cue Daisy trying to flirt with a very uncomfortable BoCo every time he visited the junction while Mavis tried to get her driver to send... 'messages' to BoCo.

The only engine who enjoyed this absolute anime-plotline of a romance was Toby, who revels in chaos.

(Annie is pretending not to listen in on this gossip - but she's totally listening in on these two disasters.)

From disasters to functional beings - Duncan and Rusty continue to hold the title of 'most functional Sodor couple'. And for good reason! After Duncan got over his preconceptions about diesels, he was very blunt about his new feelings for the little diesel. And remember, Duncan is a mix of rock-star, factory worker and punk. So he manages to seem wild and abrasive to everyone who hasn't seen how devoted he is to his little diesel.

Rusty, being cool and calm and petty, loves to rub their relationship in Rheneas' face - because Rheneas can't do the same thing Duncan did and ask Duke out. Because Rusty is petty, let's not be mistaken - that little diesel was happy to let Duncan just sit off the rails because he was rude. Rusty is kind and helpful - but will also sit back and let you suffer from some Sodor Karma.

(This is why I say Duncan confessed - Rusty is gazing off into the sunset, but Duncan only has eyes for Rusty.)

Speaking of poor Rheneas - I've already given him a full post dedicated to the wild ride that was his courting of Duke - but I managed to miss the small detail of Duke adopting Spencer (see ERS for details). And that leads to a whole new realm of disaster for this poor engine. He gets Peter Sam on side, he gets Sir Handel to begrudgingly admit he's... decent enough... for his Granpuff - heck, he even manages to get Skarloey to stop laughing for long enough to wish him luck! He even manages to get some good advice on asking Duke out from Rusty and Duncan! And then.... AND THEN...

Spencer grabs Duke and whisks him away. Away? Away away - to the Boxford Estate. Spencer is not a 'good' engine, and he literally resorts to kidnapping Duke like the old engine is suddenly Rapunzel (Duke has feelings about this). In response, Rheneas had to get out 'The Truck' and make his way across the Island to save Duke... who had already hitched a ride out of there with Edward and was having tea and biscuits while laughing about their respective prospective red disaster boyfriends.

(Genderbent Elizabeth and Thomas enjoy watching Rheneas watch Duke get mended...)

I think that's all from me for now - no Percy x Diesel 10 shenanigans this time, but if someone asks for them, I will bring them. Until then, I'm going to take a heap of antibiotics and try to sleep off this illness some more.

[rygoespop]

Thomas and Friends: Legends of Sodor (Story 14): Freddie Meets His Match

Narrator: Freddie Meets His Match

Scene opens on the Skarloey Railway, as Luke puffed into Crovan’s Gate while he pulled 3 Blue Box Cars, until he sees a Purple Narrow Gauge Engine

Narrator: One morning, Luke puffed into Crovan’s Gate, until he noticed something

Luke: Huh? Who is that? I better get a better look

Luke puffs up to the Purple Engine, who has a body that almost looks similar to Freddie

Luke: Oh, hello there! I’m Luke, who are you?

Ivo Hugh: Hello Luke, I’m Ivo Hugh! The new Narrow Gauge Engine!

Luke: A new Narrow Gauge Engine?

Ivo Hugh: Indeed!

Luke: You look similar to Freddie!

Ivo Hugh: Freddie? Who’s Freddie?

Luke: He’s the Number 7 Engine on the railway

Ivo Hugh: Really? I’m also a Number 7 as well

Luke sees Ivo Hugh’s number and gasped

Luke: Now there’s Two Number 7 Engines! That’s like having two Number 2 Engines such as Rheneas and Smudger

Scene transitions to Luke puffing into the Transfer Yards, Freddie was there

Narrator: Later, Luke puffed into the Transfer Yards, Freddie was there

Freddie: Oh hello Luke!

Luke: Hello Freddie, have you met the new Narrow Gauge Engine?

Freddie: New Narrow Gauge Engine?

Luke: Yes, his name is Ivo Hugh, he sports a Number 7 like you.

Freddie: What?! Number 7?! I’m the Number 7 engine! I must go find this Ivo Hugh at once!

Scene transitions to Freddie puffing into Rheneas Station

Narrator: Later, Freddie arrived at Rheneas Station

Freddie: *sees Ivo Hugh* Hello, you must be the new engine!

Ivo Hugh: Indeed, I’m Ivo Hugh! You must be Freddie

Freddie: Indeed, and I’m crossed!

Ivo Hugh: Why?

Freddie: There can only be one Number 7 Narrow Gauge Engine, and that’s me!

Ivo Hugh: Is that a challenge? If so, then it’s a race!

Scene transitions to Freddie and Ivo Hugh at a starting line

Narrator: Soon, the 2 Engines were at a starting line

Freddie: Ready?

Ivo Hugh: Go!

Freddie and Ivo Hugh both race down the line

Narrator: Thus the race was on, both Ivo Hugh and Freddie were quick to race, but neither one can overtake

Freddie: Did you know I used to work on the Mid Sodor Railway years ago? Yet I’m still working with Duke, Bertram, and Smudger!

Ivo Hugh: That is fascinating

Scene transitions to Freddie and Ivo Hugh puffing through the Countryside

Narrator: They both puff through the countryside

Ivo Hugh: Funny enough, I was once able to take a Circus Train!

Freddie: I guess that makes you, Ivo Hugh the Clown Engine!

Ivo Hugh: *chuckled* You are funny Freddie!

Scene transitions to evening, as Freddie and Ivo Hugh arrive at Crovan’s Gate

Narrator: By the time evening arrived, there was bound to be trouble

Mr. Percival: Ahem!

Freddie: Oh dear!

Ivo Hugh: Oh my

Mr. Percival: Even though I don’t approve of racing, but you two nearly caused, and to quote Sir Topham Hatt, Confusion and Delay!

Freddie: Yes sir, and we’re sorry sir

Ivo Hugh: Not a day to start my first day

Luke: Wait sir! *blew his whistle as he puffs in*

Mr. Percival: Luke?

Luke: It’s not their fault, it was my fault, I wanted Freddie to know about Ivo Hugh, not race him

Mr. Percival: Is this true?

Ivo Hugh: Yes sir! It wouldn’t hurt that Freddie and I have Number Seven, like how Luke told me that Rheneas and Smudger have the Number Two

Mr. Percival: Huh, well if that’s so, then welcome to the Skarloey Railway, Ivo Hugh!

Luke: Three cheers to our new friend!

Luke and Freddie cheer as they blew their whistles to welcome their new friend, Ivo Hugh

Ivo Hugh: Thanks guys!

Ivo Hugh looks at the camera and smiles as Steam Clouds rolled in

Story End

[steam-beasts]

Is Tallylyn the only engine of her railway infected? Also how did she got infected in the first place?

(Sorry this took so long)

No she’s not the only one. Basically what happened was each of the engines were attacked by their siblings one by one. Talyllyn was the very last when she got attacked by Skarloey. She hasn’t talked to Skarloey since that and doesn’t want to see him. Skarloey is desperately trying to reach out to her, replying to all the letters from her that he never answered and trying to get his driver to do phone calls.

[str33tydr1ft]

Alright.

Lets do this.

*cracks knuckles*

Basic Info about me before we get on with this

I'm thin as shit, 5'1 and weigh uh... smt- im light, im not heavy im a skeleton but not yk? slim thats the word omfg, i dont pack good ounches but I can put up a damn good fight tbh, and im 17 years of age

The fights will be hand-to-hand based combat, no weapons.

Skarloey - It would depend, rmebee Skarloey is like 100 and smt years old today, so his age would be a heavy factor in the fight. HOWEVER We would be relatively the same size, Skarloey being a bit bigger, he is also a lot older than me and some of the other engines, so hes seen fighrs and most likely took mental notes of them. So I'd say the chances of me winning is a good ol 35% chance, so skarloey gets a point on this fight

Rheneas - He would be a lot similar to Skarloey, but his build has a lot more slimmer shape and therefore less mass to deal with than Skarloey, so I'd stand more of a chance, but same issue with expereince, hes in his 100s, im 17, so im giving this one a 0.50 on the score since its a 50/50 of me or him winning (since 0.50 + 0.50 = 1 its basic maths)

Duke - Now hes repsrensted as the old man, yes he may be strong but dude sat in a dusty shed for years, he may have been fixed up but that sitting around will cuase permanat damagae, he wont stand a chance, sorry but I got myself a point here,

Duncan - my fellow scotsman, us scots fight well, we fight like bats oot o' hell, so itll be a nasty fight between him and me, either way, I'd say my chances are low, theoritcally if he was a human he and I would have similar builds but Duncan would be more muscular, so im dead if I fought him

Rusty - the they/them that could beat my ass, not only with the fumes from their engine and choke me to death, but also their quick thinking skills to dodge my attacks as well, so either way theyre coming out of thr fight with no scratches and im dyin on the floor, another point to the engines

Sir Handel - now Sir Handel is a fussy bugger, before the fight he would brag about winnign, which is EXACTLY ahat i can use against him! Just by that, hes jinxed himself, and therefore I will win the fight by a clear shot to his fatass voiler, yes he may have a similar build to Skarloey, but theortically age wise, hes smaller and younger, so I have three advantages right there, point to me,

Peter Sam - relatively thr same as Sir Handel, however hes more sesnjvle and doesnt jinx himself by bragging, plus, hes the one who probably took the most from grandpuff, so im fucked either way, also hes TALL, im not, he can pick me up and fucking throw my dumbass axross thr globe and back, point to the engines there man.

Proteus - hes a god how am I supposed to win.

Total - Me : 2.50 | Engines : 5.50

Ive dug my grave

TrainBoy on YouTube

[david-watts]

dude i HAVE to know what your beef is with thomas the train

well! thomas is only the no. 1 engine because he got super popular. henry was the first character introduced. but thomas. thomas was a total shithead in the books. his first story is him getting justice from gordon. thomas was meant to be a different locomotive but ended up being an london, brighton and south coast railway (post-1923 it became part of the southern railway) E2, which hhholy shit they were shit. they were a little too powerful and resource-hungry for shunting and light duties, but also not powerful enough and didn't have the storage capacity needed to do actual goods or passenger services. apparently the railway workers fucking hated the things and I understand why! and apparently they sucked for dock work too, once they ended up in the southampton dockyards, because their wheel base was too long for tight curves, which also iirc the southern railway has a LOT of really tight curves on it making locomotive design on the railway, and its previous constituent railways that amalgamated into it, particularly unique? I think I read that somewhere. but imagine being known for having tight curves on your lines and then making an engine that was shit on tight curves lol

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

Rusty Saves the Day (aka: continuity? what continuity?)

Right, so, from what I can tell this is an #UnpopularOpinion, but... this one is actually the best of the Season 6 narrow-gauge episodes?

Admittedly, that is a LOW-ass bar to clear. For those who don't work their way through the classic series once every three weeks or so... here's a refresher on how Season 6 (a season that FOR SOME REASON I so often feel the need to start hyping as "it's actually pretty decent you guys!!!!") actually ends:

Yeah, thanks, S6. What a kick in the teeth to all your fans and defenders. Ending on a real high note, here.

But "Rusty Saves the Day" stands out to me as by far the most watchable and (from a creative viewpoint) useful of this little hall of shame.

The flaws are obvious and I am far from denying them:

Skarloey and Rheneas continue to be reduced to semi-indistinguishable blobs with all the charisma, backbone, and wisdom of lukewarm tapioca.

"Rheneas and Skarloey's line" is lightyears away from their line as it was introduced in Season 4. Not even bringing up RWS here. It's not consistent within the show. It's like they rebooted this whole railway—ill-advisedly, and clumsily. Their line in Season 4 was beautiful and lit, intriguing even the casuals with all its hints of lore and history and complexity. By Season 6 this setting is way uglier, absurdly simplified, and heart-stoppingly boring.

The pacing. The pacing is so bad. The problem here is similar to my complaint about Henry's forest: You can't establish a new setting (which this "line" may as well be), destroy it, and restore it all in one episode and expect anyone to care. That's not drama. That's just a busybody narrative that means nothing to anyone.

What the hell is with STH's characterization????

I can defend STH's portrayal in "Middle Engine"—I maintain that his self-declared temporary punishment of Percy while he "got to the bottom of this" might be flawed but that it is well within STH parameters (and that I'm sure he did eventually sort it out). I don't think it's out of line with the kindly-but-firm thing he does in S6. Throughout the season, he lacks the omniscience of RWS Hatt, but that's fine, TVS Hatt is kind of his own character and I feel like it's working well. Until we get to this disgraceful story, I thought STH's worst moment was actually his ill-advised fog warning machine—but the replacement of Cyril was a reasonable place to mark down STH's boundary of "most hardass moment."

Then, in the two episodes before this, we get STH being more hands-on parenting than ever before. Notably he makes engines apologize to each other at the end. Geez. Up until this point STH cared about confusion and delay, y'know? And that was it. Now all the sudden he's gunning for Moralizing Dad of the Year. It's weird.

THEN we get to this episode, and he goes full-tilt down the opposite end of the nice/mean spectrum, swinging out the notorious "Sorry we're late, we were helping Skarloey and Rheneas." "Again? Y'know what, I am going to reduce your workload by... 😈closing their line down😈." "But—" "🔥🔥NO BUTS🔥🔥!!! mwahahaha"

Oof! The whiplash!!

So, acknowledging all this—why do I kind of have a soft spot for this dumpster fire of an episode?

1) The Rusty characterisation is on-point. The rest of Season 4 might have been torched, but Rusty-the-plucky-problem-solver is BACK, baby!

This is, like, the first time in ages that a character got a good episode, an episode where they actively showed agency in a way that showcased their personality! Love how Rusty not only proposes to STH that they take the two-week quarry break to restore the line, but how they also realize the job will require a lorry to finish on their ridiculous deadline, and how they also recruit the prickly Elizabeth with some reverse psychology. It's all very Little Diesel (Classic)™!

2) Also, Elizabeth's presence here doesn't hurt. Just sayin'.

Am I biased for thinking that Elizabeth always manages to rescue every half-baked story they throw her in, just by being her delightfully ornery self? Or am I right?

the second one. the answer is that second one.

3) I hate the abruptness of STH closing the line, but... the plot point itself? Uhh, don't kill me, but—it's not bad? Not in TVS world. I feel like the logical conclusion of TVS's "hard-nosed, expansion-minded, and sometimes-oblivious-and-inept businessman Fat Controller who in this universe also manages the Skarloey Railway" is, in fact... that he took over the small railway as a later acquisition, and that perhaps it's not at first, so dear to his heart. He makes those changes between S4 and S5. It's not at all like the Tallylyn history but I actually prefer the Skarloey to be as distinct from the Tallylyn as possible. Like in RWS this development makes no sense but in TVS I actually feel it kind of does. If it had been handled correctly.

4) Ah, the siren song of if only it had been handled correctly... that's probably why I have a soft spot for this story. The other dregs of S6 as listed above, pah. I don't want to play with them. "Faulty Whistles" just... exists, and they already made the idea of "give this Mike story to Duncan" better than I could have by their delightful stop-animated organ-playing headmaster. "Dunkin' Duncan," well, salvage the Actually Pretty Funny montage of Duncan's many stupid-ass accidents, but scrap the rest; it sucks. "Edward the Really Useful Engine"... scrapping's not even enough to contain the fallout. Just punt the entire shebang directly into the heart of the sun, it's the only way to be sure.

But "Rusty Saves the Day"... I feel like a good writer could make some magic with this general idea. Like, STH closing the line Just Like That makes no sense, but hell, for the 15 seconds we were allowed to feel Skarloey and Rheneas's pain, it was compelling! I did feel stuff! It was blatant emotional manipulation, but even in this rushed half-assed state, it kind of worked!

As usual, if they had spread this over the course of an arc or two, I feel you'd really have something. Frame a bunch of lower-stakes narrow-gauge stories under the shadow of some financial problems. Give Skarloey and Rheneas a bit more of a role, make it their "fault" (fault in quotation marks for a reason) that STH decides to just close up shop. Then keep them in exile for a while. Have a story or two take place when they are working the quarry with Rusty. Develop this as Blue Mountain Quarry lore, idk? Let us spend some time with the pain.

Then, at the end of the arc, hit me with the plot in the second half of this episode. Let Rusty see an opening and grab it with both buffers, let them recruit Elizabeth, etc.

This episode mentions Skarloey and Rheneas missing their passengers most of all *sob*—use that at the end! Let the whole region served by the line absolutely flip out and have the party of the decade when the line re-opens and they get their trains back!

Also, instead of STH having his pat, aggravating, passive-aggressive "and now, Rusty, maybe you'll have time to work at the quarry hahahahaha" shtick at the end... show us his less jackass-y side at the end, let us see him have a moment of regret or at least realization that he decided too hastily.

tl;dr: They actually had some interesting (kinda batty... but interesting) ideas here, the problem is that they needed to take their time and lean. the fuck. in.

See also: Bertram the Old Warrior, Stepney's line on Sodor, 'Arry and Bert ready to scrap engines at the drop of a hatt, Thomas as storytelling moralizing mentor figure, Tiger Moth, and any new character from seasons 7-16 that wasn't female (and some who were!)

[joezworld]

Fools in Love (5/10)

James And The Diesel Engine

1978

When 46 040 had declared that she would become friends with James, nobody in the sheds had really believed it.

James was vain, occasionally pompous, and immensely suspicious of diesel traction. It was a minor miracle that Bear and BoCo had been accepted by him, and Gordon speculated that it was due to the fact that neither engine was in a role that would displace the red engine.

040 on the other wheel, was in direct competition with him - right down to her shiny red paint. The big diesel had been eager to prove her worth, and had gladly accepted any work that the Fat Controller had given her. This meant that for most of the past year, there had been two red mixed traffic engines on Sodor.

Naturally, James was quite upset by this - he felt that he was being supplanted instead of supported, and tried valiantly to make 040 go away.

Unfortunately for James, 040 was determined to make a friend out of him, and treated him and everyone else with an almost impenetrable level of charm and good cheer that soon ingratiated herself with the other engines.

“She is of good stock.” Gordon said when she came up in discussion.

“A hard worker” was Duck’s assessment.

“Aye, if more diesels were like ‘er, the other railway would work a treat!” This from Douglas - high praise considering his well established and totally understandable dislike of diesels.

When he first met 040, he’d growled at her to ‘stay away’, and after a moment’s reflection, she’d apologized.

“What MPD were you at?” She’d asked after he’d growled at her.

“Glasgow - Eastfield.” He’d replied after a confused moment.

“Yeah, that figures.” She sighed ruefully. “I’m sorry, by the way. They only had enough of the “I hate steam engine” bits for the 45s, so us 46s and 44s never quite understood why everyone was so eager to replace you. Well, everyone except Spamcan, but he’s an arse to everyone.”

“Aye?” Douglas was very surprised.

“Of course. We tried to make them be nice - they certainly didn’t need to be so vicious about it - but once they know you care - well, it’s said that you can smell weakness in someone’s exhaust, so we weren’t treated much better than you were.”

“I... had no idea. Do they truly do that? There’s no’ even unity amongst diesels?”

“Not a whit. At least, not in the Midlands. Don’t worry though - they’re getting what’s coming to them. All three of us Peak classes are ‘non-standard’ now, so they’ll see what it’s like to be on the wrong side of progress soon enough.” Her tone was not light, but neither was it overly dark. She clearly had private opinions on the subject that she wanted to keep private. 

Douglas stared at the big diesel with newfound respect.

James soon found himself in the minority of opinions about 040. His resolve began to waver when she would cheerfully keep her composure even in the midst of a heated argument.

“You’re wrong and I can prove it!”

“How?”

“You haven’t got a boiler! You wouldn’t understand what boiler sludge feels like!”

“Ah! That’s where you’re wrong my steam-powered friend! I do have a boiler - for steam heating! I know exactly what boiler sludge feels like!”

“Cinders and Ashes you are impossible! Why are you so cheerful?!”

“I like arguing with you Jamie, it’s fun!”

“Jamie??!”

-----

One morning, the Fat Controller arrived in the sheds with some important news:

“The Thin Clergyman and his son will be visiting the island once again!” He declared cheerfully.

The engines were surprised. “I thought that he had retired from writing?” Gordon said.

“He has,” explained the Fat Controller. “But his son has decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and will be writing books of his own.”

Most of the engines were excited, but 040 was decidedly not. As soon as the Fat Controller left, her face fell into an uncharacteristic scowl. “I am not appearing in those fucking books.” She said menacingly.

This was arguably more surprising than the news of the Thin Clergyman’s arrival.

“Whyever not?” Asked Henry, who was quite pleased to have stories written about him.

“None of you know this,” She grimaced. “But the only more damaging thing than those books was the fucking Beeching Report! When he wrote about that 08 that tried to cause trouble for Duck, he might as well have thrown a bomb into every yard in the country! Everyone was either saying that we diesels were evil masterminds or that steam engines were idiotic dupes! There was zero civility between engines! Friendships ended! Lives were ruined! Locomotives were scrapped over this! I wasn’t even built then and I still have been forced to deal with it!”

She laughed at the jaw-dropped stares of the other engines. None of them had been on the mainland at that time, and they had no idea of the trouble that had gone on.

“And then there’s one-nine-nine! That nincompoop has gotten every one of us Peaks called a Spamcan! And that’s impressive considering there’s three different classes of us! I didn’t even know what Spam was before that book!”

Silence fell over the sheds for a good while.

“I had no idea...” Gordon eventually said in a small voice.

“I know.” 040 said as she slowly regained her cheery demeanor. “And that’s okay. But I really do not want to be in the books.”

“What’s this about books?” James had been out on an early stopper train, and had missed everything.

“Oh nothing Jamie, do you want to have an argument?”

“No! and stop calling me that!”

“Great! So I think we are actually having an argument right now, but what’s your take on it...?”

-----

The Thin Clergyman arrived onboard Gordon’s express, and was given a warm welcome by the Fat Controller at Tidmouth. Fortunately for 040, Gordon had been able to pass the word on with an earlier train, and she was able to flee the station before the author arrived.

The next week of her life was not unlike a scene from the Benny Hill Show - wherever 040 went, the Thin Clergyman and his son followed.

She ran a parcels train to Barrow - the Thin Clergyman was waiting on the next platform,

She hid behind the Works, only to find his Son riding on Skarloey’s footplate,

At Haltraugh she tried to hide behind Duck - with exactly as much success as one would expect,

The two men starting interviewing engines in the shed, and she was forced to hide amongst the coaches in the yard,

Thomas’ driver unexpectedly fell ill at Tidmouth, and she leapt at the chance to take his train - despite being longer than Annie and Clarabel put together! She made it as far as Elsbridge before curious trainspotters began flocking to take her picture, and she beat a hasty retreat to the main line just before the Clergyman arrived,

The engines at the Kirk Ronan branch were quite annoyed when she tried to squeeze into their shed - she was so big that the door wouldn’t shut!

Planned track work meant that one of the Ballahoo tunnels was closed, and she bluffed her way onto the work train so she could sleep in it. This was an effective hiding spot, until she told Henry, who laughed so loudly that the Thin Clergyman heard the entire story from across the yard,

She even tried sleeping in the electric branch sheds at Peel Godred, but was not only glared at by the very antisocial locomotives who lived there, but also had to hide from both the Thin Clergyman and His Son when they came to see the Culdee Fell Railway.

Finally, there was nowhere left to run - she had managed to find all of these hiding spots while still doing her jobs, but today she was the ‘relief’ engine at Knapford, which meant that she had to sit in the yard all day in case another engine failed.

In full view of the station building.

At midday,  James bustled in with a load of vans for Thomas’ branch line.

“What are you so anxious about?” He asked 040 with a mixture of scorn and surprise. The annoying red diesel was looking positively frantic as her eyes scanned the station building. It was most unlike her.

“Jamie! Hide me!” She hissed as James’ driver uncoupled the vans.

“What?”

“Hide me! Quickly!”

“Why?”

“The Clergyman! He’s right there in the station!”

James looked over, and sure enough, the Thin Clergyman and his son were sitting down to lunch in the station café. “Why?”

“Because he might write something about me!” 040 was frantic.

James was baffled, but remembered Gordon mentioning something about some engines not wanting to be written about. He’d assumed that Edward was just being introverted again, but perhaps there was more to it than that...

He was tempted to do the exact opposite - to blow his whistle, attract attention, and pay back the loudmouth diesel for all of her arguments and nicknames, but when he looked back at her, he realized that 040 was frightened of the Thin Clergyman.

James was many things, but sadistic wasn’t one of them, and he ran around his train and shunted the vans so that 040 was almost entirely obscured from sight.

“Thank you!” She whispered as he backed away.

“Keep it dark,”  He hissed back. “I have a reputation to uphold. And I’ll try and draw his attention to me so he doesn’t go looking for you.”

“Shouldn’t be too much of a problem for you.” She said with a small smile. “You always are the centre of attention!”

James smiled back as he backed into the yard proper, doing his best to make as much noise as he could until he came to a stop at the far end of the yard - as far away from 040 as possible.

His plan worked flawlessly. The Clergyman and his son had been so engrossed in their meal that they hadn’t noticed that any engine was there at all, and quickly made their way across the yard.

Unlike 040, James was always pleased to have someone write about him, and spent the better part of an hour answering the Clergyman’s questions.

“There was one other thing I wanted to know, James.” The Clergyman’s son said after a while. “We’ve been told that there’s a new diesel on the Island, but we can’t seem to find him anywhere!”

“Her.” James corrected before he could stop himself.

“Her?”

In for a penny, in for a pound. “Yes. She’s a girl, and she’s quite shy.”

“Really?” The Clergyman said as he scribbled in his notebook. “Can you tell me about her? Or where she is?”

“I don’t want to talk about anyone behind their back...” James said, knowing exactly how often he did just that. “But I saw her going to the works a few hours ago. You might be able to find her there and ask her yourself.”

This pleased the Clergyman and his Son, and they immediately set off in their hire car for the works. James waited until they had vanished from sight before he called out: “They’re gone!”

“Thank God!” 040 shouted from across the yard.

“Don’t thank him! Thank me!” James called back.

“Thank you James! Really, I owe you one now.” James couldn’t see the diesel, but he could somehow tell that she was smiling.

----

040′s luck finally ran out on the last day of the Clergyman’s trip. She was rostered to pull the night express, and didn’t realize that the Thin Clergyman was going to be on board. She almost jumped off the rails when she saw him climbing the stairs to the platform, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding when he entered the train, and her face fell when she realized that he was merely putting away his luggage before he got out of the train and walked up to her.

“Hello there! I haven’t seen you before!” He said jovially while admiring her paint and stripes.

“I’m new.” She said, trying to keep her tone somewhat polite. The ugly anger rising in the pit of her engine block was making that a very hard thing to do.

“I can see that - you have been quite hard to find!”

“Have I?”

“Very much so, but nevermind that. I was wondering if you would be willing to let myself and my son write about you? You see, we write books abou-”

“I know what your books are about.”

“Oh you do?” The Thin Clergyman said, not missing the sudden undertone in the diesel’s voice.

“Oh yes. And I’m not even talking about Spamcan.” She smiled viciously as the Thin Clergyman winced at that reference.

“Yes, well-”

“I’m not done. I'm talking about the other book you wrote. About the 08? The one that got more than a few engines killed?”

“What?” The author recoiled at the now-undisguised venom in 040′s voice.

“Of course you don’t know. You don’t care about diesels, just your precious steam engines.” She glared at him with undisguised malice. “Do me a favor - take that notebook and go fuck yourself with it - I will never be in one of your books.”

As she said that, the signal dropped, and the guard - who couldn’t see the Clergyman due to a porter’s trolley in the way - blew his whistle.

040 set off immediately, leaving the Thin Clergyman standing on the platform, taking his baggage with her.

-

When the Clergyman’s son started publishing his books several years later, 040 was nowhere to be seen in any of them.

[princeluckybug13]

waaaaait no, back up mate, talk to us a little more about Duke. (I really dislike him myself, and it's weird, because there's no other engine I actually dislike. can't quite figure out why. let's compare notes!)

I can’t say he’s my favorite engine. Duke is a character to be sure.Duke is like the epitome of old fashioned and stubbornly so. It, of course, should be said that most of this is just head cannons and the like. Also sorry it took me so long lol

Obviously the “engines should be seen and not heard” is something he was taught, and I want to imagine he was fine with this (and the general mistreatment of other engines) for one reason. Favoritism. Plain and simple favoritism. I mean, he was literally named after the Duke of Sodor. It’s only logical to assume that he was treated much, much better than his peers on the Mid Sodor.

His obliviousness on the mistreatment might also explain why he would (theoretically) make up stories about other engines. He would think an engine had to have done something to deserve the “punishments” given to them, so certainly they must be good for nothing scallywags. Surely the man who took care of them would never dream of being cruel.

And of course, Duke would never make such mistakes. It would always be someone else’s fault. The owner/manager would do anything for “his perfect little engine” and constantly pawn more laborious work to other engines, so Duke usually didn’t deal with the more lowley (according to him) work like goods.

With all this, Duke would never see a reason to not be content with his work and life. He was well taken care of and treated (in his eyes) rather fairly.I imagine Duke’s first few months (maybe even years) on the Skarloey Railway was jarring to say the least.

“A railway full of rebels, chatterboxes, and imputent scallywags? Such a disgraceful railway.”

Hope that answers it for you! Don’t be afraid to ask more questions! :3

[skarloeyspa]

Good Morning!

I'm actually a night owl. Anyway-

Hello!! I'm Capy (she/her but others are cool too) and I like the silly little engine show! I turned 19 this year...my head hurts a lot these days, and I'm a full-time uni student, so Thomas has been a bit of a coping mechanism for me lately!

I've been a bit of a lurker for my first few years on Tumblr, so I really don't know the first thing about Tumblr etiquette besides reblog = good...but I got back into Thomas and have no one to talk to about it so here I am!

In terms of what I'll post it really depends on my social anxiety and my school work, but I have a couple of humanized TTTE engines under my belt? I'd also like to explore Furness! Edward and CR! Scottish twins! My favourites are Edward, Scottish twins, Emily, Ryan (they did him so dirty...), Skarloey and Sir Handel!

I also just really like the Skarloey railway in general! I wish they did more with them in the CGI era, Duncan's episodes were *chef's kiss*. I don't know much in terms of real-life engines or railways, but I'd love to learn more to incorporate them into some headcanons I have...

That's it for now I think! Sorry for the long post aha. This is a side blog so I have a main, but that's just where I keep my interests over time and I'm MUCH quieter there. This is sort of my first time being public on a platform like Tumblr? So sorry if I do something wrong!!

Edit: Gonna make some tags now cuz I wanna organize stuff ha

#capy's graffiti - doodles or shitposts that I make when I have brainrot or don't want to do work #pictures in the reception hall - more rendered art. Will be MUCH less frequent than shitposts because I am a uni student, but they do exist sometimes #stem major tries out media literacy - the one and only. Writing posts for when I get so much brainrot I start spewing letters. #how the hell do i organize this - DUMPSTER TAG. Other kind of brainrot but with a lot less nuance

[sudriantraveler]

Duncan's Accident Report

It was evening on the Skarloey Railway.

A very battered and bruised Duncan sat at the back of the workshops. His driver was sitting at a desk nearby with a pen and paper as Duncan dictated to him what to write.

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to your request for additional information in block 3 of the accident report form.

I put “poor planning” as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation, and so I trust the following details will be sufficient.

I am an industrial engine by design. On the date of the accident I was working alone near the incline at the Skarloey Slate Quarry.

Work had to be stopped early, as the brakes on the incline winding gear had broken. However, I saw that there were some loaded slate trucks left over at the top of the incline which, when weighed later, were found to be slightly in excess of 46,000 lbs.

Rather than go and bring the trucks down myself using the longer, more winding path through the back of the quarry, I decided to send them down using the incline.

Since the brakes on the incline winding gear were broken, I decided to couple myself to the winding cable to ensure a steady descent as the trucks began to roll down.

You will note, in block 11 of the accident report form, that I weigh just under 18,000 lbs.

Due to the shock of being jerked forward so suddenly, my driver fell off the footplate and was unable to apply my brakes, and I was also unable to disconnect from the cable.

Needless to say I proceeded at a rapid rate of speed up the incline.

At about the halfway point of the incline I met the trucks, which were now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed, in spite of some of them having become derailed and hanging over my line.

This explained the fractured smokebox, minor scratches and the broken funnel, as listed in section 3 of the accident report form.

Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until my front end was buffers deep into the winding house.

Fortunately, through the impact I had remained connected to the cable, and managed to hold on in spite of beginning to experience a great deal of pain.

At approximately the same time, however, the trucks hit the buffers at the bottom of the incline, with several becoming uncoupled in the impact, and the remaining trucks being broken open and losing their loads of slate.

Now devoid of the weight of the slate and the uncoupled trucks, the remaining trucks weighed approximately 9,000 lbs. I refer you again to my weight of 18,000 lbs.

As you can imagine, I began a rapid descent back down the incline.

In the vicinity of the halfway point, I met the trucks coming up.

This accounts for the two fractured rear buffers, broken cab window and several dents along my cab and bunker.

Here my luck began to change slightly.

The encounter with the trucks seemed to slow me enough to lessen the damage I sustained when I crashed into the pile of slate, and fortunately only three crankpins were broken.

I am sorry to report, however, as I sat there in the pile of slate, in pain, unable to move, I became disconnected from the cable, and I sat there watching the empty trucks begin their journey back down to me. This explains the two broken cylinders.

I hope this answers your inquiry.

Signed,

Duncan

Inspired by this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf0_KQQeTjc

[steam-and-oil-blog]

Hola, Prominence Part 1

As Promised, the first installment of the main works!

This AU has a slow start in the main story but rest assured you can ask away, spoilers or no! [spoilers are taged!]

So please enjoy! Story under the cut! [sorry mobile]

Victor tapped his foot impatiently, it has been an hour what was taking them so long, the engine they were bringing couldn’t have been that slow. Then the door opened.

“Victor, Victor come with us please.” The foreman asked, well more ordered in a less angry than the normal way. Victor stood from his half sit against the wall and straightened out his nice uniform. Victor followed his foreman, the sounds of yelling rang out through the works, echoing in the lofts and undiluted by the normal clatter of the works, Sunday was always an eerie day in the large building. Victor’s mind floated back to the yells as he neared the culprit, his view was blocked but a distinct voice scwalled in thick languages, almost British, but definitely not at all, oddly pitched, a bit high, but not squeaking.

“Ich hasse dich!” Was repeated over and over, a few “Fix eini!” and “Du kannst mir nichts vormachen.” thrown in for good measure. Victor saw his controller near where the noise emanated, standing with his same tired and worn expression he normally held on odd days at the works. He was never awake on Sundays, but today he looked two steps from the grave.

“Sir, what-” As Victor started to ask what was wrong, Topham turned, and stepped aside, Victor now saw a sight. A smaller masc, with sandy matted hair and old tattered clothes, was under an open crate, hiding under it, yelling and near tears. Victor gulped and took a few steps past his Controller to this unknown masc.

“Du… sprechen… English?” Victor asked, trying to remember the little bit of German he had gotten from the various engines and humans he had fixed and met over his years.

The masc looked at Victor, going quietly.

“Approbiert? Dampflokomotive oder Diesellokomotive? E-Lok?” The masc asked Victor took a complete blank.

“Z-Zug,” Victor replied, hoping that was an answer, a simple engine was all he was.

“Engine?” The masc finally replied in English, Victor took a breath.

“Yes, Engines, at this works, engine repairs,” Victor said, hoping to get through. The masc sat up, tossing aside their hiding crate.

“Works engine….” the masc said, he gestured at himself.

“I am Works Engine, need help?” Victor asked, the masc looked at him, then nodded faintly.

“Intake, running out of, inside.” the masc said, he hit a hand to their chest.

“Water? Food?” Victor leaned down in front of the Masc and offered a hand to help them stand.

“All.” the masc said, with Victor’s help, they stood, shaky on their knees they leaned onto Victor. Even with the masc being small for a masc, they were bigger than Victor, but not by much.

“Come, we shall fix you up, mis amigo,” Victor said, he cursed to himself a little for the Spanish but helped the masc along, the masc looked at him, and while not as sad any more they didn’t look happy at all.

Topham and the Foreman followed Victor and the masc, Victor lead the masc into the break room of the works. Victor put the masc in a chair at a small table, and he went to the fridge.

“Oh, so you are who takes lunches.” The foreman said with thick contempt.

“If someone leaves a lunch over the weekend they deserve it eaten,” Victor stated coldly, he opened a brown bag and pulled out an apple. He tossed it to the masc. Victor went to catch the apple again as he forgot this was deprived engine who probably had no reflexes any ways, but the masc caught it without blinking with toned reflex. Victor was impressed but forged on for more substance.

The masc took a gentle, well as gentle as you could, bite of the apple. The masc squeaked as they tasted the apple. Victor sprinted suddenly to the side of the masc. The masc wiped some dribblings from the apple off his face, he smiled and giggled tasting the sweet apple. Victor relaxed a small bit and patted the masc on the top of their head.

“Been a long time?” Victor asked.

“Lord yes, my dear works engine.” the masc said, the struggle gone as they crunched away at their apple.

“Well, it will never be too long again,” Victor informed, the masc looked up at him and smirked slightly, a warm gaze in their eyes.

“So warm, Mr Works engine. May I catch your name?” The masc asked.

“Victor,” Victor held a hand out to the masc, the masc took his hand.

“The Prominence.” the masc said quickly.

“Fancy name, old engine?” Victor asked as he stepped away from Prominence.

“Old enough, what are you, a gen 5?” Prominence asked Victor stared at him a second before going for a glass of water.

“First, for Crovan's gate at least, you know a works engine before?” Victor filled the glass quickly and swiftly brought it back to Prominence. Handing it to him. Prominence puffed and took a drink.

“Know a works engine, know a works engine, Victor, you obviously don’t know anything about me.” Prominence put the glass on the table and leaned forwards. “Victor I’ll tell you what, find a works engine more experienced than me, I bet on my brass you won’t,” Prominence smirked, Victor leaned closer to Prominence.

“1901,” Victor said, a brag in his voice. Prominence laughed a little.

“1853, youngn’, and still kicking to boot,” Prominence said proudly; Victor almost choked on Prominence’s words.

“So, what brings you here, grand-puff,” Victor asked, sitting at the table.

“Ah, your, or should I say, our control could tell you, scrapling,” Prominence said, they turned to the stout man in the corner of the room with the foreman.

“I purchased him from a scrap monger, his shell will arrive in a few days,” Topham informed quickly, Victor nodded and looked at Prominence, he gave him a quick vertical glance.

“You’ll need clothes, and some tools, also you should adjust to railway policy.” Victor listed quickly, Prominence took a hard gulp of their water.

“I-I I am n-not changing f-for a-anything!” Prominence squalled out, sputtering and choking on their water.

“Whoa there mis amigo just some hair trimming and colour swatching, don't think bad it will be ‘kahy?” Victor slammed out in a native speed.

“What about my hair it's been like this for decades, and my eyes? It's called Alexandria Genesis and my builder suffered from it it's out of respect!” Prominence snapped, their grip tightening on their glass to the point it started to creak.

“Wasn't your builder albino?” Topham interjected, Prominence snapped a new glare at the man.

“Don't you dare talk about what my builder is or isn't.” Prominence hissed with vigour, Topham nodded and took a few steps towards Prominence.

“We aren't saying that you have to change drastically, but it's the law that you have to appear human based on certain parameters, we just don't want you to get in trouble,” Topham told, he put two warm hands on Prominences shoulders.

“This Steam works has rules too, you know.” The foreman snapped, Topham shot the man a glare.

“You don't have to be here Mr Yokaira.” Topham boomed, the foreman puffed and rushed himself out of the room and presumably the works. “Prominence, why don't you get comfy for tonight and tomorrow I'll take you to get some new clothes and we can find you an acceptable look, and for now Victor you can get them something like coveralls.” Topham gave Prominence a soft pat on the head, and walked to Victor, whispering something in the Cubans ear he patted his head and excused himself from the room. Victor was quiet as Prominence finished their glass of water and their apple.

“So, how long were you a works engine before you- ahm.”

Prominence looked at Victor, and smiled.

“Oh wow, let’s see, I worked the line 9 months, sat for 5 months, so 1854 to about 1947 I think, it was after the second great war. I know that for sure.” Prominence said, stretching a little and standing. Victor looked at them blankly.

“T-That would make you over 150 you shouldn’t even be running why are you getting restored and you have survived this long!” Victor shot out, standing quickly.

“Yeah, works engines don’t really retire, unless forced of course.” Prominence stated, they started to mill around the room looking at things.

“I understand that, but I mean normally the only engines who get restored at that old are the ones who are, you know, you have heard of them.” Victor said honestly, Prominence turned to Victor, and smirked.

“I am plenty memorable, you just haven’t connected me yet.” Prominence chuckled, they leaned over a couch and picked up a remote.

“Hey we can talk about new tech later, you can-” Prominence turned on the TV and started to flip through channels. “How do you know how to-”

“I used to live with a family, kinda like a pet, they wanted to rebuild me but they never finished.” Prominence said, they settled on a public access channel and leaned over the couch, they started to engross theirmself in the program.

“That sounds interesting but don’t you want to clean up, or see the shed?” Victor asked.

“In time, in time….” Prominence stayed engrossed in the programming. “Voraw I shall.”

“What?”

“Jiue or voraw, today or tomorrow, it’s a how to learn the language program, it’s kinda like Manx Irish, its cute. Can you speak it?” Prominence said.

“Oh, oh Surdian, no, I don’t think to many people speak it.” Victor said, he walked up and leaned on the couch next to the new engine.

“Faarkey to loey to hawin, sea to lake to river, so cute.”

“You are a mad man.”

“Crawp pørn Rheneas, tree stream Divided Waterfall.”

“That’s what his name means?” Victor said, he snuggled a bit into the couch now engrossed. “That’s amazing I thought it was just nonsense!”

“Hey that is quite the handsome little narrow gauge, oh he even has a friend. Skarloey is nice looking as well.” Prominence purred, Victor glanced at them and back to the TV. “Do we work on them or do they have their own shop?”

“We work on them, but only when it’s really bad.”

“I’ve always wanted to work on narrow gauge regularly.”

“You seem to like a lot of things.”

“I appreciate pretty much everything, old age I figure.”

Victor looked at the engine next to him, and smiled.

“You don’t look it, with the odd coloured hair, and the smooth skin, a lot of engines I know much younger than you look much older.” Victor chuckled, Prominence looked at Victor, and cracked a small smirk.

“It’s just how the corporeal forms, youngn’,” Prominence went back to the program happily listing off Surdic with the screen.

“1901 isn’t that young any more.” Victor said, taking his attention to the screen as well.

“Eh, you’re younger than me. But I can see why a first gen wouldn’t like it.”

“First gen is a stretch mis amigo, I wasn’t even here until the fifties or sixties.”

“I’m guessing you were still the first one here, that’s what matters for you later first gens.” Prominence laughed a little. “I remember when we made that change, took almost a year of correspondence.”

“Let me guess, you are a true first gen?”

“Debatable, I wasn’t built for my job, so some don’t like to think of me with that prestige.” Prominence snorted. “Like any of us were meant to be flawed.”

“Hey, it looks like the show is over, come on let’s get you something clean to wear, the showers aren’t far, you can clean off and I’ll get you some coveralls.” Victor said, Prominence nodded and turned the TV back off.

“So where are the showers, old chap.” Prominence piped, Victor nearly choked at the unfitting turn of phrase but Prominence even started to laugh at their self, the two laughed for a small moment. “No really, bitte?” Prominence said as he calmed a bit.

“Next room, labelled locker room, go in the fem one, if some one shows up you are least likely to get caught. We don’t actually have any fem employees any more.” Victor said, Prominence nodded and made their way over to the disclosed location. Victor made sure he went in the correct door.

Alone, Victor took a puff of air as he finally relaxed a small bit.

“Uf, largo día largo día, pero él es lo suficientemente bueno, me pregunto cómo vamos a tratar a largo plazo, va a ser un puñado.” Victor said to himself, his native language ringing in his ears comforting him in a gentle way.

Victor slowly made his way to get some of the basics for Prominence, he hummed to himself as he walked along, checking out a window at glance it did indeed look like Kevin was asleep so he could take his time taking care of the new engine at his works. Once back to the locker room, Victor peaked in, he saw and heard a shower running but didn’t see Prominence in the slightest.

“Hola?” Victor called, he walked over to the shower still, on the floor Prominence was sitting against a wall, trying to pick dirt and rust from their knotted hair.

Prominence looked up at Victor and smirked a little. “It’s been, quite a while.” Prominence laughed awkwardly, embarrassed slightly.

“I’ve seen engines much worse before, now why don’t you finish up just your body, and I can help you with the hair grime in a sink.” Victor said with a smile at the German, Prominence nodded, and quickly standing finished their shower. Victor passed over a towel an the coveralls without hesitation, Prominence dried their self off and put on the coveralls.

“My hair has always been a wreck of dirt, I must admit.” Prominence said as Victor pulled them to a sink.

“Well, we will deal with it, mis amigo.” Victor chirped.

“For an American, you sure do use a lot of Spanish.” Prominence commented as they were pulled down into a sink. Victor scoffed.

“I’m Cuban, always-”

“You are obviously a Baldwin engine, I haven’t even seen you’re shell and I can tell, raised in Cuba though, that’s a country that never really exported it’s engines.”

“Alright, Mr. big shot, how can you tell?” Victor snapped at the German he was now picking rust and dirt out of.

“I know you are short any ways but you have a very bulldog like stance, Baldwin engines are very bulldog like for whatever reason. Closed in and forward, It’s odd on some engines but not on you. Also you are very wide for you’re size, American all the way.” Prominence chimed, their voice bouncing off the porcelain sink.

“Observant and knowledgeable, why were you ever scraped.” Victor said as he poured some water over Prominence’s hair to try and get more out.

“Well I mean, I just-”

“VICTOR!” A voice called, echoing in the semi large room and cutting off Prominence. Victor cringed a little and sighed. He pulled Prominence out of the sink, hair mostly clean.

“Time to meet the help.” Victor said, handing Prominence a towel to dry off their hair.

Suddenly the door burst open and in fumbled and fell in a smaller masc with messy off blond hair, a face full of innocence and freckles, with a large smile.

“Victor! Victor! I saw a shooting star!” the masc yelled, standing and running to Victor, who made a sharp noise as the masc ran into him.

“Oh! That is really special, Kevin!” Victor said, ruffling the hair on the masc.

“Ooo, who is that Victor?” Kevin asked, bouncing over to Prominence.

“This is The Prominence, he is a new project, who might be working with us when he is done!” Victor told Kevin, Kevin nodded and held a hand to Prominence. Prominence shook the cranes hand softly.

“Nice to meet you, Prominence!” Kevin called.

“Hello, Kevin,” Prominence said, softening a little at the crane.

“So what did you do before!” Kevin asked, Victor sighed.

“Prominence is tired, Kevin, let-”

“I was the head Works Engine of the Works Engine council and the top ranking Works Engine Mentor of Great Britain, and I worked at several different Works including the Doncaster, Crewe, and Swindon.” Prominence said quickly, a small smirk lining his face as both Victor and Kevin paled.

“Santo infierno mis amigo.” Victor said awestruck, Kevin just stared at Prominence.

“What?” Prominence said blankly.

“T-that's insane, how old are you?” Kevin asked.

“158 years or so, but age isn't anything to this.” Prominence leaned over Kevin a little and smiled at him, they ruffled the small cranes hair a small bit.

“My hair?” Kevin asked looking confused.

“You head.” Prominence said, Victor smiled and looked outside.

“Ois, we better get some sleep. Look at that moon.” Victor sighed, he started to the works door, Kevin skipped after him and Prominence surprisingly skipped along quickly as well. Outside Prominence stopped.

Victor looked back at them and cocked his head to the side.

“What's wrong?”

“There so still and clear, I haven't seen them in so long, London is really no place to see the stars.” Prominence called, a quiver in their voice and a mist in their eyes. Victor stepped over and put a hand up on Prominence's shoulder.

“You can look all you want, Welcome to the island of Sodor, Prominence.”

Prominence took a breath and looked at the ground. “Thank you, dear Victor.”

“Come on, let us get some sleep before tomorrow, it will be a big day.” Victor said, he pulled Prominence along by their sleeve.

[sudriantraveler]

The Engine Before The Mid Sodor Railway

OK, so something just occurred to me. On the Mid Sodor Railway the section from Arlesburgh to Cas-ny-Hawin predates the rest of the railway. It existed in the form of a tramway, and according to The Island of Sodor: Its People History and Railways this tramway had steam engines!

Before we go any further I'd just like to say as an aside that in case anyone has forgotten the Cas-ny-Hawin mine was a lead mine, and based on this passage it seems that the tramway didn't have any coaches and so for any people who wanted a lift they would just let them ride in the trucks, and all I'm going to say is that we give Sir Charles Topham Hatt shit for using lead-tainted ballast on his railway (rightfully so), but at least he wasn't letting passengers RIDE IN THE TRUCKS WHICH WERE ALSO BEING USED TO CARRY SAID LEAD!!!

OK, side tangent over. Now where was I...

We really don't know anything about these engines or even how many of them there were... But I have a theory...

Could the mine engine be one of the old Arlesburgh Tramway engines? As far as I know the currently prevailing theory is that this engine was privately owned by the mining company and so technically isn't owned by the Mid Sodor Railway itself, meaning them predating the MSR wouldn't conflict with Duke being the MSR number 1, which brings me to my next point...

As much as I kinda like the idea that Duke was just built old... he would still have had to learn how to run a railway from somewhere... or someone...

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Honestly it might be kinda funny if the mine engine was trying to be a mentor to Duke... But they were also learning a lot of this stuff for the first time themselves and so were mostly talking out of their bunker! After all, a fully certified passenger carrying railway is a whole other beast to a freight only (technically) mineral line. In the years during the MSRs construction they were probably introduced to a LOT of new practices and procedures which they would have been completely unfamiliar with up until then. Such as the novel concept of carrying passengers in these fancy new things called coaches instead of just having them ride in the (lead carrying) trucks!

It would be very funny if part of Duke's strict obedience to rules and procedures comes from him being taught by an engine who was really just pretending to be extremely competent all in an effort to try and bullshit knowledge of a rulebook which they definitely haven't read!

This is rapidly turning into another one of my late night rambling posts, but now I'm just picturing this engine as acting a bit like Yoda, except unlike Yoda something like 90% of their wisdom is really just absolute nonsense!

Bonus hilarity points if this engine somehow survives to be reunited with Duke on the Skarloey Railway, where they confess to having absolutely no idea what they were talking about...

Duke just bluescreens and has an existential crisis, because half of his knowledge base is a lie and he's already passed it all on to Sir Handel and Peter Sam!

Skarloey and Rheneas meanwhile, are just looking on and feeling simultaneously sorry for Duke, and extremely vindicated because they had been trying to correct Duke on his misinformation, but he was just too stubborn to listen!

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

Diesel 10 for that shipping thing?? 😅

I shouldn't be allowed in anyone's inbox pff

Froggi, you are eternally valid. <3

I may disappoint you though, because despite some soul-searching I personally just don’t ship him (much).

Either he’s a hammy Big Bad, an evil bastard who does evil bastard things—in which case I appreciate the ham, but I don’t give a shit about his happiness…

… or he’s not evil, I can rationalize him on Sodor as a rather antisocial eccentric no problem, in fact lately I’ve been thinking that he’s a terribly interesting character that way—you know, the creative brooding loner aspect that @feigeroman and Saphirefox (AO3) bring out so well, but combined with his canonical ‘massive adrenaline junkie’ streak?—personally I HC that he is deeply scarred from the dysfunctional mainland diesel-vs.-steamie civil war + the dystopian job management did raising him and his class, which left him eternally prone to genuine mental breakdowns…

… yeah, like I said, fascinating. But not really conducive to him having healthy relationships. I can’t see anyone on Sodor who would be the right match for him.

Luckily, for large chunks of his life he can barely stand the idea that other people/engines/etc. exist… so he isn’t too sorry about that.

Oh yeah, also in my HC he’s just an ordinary ‘Warship,’ no major mods.

Once posters for TATMR came out, more than one engine encountered D10 to check in…

“Er, Ten? So it looks like in that movie they’re giving you this—”

“Didja see they gave me a CLAW!” *beaming because this was during one of his manic years*

“Oh, good.” *with real relief* “You heard.”

“Heard? It was my idea! Great, innit? Hatt can’t believe they went for it!”

*chuckling in appreciation—‘cause Ten certainly is a true original*

Okay, so, if I go for that second interpretation, then here’s what little I have:

💞✨  OTP ✨ 💞: Marion?

Strictly platonic. But I think they get on very well together. (Ten kills it at “Guess What’s In My Shovel.” Marion adores his witty guesses—and she has no problem at all shutting down and ignoring any of his “nonsense,” when he Gets Into One Of His Moods. She's the only one who can tell him off when he's a dick, and he'll reliably listen rather than resent her.)

Other Ships That Are 👌: His other special friendships:

‘Arry, Bert, Henry, Salty, Madge, Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Harvey, Mavis, Harold

Also Ten and Smudger in Saphirefox’s ‘verse are 👌x1000… I hope there are half-a-dozen more installments

Interesting But Fence 👀: Basically, these friendships are… a bit one-sided?

all the Skarloey engines (he tries to hide it, but Ten has a thing for little guys and the narrow-gauge does just melt him), Bertie, Arthur, Nia, Oliver, Diesel, Percy, Gordon

Amazingly, with Gordon the one-sidedness is on Gordon’s side. Gordon is remarkably tolerant about at least some of Ten’s eccentricities. Given that he usually rails against Ten-sized changes, let alone genuine disruptions, to his daily life, this is an unusual degree of tolerance. But Gordon is okay with the notion that big express engines need, nay have the right, to sometimes cut loose, especially if they’re not getting regular gallops (poor engine!)

Better As Friends 😊: Molly, Daisy—in particular, I can see him and Daisy having a chronic on-again-off-again thing. Mostly off, to be honest. But it’s still as close to a functional romantic relationship as I think Ten will ever have!

Molly would be more of a one-time thing. It was sweet, really—almost too sweet for even Ten to imagine it would ever stand to be poked again.

‘Arry and Bert qualify as better as rivals, I think.

Meh 😑 / Overrated : Even with all the explanation and backstory and worldbuilding in the world, I have to confess I really can never suspend my disbelief for D10/Lady. More power to those of you who are having a ball with it, but it’s just not for me.

It Happened Once In A Dream 🌑 (or AU 🤔): Ten hates Rebecca. (There’s no particular reason; truth is, if you first meet Ten when he’s having a bad day, there’s just no coming back from it. Thomas and Philip are also on his shitlist.) However, he did once have a very, very, very steamy dream about her…

He has yet to forgive himself or her for it.

If I Had to Put Them in a Polycule 💗: This guy is incapable of handling one intimate relationship; there’s no way he’ll ever be well enough to navigate a polycule.

The closest thing I have to offer is that I ship Mavis and Salty (OTP-level, too!) Ten is one of the best versions of himself around them, and they take pity and have him third wheel a fair amount... considering that they themselves don’t get nearly as much time together as they should like.

NOTP 😤: James. In my ‘verse, they probably have the absolute worst relationship on the NWR… It’s a problem, and basically everyone knows to not leave them alone or really anywhere near each other.

[princeluckybug13]

Have Skarloey, Millie or Handel ever required hospital treatment? what were the other two partners reactions when they found out the other one was in hospital? Or if not, do you have any super fluffy headcanons for them? sorry for the bombardment of questions i’ve just really been craving more ship fuel for them lately lol :) hope you’re well xo

I’m doing great thank you and I love answering questions about the little trio :3

Millie has had hospital treatment once to remove her tonsils, though she has had doctor appointments for her endometriosis (hope you don’t mind). Handel has had a few hospital trips because of his constant ability to get himself and others in mild danger. Skarloey has also only required hospital treatment twice. Once when he was extremely sick and passed out in the middle of his book shop. The other time was in a time of high stress that ended up taking a toll on Skarloey.

Mille, like with most things, takes these moments the most calmly. She does worry of course, she just doesn’t get worked up as much. Handel takes his own injuries in stride, but often feels guilt for his partners’ injuries, even if he isn’t the cause of them. Skarloey deals with it the worst. He often worries himself sick (often literally).

[princeluckybug13]

Because i’m trying to write about SkarloeyxMilliexSir Handel, would you mind telling me some more about their relationship so i can make it as accurate as possible? Xxx

Sorry it took me a awhile to answer, I've been at work. I don't have a whole lot of solid ideas, but I'll do my best. :)

It started between Sir Handel and Millie. Both have some similar characteristics (ie. Confidence, snarky/sarcastic, ect.).

Although they were happy, both agreed that something was missing. They definitely cared about each other, but they were worried they might be falling out.

Millie was the one who first mentioned that she found Skarloey not only physically attractive but also emotionally(?) attractive.

Sir Handel had some previous experience trying very badly (in his own words) to court the older male.

They eventually agreed to at least try to convince/approach Skalroey.

It took some convincing, mild flirting, and a small chat with Rheneas, but the three finally began to date.

Skarloey is very shy about the relationship. This partly because of his inexperience, but also because he was considerably older than both Millie and Sir Handel.

Despite a rather slow, shaky start, all three are very happy.

Millie and Sir Handel love to tease and flirt with Skarloey (he gets especially flustered in public).

That's all I really have for now. As always don't be afraid to ask any questions. :)

Good luck on the story/drabble! I'm so excited for it! Don't try and rush yourself like I do to myself! :)