#stepney ttte

[galinneall-dearg]

Day 10- The Great/Flora

[calitheheart]

imagine disliking stepney he's literally just a little guy

[dragons-and-magic]

According to my studies... The Engines are cats.

Giant metal cats. Need proof? Allow me to present my case.

Exhibit A: Zoomies.

All those time the engines felt the need for speed and went hurtling down the tracks like they've lost their minds? Cats do that too. In some cases, the end result can have the same level of property damage.

Exhibit B: Swatting. Also known as, aggressive/panicked shunting.

Thing doesn't work right? Smack thing. Cats do this all the time. Engines do too. We see this a lot when they interact with trucks. Something looks scary/wrong about that truck? Or it's acting up? Get that away from me!!! *Rams Truck, sending it flying*

Exhibit C: Aversion to water.

Most cats don't like water. Neither to engines. Even if it's not enough to put out their fire. They just hate it. There are obvious exceptions of course, like James. (But he's pretty much the engine version of an overly pampered house cat, that gets baths everyday, so that makes sense.)

Exhibit D: Flying things are bad.

Percy and Harold. James and the Hot Air Balloon. Need I say more? Cat's like to chase, attack, and eat flying things. They hate them with a burning passion.

Exhibit E: Neatniks.

Most engines like to stay clean, or at least get cleaned up after the hard work. They hate hate messy paint, dirt, and mud. Sound familiar? James is the perfect example of this. He's like that cat that licks itself everytime you pet it, because you "messed up it's fur". Lol.

Exhibit F: How did you get in there???

Cats seem to get themselves in the weirdest places. So have the engines. They are almost always found in the weirdest predicaments. And certain engine on Sodor, has done this MANY TIMES. How he managed to get clear on the other side of a mountain without tracks? Good luck trying to figure that out Topham. Pfft.

The engines are cats. I rest my case.

(Note: This is not to be taken seriously. This is just silly posting. Thank you.)

[gadgetini]

train things

[uncoupledengine]

Happy birthday to the best boi! DUCK!!!

So I have a head canon that all engines have a section of wall in the sheds that is dedicated to all of their big achievements. It’s to help them feel better when their sad, but also to remember some highs. So I drew a small section of Duck’s wall.

Top left:

This is a picture of Duck and Stepney not long after they double headed the express after the class 40 diesel failed. I feel like Stepney and Duck’s friendship is often over looked. I head cannon that their drivers totally write letters for the other engines to read.

Top right:

This is a picture of Duck having a Great Western Railway conversation with his idol The City of Truro. I would have loved to hear their conversations.

Bottom left:

This is a picture of Donald with Dilly. I feel like it is often forgotten that Duck was very important in Donald acquiring Dilly. So Duck is clearly Dilly’s second father.

Bottom right:

This is a picture of Oliver and Duck on the Little Western. It didn’t become a real Little Western until Oliver joined Duck on the line. They have such an amazing dynamic together that I wish we had more stories about them too.

On the far right is a flag that Duck received from when he helped save a man in the regatta all those years ago. This feels like something Duck would have kept for all those years and smiles every time he sees it.



[riko-ronnie-x]

Made this cause of this post by @damnea I thought it be wholesome (·∀·)

[duskstargazer]

[2014]

Within a week, Stepney was back in steam. He was quite impressed with how quickly the Steamworks handled the overhaul.

Both Stepney and the controllers had agreed that he had to see the rest of the railway while he was on Sodor. It would, they'd decided, be a huge lost opportunity otherwise.

He decided the best place to start would be to see Tidmouth again. He was pleased to see that much of it had stayed the same. There were a handful of new faces, but the labyrinth of switches hadn't changed. It could be a nightmare figuring out signals to switches if you didn't know the area. It took the terrier a bit of a while just to make it through the big station!

When he arrived, he met Duck at the platform.

“Allo, Duck. Good ta see you again.” Stepney smiled.

“You as well!” Duck replied. “How have you been? It's really been too long since we last spoke.”

“It certainly has. Things back home've been great - we've taken in quite a lot of new engines, and many of our own from the old days are either back in steam or- well, back in working order at the very least.”

“Mm.” Duck wasn't sure what to make of that.

“Well, while you're here, come up the branch line some time. There's a small railway up there that'll blow you away.”

“I'll be sure to!” Stepney smiled. “But for now, how've you been?”

Duck grinned, and began recounting. Soon, the two were talking and laughing like the old friends they were, about everything from conniving shunters, to triple-headers, to small white ducklings.

[railway323]

they’ve been talking all fucking night.

[the-quackeroos]

as Duck has a quick mug of coffee, he and Stepney notice Thomas fetching his last branch line train.

(I felt like doing another episode redraw. ^^)

[weirdowithaquill]

The Importance of Names in the Railway Series

It's been a hot minute since my last take on the world of Thomas & Friends - so here's one that has sort of been wandering about in the back of my mind for a while.

How important is a name to an engine? Cause we know the engines do put a lot of value into a name. Stepney and Edward say as such:

"[...] I think our Controller was right. All engines ought to have names." "Yes," agreed Edward, "it's most important."

And it's further reinforced by Bear later in the series:

"It's nicer than just having a number," he (Bear) says. "Having a name means that you really belong."

Donald and Douglas echo this by giving themselves names (partially to fool the Fat Controller) and the interesting thing is that Sir Charles actually uses their names almost exclusively from that moment on - unless referring to them by their new numbers.

Even BoCo gives himself a name! And it feels pretty on-the-spot too, seeing as he just goes "but you can call me BoCo".

But in contrast, every single rail-based 'villain' or 'antagonist' in the Railway Series only has a number, or is Diesel, who doesn't really have a name either. Check me! There's:

Diesel

The 'Big City Engine'

Class 40 (D261/D471)

D199

D40125

None of them have names - not even 'the Big City Engine'. They're given nicknames by the engines, but otherwise they are just numbers. And I think it runs a bit deeper than that. A little while back I did a post on the 'railway rulebook' - and something I said was that managers did everything in their power to both dehumanise the engines and make the engines loyal to them. What better way of doing that than only giving certain engines names? 'Flying Scotsman' gets a name because he's a prestigious express engine, but the engine who shunts his coaches? The goods engine who brought his coal? Why would management give them names - to do that is to undermine the class system they've built to keep the engines fighting amongst themselves. If the engines are on equal footing, then they'd want equal rights.

You know... this sounds a lot like the Communist Manifesto. I don't think the Rev. W. Awdry intended it that way, but it does.

But that's beside my point. Certain railways either don't want their engines to have names. In particular, I would point at the LMS and the LNER, which both had a massive roster of engines. Not only is recording all their names a pain, but it would also add a sense of individuality to them and muck up their spreadsheets. In most countries, people have an ID number for identification - and that's what these companies needed. Not names; numbers.

The GWR is a notable exception to this, and I think people have noticed that. Both Duck and Oliver arrive with names, and Sir Topham I was a Swindon-apprentice who would have grown up with GWR ideology. Edward got his name because he was built as an express engine, Henry and Gordon for the same reasons - and everyone else either gives themselves names or have names given to them.

Toby probably got his from his crew and the locals after decades of being in the same area - I mean, he literally runs into their town, of course they have a name for him. Percy is given his by Sir Topham, and we can infer Thomas and James got similar treatment. Donald and Douglas gave themselves names, and so did BoCo.

Another possibility is that a preservation society would give engines names, though that was more the engines on said heritage line - like in Stepney the Bluebell Engine, where Stepney refers to all his friends on the Bluebell by name, and says his controller gave out some names, like Bluebell and Primrose - but Adams and Cromford got their names from the other engines and they don't want the controller finding out. And again, Stepney and Edward both explicitly say that they believe engines ought to have names - and that they believe it really makes an engine feel like family.

This almost exclusively applies to engines in a steam-dominated society, and once again I have to return to my old nemesis: early British Railways. British Railways inherited a massive network that spanned a continent and had thousands of engines - not to mention the fact they were going to scrap all their steam engines and replace them with new diesel engines. Names were never ever going to be viable. But moreover, they were going to kill all the steam engines - if these engines were seen by the public to be very sentient and intelligent, then there would be an outcry. Dehumanising these engines was extremely important to their business model.

So almost every new engine built under BR got no name. And that includes steam and diesel engines. And this sort of environment, where engines referred to each other by number, became standard.

Names have a lot of meaning behind them. We give names to things we believe are very valuable to us, things we really bond with, like a teddy bear or a beloved family car. Names confer a level of love and care, as opposed to numbers, which have a level of 'repetitive factory conveyor belt' to them, for lack of a better term. These engines, referring to each other by number, didn't sound as human as those referring to each other by name.

For a good example, as mentioned above, the GWR gave all its engines names - and the GWR has the most engines from its company preserved. The fact that people knew these engines had names, and possibly by name, really contributed to how many were saved.

But what makes it even more interesting is the fact that often engines give each other names. Bear is given his name by the other engines, Duck is a nickname given to 'Montague' because he waddles. And I think the reason that none of these diesels have names is because no steam engine ever gave them a name, and company policy means no diesel has the mindset for giving out names either. Steam engines give each other names, but it becomes exclusive to them and friendly diesels, and thus dies out over the generations.

Engines today don't have names. They don't even really have a proper visible number. They have a serial number somewhere, but that's about it. And I think that says a lot about what happened to the tradition of names for engines.

To sum up a very long, winding ramble, I think names came from several places:

Themselves. Engines could name themselves, like Donald and Douglas - who got their names from (maybe) former drivers?

From crew and community. Toby most likely got his name from the people around him, being on an isolated tramway.

From their owners. Flying Scotsman, Mallard and Percy are good examples of this. It represents a level of importance and care for this engine, as well as in some cases reinforcing class.

From other engines. Duck and Bear are great examples of this, as they are given names by their friends that they like, as it makes them feel as if they fit in.

And these names were very common in the steam era as engines gave each other names and communities knew specific engines and gave them names. As everything became more commercial and bureaucratic, naming was lost. Numbers reinforced company identity and dehumanised the engines to make them less sympathetic to the public. Look at Donald and Douglas, who probably had their names for decades - given by their friends - but never learnt by management.

Wow, that took a bit of a dark turn. Thanks for reading, and as usual, none of the above pictures are mine.

[galinneall-dearg]

TTTE Texposts Part 3 (Source)

[creaturedrawz]

Book 18 - Stepney The “Bluebell” Engine

Story: Stepney’s Special

Super happy to have participated in the RWS collab this year!!!! 😄

[visionarylocomotiveworks]

"Now for a sprint!" puffed Stepney. "I'm ready when you are," replied Duck.

~Season 4, Ep 18 - Bowled Out.

Here's a REALLY old one I found digging through the drive. This one is from 2013, but you can see how much has changed since I was doing art back then...

[gadgetini]

bowled out

[number1spongebobfan]

More engines and their best ponies!

(I know nobody asked for this, but I couldn't resist <3)

[thebunnylord]

A few random headcanons that I have no place for

-Victor has a pair of custom made bifocals that also double as safety glasses, his vision is fine, but where he’s studying blueprints that have tiny details and numbers, he likes to have the magnification. The safety glasses part wasn’t necessary as engines eyes are tough and almost described of having the consistency of bouncy balls, Victor likes to set a good example and doesn’t think it would be fair if he was the only one that didn’t need to wear safety glasses while the other workers do. One of the men also took an old welder’s visor and made it so it could clip onto Victor’s glasses and be flipped on like clip on sunglasses. Victor didn’t ask for them, the workers were concerned about the possibility of him getting welder’s eye since he often works around a lot of welding.

- the break room at the steam works used to have a little tv, when they upgraded the works, Kevin stole the tv for him and Victor. Because both of them are so used to the loud noises of the steam works, they cannot sleep when there’s no noise, so Victor’s driver just turns on the TV and they fall asleep to it. When VHS came around, Victor started getting video tapes of telenovelas from Latin America.

-Victor loves soap operas and telenovelas, Kevin prefers docuseries about engineering and building, but he’s developed a taste for telenovelas. Their Christmas tradition when the steam works is closed, is to watch all 60 seasons of general hospital back to back commercial breaks and all. The workers always show up at the works the next day to find them red-eyed and passed out in the berth.

-after the cricket ball incident, famous cricket players started sending Stepney autographed cricket balls.