Don't Think I Ever Posted These, But I Was Pretty Happy With Them, He Kinda Looks DCAU Style-ish, Not

There is no way I have almost cried three times reading this

Okay so I have spent the last, two days, it might be three of four considering how long it's taking, reading My Father's Warmth, and I just want to say.

No fucking way did I just read that, simply having Endeavors father alive, I didn't even think of that, he is the catalyst of this story and it's quite frankly incredible.

I am in awe, like, they deal with it all so well, the way the Todoroki's cope and manage in the story isn't perfect, but it's so much better that the main timeline, they didn't get the Fire Nation Royal treatment.

And the ART, ohh my, it's simple but it conveys everything it needs to without feeling to cluttered.

@grimmijaggers This AU is brilliant and will be my shit for the foreseeable future.

Made several of these myself, and called them Trainsonification, similar to the Langauge Feature Personification.

How to Swear Like a Steam Engine (And Other Sentient Locomotive Slang)

If there’s one thing engines enjoy doing, it’s complaining and insulting each other, and they’ve developed their own slang to do it. Phrases like “fusspot,” “cinders and ashes!” and “bossy boiler” are common in the Railway Series, but there are many other terms.

The following list of phrases and expressions are commonly used by engines on American railroads, in particular on the Jefferson Great Divide Railway in the mountain west of the US. Some may be common in Sodor and the rest of Britain as well, others are specific to America. There are other lists on the internet documenting the various IRL slang used by human employees, and a lot of that is used by engines as well, but this is specifically the slang terms that were more or less developed within the locomotive subculture.

All Smoke and No Steam: All show and no substance. A person or engine who talks a good game or puts a lot of effort into appearing to be helpful but can’t back it up. An engine that’s making a huge cloud of smoke and a lot of noise looks impressive but if what’s coming out the smokestack is all smoke and no steam it’s not actually doing any work. Can also mean empty words or promises that won’t be fulfilled in the abstract.

“He’s all smoke and no steam!” = talks a good game, is all hat and no cattle, etc.

“That rule’s all smoke and no steam” can mean a rule isn’t / won’t be enforced, or that it will be enforced but it doesn’t actually make things better and is just a way of looking like something’s being done. E.g. “The new safety regulations are all smoke and no steam, management’s still going to come down harder for being late than for safety violations.”

“Their threats are all smoke and no steam” (when referring to customers/clients/workers) = they complain loudly but they’re not actually going to do anything like stop buying tickets, or ship freight by other means, or quit, or strike.

Amtrash: Derogatory term for Amtrak and its engines, used by freight railroad engines. Amtrak is the USA’s quasi-nationalized long-distance passenger rail network. Most of the track it runs on is owned by other railroads which are freight-only, and there’s quite a bit of resentment between them. See also: Useless Pacific, Nofucks Southern, Satan Fe, All Trains Smell Funny, Borington Northern, Misery Pacific, Criminally Slow and X-pensive, Southern Pathetic, Big Nasty Stupid Fuckers. The US only had its railroads forced into a Get Along T-shirt for like three years and that was during WWI-era, so there are a lot of rivalries between different railroads there.

Ballast Plow: A large truck, especially a flatbed, that stalls at a crossing – because if it gets hit it’s likely to bend around the engine’s front and be dragged down the track instead of getting thrown aside, digging into the embankment and scattering ballast everywhere.

Buckled Rail: A buckled rail (usually happens due to thermal expansion of the track in a heatwave) is at a minimum extremely painful to run over and can often damage engines or rolling stock and derail trains. “I need that like a buckled rail!”

Cattle Cars / Cattle: Derogatory term for a passenger train / passengers, particularly unruly and annoying passengers. Engines aren’t supposed to say this within earshot of passengers (and coaches get offended too).

Cowboy / Car Wrangler / Rodeo Clown: Shunter/switcher engines. Definitely popularized in the American West.

Did you fill your Tender/Bunker from the Ash Pit?: Ash doesn’t burn and would make a mess all over the cab. Basically translates to “Who pissed in your cornflakes?”Can also refer to an engine who has no steam or energy.

“Did you fill your bunker from the ash pit this morning? You’ve done nothing but complain and insult everyone all day!”

“Did you fill your tender from the ash pit today? I might as well be pulling this train by myself!”

Did They Fill Your Tender With Rocks?: Less profane version of the above.

Drink Hard Water: Hard water, i.e. water with lots of mineral content, is not good for a steam engine because mineral deposits (boiler sludge and scale) can accumulate in the boiler and other plumbing and be very uncomfortable / difficult to clean out.

“Go drink hard water!” = Go jump in a lake / go to hell / go fuck yourself. Basically “go somewhere else and have a miserable time while you’re there.”

“I’d rather drink hard water!” or “That’s like drinking hard water!” = Hell No.

Dry Crownsheet: VERY strong expression meaning an engine is tired or frustrated to the breaking point and about to lose their temper. “My crownsheet’s dry” could be compared to “I’m going to blow a fuse” or “Blow my stack” but that doesn’t cover the intensity. The crownsheet is the top of a locomotive’s firebox, and allowing the water level in the boiler to drop low enough that the crownsheet is exposed can cause it to overheat, weaken, and fail, which is a common cause of boiler explosions. If that weren’t bad enough water suddenly being reintroduced to an overheated crown sheet can flash to steam and cause a catastrophic pressure spike. Blowing a fuse means a safety mechanism has activated to prevent catastrophe. A steam locomotive with a dry crownsheet means the safety mechanisms have already failed and is on the verge of a devastating explosion. Used figuratively, means an engine has run out of ability to cope with stress and is one more tiny irritation away from taking it out on whoever’s unlucky enough to have added the proverbial final straw, or just anyone nearby, without regard to consequences for themselves.

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault. He rolled into the yard with his crownsheet dry” = He wasn’t angry because of you, he was already angry and something was going to set him off sooner or later.

“Listen, I got a dry crownsheet from my last train. If any of you cars start anything I’m about ready to jump the track into the river and pull you all along with me.”

“Please just get me out of this station! My crownsheet’s about dry and if I have to hear the passengers complaining I don’t think I can take it!”

Find a Scrapyard: This basically means “Kill yourself,” so… not a very nice thing to say.

Fire Me Dry: Basically equivalent to “Fuck me” as an expression of exasperation. If an engine’s fire was lit with no water in the boiler at all, it might not cause an explosion but would still destroy the firebox. Apparently Furness Railway No. 1 was severely damaged and later scrapped due to this.

Flatlanders: Insult used on many mountain railways to make fun of engines and crews from plains regions who aren’t used to running the difficult routes.

“Boy, if those flatlanders think one in one-twenty’s a hill, I can’t wait to see ‘em coming up the pass!”

“They way some of these flatlanders talk you’d think you can’t climb anything over 1% without cog wheels.”

General Sherman, Sherman’s Army, Sherman’s Necktie: Refers to “Sherman’s Neckties,” a tactic of destroying sections of rail by heating them and twisting or bending them until they were unusable. This phrase is pretty much US-specific, and likely originated with engines used in the US Civil War picking up the term from humans, but has spread to subsequent generations of engines who often weren’t taught the historical context and only knew that Sherman was a man who commanded an army and destroyed a lot of railroad track. General Sherman and his army have become almost folkloric figures that various causes of track wear and failure are attributed to, sort of like Jack Frost. Can also refer to incompetent track maintenance / rough and poorly maintained track, or to the crews and vehicles responsible for it. Though they sometimes use the term for an engine who’s particularly hard on the rails or otherwise damages the track.

“That crew really did a General Sherman of a job with these rails.” = Sarcastically saying the maintenance crew made the rails even worse.

“Be careful at that junction, it’s a real Sherman’s Necktie.”

“Ouch! Who laid these ties, General Sherman?”

“That new road-rail’s a real General Sherman. Take any track he’s been over slow or you might break an axle.”

“Hey, General Sherman, try checking a switch is set right before you barge into it.”

“In case you’re wondering why the spur’s been closed all day, General Sherman over here spun his wheels ‘til he damn near hit ballast.” (Diesels in multiple unit operation can occasionally spin their wheels on a stopped train for so long they grind/melt halfway through the rails)

“They ought to put you in a siding and necktie the rails” (similar to “They should lock you up and throw away the key)

“Keep an eye on the track ahead of you: General Sherman’s hard at work on days like this” = a warning given in very hot weather that could cause buckling of the rails.

Getting the Rails Painted: A euphemism for a person or animal being run over by a train. Alternately: “Paint my wheels” or “Paint my pilot.” Obviously no sane engine wants this to happen but some engines use this phrase as gallows humor between each other. Occasionally said to humans who break safety rules by a furious engine.

“What the hell are you doing walking between moving freight cars? You almost painted the rails back there!”

“I heard they got the rails painted at the 58th Street Crossing?” “Yeah. From what I heard, poor guy must’ve been drunk and fell asleep on the tracks. They didn’t say whose train it was but Robbie’s been in the shed all week.”

“Some idiot ducked under the crossing gates on a bike and just about painted my pilot.”

“I got my pilot painted by a herd of deer yesterday. I swear, once they get on the track they must think they’re a train, they just run along it!”

Go Get Your Ash Pan Raked: Removing the ash that collects under an engine’s firebox could be considered the closest steam engine equivalent to using the bathroom, but the connotations aren’t quite the same. Cleaning out the ash pan is a task firemen hate, so telling an engine to get their ash pan raked basically means “Go be someone else’s problem for a while (instead of mine)” Basically translates to "Fuck off."

Hotbox / Hot Axle: A hotbox or hot axle is an overheating axle and/or bearing box, usually on rolling stock but sometimes on engines. “One hot axle stops a train” is a common proverb that means a small missed detail can cause a massive inconvenience or impediment – compare to “For want of a nail” or “One bad apple spoils the barrel.” It doesn’t matter how many cars are on a train, a single hotbox can force the entire thing to stop until the problem is fixed. In slang use, of course, a hotbox can refer to anything small and seemingly irrelevant that manages to cause a disproportionate amount of annoyance, delay, or wasted time. It could be a physical object, a rule or procedure or an event. It is also a common insult: sometimes directed at engines, but more often at people or other vehicles. It basically means “killjoy” or “wet blanket,” with a specific connotation of “You and your opinion aren’t important but you are holding everyone else back / ruining things for everyone by making a ton of noise.” Common examples of hotboxes include an overly officious inspector or manager, a broken down road vehicle blocking a grade crossing, a track maintenance crew that’s working slowly and blocking multiple trains, a small weather event that still sometimes manages to delay everything, or an unruly passenger who causes an entire train to be stopped on their account (or unsuccessfully demands it be).

“Sorry I’m so late. Some drunk hotbox picked a fight with the conductor and the cops had to drag him off the train.”

“Will you quit being such a hot axle? Everyone else is enjoying the roundhouse party, if you don’t like it just sleep outside!”

“They’d better fix those jammed points soon, they’re hotboxing the whole damn yard!” (note: the use of "hotbox" as a verb among engines probably predates the drug usage)

Icicles In My Smokebox: Hyperbolic complaining about cold weather. There are many parts of a steam engine that are susceptible to things freezing where they shouldn’t, such as the feed hoses from the tender, water tanks, and possibly journal boxes and other running gear could feel stiff and numb if the oil gets cold enough. Naturally, when engines are complaining about the cold they’ll claim the hottest parts of them, which have absolutely no chance of freezing while their fire is lit, are freezing. Other variants include “Frost in my flues,” “If they put ice cream in my firebox it wouldn’t melt,” and “Cold enough to freeze your smoke halfway up the stack,” and “So cold a snowman could fire me all day long” (standing next to a firebox door shoveling coal is hot work, if it’s that cold in the cab it’s pretty darn cold)

Idiot Siding: Off the rails, specifically a safety siding where the rails end in a sand or gravel bed, or wherever a train that runs over trap points / catch points / derailers gets sent. These devices intentionally derail an uncontrolled or runaway train to prevent it from obstructing a main line or endangering people further down the track. If a train ends up here either somebody didn’t check the switch alignment, moved when they weren’t supposed to, or lost control of their train, hence the name.

If it gets any hotter my fireman’s gonna be out of a job: Hyperbolic complaining about the weather – implying that the heat of the sun on an engine’s boiler is enough to raise steam without them needing a fire.

In My Cab: Sarcastic way of saying another engine (usually) or a non-crew human is being bossy, or controlling and/or micromanaging, or giving advice on things that are none of their business. Basically meaning “You’re acting like you think you’re my driver.”

“Get out of my cab, I can sort these cars how I want!”

“Manager’s been in my cab all week.”

“Who let you in my cab?”

“Yeah, sure thing. Hey, while you’re up there in my cab, why don’tcha polish my gauges?”

Lionel Lines / Lionels: Derogatory term for narrow-gauge railways and trains, named after the popular brand of toy and model trains. Visitors to the JGD are strongly advised to NOT use this term around the resident standard-gauge engines. They are very protective of their narrow-gauge friends due to certain incidents in the past.

No Ashpan: e.g. “You’ve been running with no ashpan all day” or “He ain’t got no ashpan.” The ash pan is a tray underneath a steam engine’s firebox that collects ash and cinders that fall through the grates. An engine with no ashpan would leave a trail of red-hot cinders everywhere it went, which could be scattered by the wind from a train at speed, starting fires around the track – especially in the dry climate where the JGD is! Basically it means someone leaves a trail of destruction wherever they go. This is a very strong way of calling someone clumsy or incompetent (as in “You fuck up everything you touch”). It can also be used to refer to someone who’s rude, tactless, cruel, or toxic.

Pulling With Your Regulator: Wasting effort, doing more work than you need to. A steam engine’s power can be controlled using the regulator/throttle (reducing available steam pressure / flow rate to the valves) or by using the valve gear control (the “Johnson Bar”) to reduce the amount of time the valves are open. Controlling power and speed using the Johnson Bar (admitting small amounts of high-pressure steam into the cylinders) is more efficient than using the throttle (letting lots of low-pressure steam into the cylinders).

“Sure, you could shunt those cars like that, but you’ll be pulling with your regulator. Those grain hoppers are going out tomorrow morning and you’ll have to get ‘em out from behind everything else.”

Put on a Liquid Diet: A coal-fired or wood-fired steam engine being converted to an oil burner.

Rolling Dumpster: Insulting term for a tender. Not like a slur against tender engines, in fact it’s probably mostly tender engines who use it. E.g. “Why don’t you get that rolling dumpster off that siding and do some work for once?”

Sand in my fire and coal on my wheels: An engine feeling sick, confused, or discombobulated. Ironically oil-fired engines do actually periodically get sand thrown in their fire to clean their tubes out.

Scalding: Yelling at someone, dressing them down, treating them with cruelty. Engines can’t be physically scalded, but they know the meaning from the injuries that escaping steam can cause to humans.

“I’m sick of that stationmaster. He scalded me and my crew for running two minutes behind schedule without even asking why!”

“Geez, ask a simple question, get a scalding.”

“If that switchman isn’t fired tonight, he’ll wish he had been after the scalding I give him next time he see him. Throwing a train onto a siding at that speed could’ve derailed me, not to mention if there’d been a train there!"

Slug: Someone who blindly follows orders with no initiative or independent thought, or a yes-man or toadie. Used by diesels. A slug is an extra motor unit that can be coupled to a diesel-electric engine that draws excess power from it to provide extra traction while shunting, but a slug is not alive in the same way that tenders aren’t alive.

“Oh, company policy says, the rulebook says – quit being such a slug and live a little!”

“Yeah, the guy’s just Bernie’s slug. Always following him around hoping to be noticed. Pathetic.”

Smoke out the Stack: Similar to Water Under the Bridge. Expression meaning something’s in the past and no longer relevant.

“Hey, sorry about this morning.” “Ahh, don’t worry, that’s smoke out the stack."

Squishies: A very rude way of referring to careless yard workers and light road or rail vehicles, as well as people who trespass on tracks.

Sugar in My Fuel Tank: An unpleasant surprise. Originated in petrol-powered vehicles, but spread to diesel locomotives even though sugar in a diesel tank doesn’t really cause that much damage.

Teakettle: Insulting term for steam engines, especially small ones.

Tender-first: Doing something totally wrong, i.e. Ass-backwards. This one translates very literally. A tender engine running backwards can’t see very well and neither can its crew.

This Train’s Leaving. You can be on it, beside it, or under it: Means “My mind is made up. You can either help or leave me alone, but if you get in the way there’s going to be serious trouble.”

Thrown: Throwing a switch is what changing it from one direction to another is called, but when an engine talks about getting thrown it means being switched in an unexpected or unwanted direction, particularly at high speed. Like other types of sentient vehicle engines need a human operator to move with full control, but they also run on rails and cannot “steer.” In essence a train moves in one dimension while a car or boat moves in two and an aircraft moves in three. Even the most free-spirited engines don’t usually truly want the ability to go any which way: they like the certainty and predictability of knowing where moving forward will take them. However, engines do value the limited autonomy they do have. An engine can’t control itself without a driver, but as anyone who’s read the Railway Series will know, it is extremely difficult to move an unwilling engine. Thomas and James had runaway incidents because they were either trying to move without a driver on purpose or didn’t realize there was no one at the controls, and once they had made the choice to let themselves start moving, they couldn’t change the state of their controls by themselves. But an engine won’t move without their consent. Switches are a different matter. An engine is reliant on someone outside the cab to set the points, and being sent down the “wrong track” against their will feels very violating to many engines in a way that being physically pushed or pulled by another vehicle doesn’t. It’s like being manhandled. There is an expectation that switch operators follow the instructions of either an engine, their crew, or the dispatcher or yardmaster who is expected to tell the engine in advance where they are supposed to go. It’s also physically a jarring and unpleasant out-of-control feeling for an engine even when traveling at a safe speed – basically the train equivalent of going up or down a staircase and expecting another step that isn’t there, or suddenly hydroplaning or hitting a patch of ice in a car, or having your feet start to slide out from under you. And it’s often downright dangerous, either because a train is moving too fast for the curve of the switch and is derailed or because it’s sent into a collision on the other track or off the end of a siding (e.g. the Flying Kipper crash). Engines being engines, the term is also used hyperbolically to complain about an abrupt change of routing or scheduling with little warning, e.g. “Well, nobody told us about the special using my regular platform, until the last signal, they just threw me to Platform Five!” or “Today’s ore train was late. Dispatch gave them the tunnel instead of me so they didn’t have to stop going uphill, but I didn’t hear about it until they threw me on the passing siding!” It can also be used figuratively, similar to “thrown off track” or “thrown off,” to describe an unpleasant surprise or failure of communication.

Traveling In Style: Slang for a vehicle, especially a locomotive, being transported on a flatbed.

Tubes in a Twist / Knot: Expression of an engine (or human) being irritated, or feeling sick.

“What’s gt your tubes in a twist this morning?”

“That’ll put a knot in the foreman’s tubes for sure!”

“Are you feeling okay? You look like you’ve got a knot in your tubes!”

Turf Train: Affectionate term for farm tractors pulling multiple trailers or appliances.

Turn Your Grates: Implying that an engine has a buildup of ash on their firebox grates that is preventing their fire from getting enough air – almost always used figuratively to imply the engine’s mind is clogged with useless thoughts or strong emotions that are keeping them from thinking clearly. Or that they’re just being an idiot.

“Turn your grates before you run your mouth” = Think before you speak, in particular about whether you’re coming from a place of emotion or bias.

“Turn your grates and look at the track” = You have your mind on something other than what you’re doing, stop thinking about that and concentrate.

“Your cars are right on Spur 7 like I told you, turn your grates and look again!”

“I know the last diesel who visited was rude, but let’s turn our grates and keep an open mind about the new ones.”

Yoopers and Burlies: These are JGD-specific slang. The railroad connects to two major interstate railroads, Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF). At some point some engine heard about the word “Yooper” to describe people from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, decided to start calling engines and employees from Union Pacific this, and the name stuck. “Burlies” are BNSF engines. Prior to the 1995 merge of Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the term was used for Burlington Northern, but there wasn’t really a term for Santa Fe engines other than “Santas” or “S-Fs.” A few engines tried to get “Reindeer” adopted as a term but it never caught on. Yoopers and Burlies are common on the JGD because both railways have trackage rights on one or more of its major routes.

You Got Your Valve Gear Backwards On the Left Side: Steam locomotives reverse by using their valve gear to change the timing of their valves. If one somehow had its valve gear operating backwards on one side, one cylinder would be trying to go in reverse and the other forward and it wouldn’t get anywhere. Used figuratively to mean “You’re sabotaging yourself” or “You’re the cause of your own problems.” Mostly used by older engines.

All Engines Ought to Have Names

"Yes," agreed Edward, "it's most important."

Engines care a lot about names. It's one of the few things that engines have ownership of and not every engine is lucky enough to get one. It's a mark of distinction on most railways and, by that measure, it's perhaps notable that engines on Sodor are nearly always given names if they don't already have one.

No. 1 - 5 (Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, and James)

We can assume Sir Topham Hatt named all these guys because their respective backstories allow for that. Most of them are experiments that weren't ever meant to see real use, and we can afford Edward and Thomas that engines generally have to earn names outside of Sodor.

Hatt seems to favor common names for his engines. He's been around long enough perhaps to see what too lofty a name might do to an engine but leaving an engine unnamed has never been his style either. Giving an engine a name is a gesture of intent: you don't do so unless you plan to keep him around. It's also a great leveler: even the lowliest of engines on Sodor have names. Everyone is distinct, everyone is important to the railway.

No. 6 (Percy)

Percy is the only engine we actually see Hatt name. The big book of people, places, and things suggests Percy has a quite diverse prior work history, but taking his introduction in the book at face value, we could assume he's freshly built. If he did indeed work so many other places before without getting a name, being given one more or less sight unseen would be quite the statement to him.

I quite like to think he's named for Mr. Percival. They have a similar emotional intelligence.

No. 7 (Toby)

Toby already had a name and Hatt generally respects existing names which is why some other engines have names that do not follow his common naming convention, like Salty and Whiff.

No. 8 (Montague/Duck)

Duck is a Great Western engine and Hatt is said to be an admirer of the GWR. In fact, he came up at the Swindon Works. So when he asks Duck what his name is, it's an assumption that Duck does indeed already have one. And if he's a GW engine, he's undoubtedly quite proud of it. Hatt probably did expect that name to be somewhat pretentious, as the GWR seemed to take a humorous delight in that sort of thing, but that Duck had a nickname he preferred was probably a surprise.

He apparently received this nickname because the other engines thought he waddled. This could be a relic from the GWR, but I rather prefer to think it's from his time on the BR, where pannier tanks were perhaps a less common sight. Duck is also shorter, more relatable among other common engines, and easier to shout and hear over busy train yard noise. That he prefers it over Montague is probably practical (and it is merely a preference, he seems equally proud of his real name in "Duck in the Water"), but there's room for to be a trophy of acclimating to the BR.

SR No. 1 and 2 (Skarloey and Rheneas), MSR No. 1 (Duke), CFR No. 1, 4, 5, and 6 (King Godred, Culdee, Shane Dooiney, Lord Harry)

A lot of railways like to name their engines after scenic features of their lines or people that are important to it. This is particularly a mark of being a flagship engine on that railway.

MSR/SR. No 3 and 4 (Sir Handel and Peter Sam)

Beyond Duke, who was named for the Duke of Sodor, the Mid-Sodor Railway preferred to name its engines for their designers (Falcon and Stuart). If the railway had lasted longer, they might have run into trouble with that, but it didn't so all's well that ends well enough.

When Falcon and Stuart were sold to the Skarloey Railway, they were renamed Sir Handel and Peter Sam, after people significant to the SR.

Jinty and Pug

So an interesting note about these guys is that Jinty and Pug are actually nicknames for their classes of engine, not names proper. BR engines seem to usually go by a class name or a number; they're rarely given genuine names as far as we see.

Diesel

So it follows that Diesel is probably not a name proper either. And unlike other diesels who were eventually brought into the NWR, Diesel himself remains without a name proper.

I think Diesel has a complicated relationship with his place on Sodor and that he continues to lack a proper name speaks to that. However, I also think he likes it that way. When you speak of him, you have to qualify that you mean Diesel Himself. And even if he was not the first diesel to properly join the NWR (he even lacks a number, black sheep as he is), he gets to be called Diesel because he was the first to arrive. Though the distinction is dubious, it's a distinction all the same.

SR No. 5 (Rusty)

As seen with Sir Handel and Peter Sam, the done thing on the SR was to rename an engine after an important person to the railway. If we take Rusty's counterpart Midlander into account, who was bought from a quarry for the Talyllyn, it's possible Rusty already had a name upon arrival to the SR and was permitted to keep it. Rusty typically does not do customer facing work, so the name doesn't strictly need to fit the convention.

SR No. 6 (Duncan)

I suspect that Duncan was allowed to keep his name from his factory days as well, despite that he does do customer facing work and so should have been renamed to match the rest of the fleet. While it might just be that Duncan is a grumpy little cuss of an engine and so naming him after someone might come off as an insult to them, I prefer to think this is actually a consideration for him.

Given that factories probably don't need a whole fleet of engines and that Duncan has Opinions about diesels despite this, it stands to reason he was obsolesced and replaced by one. He's a complainer anyway, but he's probably not thrilled with his new lot in life. He's used to tidy, evenly laid (and probably indoor) rails and being able to say whatever is on his mind without worrying about what high-minded passengers will think.

Mr. Percival's got five kids. He gets it. No one likes change. Let that cunty little engine keep something that's his. It's a gesture to let him buck convention.

No. 9 and 10 (Donald and Douglas)

Hatt also asks these guys what their names are upon meeting them. If naming engines was likely on the Caledonian too, then Hatt expects they have names already, despite being BR engines at the present. They claim to have only given themselves names when they lost their numbers, but they're already lying about that so it's possible they're also lying about this. All the same, the BR apparently has little need for names, so it's a lie that would pass muster. If Hatt called the controller on the BR, he'd probably have no idea about this.

No. D1 (Daisy)

Daisy is the only BR engine who seemingly came with a name right out the box. Given that the BR wasn't exactly handing them out, but that she's apparently been treated very preciously by her fitter, I'd have to guess the name came from said fitter. Maybe that's where she's learned all her French nonsense too.

No. D2 (BoCo)

BoCo first gives his name when Edward spits out his entire class to Bill and Ben and they struggle to apologize to him in the face of it. It's a reversal of Co-Bo which is the name for his wheel arrangement. Given the more "affectionate" sound to it, it was a perhaps understatedly bold of him to give a name for himself. Co-Bo would have been utilitarian and given for ease of use, plausibly deniable if anyone objected. BoCo is a choice, it's him taking the liberty.

He was an NWR engine all along.

No. 11 (Oliver)

Also a Great Western, and so he had a name to begin with. And he uses it, even before he's accepted on the NWR. He might not be completely devoted to the Great Western Way as Duck is, but few engines are going to neglect a name if they have one.

No. D3 (Bear)

Bear was named by the other engines on the NWR, for the growling noise he makes. He likes the name his new friends have given him.

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

I love my MHA OC because normally you go the hero route, and he is strong enough to do that, but he spends his time in developing costumes and hero suits, so he's support course, but is more a Tailor/Chemist rather than the standard Engineer that the rest of them are.

The second this exchange student was on the premises and made aware of the costume situation, he lost a part of himself.

The funny part is that Wyn-Swep is genuinely just me as a character loosing my mind over costume design and policy, I'm making shit up to explain various new costume design developments, made this thing called a Cell Fabric Integrator, or CFI to explain the DNA costumes without having characters to get massive haircuts, might do some posts about Lysander and how the Second Year heroes are the bane of his existence and how he really shouldn't have transferred.

He's a brilliant little British man losing his mind because no one seems to be considering ease of access and comfort in hero suits.

You can accually read him interacting with Class A in my Fic Peizoelectic.

Wonderful Segway Midnight, granted he doesn't appear proper until Chapter 13, but has one or two references made to him before hand.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58726714/chapters/149650363

Go have a read.

I contributed to this conversation.

Toby the Tram Engine - Oaken Rizz

Discussed in a Discord server not 15 minutes ago . . .

Toby: "I can't helping being so good-looking! I was there when Jesus fed the five thousand!!"

Thomas: "That- . . . How does that even relate?"

Toby: "I'm not saying he liked me more Thomas, I'm just saying he fed me a bit more than the rest that day." *Trundles away.*

Thomas: *Speechless.*

Later that same day . . .

Percy: *Not five minutes after arriving at Ffarquhar sheds with the mail.* "Henrietta told me that Toby is a 10, but I thought he was a Tram & number 7?"

Thomas and Daisy: *Choke on their drinks and splutter helplessly.*

Daisy: *Recovers and clears her Throat.* "My dear Percy, that TOBY is a 5 at MOST.

Henrietta: *In the Carriage shed next to Daisy.* "My Toby is absolutely a ten, you motorized trollop!!"

Daisy: *Is offended and gasps in Highly Sprung.* "EXCUSE ME?!"

Thomas: *Finally recovers from his coughing fit to pacify the others.* "That's because Henrietta is Toby's wife, Percy. Of course, she exaggerating."

Henrietta: *Gives Thomas a dry, unimpressed look.* "Not when you're around, box-top."

Thomas: *Blinks like he's been slapped.* "Eh-?"

Henrietta: *Smugly.* "If you'd heard half the things Annie and Clarabel have told me about My Toby, that I already know, mind you, you'd wonder why they still travel with you at all."

Thomas: *Is offended in Little Engine.* "OYY!!"

Percy: *Perplexed and tilts his face like a puppy.* "What's a . . . wife?"

Thomas: *Recovers again.* "Ugh . . ." *Thinking 'I need another drink . . .'*

"Did you know you have really skinny hips that make a perfect place to grab and subsequently pick you up with"

"That's an interesting observation Kachan, but you also have skinny hips"

"ahh"

Katsuki is trying his best.

Kofi / Patreon

This, this 100%

do you think teacher!Deku and Aizawa would hang out more out of work? Like game night, movie night, etc?

Yes, please, and his old classmates are so jealous about it

Can you imagine deku going to all the teacher hangouts, going out for drinks or whatever like “should I even be here I can’t drink with my teachers :0” before he remembers he is a grown man and also now one of said teachers.

He keeps frantically texting the class A group chat about it like “I’m doing karaoke right now with ectroplasm-sensei as we speak wtf”

I think the Jirou as a part of the Bakusquad debate can be settled in an easy manner, she is to the group what Batman is to the Justice League, she's the part timer who happens to be there nearly all the time.

One of my Moot's refered to her as the groups Sixth Power Ranger, and that honestly fits she is there but she's not always there.

I think she works in the group because she's the base to everyone's more chaotic energy, she keeps them steady because she can rein them in.

Now this is just what I wanted for Christmas.

i just watched polar express

+ bonus sketch i didn't get to finish

Makes sense to me that Denki would have some form of small wheeled transport, he had a 1:30 hour journey by Train from Saitama to get to UA, makes sense the he was a Skater Boy.

I’m pretty sure they never show in the anime how they got to class?? But I love the idea that Denki used to show up to UA in his skateboard before they stayed at the dorms, also idk I feel like Bakugo it’s his dad’s baby and he used to take him to class when he wasn’t busy like PLEASE