Hobbies Railway Series, TTTE, and Many Other Trains/z Things to Share

[SkyOfSouls]

capefeather-esque intro sequence incoming (that's bugmaniacbob fyi):


It was a busy day all over the Island of Sodor. Like every month of May, tourists were flocking to visit the many engines that help run the Island. The ceremonials were going to start at 8pm, so everyone, including the well-behaved Troublesome Trucks, were helping with all the extra workload that comes with celebrating the anniversary of the famous Railway Series that put the North Western Railway, and by extension all the other Sudric Railways, on the spotlight. Even when a visitor from another world came to cause all sorts of mischief the month prior, the Engines, Rolling Stock and the Staff, including the Fat Controller, all still managed to keep up with the very busy workload.

Sunday May 12, 2024, Ffarquar Junction, the Island of Sodor (G1)

"OH NOT THAT DRAGON AGAIN !!" exclaimed Thomas on that afternoon. The poisonous drake, that had caused much confusion and delay throughout the island the past three weeks had come to visit HIS branch line, though the engines learned soon enough that it was as harmless as Bill or Ben if you gave it some coal and the apples from the orchard. Which is to say it is absolutely horrifying to whichever yardmaster or shunter is unfortunate enough to meet it. It turned out that Dryaw's stationmaster, Chillie, had been the one to bring it too life from his drawings through one of Hoopa's rings and the gold d-
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR COMMENTARY RACHEL. IF I HEAR ONE MORE MENTION OF GOLD DUST , I AM PERSONALLY ASKING MISS HATT TO BRING HER TO ME IN PERSON TO ASK IF SHE HAD BEEN SNORTING THAT DUST TOO !"
"Look, many people love that movie even if it gave us and the branch line backlash for a while. Besides, the next train's due, so gonna have to stoke your fire, buddy. I thought the special consist being permanant would make you happier ?"
"Yeah, you're right... That doesn't change the fact we are going to have to reorganize the yard again after its done playing. I still can't believe the prank that I pulled on Percy would pay off like this. I mean people come here to visit ME and MY BRANCHLINE, not the green caterpillar that nearly died of fright BOTH TIMES he saw a dragon, real or not. What is he, weak to them ? like in you and Chillie's Pokémon games ? Uhh, what type would weak to Dragon..."
"*...oh my god this is going to the best thing ever*" Thomas' driver could barely hold her laughter.

"Um, Rachel, is Sam back yet, the train's due in about, what, 5 min-" *peep peep* " - nevermind. Hey, Percy, look who's back ? YOUR WORST ENEMY, THE INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS oh my fucking god CHUGGALONG *pfft* !! LOOK AT ITS MENACING EYES AND ITS MENACING TEETH AND THE MESS OF A YARD YOU'RE GOING TO CLEAN BECAUSE I DID LAST TIME IT VISITED !"
"Blast ! and it was such a lovely run up from Anopha too !" He glanced at a widely grinning Rachel, and surmised immediately that she had prepared a comeback just for him. Cammie, a close friend and colleague, got the memo too and got a quick text. Their eyes widened with delight, to Percy's hidden amusement.
"So, I think as a Pokémon, as our staff calls it, you would be a wooly caterpillar with Red Stipes that would be weak to Dragon and Water, since you keep getting into flood related mishaps. Which would you mean you'de be a Bug and a Fire type, like some sort of hay burning crawler. I thiiink that makes that makes you really weak to Rocks, poor put-upon Percy, not quite sure to make of that but -"
Percy understood that the irony of that statement was as deep as the Sudric Sea.
"Thomas, the only type that is weak to Dragon is Dragon itself, so thank you for the compliment ! I also adore you comparing me to Larvesta, which evolves into the majestic and hilariously strong Sun Pokémon Volcarona whose Flame Body brings third degree-burns to whomever dares to approach its resplendence !"

Before Thomas could reply, his fireman was waving his phone in his face. There, in front of him, was a Smogon Analysis for its majesty the match-up moth, as well as the type-chart for the Dragon type, and told him to read them out loud. By the time he understood the deep water he was in, everyone at the Junction, were in hysterics and some had even recorded the size of his loss. He wanted to leave before one of the big engines could ask about the commotion, but to his dismay, a commuting Gordon and his crew had been waiting with a guaranteed connection on the main line. He had heard everything.
"Little Thomas ! Next time I see James, I'll tell him that being called Bootlaces isn't such a bad thing after all !"
Needless to say, it wasn't Thomas' special day.

...TLDR; Thomas tries to use CAP34 to scare Dirty Percy, fails miserably upon invoking Match-up moth, and proceeds to get roasted.

TODAY IS THE 79th ANNIVERSARY FOR TTTE, so what way to celebrate this, along, with CAP 34 Chuggalong (Wyrmotive was so much better come on) releasing soon by creating a thread specifically for all the train nerds out there who would like to share about their love for trains because every nation should have trains. No seriously share this with any Japanese or European or Chinese commuter and they'll tell you a million reasons why the US should stop specking so heavily into the road industry when they could have High Speed Trains that don't cause hour long traffic. I have been a TTTE fan for far longer than I have been a Pokémon addict and Smogon lurker (since USUM actually, when I was 9 YEARS OLD AND THE CURRENT CAP WAS JUMBAO), and wanted to share a hub for the Tolkien-sized lore of these stupid engines with a collective attitude larger than #competitive that all love make comebacks and jokes and laughter because they're family. Also Mattel should go bankrupt.

You can also post about the 200 year-old history of rail-based locomotion that spawned myths like the Shinkansen or the Flying Scottsman or Mallard or Tornado or the poor blue puffball that got roasted just moments ago or the Three Railway Engines or the Deltics or BIG BOY.

You can also post about the incredibly high fan content of TTTE since Mattel and the so-called ""United"" States of aMeRiCa at large are too busy snorting their greenbacks and existential dread to understand about how indispensable and respect-worthy the many drivers, firemans, guards, engineers, switchers, engineers, workmen and most of all, the Engines and their designers, are. In the words of the Awdry and the first US narrator George Carlin (yes that Carlin) :

ausma, DougJustDoug, Quanyails, snake spoo, dex, kenn, shnowshner, SHSP Chillie thank you guys for making CAP34 so I had an excuse to make a funny story

Also some cool beginner Thomas recommendations because the pre-Y2K content and the fandom are as lovely as this goated website :

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0M3g5l8wphjSeevvZEtDwoxIfAHtIy0C
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0M3g5l8wphhxi8GTyrgEdXttKuR5UOpq
https://www.youtube.com/@TheRealTrampy
https://www.youtube.com/@WildNorWester/featured
https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEB&search_query=demon+of+nowhere
https://www.youtube.com/@carson08022000
https://www.youtube.com/@4fproductions637/videos

The Best Thomas Movie, better than The Magic Railroad
also buy Trainz 2022 or Train Sim to learn train modeling (ALL OF THESE MODELS ARE FAN MADE) so that all CAPs have models.
Basic idea of how a Steam Engine works
How a Diesel-Electric Works
How to Drive A Steam Engine


also funny meme because it's Thomas the Dank Engine come on there are like a million tank engines on this railway

 

[Surgo]

In terms of just pure realistic train simulation, how does Trainz stack up against Dovetail's stuff (Train Simulator...I guess it's called classic now? And Train Sim World 4)? I mostly know Dovetail from them taking over ownership of Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

 

[SkyOfSouls]

In terms of just pure realistic train simulation, how does Trainz stack up against Dovetail's stuff (Train Simulator...I guess it's called classic now? And Train Sim World 4)? I mostly know Dovetail from them taking over ownership of Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

Eh, I'm not the most familiar with either game, but the engine physics for Realistic are good, they have wheelslip and brake pressure and dynamic braking (I just stuck to ECML because I'm addicted to Thomas, it has AWS, and downloaded a shit ton of high quality of RWS-styled engines and rolling stock). They do have realistic Steam Engine physics from Trainz : A New Era onwards, with water injectors and steam pipes and reversers and regulators (T:ANE is 2016). Those stuff are handled by the engine spec of the asset which you can modify easily enough (I don't know how). The graphics for Trainz 2019 and 2022 are another story, they look absolutely amazing (can't say the same for Trainz : A New Era, which has lived its time). The routes, official and fan-made alike, are expertly made, though you're going to have to make an Auran account to download fan contect.
Most of the effort I've seen has gone into making really good looking TTTE models of every kind of media to make just as well-made and edited videos. Fans have gone to the point of making a TTTE script that allows for instantaneous face-change, visual wheelslip, shaking, but more so for looks (which it does really fucking well) rather than engine quality. I'm not familiar with the fandom looking to make actual functionning engine specs though.
I think that Train Sim is a much more immersive experience as a pure train simulator, they have actual physics built-in physics instead of relying entirely on rails. Often in Trainz you have to use invisible rails and superelevation (tilting the tracks) to simulate realistic crash scenarios, what with them being tipped over and whatnot. Because otherwise...

As for all the Train Sims :

If you're looking for a realistic experience, try out Derail Valley. Steam link here. Here's a video explaining why this is an actual train simulator :

 

[shnowshner]

For the record SkyOfSouls, CAP 34 wasn't a creation of behalf of the users you mentioned, but a whole community effort for the metagame we run. It's an involved process with so many moving parts I'd be up until noon explaining everything (it's 5 in the morning for me), so just know that five of us (dex ausma kenn SHSP & myself) were the people our community voted on taking leadership positions during the project, and Chillie was the winning artist out of like dozens. I understand the excitement since every CAP we make cooks but it does frustrate a lot of people when users don't understand how CAP operates and unintentionally spread misinformation: some (not all) of the other users you pinged had little if any involvement with Chuggalong, and in general it undermines the whole community aspect of the project if you boil its creation down to a handful of users.

I don't mean to come off as ungrateful or derail the thread (this is a train joke), but I did want to write this up, since CAP is potentially the most unusual project on Smogon and the more I can do to clear away some of that confusion, the better. Regardless I am glad you enjoy the design so much, Chillie is a fantastic artist and absolutely deserved this win given their commitment and the fact that a giant train dragon is unsurprising very cool.

 

[SkyOfSouls]

I REALLY DIDN'T MEAN TO COME OFF THAT WAY, I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THE PROJECT SINCE JUMBAO, I LOVE CAP WITH MY LIFE AND WANT MORE PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT IT AND LADDER IT WITH GOOD TEAMS, I'M REALLY SORRY IF I CAME OFF THAT WAY, I JUST DIDN'T WANT TO TAG TOO MANY PEOPLE, YOU ARE ALL REALLY COOL, EVERY CAP IS GOATED

But yeah, EVERYONE who worked on CAP34, and all CAPs that came before for that matter, deserve love and respect like the TTTE community and all the engines there are. Can't wait to spam this on HO, my least favorite playstyle ! (can someone teach ladder newcomers to not spam what 6 CAPs that fold to Cawmodore)

 

[ausma]

 

[SkyOfSouls]

Okay so I want to talk about something that TTTE is universally acclaimed for : Music.
Like some of the best pieces of music in existence. THERE IS A LEITMOTIF FOR EVERY CLASSIC CHARACTER. YES, THAT'S RIGHT, TTTE DID SOMETHING BEFORE UNDERTALE !! They all sound amazing and exemplify or enhance their personality really well ! Some character even had multiple theme songs made from ! And there's also a bunch of other, more broadly used ones too !
Here are some of my favorite tracks from the series :

Donald and Douglas the Scottish Twins

Their entire personality are Scottish engines who are very proud of it who take jack shit from those whose dare spite them. Fittingly, this is has become the national anthem of Scotland within the community. If only the bagpipes were louder...
SCOTLAND FOREEEEEEVER !! **demoknight intensifies**

Toby the Tram Engine

A bouncy, yet slow theme reflecting Toby's age and experience, contrasting with his carefree attitude with life. Marvelous.

Duncan the Scottish Narrow Guage Engine

"I'm-a plain engine and I believe in plain speakin' ! Speak up !"
My favorite TTTE character, partly because his vibe as a mischievous complainer who just shits on the smallest of things and who doesn't hesitate to speak whatever bullshit just crossed his mind resonates with my core beautifully and leaves me in hysterics. This theme certainly helps with that vibe ! It's hot-tempered and groovy, like he's spilling more acid in #comp-general and the like than even adem, eternally in a sour mood. Fucking emblem right here for the picking.

Henry the Green Engine

Strong, whimsical, bouncy, dramatic : that's Henry, who manage to overcome the disabilities of his old shape and triumph in his New Shape. He's still a softie at heart, but he can quite caustic and self-important too. It also contains cues of the classic Flying Kipper theme, with that dim-lit wonder to it as well.

Runaway

Music that's literally "You done fucked up now ! ON ON ON ON ON ON - "
I require thee to play this next time some god-like play or tech on Showdown! converts into a sweep.

They also have sing-a-longs. OK yes these are mostly for children, but some of them are absolute bops, largely because all of them source their melody from preexisting track from the show. They have some neat editing too !

Favorites

The Snow Song is my absolute favorite song, pure Christmas spirit right here, it makes me want to cry, too bad there's no snow where I live to bury my little old body in to make snow angels...

You can credit Mike O' Donnell and Junior Campbell for providing these beloved midi melodies from all the back in 1984, and Sudrian Afro for these heavenly recreations. THIS MUSIC IS OLDER THAN SUPER MARIO BROS WHAT THE FUUUUUU