Disclaimer: The Following article was from Sodor Island Fourms, I didn't write this AT ALL!

Essay of the Diesels - "Dandy Diesels, Stupid Steamies"


Since the takeover of Thomas just over eight years ago, HiT Entertainment have apparently become infamous with how they have handled the writing of the TV Series over time – characters shadows of their former selves, many old favourites shunted into the sidings, reality completely absent – but amongst all the concerns in regards to the writing, one major factor has been worrying us since Misty Island Rescue, and has now filtered through into the recently released Day of the Diesels.




"Racism for all the family!" as Mr. Martin remarked in a Season 15 episode review.


There has been a slight undertone of bigotry and 'notable difference' within the current TV Series, with there being a definite hierarchy of where the characters sit in terms of their position on the railway. Steam engines are revered and well-thought of, whilst Diesels are thought of as the "baddies" who are given shoddy treatment and inferior facilities. What makes it worse is that, since the CGI switch-over, whenever the steam engines say anything negative or derogatory about the Diesel counterparts, it is never resolved nor revisited.


In fact, compared with the stupidity from Thomas, Percy and James – the three largest marketable engines in the merchandising range – from Season 15, Diesel, 'Arry and Bert seem like angels! To recall a quote from Thomas in DOTD, when he is describing newcomer Belle about the Vicarstown Dieselworks;


"Sodor Steamies don't go to the Dieselworks. It's dark, and it's dirty, and it's full of diesels. Diesels can be devious."


Thomas is the main character of the series, and effectively, the company want him to strive to be a positive role model for children to live up to. Granted, Diesel and Co. have a track record for being bad characters at times, but then again, if we look back to Hero of the Rails, the main antagonist there was Spencer, a steam engine, who was hoping that Hiro would be scrapped.


Thomas is lumping all of the Diesels into one category. They're inferior to him and the 'Supreme Steam Team'. Translate that into real life – someone's from a different background from your own, do you lump them into a group or do you look for the individual traits? Do you see the person, or do you see the group they belong to and your perceptions of them?


Pre-school children are impressionable – if they see this on television from a character who is intended as a positive role model, they will think this is acceptable behaviour, and it will hardly be encouraged by teachers, play-leaders or parents.


In fact, in what is possibly the worst Diesel-centred story penned, Diesel's Special Delivery (S14), Diesel is insulted just by appearing on screen. When asked why the children don't "clap and cheer" for him, James's answer is blunt;


"That's because you're a Diesel."


And as with Thomas, James is never, ever scolded for saying such a thing in the first place.


Within The Railway Series, there is a section of Stepney the Bluebell Engine which addresses the divide between Steam Engines and Diesels. Percy and Douglas are discussing the situation on the Mainland where engines are being scrapped as part of British Railways' modernisation plans. Douglas has his own prejudices, but these are justified on account of the fact that he himself would have been scrapped if he hadn't escaped with Donald:


"It's all because of yon Diesels. They're all devils."


But Percy sees through this and does not lump all Diesels into the one category. He knows that there are ones with positive attributes and has not let his views be tainted in the way that Douglas has:


"Fair play, Douglas. Some are nice, look at Rusty and Daisy."


Douglas reluctantly relents at this point, but maintains his reasoning for not trusting them. Throughout the Railway Series books, the views on Diesel locomotives change as the stories progress. Even Duck, who suffered at the hands of Diesel's trickery in Book 13, warms to BoCo in Main Line Engines.


Other Diesels come to the railway and they are welcomed as part of the family, such as Bear, Pip and Emma. Only James maintains a grudging intolerance up until James and the Diesel Engines, when he discovers first-hand that even Diesel locomotives have their uses when one rescues him during a breakdown.


So with all this anti-Diesel talk still visible in the TV Series, what effect does that have on Salty, or Mavis, or Rusty? The nice Diesels who are still friends with the steam engines and yet haven't a clue on what's really going on. What sort of credibility does all the "racist" talk do to these kinder engines, at least in the public eye?


I'd like to see an episode brought up where Mavis actually takes offence when Thomas spews another "anti-Diesel" remark and corners him about it – which, in my opinion, would be an ideal way of showing racism and bullying.


You don't expect children's programs to pick on a group in such a way that Thomas & Friends did in Day of the Diesels, and particularly for the lead character to behave in such a manner which is both pompous and disparaging, AND to not have this bad behaviour resolved by the film's end – again very much as in Misty Island Rescue – and yet again in the Season 15 episode Tree Trouble, where Thomas deliberately got in the way of the Diesels' plans for a Christmas party.


Thomas feels somewhat wronged that the Diesels are being given a special treat. So what does he do? He barges in and demands that the Steam Engines are given at least a chance to equal or better what they're getting. There was no justified cause for Thomas's intrusion, purely greed and jealousy. The situation is brushed aside and treated as a competition, which it was never intended to be, in order to pacify Thomas's complaining and objection.


As Simon said in his Day of the Diesels review:


"Most of what Thomas says nowadays is an imitable act which reinforces some alarming views. Diesels are different, dirty, and...diesels? That's one step away from saying a particular ethnicity is all of the above. How these "educational episodes" got passed for broadcast flabbergasts me. IF – big if – IF Thomas had then been resoundingly told off by the Fat Controller for being intolerant (which he is being!), then we would all have been happier with the whole thing. As it was – it just didn't happen. You actually felt sorry for the diesels, and angry at the behaviour of the steam engines, as there is no cause or justification for the behaviour or actions presented in the episode".


"I can understand wanting someone to be a villain, and playing on that, but Thomas outright put down and was extremely dismissive of a group of engines, because they were diesels. Very thin line between that and reading it as ethnic intolerance, I'm afraid. It's there for all to see, watch, and wonder why".

HiT Entertainment need to understand that this is not okay.


Around the time of Calling All Engines, the steam vs. diesel theme was pretty much both sides taking pot-shots at each other. Misty Island Rescue elevated it to a whole new level, with the narrative taking almost a "Blame the victim" stance in the Thomas vs. Diesel thing.


Hearing the producers tout how they've changed the series to conform to educational standards, while ignoring these sorts of implications, undermines their credibility.


I remember many a time when doting Mothers argued of the TV Series being "sexist" due to the lack of female characters – hence how we got lumbered with Emily, Molly and Rosie, who had been created for a non-important issue nor have made a major impact in the stories either – so why aren't they complaining about the bullying or racism present?


Both of which is happening all the time, in school, college or the workplace; and both of which Thomas seriously needs to tackle once and for all by looking at the situation with the 'Dirty Diesels' and the way characters like Thomas deal with their feelings toward them.


Otherwise, Thomas & Friends risks complaints about a component of its stories which are rightly panned by a minority of fans at present.


It won't always be like that if it gets into the mainstream media, as we saw recently with complaints emanating from sources such as the Daily Mail, The Telegraph, online blogs and websites regarding the way Christmas is portrayed debacle.


I think potential racism in children's stories will be more widely protested than the political correctness surrounding Christmas, don't you?