Donald and Douglas, in canon, are very nice engines, while here, they work for the LMS (the main antagonists of the series), though they are still very pleasant and friendly (though they do have an active rivalry with Henry, and Douglas and James utterly hated each other before the incident with the Spiteful Brakevan).

Adaptational Villainy: Several engines in the source material that were nice are antagonists in this series:.

That being said, there do exist some antagonistic trucks, such as Colleen (who Diesel throws into the back of Percy), and Dominic (the Spiteful Brakevan who later reforms after a talk with Mickey, only for the same fate as canon to befall him and then become a demonic, murderous ghost). The worst they get is some harmless teasing. This is because, as Edward points out, the trucks aren't fitted with any form of propulsion, meaning they can't bump an engine or hold them back, and they would never intentionally cause an accident since this would be certain death for them. They never cause accidents intentionally, with the incidents in the books and television series being made up for plot convenience. This series, meanwhile, depicts him as a very nice, very pleasant Irish-accented engine who is jinxed (and, as revealed in 'Inspection', served with The Fat Controller during World War I).

Stanley (the narrow-gauge locomotive) is depicted in The Railway Series as a rude American hick.

The Stories of Sodor provides examples of: Season 4 will take place between 1955 and the 1960s, and deal with the dieselization of British Railways and the coming of the mysterious SCP Foundation ( no, really.) The third season takes place during 1945-55 and deals with the aftermath of World War II and the resulting nationalization of Britain's railways along with other industries such as coal.

A mini series titled 'Stories of War' takes place between the second and third seasons, and covers World War II itself. The second season takes place in 1938-39 in the leadup to World War II. The series' first season takes place during 1935-38 in the midst of the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War, the latter of which creates a large refugee crisis on the island. Instead, Sodor is divided between the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER, also known as the Nor'Easters) and the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway (LMS, also known as the Midis). The series is set in an Alternate Universe in which the North Western Railway is not formed until the 1990s. The Stories of Sodor is a 2017 YouTube series by Victor Tanzig based (somewhat loosely) on The Railway Series.

Sodor workshops 2012