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Description
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have once again drawn fanart for one of StEx's most obscure characters: the British train of the older London show, the City of Milton Keynes. The little lady next to him is my FaNational coach.

*takes deep breath*

Milton is here an APT-P, i.e. the prototype version of the Advanced Passenger Train, which was a pioneer in tilting trains and infamous for its bad press. Milton's race helmet shows that he is the driving car of the 14-car EMU train, but his situation is a bit more trickier than the other Nationals. EMU Nationals like Bobo, Espresso, Hashamoto, and Ruhrgold double as the driving car and power/motor car, but on the APT-P the driving cars and the power cars were separate components, the latter being located at the center of the train. So, this begs the question as to why a lone unpowered driving car is in the race and partnering up with a boxcar of all things.

In my one version of my headcanon, most, if not all, Nationals originally did bring partners from their homelands to participate in the race, but there was an accident *coughCaboosecough* that caused said carriages to be put out of commission, leading to the need to use the local cars as partners. Milton brought his power car, one of his tetradecuplet siblings, and together they make a pretty good team (a real-life APT-P trainset actually set a British speed record in 1979). However, with his power car damaged, there was no way Milton could successfully race, so when it was his turn during "Hitching and Switching" to pick a partner, he told Rocky that he was "on strike" instead. However, it looked like he would have to race after all, so it's my idea that he might have staged an "accident" so that he would get "scrapped" as a last ditch effort to save face (hence why he's so healthy when he comes back on for the finale). Of course, I also go with the idea that he actually did get into an accident, but like I said, it's one version of my headcanon.

Anyway, the sibling here is his sister, the City of Carlisle. The APT-P ran on the West Coast Main Line, and Milton Keynes was one of the stops, so it seemed like a good idea to follow that naming convention for the other 13 cars (tetradecuplets, ain't that fun?) I tried to make her follow some of Milton's design while being significantly different due their roles on the train and without her looking like a coach or freight truck.

For more information about the APT-P, look here: [link]

Starlight Express and its character © RUG and Andrew Lloyd Webber
The City of Carlisle the power car © Rebecca Sibert, 2013

Description
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have once again drawn fanart for one of StEx's most obscure characters: the British train of the older London show, the City of Milton Keynes. The little lady next to him is my FaNational coach.

*takes deep breath*

Milton is here an APT-P, i.e. the prototype version of the Advanced Passenger Train, which was a pioneer in tilting trains and infamous for its bad press. Milton's race helmet shows that he is the driving car of the 14-car EMU train, but his situation is a bit more trickier than the other Nationals. EMU Nationals like Bobo, Espresso, Hashamoto, and Ruhrgold double as the driving car and power/motor car, but on the APT-P the driving cars and the power cars were separate components, the latter being located at the center of the train. So, this begs the question as to why a lone unpowered driving car is in the race and partnering up with a boxcar of all things.

In my one version of my headcanon, most, if not all, Nationals originally did bring partners from their homelands to participate in the race, but there was an accident *coughCaboosecough* that caused said carriages to be put out of commission, leading to the need to use the local cars as partners. Milton brought his power car, one of his tetradecuplet siblings, and together they make a pretty good team (a real-life APT-P trainset actually set a British speed record in 1979). However, with his power car damaged, there was no way Milton could successfully race, so when it was his turn during "Hitching and Switching" to pick a partner, he told Rocky that he was "on strike" instead. However, it looked like he would have to race after all, so it's my idea that he might have staged an "accident" so that he would get "scrapped" as a last ditch effort to save face (hence why he's so healthy when he comes back on for the finale). Of course, I also go with the idea that he actually did get into an accident, but like I said, it's one version of my headcanon.

Anyway, the sibling here is his sister, the City of Carlisle. The APT-P ran on the West Coast Main Line, and Milton Keynes was one of the stops, so it seemed like a good idea to follow that naming convention for the other 13 cars (tetradecuplets, ain't that fun?) I tried to make her follow some of Milton's design while being significantly different due their roles on the train and without her looking like a coach or freight truck.

For more information about the APT-P, look here: [link]

Starlight Express and its character © RUG and Andrew Lloyd Webber
The City of Carlisle the power car © Rebecca Sibert, 2013