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Description
Okay I've been toying with an idea and because I've had Wisbech & Upwell Brain-Rot today it means I have to share it with the world. Consider this for a Headcanon -- Toby as an LNER Y6 and Flora as an LNER J70.

Making Toby a Y6 is fitting if you ask me. It helps emphasize the age of his design, compared to the (relatively) more modern J70. He becomes a bit weaker, yes, but I don't exactly see anyone out there saying Toby is the pinnacle of strength on Sodor. It also means he starts his career alongside Henrietta, making their relationship all the more closer with one another.

Also Toby Mk.I was an LNER Y6 on the Awdry Ffarquhar Layout so TECHNICALLY IT'S CANON HAHAHAHA!

Making Flora a J70, on top of that, also speaks to a potential dynamic they could have. Here comes Flora, quite literally the upgraded version of Toby, and everyone on Thomas' Branch Line is in a frenzy trying to keep the two of them from meeting. Only thing is, when they do meet, Toby and Flora get on like a house on fire -- they should, after all, since Toby and Henrietta practically raised her.

This concept works for me for a number of reasons.
Given the events of Tram Trouble, Thomas is concerned Flora is going to outshine Toby. Why? According to the Story's Synopsis, "Thomas thinks that Toby would prefer to lead the parade alone and would be upset if he met another steam tram."

In other words, The Writing Demands Thomas Thinks Flora And Toby Will Not Like Each Other. Interesting Concept, but there's no real reason for why he'd think this. Let's explore how this Headcanon changes that.

If we make Flora a Y6, this reasoning becomes questionable (at best). However, if Toby is a Y6 and Flora is a J70 -- a newer, stronger version of the Y6 -- it gives him a reason to be concerned. Because if Flora's a J70, she could very easily replace Toby.

It helps inform a clear, set-in-stone dynamic between her and Toby while keeping true to her Character of "Youthful and Naive", thereby allowing us (and more importantly, other writers) to establish where she fits in with the rest of the engine family. This informs character, which informs dynamics, which act as the building blocks for storytelling. This is something I appreciate in changing Flora's basis to an LNER Tram like the Y6, among other things like harking back to the Ffarquhar Branch's conceptual roots in the Wisbech & Upwell.

It means Toby & Henrietta can come to Sodor earlier, allowing the stories from Season 1 to be packaged as a nice "Pre-Nationalization" Era on Sodor. It turns these stories, which were already pretty self-contained from the rest of the Awdry Canon, into a proper collection. It shows us a Sodor set before The Railway Series, in a sense.

Original Sprites by Princess-Muffins , Cj-The-Creator , MinerKnight & LewieLol .
Any & All Edits by Myself, LeatherBootlace .

Description
Okay I've been toying with an idea and because I've had Wisbech & Upwell Brain-Rot today it means I have to share it with the world. Consider this for a Headcanon -- Toby as an LNER Y6 and Flora as an LNER J70.

Making Toby a Y6 is fitting if you ask me. It helps emphasize the age of his design, compared to the (relatively) more modern J70. He becomes a bit weaker, yes, but I don't exactly see anyone out there saying Toby is the pinnacle of strength on Sodor. It also means he starts his career alongside Henrietta, making their relationship all the more closer with one another.

Also Toby Mk.I was an LNER Y6 on the Awdry Ffarquhar Layout so TECHNICALLY IT'S CANON HAHAHAHA!

Making Flora a J70, on top of that, also speaks to a potential dynamic they could have. Here comes Flora, quite literally the upgraded version of Toby, and everyone on Thomas' Branch Line is in a frenzy trying to keep the two of them from meeting. Only thing is, when they do meet, Toby and Flora get on like a house on fire -- they should, after all, since Toby and Henrietta practically raised her.

This concept works for me for a number of reasons.
Given the events of Tram Trouble, Thomas is concerned Flora is going to outshine Toby. Why? According to the Story's Synopsis, "Thomas thinks that Toby would prefer to lead the parade alone and would be upset if he met another steam tram."

In other words, The Writing Demands Thomas Thinks Flora And Toby Will Not Like Each Other. Interesting Concept, but there's no real reason for why he'd think this. Let's explore how this Headcanon changes that.

If we make Flora a Y6, this reasoning becomes questionable (at best). However, if Toby is a Y6 and Flora is a J70 -- a newer, stronger version of the Y6 -- it gives him a reason to be concerned. Because if Flora's a J70, she could very easily replace Toby.

It helps inform a clear, set-in-stone dynamic between her and Toby while keeping true to her Character of "Youthful and Naive", thereby allowing us (and more importantly, other writers) to establish where she fits in with the rest of the engine family. This informs character, which informs dynamics, which act as the building blocks for storytelling. This is something I appreciate in changing Flora's basis to an LNER Tram like the Y6, among other things like harking back to the Ffarquhar Branch's conceptual roots in the Wisbech & Upwell.

It means Toby & Henrietta can come to Sodor earlier, allowing the stories from Season 1 to be packaged as a nice "Pre-Nationalization" Era on Sodor. It turns these stories, which were already pretty self-contained from the rest of the Awdry Canon, into a proper collection. It shows us a Sodor set before The Railway Series, in a sense.

Original Sprites by Princess-Muffins , Cj-The-Creator , MinerKnight & LewieLol .
Any & All Edits by Myself, LeatherBootlace .