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Hello, all; while I’m currently having a writer’s block with Scotsman’s World Tour and Toby and the Logging Locos, I figured I’d clear my mind up a bit by revisiting my old theory from 5 years ago; especially now that The Great Race has been out for a while now and gives me a clearer picture of time progression. In simplest terms, it is a theory about how the magic buffers work, and where exactly does Thomas and the Magic Railroad fit into the TV Series continuity. But to be fair, it’s more complex than that. My belief is that frankly, the buffers are not magical at all. Well, perhaps not ENTIRELY magical. What I did in my old theory is try and break down/explain the mechanics of the Magic Buffers down into something I think most of us can at least get our heads partway around: science fiction. I believe, given the various pieces of evidence scattered across the franchise, that the Magic Buffers are in fact, a wormhole. The buffers and Magic Railroad themselves are part of a tear in the fabric of the space/time continuum; a tear that has only grown larger as time passed.

Now, for this theory to work, I’ve had to do a lot of speculating and look at various pieces of the Thomas franchise: The Railway Series, the Classic Model Series, the New Model Series, The Miller CGI Series, the Brenner CGI Series, and the Mattel CGI series to some degree, as well as obviously TATMRR itself, both the theatrical and unreleased director’s cuts, and by proxy, its roots in Shining Time Station. For all intents and purposes I admittedly do include a LITTLE bit of what’s considered fan fiction This theory may even expand beyond its initial purpose of explaining the buffers and continuity, and delve into some unexpected crossover territory, but not with TUGS as one might immediately assume, oh no. But I digress; let’s begin. I’ll try to word this better than I did in 2015.

Let’s start with the time travel bit. In Shining Time Station itself, it’s basically straight-up confirmed that the Conductor Family members travel to Sodor via time travel, as both Ringo and George Carlin’s respective characters in every episode tell the kids a story about Thomas and his friends; they do this by saying that they’d just arrived back from the Island of Sodor, and then with a blow of their whistle and a cloud of smoke, the Thomas episode in question plays; I presume that in-universe this is part of the Conductor family’s magical prowess; to visualize the events that preceded their return to the present from Sodor. This method of travel is further explain in TATMRR itself as travelling via the Magic Railroad. Had STS had further seasons featuring Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor, the way in which the Thomas stories would be told would be largely unchanged, but we would have had that extra bit of context from the movie. Furthermore, in one Carlin era episode, Mr. Conductor even takes the children back through time to Shining Time’s past to meet Stacy Jones’ (great?) grandmother Gracie, and to obtain a missing part needed to repair a signal on the line in the present. In TATMRR, this time travel theory is even further strengthened when Mr. Conductor explains that his hometown of Shining Time is “across oceans of time”.

On the subject of the Conductor Family; it seems they’ve been a part of Sodor’s history for generations. The DC and Theatrical Cuts of the movie both mention the family, and more specifically, the DC even gives a speaking role to an unknown member of the family, whereas in the TC, this was reduced to a little reference by Young Burnett’s voiceover as “The Man with the Sparkle” who mentioned that someday, one of “his family” would return, and until then; to guard “her” well; presumably “her” is referring to Lady. This, along with moments later in the film, suggest that Lady herself has a strong connection with the Conductor family; maybe she was their engine, gifted to Burnett as he grew older. That’s what I think anyway.

As stated above, and shown via a painting/drawing by Burnett himself, Burnett met the Conductor family when he was younger, and has been visiting Sodor by this wormhole since HE was a child. But that’s where things get a BIT confusing. If the Magic Buffers and Railroad are a method of time travel, how was Burnett able to get there when HE was younger? Did he travel even FURTHER back in time? That COULD be possible, but I don’t think so, given events in his life with Lady. I think initially the wormhole was a smaller rift in space/time, but not between eras but simply places. Either TVS Sodor is in the same universe, or another one entirely; we don’t know exactly but Mr. Conductor's narration in the movie does said they're at each end of his universe and across "oceans of time", so there's that. I believe that, after her accident with Diesel 10, and the subsequent hiding away in Burnett’s workshop, the rift between Shining Time and Sodor grew larger and larger as time passed, changing itself from not just a portal between locations or perhaps dimensions of sorts, but also between eras of time. Remember, when Lady was out of use and not running on the Magic Railroad, the line became overgrown with grass and trees, and night appeared eternal. This is all in connection to her magic and ties to the Conductor family of course, but her absence from the MRR and Sodor itself adversely affected the gap. The more time she spent in Burnett’s workshop, the less time passed on Sodor.

But how does that work exactly? Well, this is the part where I try to figure out where in the franchise continuity that TATMRR fits. As we know, the early series were mostly adaptations of RWS stories albeit with differences, making it play out differently than the RWS version of events; I attribute the different Sodor timelines to ripples in time, in a sense.

We all know from sci-fi and fantasy series that there can be several parallel universes and timelines; this happens with practically anything. Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Legend of Zelda, The Elder Scrolls, Sonic the Hedgehog; any form of media that has shown different timelines, events, dimensions, etc; and this can include fanfiction (both good and bad!) and events that we know as "non-canon” to particular parts of a franchise. It’s quite fascinating, really, but can get rather confusing, so I’m going to go off on a tangent here regarding how I now like to think space/time works for fiction.

I THINK I have a decent grasp on the concepts of time, parallel timelines and dimensions; partially in thanks to folks like the guys at Fudgemuppet, partially thanks to my exposure to such media with distinct parallel/alternate timelines like Zelda and Doctor Who, and to my good friend Linkle-The-Historian ; whom over on Zelda Universe once wrote an amazing theory on the Shadow Temple, has helped me to develop and build my own headcanon Zelda timeline, and introduced me to a multidimensional/multiversal concept that she has dubbed “The Opening of Worlds” which is her explanation for alternate timelines, guest appearances in Soul Calibur, corny cartoon stories, and religious symbols from our world, or perhaps a version OF Earth from another timeline or dimension, appearing in Zelda games. From what I gather from this concept, it can apply to multiple franchises and worlds, and this is basically how alternate universes and timelines exist, and travel between them can occur, i.e. how Link travelled between timelines, or how he ended up in the version of Earth seen in Soul Calibur II.

“But wait, Jim,” you might be saying. “That was a big tangent there; how does this relate to this theory at all?” Well, if we apply the Opening of Worlds theory to Thomas, I think that sufficiently explains the differences between the RWS and TV series, i.e. Stepney the Bluebell Engine and Rusty to the Rescue. And among those two universes are others. Perhaps there is one with all the events from the Thomas Magazine stories. Perhaps there is a collective timeline much like mine with various takes on events; yes, even fanfiction counts towards the Opening of Worlds theory. Through the Opening of Worlds, it’s theoretically possible one could travel from Burnett Stone’s timeline to the timeline where the RWS is set instead and so on, if the buffers had a wormhole at the other end leading to one such alternate timeline; we honestly don't know how many branches the MRR has or where else they go to.. However, Mr. Conductor DID say that Sodor and Shining Time were both part of “his special universe”, meaning they are set in the same world. But let’s not forget there’s also a DC version of TATMRR with slightly different events, and fanfiction also contributes to the opening of worlds, meaning there would be a version for my Collective RWS stories, too. It’s a confusing concept, I know. Now, how about we get back to trying to fit TATMRR into the TV series continuity?

Well, if we’re to take adapted RWS events into account, and particular specials, and by looking at Burnett’s life, I think we can come to a conclusion. We don’t have an exact placement for much of the original content made for Series 3, 5-7, nor an exact placement for New Series events prior to The Great Discovery, but I think we can at least partially piece the two halves of the model series plus the CGI series together in a somewhat cohesive timeline if we look at Calling All Engines, Misty Island Rescue, and various pieces of dialogue and whatnot; though it will be a bit messy given characters will be existing years before they arrived in the RWS/before their basis was even drawn up in the RWS and our world.

A newspaper in The Great Discovery is dated 1953. Misty Island Rescue has a calendar dated 1960. These are the only approximate dates we have confirmed in any portion apart from RWS-based events. In Day of the Diesels, Diesel 10 makes a reference to TATMRR by saying “it’s been a long time”, and another in Series 17 by using the name “Twinkle Toes” suggesting that TATMRR’s main events happen sometime before Day of the Diesels and after CAE. We do have some other suggested dates, too, but nothing concrete; given the Duke of Sodor’s presence in King of the Railway onwards, I assumed, that, given he also appeared in the RWS timeline around that time in the events revolving around his namesake Duke, that the series then was set in the 1970’s. Tale of the Brave suggests time has passed once again by making a RWS reference; Thomas must work at the Claypits while construction work on a bridge on his branchline is underway; this is the event that set the events of the RWS Book “Thomas and the Twins” in motion; that was set in 1982. If we were to assume that Legend of the Lost Treasure and most of Season 20 (barring the Small Railway Engines adaptations) were set for further dates, logically it would be the 1990’s.

See a pattern here with the dated specials? It goes up by a decade for each one plus presumably the suggested ones. 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s. 90’s. But then the pattern breaks a bit, as The Great Race seems to be around 1995 or so, given the diesels with EWS liveries. This pattern is thrown another monkey wrench in Big World! Big Adventures! When a Chinese diesel who’s basis was built in 2003 appears, but let’s not let that deter us from this; like I said before; often times with this attempt at piecing together a cohesive TVS timeline, characters will sometimes appear before their basis was even built; making them an early prototype. More on this later. Now, let’s take a look at Burnett Stone’s history as well as Diesel 10.

Burnett Stone was played by Peter Fonda, so naturally, I looked the actor up, and used his life as a basis. Mr. Fonda was born in 1940, and was part of the counterculture movement of the 1960’s. So, with Burnett being the character he played for the movie, one can naturally assumed they at least share the same birth year, maybe not necessarily the same date, and this would put Burnett’s life as a working young man in the 60’s and 70’s. In said time period was when British Railways built that Class 42’s that Diesel 10 is based on, but again, here we are with an anomaly. If TGD is dated for the 1950’s, then presumably events prior to it, both RWS and New TVS, happen before then; that includes Calling All Engines of which Diesel 10 was an antagonist in.

Now, we’ve already established that TATMRR seems to take place somewhere post TGD and pre DOTD. D10’s presence in CAE, TGD, MIR and DOTD, suggests that he, like TVS Mavis, the Chinese Diesel and presumably other specific engines, were built/arrived on the Island before the rest of their class was built, as early prototypes (i.e. Gordon being the LNER A0X). Dieselisation in other parts of the world was well underway prior to the 1950’s, so Diesel 10 could very well have been an experimental prototype, perhaps built in Germany as the 42’s were based on a German design I think. The exact YEAR he was built, I cannot say because there are no dates shown in the TVS before TGD, so for this I speculate that he was a product of the 1940’s. CAE depicts D10 as being...niceish. He has a mean smile and a creepily friendly smile and ends up being a huge help in the construction of the Sodor Airport; and the other engines don’t seem to like him very much. Somewhere along the line, something snapped in him I think and he went full-on beast mode, causing Lady’s accident. On the subject of her, I think that, given the lack of a date for CAE, and her connection to the Conductor family, her appearance in the movie is more or less down to magic, since Thomas dreams of her and she gives him an idea. In turn, I think the dream in turn gives US an idea of the kind of work she was doing at the time: industrial work on the Bluebell Valley branch.

Alright, now with that out of the way, let’s get to placing down the events of the movie. All of the events, in this collective timeline, happen between the 1940’s and 1970’s. I can’t really place D10’s build date further back than that; it would feel very out of place (moreso than his appearance in CAE as a prototype), and I can’t place the climax of TATMRR anywhere past 1970. Peter Fonda and Burnett Stone are roughly the same age; with them being young men in the 60’s, this put me in a bit of a bind. To compensate a little bit, I would place Lady’s accident in 1957; Burnett would have presumably been a railway volunteer back when he was 17. So, what happens now? Well, I believe that the Conductor family, fearing for Lady’s safety, don’t blame Burnett for the accident and allow him to be her caretaker. He must have felt responsible for her accident, and the Conductor family came up with the scheme of hiding her away in a former workshop of theirs in Shining Time. Time passes, and the time streams start to fall out of sync with each other. This leads to the simple portal between worlds becoming both that and a form of time travel. While several years pass in Shining Time, only a few pass on Sodor. Not many engines know of Lady nor met her, and her presence on the Island quickly becomes history and legend It’s not a very long time for a legend to form but for the sake of continuity and given her ties to the Conductor family, that’s how it goes. She is the link between the two places/worlds, the glue that keeps the worlds connected and together, and without her, things start to crumble a bit on Sodor; the MRR becomes a dark, dank place, the Conductors run out of gold dust without her presence, etc. It’s now 1960, and Diesel 10 returns to Sodor. He had been away since the accident, presumably as punishment. When he is allowed to return, he is mainly restricted to more cleanup duties and working as one of the head engines of the Dieselworks. Cue the end of MIR and events of DOTD; Diesel takeover, etc. As punishment, Diesel 10 is sent away yet again for a time leaving Den and Dart to manage by themselves. This would explain his absence in Seasons 15 and 16 respectively- I like to think that Seasons 14-16 plus their respective specials happen in the same time period.

So, where does this leave the majority of TATMRR- i.e. Diesel 10’s return, Lady’s return, the chase sequence, etc). Well, I’ve settled on 1962. I picked that year because that’s when Peter Fonda began acting. Presumably, on the other side of the wormhole, Burnett would have begun his working life, and the time streams start to de-sync even more. As the time passes more and more, by the time of the movie's events, Shining Time’s timeline at this point is set at the late 90’s/early 2000’s, and by now the time streams are very much out of sync by at least a 40 year gap. The Conductor family members from the 90’s have been using the time gap to return to Sodor; and they can return to any point they choose for the most part, though I think for the case of Alec Baldwin’s incarnation, it’s a bit of a case of pre-destiny as he’s starting to run out of gold dust and needs to return to a specific point in time where more will be generated for him and his family members. Kind of like how the TARDIS more often than not takes the Doctor to where and when they need to be, not necessarily where and when they WANT to go. So, the events play out.

Whether it’s the DC version of events or the TC version is unknown, but given we’ve worked the Opening of Worlds theory into this one, they can exist simultaneously on separate timelines, which would mean there would consequently need to be at least two versions of Burnett’s timeline too. Again, the Opening of Worlds; multiple universes and timelines. At any rate, Diesel 10 (and Boomer in the DC timeline), falls off the Big Dipper Viaduct into a large sludge filled barge passing beneath. Gold dust is generated from the collected shavings Lady produced on the MRR with the well water, and presumably C Junior either takes Mr. Conductor’s place or they work together. That was never really explained. So there we have it. That’s how I’ve placed the events of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, and how I believe the Magic Buffers’ mechanics work.

There is one interesting side-effect of all these time/space shenanigans though; a common problem in all media using time travel. That’s right, I am of course, talking about the dreaded time paradox. You see, after bringing Lady to Shining Time and the rift between there and Sodor began to widen, there’s a gap of at least 40 or so years between Shining Time and Sodor, with Lady’s accident happening in 1957, and the version of Shining Time we see in the movie is approximately set in the late 90’s. When Shining Time is in the late 90’s, on the other side of the wormhole, Sodor has entered the early 1970’s. So, if what Mr. Conductor says is correct and that the two locations and times are part of the same universe, then consequently, by bringing Lady back to 1970’s Sodor, a time paradox is created. There would be a sentient copy of Lady on 1970’s Sodor and a dormant copy of her in 1970’s Shining Time at the same time! Two copies of the same object existing simultaneously. I think this is what is referred to as a Bootstrap Paradox. I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me before.

Whew. I think I outdid my old version there by including the Opening of Worlds as part of the explanation. But, as a bonus, I think I will once again include Tesla51’s addendum to the science fiction part of my theory, and tweak it just a little bit here and there.

What exactly is Gold Dust, and how does it work in terms of science fiction/fantasy? Well, he believes that the dust is made of particles that reflect light much like how real gold does. Gold dust has interesting properties; they are charged with whatever the power that’s bestowed upon the buffers and MRR is. This power is capable of opening wormholes and teleporting the user to different times, and places, whether they be dimensions away or just a few feet away, by being dispersed in a cloud form either through use of a specially built whistle with a chamber for said dust (preventing it from being inhaled), throwing it on oneself, or whatever method it is that the Conductors use to teleport to and fro that causes the cloud to form around them. The dust in this cloud does this teleportation by relying on the users’ thought process; i.e. where/when they want to go. The thoughts are put into the users’ electromagnetic field, and the particles react accordingly. It also has other interesting powers. It can be bonded to an object, for example, the bluebird plush in TATMRR, or in STS, a drawing of Mr. Conductor, though this may have adverse effects. In the case of the plush, it just gains a rainbow glow. In the case of the drawing, however, the drawing was brought to life, creating a troublesome doppelganger. The drawing was brought to life because the gold dust apparently is capable of recognizing specific things and shapes; i.e. the shape of Mr. Conductor, and it tried to “correct it” by making the 2D shape a 3D figure. The “evil twin” as they so put it, was so because at the time, Mr. Conductor was frustrated; his whistle had a bit of a wonky sound to it (the pitch was lowered). People are said to produce energy, both positive and negative and that energy also bonds with people because they also produce energy, and the gold dust reacted and bonded to the negative energy produced by Mr. Conductor earlier in the day; remember; energy cannot be created nor destroyed; it can however be produced.

Ok, NOW we are done here. Perhaps next time I’ll delve into more STS territory, and how IT connects with a particular sister series; this theory coming later was based on research done on STS, its showrunners, and other content produced by them.

Description

Hello, all; while I’m currently having a writer’s block with Scotsman’s World Tour and Toby and the Logging Locos, I figured I’d clear my mind up a bit by revisiting my old theory from 5 years ago; especially now that The Great Race has been out for a while now and gives me a clearer picture of time progression. In simplest terms, it is a theory about how the magic buffers work, and where exactly does Thomas and the Magic Railroad fit into the TV Series continuity. But to be fair, it’s more complex than that. My belief is that frankly, the buffers are not magical at all. Well, perhaps not ENTIRELY magical. What I did in my old theory is try and break down/explain the mechanics of the Magic Buffers down into something I think most of us can at least get our heads partway around: science fiction. I believe, given the various pieces of evidence scattered across the franchise, that the Magic Buffers are in fact, a wormhole. The buffers and Magic Railroad themselves are part of a tear in the fabric of the space/time continuum; a tear that has only grown larger as time passed.

Now, for this theory to work, I’ve had to do a lot of speculating and look at various pieces of the Thomas franchise: The Railway Series, the Classic Model Series, the New Model Series, The Miller CGI Series, the Brenner CGI Series, and the Mattel CGI series to some degree, as well as obviously TATMRR itself, both the theatrical and unreleased director’s cuts, and by proxy, its roots in Shining Time Station. For all intents and purposes I admittedly do include a LITTLE bit of what’s considered fan fiction This theory may even expand beyond its initial purpose of explaining the buffers and continuity, and delve into some unexpected crossover territory, but not with TUGS as one might immediately assume, oh no. But I digress; let’s begin. I’ll try to word this better than I did in 2015.

Let’s start with the time travel bit. In Shining Time Station itself, it’s basically straight-up confirmed that the Conductor Family members travel to Sodor via time travel, as both Ringo and George Carlin’s respective characters in every episode tell the kids a story about Thomas and his friends; they do this by saying that they’d just arrived back from the Island of Sodor, and then with a blow of their whistle and a cloud of smoke, the Thomas episode in question plays; I presume that in-universe this is part of the Conductor family’s magical prowess; to visualize the events that preceded their return to the present from Sodor. This method of travel is further explain in TATMRR itself as travelling via the Magic Railroad. Had STS had further seasons featuring Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor, the way in which the Thomas stories would be told would be largely unchanged, but we would have had that extra bit of context from the movie. Furthermore, in one Carlin era episode, Mr. Conductor even takes the children back through time to Shining Time’s past to meet Stacy Jones’ (great?) grandmother Gracie, and to obtain a missing part needed to repair a signal on the line in the present. In TATMRR, this time travel theory is even further strengthened when Mr. Conductor explains that his hometown of Shining Time is “across oceans of time”.

On the subject of the Conductor Family; it seems they’ve been a part of Sodor’s history for generations. The DC and Theatrical Cuts of the movie both mention the family, and more specifically, the DC even gives a speaking role to an unknown member of the family, whereas in the TC, this was reduced to a little reference by Young Burnett’s voiceover as “The Man with the Sparkle” who mentioned that someday, one of “his family” would return, and until then; to guard “her” well; presumably “her” is referring to Lady. This, along with moments later in the film, suggest that Lady herself has a strong connection with the Conductor family; maybe she was their engine, gifted to Burnett as he grew older. That’s what I think anyway.

As stated above, and shown via a painting/drawing by Burnett himself, Burnett met the Conductor family when he was younger, and has been visiting Sodor by this wormhole since HE was a child. But that’s where things get a BIT confusing. If the Magic Buffers and Railroad are a method of time travel, how was Burnett able to get there when HE was younger? Did he travel even FURTHER back in time? That COULD be possible, but I don’t think so, given events in his life with Lady. I think initially the wormhole was a smaller rift in space/time, but not between eras but simply places. Either TVS Sodor is in the same universe, or another one entirely; we don’t know exactly but Mr. Conductor's narration in the movie does said they're at each end of his universe and across "oceans of time", so there's that. I believe that, after her accident with Diesel 10, and the subsequent hiding away in Burnett’s workshop, the rift between Shining Time and Sodor grew larger and larger as time passed, changing itself from not just a portal between locations or perhaps dimensions of sorts, but also between eras of time. Remember, when Lady was out of use and not running on the Magic Railroad, the line became overgrown with grass and trees, and night appeared eternal. This is all in connection to her magic and ties to the Conductor family of course, but her absence from the MRR and Sodor itself adversely affected the gap. The more time she spent in Burnett’s workshop, the less time passed on Sodor.

But how does that work exactly? Well, this is the part where I try to figure out where in the franchise continuity that TATMRR fits. As we know, the early series were mostly adaptations of RWS stories albeit with differences, making it play out differently than the RWS version of events; I attribute the different Sodor timelines to ripples in time, in a sense.

We all know from sci-fi and fantasy series that there can be several parallel universes and timelines; this happens with practically anything. Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Legend of Zelda, The Elder Scrolls, Sonic the Hedgehog; any form of media that has shown different timelines, events, dimensions, etc; and this can include fanfiction (both good and bad!) and events that we know as "non-canon” to particular parts of a franchise. It’s quite fascinating, really, but can get rather confusing, so I’m going to go off on a tangent here regarding how I now like to think space/time works for fiction.

I THINK I have a decent grasp on the concepts of time, parallel timelines and dimensions; partially in thanks to folks like the guys at Fudgemuppet, partially thanks to my exposure to such media with distinct parallel/alternate timelines like Zelda and Doctor Who, and to my good friend Linkle-The-Historian ; whom over on Zelda Universe once wrote an amazing theory on the Shadow Temple, has helped me to develop and build my own headcanon Zelda timeline, and introduced me to a multidimensional/multiversal concept that she has dubbed “The Opening of Worlds” which is her explanation for alternate timelines, guest appearances in Soul Calibur, corny cartoon stories, and religious symbols from our world, or perhaps a version OF Earth from another timeline or dimension, appearing in Zelda games. From what I gather from this concept, it can apply to multiple franchises and worlds, and this is basically how alternate universes and timelines exist, and travel between them can occur, i.e. how Link travelled between timelines, or how he ended up in the version of Earth seen in Soul Calibur II.

“But wait, Jim,” you might be saying. “That was a big tangent there; how does this relate to this theory at all?” Well, if we apply the Opening of Worlds theory to Thomas, I think that sufficiently explains the differences between the RWS and TV series, i.e. Stepney the Bluebell Engine and Rusty to the Rescue. And among those two universes are others. Perhaps there is one with all the events from the Thomas Magazine stories. Perhaps there is a collective timeline much like mine with various takes on events; yes, even fanfiction counts towards the Opening of Worlds theory. Through the Opening of Worlds, it’s theoretically possible one could travel from Burnett Stone’s timeline to the timeline where the RWS is set instead and so on, if the buffers had a wormhole at the other end leading to one such alternate timeline; we honestly don't know how many branches the MRR has or where else they go to.. However, Mr. Conductor DID say that Sodor and Shining Time were both part of “his special universe”, meaning they are set in the same world. But let’s not forget there’s also a DC version of TATMRR with slightly different events, and fanfiction also contributes to the opening of worlds, meaning there would be a version for my Collective RWS stories, too. It’s a confusing concept, I know. Now, how about we get back to trying to fit TATMRR into the TV series continuity?

Well, if we’re to take adapted RWS events into account, and particular specials, and by looking at Burnett’s life, I think we can come to a conclusion. We don’t have an exact placement for much of the original content made for Series 3, 5-7, nor an exact placement for New Series events prior to The Great Discovery, but I think we can at least partially piece the two halves of the model series plus the CGI series together in a somewhat cohesive timeline if we look at Calling All Engines, Misty Island Rescue, and various pieces of dialogue and whatnot; though it will be a bit messy given characters will be existing years before they arrived in the RWS/before their basis was even drawn up in the RWS and our world.

A newspaper in The Great Discovery is dated 1953. Misty Island Rescue has a calendar dated 1960. These are the only approximate dates we have confirmed in any portion apart from RWS-based events. In Day of the Diesels, Diesel 10 makes a reference to TATMRR by saying “it’s been a long time”, and another in Series 17 by using the name “Twinkle Toes” suggesting that TATMRR’s main events happen sometime before Day of the Diesels and after CAE. We do have some other suggested dates, too, but nothing concrete; given the Duke of Sodor’s presence in King of the Railway onwards, I assumed, that, given he also appeared in the RWS timeline around that time in the events revolving around his namesake Duke, that the series then was set in the 1970’s. Tale of the Brave suggests time has passed once again by making a RWS reference; Thomas must work at the Claypits while construction work on a bridge on his branchline is underway; this is the event that set the events of the RWS Book “Thomas and the Twins” in motion; that was set in 1982. If we were to assume that Legend of the Lost Treasure and most of Season 20 (barring the Small Railway Engines adaptations) were set for further dates, logically it would be the 1990’s.

See a pattern here with the dated specials? It goes up by a decade for each one plus presumably the suggested ones. 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s. 90’s. But then the pattern breaks a bit, as The Great Race seems to be around 1995 or so, given the diesels with EWS liveries. This pattern is thrown another monkey wrench in Big World! Big Adventures! When a Chinese diesel who’s basis was built in 2003 appears, but let’s not let that deter us from this; like I said before; often times with this attempt at piecing together a cohesive TVS timeline, characters will sometimes appear before their basis was even built; making them an early prototype. More on this later. Now, let’s take a look at Burnett Stone’s history as well as Diesel 10.

Burnett Stone was played by Peter Fonda, so naturally, I looked the actor up, and used his life as a basis. Mr. Fonda was born in 1940, and was part of the counterculture movement of the 1960’s. So, with Burnett being the character he played for the movie, one can naturally assumed they at least share the same birth year, maybe not necessarily the same date, and this would put Burnett’s life as a working young man in the 60’s and 70’s. In said time period was when British Railways built that Class 42’s that Diesel 10 is based on, but again, here we are with an anomaly. If TGD is dated for the 1950’s, then presumably events prior to it, both RWS and New TVS, happen before then; that includes Calling All Engines of which Diesel 10 was an antagonist in.

Now, we’ve already established that TATMRR seems to take place somewhere post TGD and pre DOTD. D10’s presence in CAE, TGD, MIR and DOTD, suggests that he, like TVS Mavis, the Chinese Diesel and presumably other specific engines, were built/arrived on the Island before the rest of their class was built, as early prototypes (i.e. Gordon being the LNER A0X). Dieselisation in other parts of the world was well underway prior to the 1950’s, so Diesel 10 could very well have been an experimental prototype, perhaps built in Germany as the 42’s were based on a German design I think. The exact YEAR he was built, I cannot say because there are no dates shown in the TVS before TGD, so for this I speculate that he was a product of the 1940’s. CAE depicts D10 as being...niceish. He has a mean smile and a creepily friendly smile and ends up being a huge help in the construction of the Sodor Airport; and the other engines don’t seem to like him very much. Somewhere along the line, something snapped in him I think and he went full-on beast mode, causing Lady’s accident. On the subject of her, I think that, given the lack of a date for CAE, and her connection to the Conductor family, her appearance in the movie is more or less down to magic, since Thomas dreams of her and she gives him an idea. In turn, I think the dream in turn gives US an idea of the kind of work she was doing at the time: industrial work on the Bluebell Valley branch.

Alright, now with that out of the way, let’s get to placing down the events of the movie. All of the events, in this collective timeline, happen between the 1940’s and 1970’s. I can’t really place D10’s build date further back than that; it would feel very out of place (moreso than his appearance in CAE as a prototype), and I can’t place the climax of TATMRR anywhere past 1970. Peter Fonda and Burnett Stone are roughly the same age; with them being young men in the 60’s, this put me in a bit of a bind. To compensate a little bit, I would place Lady’s accident in 1957; Burnett would have presumably been a railway volunteer back when he was 17. So, what happens now? Well, I believe that the Conductor family, fearing for Lady’s safety, don’t blame Burnett for the accident and allow him to be her caretaker. He must have felt responsible for her accident, and the Conductor family came up with the scheme of hiding her away in a former workshop of theirs in Shining Time. Time passes, and the time streams start to fall out of sync with each other. This leads to the simple portal between worlds becoming both that and a form of time travel. While several years pass in Shining Time, only a few pass on Sodor. Not many engines know of Lady nor met her, and her presence on the Island quickly becomes history and legend It’s not a very long time for a legend to form but for the sake of continuity and given her ties to the Conductor family, that’s how it goes. She is the link between the two places/worlds, the glue that keeps the worlds connected and together, and without her, things start to crumble a bit on Sodor; the MRR becomes a dark, dank place, the Conductors run out of gold dust without her presence, etc. It’s now 1960, and Diesel 10 returns to Sodor. He had been away since the accident, presumably as punishment. When he is allowed to return, he is mainly restricted to more cleanup duties and working as one of the head engines of the Dieselworks. Cue the end of MIR and events of DOTD; Diesel takeover, etc. As punishment, Diesel 10 is sent away yet again for a time leaving Den and Dart to manage by themselves. This would explain his absence in Seasons 15 and 16 respectively- I like to think that Seasons 14-16 plus their respective specials happen in the same time period.

So, where does this leave the majority of TATMRR- i.e. Diesel 10’s return, Lady’s return, the chase sequence, etc). Well, I’ve settled on 1962. I picked that year because that’s when Peter Fonda began acting. Presumably, on the other side of the wormhole, Burnett would have begun his working life, and the time streams start to de-sync even more. As the time passes more and more, by the time of the movie's events, Shining Time’s timeline at this point is set at the late 90’s/early 2000’s, and by now the time streams are very much out of sync by at least a 40 year gap. The Conductor family members from the 90’s have been using the time gap to return to Sodor; and they can return to any point they choose for the most part, though I think for the case of Alec Baldwin’s incarnation, it’s a bit of a case of pre-destiny as he’s starting to run out of gold dust and needs to return to a specific point in time where more will be generated for him and his family members. Kind of like how the TARDIS more often than not takes the Doctor to where and when they need to be, not necessarily where and when they WANT to go. So, the events play out.

Whether it’s the DC version of events or the TC version is unknown, but given we’ve worked the Opening of Worlds theory into this one, they can exist simultaneously on separate timelines, which would mean there would consequently need to be at least two versions of Burnett’s timeline too. Again, the Opening of Worlds; multiple universes and timelines. At any rate, Diesel 10 (and Boomer in the DC timeline), falls off the Big Dipper Viaduct into a large sludge filled barge passing beneath. Gold dust is generated from the collected shavings Lady produced on the MRR with the well water, and presumably C Junior either takes Mr. Conductor’s place or they work together. That was never really explained. So there we have it. That’s how I’ve placed the events of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, and how I believe the Magic Buffers’ mechanics work.

There is one interesting side-effect of all these time/space shenanigans though; a common problem in all media using time travel. That’s right, I am of course, talking about the dreaded time paradox. You see, after bringing Lady to Shining Time and the rift between there and Sodor began to widen, there’s a gap of at least 40 or so years between Shining Time and Sodor, with Lady’s accident happening in 1957, and the version of Shining Time we see in the movie is approximately set in the late 90’s. When Shining Time is in the late 90’s, on the other side of the wormhole, Sodor has entered the early 1970’s. So, if what Mr. Conductor says is correct and that the two locations and times are part of the same universe, then consequently, by bringing Lady back to 1970’s Sodor, a time paradox is created. There would be a sentient copy of Lady on 1970’s Sodor and a dormant copy of her in 1970’s Shining Time at the same time! Two copies of the same object existing simultaneously. I think this is what is referred to as a Bootstrap Paradox. I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me before.

Whew. I think I outdid my old version there by including the Opening of Worlds as part of the explanation. But, as a bonus, I think I will once again include Tesla51’s addendum to the science fiction part of my theory, and tweak it just a little bit here and there.

What exactly is Gold Dust, and how does it work in terms of science fiction/fantasy? Well, he believes that the dust is made of particles that reflect light much like how real gold does. Gold dust has interesting properties; they are charged with whatever the power that’s bestowed upon the buffers and MRR is. This power is capable of opening wormholes and teleporting the user to different times, and places, whether they be dimensions away or just a few feet away, by being dispersed in a cloud form either through use of a specially built whistle with a chamber for said dust (preventing it from being inhaled), throwing it on oneself, or whatever method it is that the Conductors use to teleport to and fro that causes the cloud to form around them. The dust in this cloud does this teleportation by relying on the users’ thought process; i.e. where/when they want to go. The thoughts are put into the users’ electromagnetic field, and the particles react accordingly. It also has other interesting powers. It can be bonded to an object, for example, the bluebird plush in TATMRR, or in STS, a drawing of Mr. Conductor, though this may have adverse effects. In the case of the plush, it just gains a rainbow glow. In the case of the drawing, however, the drawing was brought to life, creating a troublesome doppelganger. The drawing was brought to life because the gold dust apparently is capable of recognizing specific things and shapes; i.e. the shape of Mr. Conductor, and it tried to “correct it” by making the 2D shape a 3D figure. The “evil twin” as they so put it, was so because at the time, Mr. Conductor was frustrated; his whistle had a bit of a wonky sound to it (the pitch was lowered). People are said to produce energy, both positive and negative and that energy also bonds with people because they also produce energy, and the gold dust reacted and bonded to the negative energy produced by Mr. Conductor earlier in the day; remember; energy cannot be created nor destroyed; it can however be produced.

Ok, NOW we are done here. Perhaps next time I’ll delve into more STS territory, and how IT connects with a particular sister series; this theory coming later was based on research done on STS, its showrunners, and other content produced by them.