I Hope It Isn't Arsenic Poisoning - Blog Posts

There's an untapped comical potential when it comes to the engines and their near-immortal status...

And by that I mean, not enough people are writing just how simultaneously present and detached the engines are, when it comes to experiencing historical events beyond the impact the first and second world wars had on the railway industry.

The older engines especially should be saying the most unhinged things in reference to events that, to them are barely just footnotes and curiosities, but to their crew or passengers were huge in terms of socio-political upheaval and what not.

I mean, come on...

Here's a good example: Gordon was built around 4 years after women were granted voting power in the UK. To him the concept of women's suffrage and feminism was likely nothing new or strange, because he was created after a major event of women's rights. He would have thusly absorbed the notion that men and women deserve to be regarded with similar if not the same amount of respect (which explains why he of all engines doesn't fuss or argue too much when Dowager Hatt takes control of Sir Topham Hatt's duties, even if she's not exactly good at it).

Meanwhile engines who predate him in build would probably still consider this a fairly novel thing because they were built during a time when such things would be unthinkable and not to be openly talked about (not that they much see a point in denying the rights of this or that human, but they're still likely aware of the sociatal standards even if they make little sense to them).

They might even need a while to adapt to speaking of such events without fear of repercussions, as they would likely not be strangers to keeping both passenger's and railway worker's affairs out of their mouths to ensure no harm came to those they served or were serviced by (and I'd recommend looking into the Pullman Company's ties with Black History for further emphasis on this).

Here's another good example:

Depending on where exactly you'd put Edward in this limitted production line, he's very likely experienced quite a few historical events both first and second hand. Some bigger, some smaller.

What I need to draw attention to, is that Edward would be aware enough of his general surroundings and what his crew and passengers talk about, to say some rather eyebrow raising things... Such as:

"Oh this day has been more hectic than the time they attempted to assassinate the Prince of Wales..."

"I haven't felt this young and spry since children were still allowed in the mines!"

"This is more of a mystery than when those three poor souls vanished in the Flannan Isles..."

"Driver told me that his missus and children took ill. It sounded near as bad as when the North West of England had an outbreak of arsenic poisoning... God bless, I hope it's just one of those seasonal stomach bugs I've heard of...."

And that's just Edward innocently spouting historical facts as yesterday's news type anecdotes. Imagine all the juicy things Emily would have to say :)

---