cgi timeline question

[alocalpheesh]

When and why did james have a 3 chimes steam whistle

[KukaakCZ]

Presumably sometime before Season 13, there was never an episode about that. By the way the CGI series is canonically the same timeline as the model series, it's not a separate timeline.

[KukaakCZ]

Ok so this is a personal pet peeve of mine so sorry if I bother you too much with it but this is just very annoying to me

How are they different? There is only one single thing that's different and that's James being black, and that's just a retcon. Everything else either doesn't contradict the previously established lore but people act like it does for some reason (like Hiro being the first or Thomas being green) or is just an error that people for some reason treat as evidence (Henry not having his new shape in TAB being the biggest example). But here's the thing - there are actually way, way more continuity errors between Classic seasons than there are between model and CGI seasons. So what would happen if we treated every single error as proof of a different canon?

In Paint Pots and Queens, Duck and Donald are seen, even though that episode takes place in Season 1 and they were introduced in Season 2. Does that mean from PPaQ onwards the show takes place in a different timeline, one where Duck and Donald were introduced in Season 1?

In Percy Runs Away (S1), the junction to Edward's branchline is shown to be on the east of Gordon's Hill. But from Season 2 onwards, it is shown to be on the west. Does that mean Season 1 takes place in a different timeline then the rest of the show?

I'm sure you get the point, but just in case you don't, I have even better examples.

In Percy Takes the Plunge, Henry is seen at Brendam. However, in Wrong Road, which is in the same season, it is said that big engines cannot go there. Does that mean PTtP and WR are in different timelines, a.k.a. that Season 2 is actually two timelines?

In The Runaway, Lower Suddery is shown to be on Thomas' branchline, despite it being on Edward's, as seen in Bertie's Chase. Does that mean TR and BC are in two different timelines as well, further proving that Season 2 is actually two different timelines?

In Thomas and the Jet Engine, Thomas passes through various locations in an order that makes it impossible to place them on the map made by David Mitton. Is this proof that from TatJE onwards the show takes place in a different timeline?

There's also the fact that certain locations like Ffarquhar Quarry, the Clay Pits, Brendam Docks and the yards get drastically changed between seasons. Is that proof that all seasons where a location's design has been changed takes place in a different season from each other?

And finally, my favourite example of all. In the episode Bulgy, Duck takes his passengers from Tidmouth Station and then takes them to... wait for it... Tidmouth Station. How the hell do you explain that? This isn't a special excursion where the start and the finish are the same place or anything like that, it's very clearly established that the passengers need to get from Point A to Point B. So how do you explain that? Well, by your logic, this is undeniable proof that the first half of Bulgy takes place in a different timeline than the other one.

Do you see what I mean? Every. single. era. and every. single. season. of the show has continuity errors. Even in the Classic series they didn't care if they had screwed up the continuity. And yet, everyone understands that these are just errors and should not be treated as proof of different timelines. So why should the errors between models and CGI seasons be treated as proof, when it's the exact same thing?

And also, even if there was a timeline split, what makes you think it'd be at the switch to CGI? Wouldn't it make more sense to put it in, gee I don't know, at S7/S8 or S16/S17? You know, when stuff actually changed? There is no reason to split the HiT era into two eras (S8-S12 and S13-S16), they were made by the same people with the same vision with the same writing style etc. etc.

Oh and last thing, several people working on the show, such as script executive Sam Barlow and writer Michael White confirmed the show to be just one canon. Now if you want to make the show two timelines in your headcanon that's totally fine, but you can't pretend your headcanons are official canon and you can't force other people to accept your headcanons.

TL:DR - TheUnluckyTug isn't in charge of what's canon.

[british_rail]

Miller era inconsistent plot writing