Great story! Was expecting a reference or 3 to the infamous Thanksgiving cut of the American episode, but this was fine enough as it was. Here's to Series 4!

Why the actual fuck am i reading this?

Thomas is surprisingly good at cobbling stories together out of the thin air that is his brain.

I saw that this chapter had no reviews. This is an error that must be remedied.

"Quarries were places where good manners, clean language and decency came to die."
This is why you should characterize Mavis differently later on. Instead of a blank mock-feminist, she oughta slowly turn into:
A. A gruff and snappish bad tempered shunter to everyone around her, male or female, steamer or diesel, (with possible exceptions, or the mutual understanding of everyone that it's nothing personal; it's the quarry that did it to her) or
B. A saintly and slightly insane figure who brightens up the quarry and becomes immune to the trucks' rudeness, whether by sheer willpower, the honest goodness in her heart, or her great willingness to invest in the trucks' goodwill for whatever nefarious purpose even she doesn't know.

I hate to see such a blank slate left untouched.

Yeah, the ending's a bit sappy, and the sharp political references were not pleasant to read, but the story was well constructed. I especially loved the climax with Duke's demise more than worthy of his namesake.
I was losing my suspension of disbelief, however, regarding the logistics of how railway locomotives would be able to fight. Or do much of anything than run buffers into each other and break their frames.
I also don't remember being clearly informed about how the rolling stock suddenly learned to move by themselves, but I figured it must have been the same force that allowed the engines to move by themselves as the action started changing.
The scene with the population of sodor in battle was amusing, but I don't see that being possible with there being such things as firearms.
Your character development of Toby, Edward, James and Duck was spot-on. And weirdly inserted jokes about social politics aside, I'm glad that Mavis was included, and that she wasn't completely brushed aside not acting as a token affirmative-action girl but, an actual side-character playing sane-man.
I can't wait to see what you've done with Emily in the next series. Both she and Mavis have smiles that I want to protect. And how you're going to navigate Sharon Miller's writing, or if you're going to start working off better seasons, I hope to know soon.
The plot was odd and dark, and some of the characters, without being given proper illustrations or characterizations were hard to imagine or voice in my head. The whole time-travelling thing could have been slimmed down since the comedy in fanfictions rely on chracters you DO know, not the ones you add for the story.
I give it a 7.5; it was impactful, but needs edges to be sanded and convoluted plotlines to be trimmed, or better lampshaded.
I came for the laughs, and stayed for the characters, despite the plots, even those outside the disasterous movie

..."tongue-lashing they had given to Sir Handel" It took me a good minute to figure out that you were using the plural for Rusty and not the unthankful engines in the previous sentence. How did Awdry refer to Rusty?
It really feels like you're cramming your own ideology into this story now, especially with your unsubtle and exaggerated political references starting with ch. 75. I'm trying to grin and bear despite, but I suspect you wouldn't care nor hold yourself to your own standards, were it the other way 'round.
I like the story, but I wanted to know more about the engines, not about you.

Eh, I'd truthfully prefer if you would refer to Rusty as an 'it' instead of the plural or hypothetical 'they'. That usage stinks of political correctness and forced speech patterns, while 'it' can be still easily used in a dignified manner referring to a being.
"Cheeky chopper!" Rusty told itself. It had come a long way and was not looking into getting itself tangled up in Tumblr politics.

Oh, you should have read the RWS version of this too. In it, not only did his crankpin break, but his side rod flailed into his splashers tearing them up. It was metallic carnage. Like walking home on a leg broken through the skin.

hi

After rereading this over the course of two weeks, I must say that this is a must read for any one who ever liked Thomas the Tank Engine. It's a remarkably well done, inspiring story. A few spelling errors here and there are nothing to deter this fantastic fic.

And now that I've re-read it, I can't help but hear Roscoe Lee Browne (Narrator from Babe, Kingpin from Spider-Man TAS) as The Fat Director

I like this chapter, especially Peter Sam's dream.

Yes, yes, YES! This is pure genius! I shall read this whole abridged series, as well as the second one and more.

I’ve been thinking of writing an abridged series of my own about Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. Ever heard of that show? Anyway, it’s an abridged series/totally legit recap(inspired by DWK’s totally legit recaps of MLP on YouTube).

Hi ToonGuy! I loved this chapter! James screaming his lungs out at Douglas to SHUT UP was funny!

Personally i love all 10 parts of Magic Railroad but the 10th is my favorite because of how you used Really Useful Engine to let Thomas use his full powers

I KNEW IT! I f**cking knew that Lowham Hatt would be the Fat Director, it just made so much sense. I can't wait to see what event occurs that causes him to become the Fatt Director. Like how the Malevolence/Marklin were defeated, and seeing both Boomer and Marklin receive the Justice they deserve was especially sweet. I had been curious as to how you would explain the big differences that occur in season 6 from season 5. I had thought that perhaps after the battle when Lady repaired the Island she also altered it, that or she altered reality itself, which would explain the changes in characters and areas, such as why we don't see Thomas' branch line properly for some time. Anyway, all in all its a brilliant piece of writing, and I have been proud to watch it grow and become my absolute favorite Thomas Fanfic, heck my favorite Fanfic hands down. Looking forward to how you write season 6 onwards, there's a bunch of characters that I can't wait to see, such as Salty and Harvey, and even the ones with smaller stories such as Arthur and Murdoch. Keep up the good work :)