u/Tythatguy1312

So we all know how Wilbert Awdry wrote about Steam and Diesel engines hating each other. It's a pretty core part. Misty Island Rescue has some really bad moral lessons over it. But, as a lover of Diesels, i'm kinda kicking myself for not noticing this sooner.

There were 4 diesels in the books noted as snooty, 13236 (Diesel), D261 (Bowler), D199 (Spamcan) and 40125 (Old Stuck Up), as well as 2 notably nice ones in D5702 (BoCo) and D7101 (Bear). In the case of 5 of these,there is a very noticeable trend. BoCo and Bear are, from the get-go, not the top end of diesels. The Class 28's were intended as express goods engines and the Class 35's were mixed-traffic go-anywhere machines. Notably neither of them are rude to anyone. BoCo seemed sufficient to quietly do his work and Bear spent half his focus annoyed at Spamcan, as if he was like this even when there were no steam engines to bully.

Because he likely is, as far as the writing is concerned.

The 3 Diesel Dickheads represent two Class 40's and 1 Class 46. The nature of these classes is important. The Class 40 was British Rail's first serial production Express Diesel, and was an incredible success. The Class 46 came later, but was intended for much the same role, albeit on more demanding routes than the Midland Mainline that the Class 40's ran. In essence they are at the same relative point to everything else that Gordon was during the early RWS Books. They're the Gordon's of their day. And Gordon, in the early RWS books, was snooty, arrogant and looked down on everyone else as if God and Awdry themselves personally ordained him as the finest machine on Earth.

As for Diesel and Daisy, their motives are more clear. Daisy is high maintenance and refused to pull goods trains because DMUs IRL, particularly the Derby Lightweight on which she is based, had some specific maintenance requirements and couldn't pull much beyond a trailer or maybe 2 goods vans. Diesel, on the other hand, is the exception that proves the rule. He is outright cordial to the other engines as they pose no threat to him at all, however Duck did so Duck had to be dealt with. He went about it in the worst way possible, but his motives were self preservation rather than outright arrogance or contempt for others.

So in summary, the entire Steam Vs Diesel conflict isn't racism, it never should've been and I'm still not over Misty Island Rescue's "Be Racist Kids!" moral. It was the characters, particularly Gordon, being confronted with the mirror image of him in his youth. Gordon, at the point of when these characters appear, had mellowed out so Awdry needed a tactical Not-Gordon to cause drama and this was the response. I'm surprised he never used an A4 but hey, the show did that anyway.

Also obviously Enterprise D model kits because if they're using pens to make them then they're clearly making these on a budget. As for why the pod on the second design is circled I have no idea what it is, but according to the lovely guys at Ex Adtris Scientia it's part of an old Tomy toy. Credit to EAS for finding these... and everyone else who's ever looked at the first design because come on it is not subtle with the pens.

Turns out there are TWO Mentally ill people who go by Ty online from Cornwall and this one comes from the other one. Literally just a Reliant Rialto with the back cut off and gullwing doors added, it sucks and came from rhe mind of Ty DeLorean, who's banned from every DeLorean fangroup on the internet, the country of Bali & the Bodmin And Wenford Railway (owing to him harassing them for money to build a Breitspurbahn replica), sincerely believes himself to be the long lost son of John DeLorean and tried selling these... things to The Taliban. I assume the representative laughed too long to actually tell the guy that the offer was as likely as a Real DMC-80 bus. It was probably a scam (I mean look at it) and iirc most of the few in existence were destroyed in a fire.

So the Magee Class, beloved weirdly by Bernd Schneider and nobody else, is a small, radioactive box capable of maybe Warp 5 at a push. VFX Size is 225m, scaled assuming Enterprise didnt nagically lose 153m of length in 5 years at closer to 150m. Owing to its... unique design I suspect the class had major limits on its operational capabilities owing to it being small, weak and presumably radioactive.

1: Warp speed penalties. Warp coils do put out radiation when the ship is moving, with more speed meaning more energy meaning more radiation. This would limit the Magee substantially as crew may be expected to travel directly through the warp engines.

2: Endurance limits. As the Magee Class is disproportionately prone to irradiating its crew, Starfleet would likely hold strong limits on how long someone could even be aboard a Magee class ship to reduce the risk of severe long term radiation exposure. Additionally Vulcans and Humans would be preferred as both are far and somewhat better at not dying of radiation poisoning respectively.

3: Early Retirement. On most ships, as the warp engines are in dedicated nacelles, replacing them would be relatively easy. The Magee is not most ships. Its warp engines are buried in the hull, so when they go, the ship goes with them, as retiring the ship would be easiercthan digging into the bowels of it to replace warp coils.

All in all, no wonder the Magee died fast, for the Oberth's flaws it didnt irradiate crews and could be upgraded far more easily.

Now make no mistake it is a very advanced looking ship... but the fact that it not only exclusively fires Quantum Torpedoes (which are energy independent of their mothership) but Earth has no idea what is occurring on Titan.

Titan is in the Sol System. If Earth cant reach Titan, these things can't even break Orbit. Forget being more advanced than Discovery, these things have less overall capability than the Botany Bay.

So Dreadnought is the titular missile of a particularly good Voyager episode, but the thought has always stuck with me. Given it's carrying a 2 tonne M/AM warhead, there are zero circumstances in which it hitting a planet isn't liable to glass said planet basically instantly. Combined with it being fast enough and well armed enough to kill what it cant outrun, it represents a beyond disturbing turn for weapons development in Trek, one that mirrors the greatest sin humanity has committed. Say Cardassia built a few of these and launched one at Bajor and the others to major nearby targets, say Deep Space 9, Starbase 375, etc. Whilst there is no doubt in my mind that a sufficiently powerful ship or station would destroy it, depending on when it's detected and where it drops out of Warp it will likely wipe out something vital. Cardassia itself holds the power to legitimately threaten powers far larger than itself. And if Cardassia can do this, one shudders to think what a Romulan, Klingon or Federation programme to build their own Dreadnoughts could accomplish. And now everyone has the weapons to wipe out the Quadrant at the push of a button.

But we've seen this horrible idea before, with the rise of Humanity's greatest weapon, the Nuclear Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. There is no doubt in my mind that Dreadnought is essentially the spaceborne equivalent of humanity's most incredible sin, the power to at once end life as we know it.

But given Star Trek is set BEYOND what crazy lead-poisoned 20th century humans did in-universe you'd think the conclusion is different, but I don't see it. In a galaxy where everyone could end life, no one would want to for fear of Mutually Assured Destruction. It's a Galaxy gone M.A.D. How does this impact politics after DS9 Ended? FUCK IF I KNOW! The writers didn't, we haven't had a political star trek serial set after 2375... ever.

Now technically there isnt much odd about it. Believe it or not a replica of a car based on a Dodge Viper uses the underpinnings of a Dodge Viper. But its story is kinda fun. Rockstar commissioned it as a promotion for GTA V, and gave it to one lucky individual who later sold it to a collector. It even appeared in Better Call Saul, a show set before the car was built.

Cheap? Interwar? Japanese? A truck? What more could you need! a stock second headlight on the cheap spec?

Original design by Masao Okazaki, go read his stuff if you're a star trek nerd.