Thomas the Tank Engine fans were left dumbfounded when staff at a heritage railway line upbraided them for referring to the Fat Controller, branding the name a “slur”.
Staff at the Watercress Line railway in Hampshire — recently infamous for its aggressively woke police force — interrupted a conversation between visitors who were “talking about The Fat Controller” to admonish them for referring to the 77-year-old character as such.
“In no uncertain terms we were told no one could use such a slur,” said one father quoted by The Sun.
A second visitor told the right-leaning tabloid that staff at the heritage railway, which hosts a working engine designed to look like Thomas, that the Fat Controller name “belongs to another era” — a somewhat ironic admonishment from an attraction operating steam locomotives.
Woke University Bans 'Offensive' Terms Including 'Manpower', 'Able-Bodied', 'Baby Boomer' https://t.co/1S6UJ5O412
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 10, 2022
This is not the Thomas the Tank Engine series’ first brush with wokery, with the author of the popular children’s stories, the Reverend Wilbert Awdry OBE, having been denounced as a man who “disliked change, venerated order, and craved the administration of punishment” in a New Yorker article in 2017, and his creation as a celebration of “true ‘white man’s burden’ style British imperialism” in a Slate article back in 2011, for example.
These denunciations culminated in an attempt at a woke relaunch of the series in collaboration with the United Nations — which apparently had concerns about the fact that Thomas uses coal — in 2018, with “male” trains being dropped in favour of “female” trains to make the cast gender balanced and “multicultural” engines coded as African, Chinese, and Indian introduced.
Senior producer Ian McCue said at the time that the show based on Rev. Awdry’s books had “undergone an evolution to remain relevant for the next generation of parents and children by opening up the world of Thomas And Friends so children can discover the world around them while being entertained.”
“The changes and new additions of characters and geographies will make the show more entertaining, inclusive and global,” he added.
‘Being Offensive Is an Offence’ — UK Police Mocked for ‘Hate Crime Awareness’ Event https://t.co/l54qjZhuHx
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 22, 2021
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