Apparently my ask box was closed this whole time. How embarrassing. Well, now it's open so if you want to ask things about trains with faces and get a tl;dr dissertation back, you can!
While you wait for your answer, here's a bunch of stuff I've already written to tide you over.
Original Fiction:
The Future is Still Silver and Black (with @littlewestern): preserved Chicago engines Pioneer Zephyr and Silver Pilot are pen pals. Ray also draws art of them as people (since our trains don't have faces) and we answer asks about them in this tag. People have also very kindly done fanworks of our characters so I catalogue those here.
Fanfiction:
Engines in Sidings (with @littlewestern)
This is Mr. Conductor Talking; I Know What I'm Talking About
And posts about these stories for people who are into that.
Essays about Canon:
The Singing List: Canon train opinions on singing.
Heartbraking: Worst Great Western You Know Had the Right of Way: Duck blew through a red signal. That's not The Way.
Diesel is a Ladies' Man: Diesel's got game. (Not actually an essay, but I think I've laid out a case.)
All at Air: Duck and Harold have an understanding.
What a Noise!: Some of Duck's cameos are pointless but not this one.
Difficulty With His Own: Sir Topham Hatt loves train bullshit.
The Lexicon: helpful shorthand phrases for discussing The Railway Series.
What Rebecca Does: Rebecca slaps, actually.
Duck v. James: Examination of their late-game "rivalry" in Season 18.
TTTE/DC (2015 - 2016): How well the DC Comics-themed minis match up to the characters they're dressed as.
TTTE/DC 2017: More DC trains.
They Sure Do Talk Funny: Beau is the third king of cautionary tales.
All Engines Ought To Have Names: Names are most important. Names mean you belong.
The Great Western Way: What exactly is the Great Western Way?
Diesel Does It Some More: Diesel is one of the few characters on the show that gets development.
Eat Shit Bridge: an ode to the Fenland Track.
Something Borrowed: Toad: Toad's the smartest guy on the railway and a little badass besides.
Top 3 Smartest Guys on the Railway - #2 Will Surprise You!
Thomas and Friends CGI: I talk about every episode of TTTE... but I started at Season 13 to educate you on how to appreciate the CGI.
Gifs:
Gifs
