Does the male train insert his steam pump into the female’s steam hole? Is it parthenogenesis? Do the Fat Controller and his crew dabble in IVF with the trains? Do Thomas and his faggot tank friends fuck human women on the island of Sodom?
Functionally speaking they're likely a eusocial colony based species like wasps ants or termites.
The station itself is the queen/reproducer in the colony. Just like in an ant colony each train is built for specific purposes.
Humans are a separate species the trains are using to facilitate reproduction. Akin to the fringe environmentalist idea that computers/technology/cars are species using humanity for that purpose.
Given the fact the trains are sentient it's a matter of time before humans are the bottleneck in the colony and the station starts producing steam powered automata to facilitate reproduction. Think terminator but HO scale and narrated by George Carlin doing funny voices.
Hell they trapped Henry in that tunnel once there's bound to be resentment on the machines end of things.
They're not biological organisms, so they don't reproduce. I hate these fan theories that try to get dark or crude -- the best (and canonical) answer is that they're granted sentience by the magic of Sodor and that Sodor is an undocumented island under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Sodor and Man.
If you’ve never once pondered the sexual proclivities of fictional tank engines while watching Thomas getting coupled up with Annie & Claribelle then I’m sorry you’re such an aberration against God.
If you’ve never once pondered the sexual proclivities of fictional tank engines while watching Thomas getting coupled up with Annie & Claribelle then I’m sorry you’re such an aberration against God.
I wish I could tell you but every time that sort of scene comes up, they cut to stock footage of trains entering tunnels. Oh wait, I think I get it now.
Serious answer: The engines are built just like they are in real life but somehow they get a face (the Reverend never elaborated on this). In the story "Crosspatch", Skarloey mentions being built alongside his real life twin, Talyllyn, in the 1800s.
The more important question is: What is it like, as a sentient machine, to be scrapped?
