Hello All,

I am currently in the process of revamping/rewriting my MLP & Thomas the Tank Engine crossover story Railway Crusaders, and I need your help! i want to write a story about Our five favorite fillies as they explore Equeastria's railways but I need ponies and trains! Before you type anything, please be aware I am an author just like you, and I think we all know what a headache too many characters can become. Any proposed characters I do include will most likely be limited to cameo’s or background roles. That being said, here are the guidelines.

For Pony OCs, a brief bio with things like key personality quirks, their profession, preferably something on the railroad but that’s not required, and a description of their appearance and cutie mark. I suggest generalzoi’s pony creator on Deviantart.

For Engine OCs same thing. A brief Bio, key personality traits, and a picture of their basis. Preference will be given to engines based on an IRL loco. Every Railway Series engine was based on a real type of locomotive that once existed, and I would like to continue that tradition as best I can. That being said if you do have a custom design idea or one you've seen online that you really like and it's not too over the top, I will consider it all the same. To make things easier, here is my current fanon history of Equestrias railways.

In Railway crusaders, the first true steam locomotive was built and operated roughly one hundred fifty years before the events of the story. Generally the oldest locomotives found still in operation are the 4-4-0 Amareicans like Jedidiah. The Four mainline railroads are based on four of my favorite railroads, and are a nod to the Big Four of pre British Rails days. You can identify them on the map by color, and of course, all railroads lead to Canterlot. I know the map is slightly outdated, but it still works.

Equestria North Eastern Railway: Pink with red to mark the branchline most of the stories events take place on. Formed by a forced merger of the Manehattan Central and Pransylvania Railroads, the former of which utilized a strict loading gauge due to a series of tunnels. Their traffic is a mish-mash of various goods and passenger work, with everything from slow-goods to Limited express trains.

Southern Railway: Yellow. Mainly based on American Railroads and the longest single RR in Equesteria, with a leaning toward Union Pacific and Santa fe. At the start of the story they are just starting the process of dieselization, doing trial runs on their big freight trains, mostly the long haul runs between Canterlot and the South Luna Ocean ports.

Grand Solar: Green line. The name and locos are nods to the Great Western Railway. It also holds its engines to strict loading gauge standards because of many tunnels, and though its managers have held out on the diesel trend, they are starting to suffer for it financially. The GS is equestria's main mineral mover, coal, building stones, even gems.

Vanhoover and Western: greytracks. In TTTE terms this is the OTHER Railway. At the beginning of Railway Crusaders the V&W, is the only equestrian railroad to fully dieselize. Most of their rail traffic is manufactured goods like steel, furniture, and a lot of the imported goods coming from across the North Luna Ocean. They have also gotten very rich off traffic from the Crystal Empire.

The line between the Crystal Empire and Griffonstone is currently unnamed and has no lore, but I’m thinking a recent construction by the Crystal Empire.