Ivor is the living personification of a true working class hero and icon of the people and the proletariat where as Thomas is about a pen pushing middle management Cameron like aspirational tory used to keep the masses in their place.
or one, these trains perform tasks dictated by their imperious, little white boss, Sir Topham Hatt (also known as The Fat Controller), whose attire of a top hat, tuxedo and big round belly is just a little too obvious. Basically, he’s the Monopoly dictator of their funky little island. Hatt orders the trains to do everything from hauling freight to carrying passengers to running whatever random errand he wants done, whenever he wants it done – regardless of their pre-existing schedules.
Inevitably, the trains get in a fight with or pick on one another (or generally mess up whatever job they are supposed to be doing) until Hatt has to scold one of them about being a “really useful engine”, because their sole utility in life is their ability to satisfy his whims. Yeah, because I want to teach my kid to admire a controlling autocrat.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/22/thomas-the-tank-engine-children-parents?CMP=twt_gu