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captivated by how much I see “juice” used for non-battery electricity in the rail sphere but never outside it. It’s such an oddly specific difference in a slang term I never thought about

“juice motor” is hilarious as a term in general though it seems to be a very boomer, possibly regional thing

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Because circus trains are a popular OC choice in this fandom, here’s a page with a crapton of photos and info on the Ringling Bros ones. The Blue Unit one from 2012 is a standout because it has rare interior pics and a ton of interviews and info.

They have a lot of very interesting specialized cars with a ton of potential that people may not know about (and most of them had previous lives as something else like a baggage car, and after the circus got repurposed by tourist railroads). Super fascinating to see private and sleeper cars that aren’t luxurious and more like mobile homes on rails meant for long-term stays.

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changed my blog name, buff-electra-truther was just kind of a temporary thing until I found a funnier one

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gee ain’t it ironic that “electra is a shitty boss” is a running joke while Greaseball is literally representative of a company voted “#1 worst employer” in the US for MULTIPLE YEARS RUNNING

meanwhile it seems pretty unanimous among railroaders online that passenger services (transit and Amtrak) in the US are much better than the class 1s and western Europe as a whole is laughably cushy in comparison

anyways my ire over electric train representation only grows the more things I notice projected on one of the only Anglophone characters of them that are just patently untrue and the inverse of reality. I don’t think it was a deliberate conspiracy vs lack of interest, but I’m increasingly convinced that it’s lowkey a factor in why people know so little about stuff like underfunding and aging infrastructure and the political/economic factors that led to cutting passenger rail and de-electrification in multiple countries. God the “hurr bdurr technology bad edison was a witch” angle is painfully counterproductive in an industry that has massive problems with being absurdly backwards and old due to lack of funding (or just companies being shitty and cheap).

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I’m going to start a running list of things that have been weirdly steamwashed

the origins of Orange Blossom Special are somewhat dubious but going off the lyrics, if it is indeed about “the fastest luxury train in Florida circa the late 30s” buddy, we are talking about an E-unit (even if the purported song origin was actually about the irl Silver Meteor)

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hello stex nation. electraboose meme be upon ye. i was considering doing this for greasedinah too and i may still but i wanted to do them first :3

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It’s kind of sad but funny that prewar Lionel (and other toy train brands) is the only reason why there’s even readily available models of some now-obscure US electric locos. They made a bunch of NYC S-motors and Milwaukee Road EP-2s (and also some smaller boxcabs), and while people barely know what they are now, they became so widespread that people will buy a weird model train to replace one their grandparents used to have.

absolutely delighted by how they have an recentish and cheap EP-2 christmas ornament set with one of the famous Skytop Lounge cars, I wish the modelling on the engine was better but it’s tempting for the price and obscurity.

Might need to do a roundup post on what electric engines were popularish as toys/models before the 60s because it’s a small but very fun mix

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I think it’s really funny that someone tagged an S-Motor “dieselpunk”…. they predate WWI by a decade….. time-period wise they’re technically more steampunk than anything. But then they were literally made to replace steam power before internal combustion engines were widespread so they’re kind of a secret third thing. Trolleypunk or something.

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cackling at how a New York Central S-motor really DID pick up some dropped tools with its magnetism and plopped them back down when turned off. I need to figure out if this was just a hazard with ooooold locos like that or newer ones too

I need to know if Electra would be great at picking up dropped pins and nails

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some photo previews from When the Steam Railroads Electrified, I haven’t had time to read but the pictures in it are AMAZING

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I think it’s hilarious that Clinchfield Railroad #1 wasn’t strong enough to pull more than two coaches so they would stick one or two unassuming-looking F7 B-units behind it vaguely disguised as baggage cars and you can spot them in almost every photo. Apparently they installed a throttle so they could be controlled from the steam engine.

“I’m a totally normal baggage car, we just don’t have more space for your stuff. Please ignore the obnoxious diesel clatter. I uhhh have a generator, gotta keep the lights on in the cars”

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things I am hilariously neutral/flexible on:

greasedinah

electra having a fuckass mustache or not

Slick vs Caboose

how actually malicious to make Greaseball

how irrational or rational Caboose’s motives are

twink vs “pocket bear” trucker Caboose

basically every character’s gender

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tbh it’s funny and sad that my “Electra is the one actually wronged by the system and literally held back by government underfunding and poor infrastructure” thing actually works GREAT across the pond too. These guys are probably the best Electra parallel in the UK and…. were eventually reliable and well-regarded despite vastly limited use due to cuts to electrification plans (thanks to the people who think ~only you have the power within you~)

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I’ll revise/add to this in the larger fic it’s a part of but this is a good description on how I’d view things post-canon (40+ years later, around the present day or a few years later). Mainly in terms of Greaseball’s position and view of Electra after the guy kicks the bucket. tl;dr he gave it up for the heritage/corporate train life years ago and thinks Electra’s perpetual number chasing is a sad losing battle

Greaseball watched Wrench drag the dead engine down the line to the museum.  Dead, not sleeping, not preserved.  There was no Snow White revival for him.  He’d heard the news.  His frame was so cracked it was almost a wonder he didn’t self destruct on the rails, and his transformers were drained when their oil was outlawed.  There WAS no way of repairing him without basically making a new engine.  They’d just repaint his faded shell and place it next to the husk of Big Red, like taxidermy figures.  

Greaseball was far out of his home territory and never felt right out east.  It was too flat and small compared to the wide open ranges and mountains out west.  But at least it was a safe and comfortable retirement alongside Dinah and several of his old friends.  He was still beloved as an icon of days gone by.  He wasn’t beating any records or winning any races anymore, but he no longer cared.  That stopped ages ago.  All that number chasing just meant nothing compared to being around those he truly loved.  Numbers would be beaten, replaced, forgotten, relegated to footnotes… but a true love, platonic or romantic, was never truly interchangeable.  

Electra never moved beyond his obsession with performance though.  Being faster and stronger than the GG1, making the best time he could, keeping up with if not surpassing more modern engines.  Always having to be on top, or at least outstanding for his size or age.  He always felt that knife against his back knowing the government wanted him gone, whether that fear was legitimate or not.  He just kept going and going, seemingly aware he’d go down like John Henry eventually.  Watching that shell be rolled into place, Greaseball solemnly nodded, that prophecy fulfilled.  

His speed records were broken.  Modern engines did times he could never do and pull things he could never pull.  If anything he was somehow known for his reliability in his sunset years until he really started to decline.  The common populace didn’t cheer because they recognized him from movies or media, like Greaseball.  He wasn’t that romantic ideal of a train, cruising across the open landscape with comfortable facilities.  He was a flash in the pan 40 years ago before being turned into an overworked busybody doing thankless commuter and freight trains half the time.  He tried to glamorize it but nobody cared.  

When he was younger, he would have felt smug victory.  You live for numbers, you die a statistic.  But it was just pathetic seeing him go out the way he did.  Struggling on too long and not even surviving his final trip.  He never even liked Electra but even he wanted better for him.  

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Really good video about electric train sounds ft. mostly British examples (and some from continental Europe)

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I want to gather a bunch of pics/links first but definitely want to do a post on the surprisingly heavy (and old) link between electric trains and mines. The variety of uses is/was super wide, from dinky battery engines (sometimes wired too) used on underground trains to the Virginian having a prominant electrified line to deal with steep inclines getting coal from West Virginia. It’s surprising how it’s such a niche topic in railfan circles when the underground ones actually have a decent preservation presence (and there’s still modern examples of big heavy electrified mineral lines like Malmtrafik)

tbh the big electric freight engines in the US are a weirdly good metaphor for miners struggling to retrain because a number of them were axed early when their lines/mines closed because they didn’t have many other uses outside them (due to limited and decreasing electrified lines and being impractically large/slow for stuff like commuter lines)

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I am becoming mildly obsessed with the idea of mining lokies and other obscure narrow gauge industrial trains being the equivalent of gnomes. They are small and kind of whimsical but also inescapably gritty, utilitarian, and blue-collar vs “cute”.

standard gauge trains talk about mysterious tiny ones on isolated mountain lines rarely seen by the outside world. They talk about how they used to roam the jungles in Mexico or even many city streets years ago