rrtfs-official-blog

[rrtfs-official-blog]

Well after a very exciting day I’m worn out but am in a very good mood! Let’s just say, I may or may not have visited three engines who are in this series. Also known as Stella, Martha, and Patchy at the Little River Railroad. I saw and rode behind the triple header! Very exciting stuff! First time I’ve seen more than one steam engine on a train! And one of them was my favorites! Although to be fair I loved all three, but I was really happy to see Stella (NKP 765) again, saw her a month or so back but before that I hadn’t seen her in 14 or so years, so that was very nice! Generally speaking, a good time was had by me, and it did give me some story ideas for the series!

That though is not the point of this little update! The point is introducing a character I’ve come to adore within the the few weeks or so that he’s been a character! This character was not a product of my own mind! Nor one that actually exists or did as an engine within the series! It’s sorta, inspired by some existing engines from an builder that’s now gone, and could’ve in theory existed. He falls into the same category of Buddy and Ernie, real classes made by a real builder, but the character specifically is not based on one of the engines actually produced, just a fictional member of the class so to speak.

This engine is a Sandley Light Locomotive and Equipment Works engine! He’s a 4-4-2, which is a very common wheel arrangement that they made in real life. I can think of two examples off the top of my head are both at the Riverside and Great Northern Railroad, at the Wisconsin Dells, both of which based on C&NW D class Atlantics. The engine in the series, the fictional one in theory is sort of a sister engine to the other two. Just built many years later, roughly at the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009, likely the latter. And I know that Sandley the company was out of business by then, but this is Somewhereica where I bend the rules of reality as I please. And if that means keeping the park engine builder in business than so be it.

Things to note. In the series Sandley built engines have a few personalities and characteristics in common. It’s a builder’s intent thing, which pretty well means they’re built and designed to act those ways. In short, they’re all designed to be stupid, happy, chatty, sweet, and curious. They’re meant to be good with visitors to the parks they’re built for, especially any visiting kids. So oftentimes, Sandley built engines are popular with people who don’t have to operate or deal with them on a regular basis for the most part. Figures, but they bring in the extra revenue of people buying tickets to ride behind the spunky little engines so it’s a price many places are willing to pay. A fair enough trade so to speak.

The same cannot be said for Wagner and Sons Co built engines. They were built much earlier, long before it was sorta discovered that park engines should get a different builder’s intent than the mainline engines. The Wagner engines were built with more mainline, heavy hauling, long distance, and revenue intents. And due to the engines not taking part in the work they were built for, well, let me put it to you like this. It’s like putting a dog meant for herding sheep over long distances into the roll of a purse dog. They’re miserable. The Wagner built engines often aren’t the highest quality in appearance, or at least the accurate to the revenue service counterparts. And on top of that because of the loud obnoxious kids and limited runs they’re not happy. Often resulting in jaded, silent, and rather mean engines who keep to themselves more than anything.

Well, due to some dated Wagners engines gifted to the IBRM and Henry Johnson back in the late 70s or sometime in the 80s (namely the two Stet and Query engines #1 and #3 and Kiddieland engines at the Hesston Steam Museum), Henry needed some new equipment. He’d earned the four engine’s trust, and bonded with them as well as one can with a Wagner. But Henry needed some extra motive power since well, all four of the old engines needed some extensive work.

Henry then rented two Sandleys from the R&GN since he heard that they were good plus his only experiences with other Sandleys. Namely Goose, aka the #242 that is a 2-4-2 at Hesston, or the “James R. Donnelley.” As is printed on her cab. And the town of Iron Bridge’s own park engine. That being a hudson streamlined in the same style as the Commodore Vanderbilt on the New York Central. That engine was aptly named “The Commodore Vanderbaby.” And was a very even tempered, sweet, gentle, and quiet Sandley of rather average intelligence. And Henry thought Sandleys would be a good fit if they acted that way, and they usually don’t, Vanderbaby is an outlier. Which leads into him leasing the two from the R&GN and then receiving the one he bought.

The one he bought was another 4-4-2 based on a C&NW D class as explained, Henry numbered and painted him up more Pennsy, even using the number 460, obvious reference eh? It was a he Id that wasn’t clear, and he was the worst Sandley built to date. Extremely stupid, yappy, friendly, curious, and adorable. Problem was that culminated into him being the probably the annoying locomotive to date. This includes the infamous very childish and goofy Roscoe (N&W 475). Due to the Sandley’s inability to be sold, popularity with guests, generally happy disposition, and tendency to derail, wreck, and screw up without even realizing, he was named rather cruelly. The volunteers named him “Stoidi Knurd” often just Stoidi for short. Why the odd name? It’s “drunk idiots” backwards. Stoidi is kept at the museum and generally is just a well loved nuisance.

Me and a friend who ISN’T one of my co-writers came up with him. I fell in love with the concept immediately but I got mixed reviews on whether or not to add it to the series. I put it to a poll in a server I’m in, and he won the vote! My co-writer Speedy wasn’t even sure about the little rascal at first! But he won and now he, his initial plot line, plus follow ups including a display signal wall and a wig-wag crossing gate are canon to the series! I love the little guy and I hope you will too!

Without further ado here’s the two drawings I made for him! The first is the propaganda image I drew up within an hour or two to try and sway people to vote for Stoidi. And the second I drew recently as a response to the overwhelming love for the little idiot and the things me and my friends say about him! I hope you all end up loving Stoidi as much as we do! (By the way, Stoidi is 15” gauge, yes I know the Wagners are 14” gauge, it’s a dual gauge miniature gauge line at the IBRM, when I say Henry pulled out all the stops I mean it). I also know I messed up Henry’s proportions in comparison to Stoidi in the first photo, I wasn’t trying very hard, I just wanted a propaganda image, and it worked! So enjoy!

[rrtfs-official-blog]

July 2025 Update!!

Been a while since I've said anything, as per the usual around here. I wanted to do my July update a week or two back, but I got busy and you know how it is sometimes. Especially since a lot of that busy as of late as included going to railroad museums and riding behind steam locomotives I think it's all excusable. (Especially since a lot of those locos if not all of them are characters in the series so it's opportunities to develop personalities and come up with stories for them).

First things first! I have finally started regularly writing again! A lot more than I have in the past anyway! I finally figured out the next short to work on, in fact, the next ten shorts are planned! The second half of season one is as of now, partially written (and by part I mean like a very small but workable percent considering two of the shorts are finished already). The two shorts out of ten that are finished are "The Brakeman." and "The Engine Under Church Hill." Yaknow, the two shorts I keep talking up! Those will be out... Well, one will be out in a couple months and one will be going public sometime late next year. That's what's planned anyway, I suppose nothing is truly set in stone.

Two shorts though, have been started in the background while I wait for my co-writer Speedy to do some edits and proofreading. Those two shorts are supposed to be the second and third shorts for the second half of season one. Those shorts are as follows, "Big Trouble In Little Iron." and then, "The Legend Of The Brass Canyon." Very random ones I know, but they're all building up to the final short of season one, "Silver Rails And Second Chances." So that's all fine and dandy! Why I started two at once? So I could still work on one if my co-writer was too busy to do his parts in the other. So in total, There's about... Four shorts being written? Slowly but surely anyway!

If it's not already abundantly clear, the second half of season one has a theme! Oh yes! Unlike the first half which just consisted of whatever stories I felt like writing at the time, this one has a proper theme and they're all a build up! Mostly consisting of really getting to know the characters involved, but there's some fun lore drops in them too! So keep an eye out for those. me and my co-writer are guessing it'll take about 2-3 years to get all of that done, and from there we move on to the first half of season two! Which should be very fun, considering there's already some shorts we wanna start. I can't think of much else at the moment. Aside from a new character who's been very fun to toy with. Their introductory short is "Big Trouble In Little Iron." Hence why that short has never been mentioned before. I will be posting something (hopefully shortly after this one goes up), about said character because he's just a fun little guy! Plus some very sketchy art I drew for him as 'propaganda' to convince my friends and Speedy that he should be added to the series. Obviously he won out.

And that's all I have for this little update! Not too much is going on aside from writing with my nose to the grindstone! Any questions or concerns I'm as per usual more than happy to elaborate! Wishing you clear track and green signals! Until next time y'all!

[rrtfs-official-blog]

A little something something…

Well, since I’ve no updates as of now. I know I posted one not too long ago. I feel like I should be more active here. So in honor, I have a little something to show off! It’s a drawing, or more so a sketch of something rather ambitious that’s been in the works for a couple months now. The sketch has been done for quite some time, but the coloring and rendering process is rather slow and tedious. It’s going to take me quite some time to get it all finished. But without further ado! I give you a silly drawing!

I went for something a little more cartoony this time around. I hope you all like it, and I hope you don’t mind waiting for the finished piece, it’s going to take me… a good long time. But I WILL be posting it when it’s done! Let me know what you think of it if you’d like. I’m always happy to receive some constructive criticism.

I can post the engine plus his crew and the background separately if anyone is interested. :]

[rrtfs-official-blog]

Another One Is Finished!

Been almost a month since I posted anything, or at least a couple weeks. As per usual, my inability to do the more uh, promotional things for my series rears it's ugly head. But thankfully it wasn't nearly as long as it was last time! Maybe I'll try to do weekly, bi-weekly, or more likely monthly updates on the series and where I'm at with things. But! Here's the second update of the month and although it's not too hefty I think it's got some good information! Or at least fun news. That news being, a new short is out. Has been for a week or two now. As I said in my last proper update, the short "Whistles And Thistles." was to go up only a few days after that was posted. And well, that's exactly what happened. Speedy managed to proof-read it in time and I got it on the public document. That makes it the tenth short finished and posted! So that's quite the milestone I say! Considering how... Ambitious everything has become. So what does this mean for the future? Well as I've said before, each season will be about twenty stories long, broken up into two parts for the sake of not making insanely stupidly big Google Docs documents. That means the first half of the first season is completed! Ending on a sillier note, a story that's sort of filler, but fun filler nonetheless! A lighthearted story compared to some of the more... Graphic ones earlier on. It's a fun little thing to start and end with the same type of story. From here on out, the next ten stories will be in the second half of season one! Meaning that we're really starting to make progress! I'm so proud of myself and I wanna thank Speedy for being the absolute greatest co-writer I could've had and really stoking my love for the series and always having little suggestions for it. Plus my other not so involved co-writer or at this point very supportive friend of mine Spits! She's also been great, even if just to chat with and ask for some nice words. Now, the next short I have an exact date that I know it will be posted. That day is October 2nd of 2025. In short, it'll be in quite a few months from now. That short is already finished! Just awaiting a proofread from Speedy, and even so I'll go back through it a few days to a week before it's set to go out. That short is none other than "The Engine Under Church Hill." That one is the longest short to date that I know of, an it's in honor of the men who lost their lives and the two who were never recovered in the Church Hill tunnel collapse back in 1925. And to the poor poor eight wheeler of an engine trapped to this day beneath the town, just a few hundred feet from the portal of the tunnel in town. So let me know if you have questions, comments, or concerns! If you wanna read the stories just let me know and I will drop the link to the first half of season one! From there if any other seasons or parts come out It'll be announced here (soon enough after release hopefully) and also linked in some way to the original document! So take care, and good luck on the high iron! May the bridges hold up and the fire stay high!

[rrtfs-official-blog]

Oh you’re much much too kind! Thank you! An honor really! I hope you like what you see, and if you find enough interest in what I’ve said so far (which isn’t too much in the way of details in all honesty, sadly I’ve never found the motivation to make big detailed posts about characters and stories).

And yeah, putting effort into something or posting/talking about something whether you made it or not and getting no return or engagement is disheartening. Sorta the reason why I forgot about the blog, but thank you! Every little comment, reblog, and even just a like means the world to me! :]

Well Well Well...

It's been a long long time since I put anything on this blog! Mostly because well, I'd sorta forgotten about it. With no activity to remind me that hey, people wanna see this stuff it kinda fell into the background. That and well, I've been busy lately! And although it's been what? Around five months since I last posted anything here, I oughta give some updates. Because believe me, the series is still being worked on and ongoing! And thank you to @marsmarvel02 who gave me a notification here, maybe I should post the link to this on my other blogs, I just keep forgetting.

Firstly, where have I been? I've been busy. Real life stuff mostly, just little things that eat away at my time. PLUS, well, the series! I've been working on it almost religiously! Writing shorts, proofreading and editing finished ones, coming up with titles, plotlines, fleshing out old characters, and making new ones! Plus working on the general worldbuilding and mechanics as well. All has been going well! With ups and downs as per usual, and short bursts of a million things being done at once and then long periods of little to nothing. But I assure you progress is sure and steady! In the time that I've been missing, about three months, a lot has happened! Three shorts have been finished, and are awaiting proofread and the proper date to go public! Those shorts are "The Engine Under Church Hill.", "The Brakeman.", and last but not least, "Whistles And Thistles."! The two last ones I just mentioned are rather new shorts! devised and written entirely in my absence from this blog, apologies! I've mentioned "The Engine Under Churchill." Before, and it took me a while to get it done, but it's done! And probably the longest short I have! There's also two work in progress shorts that are really on the backburner, and from the looks of it going to be very very long as well! Those I'm working with my co-writer Speedy to finish! He plays at least one character in each, and they're rather main characters to the story so work is slow going simply because we don't always have time to work. Those shorts are "Silver Rails And Second Chances." and "Trans-Con Comet." I've mentioned the first of those here before, the second was started in my absence, so apologies for that! Those two are... Well we're hoping to get "Trans-Con Comet" done this summer, and we might, but we're looking more at fall or winter depending honestly considering little to no work has been done on either short. I blame busy schedules but I do have a few things in the meantime while the bigger heftier shorts are written! I also plan to start a third one in the meantime to keep me writing and so I don't run out of things to post anytime soon! Now some dates that are coming up that I'm going to be posting things. Well, hopefully within the next five days "Whistles And Thistles." will be going public! It will be the tenth short to be finished completely! Now once again I have not posted the link to the series yet, but I'm willing! I just want someone to show genuine interest before I do! And another day to mark is October 2nd of this year! That's when "The Engine Under Churchill." will be public! The first short of the second half of season one! That one will be on a new document in comparison to the previous shorts. That brings me into my next thing. I don't know if I've ever talked about this. But the series is broken up into seasons, or will be anyway. Each season should end up being about twenty shorts long. And it will be split into part 1 and 2, each one containing ten shorts. All the docs will have links to each other so you can finish one part of a season and move onto the next! So be on the lookout for new seasons and parts as time goes on! I'm still going really strong with the series and am in no way looking to abandon or drop it anytime soon! Here's to hoping for many more years of RRTFS! Then comes another thing. I actually did post a short in the time I disappeared. That one being "The Broadway Zephyr." There's a promo image for it and everything! I just... never announced or posted it here! That's going to change though! Hopefully in a few minutes after this post goes up! I should get to that, as it's the second to last short for the first half of season one and it's one I really enjoyed writing. Based partially on real events and then just nonsense. You know how it is sometimes!

[rrtfs-official-blog]

The Seventh Poster For The Ninth Somewhereica Short Is Done!

This one took me quite a while to do! I was very proud of it in the end though. I started the short with nothing more than a silly short involved Randolph and Montgomery, plus the snowstorm in the 50’s that crippled the PRR’s Gg1 fleet. Well, here’s the result of that! Funnily enough when writing a short about the famous Pioneer Zephyr I ended up watching the 1934 movie “The Silver Streak” starring the engine! This the drawing was inspired by the poster for said film, just a bit. I hope you like this silly silly short, and the next one will be the last one of the first half of season one! As per usual if you wanna read the shorts just let me know and I’ll drop links in the pinned post so you can have access! I’d love to hear any feedback and I hope you enjoy! If you don’t read the story than I hope you like the drawing!

(And yes I finally posted this despite the short having gone public in February, I finally found the time and motivation for it. Bite me, at least u got it done)

[rrtfs-official-blog]

Well Well Well...

It's been a long long time since I put anything on this blog! Mostly because well, I'd sorta forgotten about it. With no activity to remind me that hey, people wanna see this stuff it kinda fell into the background. That and well, I've been busy lately! And although it's been what? Around five months since I last posted anything here, I oughta give some updates. Because believe me, the series is still being worked on and ongoing! And thank you to @marsmarvel02 who gave me a notification here, maybe I should post the link to this on my other blogs, I just keep forgetting.

Firstly, where have I been? I've been busy. Real life stuff mostly, just little things that eat away at my time. PLUS, well, the series! I've been working on it almost religiously! Writing shorts, proofreading and editing finished ones, coming up with titles, plotlines, fleshing out old characters, and making new ones! Plus working on the general worldbuilding and mechanics as well. All has been going well! With ups and downs as per usual, and short bursts of a million things being done at once and then long periods of little to nothing. But I assure you progress is sure and steady! In the time that I've been missing, about three months, a lot has happened! Three shorts have been finished, and are awaiting proofread and the proper date to go public! Those shorts are "The Engine Under Church Hill.", "The Brakeman.", and last but not least, "Whistles And Thistles."! The two last ones I just mentioned are rather new shorts! devised and written entirely in my absence from this blog, apologies! I've mentioned "The Engine Under Churchill." Before, and it took me a while to get it done, but it's done! And probably the longest short I have! There's also two work in progress shorts that are really on the backburner, and from the looks of it going to be very very long as well! Those I'm working with my co-writer Speedy to finish! He plays at least one character in each, and they're rather main characters to the story so work is slow going simply because we don't always have time to work. Those shorts are "Silver Rails And Second Chances." and "Trans-Con Comet." I've mentioned the first of those here before, the second was started in my absence, so apologies for that! Those two are... Well we're hoping to get "Trans-Con Comet" done this summer, and we might, but we're looking more at fall or winter depending honestly considering little to no work has been done on either short. I blame busy schedules but I do have a few things in the meantime while the bigger heftier shorts are written! I also plan to start a third one in the meantime to keep me writing and so I don't run out of things to post anytime soon! Now some dates that are coming up that I'm going to be posting things. Well, hopefully within the next five days "Whistles And Thistles." will be going public! It will be the tenth short to be finished completely! Now once again I have not posted the link to the series yet, but I'm willing! I just want someone to show genuine interest before I do! And another day to mark is October 2nd of this year! That's when "The Engine Under Churchill." will be public! The first short of the second half of season one! That one will be on a new document in comparison to the previous shorts. That brings me into my next thing. I don't know if I've ever talked about this. But the series is broken up into seasons, or will be anyway. Each season should end up being about twenty shorts long. And it will be split into part 1 and 2, each one containing ten shorts. All the docs will have links to each other so you can finish one part of a season and move onto the next! So be on the lookout for new seasons and parts as time goes on! I'm still going really strong with the series and am in no way looking to abandon or drop it anytime soon! Here's to hoping for many more years of RRTFS! Then comes another thing. I actually did post a short in the time I disappeared. That one being "The Broadway Zephyr." There's a promo image for it and everything! I just... never announced or posted it here! That's going to change though! Hopefully in a few minutes after this post goes up! I should get to that, as it's the second to last short for the first half of season one and it's one I really enjoyed writing. Based partially on real events and then just nonsense. You know how it is sometimes!

[rrtfs-official-blog]

I have not updated anything in a while huh? Been about a month now? Crazy how time flies when you're busy and can't focus very well when you do have free time. I do have some very minor updates! Nothing crazy, but I figure I oughta give you something since it's been a bit too long!

For starters, Spits is now going by she/her instead of he/him. Very proud! I won't be changing how to I refer to her, name wise anyway unless she asks me to! Apart from that, she's still vaguely involved with the series. Mostly just helping with ideas here and there, which I appreciate a lot more! Speedy is also still helping, and he's been doing a LOT with me lately! At least, when we do work on something.

Speaking of! I currently have five different shorts in the works! Those being "The Engine Under Church Hill.", "The Broadway Zephyr.", "Silver Rails And Second Chances.", "Trans-Con Comet.", and last but not least, "The Brakeman."

Starting with "The Engine Under Church Hill.", progress on it has been almost painfully slow I will admit. There was a brief scene where Speedy had a character to write in and that took a while. I don't blame him, it was just that the both of us didn't really have the focus to work on it. Once that was over I made good progress up to a certain point. I just lost the motivation. So, I decided to step away from it! Just for a little while. I have months and months to work on it, as it doesn't have to be out until October 2nd. Which is fine by me, I'll just let some ideas stew. But that one is close to being done! Very close, likely within a few thousand words if that. So be on the lookout for that one later this year!

The second is "The Broadway Zephyr." This one I worked on a while back. Got it written quick enough honestly, within a couple weeks I think. I'd worked pretty relentlessly on it. Now at this point, it's written, I've edited it, and I'm simply awaiting Speedy to proof-read it for me. Once I get the alright the promo image is done and It'll be posted on the 17th or 18th of next month! On the anniversary of the snowstorm that crippled the PRR's GG1 fleet in 1958.

The next one is "Silver Rails And Second Chances." This at the moment is sort of a backburner short. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the year but I'm not making any promises. Speedy plays multiple big roles in this one, and we've both been slacking on it. We're hoping to get it done soon-ish, but we're not even into the meat of the story yet and we started it late last year. I think sometime in October or November. So that's a fun one that'll take a while, we just work on it for fun. It's going to be a good one though! I think so anyway, we're certainly trying our best.

Next up on the list is, "Trans-Con Comet." This one Speedy had the whole idea for. He convinced me to add all five Blue Comet locomotives from the Central Railroad of New Jersey. He has a soft spot for those engines so I obliged, besides they're handsome. Then he jokingly suggested we send Comet on passenger trains across the country in a short. With some planning it's now coming into fruition... Slowly. It's more his short than it is mine, as #832, Comet, the one engine he plays is the titular character and thus it revolves around him. So he's doing most of the writing, I'm just helping with supporting characters and some of the descriptions since he's not confident in his ability to pull them off. He's a very good writer I think, he's just learning a few things and I'm more than happy to help! We want this one out sometime this year, maybe this summer or fall, but we're not putting a deadline until we know we can meet it.

The last one we've currently got in the works is, "The Brakeman." Likely a more Halloween centric story. It's spooky and all. I started it just the other night but I'm already making very good progress on it! This one I'm writing in between the others so perhaps something will come out while the larger more impactful shorts stall a bit. Same thing happened with "The Difference Of Cattle And Coaches." Funnily enough. Something to work on while the larger more interesting shorts stalled and progress was slow. I liked that short and I love the darker premise of "The brakeman." It's going to be a bit gorey and ghastly compared to the other ones we've got in the works at the moment. I hop you like that one, and it'll probably come out sometime this spring or summer. So there won't be another random summer gap like there was last year.

Now, there's a few other much more minor announcements I'll make. I'll jump into them now if you don't mind.

One is that, "The Brakeman." Was originally not going to be the 'filler' short that I'm currently working on. It was originally going to be, "Mr. Johnson And Jupiter." A more warm hearted short that explains the interactions and bond between Henry Johnson and Irving, or Jupiter. Central Pacific #63, the famous engine at the driving of the golden spike. And although I had the basic plot down which is usually enough to start a short, I lacked some of the lesser in between scenes leading up to the main point. So it got put away for now and "The Brakeman." is the one I'll be working on in the meantime.

the next update I have is about a little comic concept. I went looking back through old documents and papers regarding RRTFS. I found a rather angsty comic that was centered around Dusk and Dawn, two Southern Pacific GS-4 locomotives. Numbers #4449 and #4457 respectively. It was all about how in real life, Dusk would've been the only survivor. It's very sad to me anyway, because of how close Dusk and Dawn are and how her scrapping effected him. I may or may not do something with that, but it's very fun to look back on. And it was created very shortly after the series was thought of too.

Another important update is that looking back through old messages and what not, I've found the exact date I created RRTFS on! That date being May 25th, 2023. So this year the series will be three years old. The oldest of the characters being Ernie the SW7 and Buddy the Plymouth ML-8. I knew that, but it's nice to have an exact date. So I may or may not do something for that if I find time!

I believe those are all the updates I have at the moment! I'm sorry things are going so slow. Not that there's anyone to disappoint when this post is to go up. I appreciate anyone who even glances at these posts though! They're very appreciated! Until next time I suppose! As per usual I'm always happy to chat and answer questions! You'll hear from me likely when a particularly interesting thought crosses my mind, something gets finished and posted, or I have more interesting updates to post!

[rrtfs-official-blog]

I said I’d not reblog much of this blog, BUT OH MY GOSH. This encapsulates a lot of the Engines of Somewhereica! The wanting to do what they were built for, and feeling betrayed, useless, or just downright guilty when they’re sent for scrap or called useless or a failure when they’re an experimental engine who didn’t work out. I love how poetic this is, it hits oddly hard. I love this, thank you OP, you put it into words much better than I ever could’ve.

Humor me but I was trying to explain to my friend about how it feels to enjoy trains. Even as a novice I cannot help but romanticize them and wanted my friend to see through the mind of an engine or how I imagine an engine sees itself.

Imagine being so strong and nothing can really hurt you. You’re in a perfectly safe space made just for YOU (the rails) And your job is to go FAST as fast as you were made to be. Or to be strong and to be as strong as you were made to be. You were made to be fast and strong! There was intention in your design. Science, engineering, something real, something you aren’t taught to believe in the walls of a church. Power you can touch, see, and feel. You are imagination made real!

A person has to live under constraints and social pressure. And although you were made for people, their rules that restrict you like speed restrictions or what color you must be painted will never eclipse the truth of what you are and what you were meant to be.

Imagine being a thing built to work and LOVING to work and WANTING to work and when you’re tired, there are people who will fix you and you pay them with your work which also pays you! You are compensated by your mere existence and your usage! And people tell you you’re marvelous and strong and beautiful and it’s true because you are!

It’s like!!! Living an absolute perfect truth. And when you’re speeding down the track whistling as loud as you can for you’re meant to be loud and going as fast as you can because that’s what you’re meant to do; when you’re doing that, you’re living in perfect happiness.

The happiest one could ever be! No biological desire no concept of denying yourself your ultimate calling. Just doing what you’re made to do and loving it unconditionally. And being praised for it and never needing money because it means nothing to you! Incredible.

I just think it would be the most amazing feeling ever. But also!The saddest feeling to be broken! To be unused and waiting in a museum or a siding or a scrapyard. To be told you’re useless. To be melted down for some unknown purpose and to never feel the wind across your frames again and to never scream at your highest pitch that you’re alive and you’re loud enough to drown out the rest of the world! To be silent and only to take up space until you are removed from the beautiful rails and destroyed.

To no longer be what you were made to be. So cold you crack and rust away. And people only speak of your glory in past tense and blame you for things you couldn’t control.

Didn’t I do a good job?

Didn’t I pull? Didn’t I push trucks around nicely? Didn’t you get to where you needed to go? Did I ever treat your destinations as unimportant? Did I ever ask you to justify the direction I took you in? All I ever asked was to be what I was meant to be.

Now you say I’m too expensive. That I take up space. That no one will take care of me anymore. That I’m bad for the Earth I was made from and the living things on it I was made for. Why is this my fault?

Why is any of this my fault? When you made me this way?

Didn’t you benefit from what it took to give me power? Weren’t we all working together? I’m not sorry. I’m just sad.

So many times that came that never had to. So much work left undone. If I were an engine with my life cut short, how I’d cry over the loss of what could have been!

But no one would hear me. I can only be heard when I’m doing what I was made for. My truth only can be spoken when I’m given a voice.

I don’t know! I think trains are neat.

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The Sixth Poster For The Eighth Somewhereica Short Is Done!

After stalling for nearly a year and not getting the short out for about a year, "The Christmas Cannonball." Is finally finished and public! This one was fun to write and at the moment it stands as a good introduction to Scott, our pessimistic Wabash MOW Pacific. It's just a fun little lighthearted story written for Christmas. Another thing you'll find is that I drew the poster traditionally instead of digitally. I did it for Christmas last year, but the short just, didn't get done in time. So, without further ado, I hope you like it! (I also posted this a couple days late in comparison to when I released the short for my friends, but we won't talk about that I've been busy.)

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The New York Central's Black Beetle... Ace.

We all know about the New York Central's experimental jet train. You know, the Budd RDC that they streamlined the front of and put military jet engines on the top of. The hodge-podge locomotive that to this day holds the American speed record, although to be fair it did hit at least 183, (although I've read the engineer was throttling down when it's speed was captured so it might've been able to go faster).

Point being! The Black Beetle has been added to Somewhereica for quite some time! Mostly because of it's historical significance and odd appearance. (You may find I add a lot of engines for those reasons.)

The Black Beetle in Somewhereica is named Ace, and like most Budd products in this series, he's rather selfish. He's a cocksure engine who often turns conversations about himself. He's not trying to be rude, he just brags far too much. Especially after his modifications.

But, that's not the real point of this post, although it does include Ace! I'm more focused on his little Chauffer.

You see, in most real footage you ever see of the Black Beetle, there's a GP pushing and pulling it around. The two engines were often with a caboose as well, but I was more interested in the Geep. Here's a picture of the Black Beetle with the Geep, although the Geep isn't all that clear and you can't really make out a number.

I went on a quest to find the number, class, and build date of that engine. After all, if I'm adding the Black Beetle I might s well be realistic and give it the engine that actually tows it around. Especially since I once read that something within the Black Beetle was disconnected and it couldn't run without the jet engines on, so slow speeds were impossible.

Well, looking at footage I managed to freeze it on a frame where I could read the number on the Geep. 5710. Now, with that I found an NYC diesel roster and boom, there it was. It's a GP7 built in July of 1951. So armed with that, I can add the engine properly! (Note, this isn't a picture of 5710, but it's another NYC GP7, so a sister engine of sorts. I genuinely cannot find a picture of 5710).

I know I want it to be a she in the series. I'm just not sure what to name her or what to make her personality. I know she's not going to be a push over, not at all. She's dealing with Ace nearly constantly, I don't think putting an easily manipulated or bullied engine with him would be a great idea. So, that's really all I have in mind. If anyone has any suggestions for names or personality traits I'm all ears!

I just wanted to get that off my chest, considering usually research on these engines for the series goes a lot poorer. Especially when it came to a certain Southern Pacific A-6. That guy... There was not a lot online about him. And the few railroad books that I have at the moment had nothing on him. I need to start buying more books just in case there's something in it I can use for the series. Whether it be a wreck, a build date, or some information that hasn't been put out since the book it's in went out of print.

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Alright, it's been on my mind for a while...

More so a few days, but I think you get the point. I've been mulling this over for, maybe about a week by now? Point is, I can't come to a decision and someone might be able to help.

Me and my co-writers (Spits and Speedy) were in a Discord call. Just hanging out as we do sometimes. As per usual we were talking about the different series and projects we're all working on. Speedy and Spits talked about theirs together for a while (I didn't get in on it much but I'll explain why in a moment), and I also talked about RRTFS. (If I wasn't this likely wouldn't end up on this blog.)

I sorta off handedly mentioned this blog, both of them know its exists. It sorta came up because of Speedy and Spits talking, and Spits telling Speedy he should make a Tumblr account. (As a side note Speedy DOES want to make one at some point for his Thomas the Tank Engine AU, and I absolutely would tag him a million times here.) I said he'd probably get more engagement than I do, simply because although it's an AU, there's a fandom for the series and people eat that stuff up! No matter how absurd there's always an audience, unlike for my stuff since it's just a little homebrewed OC project.

Spits then suggested I start tagging posts on this blog, about Somewhereica, with the Thomas the Tank Engine tags. I've been mulling over his idea for some time. And I want to list out the reasons why I would and wouldn't.

Why I Would Use The TTTE Tags:

I would, well, because I will admit there are similarities. Mainly just the style of the faces on the engines, some of the shorts, and well... It's talking locomotives who have silly adventures and get themselves caught up in wild situations.

Spits also claimed that people would love the series! People who like TTTE would more than likely like my series. Especially those who want something a little more serious or even gory than just the kid's show. Both Spits and Speedy claim the writing is good (which, I hope so! I'm putting my heart and soul into it!), and Spits also said there's enough people who like American locomotives in the Thomas fandom to where they'd likely at least give it a shot.

Why I Wouldn't Use The TTTE Tags:

The big one is all honesty, is the fact I don't want this series to come off like an AU. In all honesty, it's not. Sure I've made some Thomas references within shorts and even some of the titles, RRTFS is something I want to be it's own thing. Now I know it'll probably always be overshadowed by TTTE, and TTTE was a very heavy influence, they're not the same. And I want TTTE to be nothing more than that to RRTFS, an influence and where I got some concepts for my series from. (Note, I did watch a ton of Thomas as a kid! Although these days I'm rather out of the loop, and that's why Speedy and Spits talk about their AUs with each other more than me, because there's a lot I don't know.)

The other is the fact that... Like I said, this isn't an AU. It would feel to me like I'm putting useless tags on things for nothing more than engagement. It would feel like bait to people who are scrolling through the TTTE tag looking for, well, Thomas, and then getting some random completely unrelated OC project that they likely have no interest in. So I don't want to tag incorrectly, although the series do have the same basis of talking trains with faces.

Well... That's about it I think. That's what's been on my mind. If anyone could tell me which I should do, please do! Even if it's just in the replies, I read those! I just want advice to make a few friends and perhaps have a very small community of people who have interest in the project. That's all for now I think. Thanks for putting up with my rambles and for those of you who answer, thank you! And if tis post does manage to catch anyone's eyes, I'm open to answer asks about the series! I know I haven't posted a lot about the characters, but I just... Haven't had a reason to yet I suppose.

(P.S. I will be tagging this post as TTTE simply because I mention it quite a bit. That, and perhaps someone or a few someones in the fandom can let me know if tagging anything else with it would be rude or annoying.)

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You know, I should update this blog more. There's a few small updates as per usual and I should stop cramming them into one big post every month or so. So I guess I'll just list them off for now!

One of the biggest updates is how I'm going to be formatting the release of the shorts. Because a lot of them end up a lot longer than anticipated, the Google Documents with both the concept or in progress shorts and the finished ones that are public, are getting a bit long. Speedy's phone is slowing down when it comes to loading them, and I don't want anyone to deal with that. SO, in other news there will be multiple Google Docs for the public and the private behind the scenes shorts, although the public ones are the only ones you guys will need to worry about. They're being split into seasons with twenty shorts per season, and each season is being broken up into two parts on two documents. That being said, once all the shorts that need proofreading and finishing are done, part one of season one will be done!

Next, there's going to be a short coming out next month! Closer to Christmas as it is this year's Christmas short. It was supposed to be last year's but I didn't get it done on time, but I got it done for this year! All that needs to be done is a proper proof read, and Speedy claims he's already working on it. So I don't see any reason why it won't be out on time this year. (P.S. The short is "The Christmas Cannonball.")

Work on "Silver Rails And Second Chances." Is going very well! Maybe not the fastest but that's fine by me. I don't need it done until next year during the summer at the earliest, but even so this one isn't a high priority. Although I have been enjoying it and the story captivated me when me and Speedy came up with it.

"The Engine Under Church Hill." Is also going quite nicely. Originally Spitfire was supposed to help me write it with one of his small side characters at the IBRM. Instead I wrote all the characters there. Later on though after a crack idea or two and the creation of a character and some background, Speedy is helping me write it! Although his character only appears in one scene, we have plans for him to make cameos in many other shorts. So keep a look out for that!

There's also a short coming in February of next year! That short being "The Broadway Zephyr." Which will be released hopefully on time since I don't think Speedy will have any trouble giving it a proof read before then. There's also going to be a proper title card for that one! As I've already started drawing it up. Small spoiler, the title card is going to be very loosely based on the 1934 "The Silver Streak." movie's posters.

Aside from that all that's happening is some slow work on some behind the scenes stuff to get more shorts ready to write. As well as the fact that I'm struggling to pick a short to write after "The Engine Under Church Hill." Is finished since that's not going to be released until October 2nd of next year for the 100th year anniversary of the Church Hill tunnel collapse. That, and me and Speedy may or may not have recently gotten most of the details regarding a rather lengthy and silly short accounted for. There may be some inaccuracies, but you'd be surprised at how hard it is to find old passenger train's schedules, stations, and consists from the mid 1930's online. Most of that is probably in books we don't have, so please be patient with us.

Other than that I may reformat a few posts on this blog to be easier to read. Thank you for anyone who shows any interest in the series! We're always working on it, or at least thinking about it! I don't think this project is going to fall to the wayside, or at least I hope not since I really wanna try and publish the stories someday. They just need a lot of work since both me and Speedy are currently amateur writers and need a little more practice. With that being said, this is this month's update and I'll see you later! Asks are always appreciated!

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The Fifth Poster For The Seventh Somewhereica Short Is Done!

I finally got “In The Lambent Lamps Of Phantoms.” Out! I had a great time writing this one! It sparked from a vague idea involving the John Bull and spiraled from there! I had a good time writing it and it introduced about fifteen or so side characters! So that’s fun! They’ll more than likely appear in other shorts as well! So be on the lookout for them somewhere down the line. This short is this year’s Halloween short! So I hope you enjoy! I also hope it’s the proper amount of spooky, light hearted, silly, and confusing that I tried to make it. Here’s the poster! Which I’m insanely proud of despite its flaws!

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Alright! Been a hot minute since I updated, but I sorta forgot about this blog. I’ve been doing a ton of writing recently! My spirits were renewed after I finished ‘Hey Porter! Hey Porter!’ And I managed to get it out a few hours after the deadline, but that was simply on account of some technical difficulties.

Speaking of technical difficulties! I was having trouble doing a lot of things that I usually did while Discord and Tumblr worked on my computer. It eventually became too outdated to run both websites, and it was too bad to download them. So, I was struggling to actually put the finished RRTFS shorts on the public document since well, copy and pasting is much easier on a computer than a Ipad. I received a new laptop today after my first one stopped loaded discord, and the old one my sister gifted me almost immediately started having battery problems and dying when it read that it was at 100%, so that should make everything much smoother if this one works better!

Now onto the actual update stuff! There will be a short coming out later this month! this year's Halloween short! Which I've mentioned a few times, it's "In The Lambent Lamps Of Phantoms." Currently Speedy is proof reading through it, and he claims he's about halfway through so I'm more than positive it should be out before Halloween or on Halloween! Although since he's in school I've been cutting him a lot of slack. But keep an eye out for that! I love that short and it's certainly given me ideas for others!

Now, something not as fun. I don't know if I said anything about it here or not, but the short "The Engine Under Church Hill." Already has a deadline and a date that it has to come out on. That being October 2nd, 2025. AKA, same month this is posted next year. That specific date because it's the 100th year anniversary of the Churchill tunnel collapse on the C&O. The short is in honor of that event, so it ought to come out on the same day. Now my newest and honestly less involved co-writer Spits was going to play a part in that story. Just a small one, a little B&O little joe switch engine who was going to be at the museum. I had started the story months before, and I gave Spits til Oct 2nd of this year to start writing his part, he didn't. Unfortunately because of that, he's been cut from the story. But don't worry! he didn't seem too upset! I made sure to ask if he could start it or not and he said no and was alright with being dropped from the story.

Now that doesn't mean Spits isn't going to write at all in the series! Later down the line whenever I get to the short "Sleepin' With The Fishes." He'll be playing at least one character in it. That character being an unnamed and unimportant NYC Mohawk, but that's not the point. So you'll still get to see what I consider to be his awesome writing skills! I assure you he's a very good writer, and usually he writes for little Thomas The Tank Engine projects of his, but he's still very good and goes very in depth with characters and willing to lend a hand! (By the way, check out his blog it's @sudrianspitfire he's so cool! Also sorry for the mention Spits.)

Speaking of shorts in progress that are being co-written by someone else. Me and Speedy have started another short that we've been wanting to since it was thought of! That short being none other than, "Silver Rails And Second Chances." We've been wanting to do something with it since we came up with it, and a little while ago we finally caved in and started it... Despite the fact we said we wouldn't until next summer when he was out of school. It's not going to be a priority, but it will be worked on slowly in the background. At least until the other shorts are edited and waiting a proof read, then it'll probably take the spotlight until it's being edited.

So in short, one short will be coming out later this month, one more in December (Which was supposed to be last year's Christmas short), and three more are in the works while the first two I mentioned are just awaiting a proof read. Sorry it took me a little while to get this update out! I've been very busy the last month and couple weeks, but I did finally get this out and I have not completely forgotten about this blog and my passion for the series is still going strong! Bye for now! And don't forget, I'm more than willing to answer asks and talk more in depth about certain characters and aspects of the series! So please don't be shy if you're curious!

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The Fourth Poster For The Sixth Somewhereica Short Is Done!

I have posted “Hey Porter! Hey Porter!” And am I glad that I did it when I did. It was technically a few hours late, but we’ll worth it! I got a new laptop that was supposed to make that much easier but it only got more difficult. As it’s my sister’s old computer and it worked fine while they wiped it clean, but now it’s nearly impossible to use. It’s being finicky about charging and also dies randomly when the battery is full, so I don’t know what happened. But point is the next Somewhereica short is out! If you wanna read send an ask or message me or something and I’ll drop the link to the Google Doc in my pinned post!

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Alright, as per usual it’s time for one of my random little updates! This one has some rather big news! After months and months of procrastination and short bursts of writing, “Hey Porter! Hey Porter!” Is finally almost done! It’s all written out! I’m honestly just waiting on Speedy to finish proofreading it for me! I just wanna make sure it’s all in order before it’s public! (Please note I still haven’t posted the links to the RRTFS stuff, I just wanna generate a little interest in the series first! Please ask if you wanna read the shorts!).

I didn’t have a deadline for this specific short for a long time, but I eventually set one! That being September 4th for two reasons! One is because I’d be the Birthday boy since that’s my Birthday. The second is because for labor day weekend I always go to the Hesston Steam Museum (For those of you who love anything and everything steam, trains, tractors, stationary engines, a popcorn machine. I recommend going someday!). The Hesston museum is where Sawyer, Tank, Porter, Hiawatha, and Brigadelok live! Although only Tank, Porter, and Sawyer are in the short I thought it would be fitting to post the short when I visited the real life counterparts to the characters! I did that on the first so I’ve already done my trip to Hesston, and for the first time in years I saw all three of the main guys! So that was fun, right now Speedy is only about half done reading the short so hopefully he’ll be done by tomorrow so I can post it!

On top of that short almost being done, I have two more finished! Those two are “In The Lambent Lamps Of Phantoms.” And “The Christmas Cannonball.” I have finished writing and editing both! All that needs to be done is for Speedy or Spits to proofread them! I have plenty of time for that, because one is a Halloween story and the other is a Christmas story. So no rush on those just yet! Hopefully they’ll be able to be posted on time, so here’s to hoping!

With three shorts in the works right now that just need to be proofread, I’ve only got one other one that’s a real work in progress, and the deadline isn’t until next October. Specifically October 2nd, as it’s in celebration to the 100th anniversary of the Churchill Tunnel collapse in Richmond, Virginia! That short being “The Engine Under Church Hill.” I’d likely already have it mostly done if it wasn’t for Spits taking his time with getting to know the characters and develop the one he’s going to use in it. Unfortunately because this short in specifics is very important to me, if he doesn’t at least start writing by the 2nd of October this year I’m going to cut his parts out and replace them with some other character I can play. Hopefully he finds the time and motivation to do it, because he’s a fantastic writer! And he’s one of my good friends so I’d feel bad, but business is business.

This brings me to my last point! I did a LOT of behind the scenes work that really no one knows about! I reformatted all the stories! Before I did that, in all honesty I was writing these shorts like one would write an essay in school. I never took a proper writing class, like a creative writing class or anything. So that was the only real way to write I knew of. But a while ago Spits told me the blocks of text I was writing were rather hard to read. I took that to heart and instead of moping about it like I usually would, I decided to make the change! I did as much research as I could and did my best to take all the rules to heart and use them! I’ve tried to restructure the shorts like an actual story! I think I did alright in all honesty. It might not be the best or publish worthy yet, but I’m working on it!

All the shorts got some major edits and what not to roll smoother! I like the results and originally the reformatted versions weren’t going to be public but I changed my mind on that shortly after finishing the second story. So I hope for those of you who end up reading it at some point appreciate it! I did five published shorts, three nearly finished shorts, and one that was barely started! So it took me about a week of pretty consistent work apart from eating, sleeping, and breaks. I’m pleased with the work and it’s the biggest thing that’s happened with the series as of late!

Apart from some new characters, story ideas, and me and Speedy finally finishing “Hey Porter! Hey Porter!” I think that’s about it for this update! As per usual, don’t be scared to send asks and what not! I love talking about the characters and the stories! So don’t be shy! Bye for now then!