#silver pilot

[monstroso]

As another year comes to an end, The Future is Still Silver and Black 1975 update is here!

This update includes a new batch of letters, some new engine bios, two new illustrations; art of ATSF 2903 by the always-impeccable @ferlost and a postcard that DJ and I worked on together and sent in real life to the Flying Yankee Association! We're trying new stuff out, with more plans for new content in future updates.

And for the update art: Our boys are sporting the official Amtrak and CTA holiday sweaters for 2024!

[djangodurango]

Ray and I went to visit our trains.

[w4y2dawn]

SORA!!!🗣️GET IN THE GUMMISHIP🗣️🗣️🗣️

[kenchann]

cant wait for book 7 igni interaction lmao and also everyone getting outfits/cosplay

[djangodurango]

I think this is the first fanart we've gotten and this is quite a unique variety. :D

Do Screenshots Count as Fanart?????

Ever since I discovered that both Pioneer Zephyr and Silver Pilot (from @monstroso & @djangodurango 's The Future Is Still Silver & Black) exist in Rolling Line (my favorite train sim game) I had to do some screenshots involving the two of them.

To start, this was literally the first idea I had.

Here is some possibly self-indulgent shennanigans involving my little techinchally English but design is German tiny man Dean stuggling to move the Godesses, and then other guy (that I haven't shown on tumblr yet) Mutt hanging out with Pioneer Zephyr. Two former express engines watching the sunrise.

And then here's just some shots of the bois goin along.

Hope you enjoy these!

[gen4grl]

i am hoarding a cute alien girl in my house ⊹₊⟡⋆

[silverlizard012]

@mjlor-chan 's squirrelified Geek from their human sam & max au

[ghastlycrew]

i know we've said it before but the black sails pilot really is so crazy like silver and max are playacting at being cavalier hedonists and aestheticists as a flimsy yet essential little shield between their violent worlds and their own insane fucked up drives to survive at every and any possible cost. and on top of all that it's actually in retrospect just so incredibly sickofuckedupinsane that they do team up at all for the first couple episodes. in another life they would have loved killing each other with hammers on sight

[tothesolarium]

Sometimes I like the base layer of painting more than the final. Though I do plan on properly coloring the Questing Beast

[evilspiritweek]

RC9GN Pilot got leaked lol

Actually super glad that the full pilot got leaked lol For those not familiar, a sample of the storyboards got posted online a few years back, so it's nice to see all the context wrapped up into one video:

There's a lot I want to say and compare, but finals are coming up, so might have to put a pin in that lol. Here's some of my first thoughts:

Most of the voice actors seem to be the same with the exception of Randy (and maybe Bash). Not a hundred percent confident, but I'm thinking that it might be James Arnold Taylor (whose most well known for being Johnny Test)

I love the addition of Cranzky (I think that's how you spell it?) I just think the addition of not only more villains (also women ones) would've been neat.

Not a hundred percent confident on this, but I think the character designer for this might be Stephen Silver (Kim Possible, Danny Phantom) Most of the characters don't really fit his style, but eh way Viceroy was drawn makes him look straight out of Kim Possible haha

As an aside, be sure to check out his work here!

That's all I can think off the top of my head right now. Hope all ninja show fans eat good tonight!!

[monstroso]

Attention passengers! The mail has arrived from 1974.

It's been a hectic couple of months between work obligations and DJ's real-life move to Chicago, but the latest update to The Future is Still Silver and Black is live!

We have a few major updates to the site this time around. DJ spent the better part of her off-hours working on the Timeline feature introduced in the last update. It now covers all the Illinois Railway Museum's acquisitions, significant events, and projects (that we're aware of) from 1953 to 2024. We've also added some gorgeous art for NYC 999 and the U-505 submarine to the Engines, Etc. page, once again courtesy of the amazing @ferlost!

To everyone who asked about updates, sent in questions, and gave our old letters a reread in the meantime: Thank you for your patience. You are what keeps this train rolling forward. On to 1975!

[djangodurango]

for the WIP ask game... The Future Is Still Silver and Black? (original train fiction from you two sounds really interesting!)

So last year, I went up north to visit Ray. Ray lives in Chicago, which just so happens to have the largest railway museum in the United States, the Illinois Railway Museum.

At the IRM, we saw the Nebraska Zephyr, which is a streamlined stainless steel articulated trainset. Each of the cars in this train are named after Greek/Roman goddesses. Venus, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, and Juno. It's really quite striking. And the train is pulled by an EMD E5 (the only surviving E5 in fact) named Silver Pilot.

The next day we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. There we saw the Pioneer Zephyr, the first of the Burlington Zephyrs.

So after we get out of the MSI, we're sitting in the Metra station, waiting for the train, and we're doing Independent Research on our phones. Because the concept of the Nebraska Zephyr is great, right? Five beautiful cars all named after goddesses. And that is when we learn that Silver Pilot did not originally belong to this train.

"Those aren't even his bitches," Ray said to me.

So over the next few months, we did more Independent Research. And every new piece of information we found about Silver Pilot just made his story even better. The whole thing is fuckin' wild and we had to DIG to find almost all of it. It's insane because the engine has this amazing story - a story that Ray often points out would sound contrived if it wasn't true - and apparently no one has cared until a pair of fucking cunt dorks went to the train museum.

Comparatively, the Pioneer Zephyr was easy to find more about. Its history is extremely well-documented and lots of people in the past have been fucking cunt dorks about that train. The thing about the Pioneer Zephyr though is that it was made in the early 30's, right? And Burlington promoted this train in a way almost... vaudevillian. It broke the land speed rail record on its way to its debut at the 1934 World's Fair (outdoing its competitor from the Union Pacific, M-10000 only a couple months after it broke the record), it went on an exhibition tour, there were commemorative letter covers given for its service milestones, there was a ride-on children's toy made of it, it starred in a movie!

So me and Ray were now thoroughly enthralled by these two separate but related trains and how different their service lives were - and continue to be - when we get an idea.

We'd considered the idea of trains writing letters to each other before, but it's a little human for them in general, particularly for working engines who are busy. Although I was quite pleased when I was able to report to Ray that there was indeed an episode of TTTE where Thomas sends Percy a postcard.

But these guys are both preserved and while Pilot still works, the IRM is only really open on weekends. They got time. They have people with hands who can read and write who also have time.

DJ: Oh, what if they send each other letters? Ain't like they've got anything else going on. Ray: c2c. I was thinking about them being pen pals. Especially since they live so close, the letters don't take long to arrive. They can be short and sweet. DJ: Gives them something to look forward to. Ray: You can send some a few times a year and not be overwhelming with the information.

Which was all well and good, but then I found something practically serendipitous. A sign that this was the way to go.

So remember how Pioneer had all these publicity stunts and events done for it? On its tenth anniversary, they made a six foot birthday cake and rigged up an eight-foot-long knife such that the train could pull forward, break a ribbon, and cut its own birthday cake.

Most of this cake was given to veteran and child hospital patients, but individual pieces were also sent off to each of Pioneer's "brothers" and a hundred-ish other fellow streamliners across the country.

With a letter.

DJ: Raymond. There's a train letter IN the Pioneer Zephyr book. FROM the Pioneer Zephyr. About his birthday party. Although he does say in it that he only has brothers. Ray: OH MY GOD. How did we know??? Are we just that fucking good???? Do we just know and perceive the truth THAT well. DJ: It's too fucking cute. Ray: The fact that he is a he and also says he has brothers is revolutionary. That almost strains the limits of credulity, knowing how Train Guys are about calling engines "she". But I know you would not lie to me about this. Can you scan it?????

The fucking train actually, canonically, wrote a letter.

So yeah, the trains are pen pals. And they write to each other about their past and but moreso about their present. Because as it happens, their history post-preservation is interesting too (as I'm sure you can relate) and there's far less said about it already.

The first batch of letters are done, we're just getting some other materials together before we can publish.

EDIT: people are reblogging this again so just editing to add that you can read the train letters here.

[emdotcom]

My'eah, some Sonic stuff I drew, playing with a different style!

Last 3 pages feature Terios, & the last page features Violet -- both are characters co-adored by @carnation-damnation !

[robotacap]

Only got Silver because Sniper did a Backflip

Turkish Pilot headcanon unlocked

[systemsayoo]

MODERN AU |

Always trust your flight instructor!

[sonic-love-island-official]

Have some pictures of the sillies in the confessional booth during/after Episode 31's Heart Rate Challenge <3