I Made Myself Draw Every Single Coach That I Could Feasibly Remember Sans Memphis Belle Because Shes

i made myself draw every single coach that i could feasibly remember sans memphis belle because she’s currently sitting in the dump

this is gonna be a nightmare to tag fuck-

BRO WTF DID THIS BOOK HAVE TO END ON A CLIFFHANGER

thinking about how i had a tomy thomas tanker truck as a kid, that was YELLOW. if i just kept it i could’ve had slick oil in my house with me today and i’ll never ever forgive myself for that

if pearl was a dog, she’d be a poodle. like a pink poodle, like in cartoons where a pretty dog character is usually a poodle, and most of the time a pink one.

specifically the pink poodle from blinky bill

i like the unused 1983 stex workshop songs

talking about "be a pump" from the starlight express 1983 workshop

ok so i've never seen anyone talk too in depth about be a pump before, and i tried my best to decipher as much of it as i can (looking at the lyrics on the wiki, and listening to it many times myself, and with what i've been able to understand, this is my understanding of what be a pump is about. (DISCLAIMER: THIS BREAKDOWN IS BASED ON WHAT I'VE READ ON THE WIKI, AND WHAT I'VE PERSONALLY BEEN ABLE TO DECIPHER FROM THE VERY ROUGH RECORDING WE HAVE OF THE SONG, SO NOT EVERYTHING I SAY WILL BE COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY ACCURATE. SO TAKE WHAT I SAY WITH A FEW TEASPOONS OF SALT.)

so for context: in the 1983 workshop for stex, rusty was originally a water pump that turned into an engine (don’t ask how i literally don’t know), and this song explains how it happened.

ok so the song happens after caboose taunts rusty with the "you're no engine" line, prepping us with the revelation that he used to be a pump stuck in the ground, and the song starts with rusty saying:

"daddy was right, daddy was right. don't know why i put up a fight, put up a fight..."

talking about how his father "said i was crazy, he said i was mad" and attempted to try and talk some sense into him, by saying that no one in their family of water pumps have ever gone far. then rusty recalls how he "said that i wanted to work on the railroad" saying that he wanted to receive brassing like the engines did, and wanted to follow something that lead away from their pumping shed. i'm guessing that since rusty is a water pump, he would've been placed near a lake or a river, and he said something that sounded like river, so i'm guessing that's what he said.

in the next verse, rusty says that his dad told him that we disapproved of his dream to work on the railroad like the engines, and that since he's "not control" as he put it, he can't allow it. rusty's dad then told him "you are stationary, and that's how you will be, so you just stick by me and stay still! don't you be a stump, be a pump." to this, rusty responded rather angrily to this, saying that he wanted to work on the railroad and "not sulking around with the dirt on the ground!" and notes how he knew every engine that came down the line, and knew that he should've been living the lives they lived as well.

so this next part is confusing because i don't understand a lick of anything, but here's my best guess. rusty is upset that he has to stay stuck in the soil and sediments in the ground, and wants to leave even without his father's blessing, to which his dad says that he'll "fail if you go, you'll come down with the bums, be a pump"

this next verses are much easier to understand for me.

so this next verse, rusty explains how despite his dad's disapproval, he was deadset on working on the railroad. so one day, while his dad was busy, rusty took his chance to escape, detailing the process of becoming an engine.

"i thrust, and i heaved, and i practically tore myself out of the floor, i am free! that shed had an engine, the engine was me!"

he never explains how tearing himself from the ground turned him into an engine, but he just is an engine now. rusty's dad immediately says that he looks ridiculous and that he's become "the laugh of the lot" and says that if he comes back and talks, they could talk because he acknowleges that maybe he was wrong. but rusty doesn't come back, and his dad is very upset.

rusty then speaks of the various railraods that he worked on… "from virginia to maine, no one in my family ever before, and sorry 'cuz daddy of course never saw..." so rusty decided that in order to show his dad the kinds of things he was able to go on to do, he returns to the pumping shed to try and see eye to eye with him after so long.

when rusty returns to the shed and meets his old father, he said: "hey there daddy, it's me, it's your son."

in hopes that his dad would see how far his son has gone, but his dad's only response is:

"i do not have one. my son he went loco, he won't fact the fact he went and he did an unnatural act. he's brought nothing but shame to our stationary name and i guess i'm to blame that he's not. crazy fool and a bump, be a pump."

rusty has been disowned by his father. dejected, rusty leaves the shed in disgrace, with no family, and no home. at this point in the song, rusty finishes explaining his backstory, and says that even though he's an engine now, he's resigned himself to being what his father always wanted him to be. a pump.

"so i left him there resting and headed real slow, away from the shed but with nowhere to go, and since then i know i'm a train, but deep down in my stump, i'm a pump. i'm a pump."

so to recap, this is rusty's workshop backstory according to be a pump: rusty was a little water pump firm in the ground, and wanted to work on the railroad like the engines he saw thundering down the mainline. his dad disapproved of his dream, but rusty defied his father by tearing himself from the ground and becoming an engine, despite his father's protests. now an engine, rusty works on many railways but seeks to repair his and his dad's relationship, so he returns to pump shed in an attempt to reconcile with his dad, but his dad reveals that since rusty committed an "unnatural act," he has disowned him. rusty leaves, with no family or home, and resigns himself to being a pump.

so what did we learn here gamers? this is some sad shit.