Intro
My
History
One of my earliest memories in my life was watching Thomas and the Magic Railroad with my older brother. I had to have been less than 5, with my brother only being a year older than me. And, for some reason, I was IN LOVE with this movie. Looking back, after, y'know, not being a toddler, the movie was. Not that great. Especially in the context of the rest of the series, but I didn't care. I distinctly remember the colors of the gold dust, of the magic railway, of Lady. I remember the voice of the conductor and Thomas, and, the final shot specifically.
Sadly though, most likely from autism and my repeated issues with verbalizing my thoughts coherently (even as an adult), I couldn't ask to rewatch the movie. Because I didn't remember any of the words said or the name of the characters. I just remembered how I felt and the colors. Eventually though, I went to hang out with my neighbor's and their kids and on their TV was PBS playing Thomas. I remember ignoring EVERYTHING else and just watching the trains on TV. I was HOOKED on that shit. And, luckily, my brother was too. So, my grandparents and aunt would proceed to buy just about every Thomas and Friend's DVD they could and my brother and I watched ALL of them CONSTANTLY. And amongst these DVDs, I found it. I found the DVD for Thomas and the Magic Railroad. I nearly cried.
Eventually though, as all kids do, I grew up and went onto other things. This was the end of it until around 2022. My friends and I really love watching movies together (check our movies teirlist to see all of the movies we've seen together) and one of them was Turbo. Yeah, the one about the fast snail. I promise this is relevent. We were talking about the voice actors in the movie and had to check the IMDB page to double check something. Somehow, probably by repeatedly clicking through random actors we recognised, I saw it. The mystical DVD cover I yearned for as a child, the DVD containing the movie I yearned to see more than anything else in the world. I saw Thomas and the Magic Railroad. I FREAKED the fuck out and was like "Guys, FIRST thing tomorrow, we are watching this fucking movie." They agreed, and we did. And oh boy was that a mistake.
You know when you can tell a hyperfixation is starting, because you start looking up bullshit like "top 10 _ in (insert media)" or "(insert media) Behind the scenes" ? Yeah. Yeah I watched a crash compilation and was obsessed. I started drawing the trains in notebooks, changing profile pictures, tracking down totally legal and paid ways to watch the entire series, etc. What REALLY extended this hyperfixation was creating a fan tumblr account, and, for the first time, TRULY interacting with a fandom.
This "train tumblr" era I had really made this whole show mean so much more to me than anything else. I have a lot of fears of being percieved as "cringe", from a multitude of sources, but this era really helped me get over that embarrassment. My art skills also SKY ROCKETED, just from the sheer determination to learn how to draw trains. Things like proportions, drawing from references, character designs, SO MUCH was brute forced at this time.
After a while though, things change. Life goes on and, for better or for worse, hyperfixations fade. This one is no different. Mostly because I literally RAN OUT of content, like I watched the entire 24 season long show, all of the movies (at least all of the ones that I care about) and I read all the fanfics that interested me. My mutuals also started moving on, so I did as well. My interest in this show makes it's ocassional comeback (ie, enough for me to make this shrine LMFAO) but. That's life. Life changes. The world keeps moving.
One of the ongoing themes in the show is how the world is moving away from steam locomotives. A lot of the villians are diesels talking about how the "steamies" are gonna be outclassed. And, in real life, they were... for the most part. I mean, steam locomotives aren't in use anymore, in a lot of places it's not even legal for one to go on a mainline without help from a diesel or electric. But there are still fans. There are still people willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on keeping these relics from the past working and in pristine condition, whether just for viewing or as a tourist attraction. And, maybe I'm just being overly poetic for my special interest in a children's show about trains, but maybe- just maybe- there's a connection there. The world moves on. Not everything in my life will revolve around these trains, but, they will be preserved. Maybe this shrine is just my way of keeping this moment in my life preserved for me to look back on. Like going to a museum and watching workers wash and dust an engine that hasn't pulled anything for decades.
Or maybe I just made this because I thought it would be cute. Who cares!!!! They're trains with faces!!!!
