ironhorsegirl

[ironhorsegirl]

#reblogs #PUNCH ALFRED E. PERLMAN IN THE FACE FOR STEALING ALL THE NEW YORK CENTRAL STEAM FROM ME

[ironhorsegirl]

#reblogs #instant fatality for you know who on this one #he went silent at one point #Conductorposting

[ironhorsegirl]

We (the train crew) had a Very Important conversation today at work and came to some startling conclusions so I present to you The Case for Beatification for John Luther Jones:

Catholic in good standing with the church

Performed two miracles on April 30th, 1900 - made up 73 minutes of lost time and saved all passengers and crew on board the train by sacrificing himself

Now you just have to beatify him and prove he's performed some posthumous miracles, and we'll have Saint Casey Jones, patron of locomotive engineers, looking out for us.

#Casey Jones #the engineer not the Ninja Turtles character

[ironhorsegirl]

Sometimes I remember that Conductor has so much faith in my ability to be on time that he literally put $100 on me doing it once against a stationmaster and I feel so trusted and loved.

Also, we won that bet, because I never lose against the clock.

#Conductorposting #if there is one thing I do well it's drive fast

[ironhorsegirl]

Late post since we were driving, but today is International Women's Day, so I wanted to say a little something.

Being a woman in railroading is still really fucking hard. It's gotten easier, and the women who came before me had it a lot harder than I did, but it's still a heavily male-dominated space, and growing up it was really tough to even be acknowledged. I had a lot of people, even other kids, questioning me for having a "boys' hobby" and the old men who dominated the hobby didn't want me there and made no secret of it.

Anyway, I said fuck it and went on to design and drive steam locomotives anyway because I am a spiteful little gremlin of a woman, and when it came time for me to have someone in the cab with me, I knew I didn't want a cis man in there firing the locomotive, because I wanted someone who traditionally wasn't here to have that opportunity with me. As luck would have it, we found Fireman. She and I clicked from day one, and the conversations we have in the cab as we're driving would probably freak a lot of people out but that's just part of the joy of finding a friend who really fits nicely into your life. Aside from Conductor she's my best friend, and it's such an honor to share the cab with her.

Today we made our usual run back from Pittsburgh to New Jersey, and I got to thinking about just how lucky we both are to be doing this, and how I hope we make it easier for the little girls who come up after us, and how I get to do all of this with a dear friend.

And before you say anything, International Women's Day includes trans women, so don't pull any terf bullshit on this post or I'll chase you down with a huge fucking wrench. Fireman and I are both cis women, but when we say all women, we mean ALL women. Terfs aren't welcome on this train.

#my face I guess #Fireman #International Women's Day

[ironhorsegirl]

What's something that makes your coworkers smile to talk about, every time?

Ah, this is the sweetest thing anyone could have asked! Okay, I'll go through all of them...

This is Fireman, my partner in crime up in the locomotive cab. She and I have a lot of funny conversations up there when we're on the rails. She's a meme and YTP encyclopedia and she'll quote the old classics for ages. But I really love listening to her talk about some of her favorite topics, like chemistry or world religions, or hearing her delightedly pull something out of nowhere from an old hyperfixation (mountaineering). Then her passion comes out and it's great.

Assistant Conductor is one of the coolest people I have ever met, and she's such a good writer. A lot of people expect her to be really serious because she's really tall and masks the best out of all of us, but she LOVES cute stuff and gets so excited over it. She likes coming up with aesthetic Pokemon teams for her friends and absolutely glows with joy when she shows you all the stuff she's done on her Animal Crossing island.

Brakeman is like a decade younger than the rest of us so we all indulge him like a little sibling. He's always going on excitedly about whatever action movie he most recently watched or the fighting games he's currently playing, and if you ask him to tell you about his dream to fight on top of a moving train he gets ecstatic. (You can also give him dessert. He loves dessert.)

Conductor is almost never not smiling, to be fair, and it's one of the things I love most about him. He's a big goofball. He's passionate about so many things - playing trombone, drawing rubberhose cartoons, cooking, playing video games, railroad history...he just loves life and loves the world and loves existing and learning more and I just think that's so goddamned wonderful. He is an absolute breath of fresh air, and he's so silly and joyful that he helps me be silly again too.

(The others have also said he smiles like that when he talks about me, but...y'know...)

Anyway, there we go! Sorry that took me a while, we were all out to dinner after getting back from our last run of the week!

#replies #Conductorposting #I need tags for everyone else #AC #Fireman #Brakeman

[ironhorsegirl]

New game: send me asks about my co-workers/crewmates so I can tell you stuff about them because I think they're people worth getting to know.

#not a rant #ask meme

[ironhorsegirl]

get to know the blogger

anonymously (or not) ask me any question you’d like to know about me

#reblogs #okay I won't get back to these until I'm done driving tomorrow but feel free to send some!

[ironhorsegirl]

Was sent this by a friend and was told it was me and I'm mad because they're fucking right, it does fucking look like me

#not my face but also sort of my face

[ironhorsegirl]

jazz is so good. have you guysheard of this shit theres tumpet

#reblogs #posts to show Conductor later #he'll love this one #Conductorposting

[ironhorsegirl]

Today is a good day to tell Nasty Majesty that she's pretty and stunning and fast and that you love her so much.

#please compliment my locomotive #I love her so much #she's like a daughter to me

[ironhorsegirl]

The Super Bowl is objectively funnier with the Marching Band Commentary*

*(Conductor and his older twin brother were in marching band together and are discussing what the band would have done at which points in the game instead of actively caring about the game)

#Conductorposting #and Flugel

[ironhorsegirl]

I went to band camp for marching band for the first time, and I found out that the marching band staff was trying to get us involved in a ‘pyramid scheme’ and they were trying to kill us. Later I pulled out my trombone and started sniping the staff with it from a hotel window. I shot a couple before I tried to shoot one of the band directors, who kept dodging.

#reblogs #showed this to Conductor and his drink shot out his nose #he's now laying on the couch half in pain half still laughing hysterically #(for people who don't know this idiot has played trombone for over two decades and he brings his almost everywhere) #Conductorposting

[ironhorsegirl]

patience is such a compelling dynamic in relationships sorryyy it’s the peak of romance to me

#reblogs #it's his patience that I actually love the most #I have a lot of stuff I'm working through #but he's helped me through it with patience and gentle smiles #I'm so lucky #Conductorposting

[ironhorsegirl]

fuck the tits or ass debate, i find eyebags sooo attractive. your exhausted, sleep-deprived, mildly haunted aura has bewitched me body and soul

#reblogs #thanks I'll take it #I've had permanent eyebags since I was like 10

[ironhorsegirl]

Was reminded that when I blush up to my ears Conductor refers to it as 'Tomato Mode' and promptly did it

#Conductorposting #goddamnit

[ironhorsegirl]

You're all so nice to me...

#my face I guess #replies