Left-Handed Catcher

Steph (she/her) is an archivist with a B.A. in history from Gettysburg College (class of 2011; minored in Civil War Era studies) and an M.S. in library science from Pratt Institute (class of December 2014; archival studies focus). See her about page for tags! Founder of the Autistic Gaming Initiative. Ask her your train questions - she'll answer! Runs purely on caffeine and guts.

[1863-project]

Hi! I'm Steph, an archivist and ferroequinologist who likes attempting to drive every steam locomotive on the east coast of the United States in her spare time! There's a few reasons you may have stumbled upon this blog, so here's a quick navigation guide.

IMPORTANT: BEFORE YOU FOLLOW OR SEND AN ASK -

I do not actively engage with Submas fandom spaces. I love the characters very much, but fan spaces for them have traditionally been steeped in massive amounts of ableism so I do not go there. DO NOT SEND ME ASKS ABOUT THAT FANDOM, SHIPS, ETC.

If I wasn't clear in the above bullet point, sending me asks about the Submas fandom, opinions on ships or headcanons, etc. will leave you ignored at best or blocked at worst depending on what is asked. That is not a healthy space for me and I have to take care of myself.

I can answer train questions and that's it. That's really all I can do for you. I can help point you to canon information or talk about how trains work. THAT IS IT.

Now that that's out of the way, are you here for...

Train stuff? Here's a page where I've linked all my railroad history posts, along with trains in video games.

The disability, ableism, and fandom spaces project I'm working on? All the polls and research I'm collecting can be found here. Research should be publicly available, I think.

Murphy? The best reason to find my blog is my abnormally large cat who was the size of a human toddler. His tag is here!

My Submas primer or some other Submas post I made? All of those posts are linked on the railroad page, but here's a rebloggable version of them!

The Autistic Gaming Initiative? Oh, rad! Here's our website, and here's a link to our Discord! You have to be 16 or older to join the server and 18 or older and autistic to be on our streaming team.

Something else? That's cool, too! Just remember not to be parasocial with strangers on the internet and have a great time!

[neon-moon-beam]

It is Wo-Chien Wednesday, my dudes!

[1863-project]

[nudityandnerdery]

Just off the top of your head, don't need to try and look it up to check out anything:

Can you name a web search engine that you used before Google?

Yes

No

Don't know/just want to see the results

Remaining time: 3 days 10 hours

The book I'm reading suggests that Google became so market dominant that most people couldn't name a search engine that came before it, so I'm curious.

[apolladay]

Have you ever been to a celebrity's grave?

yes

no

Remaining time: 4 days 2 hours

Define celebrity however you'd like.

[1863-project]

Something I always forget about until I rewatch old episodes of it is how good and atmospheric the music was for classic Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. It actually instilled a sense of dread in me as a child watching it when players got to the higher levels. The music builds upon itself...until you hit the million dollar question and it's all stripped away to just this droning tone with heartbeats. The lighting really adds to it, but it was the music that made it so nerve-wracking to me as a child.

Now, since I grew up in the United States, what I didn't know until much later is that they actually had an evil version of the winning cue if someone blew it on the million dollar question. It only played in the US one time, and never on the British version. Other international versions use it much more frequently.

If I had heard this at age 10, when the show was at its peak of popularity, I probably would have found it terrifying. Fortunately I first found out about it last year on TV Tropes and from the comments section I learned what Barney Errors were, so it ended up being funny instead.

[rosegardendreams9]

@rose-oul 🍒🥀

[neon-moon-beam]

It is Wo-Chien Wednesday, my dudes!

[1863-project]

[phleb0tomist]

so many people ive known have pushed themselves to burnout trying to deny their disabled reality, skipping accommodations, skipping rests etc. and the world convinces them that the solution to their burnout is to push even harder. it’s a huge tragedy. i know social pressures make it tough but i want more disabled people to make things easier for themselves where possible, to opt out of things that harm them when possible, to quit while they’re ahead. be that person today! protect yourself where you can! take micro breaks while doing your hobby. get that shower chair. sit to brush your teeth. lie down in the middle of the day, even if only for 5 mins. these things add up and it’s so worth it.

[phleb0tomist]

happy disability pride month! ACCOMMODATE YOURSELF TODAY!

[ndnbutch]

sometimes i talk about how awful it was to feel trapped by my daily makeup routine and how i couldn’t leave the house without putting on a full face and it played a major role in the misery of my high school experience because i had to spend so much extra time getting ready in the mornings and that followed me into my early 20s as well and it was hell and it was so incredibly liberating to go through the slow and uncomfortable but ultimately essential process of getting my bare face back and having makeup be an optional accessory instead of a mandatory uniform. and the response always tends to be ah yes of course, because of your trans and your masculine. and it’s like aha so close! actually! I think if I ended up being a feminine cis woman I also still would not deserve even a second of that shit! I think trans women and nonbinary people and every human alive should have the option to leave the house without a single cosmetic product ever touching their face! but thanks for playing!

[poketcg-art]

Stoutland -- Mizue

[neon-moon-beam]

It is Wo-Chien Wednesday, my dudes!

[1863-project]

[uptownlowdown]

✸ vintage black beauty is live!

i've been asked where/how to find early-mid 20th century images of black people to reference when drawing/writing/whatever, so i figured i'd link to my own personal resource anyone is welcome to utilize! :)

with over 900 pins and counting, this pinterest board focuses entirely on black style from the 1800s - 1970s. it’s been harder than ever to research historical fashion without running into AI, misinformation, and flat out mislabeling of different eras, so i’ve done my best to represent each period as accurately as i can.

i’ve included sections for non-caricatured art and illustration, print media, music, entertainment, styling tools, and ads. there are also sections for period pieces and more modern takes on vintage style. i did not add the 80s and 90s because there's already a wealth of imagery and information about those decades, but maybe one day :)

*NOTE: i am not a professional archivist or historian! just a black american passionate about my history. as such, this board is heavily centered on black americans and afro-caribbeans, although there are photos from across the diaspora, including africa and the UK.

*additionally: pins on pinterest come from all over and may not always have the correct information, depending on who uploaded it. while i’ve taken great lengths to research undated photos, some categorized pins are educated guesses based on the hair, fashion, or photography style of the photo. uncategorized pins are photos i can’t confidently connect to a specific decade without potentially mislabeling.

with this in mind, this board acts as a handy visual guide, but should be used in addition to your own research. happy researching! 🖤

[charlestrask]

sexual thrill at the mere prospect of cataloging things in a database

[1863-project]

I saw the most beautiful ship in the world today.

[cat-mermaid]

I need an anime of Dinosaur Sanctuary so bad😔

if they're going to make fucking jurassic park movies forever then i think theres enough people who would fucking jump for joy for a wholesome dinosaur park story where nothing goes wrong, the zoo keepers love their jobs and the dinosaurs, and the dinos themselves are just normal ass animals and not murder monsters

anime this shit please

[cure-icy-writes]

@dino--draws

[micro-usb-deactivated20230625]

[1863-project]

I fucking love New York. Casually checked the news this afternoon and there were two people on the spire of the Empire State Building with no real explanation as to how they got there flying a banner with a quote about peace on it.

And then they got engaged on the fucking spire, because why the fuck not.

Just an average Wednesday here.