I Literally Have No Words, So I Shall Not Speak

i literally have no words, so i shall not speak

DAY 6: ASHLEY THE SMOKING CAR

- Favourite Actor?

BY FAR RENEE CHAMBERS IS MY FAVORITE, SHE SCREAMS ASHLEY TO ME

- Favourite Song/Scenes?

i love ANY of ashley’s introductions, they offer so much characterization despite how brief they are. she’s trying to quit smoking, but the stress of knowing what it could do to her causes her to smoke even more, there’s also the line about ashley being the LAST smoking car like, ever. i think it offers some interesting concepts for her character that i wish could’ve been explored (connecting her with the theme of obsolescence the show has going on). also that one bit of rusty king of the track where she hopes that she also won’t go out of fashion shows that she possibly FEARED becoming obsolete, as she likely would’ve witnessed steam going out of style firsthand. her and buffy comforting dinah and encouraging her to be amazing is in and up itself, AMAZING (even if i would’ve liked for them to have encouraged her to become her own independent coach rather than trying to win back greaseball’s affections)

- Favourite Costumes?

definitely broadway, japan/australia tour and early bochum, especially when she had the braided chimney instead of the flat one, it added so much beautiful texture that the flat chimney just cannot compete with.

- Favourite Ships/Friendships?

i’m a basic bitch so of course I LOVE smoked buffet, there’s absolutely no way that she and buffy have NOTHING going on when girls rolling stock’s choreography is how it is, there’s absolutely no way. also i like to think that sans buffy, ashley is a big sister figure to the other coaches, and i think that especially is the case with dinah which i absolutely adore. i also like exploring her relationship with pearl is super interesting because they’re on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum, pearl is modern and new, while ashley is on the verge of becoming obsolete. her relationship with rusty is interesting too since they BOTH are becoming obsolete, and would be facing the same issues together, just in general ashley has a lot of potential for very interesting relationships it’s just that alw and richard stilgoe fucking suck ass at writing women that these were never ever explored.

- Headcanons?

i think that ashley initially DIDNT smoke, despite being built FOR smokers, ashley never saw the appeal in her youth, nor did she find it relatively interesting. however as more and more smoking cars began coming out of fashion, ashley feared that she may be next, especially as she became the last living smoker on the railroad. she could be repurposed and lose her identity, she could be preserved, made into somebody’s house, put in a museum, or worse, scrapped. this stress got to ashley quite a bit, and since most of her passengers talked about how smoking helps to calm one’s nerves, she decided to try it for herself. it didn’t do a thing for her, but as time went on she began to smoke more and more until it became a habit for her to light a cigarette whenever she needed to calm down (which only got worse when she realized she might have a stroke if she doesn’t stop)

- Unpopular Opinion?

ashley’s vegas showgirl costume is actually pretty good !!! especially compared to the other coaches, even if i do prefer her older design more.

Hi, I'm Amal from Gaza, a mother of 3 kids🇵🇸. We are living under bombardment 😭. We could be killed at any moment 😭. Help us survive and evacuate out of Gaza before it's too late 😢 Donate for humanity and look at us with kindness💔. It will make a huge difference to us 😭 Please be one of the first to donate to us 🥺

🍉https://gofund.me/4f423be0🍉

🔥 Verified by dlxxv-vetted-donations🔥

i unfortunately cannot donate at this time, i will when i get the chance, im very sorry about the inconvenience. if anyone can donate, here's the link to thegofundme

UNCLE GRAC IS BACK🔥

DAY 4: DINAH THE DINING CAR

- Favourite Actor?

FRANCES RUFFELE, JANE KRAKOWSKI, DEBBIE WAKE AND EVE HUMPHREY ARE THE QUINTESSENTIAL DINAHS IN MY HEART

- Favourite Song/Scenes?

any dinah centric song is perfect to me, there’s me (including “that was unfair”) is very cool since it gives dinah a lot of depth, showing that while she is extremely attached to greaseball, she is very much not afraid to call him out when he’s doing bad things, also a huge fan of the variant, that’s me which is a fun way of looking into why dinah chooses to stay with greaseball despite her saying that he has left her before. i just really love any version where dinah stands up to greaseball, be it when they are being coach-ist in 2018 bochum and wembley, or when she tells greaseball to let rusty race him in “hey you, yes you” and continues to speak even after being told to shut it. also as always UNCOUPLED is dinah’s like, magnum opus, it’s SUCH a good song, it’s SUCH a good insight into dinah’s psyche, and such a good progression of emotions, to controlled sadness growing into BIG sadness, to anger to sadness once again (also i think it’s funny how eve humphrey perfectly hams up dinah’s sadness by having her BAWLING, HYSTERICALLY.) also both versions of dinah’s disco are wonderful, i love seeing dinah take her life into her own hands and decide what is gonna happen to her, same applies to girl’s rolling stock as well, i just LOVE seeing her gain more confidence and independence, it’s so sweet.

- Favourite Costumes?

like rusty and greaseball, dinah’s costume was already pretty, but the japan/australia tour dinah costume is PEAK dinah costume imo (and by extension any dinah costume between 1986 and 1990)

- Favourite Ships/Friendships?

i have been infected with kitchen repair syndrome, yes it is chronic, yes it has become terminal, no i am not upset (thank you @tabooi for enlightening me with dinahwrench thoughts forever). as for platonic relationships, HUGE fan of her and cb being friends, i like thinking about her friendship with pearl pre and post-show, i LOVE her being besties with all the coaches, especially buffy since she’s also the only food-coach, and i think rusty is an interesting friendship i haven’t seen much of, with them being able to understand how greaseball and pearl have upset them (though i might not be looking hard enough LOL)

- Headcanons?

for my dinah (when she is an actual coach), when she was first dispatched into work, she was enthralled with the hairstyles of the waitresses that worked inside her, so she had two large lamps fitted to the side of her head to mimic the shape of the waitresses’ hair, and even better, the sign above her head very much resembled their waiting tiaras as well. additionally, when she was first opened, dinah’s restaurant was originally called “someone’s in the kitchen with dinah,” but dinah soon had it changed to “dinah’s diner” since she believed it rolled off the tongue much better than the former.

- Unpopular Opinion?

i don’t see dinah with a straight southern accent, i see her as having more of a southern belle accent, she seems more like a southern belle to me

i’ve always wondered functioning models of steam locomotives (that ran on actual steam and coal and shit) worked in the stex/thomas universe