I thought for a little fun thing I'd make something to commemorate one of my personal favorite games, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. On December 7th 2009, Spirit Tracks released in North America. It was successful in sales and with critics, though sadly, in recent years, I've seen continued attacks against my first two Zelda games. Nevertheless, I still love the game. This is a depiction of Link's Spirit train in a realistic style. I based the locomotive off of three of my personal favorite locomotives: -the Heber Valley Railroad's #618 "Heber Creeper" -The Sumpter Valley Railroad's #19 "The Stump Dodger" -And the Nevada Northern Railroad's #40 "The ghost train of old Ely," which I found particularly appropriate for use as the spirit train. This locomotive would be classed as a 2-8-0 locomotive. I find it a far more grand engine fitting for a hero, rather than the runty 0-4-0 of a shunter engine in the actually game. You actually start with an even worse 0-2-4 at the beginning of the game, which is a messed up locomotive type that was only made a couple of times in the early half of the 19th century. Still though, the spirit train has a charm reminiscent of the exquisite #119 and Jupiter present at the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Let me know what you think of the game today on its tenth birthday. Is it an interesting look into an industrial Hyrule? Or does it seem goofy for Link to be an engineer? Let me know you're thoughts! The answer is the first one, and no, he is not a CONDUCTOR. Conductors do not even work with the locomotive. He is an engineer. He is also not "the hero of trains." His official title is "the hero of New Hyrule." Don't go bullying my boys in the adult timeline. Can YOU drive a train? Those darn locomotives take seven hours to build up steam before you can take em' outta the engine shed, and even after, they require constant vigilance, working carefully with a living breathing machine. Thank you for reading my rant. As a treat to my friends who read this far, did you know the Polar Express was based on, and inspired by a real locomotive? When Chris Vann Alsburg saw Pere Marquette 1225, he noticed the engine number was the date of Christmas. This inspired his classic story, and eventually the film in 2004. When making the film, they used 1225`s likeness and sounds for its movie counterpart. And the "know it all boy" in the film was wrong. He said it was built in the 20s by Baldwin, when the 1225 was actually built by Lima locomotive works in 1941. I'll stop talking now.
