Here's a locomotive for you to look at. Got it off the wiki, so I can get all the details off there, but for my scene, I don't want to get into gratuitous descriptions of shapes and models and whatnot. That just breaks the flow of the scene. But I do want readers to sort of know what they're looking at, and I can't figure out what type of locomotive it is. Is it a Streamliner model? The wiki seems to suggest it a little, but is this the kind of locomotive your mind defaults to upon hearing "streamliner?" I kinda wanna go with bullet train, but that's not an option of course. I could just go with "awesome locomotive, bitches!" but I'm referencing the Number 9 from Grim Fandango and I sort of need to point the way on looks of the thing without going into excruciating detail.
Is it a passenger train? From the modern era? You haven't given a lot of information on what type of locomotive you want it to be. That train looks a bit dated, but could be due to the photo quality. You want it to be a very similar style and technology?
By the way, when I think streamliner I usually think of the RVs or motor homes but the shape is the same as locomotive streamliners, which is all streamliner really refers to (I think): the aerodynamic shape. I'd probably just mention it's a streamliner and describe its sleek aerodynamic design in some way. That photo from Wikipedia is interesting in that the upper portion the train has a streamline shape but a large lower portion with a bit of the older industrial look.
Nobody knows the jargon for locomotive lingo, except for people who are really into it, and you're going to have to work really hard to get it right enough for them. I woudn't even set foot in that rabbit hole. To me that looks very art deco, but then most people don't know what that means either. I only know it because I've studied art history to some extent. It's from a particular period when we were driven by the idea that technology and science were going to conquer all the secrets of the world and make a paradise on earth.* Trains, planes and automobiles all had that streamlined, racing into a glorious future look. It looks like a rocket laying on a flatbed or something, like it's capable of conquering the world. If you just use the terms streamlined and art deco, people familiar with art history will understand. You could also add 'from the 30's' and maybe mention that it looks like a rocket sled on the tracks, and I think the image comes across pretty well. I get the feeling you're mixing up timelines, like this story is set in a somwhat dreamlike world, something like Tim Burton's Batman movies, with that 1940's look to the architecture and cars and clothing, but it also feels contemproary in some ways. * Very much a resurgence of Enlightenment ideals, fueling advertising of the 30's in posters and movies.
Another driving factor behind the art deco look, in particular the designs for cars trains and planes etc, was that these things had gotten much faster, and life in general was moving faster. We were moving into the era of ever faster forward momentum that's still accellerating today, but back then people thought it was exciting (the vehicles were getting faster and cooler every year). If you look up Art Deco Advertising you can get a feel for what it was like to see posters all over town in those days, and the kind of feeling that was in the air about technology.
This thought came (please don't) to my mind too, but until additional context on the setting, tone, and POV character is given it seemed a waste to suggest clever descriptions.
A little digging, yeilded more details. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Railroad_class_S1
Haha. Context, setting, and character all you want. It's still a giant metal dick on rails. Chugga-chugga-choo-choo!
Important detail is the POV: does he know train jargon? If he does, include some jargon in the narrative. I personally think it's fine to use some terms the average reader doesn't know. How else would we be introduced to new things? As for quick visual description, capsule and especially submarine's body come to mind as connotative shapes for the top half. Why the heck can't you pick easy things to describe? Lol. "The fore of the car's top half was capsular. It emerged from the stocky base as if carved from limestone." "It was as if they finished building the top front of the car with half an old submarine. Trendy bastards." Neither of those get across the recessed nature of the top, where the bottom looks like a jutting jaw, or anything to do with the wheels for that matter. How specific do you want to be though? Anyway, it's spitballs. Edit: or, perhaps: "The fore of the car's top half was capsular. It sat recessed from its stocky base as if carved from limestone."
No, it's because it's from the 1939. Yeah, but those locomotives are pretty iconic. I do it for the MC's car as well, which was supposed to be a '70 Dodge Challenger, but Dodge wouldn't get back to me about mentioning them, so I changed it and dropped Challenger-specs whenever it came up. It's kinda the same for the train. To one person it's "a fancy train-puller" to someone else it sounds a lot like a Pennsylvania S1. But locomotives don't really come up in conversation as much as cars, so I have to pack it in one description, without bombarding the uninterested reader with which bolt goes where. Art deco is my favorite architecture style. Massive, clear line, "I'm here and you can just deal with it" attitude. Unfortunately, I'm rapidly using up my art deco allowance, considering the station and the Underworld it's in are art deco, and to me, "art deco" is a quick and easy way to describe something. If a reader doesn't know what it is, but is curious, they can google it. If they're not curious, they're not gonna care for my description anyway. No, but, yes. It's the Number 9 train that brings souls to Heaven when their time in Purgatory is up. So, dreamworld, yeah. But the MC and his friend are from the contemporary world. They just need to get to Heaven real quick and the Number 9 is the only way in. I modified the rules a bit to suit my story, but it's basically a loveletter to Grim Fandango, without which I probably wouldn't have been able to finish book one in the first place, let alone start two. I'll see if I can work that in. Edit: I don't regret my choice of words. That is indeed the Wiki page where I got the picture from. So, I'm spoilt for specs, that's not the problem. Ugh, I know. Next book they're all gonna be on bicycles.
