OT: Railways show Macro import

Quite good Australian made video of worldwide history of Railways, their engineering, and how they transformed cultures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXSk-8EO_dA

I was born in Ft Monroe, but our home was in Phoebus, Virginia (once its own municipality and now part of Norfolk, VA), and as a babe was almost daily carried to the huge C&O eastern terminus rail yards there, where my 4 year old brother gloried in the still existing and fully used steam locomotives (C&O owned massive coal assets). My favorite lullaby was (and still is as I sing it to my god-grandchildren when babysitting)

Down at the station early in the morning,
See the little pufferbillies all in a row…

Years and years later, the pufferbillies long forgotten, I made a three month bicycle trip all over Europe in 1971. Nothing amazed me more than when we stopped at a RR crossing in Poland and this huge guy, a 2-8-2 passenger locomotive, came tearing by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNs-DePGdNM – go to 20:00 or so

We no longer in live in nature, as did my parents and their ancestors, we live in a realm we humans have created and our gods are not of nature but of mythic engineering mixed with madness and nostalgia.

david fb

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I love steam locomotives. I don’t get a thrill from electric trains.

My father (an electrical engineer) had the same reaction when electronics shifted from vacuum tubes to solid state. He recognized that they were more efficient and that was progress, but the thrill was gone.

Wendy

Nothing amazed me more than when we stopped at a RR crossing in Poland and this huge guy, a 2-8-2 passenger locomotive, came tearing by

iirc, Poland has a lot of coal, but no oil, so makes sense to retain steam, especially in an eastern bloc country that isn’t terribly concerned about the environment.

Rhodesia found itself in a similar situation: trade sanctions made oil and modern equipment costly, but Rhodesia had coal, so they retained steam.

Film of ex-Rhodesian steam still in service in 2011.

Africa Steam 2011 - Garratt locomotives in Zimbabwe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOlZ3F5kA-0

Steve

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcfH1rdj0b4

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Quite good Australian made video of worldwide history of Railways, their engineering, and how they transformed cultures…
We no longer in live in nature, as did my parents and their ancestors, we live in a realm we humans have created and our gods are not of nature but of mythic engineering mixed with madness and nostalgia.

Davidfb,

Your unique way of looking at the world, the history of civilization, and the hope for humankind leave me in awe. These belching rail-bound monsters have opened up vast continents in a more efficient manner than even today’s great dry bulk ships move mountains of cargo by sea.

Unlike many others who share my concern about how anthropogenic climate change will change our world, I believe that visionary people like you can help us adapt and use our collective brainpower to engineer technological solutions to all our challenges - whatever their cause or effects.

Thanks for sharing.

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Alrighty, we have thread collision: steam and kiddie stuff.

“Thomas The Tank Engine” tours the country during the summer. Some venues get a dummy engine that a diesel pushes around. Greenfield Village uses antique steam engines on it’s loop, rather than Disneyland style replicas, so has the facilities to support the other Thomas, which is a cosmetic adoption of a 1920 Porter switcher.

Someone else’s video of one of Thomas’ previous visits.

Day Out With Thomas at Greenfield Village 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG37DpSE9pM

I shot this video in the Village on opening day a few years ago. One of the village’s own engines is in the last scene.

Villageopen16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoFExO0VUjU

Steve

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The theme song to the children’s show named Captain Kangaroo is “Puffin’ Billy” by the Melodi Light Orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wy73UYbNrs

I did not put two and two together until you mentioned that locomotives were known as puffing billies.

I’m a bit too young to have experienced the big steam engines, but my Dad was fascinated my railroads and I followed suit. He built a couple of model railroads when I was a boy, and there were many days when I would ride my bike down to the local railroad station (San Francisco Bay peninsula) and watch the commuter trains roll by during rush hour until the Coast Daylight would roar by on its way to San Francisco, the equivalent of a fireworks grand finale and signaling time to go home.

Railroads are perhaps the single most important invention in the history of business development. They’re still vitally important, and I predict their importance will grow in the next fifty years.

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Thank you for recommending this post to our Best of feature.

Railroads are perhaps the single most important invention in the history of business development. They’re still vitally important, and I predict their importance will grow in the next fifty years.

Again, in spite of myself, I agree with you.

And yet, the last time I checked, the railroad stocks were way to expensive for my taste.

https://svencarlin.com/railroad-stocks-list/

https://topforeignstocks.com/stock-lists/the-complete-list-o…

Desert (CVX, XOM, T, BNS, BKH, ED, ATGFF, NI, NWN, TRP, ENB, WRE, WGL, XEL, DUK, SO & KO) Dave

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Steve,

That was wonderful! Especially that village steam engine.

Do you want to teach physics to 10 year olds? Take them to see and touch an actual steam engine and then really talk about how it works. Long ago I had a shoe box sized small cylinder steam engine my dad bought at a garage sale. I learned the main lessons of thermodynamics from playing with it and figuring out what each little weird part did.

david fb

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Long ago I had a shoe box sized small cylinder steam engine my dad bought at a garage sale.

iirc, Jeff had a model steam engine decades ago too.

Someone else’s video from the Village, He gets into the roundhouse at about the 5 minute mark. The roundhouse is not a static display, but a real, working roundhouse, where the Village’s engines are maintained.

Greenfield Village: Roundhouses and More

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=895IPgl5lzo

A hands on thing you can do it the machine shop is turn a little brass candlestick on a vintage turret lathe.

Making a Brass Candle Stick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBkN382XnmY

Steve