wonderful writing from Ol’ Remus!

‘Why do people regard the big steam locomotives of days gone by with fondness? Ol’ Remus has his own reasons.
First off, there’s air pollution. Big, billowing clouds of blue-grey coal smoke mottled with pristine white steam. We’re talking a blot-out-the-sun drumstick of boiling exhaust writhing and twisting a hundred feet into the air, four gallons of water flashed into steam every second, one majestic blast blending into the next. Then it hangs and drifts, settling equally on all below. What isn’t carbon is carbon dioxide. Miles of the stuff. How great is that?
Then there’s noise pollution, the kind that eventually knocks down stout walls. An exhaust blast like artillery on a timer, accompanied by a more than persuasive whistle that made ears bleed and raised blisters on the paint job of cars at sixty rods. Crashing and banging not heard this side of a  drop-forge, with grace notes of panting air pumps, rattlin’ chains, chattering lube distributors and a clanging bell the size of a wood stove, all consummated in a rhythmic cadence that gladdened the heart and flexed the innards. Engineers had great digestion.
And eye pollution. A crouching specter of barely constrained power, an incompletely evolved escapee from Jurassic Park with an exoskeleton of cranks and pistons and drive wheels the size of carnival rides, Russian iron and heavy castings with gadgets and reservoirs bolted on, studded with rivet heads and festooned with handrails, exterior plumbing like a jungle root system, the whole visage tacky with grease, covered with grime, tinted with rust and finished in a patina of streaky road dirt and trailings of expelled lubricants. No matter how downscale its surroundings, a veteran steam locomotive could degrade it further….’
The whole thing is a simply beautiful tribute to something very many of us love or at least appreciate. The best thing I’ve ever read on the subject.

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8 Responses to wonderful writing from Ol’ Remus!

  1. Michael in Nelson says:

    Indeed KG, steam locomotives were the ultimate in total experience of the mechanical age. Even the big diesels couldn’t compare for a true gestalt and the high speed electro-magentics are strictly ho-hum.

  2. thor42 says:

    Great!

    There is something very special in mechanical gizmos of all kinds. They hark back to a simpler time.
    I have a lot of fondness for the old pneumatic tube delivery systems that big department stores used to have.
    Pop in a little canister and it’d whoosh away, to come back maybe a minute later.

    Mechanical systems have a great deal to recommend them.
    They tend to be robust, lasting for decades. If a part does eventually break, it is usually easily fixed. A fully mechanical system is also immune to hackers.

    I wish I were good with my hands, being able to make mechanical gizmos. As it is, I have to admire those that others make (and that’s ok…. :) ).

    • Pascal says:

      Less than a month ago I ran into one still in operation at a drive up banking window. Well, almost. Am I wrong in remembering that all one had to do was shove the canister into the opening and it would be whisked away? This one required me to stand it upright and close a plexiglass door, then push a button. Not as automatic as I once remember. If I’m right, I smell legal beagle fear mongerers behind ruining the automatic sucking version. Can’t have machines automatically sucking up like most human are required to.

  3. KG says:

    I used to be fascinated by those tube delivery systems as a kid too, Thor. :grin:

    • Oswald bastable says:

      The local hospital uses one.

      • KG says:

        :shock: It does? Whodathunk to look for one there!

        • thor42 says:

          Interesting to hear that! Great to see that there are still one or two of them around!

          I can imagine that they would be *very* fast and efficient for a place like a hospital.
          Pop a few pills and a medical note in, and whoosh – off goes the capsule to the ENT ward or wherever. Perfect for when actual *objects* (like pills) need delivering.