Introduction: Science or Politics? In the rush to "modernize" their rail system the French, like most governments in the world, were not just interested in obtaining more efficiency or more speed for their rail network. Appearances were far more important because politics depends on appearances, not performance. In the world today we see governments wanting to ...
The "Land of Oz" and a Plethora of Rail Gauges There's a song that says the "Land of Oz is a very funny place..." and some people like to call Australia the "Land of Oz". Its true that, back in the 1960's when I first went there, it seemed a funny place indeed. Instead of nickels ...
Introduction: The Locomotive That Shouldn't Have Been Built The 241P steam locomotive stands out as one of the most beautiful ever created. It might be thought of as being like a classic Bugatti of the rails, and its beauty is arguably the major contributing factor in ensuring no less than four examples of this "flower of ...
The Pennsylvania Railroad's T1 duplex steam locomotive is perhaps the most eye-catching, and the most controversial ever created. Engineers at the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and at Baldwin Locomotive Works created a quite complex solution to building a reciprocating steam locomotive with enormous power and the ability to cruise at 100mph. This engineering masterpiece was then ...
Britain's Great Western Railway was sometimes called "God's Wonderful Railway". It was the train line that headed out from London to the west to the holiday towns of the West Country all the way down to Torquay in Devon (Where Basil Fawlty's famous hotel was located) and on down to Cornwall. The railway line when ...
Frenchman André Chapelon is arguably the greatest railway steam locomotive engineer and designer the world has ever seen. Whereas others are known for individual designs and creation of items that improved steam locomotive efficiency André Chapelon took a holistic approach to steam locomotive design applying an extensive understanding of the science required. The end result ...
If you are young enough not to have experienced the steam era on railroads and railways around the world then you've sadly missed something that was just plain special. Thankfully there are still some preserved railroads where you can at least see, hear and smell a steam locomotive in action but that is still a ...
Are there machines that are more exciting to drive than a Bugatti Veyron or a McLaren P1? I suspect there are, or at least that there used to be. Back when I was a boy most boys wanted to grow up to become a train driver. In our little boy minds we knew that the ...
I love trains, and I never quite outgrew train sets although I don't own one any more and when I need to have fun I'm more likely to want to go shooting, but I still enjoy the fun of setting up a train track and getting that model train to steam around it. Steam being ...
Not everyone is a visionary, but George Bennie was one. Not everyone thinks that using a propeller to drive a land vehicle might just be a good idea, and indeed some of the designs for propeller driven cars would cause a modern Health and Safety professional to have an apoplexy. But to put things in ...