Let’s go back 100 years you know when guys in suits, ties and hats made trains. They days when your grandpa would walk 50 miles to school in a blizzard if the bus was late. This was the days before OSHA and regulations.
On thing is for sure, these trains would last forever!
i know its progress but automation has made so many skills die out…its a great shame cause i’m sure the pride from hand building something is far greater than mass producing a machine made product…videos like this remind us of what we could once achieve with skill and hard work…
The high maintenance and logistics of keeping the steam engines supplied with coal and water made the diesels a welcome change for the RR’s. Just as technology killed the steam engines, it also killed the RR Fireman, Head and Rear Brakemen, the caboose, and even the Engineer on many yard jobs which utilize 1 man remote controlled locomotives. I guess that’s the progress of man, or so they call it.
This was fun to watch but, it is sad to think about all the skills that have been lost due to progress.
The conversion to diesel engines was happening before WW2, but the sudden demand for freight and passenger traffic made the railroads bring a bunch of the old steam engines back into service. I saw a another video on YouTube talking about one of the railroads trying to get all of the steam locomotives they had back into service for the war.
This is another good video of automobiles being made back in the day. In this video you do see some significant automation at some of the stations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnN1aUs3UBU
Oddly watched this last week via a friend of my dads emailing the link, they are both model engineers so was of interest to them, we liked the Big smithy at around 4:30 and the ‘counter weight’ at 5 mins. My dad is building a 5″ gauge Shay live steam working loco at the moment (to please you Americans) they are very different to anything that was built here in the England
Wow would love to see that!