The world of steam.

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Many people forget that in the 1800's - early 1900's it was the age of steam.

Sure there was great ships powered by steam.

Sawmills powered by steam.

But that wasn't all.

The greatest use of steam was for central heating. Many a city had boiler plants that made steam for hospitals, houses, businesses. All that steam, and there was a heck of a lot, was generally produced offsite at a large boiler plant.

Some houses had coal fired boilers, although to be fair most of these homes were for the fairly well off. Poorer homes generally had coal or peet fired stoves. Yes cooking stoves that also heated the one or two room non insulated homes.

Many of these poorer homes belonged to people who worked on steam in one form or another.

Steam had many many many jobs.

For example a single train in for service after a 100,000 miles came in and a thousand workers took her apart checked over everything, cleaned it, repaired or replaced parts, usually made on site, repainted it, and tested then filled in. IN A WEEK!

They had cranes for heavy heavy parts otherwise a bunch of men would lift and remove, or replace parts.

The machine shops of the stations were powered by...yes steam. Heated by...steam...

People traveled from 10 to a hundred miles by steam trains. ...daily.

There was also steam powered cars for the wealthy. They took about thirty minutes to get going but once they were going they ran really well. Average speed was 15 miles an hour.

Many people bicycled daily, summer and winter, to and from work, where they generally lived close too.

The trains and ships for example employed virtual armies of people to make these trains and ships. Let alone the boilers and engines.

Engineer's, which was where the current term originated, designed newer and better steam engines of all types.

There was sawmills, machine shops, cotton gins, cotten presses, winery's, wood shops, and many other steam powered factories as well. Yes even sewing factories had steam power running all those sewing machines.

The sheer amount of metal used in making all these machines, boilers, engines. trains. cars, ships and other steam powered machines is huge. Much of it was made with cast iron, wrought iron, and some steel. In the early 1900's when steel was produced quicker and easier steel became much more used.

Ive been studying the history of steam and trying to understand how it all worked. I am not steampunk. Still that once large world is almost gone. There is remnants of those times still around today if you look. Old great train stations. Towns in the middle of nowhere that were there because a steam train needed a water stop. Arches left in buildings that were actually once an arm or pinion for a large steam engine.

Oh yes some of those engines were two stories or more tall! The flywheels themselves took up one end of a building and had these really long leather belts on them. So if you see an old factory building with what looks to be a large round hole in it about two feet or so in diameter that may have been where one side of a flywheel was once housed. Many were turned into windows.

anyways just something I would let you know of.

Comments

Steam machines interest me too

There are still a few operating steam locomotives in the US. I've been lucky enough to ride several of them. If you'd like to get a better idea of how steam locomotives are operated take the "The Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour" at Walt Disney World in Florida. When we took it a few years ago one of the engineers took us into the cab in small groups (the train was stationary at the time) and showed everyone how they operated the locomotive.

If you really want to see steam then

come to the UK.
The US Railroads are really poor by comparison to the gems we have here.
We are even building new locos. Yes after Tornado we will soon see many more brand new locos on our railways.
We have Steam on the main line many times a week. Some run at decent speeds as well.
The Summer Steam trips (runs daily) from Fort William to Mallaig shoud not be missed. The scenery is fantastic.
you can even experience driving an express passenger loco on many preserved lines.
I was walking on air for several days after I spent a day driving the West country pacific 'Bodmin' on the Great Central Railway.
Many railways are less than 30 miles apart, not 300+.
I regularly visit a Steam Powered pumping station. The Engine is 18th Century.
Some of the Victorian Water Pumping stations are works of art especially those around London.(Abbey Mills etc)
Oh, and we have a real hidden gem in Lancashire.
The ONLY remaining steam powered cotton mill in the world.
with Steam powered Fairs and the 'Great Dorset Steam Fair', we are really spoilt for choice.

So, what's not to like and it even contributes $3B to the UK Economy.
I could go on and bore you rotten so I'll stop now.

I will say that IMHO, the only decent US Steam RR is the Toltec and Cumbres. It is the only one that comes close our preserved lines. The Durango and Silverton is poor by comparison.
I am looking forward to seeing the 'Big-boy' back on the main line but I am afraid that UP will not exploit even 5% its potential.
The US Railroads are so scared of steam it is a wonder that any boilers are ever lit. Probably due to the litigation where one woman sued for $1M because she got a bit of coal dust in her eye. A Real shame.

Steam trains

Back in 1971 I had the opportunity to ride the Bluebell Railway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebell_Railway) in Sussex. At that time, they only ran on their private right of way, an abandoned line, because British Rail wouldn't allow steam on its lines. It was only a few years after BR had finally stopped its own steam service and I suppose they felt they had an image to uphold. I remember seeing many steam locomotives working in Edinburgh in 1965.

I've ridden steam excursion trains here in California and in Oregon. Sadly, neither line is still operating. Back during the US Bicentennial in 1975-76 we had the Freedom Train. Here in California it was pulled by ex-Southern Pacific Daylight locomotive #4449. I was able to see it when it stopped in San Jose in December 1975. One of the problems with running the steam locomotives was that the facilities for fuel and water had long been dismantled. Water could be obtained from fire hydrants but the railroads no longer could provide the heavy fuel oil originally used by the locomotives. In my area, regular diesel fuel was used instead, which is much more expensive but widely available and already used by the railroads for their modern locomotives.

I love steam too

I was boarn at the end of steam. Sadly I have no real memories of steam trains, only ferries. In Calif we have several working steam railroads. Visting them is a treat. Watching a boiler pulse and feeling the power is a great.

Steam.

Sam's right about preserved railways in the UK. I'm such a buff I even managed to squeeze a chapter or two into my current epistle, 'Heir to a title'. Must admit though that smoke and coal dust combined with oil and grease play havoc with white hair.
Thanks for the note Sam.

Bev.

bev_1.jpg

most people don't think about this.

MadTech01's picture

We still use steam, every major power plant nuclear, coal, natural gas, oil, even some solar are steam based.
They all heat water into steam but instead of just moving pistons or turning wheels, we capture the steam in a turbine.
A turbine is nothing more than a hyper efficient water wheel that can be used for steam or water in these plants. And then the turbine spins an electric generator, witch is basically from experience just an A/C electric motor in reverse.

Steam is not dead, it is just all kept in a single place and the electricity is what powers everything for the most part now. But something has the to generate that electricity.

"Cortana is watching you!"

In addition to that major

In addition to that major cities still use steam systems for their downtown buildings in lieu of generating their own heat. It's easier to buy steam than build and pay for the upkeep of individual systems in the buildings.

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

And introducing steam is a problem.

At least for Penny and I - when making it come alive on Anmar - or even in Palarand first.

As it is my 'job' to write about the introduction of Garia's ideas to this other world, I have always to weigh up availability of materials at that moment in time with the end result we want to achieve. I find I am often going: "Oh No! ..." (actually 'no' is not necessarily the word I actually use) ... "that would be helpful but they haven't learnt to make that so big/tough/powerful etc. etc. etc. yet."
Some commenters - let me hasten to add, we love ALL comments - sadly err on the side of using modern Earth knowledge which as yet is far beyond even the imaginations of those on Anmar.

So, yes, steam is there, it will become more present, but not all in one rush.

Which are your favourites of early steamology that you might like to see on Anmar?

As regards steam on Earth, then I can (just) remember the 'Golden Arrow' slamming past us on its way from London to Dover. Where passengers would cross the Channel on a ferry and then board the French equivalent for onward travel to Paris.

(From Wikipedia):
The Flèche d’Or (the 'Golden Arrow' in French) was introduced in 1926 as an all-first-class Pullman service between Paris and Calais.
On 15 May 1929, the Southern Railway introduced the equivalent between London Victoria and Dover. The train usually consisted of 10 British Pullman cars, hauled by one of the Southern Railway’s Lord Nelson class locomotives, and took 98 minutes to travel between London and Dover. Because of the impact of air travel and 'market forces' on the underlying economy, ordinary first- and third-class carriages were added in 1931. Similarly the first-class-only ferry, Canterbury, was modified to allow other classes of passenger.

(end of Wiki stuff)

WIth a 90 minute channel crossing and a minimum of 2 and a half hours to Paris from Calais, London to Paris was about 6 hours, just a tad more at the fastest actually, usually more than 7.

Nowadays, we have electric high-speed trains which connect London and Paris in a mere 2 hours and 20 minutes - but the electricity used is still generated by steam.

Good old steam.

J