I'll put train videos on for the kids, but there's so much more going on with a steam train.
Steam is billowing out of everywhere, they're just this massive piece of infrastructure, it's like taming the elements with an unholy union of water and fire - natural enemies in the wild, and you get to feel like a hero because you're helping people get to places.
I mean here's possibly the first American superhero:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Steam_Man_of_the_Prairies
If that doesn't scream autism I don't know what does. It's really interesting.
Mickey McSquizzle the Irishman
Brainerd
We must retvrn to this style of names for characters
It's always a head trip being reminded that the engines from Thomas the Tank Engine are all real
One of my favorite YouTubers is autistic and says “If you want 100% employment for people with autism, bring back steam trains.”
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I saw this bad boy last year, peak "chugga chugga choo choo" (skip to 1m33s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6brHBmh7YT4&t=1m33s
Yo I heard you like trains that go through snow…
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That’s a Union Pacific Rotary Snow Plow. 17 feet / 5.2 meters tall. 150 RPM. It’s not self-propelled and had to be pushed by 4 locomotives. It was used in Wyoming up into the 1990s to cut 14 foot / 4.25 meter wide paths through the snow.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
This bit warms up and pushes this bit, which through some linkages synchronise a bunch of other things and then 10 tonnes of steel move at a nice clip
Steam locomotives yes electric HSR locomotives yes diesel locomotives no
I went to a tourist thing where you can ride a train up a mountain. They offered us the option to ride on one pulled by an old steam locomotive that they only run on special occasions.
It was really cool looking, but I wasn't prepared for the amount of smoke involved. The train cars were open and I felt like I smoked the equivalent of 500 cigarettes on that short ride.
I might be going to see Santa Fe 3751 next month, and I'm so jazzed about it
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Book tip for Train People: Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
