Usually Penny is the writer with my input. For this day, we've reversed roles. When I was a small child, my dad took me on outings, the highlight of which was a trip to a railroad viaduct. There we watched the trains come through. A few steam engines were still hauling freight at the time. I never lost that little boy feeling for trains. For me, our visit to the National Railway Museum in York was a form of Nirvana. Just look at all of those old engines, each one with a unique story to tell.
The museum really began at the beginning. This was a horse drawn rail carriage from the early 1800s.
This is the Agenoria, a coal hauler. A near duplicate of this engine was the Stourbridge Lion, the first engine to run on rails in the United States. Note the elaborate lever and arm mechanism above the boiler.
This was an engine built in England in 1935 for export to China. The fenders were at least a foot over my head.
This old engine worked in a bauxite smelting plant from 1874 to 1947, 73 years of service! It was then sold to a scrap dealer who couldn't bear to cut it up. Instead, he donated it to a railroad preservation society.
A more glamorous engine was this Mallard Coronation which set a speed record of 126 miles per hour in 1938.
When I first saw this engine, I thought it was a miniature. In reality, it was a working engine set on 18 inch gauge rails to move heavy parts around a locomotive factory. Behind it is an engine used to haul construction debris out of the tunnel underneath the English channel between England and France.
Here is a cutaway of another Mallard. There were several men, including me, gathered around it mesmerized by the explanation, given by one of the Museum "explainers", of how the locomotive worked. Normally, the wheels are turning so it's possible to see the mechanism in action. Unfortunately, on this day the modern electric motor that drives them had failed.
Streamliners. In the foreground, a Chrysler Airflow. In the background, the beautiful Duchess of Hamilton, a contemporary of the Chrysler.
Some of the earliest diesels in service in Britain. To the left, the 1958 D400, to the right, the 1957 D 5500, one of the first mainline diesel locomotives in service in Britain.
A Japanese bullet train that more than doubled the speed of the record setting Mallard Coronation.
Usually Penny is the writer with my input. For this day, we've reversed roles. When I was a small child, my dad took me on outings, the highlight of which was a trip to a railroad viaduct. There we watched the trains come through. A few steam engines were still hauling freight at the time. I never lost that little boy feeling for trains. For me, our visit to the National Railway Museum in York was a form of Nirvana. Just look at all of those old engines, each one with a unique story to tell.
The museum really began at the beginning. This was a horse drawn rail carriage from the early 1800s.
This is the Agenoria, a coal hauler. A near duplicate of this engine was the Stourbridge Lion, the first engine to run on rails in the United States. Note the elaborate lever and arm mechanism above the boiler.
This was an engine built in England in 1935 for export to China. The fenders were at least a foot over my head.
This old engine worked in a bauxite smelting plant from 1874 to 1947, 73 years of service! It was then sold to a scrap dealer who couldn't bear to cut it up. Instead, he donated it to a railroad preservation society.
A more glamorous engine was this Mallard Coronation which set a speed record of 126 miles per hour in 1938.
When I first saw this engine, I thought it was a miniature. In reality, it was a working engine set on 18 inch gauge rails to move heavy parts around a locomotive factory. Behind it is an engine used to haul construction debris out of the tunnel underneath the English channel between England and France.
Here is a cutaway of another Mallard. There were several men, including me, gathered around it mesmerized by the explanation, given by one of the Museum "explainers", of how the locomotive worked. Normally, the wheels are turning so it's possible to see the mechanism in action. Unfortunately, on this day the modern electric motor that drives them had failed.
Streamliners. In the foreground, a Chrysler Airflow. In the background, the beautiful Duchess of Hamilton, a contemporary of the Chrysler.
Some of the earliest diesels in service in Britain. To the left, the 1958 D400, to the right, the 1957 D 5500, one of the first mainline diesel locomotives in service in Britain.
A Japanese bullet train that more than doubled the speed of the record setting Mallard Coronation.
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