Why do people love steam engines?
A steam engine is a largely hand built machine, produced in small numbers but of many different types, giving each engine her own unique “personality”, while a diesel is far more homogenized. The steam engine expresses her personality through an outward display of flailing mechanical parts, towering plumes of smoke and steam, sound and the unique rhythmic rumbling felt in the ground that heralds her approach. The diesel engine is a hidden, introverted machine, with parts hidden inside a metal box. Not to say that diesels have no personality, early ALCo diesels often tended to act more like steamers than diesels, but the steam locomotive is much more outward and bold. Also, the steam locomotive is a rarity, a special event, while to most people even a vintage F unit is “just another diesel engine” because the diesel has become so common.
Thomas has been around a lot longer than 20 years. The stories were first published in the late 1940s. I remember reading them when I was small, that was in the 1960s. I also remember steam engines on British Railways (as it then was) and then later on on the Heritage lines. My first visit was to the Bluebell Railway in 1968. I’ve been hooked on steam since I was a child and I am lucky enough to live hear a Heritage Railway. Last time I travelled on it was a couple of months ago. I also work part-time at a railway museum, where we have a standard-gauge industrial engine and a miniature engine which we occasionally fire up. Steam locos date back more than 200 years when the first was built by Richard Trevithick in 1804. For well over a century they were the main source of power for the railways until replaced by diesel and electric trains. Luckily there are plenty of them around which have been saved from the scrapheap and restored so future generations can enjoy them.
