# Where it all started...



## Tom Lapointe (Jan 2, 2008)

While doing a bit of industrial archeology research for an eventually planned steel mill for my railroad, I happened to stumble across this on YouTube...















Also take note of the loco's wheels & the rails - the flanges are on the *rails, rather than the wheels. *
















*Tom*


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## Jim Schulz (Aug 10, 2009)

I just finished the new book "The Most Powerful Idea in the World - a story of steam, industry, and invention" by William Rosen. It is the story of the men responsible for the Industrial Revolution and the machine that drove it - the steam engine. I thought it was a pretty good read. It was recommended by my local library from which I borrowed a copy.


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## Steve Shyvers (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim, 

Thanks for the book recommendation. I just requested the local library to hold its copy for me when it is available. 

Steve Shyvers


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## Jim Schulz (Aug 10, 2009)

You're welcome, Steve. Rosen is a good storyteller. Who among us interested in steam engines would not be intrigued by a book in which chapter 2 is described:
_
__concerning the many uses of a piston; how the world's first scientific society was founded at a college with no students; and the inspirational value of armories, nonconformist preachers, incomplete patterns, and snifting valves._

or chapter 3:

_concerning a trial over the ownership of a deck of playing cards; a utopian fantasy island in the South Seas; one Statute and two Treatises; and the manner in which ideas are transformed from something one _discovers_ to something one _owns_. _


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## weaverc (Jan 2, 2008)

In this photograph you can see that the flangeless wheels ride outside an L-shaped rail.


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

The curves must have been interesting.


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## Jim Schulz (Aug 10, 2009)

There's a lot of "eye candy" in those early locomotives. Just as fascinating to many today...:

"Steamboy" 












"Steampunk"


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## Jim Schulz (Aug 10, 2009)

Here's a replica of Trevithick's third locomotive "Catch Me Who Can." Built in 1808 it's considered the world's first fare paying passenger locomotive:












Trevithick's "Steam Circus" - a contemporary illustration. This took place in Bloomsbury, just south of the present-day Euston Square tube station in London. The locomotive clipped along at a mind-blowing 12 mph. Eventually Trevithick shut the circus down because the heavy locomotive broke the brittle cast iron rails:


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## Jim Schulz (Aug 10, 2009)

Another "Where it all started": A 2005 reenactment of the Rainhill Trials concluded that the Rocket would likely have won the event even if the other locomotives hadn't broken down:


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## mack505 (Jan 2, 2008)

You just have to love the shots of 19th century steam locos being operated by guys in 21st century Elfan Safety Hi-Vis clothing!

Because we all know you won't get hurt if a train hits you when you're wearing an orange vest.


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## weaverc (Jan 2, 2008)

Closeup photos of 1st locomotive


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

_Minicraft make a bunch of kits for ancient steam engines, including Trevithick's. Only 1/38th scale but they are fun to put on the shelf._











http://scalemodel.net/Gallery/Trevithick1804.aspx


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