What an entrancing video!
I usually am very sparing when getting into YouTube - it's a life-sucking pastime. Wonderful thing, though, for those who are disabled and are strapped to a wheelchair; so much to pass the time with. My forays are usually limited to cramming about some subject relevant to a project I'm involved in or otherwise as a convenient video jukebox to be booted up on some display while other stuff is being done.
You got me perfectly - this one captures every sexy sound of that steam engine. OMG. Just past the 10 minute mark it becomes obscenely significant. Great cuts on this - and holy moly - I'm looking at simply unspoiled paradise.
There was a moment when a whole group of children ran beside the engine - and then of a sudden the whole mob stopped by a single calm adult - amazing to see.
The stations are so old world, and even the various buildings connected with signalling, etc. beside the track are so well-kept that it seems we're instantly transported to some ancient time - as if time stopped still in an Enid Blyton tale.
This one has to be seen in full 4K with the sound totally cranked up.
I listened to it the second time with the sound full blast and got yelled at half-way through!
No, I didn't reduce the sound. Life is short.
Not the only place where steam lasted a long time (Sri Lanka dieselized in the 80's, Viceroy stayed steam though). Chinese mining companies, coalieries in eastern Europe, and other various parts of the world still employ the power of a steam locomotive as regular power for revenue work. And as for the old Victorian era of train orders, its a system that works, and there's no reason to replace. it.
Steam in Sri Lanka is just the Viceroy now I believe, but there are preservation runs.
*see video down below*
I see trains - the concept of a long articulated transport on a fixed track of some sort - as perennial.
Trains changed civilization. Societies clumped by the coasts because travelling long distances overland was not as easy as travelling long distances on water. Trains came along and took large clumps of people and loads of supplies and scattered them everywhere people could lay tracks.
The concept of a large intestine filled with stuff travelling crawling over the earth is a natural one, and trains are a natural evolution of that idea. If I were to follow the patterns of the past, and how long trains have been around, then they are going to remain around for a long, long time. No better way to move large quantities of people and supplies great distances with stops at will to remote locations.
Obviously the technology advances steadily while retaining the same idea - a long train running in a closed circuit.
The old Victorian order still works perfectly in locations like above, and I hope they preserve those systems for as long as these old Iron Horses continue to pull for us. They are a reminder to us of the power of water, the mettle of steel, the ingenuity of man.
It was amazing in the video you pulled how enamoured the local people seemed to be with the engine, treating it almost as they would the elephants that amble around there among the populace.
In the Tour Video that I posted, the Viceroy actually broke down enroute, but they did a quick rail side repair and were on their way again.
I'm so glad to see these 'preservation' runs being made in countries that can still run some of these locomotives as they used to.
Rails won't be replaced for a very time. Maglev's are expensive toys that are not cut out for the rough, dirty industrial conditions a railway that operates both types of traffic (freight and passenger) goes through. Same goes for that stupid tube idea Elon Musk is attempting in California.
AFAIK - to add to that logistical nightmare, they are using broad gauge - and in fact the highest point that broad gauge has been laid anywhere in the world is that point that the Viceroy gets to - must be an amazing feeling to get up there; apparently the train halts and everybody gets out to prance around for a bit.
IIRC - they have a narrow gauge line there, but I'm not sure whether they run steam engines on it.
Lancashire Fusilier by David Anderson, on Flickr
