The Romance of Steam

The steam engines and the wonder of the Pennsylvania Railroad were probably what first attracted me to steam engines.  I also have to say that Thomas the Tank Engine also played a hand as well.  From time to time, amid the stress of school and other aspects of life, I find myself on YouTube searching for videos of trains passing by.  I can spend hours looking at old footage of Pennsylvania locomotives high balling down the main line, their piston in a roar as the speed by.  While surfing through these videos, I came across a channel called Distant Signal.  Distant Signal is run by Danny Harmon (or Railfan Danny on Facebook) who lives in central Florida and has numerous fantastic videos of the trains he follows through the area.  From his videos, I have learned a lot about CSX trains and signals and just really like watching the trains pass by.  While I do enjoy watching the trains of today speed by, I begin to thing of the glamour of the steam era and how romantic it must have been to ride in Pullman cars and arrive in ornate stations.  I also begin to wonder why I believe that steam is romantic…

What makes steam romantic?  Is it the breathing of the locomotive?  Is it the majesty of their moving parts?  Is it the grandeur of the stations?  What exactly makes steam tick is different for each person… if their not a diesel fanatic… but these things really stand out to me.

The Romance of the Locomotive

Today, many things seem self-contained.  This both by design and necessity.  The sleek design of today’s products make them attractive as well as, in many cases, safer.  Sometimes the things that we purchase have moving parts that we could get injured in and for that reason are covered.  A significant part of the romance of the locomotive is being able to see its moving parts.  In the 21st century, we don’t often get to see the moving parts of things because of their design, however in the age of steam, moving parts were all over the place on locomotives.

The most significant visible moving parts of steam locomotives are the pistons and coupling rods.  Looking at all the different wheel combinations and their coupling rods has always fascinated me as well as seeing them work.  Perhaps my favorite steam locomotive is the Pennsylvania K4s Pacific.  This steam locomotive was the Pennsylvania

PRR Engine No. 1361

Railroad’s passenger workhorse that most famously pulled the Broadway Limited from New York City to Chicago.  Its six big driving wheels and powerful pistons quickly pulled passenger trains through the Allegheny Mountains to Pittsburgh and on westward.  Its whistle echoed through valleys and across rivers as it claimed its spot in history.

While the moving pistons and coupling rods of steam engines are fascinating, they also posed dangers.  Exposed moving parts were great places for hands to be mangled in and also required much more maintenance than today’s diesels.  Engines low on water ran the risk of exploding among many other dangers that could befall a train on the tracks.  It is, however, this danger that adds to the romance of steam engines.  Only trouble… and danger… is interesting.

 

The Grandeur of a Train Station

If you were to mention train travel or grand old train stations to a passerby, chances are that they would think of Grand Central Station (really Grand Central Terminal) in New York City.  Grand Central Station is a fantastic example of an elaborate, and still used, station of days gone by, however many people don’t know of New York’s other, and lost, grand station… and arguable far grander than Grand Central.

New York’s Pennsylvania Station.  Photo from Wikipedia.

The Pennsylvania Railroad, truly dominating the state and states adjacent, build their grandest station in New York City.  Pennsylvania Station was a beaux-arts masterpiece of midtown Manhattan from 1910 to 1963.  With the ability to accommodate 144 trains per hour on 21 tracks and 11 platforms, by 1935 it had served over 1 billion passengers. Unfortunately, as the demand for passenger train travel declined after WWII, the station began falling into disrepair.  Finally in 1963, demolition began on the grand old building and Madison Square Garden, and several other new buildings, took its place.

The grandeur of New York’s Pennsylvania Station is a fantastic example of the romance of steam.  Today we simply do not have buildings that are as thrilling as those we had before…

The eastern facade of Pennsylvania Station. Photo from Wikipedia.

The main waiting room of Pennsylvania Station. Photo from Wikipedia.

Interior of the Main Concourse of Pennsylvania Station. Photo from Wikipedia.

So, What About the Romance of Steam?

The romance of steam grows out of the breathing of the locomotive, the majesty of a locomotive’s moving parts, and it the grandeur of the stations… but also, perhaps, because these things are no longer here.  No matter who we are, we will always think of and long for that which is no longer here whether it be a grand old train station or the memory of a childhood Christmas.  As William Wordsworth wrote in “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Appareled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;-

Turn wheresoe’er I may,

By night or day,

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

And sometimes, I wonder: Do I have more fun dreaming of what it might have been like?  Or would I have had a greater time being there?  That, I cannot decide.

– Snicket’s Servant