Steam locomotives are “good things” for an engineer. Whatever your specialty (I come from electronics), the mechanics of these humongous metal things are exhilarating. And this technology has been at the apex of all technologies for about a century in western Europe and many other countries. It even was a major driver for the industrial revolution.

Then, it went the way of the dodo. Poof!

But many people still keep the boilers hot and make sure that steam locomotives and classic trains are not forgotten. So, let me share some examples I collected on the web. Just to feel the heat of the white vapor clouds.

Admire the wonderful work of art!

The tracks are made of traditional magnets and the train contain a big super-conducting magnet (cooled down by liquid nitrogen to maintain its super-conducting characteristics). Everything is relying heavily on magnetic fields. So, not surprisingly, these fields can be observed in the real train. The following video — shot on the Rokko Liner in Kobe, Japan — shows metal paper clips dancing on the stray magnetic fields of such a Maglev train, going through the floor of one of the passenger cars.

Don’t drop your credit card (or an age-old floppy disk) on the floor for fear of seeing it quickly erased.

I am a great fan of miniature model railways. But this one is all railways, locomotive, trains geeks want. It’s ok for kids as well as adults.

Source: DeputyDog.