A question for Thomas the Tank Engine fans

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 25/09/2018 11:36:43:

Posted by Mick B1 on 24/09/2018 22:28:38:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 24/09/2018 22:12:29:

Posted by Mick B1 on 24/09/2018 15:44:35:

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Dave

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Was that a typo? Perhaps you meant to type:

'I can just see grandparents about 10 o'clock on Christmas morning, sighing with their chins in their hands

No, no – if it was me (grandad), Thomas would be attacked as he rounded the curve at the end by plastic dinosaurs, riding in on the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine. Then rocket-firing Airfix Typhoons would reduce the dragon zipline to a heap of twisted wreckage whilst Playpeople Pirates made off with the golden shield…

If he was dead lucky – and if his wheels fit – Thomas might get pensioned off to run round the little 'un's wooden Brio-compatible track from Lidl. But he'd have to swallow being pushed by a little battery-powered loco.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Mick B1 on 25/09/2018 13:20:09:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 25/09/2018 11:36:43:

Posted by Mick B1 on 24/09/2018 22:28:38:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 24/09/2018 22:12:29:

Posted by Mick B1 on 24/09/2018 15:44:35:

…

…

Dave

…

…

Was that a typo? Perhaps you meant to type:

'I can just see grandparents about 10 o'clock on Christmas morning, sighing with their chins in their hands

No, no – if it was me (grandad), Thomas would be attacked as he rounded the curve at the end by plastic dinosaurs, riding in on the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine. Then rocket-firing Airfix Typhoons would reduce the dragon zipline to a heap of twisted wreckage whilst Playpeople Pirates made off with the golden shield…

If he was dead lucky – and if his wheels fit – Thomas might get pensioned off to run round the little 'un's wooden Brio-compatible track from Lidl. But he'd have to swallow being pushed by a little battery-powered loco.

Yes! Please ask your mummy if I can come round and play too! I'll bring a blowlamp, a bottle of meths and a box of fireworks. I don't suppose you have an air-rifle and a butane canister handy for the volcano?

I'm sure Neil will let us borrow his collection of Thomas toys and sort out any insurance claims…

Dave

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

what amazes me is that steam engine toys for 3-5yr olds are still selling – ok there are preserved lines but steam disappeared from the UK network 50 yrs ago(earlier in many places) and you have to be in your mid 60s at least to have any real memory of engines which indeed came in a huge number of sizes + variants and each in many ways more like a living creature than a modern diesel unless of course you live on the real Sodor!

Edited By Frances IoM on 25/09/2018 14:29:27

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Frances IoM on 25/09/2018 14:13:35:
what amazes me is that steam engine toys for 3-5yr olds are still selling…

…

What amazes me still more is that the real iron monsters still shock, awe and fascinate children who've never seen them as serious transport, or had much exposure to Thomas and co. either!

I suppose it must be the fizzing, puffing, radiating mass of the thing as it arrives at the platform, but the grandkids are always keen to go on the local steam railway, and the trains are often full of other families on the same experience.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

My local waterworks at Blagdon has a preserved Woolf Compound Rotative pumping engine, originally one of a pair requirings a specially built branch line to coal 4 Lancashire boilers, now gone. For resilience each engine and boiler pair were accommodated in separate buildings, both posh. The engine itself weighs 17 tons and produces 170HP from 4.5 tons of coal per day, with 2 or 3 men working round the clock. Taken together the installation looks massively powerful, and there are lots of polished metal moving parts, super paintwork, levers, dials, valves and catwalks.

Last time I visited they were swapping out one of the 3-phase motors that drives the modern pumping system, which is not an obvious feature of the site at all. I think it lives in a hole in the ground. The old motor was laid on the grass. Apart from the cooling fins and shaft it looked more like a medium sized oil-drum than a proper motor – a grey cylinder about 2 foot in diameter and bit under 3 foot long. Although the plate gave the output as 150kW, which is about 200HP, woof woof, it was totally charmless.

Modern stuff may be far more effective, but steam will always be drop-dead sexy. It looks good, smells good and by golly it does you good.

Dave

[RevStewParticipant @revstew]

Having seen the 'Tornado' at full tilt, (just under 100mph I believe) it amazes me that not only can these things still run on the main line, but that we can build them from scratch too.

The late Rev Awdry, or his family certainly, should be as rich as Ms Rowling, but they aren't. Shafted no doubt by ownership of rights.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 25/09/2018 16:33:13:

…

Modern stuff may be far more effective, but steam will always be drop-dead sexy. It looks good, smells good and by golly it does you good.

Dave

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but the real question is – why? What is it about this stuff that walks straight into the subconscious of people from 3 to 93, whether they've seen it before or not, whether they know what it's for or not, and grabs the attention so positively?

Edited By Mick B1 on 25/09/2018 17:28:16

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Mick B1 on 25/09/2018 17:27:30:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but the real question is – why? What is it about this stuff that walks straight into the subconscious of people from 3 to 93, whether they've seen it before or not, whether they know what it's for or not, and grabs the attention so positively?

.

Anthropomorphism

[RevStewParticipant @revstew]

Very true. Disney made an awful lot of money from Anthropomorphism.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 25/09/2018 17:32:00:

Posted by Mick B1 on 25/09/2018 17:27:30:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but the real question is – why? What is it about this stuff that walks straight into the subconscious of people from 3 to 93, whether they've seen it before or not, whether they know what it's for or not, and grabs the attention so positively?

.

Anthropomorphism

That explains why Thomas has a face, and why folk like Winnie-The-Pooh etc., but there's nothing anthropomorphic about a beam engine, and little about a real loco – and people are still impressed by them.

[RevStewParticipant @revstew]

My local waterworks/museum has a 1912? beam engine. All two stories of it. And I think people are blown away just by seeing something so big, this dreadfully large lump of metal, moving with apparent ease. It's actually quite scary at first. The sense of power is a tangible thing. And so quiet too…

Modern locos, ships, aircraft and so in still impress with size of course, but you don't see anything moving.

To stand at ground level next to an A2 Pacific or something, and see those massive bits of metal, and think of it at motorway speed…quite something. A dinosaur from another age.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 25/09/2018 17:32:00:

Posted by Mick B1 on 25/09/2018 17:27:30:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but the real question is – why? What is it about this stuff that walks straight into the subconscious of people from 3 to 93, whether they've seen it before or not, whether they know what it's for or not, and grabs the attention so positively?

.

Anthropomorphism

Strange… last night, looking up at Mars, I felt sorry for the poor robots sent on a one-way trip and their extraordinary resilience to keep going as long as possible.

Nonsense of course!

Neil

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 25/09/2018 18:48:20:

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 25/09/2018 17:32:00:

Posted by Mick B1 on 25/09/2018 17:27:30:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but the real question is – why? What is it about this stuff that walks straight into the subconscious of people from 3 to 93, whether they've seen it before or not, whether they know what it's for or not, and grabs the attention so positively?

.

Anthropomorphism

Strange… last night, looking up at Mars, I felt sorry for the poor robots sent on a one-way trip and their extraordinary resilience to keep going as long as possible.

Nonsense of course!

Neil

Nah, they enjoy it! It's the best thing they could be doing!

And if you're designed to function on the Martian surface, it's the most comfortable place to be…

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Mick B1 on 25/09/2018 18:13:47:

… but there's nothing anthropomorphic about a beam engine, and little about a real loco – and people are still impressed by them.

.

Of course there is !

It's about the 'breathing' and the 'pulse rate' and the 'jointed limbs'

… compare that with the frantic whine [or the near silence] of an internal combustion engine, or electric motor.

Or, think about how much more comforting we find the gentle tick of a longcase clock than the old bedside alarm clock.

MichaelG.

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Posted by The Oily Rag on 25/09/2018 11:09:56:

H'mm Am I to take this thread as a laypersons guide to the reading material frequented by colleagues on here?

Absolutely Ian, forget lightweights like Tolstoy,s War and Peace…Tolkien,s Lord of the Rings, the Thomas books are literary masterpieces, not to be missed by the educated man.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 25/09/2018 19:33:19:

Posted by Mick B1 on 25/09/2018 18:13:47:

… but there's nothing anthropomorphic about a beam engine, and little about a real loco – and people are still impressed by them.

.

Of course there is !

It's about the 'breathing' and the 'pulse rate' and the 'jointed limbs'

There's another explanation…

Neil

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Frances, the UK road sign for a level crossing is still the silhouette of a steam locomotive.

Geoff

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Geoff Theasby on 26/09/2018 05:43:05:

Frances, the UK road sign for a level crossing is still the silhouette of a steam locomotive.

Geoff

The 'traffic camera' signs shows one with a bellows.

I'm surprised the low-flying aircraft sign doesn't show the Wright Flyer.

Neil

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