Steam Heat

We were at the Henry Ford museum in Michigan today, somewhere I haven’t been for a few years, and I was impressed again at the sheer size of some of the trains which form one section of the exhibits. This, for example, is no ordinary snowplough:

Snowplough

It has extra gill-like flaps on the side which can open up allowing it to plough a path 16 feet wide. It was normally pushed by two locomotives. The gaping jaws are almost scary if you’re standing beside them.

But the most-photographed exhibit in the museum is the Allegheny locomotive. These were the most powerful engines ever made and are very big and very black. It feels more like part of a Gotham City set than something from my normal experience of railways.

Allegheny locomotive, Henry Ford museum

It’s actually rather difficult to photograph in a restricted space, so I switched my little camera into movie mode.

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3 Comments

Awesome! Almost Soviet in style too.

How is the weather there?

Grim, grey and slushy when it’s cloudy. About eight inches of sparkling snow when it’s sunny…

Ah, the wonderful Henry Ford museum. I spent many a happy hour strolling round its wonderful exhibits.

Give my regards to Motor City, Q, and hope you don’t get hit by the bad snow storms heading your way…

Merry Christmas!

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