ge_rik wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2018 7:06 pm
I wonder if we are more nostalgic for steam in the uk than other parts of the world? Certainly we have far more preserved steam railways than anywhere else - or is that just a legacy of Beeching - ie we have more opportunities? Or is it because the little old uk is the cradle of the industrial revolution?
Rik
I have often thought it's both, although I'm not sure how much an awareness of the industrial revolution specifically propels the enthusiasm of the average British citizen. It may be a chicken/egg phenomenon, whereby the average Briton sees steam locomotives, if only incidentally, more often than, say, a Canadian, therefore is more aware of them in general. And as a result of that, more likely to notice and appreciate them, even if they lack any specific nostalgia for them. There is enough population density in Britain to sustain a "critical mass" of enthusiasm, especially among young people.
In Canada, we have very few preserved steam locomotives. This is due to three things. One is, the relatively small and spread-out population of our country doesn't provide the concentration of enthusiasts that are necessary to support the kind of donation-driven preservation enterprise that would be necessary to restore and maintain a large obsolete machine. The second is, our railway network is more-or-less a great East/West corridor with a few little branches that either connect south to the American network, or north to isolated little villages in the great unpopulated wilderness. When these little branches are abandoned, they typically have no infrastructure or population base to support any tourism. Third, the main lines are owned by large corporations whose lawyers and executives have successfully pursued an agressive "no steam" policy. One of those companies, the Canadian Pacific, actually OWNS a road-worthy Hudson-style locomotive with a current certificate, which is prohibited from operating by their own no-steam policy. With respect to other types of steam, there are a few reciprocating steamships in preservation, which suffer from a lack of qualified engineering officers to operate them. Traction engines are sometimes seen at harvest festivals and such, notably there is the "Milton steam fair" that is attended by a fair number of preserved traction engines, but again that is in a part of Canada that is probably the most populous, and compared to a British example, it is still a very small fair. I suppose you could divide for the sake of argument, any population into those who those who have seen a steam engine and those who have not. You could then further divide that segment who have seen one into those who found it interesting enough to develop an enthusiasm and those who did not. In Britain, almost everyone has seen one. In Canada, only those who are old enough to remember them from the "steam era", plus perhaps the children of enthusiasts, or those who live near the rare one that is in preservation, have seen one.
A better example might be the United States, there is more population and a greater number of "branch lines" that actually go between places one might actually want to visit. There is therefore a higher percentage per capita of people who might wish to go the the effort of going to see a steam engine, and any engine that does come out in public stands a greater chance of being seen by someone who is excited by it. There are therefore more steam engines, and actually a few preserved branch-lines and narrow-gauge lines in oreservation. Still nothing like the number there were in Britain.
Finally, Britain had the great Barry scrapyard, which served as a choke-point in the demolition of the country's steam fleet. Scrapping was delayed long enough for an enthusiasm base to develop. In North America, we chopped them up with great diligence and enthusiasm, so that by the time anyone felt nostalgic about them, there were hardly any left over!
As for myself, 16mm models also appeal to me because my family is British, therefore the scenery and atmosphere of that style of garden railway appeals to me aesthetically. I love gardening, and I love parochial little villages with ancient, slightly crumbling infrastructure and buildings, and I love steam engines. So the British style of garden railway modelling is very compelling to me. I am a Canadian in the old sense of the word, that is, a "British North American", and as such, I seek cultural touchstones from the home nation. Possibly this is partly why I love steam engines.
