Apprentice

Neighborhood kid helped me get the engine ready for the day and then wanted to run it and began asking questions so that was that. Incidentally, one of the few people in the US now young or old who can say hes worked with an all original 143 year old steam engine, which I am out to change. I shot a low effort film showing how children are generally a lot smarter than Western society makes them out to be and why they shouldn't be shown the grotesque plasticworld nonsense that the world usually tries to spoonfeed them. Think twice before you permanently damage their minds with the likes of blippi.
The big Italian family on my street held a block party and roast, so I brought up the French machine for its public debut to do my part. I picked up yet more apprentices. Elias is 8 and had this engine figured out in fewer minutes than he is years old. It was nice to be able to let them work and sit down and snap pictures.
Before I snagged this engine, it was set to have ended up back in a museum where it would have never run again. After this I am reminded of just how unthinkable that would have been. I am also reminded that this tight knit and stable neighborhood with its lack of busybodies is a rarity in New England and why I've been able to achieve what I have with my power machinery.

[@paulshouse524]

The old curmudgeon in me says you shouldn't let some unknown boy put his fingers (and feet) all over your engine. The boy I used to be says you're so cool to not only let him do that, and to answer all his questions, and most importantly treat him like a human being. Those two, and the rest of me, admire your quiet, shiny engine and wish we could put ours fingers on it too. You're a good man, Alex.

[@AEKarnes]

That's a duality I feel myself and that lots of other old guys I've dealt with have and cannot seem to deal with. I'm glad you recognize this has to be done. Come visit here sometime, Kudos!

[@paulshouse524]

Love to! @@AEKarnes

[@Pete4875]

That kid will never forget you. Hopefully it will set a spark in him that will never die.

[@Mudsuitable]

The way you spoke to him Man to Man and not treating him as anything less it yet another reason why YOU are a treasure to all!!!

[@AEKarnes]

How Levar Burton talked to children in Reading Rainbow and how any father who is an actual man speaks to his son when they are wrenching on something together is the way you speak to the young. This freakish structured condescending way of talking down to children is an invention of the systems used to process them and it has destroyed more of them than can be counted.

[@mikesenginesandadventures]

With all the negative content out there, this is very refreshing. What a beautiful engine and you have a rare talent… you know how to talk to people and inspire them. We need this more than ever. Thank you.

[@AEKarnes]

Thank you and I agree, please help spread the word about my work.

[@robertklein1316]

The only kid on the block who doesn't have an Xbox and have his face gripped by the screen or monitor. He'll remember this someday because of the smoke and fire.

[@AEKarnes]

He is far from the only kid on the block like that, largely due to my presence as the angry old man (and decent parents, they do still exist)

[@madmanmapper]

Oh god, he's indoctrinating the children!

[@AEKarnes]

With these machines they indoctrinate themselves!

[@johnsmith7676]

Ah, but it is sound doctrine, which they will receive almost nowhere else.

[@rossbryan6102]

AS WE LEARNED ALL THINGS IMPORTANT FROM THE OLD GRAY HEADS, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE NOW TEACH THOSE WHO FOLLOW US!! ONLY IN THIS WAY, CAN WE REPAY, FULLY, THOSE WHO HAVE TAUGHT US !!

[@ashf6289]

Hi Mr. Karnes, I love steam engines, In my country there are few parked near train stations. They are stopped there for many years. Please make more videos. Your videos are great. Thank you so much for the videos.!!

[@conorgraafpietermaritzburg3720]

What a beautiful engine! And you're so good with the kid. Just the combination we steam enthusiasts need to spread our message 😅

[@stamrly418]

What is important is knowing what you are doing and there is no doubt you do THEN your ability to talk to a young boy at a level he can understand and relate to is utterly magnificent. A skill above the nuts and bolt fixing you have in abundance. Keep up the extraordinary work you do.

[@kudosjeg]

Sure wish I knew I guy Like you when I was younger, Have been obsessed with your steam content.

[@AEKarnes]

I wish I knew a guy like me when I was younger too. My old mentors were mostly so aged and tired that I only got the very tip of the iceburg of their knowledge and I had to teach myself the rest.

[@Xsiondu]

Oh man! Mr. Karnes, you already know how much of an impact you have had on that young man's life. That is something he will never forget

[@American_Jeeper]

You’re a man after my own heart, no-nonsense, to the point, a passion for yesteryear technology, self-taught & willing to teach…the world needs more people like you, Mr. Karnes.

[@AEKarnes]

This is the technology of the future, not the past, if we want the human condition to improve instead of further deteriorate.

[@American_Jeeper]

@@AEKarnes And, at the end of the day, steam power is immune to EMP attacks. Have you ever watched the restoration of the Southern Railway 4501, a Mikado 2-8-2? It’s a spectacular story. As a kid who grew up near Strasburg, PA, I can’t fathom how anyone couldn’t fall in love with these beautiful leviathans. Sumpter #19 is a great restoration story too.

[@AEKarnes]

EMPs will be the least of our problems in the future.

[@American_Jeeper]

@@AEKarnes Sadly, you're correct.

[@brianwetzel2853]

Cooooooooool! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with the youth young man! Appreciate you teaching us all

[@AEKarnes]

I just let him do his thing and do my best to answer whatever questions he's got or get him to answer them himself because that's how I was taught when the old yankees and ex-pat brits that taught me were still alive. I havent got time for the overbearing heavy fisted "dont touch that" nonsense you find now.

[@SteveSteamShovel]

Hello Mr. Karnes I'm 16 and hope one day I'm able to operate steam engines like you are. Unfortunately here in Florida there is considerable lack of steam engines of any kind. My dad fondly remembers the steam driven sugar plantation and locomotives, he used to work at in Cuba before coming to the United States. I wish you all the best of luck on your adventures.

[@AEKarnes]

They are in the cracks I promise you, best place to begin is at engine shows. You may want to look into the pacifics at US Sugar, but getting your hands on them may take far too long for your liking.

[@SteveSteamShovel]

@@AEKarnes Hello Mr. Karnes sorry for the late response, unfortunately many of the volunteer programs here require you to be 18 and over. And other smaller scale live steam operations require you to pay a fee to volunteer, and have your parent watch over you. I understand taking some precaution with younger people. But even I think the idea of paying to volunteer is a bit silly. Or the idea of being too young. But it's not all bad, my mom and dad bought me a Mastrand steam roller and I'll be restoring it this Christmas break.

[@AEKarnes]

@@SteveSteamShovel You are welcome to work with my machines any time if you ever turned up on my doorstep for a visit.

[@SteveSteamShovel]

@@AEKarnes Thank you Mr. Karnes I hope to one day be able to meet you in person.

[@Methadone4Life]

Just subscribed and you have a 57 year old that feels just like that young lad! You are what the world needs more of Alex!

[@sneugler]

I’ve always been fascinated with steam power, there’s something so organic and comprehensible about complicated mechanical devices designed before CAD. You can look at each part and almost see what the original creators were thinking. Thank you for devoting so much effort into preserving history, not to mention the (rare nowadays) willingness to let younger folk learn about these hands on

[@AEKarnes]

In the US, the way we treat young people in the field of historic power machinery is largely deplorable. Imagination and the wish to be hands on is squashed or metered, I got that nonsense a lot myself at his age, and I don't tolerate it and I work to promote the opposite. The machines are comprehensible because they were designed and built entirely by human psyche with no cheaters and no technological middlemen and this is how we ought to be designing all machines.

[@AdrianPardini]

You gave that kid very good advise. Thanks for that.

[@mikewinkelman7015]

Have to get the younger ones interested for the future of steam Alex. Nice video.

[@CSibo21]

“Go to college if you want to be a bad engineer” That’s awesome. I’ve said the same for years.

[@AEKarnes]

I'd never lie to a kid, you do that and you set them up for failure and I'm not in the business of doing that.

[@TheShowdown16]

Depends on what you mean by engineer. Its true they don't teach you how to be a mechanic if you go for an engineering degree. Engineering has come to mean "the science of technology". And the practical hands on stuff has separated from that. Ideally one should be able to do both of but in the modern work environment this is not always worth the investment of time because the tasks are usually separated anyway.

[@AEKarnes]

@@TheShowdown16 Engineering is and always will be practical hands on stuff, its not seperated no matter how much any idiot out there tries to tell you that. They do you a disservice because youll always be dissappointed in the end when the time comes to do something hands on. It is always worth it in the modern work environment because the moment you can do something everyone else cannot do, you are suddenly the top man.

[@addisme7561]

Your like me, I’m just like you, no formal education yet I just do it because I can, amazing things, you do amazing things good sir, thank you brother, I appreciate you very much 😊🎉

[@jeremybowman368]

What a fantastic neighbor you would be.

[@AEKarnes]

Thank you, and this guy is now the seventh generation of neighborhood kids I've taught how to run steam on this street.

[@rhavrane]

Bonjour Alexander, how lucky you are to find a young man interested in steam. the ones I meet have only two questions : "Speed "? and "Price ?" 😪 Besides this, your gold locomobile is just beautiful with its original safety valves. Amicalement, Raphaël

[@AEKarnes]

The youngsters who are interested in steam are absolutely everywhere you just need to do a little work to find them.

[@p.m3735]

Fantastic great to share the passion with the next generations. Just as important as preserving the items themselves. 👌😎

[@sosayweall1952]

Even with the paperwork that the college gives you you dont get anywhere. As you said you have to prove your worth. In my case, i was highly awarded and top of my class. It helped me land not only an internship but a good paying engineering job.

[@roadchewerpe5759]

It’s important that you took the time to explain stuff and not just assume the kid knows everything. I think that can be a problem at times. A lot of older people just say “figure it out” then get upset when someone can’t do something instantly that they’ve been doing for 20 years.

[@AEKarnes]

Letting the kid figure things out for himself is a lot more important than spewing things at him and hoping they stick, so I am actually a huge advocate of "figure it out". I only answered questions for him when he couldn't. When I was his age, if people didn't let me figure something out myself I got really frustrated.

[@brushnut1909]

Awesome

[@MrBIG4D]

I think you were born in the wrong century, or you are a reincarnation of someone from from the past that used and worked on these steam engines. Love that someone is not letting this old knowledge disappear!

[@AEKarnes]

I have always been a man stranded against his will in this modern era of mediocrity and stupidity. They will only stop me when they kill me!

[@scowell]

This must be the one you talked about polishing! An amazing piece.

[@MichaelOfRohan]

hes very smart, and you are very patient. Please dont stear kids away from college. I hated school with such passion since I was little and always believed as you do. At 25, im going to college now, if for nothing else, to make up for lost time, to prove to myself that Im not so impatient and stubborn as everyone told me I was. I have no debt, cc is free, im going to a local university, full financial aid, theres no bullying, drugs or fights, the foods better, the women are better, theres nothing forced on anybody, everything about college is just flat out better. No, i wouldnt attend yale, harvard, princeton etc. if my life depended on it. But when Im done, ill have something to be proud of, and that little piece of paper doesnt hurt getting my foot in the door to my career. Its just not a bad idea. Unless, that is.. youre too chicken shit to try..

[@AEKarnes]

I am not in the business of lying to children nor will I ever be, and there is nothing "chicken shit" as it were about having enough sense not to waste your prime years and possibly six figures of your own or someone elses money for the chance to. I am glad you had a good experience with college but 95% of the people I know, work with or call friends have had exactly the opposite.

[@johnsmith7676]

College is a sick joke. All you get is a piece of paper saying the "matrix" has groomed and indoctrinated you for a slot within the broken machine that it is. And, if your "career" required that worthless piece of paper, then your career is completely meaningless.

[@lambda7652]

I learned by doing... but honestly i broke a lot of stuff as child... But also learned a lot from that.

[@AEKarnes]

If he breaks this he will help me fix it!

[@lambda7652]

@@AEKarnes if i brake it can i help you? :)

[@eliotreader8220]

@@AEKarnes when you was repairing this beautiful engine did you think about the people who had originally built and operated her?

[@eliotreader8220]

its wonderful that you are showing kids how interesting steam engines are. they must had a great time learning how a real steam engine works

[@AEKarnes]

They certainly don't need me or anyone to show them how interesting these machines are, they all come right out of the woodwork whenever I bring one out!

[@maisiefreeman8597]

Alexander, that is adorable.

[@AEKarnes]

Thank you, Maisie...

[@stevenaegele5228]

Start 'em young and who knows, you might have more assistants!

[@warrenjones744]

Yep Kids can figure stuff out pretty quickly. and with some basic safety instructions not hurt themselves

[@killingtimeitself]

kids, like you say, are often smarter than we think, the problem is that they don't have any experience or knowledge, we need to be maximizing the amount of experience and knowledge available to children in order for them to gain proper thinking abilities. We keep wondering as a society why children are so stupid an incapable, yet we never let them do anything. It's a self fulfilling prophecy in a way.

[@AEKarnes]

It is absolutely a self-fulfilling prophesy and I wish more people would recognize that.

[@killingtimeitself]

@@AEKarnes it has got be one the most universal pet peeves of mine. "Why are our kids stupid and stay inside all day?" meanwhile: they can't go outside freely and have very little access to resources that would benefit them. Ironically it's an engineered problem. I often see people saying that kids can't make decisions because they aren't mature enough, but if you also don't allow them to make decisions, and understand the impacts of them, they won't know how to make decisions. No amount of being older will solve this, but making decisions absolutely will.

[@jameswallace7709]

You are the modern Fred Dibnah

[@AEKarnes]

My friend Roger Murray is the man who put Fred on the BBC.

[@mikeburne7581]

I can smell it just watching 👍❤️

[@DrSovertake]

Alex , when are you at the water works museum ?

[@lacey2450]

Youre a good dude alex!

[@AEKarnes]

Thank you. I break myself to make these things happen

[@MrMorrisonAF]

Hey dude you still around CT, I’m moving back to the shire soon and if your ever looking for volunteers id loveeee to learn and help you out!

[@AEKarnes]

Always.

[@sheep1ewe]

Awesome! You do the absolute rigt thing by letting kids learn by actualy running the machine, using fire, hot steam, rotationg parts, sharp tools, etc etc many people does not realise that the danger lies in NOT being familiar with how things actuially work and people getting nervous. I let my brothers kids using the blacksmith and he's oldest son where allowed to use the powerhammer whan i am with them, as You say, kids are far from being stupid, stupidity is the end result of a long process of artificially constructed social norms kids get forced into and scooled into, one need to learn how to actually use the brain, understanding the reality of physics and logic analytic in real life, as You do here! I am still to this day thankful my father and my uncle did the same to me when i was a kid! without that i had probably not even understood how to fix the car on the road in an emergency situation, even less tell my friends how to do that and saving littera shiteloads of cash in towing cost if they just want to actually listen... ha ha

[@AEKarnes]

You are absolutely correct and the kids who were "kept safe" from all these things grow up to be an absolute menace around them.

[@sheep1ewe]

@@AEKarnes I remember my father did teach me about hydraulic and mecanical transmissions whan i was a litte kid, i tried to reconstruct it in Lego afterwatds. :-)

[@deathkid411]

Very cool. O I saw in some other videos you do drawings. Do you share/sell those drawings of the engines?

[@AEKarnes]

I do!

[@deathkid411]

@@AEKarnes cool where do I go to find them? I like the one you had showing a cut away from the pumping station.

[@AEKarnes]

I sort of have to make a print manually right now@@deathkid411

[@deathkid411]

@@AEKarnes O so you have draw a new one ever time?

[@eliotreader8220]

I am guessing you retubed the boiler?

[@AEKarnes]

No, it didn't need it and wont for a long time.