Railways are much older than trains

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I visit the world's oldest still-running railway, and tell you a bit about the age of railways that predates the age of steam.
ERRATUM: The Rocket was built by Robert Stephenson, and not as I suggested by his father George. Whoops!
Many thanks to the staff at Tanfield Railway. www.tanfield-railway.co.uk
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Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.
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[@joem4939]

I love how Lindybeige dresses like he’s exploring the Congo in the 1880s, but he’s just wandering around train stations.

[@WardMan75]

Or exploring old ruins

[@Aaron-mv1kd]

Old Train stations, the modern day uncharted subsahara

[@chrisamon4551]

He’s so British my teeth hurt

[@thexbigxgreen]

This guy _explores_

[@Jake-xz2ze]

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

[@katelights]

People always seem to lose sight of the fact that locomotives were invented to improve railways.

[@curtisyue182]

I'd never even heard that railways were used without steampower

[@RyanTheHero3]

@@curtisyue182 It makes sense though, it's much easier to push a high-capacity cart on fixed rails than to drag its contents along the ground

[@robertnett9793]

@@curtisyue182 I knew it mostly from mines, that they were used for hand or horse pulled carts. But I never knew, that they were used outside of them.

[@worldcomicsreview354]

@@RyanTheHero3 There's a video on KZbin of a driver getting out and pushing a huge diesel locomotive. Quite easily, in fact! Express trains were hitting 100mph quite frequently decades before cars did it, too. And that's with hundreds of people aboard!

[@mortache]

@@curtisyue182 I knew because I saw carts/wagons on rails in video games and tv. But I never really THOUGHT about it, just put it in the back of the mind

[@GaudiaCertaminisGaming]

Fun fact in 'ye olde' days 'coal' was the name for what we now call 'charcoal'. What we now call 'coal' was known as 'seacoal' back then, partly because it was moved around by ship and partly because a lot of early coal was gathered from beaches after it had been washed out of coastal coal seams. As seacoal became more common as a fuel (in Tudor times) people started to refer to it as 'coal' and invented the term 'charcoal' to distinguish the two types.

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

So that's where the family name Seacole came from.

[@naradaian]

Its not accurate The monks of Melrose for eg had the monopoly on coal mining in western scotland from around 1170 and remains of ancient workers in small mines in central Ayrshire were often reported when modern mines drifted into old workings eg antler picks and candles. These were small drift mines following surface seams in and along the seams. No where near the sea or seacoal. The Romans also took coal out of Scotland

[@LiveErrors]

Pincecone, meet pineapple!

[@johnn3542]

Charcoal is wood burned in low oxygen.

[@silverjohn6037]

@@naradaian I think the original poster was referring to the use of the word originating in Tudor times, not that coal wasn't used prior to that;). It's also useful to understand English was pretty regional in those days and that the same word could be used for different things. For example "corn" referred to whatever the most used grain crop was in the local area. So corn in southern England was wheat while further north it might refer to barley or oats. It's also why North Americans can get so confused as the only use for the word they're familiar with is in reference to maize or "Indian corn" as it used to be referred to;).

[@Galt4570]

The ancient Greek Diolkos was sort of a railway, or wagonway. It was a limestone track with grooves that wooden wheeled trolleys ran on.

[@GoranXII]

Indeed. However, it does not seem to have sparked any further developments.

[@robertnett9793]

@@GoranXII Yes... imagine that someone 2000 years ago already played with the idea of a steam engine and we just ... forgot about it. Or never took it seriously... I mean yeah. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say - but looking back at all the wasted potential we already had and simply didn't use... it's mind boggling.

[@HidingAllTheWay]

@@robertnett9793 calling the aeolipile a "steam engine" is bit of a stretch. It's simply far too low powered and inefficient to do any real work, it's was cool toy and little else (there's a great video by Adam Savage where he did make device that used aeolipile to tip tiny jug of milk into a cofee, and it struggled to do even that. The thing has almost zero torque). Ancient Greeks just didn't have metallurgical knowledge or precision manufacturing techniques needed for practical steam engines.

[@GoranXII]

@@robertnett9793 That would be the aeliopile, as described in principle by Vitruvius (~80 BC - ~15 AD), with a working model later designed by Heron (~10 AD - ~70 AD). Of course, they lacked the metallurgy back then to really make anything more useful than a pumping engine, and even that might not have been especially practical.

[@robertnett9793]

@@HidingAllTheWay True that. And I don't really think that it would have worked in any meaningful capacity. What I was playing on was the idea, that Heron already grasped the fact, that steam could be harnessed to do work. It's less about the physical object he built but more about the concept that was already there - but then forgotten.

[@murphylhunn]

"you could, in the darkness of a mine, walk forwards and hum to yourself" This is what history needs. Thanks for your channel, lloyd

[@Johan-vk5yd]

Not to mention ”drifting off in your own reverie”:-)

[@SimonAshworthWood]

Not if there are goblins in the mine, noobs! 😎

[@skrimper]

@@SimonAshworthWood Goblinslayer? 😂

[@rallekralle11]

singing in mines was very widespread i hear. i went to a few hundred years old silver mine a couple years ago and the guides talked about it. they even demonstrated the acoustics of the mine with a historically accurate song

[@Johan-vk5yd]

@@rallekralle11 Thanks! It makes a lot of sense in a dangerous environment, letting your comrades know where you’re at, and in good singing shape… or not!

[@1lobster]

American steam engines often had big giant conical smokestacks, because most of them burned wood. Wood burning engines spat out lots of hot embers, which risked starting house fires, or sometimes even forest fires. So the ember trap was invented.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

the large ember trap was also there because they ran on both coal or wood, depending on what was available at the various fueling stops, and ran through very dry places like the great plains, but even running through towns it was a necessity because the stray embers could set houses on fire in many places since towns in the US tended to be made of wood and thatch. its just an adaptation for running trains through north america, much like the giant headlamp us trains tended to have

[@andyjarman4958]

@@AsbestosMuffins and ancient Egyptian mummies.

[@robertnett9793]

Luckily enough we learned to put nuclear reactors on our steam engines. No more embers flying and burning random houses... What a relief.

[@CPD0123a]

@@AsbestosMuffins that said those ember catchers didn't last that long outside of logging lines. For most of the age of steam they burned coal, later sometimes oil, and they didn't need the spark arresters.

[@josephpostma1787]

​@@robertnett9793 You know those are just designs, I don't believe anyone has experimented making a locomotive powered by an on-board nuclear reactor.

[@adamradford8053]

This feels like... Lindy just wandering unsupervised through an interesting area, and I am living for the vibe

[@FedericoAOlivieri]

You should watch his tikal video

[@adamradford8053]

@@FedericoAOlivieri I should! I missed it, thanks!

[@leod-sigefast]

A bit of an etymological aside: wain is the English version (coming from Old English) of the German and Dutch word wagon (which was a later borrowing into English), coming from proto-Germanic. Notice how English words lack a g compared to their related German/Dutch words: nail-nagel, rain-regen, hail-hagel, sail-segel, say-sagen etc, etc.

[@veritasvincit2745]

Interesting. I'm from the Blackcountry and the accent and dialect is dying out. When I was a child it was common to pronounce words much differently and in a way that somehow reminds me of German. Fire = Fy-Ya. Coal = Co-Ull School = Skoo-Ull Down = Derw-Wun

[@12many4you]

This is great. Thank you

[@MelioraCogito]

🤔 Sooo... English is just a bastardisations of German/Dutch, just as American English is a bastardisation of proper English. 👍

[@Thetruepianoman]

Really interesting! As far as I'm aware wain is also used as a synonym for leaning e.g it's waining to one side. Although I'm not sure on the origins or spelling 😂

[@OccultOracle]

Well done! Lovely to see someone appreciate language like I do.

[@seanmalloy7249]

There was also an intermediate stage in the evolution of railways -- the strapped rail. Strapped rails were an effort to reduce the wear on wooden rails by applying an iron strap to the top surface of the rail to make a more durable bearing surface for the wheels to run on. Because they were cheaper to build than full iron rail, they were used well beyond the introduction of full iron rail when it was necessary to build a railway quickly, or when the railway would only carry light or intermittent loads. Because strapped rail required more maintenance to avoid problems such as the strap coming loose and bending under the load, spearing up into the cars riding over them, they quickly passed out use for main lines or heavy loads.

[@sebastienwall5853]

Hh iiui7uý9jyùi..mmmmm X Vcm

[@skatingfreak1670]

You got to love LindyBiege. What a great guy with an incredible talent for making just about anything interesting. Also, great showman. Really grabs and holds ones attention. A man with many talents.

[@roccomezzogiorno9795]

Including making a graphic novel. Speaking of which, it's been well over two years since he asked everyone to pre order it. Is it out yet?

[@skatingfreak1670]

@@roccomezzogiorno9795 I'm sure it is. I think I remember him saying though that it was going to be a limited amount.

[@johnqpublic2718]

I just wish you could show him some respect by using complete sentences when you complement him.

[@oldschoolman1444]

And quite the sharp dresser too. What's in the vest pocket, snacks? =)

[@skatingfreak1670]

@@johnqpublic2718 yeah im disrespecting the heck out of him aint I?

[@caiusofglantri5513]

I'm so happy KZbin has given Lindybeige a voice. I knew of him - vaguely - before, as someone who just pointed out errors in things that other people did - films, series, etc. But now he's doing so much more -telling us how things were rather than how things weren't. And in such an interesting, English way! Well done, Lindybeige!

[@msamour]

At 2:57 he goes from historical professor to 8 year old child in 3 seconds flat. I really enjoyed his enthousiasme and I really learned something. Thank you for sharing your knowledge on all the various transportation technologies.

[@kronickarmakaziz5851]

Yes Lloyd, we all love a good steam engine, that's why we are here after all.

[@tomaspabon2484]

Spoken like someone who never scalded their fingers off with a Mecanno steam engine

[@herbiehusker1889]

I need more Stirling engines in my life.

[@jonathonrobinson6081]

@@tomaspabon2484 How do you type without fingers?

[@somerando1073]

I don't particularly care for them, I'm just here because I like listening to Lloyd explain just about anything... except dancing, I don't watch those. No offence Lloyd.

[@tomaspabon2484]

@@jonathonrobinson6081 i slam my face into the keyboard until i get the word i want. Takes a few hundred tries per word but hey if it works.

[@calibrazxr750]

One of the main reasons for the wheels having a sloped surface, on modern trains at least, is because of the bends in the tracks. It serves a similar purpose to a differential on a car. The outside wheel has further to go on a bend, but as the wheels naturally move to the outside on any given bend, the larger circumference, near the flange, compensates for the longer distance it needs to travel, along with the smaller circumference of the contact point on the inside wheel.

[@Moraren]

Wow, thats really clever! I have never thought of that

[@calibrazxr750]

@@LegendLength at what point does he mention that? I have re watched it and at no point I can find, does he speak about it.

[@calibrazxr750]

@@LegendLength I merely pointed out that the reason wheels are shaped like that, has nothing to do with braking. Brake shoes are actually designed to allow for that sloping effect and over time they wear to a point where they match the wheels to which they are braking. I also mentioned one of the main reasons that wheels are the design that they are. Wheels also change their contour over time and the wheels themselves wear away. Rail wheels are far more complex than perhaps you realise. They have to have a certain amount of lateral and longitudinal movement to compensate for the oscillating movement before critical velocity is reached, at which point the wheels settle nicely into a gentle rhythm. So, they are far more complex than he mentions, so I chose to provide the extra information, which he was probably unaware of.

[@calibrazxr750]

@@LegendLength you had a point? Which was what exactly, might I ask?

[@calibrazxr750]

@@LegendLength incidentally, I did not correct him, I actually expanded upon a point that he made.

[@ModernKnight]

Brilliant and informative as always, thanks for this.

[@perperson199]

Modern History TV is also brilliant and informative!

[@inisipisTV]

Oh, hi Jason.

[@robertnett9793]

7:20 ... Don't you hate it, if someone sells you a 'real open world game' and then there are invisible walls everywhere?

[@josecarlosmoreno9731]

scrolled too far for this

[@LordJazzly]

1:55 From what I remember being told about bullock-wagons, the horses were there to guide the cows, make them easier to stop, start, turn corners etc. And the cows are much better at pulling heavy loads. That could be wrong; it’s just what’s been passed down to me from my great-grandparents’ day when bullock-wagons were still on the roads (we were a bit behind the rest of the developed world here; flush toilets only became common in the 1960s) There may also be something in the fact that you can lead a horse from the front or ride on it without it getting annoyed and trying to kill you, which is much less certain with cows. Could be useful for crossing narrow bridges and the like. But that’s just me speculating now.

[@Kharmitas]

Horses were quite bad at pulling heavy loads back in the days before the horse collar. Using an ox collar on a horse suffocates it, you see. After the development of dedicated collars for horses, horses were actually found to be superior at pulling loads to oxen.

[@reina4969]

Thanks for explaining this guys.

[@klimpomp]

@@Kharmitas I wonder if "superior at pulling loads" means "could pull more" or "could pull less but still enough that the ease of use outweighs that easily now" I only say this because, despite having seen and worked with shire horses, they still don't have that dense, low muscle mass that oxen seem to have. Just wondering, I didn't even know that the horse collar came at a later date, so thank you for that!

[@LordJazzly]

Ah, that makes sense! Thanks for that; didn’t know the horse collar came later. Though given how comparatively recent ours were (~1840s through ~1890s), there has to be some other reason for using bullocks over horses. No idea what that is, but I might look it up later. I have a few suspicions about heat tolerance and long-distance endurance, but until I know more there’s not much point me speculating.

[@Brave_Sir_Robin]

Interesting…

[@jamesmackay6893]

Exactly what I need at 2:30 in the morning

[@rexmundi3108]

I'd have been quite surprised to learn that trains came before railways.

[@lindybeige]

Three waggons tied together. Is that not a train?

[@psychopigeon8973]

@@lindybeige Unless it goes Choo Choo it should not legally be classed as a train.

[@professorrhyyt3689]

14th century fashion: "hold my beer". ;)

[@LiveErrors]

@@lindybeige that might be a train but its lacking the cool location mover bit

[@stevewindisch7400]

Lindy is of course correct a "train" can be a non-steam locomotive vehicle caravan. Gene Roddenberry famously pitched his new "Star Trek" show to the TV network, by calling it a "Wagon Train to the Stars" (referring to a popular Western TV show of the day). In the Napoleonic Wars, "Baggage Trains" were sometimes captured by the enemy. "Artillery Train" is defined as: "A number of pieces of ordnance mounted on carriages, with all their furniture, ready for marching." These predate the steam railway by a long time, the military uses going back at least to the 18th century and probably sooner. In the US, mule or horse drawn railway trains also existed for mining and short-distance transport, and they often had multiple small hopper cars carrying coal, ore, or quarry stone hitched and pulled together. It seems the earlier definition of: "A succession of vehicles or pack animals traveling in the same direction"; morphed to also include the latter meaning.

[@Ryan-ug8pr]

Awesome vid man. Did you know that this humble little railway in England was implemented quite well in the new, new-world of New Zealand. Small scale rails were used to help clear the vast forests and transport the goods in and out of the native forest in the 1800's and early 1900's. Railways are almost non-exsistant down here even today and so back then most railways out in the forests were very very short. Some less than 1km in length. Some pulled by horse on rails or with large stationary steam engines that pulled loads using ropes. Why ? They only had to get the logs to wainways or large rivers to be transported elsewhere. Can't put a train in the kiwi bush. Even still it was more efficent to set up temporary mills in the bush and do all the processing on-site. Random fact #763 : Rennovations done in this time for Buckingham palace contain a fair bit of New Zealand Timber.

[@lightfeather9953]

American here who knows little about new Zealand. Very cool stuff, thank you

[@SolidRollin]

Lindybeige, tanks and trains all in the same week? Glory days. Happy New Year!

[@BD-sb7hb]

It's great to see the local heritage of the North East of England being championed. More please Lloyd.

[@williamwilliam5066]

Yeah they speak weird too. As in "eee that's champion"

[@bluelazer8761]

@@williamwilliam5066 whats champion

[@AMPrecedent]

The "no public access" wrenched an absolutely demented cackle from me, dammit 😆

[@RadioJonophone]

You missed a trick. A lot of waggonways with static winding engines used the momentum of the descending trucks, loaded with coal, to pull up the empty ones by means of a continuous loop of cable or chain.

[@Likexner]

Interesting.

[@allangibson2408]

Overhead cableways use the same technique. I believe there is exactly one still in operation in the UK…

[@egg5474]

Switzerland had lots of those

[@lindsayheyes925]

That used to be the main method exporting coal from the Forest of Dean to the River Severn... downhill all the way.

[@benharding716]

There's an inclined plane at the slate museum at Llanberis in Snowdonia.

[@jamiedonley3740]

LindyBeige, Trains, two of my favorite things!!

[@grantcox4764]

Always a great day when the "beige" drops into my notifications... WooHoo, happy new year...

[@Grymbaldknight]

I've been waiting for a long, long time for Lindybeige to make a video about railways. An Englishman gushing about steam engines is an Englishman in his element.

[@wobblysauce]

Mixing Horse and Oxen were for gradient control, you can hitch them up at the front when going uphill, and then Oxen at the back on the back to minimize the use of the brakes and extend the wear.

[@petersmythe6462]

Well obviously, what else would you make rollercoasters from?

[@SimonAshworthWood]

Just after 9:00, when LindyBeige describes wooden railway carts spontaneously catching on fire 🔥from friction, notice the squeal of shock and fear from a train nearby? 😉

[@ashleysmith3106]

I remember seeing a "wagon-way" at an old gold mine in the Australian desert about 50 years ago. It had a sort of trough-shaped wooden way up an incline underground, with horizontal wheels on the wagon to guide it ( something like the O-Bahn bus system in our state of South Australia- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway), and when the winding-engine broke the miner simply attached an ancient tractor to the end of the cable and drove off across the desert until the wagon reached the top of the system !

[@SimbianMinistry]

Excellent video Lloyd - One of my grandfathers used to be personnel manager at nearby Marley Hill Colliery, and lived at Tanfield Lea. When leaving college in the mid '30s, his thesis at the time was on the subject of Causey Arch.... It's possible that some of the literature in your research may have been written by him. In my early teens (in the mid 70s) he took me to Marley Hill one quiet weekend and we rode down a lift into the mine. It was terrifying to a 13/14yo.... Pushed to me take my education more seriously, and avoid following most of my family into mining.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

Don't know about britain but the US had wagon trains in the 1700s, huge wagons with very tall wheels and roped together. They get overshadowed by the conestoga wagons of the 1800s. Not necessarily run on rails but they were used for moving along wagon roads over here. I remember seeing a few in the back of a transport museum years ago

[@bigburd875]

Similar to the road trains in Australia

[@bigscarysteve]

My family was still using a Conestoga wagon as late as 1910--and this wasn't way out west, either. This was in Virginia.

[@spiffygonzales5899]

He's British. British think that the American view of history is just "herr derr muh freedoms and cowboys, Roosevelt saved teh world". Granted there ARE Americans who think like that, but probably about as many as those who think British history is "Herr derr Muh colonization and monarchy, Churchill saved teh world!" Different of course being, we get judged for our weirdos.

[@ralfrudiger7276]

@@spiffygonzales5899 interesting what would a German say?

[@datadavis]

@@ralfrudiger7276 Get ze flammenwerfer Ralf

[@Petestleger]

A pretty early rail way was between Gloucester docks and Cheltenham area. No trains as far as I know. It was a metal canal. Think the track followed the curve of the Roman walls of the town of Gloucester, but may have been drunk by then.

[@SimonAshworthWood]

Hmmm? The people who built it made it curve because they were drunk? Or they drunk all of the water from the canal?

[@laurencefraser]

@@SimonAshworthWood Or perhaps the commenter was sufficiently drunk when hearing the story that he's unsure of his recollection of that bit.

[@Petestleger]

@@laurencefraser To be honest, both are possible...

[@BetaSpirit]

Just round the corner from me! Love that line

[@tiavor]

when they rebuilt the railway to my hometown in the mid 90ies, they really had problems finding good rail cars that could handle the steep incline, especially in winter. they couldn't find a good one so they built their own. (Süd Thühringen Bahn) Before that, only steam locomotives traveled on that rail.

[@Yora21]

In German, the word for railway is "iron tracks". I think it never occurs to most people that "Bahn" actually means "tracks", not "train", even though the word "Bahn" is not that obscure and still exists in various other kinds of tracks.

[@StandardGoose]

I thought it meant "road", but I guess "track" and "road" are basically synonyms.

[@Yora21]

@@StandardGoose Bahn is a word with many applications. We use it for bowling lanes, race tracks, railways, road lanes, roller coasters, and lines of textiles (particularly unrolled). Basically everything that is flat, more or less straight, and very long.

[@germansnowman]

@@StandardGoose I think it used to mean more generally “way”, as in the command “macht Bahn!”, which means “make way!” Also, see “Autobahn”, which has nothing to do with tracks but is a (prepared) way for cars, similar to the English word motorway. The previous answer about even more generic uses (lane, textile rolls etc.) is also correct.

[@riograndedosulball248]

Eisenbahn is also an awesome beer brand

[@Geert2682]

The same is true in French (chemin de fer) and Italian (ferrovia). It was originally true in Dutch as well (ijzeren spoorweg) but we dropped the iron part cause it was redundant and frankly too long

[@Yora21]

The flange wheels not only keep the carts on the tracks, they also allow the carts to go around bends in the track on a fix axle. As you get into a bend, the inner wheel will ride low on the track while the outer wheels ride high. That way the circumference of the inner wheel at the point of contact becomes smaller, and larger on the outer wheel. This means each rotation of the wheels covers a smaller distance of track on the inside and a larger distance on the outside, leading to the wheels moving with the bend around the corner without slipping on the tracks.

[@siriusczech]

exactly as primitive differential in cars :)

[@inisipisTV]

@@siriusczech - Yup, simple technology that still being used on Bullet-trains to keep it flying off the rails literally.

[@newperve]

Thanks for the tip about Midsomer. If you're down in Australia and you see a sign saying "Mount Thomas" just do a u-turn.

[@alankeyes8267]

As a Geordie who loves trains I appreciate this video greatly.

[@dogwalker666]

Love Tanfield Railway and the Causy Arch, Then there is the steam trains at Beamish just a mile down the old line.

[@danyoutube7491]

@@dogwalker666 Beamish! I loved Beamish, went there over 30 years ago :)

[@lukejolley8354]

Best video yet!!! I had no idea of the pre-locomotive history of wagonways and railways. I live at the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway which bound our nation together… and they just tore down the statue of the man who made it possible. God bless John A Macdonald.

[@perperson199]

Oh, Canada.. what have you become

[@joshbull6467]

Today just got better. Love a Lindy video

[@stickemuppunkitsthefunlovi4733]

Thank you Mr beigey man.

[@salmor2234]

This production style always reminds me of when the BBC used to be worth watching, thank you Lloyd for being marvellously and unapologetically British. (and very good at short documentaries)

[@Tadicuslegion78]

Lindy is just a big kid playing with giant toys

[@TheReykjavik]

This is one of the most interesting videos you have ever made, and you have a number of quite interesting videos. It shows how a simple thing, a rail, that is barely worth the effort one day, can become the lynchpin of a global revolution of apocalyptic consequence the next. Coal, it turns out, is quite convenient for a late renaissance society, with higher energy density than anything you can grow, and massive abundance. And if you can pump water out of a mine, suddenly there is so much more abundance. And if you can pump water out of a mine with steam power, maybe you can move a wagon with it too. And if you can move a wagon with steam, suddenly it is worth moving so many more wagons in so many more places. And if you can move so many more wagons, it coal is worth so much more. And if coal is worth so much more, you you can invest in the railway, and the steam locomotive, to move that coal at a tremendous profit. And if you can move coal by burning a rather small bit of coal, you could move people by burning a small bit of coal. Or timber. Or hemp. Or wine. Or iron. Or stone. Or anything. And if you can burn a bit of coal to move anything, you could probably burn a bit of oil, or natural gas, to do the same. And as a result, here we are.

[@firingallcylinders2949]

There's something about trains especially steam engines that will always be cool!

[@hatuletoh]

The British word for the wooden parts of a railway is "sleeper?" I had no idea. We Americans call them "cross ties," or just "ties" for short. At least, every American with whom I've spoken about about railways calls them that. Which, admittedly, is a pretty small group, so maybe there are other Americans with a different name for cross ties. In any case, I've never hear that term before.

[@erikawhelan4673]

I've also heard creeper, but never sleeper.

[@danyoutube7491]

Sleeper is definitely the standard, common British term for the wooden beams that connect the two rails. As an English person I have heard the term cross ties before, but I wasn't sure to what in particular it was referring; I had the vague idea that it would be the metal bits which join each section of rail to another or to the sleepers!

[@robertewalt7789]

I’m American, my grandfather worked for L&N through the 1940’s I think. I have always known “sleepers” as a synonym for “ties.”

[@michelhedley1805]

Sleeper is the term used in Australia.

[@frankmitchell3594]

I thought that the sleepers were to support the weight of the rail and a tie was to prevent the rails from spreading apart (where necessary).

[@TygerKaye]

I love the way you get that little boy excitement look on your face during your videos. Also, is that a lizard in the middle of your pegboard at the top? YAY! I still miss your other pictures and the things that were on your wall, but this is nice. The books are great and all, but some of things that you’ve actually put up on the board brings a little bit more character. It looks like you found your things that you were missing before. HOORAY! It would be nice to have a little video explaining what some of those things were on the wall at your old place. I keep watching your videos to see if I can find out why they were put on the wall.

[@Anti_Woke]

Happy New Year!

[@GoinManta]

I live in Midlothian, VA and we had a similar rail to move our coal to the ironworks in Richmond.

[@1crazypj]

I found it really interesting, particularly as I owned the last surviving stable on 'The Tram Road' between Maesteg and Porthcawl. (South Wales, UK). My grandmother sold the connected 'cart shed' sometime after the second world war (where coal trams were repaired although well before even my grandfather was born but the name stuck) Sections of it were converted to footpath in the 1920's (so my father told me) and a few other sections still existed into the early 1990's but just about everything has been built over.

[@Mr.Sam321]

OH MY GOD ITS A LINDY VID

[@yendub]

You have done a ton of cool videos. One of my favorite is the history of coins and tracing it from Roman times to current. As an American, I would love a similar video on the differences between England, United Kingdom, and Great Britain. Here we pretty much use those terms interchangeably and don’t know the difference between them.

[@Alpvagabund]

Lindeybeige gives the best overviews of vehicles. He just pans over random objects and says just the word of what they are such as “brass bits”. It is genuinely the perfect mix of comedy and education. He also picks subjects that I would never think to look into and presents the facts in a very funny way to the point where I am suddenly highly interested.

[@SimplyCivilise]

thanks man for the info you are the best

[@johngough5109]

Those old steam engines are really cool. I got to ride one in Chattanooga on the same rail line that Andrew's Raiders were on.

[@MrBanzoid]

The Tanfield Railway is just a few miles from where I live. It's well worth a visit. You can take in Beamish Museum as well. The Causey Arch is quite a sight as well.

[@rogerlacaille3148]

Loved the video Lloyd, extremely informative and interesting...especially loved the reference to 'Pooh-Sticks' 😂😂 I wonder how many people actually understood that one🤔😂😂 All the best to you in the coming year, thank you for all your works😌

[@benjaminpearson5969]

Its 3am lindy why are you awake

[@vrtar99]

Ahh lindy, the gift that just keeps on giving. I love the christmas spirit in the video too.

[@MusicalMercenary]

13:48 "Gotterdammerung", you sir are a man of taste and class. Us orchestral musicians thank you for the little tidbits you drop in every now and then.

[@henrydando]

I love this channel. it feels like a one way chat with a grandparent but with loads of enthusiasm and pictures

[@Aengus42]

Happy New Year Lloyd! Thanks for all the work you put in to these videos. Much appreciated! Edit: TRAINS!!!!!! 🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃

[@beajoh]

Makes me want to watch the animated short, "Great" by Bob Godfrey. It really needs to be made available on DVD.

[@CoolRated]

Hey Lindy, I really love your videos, they're super interesting, what my favorite thing to do is play games like Crusader Kings 2/3 whilst having you on my 2nd monitor talking about all things historical and with a nice coffee/tea it really makes for a great morning. Thanks again.

[@thedevilinthecircuit1414]

Beautiful! Third Class = 'self-loading cargo'. Happy new year, Lloyd!

[@chestermightbeafrog]

Brilliant as always. Always lovely to hear about oft forgotten aspects of history, like the War of the Railways and our miner humming in the dark with their negels (I'm probably spelling that wrong). Thanks for the entertainment and history, and a happy new year!

[@robertnett9793]

The name 'Hund' (hound / dog) for those mine carts, might refer to the idea that for a time dogs were used to pull them. Could be wrong on this though. I have read this ages ago in some 'Knowledge for Kids' books.

[@Carewolf]

I think a hound is human drawn. We have the same in Danish where we call a small human-drawn flatbed (for gaffers for instance) a hund. In that sense it refers to something a human pulls behind them.

[@pokladnicimysteriapragensi4810]

waggons was called hund because of bad oiling and terrible sounds when moved along, they was pulled by humans originally then by mules after

[@friedfish69]

The Causey Embankment was built without mechanical diggers, but not necessarily exclusively by guys with shovels and wheelbarrows. There was, for instance, a horse or ox-drawn digging implement called variously a slip, flip or drag scraper. They were used in building the Erie Canal and were common on U.S. farms before the arrival of mechanical tractors. Seems a good bet critter power was used in building the Embankment, too.

[@GIITW.5OKC]

Jesus that alarm going off @ 19:11 scared the hell out of me. I was nice and sleep. And thought it was my house alarm. Jumped out of bed ready to blind a poor sod with bear spray

[@topkek_]

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for taking us back in time, I have visited Newcastle upon Tyne on a few occasions, so I have some idea of the river and the geography of the area. A happy and healthy new year to you, Lloyd!

[@mafiosomax7423]

31:30 The braking force is independent of the area of the tire that is in contact with the rail. The reason why modern railways have troubles with inclines is because the steel on steel has a low frictional coefficient compared to say rubber on asphalt. The baking force (per tire) can be estimated as follow: F = frictional coefficient * N where N is the force of contact between the tire and the rail. I hope this is helpful

[@eekee6034]

Ah, so the area cancels itself out? I'm thinking 2 square inches has double the area of 1, but half the force per square inch, so it would cancel out. Interesting, I never thought of that before. Thanks!

[@mafiosomax7423]

@@eekee6034 Yes, exactly. It's the same with the number of wheels. Double the amount of wheels means half the contact force per wheel and thus half the braking force. A car with 6 wheels can't brake any better than a car with 4 wheels (ceteris paribus).

[@ColonelSandersLite]

@@eekee6034 That's trueish until you start hitting the limits of the materials. Imagine a diesel-electric locomotive with 4 tiny wheels. It could have the same braking force as a locomotive with 12 reasonably sized drive wheels if they weigh the same. In reality, you would find that the wheels and track would quickly deform each other and then rip each other apart though. And that's putting aside the engineering challenges of making such a locomotive that doesn't just quickly rip *itself* apart. Once you get into deformation of surfaces, F=u*n doesn't really apply that well. Here's a good example to think about - Currently, there is ankle deep snow on the ground here. If I wear my boots and walk through the snow, it's not a big deal if I crush the snow. In fact, It would give me better traction and I would be less likely to fall on my ass. If the snow was waist deep, it would be a big problem. There would be tons of resistance to overcome for every foot of progress I want to make. In order to get anywhere without wasting a *ton* of energy, I would need to increase my contact patch with the snow. Solutions would be to crawl, grow extra feet (maybe get bitten by a radioactive centipede), or get snow shoes.

[@eekee6034]

@@ColonelSandersLite Thanks, but I already figured material deformation changes the game. :) I'm thinking the formula is most interesting to me in the context of Kerbal Space Program. The game gives you parts to build vehicles but wheels behave strangely, especially spaceplane landing gear. I'm thinking it probably takes that formula as-is without any attempt at simulating material deformation. Wheels behave the same whether they're on tarmac gravel or grass. The latter is especially strange for reasons I'm sure you understand. :) It's worth fitting extra wheels to rovers because you get a motor of limited power with each wheel, but planes brake just as poorly on tarmac as grass. I wouldn't fancy being Centipede Man. What would I do when the villains turn up? Wiggle at them? ;) But working with... I don't know, Mr. Snow or something would work... lol

[@ColonelSandersLite]

@@eekee6034 I think centipede man would wait under a rock to scare the crap out of them when they turn it over. That's how I usually find them anyways! Edit - also the dude can use like 98 weapons at the same time. So ambush tactics and overwhelming firepower.

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

The lyrics to The Keel Row seem very apt here; "Wha is like ma Johnny, so leish, so lithe, so bonny? He's foremost 'mongst the many Keel-lads of coaly Tyne." My Mum grew up on the Tyne and always had a soft-spot for that song, and now so have I. Especially one particular recording of Ellie Ameling singing it. It gets me, every time, pure nostalgia.

[@joegoodman4312]

Jolly good show Lloyd. Whilst your videos can’t cure my COVID, it makes it a far more bearable experience. And now you’re covering steam railways too. 👌🏻

[@magnushorus5670]

I love this guy, wish he would do some ancient warfare and history stuff again... or tells stories, his stories are great

[@JohnMiller-zr8pl]

I second this notion ✋🏻

[@markwelschmeyer2426]

i know i love his random historical ramblings

[@skrimper]

This is history lmao

[@Likexner]

I would love another sailor/pirate/savage captive story, like the one about the white headhunter.

[@robertnett9793]

I would argue, that traveling is a bit of a problem right now. But I am convinced he will get back to that, when the situation allows for it :D There's still a lot stories to tell :D

[@LordJazzly]

8:17 Fair? Not at all. Reasonable? Well, I imagine the alternative would be having the railway congested by wagons stopping constantly to collect manure. I doubt it would have been worth a pittance next to the price of coal, even just what the railway was being paid to move it. But the value of being able to tell people to bugger off and stop blocking the tracks for the sake of 0.2 of a pence worth of horse dung - was probably more than what they'd get from actually collecting and selling the stuff. Though they did _also_ get that.

[@johnladuke6475]

Joke's on them, I diaper my horses and just collect that sweet, sweet paydirt back at home.

[@thekaxmax]

it's more the owner was the one feeding the horses and if there was any money to be made from manure he was going to be the one getting it. Also, that the coal is what they were being paid for.

[@vivianevans8323]

A 'Lindybeige Original' on the last day of the dismal 2021: brilliant! Happy New Year all round.

[@richardstone3473]

I am a South Walian. You can follow lots of early tramlines considerable distances. Some stone sleepers remain in place along their lengths. You can walk about one third the length of the very first locomotive journey between Abercynon and Penydarren. Many tramlines connected limestone quarries, coal mines iron ore sources to the canal heads which could not continue further up the valleys.

[@chellybub]

Happy New Year Lloyd, I hope you and your loved ones all have a happy and safe 2022🥳 Oh yes, and hopefully you don't run into any spiders out there in the bush. Though I am an Aussie and these concerns are well warranted, I'm guessing it's not as bad there in lovely England. On that note I had a peculiar thought the other day: it seems like Australia was already a convict colony for nature's most belligerent animals, and the British Empire was merely adding to the pile.

[@ZarosTemplar]

ah yes half 2 in the morning, perfect time to drop a new video lloyd

[@joe3897]

three cheers for lloyd bringing back the vhs documentary style from primary school in the 80s. gloriously nostalgic and quite well suited to the material under consideration

[@Happyheart146]

Cesil!! I rode on that engine! And not just in the carriages. Infact my friend, Ian, there kindly gave me some of Cecil's oil to use for a painting! Used to play on those lines as a kid. Still do occasionally! One of my most favourite things in the world! Bet you had a great day out. People forget that the world's industry was born from the North. So proud of my roots!

[@cmrd_hdcrb]

Just found about about the Tanfield Rlwy. a week ago... Life is weird at times.

[@dogwalker666]

Worth a visit, and Beamish open air museum is only a mile away, the steam whistles from both places is lovely.

[@cmrd_hdcrb]

@@dogwalker666 Was planning on going the year of the 300th anniversary. Now knowing they want to restore a bit of the wooden tramway I want even more 😊

[@dogwalker666]

@@cmrd_hdcrb yes they have made the cutting on the north bank it's beside the platform, I got some interesting archeology out of it, the embankments are very steep and at this time of year extremely muddy but a great place to explore.

[@cmrd_hdcrb]

@@dogwalker666 I cant quite follow 😅

[@dogwalker666]

The cutting for the tramway has been cut out of the woods the Oak trees cut down that have grown there in the 250 years since it was abandoned, when they dug the soil I found old pottery and bottles etc.

[@BenCadorette]

YAY!! Trains!!!

[@billymcmedic4221]

Holy moly I volunteer there on the Permanent Way gang, love to see a vid on the railway as a long time fan of the channel.

[@wrxs1781]

Well done Lindy, the history was brilliant and concise. The editing and compilation were well thought out and very professional.

[@Sumonebody]

new video HUZZAH

[@bashkillszombies]

8:50 To this day the hand brakes on cars secure the back left wheel only. (For American's, the emergency brake, that you use every time you stop and park not just in emergencies or you leave the car resting on a gear which is very poor form!)

[@calibrazxr750]

On all of my cars, both rear wheels are locked. I should know as I have repaired many of them at some point. On my wife's Volvo, the rear left wheel had an issue and was non functional, but because the rear right was fine, it still held on slopes.

[@andyjarman4958]

I got sucked into a lot of speculation about why the Americans chose to drive on the right because of a similar observation about the brake on stagecoaches. Look on old Westerns and the brake lever is on the right - so that the right handed driver could grasp it. This suggests the drive sat on the right side of the coach, which would suggest he drove on the left hand side of the road.... Here I go again...

[@calibrazxr750]

@@andyjarman4958 it has something to do with stagecoaches, it is because initially, the driver rode on the rear left horse so he could use his whip on all the horses if required.

[@poruatokin]

Err, garbage. Certainly wouldn't pass any MOT or mechanical inspection.

[@LuxisAlukard]

This video is great New Years gift! Thank you, Mr. Lloyd!

[@terminator3000]

I wish I had a history teacher like you when I was in school.

[@somerando1073]

Nice. While the entire video was somewhat interesting, there was a minute or so that for me personally was vitally important information. I am in the process of co-writing a book, and one nation uses horse drawn railways, which until this video, were set in cement.

[@thewekender2701]

From writer to writer... it's never too late for nice retconn on account of good research!

[@Brave_Sir_Robin]

Oh dear!

[@somerando1073]

@@thewekender2701 Well post publishing is a bit too late, but luckily I'm not close to that yet.

[@oonmm]

What is the book about? Maybe you can incorporate my idea it's very good I know you'll love it and audiences as well! It will not be intrusive on your story. Here it is: The main protagonist is a scientist, a very solitary one. He only ever meets or speaks with his assistant, who is working with him on a daily basis. The protagonist is trying to build a machine, that can view a picture of a person's soul. However when trying the machine on his assistant, the picture always comes out spikey, and that's not what the souls is supposed to look like. Therefore he keeps working on his machine. At some point, something happens and the scientist together with his assistant is forced on an adventure, where they learn to know each other and open up. The assistans has had a hard life befor they meet, and wasn't really able to trust other people. But during this adventure, that all changes. When they come back home, at the end of the adventure. The assistant accidentally walks through the machine, and the scientist notices that the picture is now smooth. The machine was working all the time, but the assistant had to learn to let people in before they could get a picture of the beauty of a soul. Oh, and the book will have to be set in a cyberpunk setting. You can work that into the story somehow I'm sure. Let me know when you are ready to print, I will be ready to discuss royalties by then. Good luck, you're welcome! :)

[@somerando1073]

@@oonmm My book is fantasy, so I don't think it will really fit in, sorry.

[@FreeManFreeThought]

Some logging railways here in British Columbia used wooden rails into the 1930s. Those were interesting, basically they were whole round logs that were turned to make them a uniform diameter, and then trains were run with special wheels that fit the curvature of the logs. Often they would be elevated about 1 m above the ground, as making a frame of logs to run the trains on was cheaper than a gravel or earthen permanent way. Once the area was stripped of all usable timber and resources (and the people living in the area driven to starvation... that's a bit of history that we haven't yet properly faced as a society) the logs used to make the rail line were simply pulled up, milled, and sold as lumber. So efficient a process that less than 3% of the old growth forest remains in the entire province (which could fit several western european nations into for scale)... and the greedy loonies want to cut that down too because they might lose 'jobs' pr something if they don't... society is messed up. Anyways, tangent over, amazing video as always.

[@dansheppard2965]

And a Happy New Year to you too, Lindybeige!

[@Rustanator2]

Thank you for all the work you do making these videos. I wish upon you a great year in 2022.

[@snakesocks]

But Is it possible to stop a coal wagon by jumping on the front & using your shoes like Indiana Jones?..

[@JCBeastie]

Fascinating as always, and I can't fault you on content or presentation! However, can you look into your audio please? This one was generally fairly quiet, aside from sudden elevated intrusions of train whistles and burglar alarms.

[@JohnMiller-zr8pl]

😁

[@JohnyG29]

The audio was fine to me.

[@itsmi9352]

"now this, THIS is PROPER fire"

[@neilhyland2409]

Seeing a new Lindybeige video in my feed is a highlight of my week!

[@petersmythe6462]

20 seconds after upload gang