Steam Against The Current - A Preview Of

This video was made to gauge interest in a feature length documentary about the steam-diesel transition, focusing in on the breakthroughs on either side of the field. To make this possible, I would need interviews from people knowledgeable about the subjects, along with experienced railroaders with stories about these locomotives. Also needed would be access to historic photography and film, and the rights to use them in the video for commercial purposes.
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Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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[@danhoyland142]

Dude this was awesome. You gotta finish it!

[@Shipwright1918]

Definitely be interested to see the finished product if you get round to making it, the last hurrah of the steamers is a story that needs to be told. I know if we didn't have them in WW2, we'd have been sunk but good. The steam locomotive might well have been the future, had development not trailed off in favor of the diesels, which mostly turned heads up in the pencil-pusher departments of the railroads. I've seen some balance sheets of the Milwaukee Road from around this time, and at the end of the day the numbers don't lie. The steamers were cheaper to buy and run per ton mile than the new diesels were, and if you factor in the costs of all the new facilities to cater to diesels as opposed to the existing steam facilities, the steamers were cheaper to maintain as well, only thing on the road that bested them were the electrics, and then you have to figure in the catenary and such. What won out in the minds of the office boys were that it took way less manpower to run and service diesels in an era where mass-produced machinery was getting cheaper and manpower was getting pricey, and diesel fuel was about a nickel a gallon compared to rising coal prices. The thing that killed steam? The M.U. cable. One man could run a whole slew of diesels while each steamer took a full crew.

[@DeCasoU1]

You have a number of other issues. The DDA40X weighed a little over 233 long tons and it had a power output of 6400 hp. In Europe, on a locomotive weight of 135.655 long tons, cylinder horsepowers of 5500 could be maintained steam. So with Diesel traction the power to weight ratio is, to say the least, disappointing in comparison. Get your hp per ton up to 40, this was the standard set in the 1930s, and would prove to be even more of an embarrassment . The subject of crewing is another matter. Did steam locomotives really need a two man crew? The N & W did some work and found that this was not strictly true and they built an engine to prove it. So with this developed further what next? Multiple unit working I suppose. If electro mechanical systems were good enough to manage the boiler there is no good reason why they could not be extended to cover other features like regulator and power reverser and once you have achieved this the next step is obvious. And if you had achieved best practice power to weight ratios with your locomotives you would need far fewer of them. This was an area which was not explored. If you rely on oil, if it is not sourced locally you have to import it, and that supply has to be secure and the need for this security drives defence expenditure which is another load on the national economy. It is argued that the railways were not paying the true price of their fuel. Dial that into your full cost calculations . Worried about you emissions? Sort out your combustion system. Lots of work has been done in this area.

[@rmgilyard]

So the world was still steam-driven because of their attractiveness, beastly-design and timeless efforts of continuous operating conditions, but still had their hands on the diesel-electric locomotives for their lower-maintenance, reliability and fuel-saving efforts to change the world. It’s a miracle.

[@CENsystem]

Can't wait to see what happens next in this video!

[@Randolph1924]

14:12 finally something from the FW&D XD. That's a shot of 552 or 553 if I remember correctly, F3a-1 pacific, same as the Burlington S3 pacifics. They supplemented the Texas Zephyrs E5 units on the run from Fort Worth to Dallas after WWII because of the fact that the diesels needed a long servicing period. They also were used heavily on the TZ as backups for the diesels, lasting up until 55 in that role

[@darriusstrainsthings5736]

Pennsyfan6110 You have an SP Locomotive as your profile but your Pennsy Fan...

[@pat370]

Sunset Limited Productions okay your point

[@darriusstrainsthings5736]

I have no point, it just seems weird.

[@commandingofficerkanawha7546]

Awesome and great are words that understate this. The was amazing. The script was so well written and with the footage complementing it you had my attention the entire time. Can’t wait for the continuation.

[@thatonecaledonian812]

please continue this, i find it really amazing and inspires me to actually make a thomas-like series in america (i do realise other people have done this, but i might aswell)

[@thatonecaledonian812]

12:15 the FT part with music looks like a movie scene where the narrator takes us to the bad guy

[@Squid1562]

12:13 damn that hit very hard

[@maeganweathers5938]

This music is f*cking emotional And it fits so well

[@guijesanchez9115]

OMG, that challenger is so beautiful! 0:31 ❤❤❤

[@consolidationproductions]

Guije Sanchez that’s actually a CSA

[@NSWSteamFan]

So far my favourite of your videos on your channel.

[@railgun222]

1:20 my favorite train, the blue comet!

[@GreenbeanProductions]

#HOMERAILROADTRAIN

[@spproductions5103]

Amazing work cant wait to see the next parts

[@ClearTrackSpeed]

Great Production, Super excited for the coming parts

[@battle604]

Just pure quality

[@Michael-eg3rs]

this looks amazing!

[@rileyoneil760]

This looks amazing

[@bruceraykiewicz6274]

GREAT video. Thanks.

[@derekheeps1244]

Brilliant video !

[@austin8292]

This was a great video and very informative.

[@tritanicwolf518]

7:50 This is one of my favorite streamlined steam locomotives. (based purely of the way it looked)

[@frootloops1696]

Beautiful. Amazing. Very informative and enjoyable.

[@manuhonkanen2111]

I like your work!

[@Joshuagt34]

Rhapsody in Blue and NYC Hudson’s just fit so well

[@chrstphrdickey]

I love the song at the beginning

[@Mr.RailYard-LJLRailYard]

Really cool video can you make one about foreign railroads

[@hotrdchvy350]

Hope you finish this!

[@SteamKing2160]

Funny enough I got herron rail video's Union Pacific Streamliners and Classic Steam and it features the steam turbine loco (ones at 2:56) and even a nicer treat u see them in operation in black & white and in color too The color footage is when it had a 4-4-0 steamer number 58, which was Virginia and truckee number 18, on its front end.

[@MrTankThatStopped]

My favourite high speed trains are the Milwaukee Road A class and F7’s, Country Link XPT’s, GS4 Number 4449 (daylight), PRR S1 Duplex.

[@Upguy-tj3gv]

A couple weeks ago I had a project for science that’s called “I’m curious about” so i in did my topic on the physics related steam streamliner and wrote some history about them and wrote physics notes

[@tmangamingx]

Once I started watching I couldn't stop watching it and would really like to know which train sim yo are using. You blended it in well with the video. nicely done ! First time watching one of your videos.

[@gustman9048]

WWII is what turned America into the powerhouse of Railroading

[@guijesanchez9115]

I have footage of steam engines if you want to use it though it's a bit aged in standard definition. Other footage if you would like to use too.

[@smpnegeri2pujon620]

I am Interested In This Story I Gotta Support You For The Full Version

[@Mnrr6131]

I’m probably going to guess the terminal for the Santa Fe UP and SP was based off Penn Station

[@izziomelis]

If you go to 11.45 the light grey train on the left was an italian ETR (elettro trano rapido - fast EMU) at the time the holder of the world’s speed record of 203 kph (and an average of 187 over 200 miles). This train and a light diesel rail car coming all the way across the ocean by boat were the “steam killers” in italy. No steam locomotive entered revenue service after the early 30s, except for some left by the aiied military after the war.

[@warragulbogan]

i reccommend the runnin 8

[@danieljones317]

The only trains that had track rights over a passenger train was the milk trains. You should do a small bit on that.

[@LexusRXGuy]

Do not forget the Q1

[@railsofthenorthland1181]

When will part 2 come

[@danielchou9802]

5:37 S O V I E T U N I O N

[@stephanielambert4130]

* SOVIET ANTHEM *

[@Hiawatha_Productions]

When will you make part 2?

[@lennyhendricks4628]

YES!! Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, NOT Union Station!

[@christopherdibble5872]

The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did BACK in 1954.

[@OfficialTrainzGod]

*Still waiting*

[@flyingscotsman611productions]

He left KZbin bro

[@2copy3copy4cpoy]

Dvorak

[@railsofthenorthland1181]

Also Hiawatha!!!!!!

[@pastaweasel5088]

What’s the music just after streamlined diesels in the intro were introduced; like the orchestral music

[@PRRFanDoesTrainz]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5mVg6eJgrB7d8ksi=582RaAWAAvo80xFY

[@scr2392]

is there a link to the original video from the world fair

[@mbailon07]

What’s that music in 8:30

[@rav_productions2136]

I would really like to see an video on how american railroads opperate.

[@dallasparnell267]

PLEASE FINISH THIS!!!!

[@DPU.proMN.IA.]

Please finish

[@mpowell4030]

i personally wish I was born in the early 20th century so I could see the words fair.

[@mbailon07]

8:30

[@austin8292]

I bet people would ride the train a lot more if they had the style they had back then.

[@derekheeps1244]

Try telling that to network rail

[@ThunderboltSirenStudios]

Doesn't seem very safe to store the fuel in the nose of the locomotive because if you crash...

[@JOEMAMA_534]

I'm assuming this is canned, right?

[@rootbeerking2892]

I hate to be that guy but, does anyone know what music is 6:59

[@papajohncena2516]

Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin

[@Bigbuddyandblue]

GE still hasn’t addressed their “reliability problems”.

[@keptinkaos6384]

the steam engine lost because diesel was easier to deal with had a lower costs with lower logistics steam needed water coal and the engines were high maintenance compared to diesel the steam turbine was killed by simple Luddite bigotry UP didn't really see that change till after WW2 I also add the war extended the life of steam trains for longer than otherwise might have been .

[@Contrabasstubone]

It’s important to tell good history. So I’ve found an inaccuracy This could be called nit picking but my point still stands You said at the end that America was preparing for war before Pearl Harbor However American was famous for not preparing for war. It barley had an Air Force full of outdated biplanes (although it did develop some more modern aircraft later on) and was still using tin helmets in the army. Now you might be asking, why was America so unprepared? One word Isolationism America wanted to stay away from engaging in foreign conflicts so much that it didn’t consider modernizing and updating its armed forces. Thus even after Pearl Harbor, America lost wake island, the Philippines, Guam, and parts of new Guiana.

[@Contrabasstubone]

Also if anyone is gonna school me please list your sources first. Also sources include: WW2 in color a ww2 documentary series using colorized archive footage to tell events of the war. And so many books I can’t count.

[@RG-fc7ht]

Feels like your just ignoring the development in the fighting force of new equipment. Literally everyone at that time was in a similar state of transition to what one at least stereotypically thinks of as WW2 equipment even then ignoring a large sea of other equipment serving with those iconic pieces of equipment to the forgotten ones in the transition (Forget about the P-35,36,40;F-4F,Buffalo,B-17,B-18,SBD,SB2U,TBD). But also overblowing the surprise of the surprise attack because with all the shenanigans going on with Japan in China there was an idea of a war coming but no one thought the Japanese were going to attach Hawaii but rather the Philippines. And the fleet had been based at Pearl to improve the reaction time, it’s old base having been in San Diego.

[@Contrabasstubone]

@@RG-fc7ht but all of these aircraft need to be somewhat modernized before the end of the war take the P-40 yea it was okay but it was no Mach for the Japanese zero. Or the Buffalo which was famously outdated. And no everyone was not in a state of transition. Before Pearl Harbor the spitfire hurricane and bf 109 all pre war models were earning there fame in the Battle of Britain. America was not ready for a war in 1941 not against the modern armies of the nazi reich and the Japanese empire.

[@Contrabasstubone]

@@RG-fc7ht I also mentioned it’s continued loss in Guam the Philippines and even the allucian islands. Wouldn’t you think they would’ve at least be able to stop the Japanese after Pearl Harbor according to your logic. And yes America did improve the The B-17E (1941) became the B-17g a plane that made continuous raids over Berlin the p-38 which was developed in 1942 and was a deadly machine against a zero and many of the dive bombers like the dauntless you mentioned proved there worth even into 1945. I’m not saying America wasn’t a legitimate fighting force over all. But it failed to prepare in time to counter there soon to be adversaries.

[@RG-fc7ht]

@@Contrabasstubone on the subject of Guam that’s more poor choices strategically at the beginning of the war. I think your forgetting ever piece of equipment went through upgrades, rebuilds, modernization etc before the end of the war unless it was coming out right at the end. And those Aircraft that you choose in particular also had similar upgrades, the bf109 was in a similar age group to the P40 so if you want a general idea of the evolution could have been for it assuming the Q model ever got into production look at the 109. And the spitfire and P-40 are not contemporaries rather it’s a contemporary of the Hurricane and that also needed a good deal of upgrades like everything else as the war went on. Plus the Japanese onslaught in the pacific was due to let’s just say in certain cases mismanagement or overconfidence. Like literally every military in the conflict did at some point. But my main point regardless of the comment was “...It barely had an Airforce of outdated biplanes...” and how that does not in fact reflect the sort of equipment the US military had even with the P-36,P-35, and a few other aircraft from before 1935 were on their way out or having a replacement in development. Also there were tons of interwar aircraft/equipment kicking in everyone’s arsenals with Japan let’s take the ki-32, Germany the ju-87 and he-111, Britain the Wellington and Defiant, USSR the Il-4 And TB-3 as examples. Not even going into land or naval developments. Also didn’t the P-38 show up in 1939 around the time the zero popped up. And I’m pretty sure even the B-17E could hit Berlin not knocking the G variant but I don’t want to overhype it.

[@stokerboiler]

Unfortunately, steam was inefficient. Diesels were ten times more efficient and they were maintained like big automobiles. In 1947 John L. Lewis demanded a huge raise for coal miners. Coal lost its price advantage and the efficiency of the diesel opened a gap steam could never close. By 1956, steam locomotives were razor blades.