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[0] is a twitter thread in a similar vein about train emojis. [0]: https://twitter.com/BisTheFairy/status/1192557730709622790 https://twitter.com/BisTheFairy/s

by Gaelan 7y ago

[0] is a twitter thread in a similar vein about train emojis. [0]: https://twitter.com/BisTheFairy/status/1192557730709622790 https://twitter.com/BisTheFairy/status/1192557730709622790

forgotmypw38 7y ago
Sadly, I only see the first image, and the rest are behind links. Each link requires me to press "Yes", before being redirected, sometimes to the intended link, others to the link I tried to view an hour ago.
- Gaelan 7y ago
  Does this work any better? https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1192557730709622790.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1192557730709622790.html
jcranmer 7y ago
Interesting how almost everyone goes for a 4-4-0 style train with the American-style balloon smokestack. It's funny that this is called "wild west" because it's rather anachronistic for that design. In the 1870s and onward, railroads are buying 4-6-0 trains instead of 4-4-0 trains. And the balloon shape is a feature of wood-burning locomotives (which produce a lot more embers and sparks than coal does). The Great Plains and Great Basin being rather devoid of trees, western railroads generally favored coal-burning designs, and so used much lower-profile smokestacks. The stereotypical "wild west" design is therefore closer to what you'd see in 1850s Ohio than 1870s Oklahoma.
- na85 7y ago
  I know very little about the 1800s outside of European warfare. Was railway technology really advancing so rapidly in the United States that missing the mark by a mere 20 years and a few hundred miles counts as an anachronism?
  - catalogia 7y ago
    I don't know a lot about trains in particular, but mechanical technology was advancing very rapidly during this period. It's roughly when the mass production of interchangeable machine parts started to take off. Singer (sewing machines) and Colt (revolvers) are two notable examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_system_of_manufacturing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_system_of_manufacturi...
  - jcranmer 7y ago
    Would a Minié rifle be an anachronism in the Franco-Prussian War, only 20 years and a few hundred miles from the Second War of Italian Independence? (Yes, the Austrians discovered that they were outdated compared to the Prussian guns, and so the French retooled to the chassepot rifles instead.) It's not so much the fact that the technology was wildly obsolete as it is the fact that there are distinct visual styles that are localized to particular places in certain eras. If you know what those are, seeing people get it wrong can be quite jarring. Imagine a scene supposedly set in Ancient Rome where one character shows up in Prussian court dress.
    - kelnage 7y ago
      But your statement is about purchases, rather than common use. Just because 4-6-0 locomotives were being purchased then, it certainly doesn't follow that you wouldn't see any 4-4-0 locomotives in 1870, does it? Especially since 4-4-0s were still being built in the US as late as 1893 according to Wikipedia [1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-4-0#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-4-0#United_States
      - zokier 7y ago
        Also "wild west era" is pretty vague to start with and can be considered to cover almost whole 19th century. So the specific situation at 1870s might not be even all that relevant
        larrik 7y ago
- jahewson 7y ago
  In 1870 > 50% of locomotives were 4-4-0 and there was plenty of wood to be had in the Sierra Nevadas. For sure, times were changing but if you came to California then, you’d see no shortage of wood-burning engines. Probably the challenging thing is to define “Wild West”.
- kps 7y ago
  > It's funny that this is called "wild west" because it's rather anachronistic for that design. It's the form of the Central Pacific Jupiter¹, famous for being the western locomotive at the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(locomotive) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(locomotive)

by Gaelan 7y ago

[0] is a twitter thread in a similar vein about train emojis. [0]: https://twitter.com/BisTheFairy/status/1192557730709622790 https://twitter.com/BisTheFairy/status/1192557730709622790

forgotmypw38 7y ago

Sadly, I only see the first image, and the rest are behind links. Each link requires me to press "Yes", before being redirected, sometimes to the intended link, others to the link I tried to view an hour ago.

Gaelan 7y ago
Does this work any better? https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1192557730709622790.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1192557730709622790.html

jcranmer 7y ago

Interesting how almost everyone goes for a 4-4-0 style train with the American-style balloon smokestack. It's funny that this is called "wild west" because it's rather anachronistic for that design. In the 1870s and onward, railroads are buying 4-6-0 trains instead of 4-4-0 trains. And the balloon shape is a feature of wood-burning locomotives (which produce a lot more embers and sparks than coal does). The Great Plains and Great Basin being rather devoid of trees, western railroads generally favored coal-burning designs, and so used much lower-profile smokestacks. The stereotypical "wild west" design is therefore closer to what you'd see in 1850s Ohio than 1870s Oklahoma.

na85 7y ago
I know very little about the 1800s outside of European warfare. Was railway technology really advancing so rapidly in the United States that missing the mark by a mere 20 years and a few hundred miles counts as an anachronism?
- catalogia 7y ago
  I don't know a lot about trains in particular, but mechanical technology was advancing very rapidly during this period. It's roughly when the mass production of interchangeable machine parts started to take off. Singer (sewing machines) and Colt (revolvers) are two notable examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_system_of_manufacturing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_system_of_manufacturi...
- jcranmer 7y ago
  Would a Minié rifle be an anachronism in the Franco-Prussian War, only 20 years and a few hundred miles from the Second War of Italian Independence? (Yes, the Austrians discovered that they were outdated compared to the Prussian guns, and so the French retooled to the chassepot rifles instead.) It's not so much the fact that the technology was wildly obsolete as it is the fact that there are distinct visual styles that are localized to particular places in certain eras. If you know what those are, seeing people get it wrong can be quite jarring. Imagine a scene supposedly set in Ancient Rome where one character shows up in Prussian court dress.
  - kelnage 7y ago
    But your statement is about purchases, rather than common use. Just because 4-6-0 locomotives were being purchased then, it certainly doesn't follow that you wouldn't see any 4-4-0 locomotives in 1870, does it? Especially since 4-4-0s were still being built in the US as late as 1893 according to Wikipedia [1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-4-0#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-4-0#United_States
    - zokier 7y ago
      Also "wild west era" is pretty vague to start with and can be considered to cover almost whole 19th century. So the specific situation at 1870s might not be even all that relevant
      - larrik 7y ago
jahewson 7y ago
In 1870 > 50% of locomotives were 4-4-0 and there was plenty of wood to be had in the Sierra Nevadas. For sure, times were changing but if you came to California then, you’d see no shortage of wood-burning engines. Probably the challenging thing is to define “Wild West”.
kps 7y ago
> It's funny that this is called "wild west" because it's rather anachronistic for that design. It's the form of the Central Pacific Jupiter¹, famous for being the western locomotive at the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(locomotive) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(locomotive)