I was in the Donau valley two years ago (a gorgeous place) and the local train station for a village of under thousand people had fully mechanical operation! As

I was in the Donau valley two years ago (a gorgeous place) and the local train station for a village of under thousand people had fully mechanical operation! As in: levers, pulleys, weights that had to be cranked up, springs and even those cool mechanical sign posts that work on gravity and steel rods. It was beautiful engineering, I spent hours watching it all being operated by two men who lived on the station. I can only imagine how such old tech is holding everything back. But can also appreciate how it just keeps running: it just needs skilled humans, and lots of grease.