Going backward (“long hood forward”) is scary since you only have mirrors to guide you. Admittedly, the mirrors are pretty big, but the perspective makes it feel everything moves really slow when going back. Compare the mirror and its outside here:pic.twitter.com/WrJntgbCq1
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But today I know exactly what it feels like, and it’s mind blowing to me, and I feel lucky to be able to have had both these experiences to compare them. Babbage’s Engine is a calculator that feels like a locomotive. (!!!!!)
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Oh, yeah, of course there were keyboards also: one on a typewriter for some local paperwork, and another on a teletype connected to the outside world in the pre-internet age.pic.twitter.com/6mGuoprqG5
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That’s it! Check it out if you have a chance – it’s a Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, CA. (Wish I could talk to my grandpa Kazimierz about all of this.)pic.twitter.com/d7Bn0ltWaz – at Western Pacific Railroad Museum
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Oh, wait! I just saw Bill filmed more things, like this exact sequence of events needed to happen before you start running. This is by the end, where I had it all memorized:pic.twitter.com/eaj8JsURG6
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Warning bell on Direction switch forward Horn signal two short Check mirrors Throttle from idle to 1 Release brake Warning bell off Throttle to 2 (Write it down somewhere, you know, just in case.)
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This was otherwise an unexpected coda to a day that started with me just wanting to hike around some beautiful lakes in a place recommended by a complete random stranger some time back. Morals of the story, I guess: Stop and visit a local museum! And… erm… talk to strangers?pic.twitter.com/qku1OX3QSu
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(My next goal is to find a railway museum where a tour guide could explain all of the strange markings and words on train cars and locomotives, and the stories behind them.)pic.twitter.com/ljdO9GurWW – at Western Pacific Railroad Museum
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Museums are great. https://twitter.com/darkgreendesk/status/1020673013866467328 …
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Oh, wow, @ForeverAgile tells me those coloured bars are called KarTrak, and are an abandoned scheme for train barcodes… aaaaand of course
@ShortFormErnie already wrote about it at some point:https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qv38wp/how-the-railroad-industry-invented-then-immediately-discarded-the-barcode …Show this thread
End of conversation
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