We English , certainly used to deliver cutting edge technology to the world , for example inventing things we all use in modern everyday life like - television , jet engines, tin cans , Viagra , the flush toilet ,and of course the world wide web , but this was alas all ancient history and at a time when the world was painted a fetching shade of “Empire Pink “ :)
With all of the above in mind , I had a smile to myself when I saw an article on the news , saying a group of enthusiasts from my own home county had built a steam train , not a model but a £3million - full size , running one , something which hasn’t been built here for at least - 50 or so years - talk about reverse engineering :)
The main - east coast line runs fairly close to my house , and one night, last year November I was out on my mountain bike , and I heard this train in the distance and saw it go screaming by belching smoke and flames , and not knowing about this before hand I honestly thought I was f**king hallucinating in seeing a spectral train or experiencing some kind of time slip ……a steam train in 2008 !!!....... I ask you :)
I got back home and saw a local news article saying the steam train was on a shakedown run that evening , thus no corpses - shaking their ”gory locks” at me , that particular night :)
http://www.a1steam.com/
Now without going too far in to it , and risking boring you all – even further :)
I reckon this spirit of innovation still exists , its just we haven’t got either the finance or the forward looking leadership - anymore , so I think we just carry out eccentric projects to fulfil that need – shame really.
Now where’s that tin of pink paint – again :)
