How to make a Steam Engine

Well, I can understand.  I mean, without them, if something went wrong, you might get a five-ton driver in your eye.

Interesting video. We tend to look at locos and forget that a lot of hot, dirty work went into building those things, much of it that we (or at least OSHA) would call dangerous.  

Beautiful, precision work.   Done in a Britain that actually made serious products. Now London just launders Russian crime syndicate and Putin buddy stolen money!

It probably wasn't a whole lot different in the Alco, Baldwin or Lima shops way beck when.

Rusty

They were using a fabricated frame, and by the 1940's, even 1930's, cast frames with cast integral cylinders were the rule on big American locomotives, and builders. Perhaps the need wasn't there in Britain, as the trains were smaller, the horspower less, so less strain on the frame and cylinders.

Nor at the EMC/EMD McCook, Illinois plant. Whenever I gave tours to railroad customer personnel, the most common question always asked was, "Why aren't any employees wearing hard hats?". The normal answer was always, "Anything that is overhead in this facility generally weighs at least 10 tons, and if it drops/falls, a hard hat wouldn't be much help.". Virtually every single railroad person quickly understood.

Mark,

Light weight was also a major factor in the UK.

Actually my favorite part was how they cast the drivers... then how they added the "tire" or outer rim to the driver.

The second was how the driving rods were forged, those guys holding the driver as it was smacked into shape...

Lots of engineering even in the manufacturing and building on the floor...

something we are losing in the U.S.

That old world craftsmanship.

Thanks for posting, this was very interesting

Loving RR and being in the Steel Business, I loved the whole thing.  Amazing work, all done with not a single computer and to exacting tolerances.

Boy, this was a really interesting video to watch. Over a thousand people involved in building the engine!  Talk about tough work by a team of very skilled people. Based on the OP's comments, I was surprised to see that OSHA (and the similar HSE organization in Britain) appeared to have started up in the 1970s. 

I've seen similar videos but this one is the cost comprehensive.  They covered a lot of mfg. in 20 minutes video time.  Thanks for posting!

Cool documentary • I would like to see the Lionel or MTH documentary from their plants in China. There are YT videos from their days in the USA but not in China. If someone has the link, please post.

This reminded me of the cartoons where Wile E. Coyote would hold the tiny umbrella in a vain attempt to protect himself from the falling boulder.

Stuart