<story><title>LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado</title><url>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Peppercorn_Class_A1_60163_Tornado</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>hilbert42</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m a high-tech electronics person but I still love steam engines (and that&amp;#x27;s partly historical as my father was a mechanical engineer who worked on building power station boilers and I&amp;#x27;m old enough to have traveled on steam trains as a kid when they weren&amp;#x27;t a novelty).&lt;p&gt;That said, I&amp;#x27;m concerned that the reawakening of interest in steam engines&amp;#x2F;trains especially in the UK may be the result of a hankering for the old days when Britain had an empire and its mechanical engineering output was the envy of the world. Of course, I hope I&amp;#x27;m wrong and that interest actually runs deeper than just that.&lt;p&gt;What ought to be important about this reawakening is that we have the opportunity to awaken an interest in kids about mechanics, engineering and science and do so from a very young age, and in my opinion, there&amp;#x27;s nothing much better than having them stand on a platform watching a hissing, noisy steam engine.&lt;p&gt;Steam engines are visually exciting and interesting but they are also the combined  embodiment of mechanics and thermodynamics and understanding both of them is the keyway to understanding science.&lt;p&gt;Despite my electronics background I consider that a thorough understanding of thermodynamics is crucial to understanding the high-tech world irrespective of one&amp;#x27;s field. And I reckon there&amp;#x27;s likely no better way of starting kids&amp;#x27; education in thermodynamics other than to have them engulfed in steam from a Puffing Billy.</text></comment>
<story><title>LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado</title><url>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Peppercorn_Class_A1_60163_Tornado</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>FearNotDaniel</author><text>I particularly love this linked story from 2009 [0], buried in the Wikipedia article:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Passengers were rescued by a steam locomotive after modern rail services were brought to a halt by the snowy conditions in south-east England.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.bbc.co.uk&amp;#x2F;1&amp;#x2F;hi&amp;#x2F;england&amp;#x2F;8428097.stm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.bbc.co.uk&amp;#x2F;1&amp;#x2F;hi&amp;#x2F;england&amp;#x2F;8428097.stm&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>