I recently posted about Marcel Proust (the insomniac hypercondriac author) and his appreciation of railway timetables. Of course, Proust would never have boarded an actual train for fear of railway trauma…
This wasn’t quite as ridiculous as it sounds; railway collisions were a frequent occurrence in the early 19th century. The fatal association between the railway and danger was established from the first. This was exemplified through the fatal injury to the MP, William Huskisson, at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway in 1830.
Exacerbating the problem, in the first instance, was the fact that railway cars were flimsy, wooden structures with no protection for the occupants. So, the railway journey was always linked to excited feelings of anxiety. Nowadays, the railways are amongst the safest forms of mass transportation. Nevertheless, these feelings of excitement and anxiety persist.
The first full length medical study of railway trauma was John Eric Erichsen’s classic book, “On Railway and Other Injuries of the Nervous System.”
Erichsen observed that those most likely to be injured in a railway crash were those sitting with their backs to the acceleration. This is the same injury mechanism found in whiplash.
Railway accidents are now known to cause “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD) and other psychosomatic symptoms in addition to physical trauma.
The nature of symptoms caused by “railway spine” was hotly debated in the late 19th century, notably at the meetings of the (Austrian) Imperial Society of Physicians in Vienna, 1886.
Germany’s leading neurologist, Hermann Oppenheim, claimed that all railway spine symptoms were due to physical damage to the spine or brain, whereas his French and British colleagues, notably Jean-Martin Charcot and Herbert Page, insisted that some symptoms could be caused by hysteria (now known as conversion disorder).
The great doctor, Sigmund Freud, identified several kinds of neuroses that devolved from the railway. These were generally neurological manifestations that followed the physical trauma described above.
The main types of 19C trauma were “railway spine” (whiplash injury to the nervous system and paralysis) and “railway brain” (neurological agitation and psychosis). Both of these were results of an association between the physical agitations of movement and the psychological anxieties attaching to that movement. Freud later described these mechanical agitations in terms of a “model of shock” and, famously, used a similar model to describe male sexual development.
The anxieties attaching to the railway were heightened, experientially and sensationally, by the evident mechanical power of the engine and the manifest speed of travel. The feelings associated to carried forward were exciting, pleasurable and discomfiting for both men and women.
It’s not difficult to understand how, for Freudians, the railway became a powerful metaphor for the traumas attaching to sexual desire….and the feelings of shock and guilt that attach to this activity.
The problem of human agency, implicit in the diagnosis of this “normal” behaviour, is a characteristic of the systems and structures of modern life. These may be economic, social and political. For Freud, especially, the practical terms of human agency were always derived from sexual desire.
The link between medicine, therapy, doctors and trains is not as far-fetched as it may seem. Alain Corbin has described the origins of the aquatic therapy of sea-bathing in explicitly sexualised terms. The historical development of the seaside “pleasure garden” and fun fair were attempts to conjure an architecture and social space devoted to a therapeutic engagement with pleasure.
The early fair ground rides (roller coasters especially) provided for a more exhilarating version of the railway journey. Freud’s phobia of railways was entirely due to his anxieties in relation to giving up control, and to feelings of pleasure, generally.
Needless to say, these anxieties were those of “the reasonable man” confronted with the power of uncontrollable emotional feeling.
Lewis Carroll used the figure of the White Rabbit to get Alice’s dream started. The anxieties attaching to lateness and to missed connections must have run deep; even in the 19C.
We’re back at the railway timetable…(or to Neo in The Matrix).
Time to “go off the rails…”
Supplemental 200712
The psychic strain of railway travel proceeds, not from the noise, speed and vibrations of the railway carriage; but from the excitement, anxiety and nervous shock consequent on the effort to catch the last express; to be in time for the fearfully punctual train.
The French writer, Marcel Proust, was a notorious hypercondriac and insomniac. In order to help himself to sleep, he would read railway timetables; the more detailed and provincial the better. Not for him, les grandes lignes.
For Proust, every place name was freighted with the potential of people and history. Of course, this was both beautiful and disasterous. This tendency, combined with his other psychological characteristics, to distinguish a form of spectacular inertia.
It’s all very well planning a journey; but in the end, you have to leave the house!
I guess it was entirely appropriate that Proust should be fascinated by train timetables – he spent his whole life writing a work called In Search of Lost Time.
I am intrigued by how many writers, scientists and philosophers were exploring the theme of time in the early part of the 20C. One can certainly link the writing of HG Wells (The Time Machine), Proust (Time Past) and Joyce, to the ideas of Einstein, and to those of Henri Bergson and Henri Lefebvre, and to those of Sigmund Freud.
This railway poster by Abram Games, from 1951, visually captures the connection between railways, dreams and time…
I’ve already posted about railway time,and about the Freudian connection between trains and dreams…
In Russia, where train travel may extend to days and weeks; one travels across Siberia on a bed!
I’ve been meaning to post about one of my favourite Hitchcock films since I began posting on here. You will recall that I began this blog with a post about trains, Alfred Hitchcock and psychoanalysis. You can remind yourself, here
Obviously, The Lady Vanishes (1938) scores. It is by Alfred Hitchcock and is set on a train. So, that is two out of three for starters. You can watch the film, here
http://www.soku.com/detail/show/XOTYyNDA=
NB – the Chinese video streaming websites are terrific for these old films. But their files are not listed on Google!
The LV comes from the end of Hichcock’s “English” period. These black and white films were made in the 1930s and explore some of the psychological themes that Hitchcock had discovered in Berlin during the 1920s. The English films describe these psychological themes within the context of a more structured, not to say repressed, society.
Anyway, the plot and main themes of LV are described, here
The story is a modern (20C) reworking of the classic “vanishing hotel room” trick. The original version is a late 19C story about what happens when the usual reference points of civilised society are turned on their heads. Circumstances, paranoia (anxiety) and feeling combine to uncover the social construction of reality and the dark consensus of social conformity.
The point is that, by placing the action of the film on the train, the story is given an extra dimension of suspense. We know that speed and time are conspiring to bring the story to a climax… it’s literally inevitable. Also, the train (especially the luxury trans-Eurpean express) is a place where social conventions are observed in their most minute detail. The transfer of the original story, from hotel to train, is entirely consistent.
There’s also a lovely gag about the two “little Englanders” travelling through Europe whose main interest is the test match score. The whole world is about to go up in flames and they are worrying about cricket!
This is a post about cutaway drawings. These will be familiar to boys of all ages. They are compelling images for their technical detail and the abundance of information. They show how things work. There’s nothing better for explaining big machines.
Obviously, these kinds of drawings are not so good the solid-state gadgets of modern life.
Here are a couple of information posters that show how power is generated…
You can find out about the masters of this kind of illustration, here
I’ve posted recently about the Droz railway layout that has just been sold in Germany. Not all railway toys are as complex and sophisticated as that. Here is another kind of railway toy, designed by Ladislav Sutnar.
Sutnar is a key figure in the mythology of modernism. This presents modernism as a cultural phenomenon that links Moscow, Berlin, Paris and New York. During the heroic period of Modernism (after 1918 and before 1939), the only way to connect these great cities was by train and ship.
Sutnar made this journey himself; moving between Prague and New York.
In the 1930s Sutnar designed these simple painted wooden toys. These painted wooden toys were a staple of Bauhaus designers. In the 1960s, in London, Galt Toys worked the same theme.
Even nowadays, wooden toys are understood as from a different ontological entity to plastic toys. Not just playing; but learning!
Yesterday, we went to Paris for lunch with the French family. We travelled by Eurostar and took the RER and Paris Metro. So, a lovely day.
I noticed that the French are busy transforming their Metro. The new platforms have security gates all along the platform. That means that the train slows and stops in an exact alignment with the sliding doors of the gates. This means that people will find it much harder to throw themselves under the train.
Also, people position themselves in readyness for the train with much more precision. I’m not saying that the French are queueing; but it is a big improvement.
If you look carefully, the trains don’t have drivers either! The machine is in control and we are behaving better (more consistently).
Inside the trains, there is much more space too. The carriages are open-ended and you can walk right though the whole length of the train.
Completely made by hand: An absolutely unique masterpiece of Swiss precision engineering. and a spectacular work of a lifetime!
For centuries, La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Swiss Neuchâtel Jura has been regarded as an instrument-making center of excellence, producing precision engineering, clocks, toys and musical boxes of the highest quality, some of which are now exhibited in the famous horology museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The La Chaux-de-Fonds district is also the birthplace of the renowned horologist Pierre Jaquet-Droz, whose three ‘androids’ can be seen in nearby Neuchâtel. It is not by chance, then, that the name of the maker of this unique model railway system now offered for sale, is Josué Droz, a citizen of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Although we do not know the precise family connection between the two Droz engineers, the spirit of the master is evident in this remarkable model railway!
Born in 1895, Josué Droz began work on the construction of his scale model railway station installation modeled on the SBB – Schweizer Bundesbahn (Swiss Federal Railways) – when he was thirty. As a trained cabinet maker, he was familiar with precision modeling and devoted every free minute of his time to his meticulously-planned master work. It was not completed until 1936, eleven years and an unbelievable 18,000 man hours later. His complete railway station system, faithful to the original in even the smallest detail, remains absolutely unique throughout the world, surpassing the finest commercial brands in its precision and quality.
Droz designed and built the system himself, sometimes in consultation with well-known Swiss engineers and specialists. The system is designed to a scale of 1:30 (48 mm gauge), thoroughly thought out and executed with outstanding skill and care, and lacks absolutely nothing when it comes to originality and accuracy of detail. Its overall size is an impressive 6 x 16 meters (96 sq. meters/approx. 1,000 sq feet)!
In November 1936, whilst the effects of the world recession were still being felt, the complete system was exhibited for fourteen days by the municipal Documentation Office for Trade and Engineering, the first and only time that it has been seen by the public, in the old Apollo Cinema Theatre in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Since that time, the complete system has rested in sturdy custom-built upholstered wooden boxes, protected from humidity and cold, in the attic of its creator in No. 17 Rue de la Réformation, La Chaux-de-Fonds, until it was discovered by ATB and made known to the public.
This important model railway represents the golden age ideal of a truly public transportation system which transformed the world during the first part of the 20th century. Words are not enough to describe the precision, accuracy, perseverance and patience, the great talent, which Josué Droz devoted to creating his masterpiece.
TECHNICAL DATA: 3 Complete Train Sets 236 x 630 in. = 1,033 sq feet/16 x 6 m System. ROLLING STOCK: 1) 3 Electric Locomotives, comprising: a) “Type CFF Series 10901” Locomotive, weight: 15 lbs (7 kg.), Length: 20 in. (50 cm), Tractive power: 55 lbs (25 kg). b) “Type P.O. Series 14304” Locomotive, weight: 17.6 lbs (8 kg), Length: 20.5 in. (52 cm), Tractive power: 55 lbs (25 kg). c) “Type Pacific Series 6106” Steam Locomotive, electrified. Weight: 16.5 lbs (7.5 kg), Length: 30 in. (75 cm), Tractive power: 44 lbs (20 kg). – 2) 8 Express Train Carriages, comprising the following: a) Pullman Carriage “Mitropa”, length: 25.6 in. (65 cm), Weight: 8.4 lbs (3.8 kg!). Mahogany interior fittings, 24 lamps, 16 mirrors, 12 glass-topped tables and small electric lamps, 24 upholstered seats, 2 clocks, ceiling lighting, toilets, curtains, luggage racks, linoleum floor and inlaid maple ceiling. b) Saloon Carriage, length: 20.5 in. (52 cm), weight: 7 lbs (3.15 kg). Rosewood interior, 2 four-branch chandeliers, upholstered leather seats and sofas, table, mirrors, toilets and 12 lamps. c) Restaurant Carriage, length: 20.5 in. (52 cm), weight: 6.6 lbs (3 kg). Pink cedarwood interior, leather folding seats, tables, mirrors, kitchen. d) Sleeping Carriage, length: 20.5 in. (52 cm), weight: 6.6 lbs (3 kg), Oak interior with mirrors, toilets, 12 lamps. e) Coach: First and Second class, upholstered folding seats (blue and copper colors), 9 lamps, gangway, mirrors, toilets, etc. f) 2 Coaches: 3rd class, length: 18 in./46 cm, weight: 4.4 lbs/2 kg each. With 8 lamps and folding tables at the windows. g) 1 Luggage Wagon, length: 15.4 in./39 cm, weight: 3.9 lbs/1.75 kg each. With 8 lamps. – All the carriages are faithful scale models of the originals; the windows and doors can be opened and the interior furnishings have been recreated down to the smallest detail and peopled with miniature passengers to give greater realism. The electric lighting is controlled separately, with a dynamo for the individual carriages. – 3) 6 Passenger Carriages, comprising: a) Mail Car, length: 14 in./35.5 cm, weight: 3.6 lbs/1.65 kg. With 8 lamps. b) Baggage Car, length: 12.6 in./32 cm, weight: 3 lbs/1.35 kg. With 8 lamps. c) 4 Coaches: 3rd class, one has 3 moving axles which automatically take bends, fitted with buffers, each with 8 lamps, moveable windows and doors. Weight: 3.3 lbs/1.5 kg each. – 4) 15 Various Freight Wagons. These are mainly open timber wagons of various lengths. Weight: 1.8-4.4 lbs/0.8-2 kg each. All fitted with loads!!! RAILWAY INSTALLATION: 1) Main Railway Station. Of modern construction with pavements and 2 ancillary buildings, all with interior fittings and lighting reproduced down to the finest detail. Dimensions: 56 in./1.43 m long, 27 in./69 cm deep, 19 in./49 cm high. Three illuminated buildings with a total of 40 lamps!! a) Left-hand Building: With luggage hall, stationmaster’s office, materials store, entrance hall, furnished dwelling: 3 rooms and kitchen, bath, WC, mirrors, pictures, hand basin etc. b) Main Building (Center): Large hall with chrome chandelier, flower and newspaper kiosks, hairdresser, ticket office, pedestrian underpass to the platform, automatic vending machines, illuminated electric clock (!), passengers and personnel. c) Right-hand Building: Furnished restaurant, marble-topped tables, counter, 30 chairs, cloakroom, fittings and 3-branch chandelier, passengers and personnel, first and second class waiting rooms, W.C., a furnished dwelling as in the left hand ancillary building. – 2) Freight Depot. Dimensions: 78 in./2 m long (!), 27 in./ 69 cm deep and 10 in./26 cm high. Roofed and closed with open platform, office, W.C., lighting with 8 lamps, space for unloading 4 wagons and 1 revolving crane. 3) 2 Platforms, a) With bench, letterbox, ticket machines, small central area, 8 switches for controlling the lighting and functioning electrical platform clock. b) With 7 lamps, a lighted electrical platform clock, 2 benches, pedestrian underpass to the railway station. Dimensions: 78 in./2 m long (!), 8 in./20.5 cm deep, 7.5 in./19 cm high. – 4) Signal Box. Faithful model of original. With 26 switches and 44 contact plugs. Dimensions: 23 in./60 cm long, 7 in./18 cm deep and 16.7 in./ 42.5 cm high. – 5) Engine Shed. For locomotives and waggons, with 3 entrances, 6 doors and 8 lamps. Dimensions: 44.5 in./1.13 m long (!), 27.6 in./70 cm deep and 19 in./48 cm high. – 6) Distribution Substation. Distributor for 10 different surface and underground cables with switches and isolators. Dimensions: 15 in./ 39 cm long, 3.4 in./8.5 cm deep, 13.8 in./35 cm high. – 7) Lineman’s Cabin. Furnished as a waiting room, lighting with 8 lamps. Dimensions: 18 in./46 cm long, 10.3 in./26 cm deep, 11 in./28 cm high. – 8) Overpass. With 2 stairs. Dimensions: 57 in./1.45 m long (!), 4.3 in./ 11 cm deep, 13.8 in/35 cm high. – 9) Bridge. With strengthened arch. Dimensions: 78.7 in./2 m long (!) 14.4 in./36.5 cm wide, 15.8 in./40 cm high. – 10) Turntable. Diameter: 29.5 in./75 cm. Motor and remote control, micro adjustment by means of worm drive, limit contacts. – 11) Roller Ladder. For installation of electric overhead wires. TRACKS MATERIALS: 1) Approx. 131 ft. (400 m) of Railway Tracks 132 lbs (60 kg) profile iron, secured in accordance with the original, using approx. 25,000 bolts. – 2) 3,300 Wooden Sleepers. – 3) Approx. 1,500 Fishplates, scured to rails by 3,000 track bolts. – 4) 22 Intersections (of which 21 are single points) with electrodynamic lanterns, 21.6 in./55 cm long, and 1 angle intersection. – 5) 8 Signals: disk, 3 pallets (of which 2 are automatic), 2 signal bells with 2 bells, 2 signal bells with 1 bell, all with electrodynamic remote control. FURTHER MATERIALS: 1) Approx. 320 Wheel Brakes on wagons and locomotives. – 2) Approx. 106 Overhead Line Towers with approx. 157,5 in./400 m of cable. – 3) 322 Porcelain Isolators and 250 Compound Isolators. – 4) 2 Cranes, one for double-track use on spoil car and one slewing crane. – 5) Approx. 120 Different Figures. ELECTRICAL OPERATING EQUIPMENT: 1) Specially Constructed Transformer: By “Ecole d’Electrotechnique du Technicum du Locle”. For 110, 125, 150, 220 and 250 V/3 A/per 50. – 2) Signal Box with photoelectric barrier remote control!
That’s quite a good description – excepting the hyperbole…
My question is, has anyone got a plan of the original layout?
I entirely agree that this is a unique example of precision and miniature mechanical engineering. I also think that Droz conceptualised his lay-out as a complex interactive system. I guess it will take whoever buys this model about five years to assemble the layout. Even then, it might not be the original!
This is a post about model railways… I’ve been there before, but what the heck.
The history of model railways is almost as old as the railway itself.
At first, the model railway was a miniature engineered model. This was amazingly exensive. Also, the models tended to be quite big – in general making something smaller is expensive. Towards the beginning of the 20C, various toy makers began to make model railways out of printed and folded tinplate. The big names are Bing Brothers and Marklin.
In Britain, Bassett-Lowke made lovely engineered models during the 1920s and 1930s.
Hornby, is the name most people recognise in relation to model railways. They make OO gauge models. These allowed ordinary people to construct relatively detailed and complex layouts within the context of suburban houses.
The engines shown here are part of a collection of engineered models recently sold at auction. They are hand-built to scale and are powered by live steam.
These are working works of art!
Only a handful of people are qualified to make these kinds of models. It takes several years to make them too. Harry Powell, of Crewe, made the model and it measures over 100 inches long.
The catalogue entry for this model follows…
The finest exhibition quality 7 ¼ inch gauge model of the Sir William Stanier London Midland and Scottish Railway ‘Pacific’ 4-6-2 LMS Locomotive and Tender No 6230 ‘Duchess of Buccleuch’, an accurate replication of the original engine in every detail and was built according to the drawings of Crewe and took ten years and over 18,000 hours to build the model, it was built by the famous model engineer Mr Harry Powell of Crewe and his brother Norman,the paintwork and lettering by Louis Raper, this magnificent model is fitted with a fully brazed and riveted superheated copper boiler with Belpaire firebox and all normal fittings including safety valves, regulator, blower, whistle, brake, injector and blowdown valves, incorporating full external detailing and smoke deflectors, fine scale cab fittings include wheel reverse gear, lever operated sliding firedoors, draincocks and ejector levers, three pressure gauges, twin water sight gauges, mahogany planked floor with steel panel and scale checker-plate, a wealth of classic fittings.
Chassis with twin outside cylinders fitted with Walschearts valve gear and two inside cylinders, scale twin ratchet lubricators, brass lubrication boxes, draincocks, sanding gear, working steam brakes, leaf springs and beautifully finished wheels, fluted motion, exceptional external detailing, smoke deflector plates,these were later fitted to all of the class. Tender details includes 4000 gallon Type II plaque,handbrake, water pick-up control, steam-driven mechanical coal pusher with cylinder guides and lifting eyes. The model finished in LMS maroon with yellow and black lining.
Length 113″ Cab Width 13 ½’
The Stanier ‘Duchess Class’ designated 7P operated throughout Great Britain and were ostensibly Princess Cornation Class Locomotives which were nicknamed “Duchesses” and many of both of the combined classes carried streamlining in the pre-and-immediately post-war period. They hauled the heaviest express trains from Euston through to Scotland including ‘The Royal Scot’ and earlier ‘Coronation’ services. One of the class was sent to the USA for the World Fair of 1939 in its streamlined form. All the class were withdrawn in 1965 and three remain in preservation.
* Sir William Stanier FRS. Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LMS at the company Crewe works.
* Harry Powell worked all his life at Crewe locomotive works, he was a Master Coppersmith and chief of the copper-shop at Crewe.
This locomotive was delivered to Jack Salem in Switzerland by Harry Powell and Louis Raper. On arrival Harry Powell said to Jack Salem “Well you wanted the finest piece that has ever been built and here it is”.
The big red engine, above, made 140000GBP.
Here are some pictures of the other models in the sale…
I read something interesting about the Greek crisis this week. You can read it, here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18032721
Someone has said that it would be cheaper if everyone in Greece used taxis! That’s really a comment about the huge costs, to the Greek taxpayer, of building and running the railway in Greece. Can this really be true?
Actually, and if you make sure that there are always two passengers in the cab, it is a bit cheaper to use cabs in Greece. This is because the Greek government has spent billions on a brand new train set. They borrowed the money for this from German banks and, coincidentally, the new train set was made in Germany – so the money went back to where it came from.
Having built the train set, they want to use it. Otherwise, it would be like the Olympic sites in Athens. So, the trains go around and around with hardly anyone on them. That means they lose money everyday.
There are a number of issues with Greece that help explain this problem. The landscape and geography are complex – too many islands. The population is too small (12 million and falling) and the economy remains largely limited to agriculture and tourism – both seasonal activities. Bringing Greece into the 21C was always going to be expensive – that’s before you factor-in its corrupt political class and the legacies of military dictatorship. In the circumstances, I don’t blame the Greeks for not paying taxes – that would be money down the pan.
The modern high-speed railway needs too many bridges and tunnels. The lines have to be engineered with shallow gradients and curves so as to maintain high speed. The cost of this is enormous. The population of Greece’s major cities are too small, so the traffic volumes don’t make the investment cost-effective…
Still, it makes all the politicians and planners feel they have done something. A bit like the enormous highways that go nowhere in North Korea.
This story highlights the difficulties of economic union. Making everything consistent is complex and, eventually, brutal. The encouraging thing is that ordinary Greeks want to remain in the Euro. What they want are proper institutions that are consistent, transparent and accountable.
It’s a shock for Euro-sceptics, but they will be willing to trade sovereignty for this. The inconclusive elections in Greece are a sign of this.
