Category: Railroads

Typewriters and steam locomotives

L.T. Hanlon1 Comment

Wednesday, May 8 , 2019, Chicago, USA. Hermes 3000 (1968). I think I can, I think I can. While watching videos of Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014 and its triumphant return to the rails, I realized that typewriters are the steam locomotives of composition. Like steam locos, typewriters are unapologetically mechanical. Like steam locos, typewriters make a magnificent noise. And like steam locos, typewriters get you to your destination in style. I glimpsed my first steam locomotive back in 1977 when I worked as a photojournalist for the Daily Rocket-Miner in Rock Springs, Wyoming. One of the Union Pacific 's steam behemoths was to make an extended stop at the station in Green River, just west of Rock Springs. I’m unsure which locomotive visited Green River. It might have been No. 8444. What I remember most is asking UP's press guy if cleaning the No. 8444 was a big job. He joked that daily cleaning wasn't that big a problem and I ' d see why. Sure enough , when I arrived in Green River to photograph the mighty machine there were dozens of rail fans there already — all eager to help keep No. 8444 clean and gleaming. I clean my typewriters with equal reverence. N.B. — This typecast has not been edited.

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