mainline america was all diesel by the mid 1950s, but there was some steam still in helper service and on back woods short lines, and rail fans would go and visit those, and take lots of pictures, but very few got involved in the actual preservationist thing like you have going on in great britain.
Lots of surviving steam in the U.S. Here's a site that lists them by state, with google maps listing the particular engines and web sites. (It also covers several other countries) Surviving Steam Locomotives in the USA Such as: Claysburg shops Claysburg, PA H&BTM 2-8-0 #38 (stored dismantled) Middletown & New Jersey 2-6-0 #11 (operational)
this is true certainly, but what i was talking about is the whole phenomina of things like the blue bell line and the fastiniog, and there are really ten times as many preserved LINES and ones it the process of restoration, even people of influence backing and supporting many of them. this isn't something common here in the u.s. and yes i belonged to a railfan group for many years of my life, one that is now defunct. i'm not saying we don't have a few places and things, but its a whole different world and set of perspectives.
i remember going to buy car parts and the guy behind the counter would have to find the correct microfiche card
I Remember Going To Buy Car Parts And They Were Looked Up In A Great Thick Parts Book.... Cheers Glen.
Always thought that was a better idea - 'proper' Potatoes have much more and interesting characteristics
Most of my childhood memories go back to the 80's and 90's, and that makes me feel old for some reason. No cell phones. No home computers. They even still sold black and white TV sets (color was preferred--but the option was still there, if you were a cheapskate). Heck, even things that happened not too long ago, are considered ancient history now. Pay phones and dial arounds. Remember those? Not much more than 10 years ago, in fact. Yet most young people consider it before their time. Take heart, young people, though. Some day, you will be in the exact same position. And people won't believe how old and out-of-time you are .
Actually I meant to say my childhood memories go back to the 80's and 70's. I certainly hit the "7", as I posted this. But my phone assumed I meant something else. (I just noticed the error now, BTW.) Yeah, when I was born, it was still the transistor age. Then the microchip age began, while I was still a kid. I guess it is kind of ironic, in a way, when you think of it.
im so old i remember when the internet wasnt mostly porn and people yakking about how they masturbate
Some of us remember a time before the Internet Libraries and Good Teachers were the basics for Information - and physical adventure = the proof of a 'Good Pudding'
I win. I remember men in little white helmets knocking on the door to tell us "LIGHTS OUT---THERE ARE JAP SUBS OFF THE COAST", in '42-43. All cars were 30s-40s. Telephone was an oak box on the wall, crank handle on the right side which when turned , would summon an operator who would take your request and do the plug thing. Party lines where you could tell someone was listening to your conversation. Milk delivered to your front porch early enough to have it for breakfast. 25 bucks would damn near fill your vehicle with groceries. Ration stamps for butter and other commodities. Had pictures of tanks , Jeeps and so forth. No jets in commercial service--prop planes. I took one in '47 from Fresno to San Diego (by myself) and the plane was low and slow enough to see the swimming pools in the back yards of LA. Hamburger, milkshake,candy and a double feature movie for a dollar! (movie cost me 12 cents until the age of 12, then it went up to the grand total of a quarter. Big Band music was all the rage--NO rock and roll. Radio--Let's Pretend, (plunk your magic twanger, FrOGGY! and the story would begin). "Who knows the darkness in the hearts of men? The Shadow does! Inner Sanctum, a scary radio show. Our Miss Brooks, Backstage Wife, (gramma listened to that soap opera every day.) Ok, I guess that'll do it for now.-------------Happy New Year, commies!
No TV, so an outing was in store. We drove to Oregon from California to see the Tillamook Burn, which I believe happened in 1932. Basically burnt forest. We drove over to see the Spanish Missions on the California coast. We would drive to the foothills of the San Joaquin valley to vast hillsides loaded with poppies and lupines. Went to Pismo to dig for clams without ever locking our doors. No AC in cars, so a canvas waterbag hung from our front bumper to cool in case the car got hot. We could drive up the coast and camp just about anywhere ---on private property, no less---as long as we closed gates behind us. People weren't so uptight then about this and we would pick up everything and not litter. And so on. That was entertainment back then and I miss it, actually. Much simpler time.
i had a radio shack RECORDER for 8-tracks as well as a seperate playback unit, that i used through a kit built paia mixer to put sound with sound from kit built paia analog synth modules, and a vox jaguar as a keyboard source to drive them. origeonal moody blues and tangarene dream on 8-trak too. along with sonic seasonings, white rabbit, thick as a brick, its a beautiful day, something by earth wind and fire i forget the name of, something by emerson lake and palmer. a couple of things by yes later on, but i think those may have been on cassette. all my stereo receivers had cassettes built in you could record off the air with, but of course that came later.
what i remember is it being mostly for techno-nerds, because nobody else knew or cared that it existed. there was of course porn, and it was unristricted, but that also was because no one outside of techno-nerds knew or cared that it existed. then the world of business discovered small computers. the dot coms changed everything, but they did give us faster and more powerful personal computers, ones with enough umph to run programs like autocad and actually make art on them. spagetti basic was fun to write zen loops in though, randomly peeking and poking character graphics directly to memory mapped screens.