I'm not going to lie, I almost wept near the end of this documentary. The Steam Locomotive is by far one of the most beautiful and majestic pieces of machinery and to see them be butchered in such a way is saddening.
My fascination with steam power, ancient architecture, and even older peoples; made this one of the best documentary's I've seen, for a long while. There isn't any cutting to and fro, from someone who want's to be on camera. Thanks to the movie maker, and thanks to the up loader. Video quality is great, and I don't mind the English sub-titles. I'm a getting old too.
The last Broad Gauge Steam Mainline service in India stopped in 1995 and Metre Gauge in 2000. There are however a very few narrow and heritage metre gauge steam loco trains still in service. A few broad gauge locos which survived the scrapping are made to run on certain days of the year. The Fairy Queen loco is a famous loco in India which is supposed to be one of the oldest locos in the world still in operational condition!
@@williamou417 Agreed! Great to see for an occasional nostalgic run, but to use these polluters in every day industrial use is criminal in this day and age.
Very interesting documentary and great camera work. The beautiful scenery and cinematography create a really artful production that is a great pleasure to watch, and shows great subject matter.
Seeing a steam locomotive scrapped is one of the saddest sights I've ever seen. China and India were lucky to have held on to steam for as long as they did. I wish we in the United States saw their full worth too.
Most of our energy still comes from steam. Whether it's coal, oil, gas, or nuclear, in all involves using heat to boil water and make the pressure of expanding steam do the work. Even some solar power installations, those using the solar-thermal method, still involves boiling water and making the steam drive the generators. About the only energy sources that don't involve steam are hydro, wind, and photovoltaic solar, and those make up a minority of the total production, for now at least.
Interesting to know that China still operates steam trains. I always liked steam more than diesel trains. As I kid I had the opportunity to touch one, until it hissed and gave me the fright of my life. But I have always liked them. We have a restored tourist steam train here.
I used to say you could go to China or India and buy a brand new steam locomotive, but sadly, I guess I can't anymore, the fire breathing dragons have all finally gone extinct.
"loaded with 15 tons of coal ... goes 200 miles" they say that like it's bad. you can buy a ton of coal in the states for $100, I can't imagine how cheap it is in China. $1500 to move, like, 100+ tons, minimum, of freight 200 miles is amazing. how much would that cost in diesel to truck it? or even a diesel locomotive?
Really it's a double edged sword; loosing the the steam engine is a big blow to our heritage everywhere, but if we keep them the prospects could be disastrous in the face of growth. Well not many people think about it, an electric locomotive is a miracle on rails; little or no emissions, long intervals between maintenance stops, virtually unlimited range, and around 85-99% thermal efficiency, compared to 30% for steam, and 45% for diesels. However even with modern day technology it would be good to run a few slower passenger excursions behind a steam engine to remind everyone where we came from, and hopefully show why we don't do this anymore. But don't get me wrong these machines were great for what they could do, and they absolutely deserve better then to get cut up for scrap; even static displays are low bar. But the absolute truth is that we need to encourage more industries to move fright by rail then by long distance truck.
*losing. As for electric locomotives, "little or no emissions", except from the coal-fired generating plants that make them go; "virtually unlimited range", unless there's no overhead power line. "Thermal efficiency?" In an electric locomotive? The quoted figure is the efficiency of electric motors' converting electricity into mechanical energy; thermal efficiency in coal-fired power stations is 35% at the most. Thermal efficiency for internal-combustion engines is in the 20% range; for steam it's about 8%. I agree with the rest of the sentiments, but please, let's be accurate about the technical details!
I generally only quote the efficiency of the motors themselves, because It's incredibly shortsighted to assume we will be always use coal fired pants to generate electricity. In fact the original push for general purpose electric locomotives actually came from Sweden; where power generated from hydro electricity was so cheap that some companies just retrofitted an electric heater to the steam engines, until they could afford new locomotives. Then of course there is this world wide push for renewable power generation, which would make electric everything (Locomotives included) seem more practical. And even countries that use fossil fuel power would see benefits from the economies of large scale production. Not every locomotive on every line would operate under load (An electric motor only draws power according to what it uses, where as an idling diesel locomotive uses 30 liters of fuel every minute.); so effectively you could scale energy production for the few that are taking off; and a train going downhill could send power back into the lines. And really I’ve heard these arguments about efficiency so many times; they don’t ever take into account the sheer scale of operations, and the hundreds of engines that are effectively idling, or even the fact that every countries’ diesel locomotives (Germany excluded) have there engines set up to run a generator to power motors in the wheels. But if you must know your figure is correct under fully loaded, ideal conditions; but conditions are rarely ideal. Also the internal combustion engine's thermal efficiency is closer to 15% for an Otto engine, and 45% for a big diesel. (But remember with hundreds of engines running independently that leads to only 15-30% utilized energy, compounding that 45% thermal efficiency.)
The use of electricity to heat the water on a steam locomotive was no common practice, and it wasn't in Sweden where this was done. It was done in Switzerland, where the railways had been electrified very early, also because of having plenty possibilities for hydro-electric power schemes. Most mainline operations were electric by 1925, but a lot of the shunting was done by small 0-6-0 tank engines. Switzerland stayed neutral during the second world war, but they couldn't import coal during the conflict. As Switzerland has no fosil fuels at all, they decided to put a pantograph and electrical heaters on these loco's. The heaters were powered trough a transformer reducing the 15Kv form the overhead wires to a mere 7 volts, that made it possible to run the heater coils without insulation, as the conductivity of pure mountain water is low enough to prevent shorts at that voltage (and even when it does it adds to the heating proces) It was applied to a small number of locomotives and after the war ended the equipment was removed (the boilers themselves were unaltered and kept their coal firing possibility) More common were diesel/electric hybrids, which could run fed of overhead wires or third rail with electricity, and the diesel engine kicking in when leaving the electrified part of the network. Currently there are even new builds for the UK, the class 88.
You’re right I keep mixing up those two countries for some reason. However it proves my point about electricity. They had only a little reserve of coal, but they could still generate electric power locally and cheap enough to get through the war. (This was a challenge for any country even if they did have coal mines.) Also the Swiss Modernization Program started electrification in 1888, but wasn’t finished until the 1960’s. It makes perfect sense to have a steam locomotives shunting cars into the non-electrified branches. And it’s the same logic for Dual Mode Locomotives; the Class 88’s power output is 4000Kw for electric traction and 700Kw for diesel traction respectively, the diesel engine is mostly used for shunting in this case. And that 700Kw figure is a far cry from American Diesel Road Switchers which are usually in the 3300Kw range.
@29:23... 50 deaths a day in India? im sure from the videos i've seen. a good number of them are of thrill seekers/train surfers. That has to be a world high death rate. i think the rate in the USA is 3 deaths by rail a day.
i LOVE STEAM LOCOMOTIVES!!!!! There is no reason as to why they cannot be used. I would personally pay extra money on sales and services tax to have my goods shipped by steam engine. I think there wonderful and beautiful things. They should not be discarded and melted down. Allow them to work and be awesome. There is nothing like the chuff an puff coming off a steam loco as it thunders by you bellowing out steam and smoke, shaking the ground, shaking you, the rails groan and strain but they hold There is nothing like a steam loco.
+Red Theman There's a HUGE number of reasons not to use steam engines. Very energy inefficient, require 10x more maintenance than diesel, and HORRIBLE for the environment.
Audiking cadillac you know that your comment is completely wrong. Diesel engines extract 25% of the energy from burning fuel, steam engines only extract 5%. www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/05/11/history/post-perspective/locomotive-diesel-engine.html
Hiro's Japanese this documentary is about steam locomotives in China and India and Japan and those two countries are VERY different towards each other.
they make it sound like the indian railways is so poor. even back then indian railways is one of the most profitable and efficient. we have 6600bhp electric traction locos being used for most things. and here they say we cannot afford diesel technicians, bollocks.
India's railways may well make a profit,but they certainly don't seem too willing to spend it on locomotives,rolling stock or the infrastructure! A considerable amount of their loco's and rolling stock are what the British left behind and the rest are mainly UK throwaways exported to India post independence.Mind you a new loco and a rake of brand new,well appointed carriages,would be wrecked within a week running on Indian lines.Their interiors trashed (mainly by the passengers goats) and the paint job ruined by people scrambling to get on the roof!Speed would have to be restricted from 125mph to 20 so those riding on top don't blow off and so that the driver will be able to stop for cows,people,carts etc on the line and for broken track!Therefore it would be rather pointless to invest in modern equipment. I should imagine somewhere in india there must be a massive loco yard where those loco's too far gone to ever be repaired are stored to be picked clean for their parts as required.
silver760 Wut. Just...Wut. INR builds most of their own Diesels domestically, has done for years, they're based on old Alco gear iirc. Their modern stuff runs EMD 710 engines, which the US has been using ( and still does btw ) for YEARS. To be blunt, you're basically incorrect about literally everything you just said. Go get educated, learn about how INR works and some of it's engineering feats ( Monsoon Railway for one ), and just how modern it is. You don't run a profitable rail network in a country with 1.2 Billion people by accident, you fuckstick. The groundwork was laid by the Britts, yes, but the Indians took their idea of rail transport and ran with it, moreover, there's a LOT we here in N.America can learn from them. Goddamnit...I swear to god, youtube comments get more and more retarded by the fucking day.
Connar Comstock I take it you haven't actually seen Indian railways then? Sure they have a handful of less that 20 year old locos and a couple of half decent carriages for long haul and some intercity trips.Aside from those the rest of the system is just like the rest of India,atrocious! They are still using allot of Metropolitan Vickers equipment that was supplied before WW2 and in the 50's Do you have ANY idea what suburban and rural Imdia is like? I don't know what you have read on paper but india is a third word country.Sure there are the odd bits here and there where you could be mistaken for it being "modern" but the VAST majority of India is slums and poverty.I suggest you type "Indian Railways" into google and just look at the photo's,nuff said!
sayan das Filmography has been both a blessing and of course the greatest propagandizing weapon ever thought of.Some ppl are more dangerous than others, a terrible fact that I`m working on by being the opposite
This is one of the best steam locomotive documentaries ever
You seen And then there was one?
@@scruffyzejanitor the best steam locomotive documentary ever.
I'm not going to lie, I almost wept near the end of this documentary. The Steam Locomotive is by far one of the most beautiful and majestic pieces of machinery and to see them be butchered in such a way is saddening.
My fascination with steam power, ancient architecture, and even older peoples; made this one of the best documentary's I've seen, for a long while. There isn't any cutting to and fro, from someone who want's to be on camera. Thanks to the movie maker, and thanks to the up loader. Video quality is great, and I don't mind the English sub-titles. I'm a getting old too.
The end made my on the verge of tears. It was that beautiful.
I did cry, a little. Slow rolling tears down and over my face, cheeks and into my lap. Give thanks to the past and bring on a new day.
The last Broad Gauge Steam Mainline service in India stopped in 1995 and Metre Gauge in 2000. There are however a very few narrow and heritage metre gauge steam loco trains still in service. A few broad gauge locos which survived the scrapping are made to run on certain days of the year. The Fairy Queen loco is a famous loco in India which is supposed to be one of the oldest locos in the world still in operational condition!
this is the documentary that sold me on going to China in 2004!
Enjoy the smog, it's epic in the CCP
@@stosh64 And a free dose of ‘Kung Flu” too!
magnificent record of not only the engines but those whom they serve , and unusually, a very knowledgable narrator
It's always nice to see old steam locomotives back at work instead of just sitting in mueseums don't you think?
Depends
@@williamou417 Agreed! Great to see for an occasional nostalgic run, but to use these polluters in every day industrial use is criminal in this day and age.
Thank you for posting this. Amazing footage!
What a great documentary!
Good to see some steam operations from other country's. Thankyou!
Very interesting documentary and great camera work. The beautiful scenery and cinematography create a really artful production that is a great pleasure to watch, and shows great subject matter.
A pundit once said "The sun never sets on the British Empire."
Another pundit retorted, "That's because God doesn't trust them in the dark."
Seeing a steam locomotive scrapped is one of the saddest sights I've ever seen. China and India were lucky to have held on to steam for as long as they did. I wish we in the United States saw their full worth too.
very nice documentary
Most of our energy still comes from steam. Whether it's coal, oil, gas, or nuclear, in all involves using heat to boil water and make the pressure of expanding steam do the work. Even some solar power installations, those using the solar-thermal method, still involves boiling water and making the steam drive the generators. About the only energy sources that don't involve steam are hydro, wind, and photovoltaic solar, and those make up a minority of the total production, for now at least.
Most interesting; thank you.
Very enjoyable thank you
really good film thanks for sharing it
He said that steam cranes were very rare, but I saw one working in New York City several years after this film was made.
Doesn't mean they aren't rare, especially considering the one in China was still in regular operational use rather than being preserved.
Yay! that was awesome.
Very cool.
I am nostalgic about these trains
Just an update here, the Jining-Tongliao railway in Northeast China mentioned in this video decommissioned its last steam locomotive in 2005.
Interesting to know that China still operates steam trains. I always liked steam more than diesel trains. As I kid I had the opportunity to touch one, until it hissed and gave me the fright of my life. But I have always liked them. We have a restored tourist steam train here.
sorry to let you know that this documentary was more than 20 yrs old, there is no more steam locomotive in china
I used to say you could go to China or India and buy a brand new steam locomotive, but sadly, I guess I can't anymore, the fire breathing dragons have all finally gone extinct.
thanks for sharing Tedrick Leong
Do you have an unsubtitled version of the video file?
"loaded with 15 tons of coal ... goes 200 miles"
they say that like it's bad. you can buy a ton of coal in the states for $100, I can't imagine how cheap it is in China. $1500 to move, like, 100+ tons, minimum, of freight 200 miles is amazing. how much would that cost in diesel to truck it? or even a diesel locomotive?
+Kevin Keel - CSX advertisements are claiming 498 ton miles/gallon of diesel.
+mmi16 thats cause the engins dont pull they just run low rpm to make electricity for wheel motors hence deisel electric
Interesting but very old movie 10-20 years old. I never see steam trains anymore when in China. I only see lots of new cars and (high speed) trains
+johnsamu someone said this was made in 99 dude.
India still has steam locos working
This is kind of sad to say the least.
Poland still runs steam commuters and freight because they have a lot of coal.
I wish i was born at the steam era....
Really it's a double edged sword; loosing the the steam engine is a big blow to our heritage everywhere, but if we keep them the prospects could be disastrous in the face of growth. Well not many people think about it, an electric locomotive is a miracle on rails; little or no emissions, long intervals between maintenance stops, virtually unlimited range, and around 85-99% thermal efficiency, compared to 30% for steam, and 45% for diesels. However even with modern day technology it would be good to run a few slower passenger excursions behind a steam engine to remind everyone where we came from, and hopefully show why we don't do this anymore. But don't get me wrong these machines were great for what they could do, and they absolutely deserve better then to get cut up for scrap; even static displays are low bar. But the absolute truth is that we need to encourage more industries to move fright by rail then by long distance truck.
*losing. As for electric locomotives, "little or no emissions", except from the coal-fired generating plants that make them go; "virtually unlimited range", unless there's no overhead power line. "Thermal efficiency?" In an electric locomotive? The quoted figure is the efficiency of electric motors' converting electricity into mechanical energy; thermal efficiency in coal-fired power stations is 35% at the most. Thermal efficiency for internal-combustion engines is in the 20% range; for steam it's about 8%. I agree with the rest of the sentiments, but please, let's be accurate about the technical details!
Glad I read your comment before replying almost the exact same thing.
I generally only quote the efficiency of the motors themselves, because It's incredibly shortsighted to assume we will be always use coal fired pants to generate electricity. In fact the original push for general purpose electric locomotives actually came from Sweden; where power generated from hydro electricity was so cheap that some companies just retrofitted an electric heater to the steam engines, until they could afford new locomotives. Then of course there is this world wide push for renewable power generation, which would make electric everything (Locomotives included) seem more practical. And even countries that use fossil fuel power would see benefits from the economies of large scale production. Not every locomotive on every line would operate under load (An electric motor only draws power according to what it uses, where as an idling diesel locomotive uses 30 liters of fuel every minute.); so effectively you could scale energy production for the few that are taking off; and a train going downhill could send power back into the lines. And really I’ve heard these arguments about efficiency so many times; they don’t ever take into account the sheer scale of operations, and the hundreds of engines that are effectively idling, or even the fact that every countries’ diesel locomotives (Germany excluded) have there engines set up to run a generator to power motors in the wheels. But if you must know your figure is correct under fully loaded, ideal conditions; but conditions are rarely ideal.
Also the internal combustion engine's thermal efficiency is closer to 15% for an Otto engine, and 45% for a big diesel. (But remember with hundreds of engines running independently that leads to only 15-30% utilized energy, compounding that 45% thermal efficiency.)
The use of electricity to heat the water on a steam locomotive was no common practice, and it wasn't in Sweden where this was done.
It was done in Switzerland, where the railways had been electrified very early, also because of having plenty possibilities for hydro-electric power schemes.
Most mainline operations were electric by 1925, but a lot of the shunting was done by small 0-6-0 tank engines.
Switzerland stayed neutral during the second world war, but they couldn't import coal during the conflict.
As Switzerland has no fosil fuels at all, they decided to put a pantograph and electrical heaters on these loco's.
The heaters were powered trough a transformer reducing the 15Kv form the overhead wires to a mere 7 volts, that made it possible to run the heater coils without insulation, as the conductivity of pure mountain water is low enough to prevent shorts at that voltage (and even when it does it adds to the heating proces)
It was applied to a small number of locomotives and after the war ended the equipment was removed (the boilers themselves were unaltered and kept their coal firing possibility)
More common were diesel/electric hybrids, which could run fed of overhead wires or third rail with electricity, and the diesel engine kicking in when leaving the electrified part of the network. Currently there are even new builds for the UK, the class 88.
You’re right I keep mixing up those two countries for some reason.
However it proves my point about electricity. They had only a little reserve of coal, but they could still generate electric power locally and cheap enough to get through the war. (This was a challenge for any country even if they did have coal mines.)
Also the Swiss Modernization Program started electrification in 1888, but wasn’t finished until the 1960’s. It makes perfect sense to have a steam locomotives shunting cars into the non-electrified branches. And it’s the same logic for Dual Mode Locomotives; the Class 88’s power output is 4000Kw for electric traction and 700Kw for diesel traction respectively, the diesel engine is mostly used for shunting in this case. And that 700Kw figure is a far cry from American Diesel Road Switchers which are usually in the 3300Kw range.
@29:23... 50 deaths a day in India? im sure from the videos i've seen. a good number of them are of thrill seekers/train surfers. That has to be a world high death rate. i think the rate in the USA is 3 deaths by rail a day.
I wouldn't mind working around a steam engine in 40 below weather lol
Dylan Ruppert well i would drive a steam loco if it was always cold
Those qjs are gorgious like he sead Marcellus car given to a living machean
what about big boy or challenger??
+Walter Wang Yes, I thought of that! Maybe a benefactor from the U.S. would loan them one!
+Thomas Wang what about thomas ding ding lol
What's the point of having English subtitles if the narration is in English?
+longlat39 Because some people might not hear properly? Duh.
Because people who love trains might go deaf being near them all the time...
the guy sounded like hed had a stroke, all that slow talking...ugh
If you can't quite understand him, ;)
for the people who cant hear.
i LOVE STEAM LOCOMOTIVES!!!!! There is no reason as to why they cannot be used. I would personally pay extra money on sales and services tax to have my goods shipped by steam engine. I think there wonderful and beautiful things. They should not be discarded and melted down. Allow them to work and be awesome. There is nothing like the chuff an puff coming off a steam loco as it thunders by you bellowing out steam and smoke, shaking the ground, shaking you, the rails groan and strain but they hold
There is nothing like a steam loco.
+Red Theman There's a HUGE number of reasons not to use steam engines. Very energy inefficient, require 10x more maintenance than diesel, and HORRIBLE for the environment.
+Mark Gouthro you know that diesel locomotives produce far more emissions than steam engines.
Audiking cadillac you know that your comment is completely wrong. Diesel engines extract 25% of the energy from burning fuel, steam engines only extract 5%.
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/05/11/history/post-perspective/locomotive-diesel-engine.html
+Red Theman My wife and I agree!
+Jim Jardine did she tell you to say that hahaha just kidding bro couldent help it dude
35-40
How can we turn the subtitles off? They are too distracting
They burn coal but have no cars so i sopose its probly cleaner air still
Thomas the tank engine
29:22
hiro in Thomas and friends
Hiro's Japanese this documentary is about steam locomotives in China and India and Japan and those two countries are VERY different towards each other.
Why did you post this when I know by yo profile pic you a fellow weeb
they make it sound like the indian railways is so poor. even back then indian railways is one of the most profitable and efficient. we have 6600bhp electric traction locos being used for most things.
and here they say we cannot afford diesel technicians, bollocks.
India's railways may well make a profit,but they certainly don't seem too willing to spend it on locomotives,rolling stock or the infrastructure! A considerable amount of their loco's and rolling stock are what the British left behind and the rest are mainly UK throwaways exported to India post independence.Mind you a new loco and a rake of brand new,well appointed carriages,would be wrecked within a week running on Indian lines.Their interiors trashed (mainly by the passengers goats) and the paint job ruined by people scrambling to get on the roof!Speed would have to be restricted from 125mph to 20 so those riding on top don't blow off and so that the driver will be able to stop for cows,people,carts etc on the line and for broken track!Therefore it would be rather pointless to invest in modern equipment.
I should imagine somewhere in india there must be a massive loco yard where those loco's too far gone to ever be repaired are stored to be picked clean for their parts as required.
silver760
Wut.
Just...Wut.
INR builds most of their own Diesels domestically, has done for years, they're based on old Alco gear iirc. Their modern stuff runs EMD 710 engines, which the US has been using ( and still does btw ) for YEARS.
To be blunt, you're basically incorrect about literally everything you just said. Go get educated, learn about how INR works and some of it's engineering feats ( Monsoon Railway for one ), and just how modern it is. You don't run a profitable rail network in a country with 1.2 Billion people by accident, you fuckstick. The groundwork was laid by the Britts, yes, but the Indians took their idea of rail transport and ran with it, moreover, there's a LOT we here in N.America can learn from them.
Goddamnit...I swear to god, youtube comments get more and more retarded by the fucking day.
Connar Comstock I take it you haven't actually seen Indian railways then? Sure they have a handful of less that 20 year old locos and a couple of half decent carriages for long haul and some intercity trips.Aside from those the rest of the system is just like the rest of India,atrocious! They are still using allot of Metropolitan Vickers equipment that was supplied before WW2 and in the 50's
Do you have ANY idea what suburban and rural Imdia is like? I don't know what you have read on paper but india is a third word country.Sure there are the odd bits here and there where you could be mistaken for it being "modern" but the VAST majority of India is slums and poverty.I suggest you type "Indian Railways" into google and just look at the photo's,nuff said!
sayan das Filmography has been both a blessing and of course the greatest propagandizing weapon ever thought of.Some ppl are more dangerous than others, a terrible fact that I`m working on by being the opposite
+Brad Johnson so there just little backup bitches hahaha
El yuyuyyyúut
again no mention of britain who gave the world the locomotive
theskip1 did you even watch it? Britain was mentioned multiple times as the one who originally built many of the railways shown. Idiot.
Briton has no place in the modern future..its a welfare state full of fat lazy people , with bad teeth..going broke!
200t locomotive carrying only 10 wagons. What a *waste* !!!!!
This would be far better without the "music" or the florid commentary.
Mega polluters .
The narrator keeps on calling locomotives "trains". That kind of ignorance/stupidity devalues the video.
who wrote this? when it's poet time, let me know,,,,, that was terrible
Such a condescending narrator.