"Steampunk"

Scott · **Posted:** Sat Feb 09, 2008 2:02 am

Sorry for the purists, but the 1960 "The Time Machine" and even "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" fall into this genre.

Scott

Ed Kelley · **Posted:** Sat Feb 09, 2008 1:54 pm

If you haven't seen it, go watch the '99 Will Smith remake of "Wild, Wild West." About as close to the epitome of steampunk as you're gonna get!

SteveRG · **Joined:** Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:28 am **Posts:** 270

I just started getting into this genre or subculture and found it awesome! Not so much with the Wild Wild West idea of it but with everything else such as the brass goggles, the unnecessary gears and clockworks and especially all the copper tubing.
I'm surprised that this Neo-Victorian era of 'the future that never was' doesn't incorporate more steam locomotives than are already there. After all, wouldn't Robert Stephenson, Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian be classified as original 'steampunks' considering their efforts? To invent, construct, and operate something so alien as a steam locomotive in that time is like the current cars, trains and planes of today...people were in awe then and I know for a fact that when I see pieces of a day that had passed long ago, I get awe struck to see something so beautifully intricate, laced with detail and whether it runs or not filled with power and grace.
Did steam inventors ever imagine that the public would take to this new idea or find it something that had to be warmed up to? That is what I found this Steampunk thing to be like. Once you get it, the more it grows on you and the more you like it.

S. Weaver · **Posted:** Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:28 pm

This is a fun and creative thread - one of the best on the forum in a long time. I think the lack of lecturing and hand-wringing has something to do with it. Makes me want to go out to the shop and polish some brass ...

Dennis Storzek · **Posted:** Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:50 am

Scott wrote:

Sorry for the purists, but the 1960 "The Time Machine" and even "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" fall into this genre.

Scott

Well, maybe. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" certainly qualifies, as it was written in modern times (1964… anytime during my lifetime is modern times as far as I'm concerned) with the intention of spoofing old time technology for modern entertainment. Written by Ian Fleming of James Bond fame for his children, is it any mystery that the car shares some significant traits with Agent 007's Aston Martin?

But "The Time Machine" is true science fiction, a look into the future and the implications of the Industrial Revolution by Edwardian era writer H. G. Wells, who also brought us "The War of the Worlds" and "The First Man on the Moon" Wells and contemporary Jules Vern are considered the fathers of science fiction, and were definitely not spoofing technology, but rather were using the technology of the day and extending it to what they saw as its logical conclusion. Wikipedia has an interesting paragraph about Well's predictions:

” Wells's first non-fiction bestseller was Anticipations (1901). When originally serialised in a magazine it was subtitled, "An Experiment in Prophecy", and is considered his most explicitly futuristic work. Anticipating what the world would be like in the year 2000, the book is interesting both for its hits (trains and cars resulting in the dispersion of population from cities to suburbs; moral restrictions declining as men and women seek greater sexual freedom; the defeat of German militarism, and the existence of a European Union) and its misses (he did not expect successful aircraft before 1950, and averred that "my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocate its crew and founder at sea")."

It's a shame that the movie version of "The Time Machine" ends where it does, and doesn't follow Wells to his ultimate conclusion, but that would have been just too depressing for theatre goers.

Wells was more interested in the social implications of technology, while Jules Vern seems to have been the 'nuts and bolts' guy, but both were interested in exploring what the future would look like, and their adaptation of what were then common technologies set the tone for the "steampunk" type spoofs of today.

RCD · **Posted:** Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:38 pm

Not "Steam Punk" per say but it has steam locomotives in fact the millatery spaceship/train is hauled by a Big Boy http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclo ... hp?id=2913

Unlike America Japan is vary rich in railroad interest.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Dec 12, 2008 7:57 pm

Oh, it gets FAR worse than Galaxy Express 999 and its spin-offs.

There's at least one "hentai" (animated porn) film out there (and a sequel) where the management of a recently-privatized branch line decide to increase revenues and save their branch from extinction in part by running the late-night trains as sex shows, with willing young females available for the premium-fare-paying male riders.......

Shades of "The Titfield Thunderbolt," let me tell you.............

RCD · **Posted:** Sat Dec 13, 2008 3:13 pm

Well Alexander D. Mitchell IV already mentioned Midnight Sleazy Train, But the galaxy Railway (part of the Galaxy Express 999 story line) is NOT hentai Hell I own some of the DVD and as far as I have seen there isn't anything like that at all I would only give it a rating of PG13 for violence. Here is the opening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MsHH_TyhpQ I love how they use a Big Boy and the detail they put into it.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sat Dec 13, 2008 7:55 pm

Feh. With the rectangular numberplate, I'm more inclined to call it a cross between a UP Challenger and a Clinchfield one. (^_^)

CSontag · **Posted:** Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:45 pm

tyrok1 · **Joined:** Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:46 am **Posts:** 166

Cool! I had heard about Girl Genius before, but didn't know you could read it online, so I never did. That's a great comic! Read all of them (with the exception of some of the side story ones) from the beginning since you posted. Thanks for sharing!

I've seen some of Galaxy Railways before, and I love the idea of a newer cartoon starring steam locomotives. But 'ya know what really bugs me about that show? Check out the valve gear on the engines when they close-up on it. Even in the relatively short shots (at least in the episodes I've seen) you can tell that they have absolutely no idea how Walshaert valve gear is supposed to work! I mean, I'm sure they can slide that past about 99.99999% of the population without anyone noticing, and mechanically it looks OK unless you know how it works, but it's just wrong!

Goes to show just how anal you can be when you're a railfan. :)

superheater · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 11:54 pm **Posts:** 2605

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/the-aviator-keyboard-for-steampunk-fans-with-big-wallets-20081222/

o anderson · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:51 am

Just ran into this website. A steampunk railroad festival (of sorts) held in Santa Rosa last September.
http://handcar-regatta.com/philosophy/

SteveRG · **Joined:** Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:28 am **Posts:** 270

While researching this 'sub-culture' I found many interesting websites and pictures. A few were of a guitar remodeled to resemble Jules Verne's and Captain Nemos Submarine The Nautilus. It had the dining room window lit up with a blue plasma light and lots of brass and copper tubing around it. I had the idea to re-design MY guitar by painting it steel, cutting the heads off of many nails and attatching it to the body to look like rivets and instead of the regular volume and tone knobs I want to turn them into water faucet handles or valves. Also going to put on it lots of brass or copper tubing as well.

I am attempting to make it look like a steam loco backhead. I am even watching Ebay for a pressure gauge. Had a question about them. How can you make them stay at a constant pressure even when NOT under a load or no pressure is pushing the needle? Can I just open the (glass face) push the needle to a desired setting such as setting the hands on a clock and then re-install the face? This would seem the best option rather than gluing it in place.

Would this work?

PCook · **Joined:** Sat Jul 02, 2005 7:16 am **Posts:** 2127

This is a very amusing discussion considering how many people on RYPN go ballistic whenever the idea of turning a piece of worn out machinery into a cutaway is suggested.

PC