Steam locomotives had a presence, just like a very large animal that breathed, but also hissed, clunked, rattled, and clanked along, unfortunately they were also very high maintenance, dirty, inefficient, hard to work, and under modern thinking also quite polluting. My grandfather, a coal miner in Northumberland all his working life until he was injured in a stone fall underground, came back to work as a fireman then a driver on the NCB railways.** Retiring at 65 and passing away aged 87, in 1963. He used to say each one had its own character, irrespective that they were from the same batch of engines, from the same manufacturer they all were all different. But also very simple to repair if one developed a fault.
** His weekly pay as an engine driver for the NCB was higher than a fully trained pit deputy working 1400 feet below ground and 3 miles out under the North sea.
Modern trains are just like multi-bodied articulated buses. Mind you, the new livery for the trains announce a couple of weeks ago and shown on television, when they are eventually taken back into public ownership the chosen colour scheme is striking, and to say the least, better than some of the dismal efforts they are painted today.
