🚀 go-pugleaf

On 2018-01-23, hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com <hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:

> On Saturday, January 20, 2018 at 8:48:47 PM UTC-5, JimP wrote:
>
>> There were also short films on tv, 'Industry on Parade'. The intro was
>> lots of factories belching smoke and fumes.
>
> Until the 1960s, factories belching smoke were seen as a positive
> thing--frequently shown in illustrations (even a 1940s IBM tab ad.)

"Where there's smoke, there's work!"  -- Firesign Theatre

> Then air pollution became a concern and attitudes changed.
>
> Steam locomotives were often depicted as billowing black smoke.
> In reality, railroads disliked that because black smoke meant
> the coal wasn't being burned efficiently.  A clear stack was
> better--better combustion.

I inherited a photo from my father (a long-time railroad man)
of a train with three serially-coupled steam locomotives working
its way up the steep grade into the Crownest Pass.  It's an
amazing shot - the way smoke is blasting out of those stacks
you can almost feel the ground shake.  Apparently my father
saw the photo in a magazine and tracked down the photographer
so he could get a print from the original negative.

-- 
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