Trains run on coal - nowhere to be seen
@allknowing (130064)
India
June 19, 2018 6:38pm CST
As kids we were charmed by this monster as that's what we called it. Trains spewed heavy smoke and the sound it made was also different. It was also interesting to watch firemen shoveling coal specially if they happened to be those you knew. All this is almost history now.
No doubt these trains contributed to pollution but I do miss them.
11 people like this
12 responses
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
@DianneN But the sound they make is not the same.
2 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
Pollution yes but kids simply loved to see them go by.
3 people like this
@DianneN (246905)
• United States
20 Jun 18
@allknowing Kids still love watching trains. I know I dod, smoke or no smoke. 
2 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
19 Jun 18
But have you travlled by trains run on coal?
3 people like this
@rakski (112925)
• Philippines
20 Jun 18
@allknowing no I have ot try this at all
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
20 Jun 18
We do still have trains that to through a few times a week but not often. When I was a kid they went through every hour all day and night. It should sure has changed. When my grandmother was raising kids here many years ago 60+ years ago they couldn't hang laundry out on the line to dry as all the cinders from the trains smoke would blow through the air and cover everything with a layer of black.
3 people like this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
20 Jun 18
@allknowing they must have hung them up inside to dry before dryers.
2 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
@shaggin That seemed the only solution but nothing like getting the sun. We do that here but just to air them after they are washed in the washing machine.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
Those who had residences close to where the trains ran surely faced issues that your grandmother faced. Wonder how they managed to keep their clothes clean.
2 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
True but when it comes to accidents there are more now.
2 people like this
@Shavkat (137213)
• Philippines
20 Jun 18
@allknowing It wasn't that famous nowadays. But then, it is a good thing that they had existed before.
3 people like this
@Shavkat (137213)
• Philippines
21 Jun 18
@lnillerman We don't need to feel bad. They were the old trains that make people aware of the possible causative factor of an air pollution.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
And the chugging sound - There was perfect rhythm 
2 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
@LadyDuck We have travelled a lot in those trains but later we were flying or taking a bus mostly to our native place The bus journey was cut to half almost with bridges on so many rivers that we found en route
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (458230)
• Switzerland
20 Jun 18
@allknowing I loved that chugging sound, those old trains had a "personality" that modern trains have no more.
2 people like this
@Deepizzaguy (94569)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
20 Jun 18
The train that you are talking about reminds me of the trains that were used during the building of the Panama Canal.
3 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
@Deepizzaguy That is interesting but here in India I understand we still have those in remote areas.
2 people like this
@Deepizzaguy (94569)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
20 Jun 18
@allknowing Around the era before World War I broke out which was in 1914. The train that was locked away inside a fence in Balboa Panama is now located in New Jersey after the Canal Zone ceased to exist in 1979.
2 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
They really do but they were a child's delight
2 people like this
@wolfgirl569 (95225)
• Marion, Ohio
20 Jun 18
I still like watching the trains go by. Unless they stop blocking the tracks where I want to cross.
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
20 Jun 18
There are still a few of these trains around but run as a tourist attraction. Thank heavens there are only a few left because of the environmental impact it has. They were unique and very useful for the time they were in constant use but times have changed.
2 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
20 Jun 18
They are a menace when it comes to environment but we oldies do miss them.
2 people like this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
20 Jun 18
I would rather have trains run on coal today than big trucks tearing up the freeway.
2 people like this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
20 Jun 18
@lnillerman As they speed past us and all we can see ahead of us on the freeways are their back sides. Yea. I've been on a highway going long distance, having to constantly get out of their way only to have them in front of me, blocking my scenery.
1 person likes this
@anamika161088 (11868)
• India
20 Jun 18
I have seen coal geared trains in movies only with a lot of smoke..
2 people like this
