It appears that no matter how long past steam we are (50+ years), there is still the steam cleche set into everyones minds because of videos/adds/signs that stil show a picture of a generic steam engine. I wonder why they have stuck to that era? We are 50 years past that but yet everyone still says “Choo Choo” LOL Any new toy that comes out is a generic steam engine too. Even Digitrax uses a generic steam engine for their logo. Any idea why it is this way still? With the beautiful modern day diesel engines out there I would think they would want to showcase these rather than OLD steam. My personal vision of a train when I hear that word is actually a SD70M that pops into my head.
Not to coin a phrase, but it would be hard to say “Roar Roar” for the desiel; Instead of the Choo Choo for the steam he he he.
Why do tornadoes always sound like freight trains?
Is there something about, say, the SD70 that weather likes to emulate more than, say, a P30CH, which is darned loud?
Rr:
Poor diseasel fans. Don’t cry, or you’ll short out your traction motors and we’ll have to haul you home to dry out… 
Joking. Maybe there’s a good reason for the clip-art thing. A stylized steam loco can be shrunk down really small, and still looks like what it is. A small icon of a diesel tends to look like a boring box with wheels. (So it still looks like what it is, too… duck)
At leaast the Alco PAs were beautiful.
How about the SP Daylight steamer?
It probably all comes down to how easy it is to recognize something.
Everyone has seen a steam locomotive in some part of their life. Whether it be Thomas the Tank Engine or a UP Big Boy, steam locomotives are the “icon” for railroads. Just like leather helmets are the “tradition” for many fire departments.
When you really get down to the nitty-gritty of it, all steam locomotives really do look alike, if you ignore the obvious differences like number of drivers and their size, the size of the boiler, tender, etc. They all have the same basic form and operation.
Compare the “silouette” of a steamer to a diesel, and one just looks like a square black box when all is said and done…
I think there are a couple of reasons:
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Somebody already mentioned before - a steam engine has an unmistakeable shape that people will immediately and universally recognize as a “train” no matter how small or simplified it is. While diesel loco also have unique characteristics, the basic shape of a diesel loco gets lost if you try to scale it down or simplify it - it could easily be confused with a bus or even a piece of rolling stock.
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Railroads and trains were much more a part of life and culture back in the steam era than they are today. Today, railroads are mostly behind the scenes and generally not thought about in our culture. Even “regular” people who have never seen a live steam loco, and rarely see diesel locos, may tend to equate steam locos with the word “train,” because that’s what they remember from history class, historical movies, etc. In their mind, a “train” is kind of a cultural icon belonging to specific time periods in the past, and of course what kind of trains did they have back then - steam (mostly).
Another possible reason is because the average age of the average model railroader. Many of us model the era we grew up in, and for most today, that means late steam-transition eras. Decades from now, maybe most people will be modeling multi-unit SD70M’s with unit trains of double-stack container cars, and the generic cultural icon for “train” will be some version of a diesel locomotive.
[(-D][(-D] Good one, Midnight! [(-D][(-D]
Cantrell,
It may be that steam locomotives have had and still hold a more visual interest to folks than diesels because of all the moving parts on them - e.g. drive wheels, pistons, linkage, chuffing smoke, steam whistle, extraneous whisps of steam coming off various parts on the side, etc. Personally, I find a steamer a lot more interesting to watch than a diesel. (And, I do have both on my layout.)
REMEMBER: Just because something is “OLD” doesn’t necessarily make it useless or less endearing. [:)]
Tom
s:
But what’s the average age of these model railroaders:
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=5754&e=product&pid=41388
(Unrelated aside: Goggles and Bunsen are awesome.)
Also:
http://www.thomasandfriends.com/usa/index.asp
http://polarexpressmovie.warnerbros.com/
Admit it, powered-boxcar fans. We might have lost the dull battle of economics, but the railroads of imagination are ruled by King Steam. )
(Note: Don’t worry, the preceding is only serious. >:D)
Dan and Tom have said pretty much all there is to say about it.
The steam engine was in commercial use for well over 140 years. Its basic shape, almost always seen in profile, or close to it, is iconic. It is a highly representative shape in our society and for the incredibly important reasons of transportation and commerce. Both our nations were matured via railroads. Our huge growth after the turn of the 19th Century and its industrial products were all made possible by railroads, and what made the railroads do what they do were the steam locomotives which all had the same shape, more or less.
Good replies, fellas.
Because 95% of the people on the planet don’t know the difference between an 0-6-0 and a Big Boy.
Alas, the E/F series (and equivalent Cab diesels), which are almost as distinctive as Steam Locomotives (especially in profile) only ‘dominated’ the rails (well, along with steam in the transition era) for…what, 20 years (and they had to share glory with diesel switchers and boxcabs, and later with the Hood diesels still look similar in outline to today’s SDs (long hood, cab, short hood, all positioned on a exposed frame).
I think any US sign displaying train would tend toward a Train station sign (either denoting direction to station, or park 'n ride), and would display a stylized head-on view of a commuter train or LRV. Sometimes LRT stops or warning signs have a stylized profile view of a LRV.
c:
One would think so, but…
http://www.trafficsign.us/650/guide/i-7.gif
Makes sense, too…a head-on view of an LRV might make one think it was a toaster depository.
(Okay, I admit that’s a powered boxcar. I suppose a head-on view is one case where a cab unit is the easiest to distinguish in one-color silhouette. I do note for the diesel fans’ benefit that this E is wearing a boiler-tube pilot. Clearly it wishes it was a Real Locomotive. :D)
While I’ve always enjoyed riding all types of trains, a steam run is just more…special.
I for one get a bigger kick out of riding a steam train than I do a diesel. Especially the old logging Shays on the switchbacks. Steam engines just impress me more. The cab of the steam engine is a busy place when pulling a long grade, the fireman shoveling coal – the heat radiating from the boiler whenever he throws in a shovel full, sometimes the sanding of the rails, all the activity.
When modeling, I model both steam and diesel. I like the long consists of diesel freight moving across the layout, but I really like the looks of that little steam engine struggling to pull a few cars up a few percent grade or across a trestle.
Actually, that black-on-whatever silhouette is usually of a vintage steam loco - high stack, big round-topped domes, cab well above the boiler top… THAT is easily recognized as a railroad artifact.
Now, how about the silhouettes of a NYC Niagara, a N&W J or an SP GS. Flat tops, all of them! Likewise the long locos - Berkshires through Articulateds - with boilers that crowded the loading gauge and comparatively low stacks and domes. Don’t hold your breath waiting to see them on a ‘generic’ railroad sign. (at least, unlike a low-nosed SD, they would be unlikely to be mistaken for a tractor-trailer rig!)
For that matter, people still talk about Steamships, even though all new construction hulls are diesel powered…
Language, even the language of silhouettes on signs, trails behind life.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Why do tornadoes always sound like freight trains? ( or a big Waukeshaw V-24 gas compressor) most people have never been near a freight train, would it be proper to say “that tornado tore all the feathers off my chickens” and it sounded like a tornado.
I would imagine the clipart thing is mainly because its universal. pretty much all steam locos all over the world were basically the same distinctitve shape, while diesals are usually variations on rectangles.
And kids trains are almost always steam because its more interesting for a kids to think of a huge,load fire breathing monster than a relatively quiet, plain old diesal.