Alna. The 2-foot-gauge train pulled by Engine 9 of the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum is a gem. Fun to ride with much more to teach than meets the eye. History’s lessons, for instance.
Early 19th-century stationary steam engines helped replace slaves as the chief energy source. Mining, pumping water, plowing, and milling spring to mine. Steam locomotives riding steel rails birthed modern transportation. Shipping, and trade. The rails’ fixed path helped create vibrant village and town centers, a sustainable settlement pattern still discernible today.
But steam boilers on wheels were an inefficient way to tap the power of a coal fire. So, by the early 20th century, the boilers began moving into central power stations and railroads began to rely on more efficient electric locomotion. Central power stations could have also limited exhaust emissions, a potential mostly unrealized.
Steam power and railroads were among the positive developments of the industrial age. The discovery of oil, however, remains a mixed bag. It led to neocolonial exploits. Many useful synthetic materials, including drugs, came from petroleum, but plastics created a disposables culture and monumental waste and pollution. The internal combustion engine created long distance road transportation, but with the rolling friction of road vehicles ten times over that of steel wheels on rail. This reduced efficiency is made up by greater fuel use, resulting in waste and toxic emissions.
Open path roads allow dispersed, unsustainable settlements and “development” that destroy nature, town centers and local businesses alike, creating sprawl, unsightly roadside “strips” and malls with acres of paved parking. With cars needed to access everything, not walking leads to obesity and health issues. Excessive paving creates heat islands, rainwater runoff and flooding. Climate change caused by fossil fuel combustion is already manifest in heat waves, glacier-melt, dried-up rivers, droughts, deluges, floods, sea level rise, food and water crises and more.
The lethality of modern war machinery, weapons, and space races, neo-imperial wars of choice, inequality, exploitation — not to mention war injuries, destruction, and health issues — would all be impossible without the internal combustion engine. A mighty war industry corporatized war-making into a “profit center.” Deficit-financed permanent wars are sold to the public as just part of modern life.
But mistakes are learning opportunities. So is questioning the status quo. The Founding Founders organized the USA explicitly on Enlightenment principles — that, by applying knowledge and reasoning to the natural world, people can figure out how to order their society. This implies citizens who think. Doctrine-free education is, therefore, key.
So is innovation. Solar and wind power can produce free, green hydrogen by electrolyzing water. Tapping hydrogen for its energy emits only water, completing a nature-friendly cycle. Germany’s new hydrogen trains demonstrate this technology. Vulnerabilities of the power grid can be mitigated by microgrids — think Culebra Island, Puerto Rico and Babcock Ranch, Fla.!
Railways are still the most efficient means of overland shipping and transportation. With 1/10 the friction resistance of rubber tires on pavement, railroads carry the same weight using 1/10 the energy of cars and trucks and 1/12 that of aviation. Constructing a rail line at $1 to 2 million per mile compares to a $2 to 5 million/mile two-lane road and an up to $10 million/mile interstate highway. Roads require frequent repairs and repaving. Road damage is related to the fourth power of the vehicle load, so an 80,000-pound 18-wheeler full of cargo — 20 times heavier than a 4,000-pound passenger car — causes 160,000 times more road damage than the car. The damage by a single 18-wheeler equals that caused by 9,600 cars. Meanwhile railroads provide years of service over tracks with many factors greater carrying capacity than even multi-lane roads, requiring minimal maintenance.
To help address climate change, can we imagine a distance-appropriate transportation system? Up to one mile we should walk, up to 15 miles bicycle, up to 30 miles drive cheap low-range electric vehicles. Up to 50 miles, electric or hydrogen-powered buses and delivery trucks could connect us to the nearest train station. Up to 100 miles, light rail may be the best way to travel; beyond that, high speed passenger rail and heavy freight trains are appropriate. Hydrogen-powered ships and aviation complete the picture with transoceanic transportation.
To minimize mistakes, planning is essential. Planning is not some “ism,” it’s what intelligent humans (even squirrels!) do. We should all plan, based on research using the scientific method. Education should teach us how to thoughtfully do this. Computers and the internet help. And when the results are credibly verified, truth and justice emerge as part of all worthwhile solutions.
Engine 9, thanks for the interview, and for the inspiration to learn.
(Paul Kando is a co-founder of the Midcoast Green Collaborative, which promotes environmental protection and economic development via energy conservation. For more information, go to midcoastgreencollaborative.org.)
