Although I’ve been asked to make another post about current events, and especially about what’s happening in Ukraine, I don’t really want to do this yet. I’m not entirely against doing this, but I’ve already made two posts about the happenings in Ukraine. There’s also the fact that I don’t really want to be associated with an embarrassing country like the Russian Federation. However, I can say a few things at this time. First of all, the performance of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine continues to be poor because the Russian Federation is a sickly, right-wing oligarchical state. Contrary to the belief of some conspiracy theorists and reactionaries that oppose the authorities in the USA, Vladimir Putin is not the greatest conservative leader that has ever lived, and he doesn’t have some master plan. The only plan that he had was to continue to provide Europe, and especially Germany, with cheap Russian oil, cheap Russian natural gas, and, um, cheap Russian prostitutes. The Americans and the English have wrecked this plan of his for the time being by overthrowing the government of Ukraine in 2014 and by using the new fanatical anti-Russian government in Ukraine to provoke Russia and to act against Russia. Still, eight whole years had passed before Putin did anything significant, and, when he did act, he acted so badly and with such restraint that the anti-Russian regime in Kiev has gotten bolder. After one year of hostilities, Putin has failed to defeat the Third World country known as Ukraine, he has failed to overthrow the anti-Russian regime in Kiev, and the regime in Kiev, which nurtures Nazis, is now not only banning and destroying anything that’s Russian in Ukraine, it’s also calling for banning anything that’s Russian in other countries, and the NATO military alliance is glad to support this. Meanwhile, Putin is only concerned about how to get McDonald’s and The Coca-Cola Company to return to Russia and to continue selling junk food to the dumb Russian masses. Well, Russians are about as intelligent and as organized as the monkeys in the film Jumanji (1995). I’ve also heard that the Nazis in Ukraine have begun to build a Death Star. Progress on this top-secret project has been slow because Ukraine is a poverty-stricken country with a very bad education system. Let’s not forget that prostitution is a profession in Ukraine. Still, the Ukrainian Nazis are determined, and they’ve been using materials such as wood, stones, mud, cardboard, and plywood for the construction of their Death Star so far. It’s entirely possible that the Americans will provide them with some cheap metals in the near future. What’s also worth mentioning is that the Ukrainian Nazis have found a willing recruit in Luke Skywalker. Luke has already volunteered to command the Ukrainian Death Star in the future, and he will become the admiral of the Nazi air fleet of Ukraine. When the badly-designed and badly-built Ukrainian Death Star becomes operational sometime in the future, it will not only be able to fire its superlaser at the Kremlin, where Putin will be hiding and shivering in one of the closets, it will also be able to fly around the world at a maximum speed of a half a mile an hour and to fire at and eliminate liberals, communists, and other leftists in various countries. Fortunately, by the time the Ukrainian Death Star reaches Canadian airspace, I will be long gone, just like a Belgian refugee. Although I wouldn’t call myself a leftist because I’m not a political person, I still don’t want to take any chances. Since Canada has been turning more and more into a Third World country, I think that it’s time for me to flee to the best place on Earth. No, I don’t mean to Disneyland. I mean to Wakanda. The energy dome of Wakanda will definitely protect me from the Ukrainian Death Star. In fact, I’ve already begun to practice perfecting my “Wakanda Foreva!” hand gesture. This is pretty much all of the intelligence that I’m willing to share about the happenings in Ukraine at this time.

Having finished to read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (1880) recently, I got a minor impulse to review it and some other books that I’ve read in the last year or two. I bought The Brothers Karamazov more than a decade ago in paperback form. The paperback that I bought is by Bantam Books. I began reading the novel not long after I bought it, and I didn’t stop until I finished reading 88% of the novel. I don’t remember why I stopped reading it. Perhaps I lost interest in reading it and wanted to read other books. Well, I resumed reading The Brothers Karamazov a few months ago, and now I’m done reading it. I acquired a copy of the novel in electronic form for my collection on Google Books and then sold the paperback that I bought on eBay. The Brothers Karamazov is not the first novel by Dostoevsky that I finished reading. I finished reading The Idiot (1869), which is also a thick novel, at the beginning of 2021. Actually, in the case of The Idiot, I listened to an audiobook that I bought on Audible. I think that I enjoyed reading The Brothers Karamazov more than I enjoyed reading The Idiot, but, since both of these novels are major classics, I don’t have anything negative to say about The Idiot. The Brothers Karamazov is simply a more impactful novel for me. One of the novel’s chapters, The Grand Inquisitor, is so memorable and so famous that some publishers sell it separately as a book. The Brothers Karamazov also has a memorable ending. Like Dostoevsky’s other novels, The Brothers Karamazov is an examination of the Russian mind. In my opinion, Dostoevsky was very good at psychology, and he knew the behavior of Russians very well. Some of the characters in the novel are stereotypical Russians. In fact, Dostoevsky was so good at characterization that I sometimes felt uneasy when I was reading the novel. For example, Fyodor Karamazov, the father of the four brothers, is in some ways like my so-called father. I don’t like to think about the vicious Russian monkey man that is my father, but, unfortunately, I was reminded of him when I was reading the novel. My so-called father is a bigot and a bully. I already mentioned in an earlier post that Russians are big time traitors. They’re also idiotic, sadistic, unreliable, devious, apathetic, and dishonest. I can say, for example, that my so-called father cheated on his wife more than once, and, to this day, he feels no regret about this. In fact, he’s proud of this. But Fyodor Karamazov isn’t the only familiar and well-realized character in the novel. There are other characters too, like his four sons. There’s Dmitri Karamazov, who’s a sensualist and somewhat of a brawler. There’s Ivan Karamazov, who’s an intellectual. There’s Alexei Karamazov, who’s a religious person. And there’s Pavel Smerdyakov, who’s the illegitimate son. Smerdyakov hates Russia, and he’s the one who kills his father. Still, the one who’s convicted for the murder of Fyodor Karamazov in court is Dmitri, the eldest son. The Brothers Karamazov isn’t only a novel about Russia, and it doesn’t only feature Dostoevsky’s observations and, shall we say, his wisdom. It’s also a piece of propaganda, just like most other books. Since intellectuals, socialists, nationalists, and other opponents of the Russian autocracy were very much a problem for the Russian authorities in the 19th century, I’d say that Dostoevsky promoted two things that the Russian authorities were in favor of. He promoted Russian patriotism and the Russian Orthodox Church. Since he supported these things in The Brothers Karamazov and in his other novels, he naturally mildly attacked and criticized intellectuals, atheists, and socialists. It’s also because of this that so-called classic Russian novels, the novels that got published in Tsarist Russia, are readily available in Western countries and in most other countries in the world. Russian novels that got published in the Soviet period (1922-1985) aren’t available in the West, and the few that are available are ones that are either critical of the Soviet Union or that simply attack and lie about the Soviet Union. I guess that I don’t have to mention that The Brothers Karamazov is a great novel. I guess that it can even be called the greatest novel of all time. But a great film adaptation of this novel still hasn’t been made anywhere in the world. However, a great film adaptation of The Idiot has been made. It’s the 1958 Soviet film that’s directed by Ivan Pyryev. I’m quite satisfied by the fact that I’ve already read two of Dostoevsky’s great novels. I’m still slowly reading Crime and Punishment (1866), and I must admit that I haven’t yet finished reading any of the novels by Leo Tolstoy. I’m currently reading War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878). Another classic Russian novel that I finished reading not that long ago is Mikhail Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time (1840). Lermontov’s novel didn’t leave much of an impression on me, and it’s obviously not as complex as the thick novels by Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, but it’s still a well-written classic that’s easy to recommend. The other classics that did leave an impression on me are the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. I listened to the Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes in 3 volumes on Audible. I can say that Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories are quintessential Western literary works. They’re about an incredible individual (the great detective Sherlock Holmes), they’re easy to read, and they’re entertaining. Holmes’s “superpowers” (his methods of deduction and examination) are introduced and explained in the first novel, which is A Study in Scarlet (1887). Of course, for someone like me, the Sherlock Holmes stories aren’t only entertaining literary works. Since I have a fine knowledge of history, they’re also captivating because they’re set mostly in Victorian England. They feature descriptions of the England of that era. In fact, I enjoyed listening to the audiobooks so much that now, about two years later, I’m again slowly listening to the audiobooks. I think that I already mentioned in an earlier post that I enjoyed reading Michael Herr’s Dispatches (1977), which is a well-written and memorable book about the Vietnam War. Dispatches was published in the 1970s, which was a time when American writers could still write good books. Another excellent book from the 1970s that I read soon after I finished reading Dispatches is The Mothman Prophecies (1975) by John Keel. I’m not recommending this book because it convinced me that Mothman exists. I’m recommending it because it’s well-written and memorable. I think that Mothman, like Bigfoot, is just another fictional creature that got invented in order to act as a distraction for the masses. Since many people, especially right-wingers, are happy to believe in the supernatural and in fantastic tales, such probable fictions can be very effective. I enjoy reading such tales as curiosities and not as something that should be believed. Erich von Daniken’s book Chariots of the Gods? (1968) is another book in this vein that I unfortunately bought and read. It’s one of those books that puts forward the ancient astronauts theory. Having read a few such books already, I’m unconvinced by this theory. Perhaps it’s true that humans were created by highly advanced aliens a long time ago, but this can’t be proved because there’s no serious evidence to support this theory now. Even if the ancient astronauts theory is legitimate, I think that humans were created way before human civilizations existed. I found Daniken’s book to be rather bland and not that interesting to read because I had read Jim Marrs’s Our Occulted History: Do the Global Elite Conceal Ancient Aliens? (2013), which is a much more interesting book, before reading Daniken’s book. But reactionaries and conspiracy theorists will almost certainly like it. James P. Hogan’s science-fiction novels Inherit the Stars (1977) and The Gentle Giants of Ganymede (1978) are also more interesting than Daniken’s book. I am curious, however, about why the establishment, at least the lunatic radical right of the establishment, promotes the ancient astronauts theory. Is it because they think that it’s legitimate? Do they want to create a new belief system out of it? Or is it simply another distraction for the masses?

I’ve got to say that a certain YouTube channel (Internet Pitstop), which I discovered in 2022, made me think about video games, anime, and other things in a slightly different way. I know that many great video games succeed at having a world or environment that can draw in a player because it features spaces, sounds, and music of much appeal. For example, in Dark Souls II (2014), in the coastal town of Majula, it’s pleasing to stand and look at the sea while listening to the sound of the waves and the music theme for Majula. In fact, sometimes, when I’m doing something that’s not demanding, I like to turn on Dark Souls II and load a save file in which my character stands near the monument on the cliff by the sea in order to look at the lovely view and listen to the music. Similarly, when I played Chrono Cross for the first time, I enjoyed looking at the scene in which Serge and Kid sit by a campfire and reminisce about the past. While this scene is taking place, the music track ‘The Girl Who Stole the Stars’ plays. It’s a memorable scene that is simply pleasant to look at. Well, as it turns out, there are such scenes or views in many other video games, but I didn’t stop to appreciate them for a long time before making this post. I turned on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) a while ago in order to look for some places where it’s relaxing to stay and listen to the music and the sounds, and I quickly found several locations. One of the locations is by Shoqa Tatone Shrine. There’s a campfire and a cooking pot there on the beach, under a cliff, on the shore of Faron Sea. It’s quite nice to stay there in order to listen to the music, to the sound of the fire, and to the sound of the waves. Another nice location is on Mount Granajh, near the Suma Sahma Shrine. There’s a campfire there in the remains of a wooden house. Not only is the view lovely, but the music that plays there is relaxing. Another nice location is on a hill on the west side of Deya Lake in the Faron Region. There are trees there growing in some water. There’s a stump where you can collect a korok seed, and the water features many floating leaves. Well, Breath of the Wild is full of fantastic scenery, but I rarely stopped to seriously appreciate it before. By the way, I’ve already finished playing this game twice since I bought it in 2017 for my Wii U. I can load a save file anytime I want in order to travel wherever I want to in its open world. I think that if this great video game hadn’t been available for the Wii U, it’s possible that I would have already bought a Nintendo Switch in order to play it, though its performance on the Switch is noticeably worse. I’d also like to play Super Mario Odyssey (2017), which is available only on the Switch, but I don’t want to play it as much as Breath of the Wild. Therefore, I still don’t own a Switch. Why this is the case is something that I have already gone over in an earlier post. But I must admit that the people at Nintendo have learned from their mistakes during the Wii U phase. They’ve allowed the release of many different video games on the Switch in order to boost sales, and they’ve even released some excellent Wii U games (Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Mario Kart 8) on the Switch, which is also nice. Although Nintendo has done this and other things in order to attract buyers, I still don’t have an urge to buy the Switch. I have a Wii U, and few Switch exclusives appeal to me. For those people that haven’t yet noticed, I must say that I’m not a dedicated video game player and I don’t play most of the latest video games. Almost all of the video games that I play are old great games. But it’s possible that I will buy a Switch, perhaps in used condition, after the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023). If Tears of the Kingdom will be as good as, or even better than, Breath of the Wild, I will definitely want to play it.

The original Sailor Moon anime had some seriously stunning backgrounds. Just take a minute to appreciate the gorgeous pastel colors, the scenery is so simple and yet truly beautiful… ♥

https://geekxgirls.com/article.php?ID=11405

WE are living in a day of changing locomotive fashions. Because of the competition of travel in the air and on the roads, the incessant demand is for speed, speed, and yet more speed on rails. So far as it concerns locomotive power, this demand is affecting not only the interior of the steam locomotive, but also its exterior. For it is realized – as it has already been realized in the design of aeroplanes and of racing motor cars – that in the higher ranges of speed, the influence of air resistance on the moving vehicle is considerable. Maximum speeds can still be increased’ if proper attention is paid to streamlining.

Steam locomotive externals are rapidly changing in this way, and the engine that forms the main subject of this chapter – No.6400 of the Canadian National Railways – is a typical example of progress in modern locomotive design. From the early days of railways the locomotive in Great Britain has always been thought of as something more than a mere piece of machinery. Trouble has been taken by locomotive engineers to develop a graceful outline and to conceal the working parts as much as possible.

Distinctive colours have been used by different railways for their engines, and these well-kept liveries have had some publicity value. What is more, this “cleaned-up” exterior, as the Americans have described it, is proving of value from the streamlining point of view. American locomotives, on the other hand, as well as those on the mainland of Europe, have kept a large proportion of their “works” outside. One of the advantages of having the “works” outside as much as possible is increased accessibility. Only in recent years has there been a definite move on the North American continent towards the improvement of locomotive externals.

This move has coincided with the demand for railway speeds higher than ever previously known. For continuous running speeds of 80 miles an hour or so, and maximum speeds up to 90 and even 100 miles an hour, fully streamlined locomotive exteriors have become necessary. It is the streamlined casing which makes the outline of No. 6400 and her four sisters differ entirely from that of other engines on the Canadian National system.

It has been ascertained from experiments in wind tunnels that complete streamlining cuts down air resistance by 40 to 45 per cent at high speed and that the power output necessary for a completely streamlined locomotive, when all resistances are taken into account, is less by 10 per cent at 80 miles an hour and by 12½ per cent at 110 miles an hour than that required for a non-streamlined engine of the same type. The streamlining of No. 6400 of the Canadian National Railways, however, is only partial.

Considerable advances in speed are being made on North American railways, and in these advances the two great railways of Canada – the Canadian National and the Canadian Pacific – may well claim to have taken a lead. In recent years, however, they have been outstripped in the race by various railways in the United States. The enormous size of the modern American locomotive, and the reasons for it, must now be explained, for No. 6400 of the Canadian National Railways, and others of her class, are – at the time of writing – the largest and heaviest streamlined engines so far built. This monster machine, in full running trim with tender, weighs 296 tons, compared with the 166 tons of one of the London and North Eastern Railway’s Silver Link streamlined engines with tender. No. 6400 is carried on sixteen wheels and her tender on twelve, as compared with Silver Link’s twelve wheels and eight-wheeled tender. Yet the track gauge of 4 ft 8½-in on which the two engines run is identical.

One reason for this difference in weight and size is that railway pioneers in America were not handicapped as were those in Great Britain, who had to carry their lines through valuable land. In America more space could be spared for the tracks, and level crossings, in many instances, took the place of bridges. These conditions permitted the development, on a more ample scale, of the rolling stock. Thus the American locomotive designer can plan an engine extending up to 16 feet above track level, compared with the 13 feet or so which is possible on a British railway.

The American engine may also be proportionately wider, but must still clear tunnels, bridges and the various other structures that are closely adjacent to the line. In view of the limited dimensions to which railway locomotives must be built, because of these loading gauge restrictions, this extra space has a remarkable influence on locomotive development.

But it needs more than the mere fact of an ample constructional space to justify the building of locomotives of such enormous size. This justification is found in the weight of modern American rolling stock. Partly because of the haphazard methods of railway operation in the early days of North American railways, leading to frequent and disastrous accidents, the travelling public demanded that coaches should be built entirely of steel, to give them a better chance of survival without telescoping in the event of collision or derailment.

This process of strengthening has gone on steadily with the building of vehicles of greater weight and size, and to-day the cars composing a modern North American express are from 70 to 80 feet long, are carried on two six-wheeled bogies, and weigh 75, 80 or even 85 tons apiece. Compared with this, a British twelve-wheeled dining or sleeping car weighs at most 43 to 46 tons, and an ordinary main-line corridor coach from 30 to 35 tons.

An important express in Canada may load up to twelve, thirteen, or fourteen heavy steel cars, and occasionally even more, with a total weight behind the engine tender of 1,000 to 1,200 tons, whereas in Great Britain express trains weighing as much as 600 tons are rare. Because of the length of many North American journeys, the proportion of sleeping-car accommodation in the long-distance trains is high. This helps to increase the proportion of the “tare” or empty weight of the stock to the number of passengers that it carries. Thus the tractive power of a modern express locomotive in Canada must be considerable and the proportions of No. 6400 are thereby explained.

The arrangement of the wheels which carry this streamlined giant first needs consideration. At the leading end of No. 6400 is a four-wheeled track, or bogie, pivoted under the centre of the engine smokebox, to enable the engine to traverse smoothly and easily the curves in the track. Of such immense size is the firebox, that the rear end of the engine also requires a four-wheeled bogie for its support. Between the two bogies are the four pairs of coupled wheels.

So that the power developed in the cylinders may be taken up at the rails, and not dissipated by slipping, it is essential that there shall be adequate adhesion, or grip. Six wheels or three coupled axles are more common in passenger service, but the weight borne by three axles would not provide adequate adhesion in so large and powerful a locomotive as No. 6400. Her four pairs of coupled wheels carry as much as 105½ tons of the engine’s weight, or an average of nearly 26½ tons on each pair. The second pair of coupled wheels from the leading end are the driving wheels proper ; the coupled wheels are 6 ft 5-in in diameter. Roller bearings are provided to all axle-boxes.

Rckoning from the chimney end, with the four wheels of the leading bogie first, then the eight coupled wheels and finally the four wheels of the trailing bogie, we have an engine of the 4-8-4 wheel arrangement. The nearest approach to this in Great Britain is the Cock o’ the North class of the London and North Eastern Railway, having the 2-8-2 wheel arrangement and similarly using eight coupled driving wheels.

Mechanical Stoking

These provide adequate adhesion for the extremely heavy gradients round the East Coast from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, but single pairs of wheels front and rear, with liberty for limited radial movement, are used instead of the two bogies. Compared with 4-8-4 No. 6400 of the Canadian National Railways, which weighs 170 tons without tender, Cock o’ the North of the London and North Eastern Railway weighs but 107 tons.

American and Canadian locomotive engineers are not generally in favour of the British plan of dividing up the cylinder power of modern locomotives into three or four units in place of two. One advantage of three-cylinder or four-cylinder propulsion is that the engine is better “balanced”, especially when running at high speed; against this division must be set the matter of greater complication of working parts and higher constructional cost. In Great Britain the division of cylinder volume into three or four units has been partly necessary because, with the limited space in which to build, two cylinders of sufficient size could not be mounted outside the engine frames in the clearance available.

No such limitation besets the Canadian locomotive designer, and No. 6400 is equipped with two exceptionally large cylinders with a diameter of 24-in, and a piston travel, or “stroke”, of 30-in. The motion operating the piston-valves is of the Baker-Pilliod type, arranged so that the steam supply to the cylinders can be cut off, when the engine is well under way, early in the stroke. The higher working pressure offers a correspondingly increased capacity for expansion.

Steam is generated in the giant boiler of No. 6400 at the high figure of 275 lb per square inch. Hitherto the highest pressure in British locomotives (with the exception of the experimental No. 10000 of the LNER, which carried a water tube boiler of special design) has been 250 lb per square inch, as in the LNER streamlined Pacifics of the Silver Link type, the LMS Pacifics and Royal Scots and the GWR Kings. At the rear end the boiler barrel of No. 6400 is 7 ft 2-in in diameter; at the front end it tapers to
6 ft 6-in.

The firegrate has an area of 74 square feet, and it would be beyond the power of any fireman to feed it by hand. Mechanical firing is therefore provided, the coal being brought forward by a worm and screw gear from the tender on to the firegrate, at a speed which the fireman can regulate according to the demand for steam. Inside the firebox two “thermic syphons” provide for rapid, circulation, and assist the process of steam-raising. After generation the steam is superheated, as is the practice on all modern locomotives. The object is to prevent cylinder condensation at the end of the stroke.

Coupled to No. 6400 is a tender which fittingly matches this enormous machine. Carried on twelve wheels, it accommodates 11,700 gallons of water and 20 tons of coal, and has a little over twice the capacity of the eight-wheeled tenders fitted to the Pacific locomotives of the LNER, which were the largest in Great Britain early in 1937. As the photograph above reveals, No. 6400’s tender consists chiefly of a large barrel-shaped water-tank, on top of which is placed, at the leading end, the hopper containing the coal. The driver’s cab and the tender front are connected in such a way that the crew is completely enclosed – a provision greatly appreciated when the engine is travelling at full speed through the intense cold of a Canadian winter. One novel feature of the tender is a “track sprinkler”, whereby a fine spray of water can be directed on to the track at places where it is dusty, so that the dust may be kept down and prevented from entering the carriages.

The total length of engine and tender falls short of 100 feet by only a narrow margin – the figure is 94 ft 8-in. By the ordinary tractive force calculation the maximum tractive effort that No. 6400 can exert, at 85 per cent of the working pressure (the customary allowance), is 52,450 lb, or nearly 23½ tons – a mighty pull indeed. The general arrangement of the streamlining of No. 6400 was decided after exhaustive tests had been made with models in a wind tunnel at Ottawa. The casing is really “semi-streamlined”, for the cylinders, motion and wheels have been left uncovered to permit of easier access for examination and repairs.

The front appearance of No. 6400 differs completely from that of most other Canadian or American locomotives. The usual circular smokebox front, carried on a saddle, is concealed by a rounded nose. This is extended downwards almost to rail level by an apron which takes the place of the ordinary cowcatcher, or lattice arrangement of steel bars, designed to clear the track of obstructions.

Recessed into the nose is the powerful electric headlight such as is carried by all North American locomotives; inside it is the small turbo-generator which supplies current for this headlamp and other lamps carried on the engine, and also for the air-brake compressors. When it is necessary to couple the chimney end of No. 6400 to a train, or to attach a pilot locomotive, a coupler appears from behind a door in the lower part of the nose, where normally it lies out of action.

Another lengthy casing extends along the top of the boiler from the chimney end right back to the cab, and is the chief contribution to the unusual appearance of the locomotive. Built into this are the chimney, dome, sand-boxes and safety valves, which are usually mounted above the top of the boiler.

If certain special precautions had not been taken, especially when the engine was being worked at high speed on a short cut-off, the exhaust steam from the chimney would drift along the top of this streamlined casing and obscure the front windows of the driver’s cab. Special louvres have, therefore, been formed in the rounded nose, and through these a strong current of air is forced when the engine is travelling fast. This draught is carried upwards in such a way that it catches the exhaust emerging from the chimney and lifts it high above the cab.

Further provision for the driver’s unobstructed view ahead is made by the fitting of a revolving disk of high-grade glass which forms part of the front window of the cab on the driving side, and this ensures a clear view in all weather conditions. Rain and snow are thrown off through centrifugal force.

Certain safety regulations did not permit the concealment of the whistle behind the streamlined casing, and it is therefore mounted in a prominent position abreast of the hidden chimney. The hooter of No. 6400 is operated not by steam, but by compressed air from the brake reservoir.

To such an extent is the publicity value of a smart locomotive now realized in Canada and the United States that cheerful colour schemes have become a standard feature of locomotive finish in North America. No. 6400 is no exception to this new rule. The front of the locomotive is painted black, but the long, narrow panel or “apron” of the running board, extending the whole length of the engine, is finished in the standard green shade of Canadian National passenger cars, with gold stripes above and below. These gold stripes begin at the front of the nose and sweep round to the running-board apron in graceful curves which accentuate the streamline effect.

In the middle of the apron, immediately above the driving wheels and in the middle of the nose below the recessed headlamp, appears the number “6400” in bronze figures on a red background. The numbers, on raised plates on either side of the upper part of the smokebox, correspond in a way to motor-car number-plates, and are illuminated at night from within.

The cab sides and the tender also are painted green, and on the side of the coal hopper on the tender appears the Canadian National “trade mark” – a rectangular panel, set at an angle, with the words “Canadian National” in gold on a red background. Above the running board, the “jacket” of the engine, including the outer covering of the boiler and the streamlined casing above, is of specially planished steel which needs no paint, but is rubbed with an oiled cloth to retain its natural bluish-grey colouring.

A 533-Miles Working

Five engines of this class are in service, and their principal task is to operate the fast and heavy passenger services between Montreal, Toronto and the United States border at Sarnia. This is a through locomotive working of 533 miles, and in Great Britain would be equivalent to running a locomotive unchanged with the “Flying Scotsman”, the “Aberdonian” or the “Royal Highlander” for the entire journey between King’s Cross or Euston and Aberdeen. At present the longest British locomotive workings are those of the LMS between Euston and Glasgow, a distance of 401½ miles.

It is in connexion with these lengthy Canadian through workings that the large size of No. 6400’s firegrate is of such value. Despite the fact that North American fuel is inferior in calorific value to the fuel used in Great Britain, it is possible, with the help of mechanical appliances for “shaking up” the grate while the engine is running, and so getting rid of ash and preventing the coal from clinkering, to keep a good, clean fire for an indefinite distance. The mechanical firing ensures also that no undue strain is imposed on the fireman. One engine-crew does not work the engine throughout this 533-miles run, but crews are changed at the important divisional locomotive points, while the engine herself uncomplainingly carries on.

The Canadian National tracks do not come to an end at the border station of Sarnia. The Grand Trunk Railway which, after its absorption by the Canadian National, provided the greater part of the Canadian National tracks in the Eastern States of Canada, also penetrated well into the United States. Thus to-day the Canadian National tracks extend almost as far as the great Middle West city of Chicago.

The “International Limited” and the “Inter-City Limited” expresses of the Canadian National Railways connect Montreal and Toronto directly with Detroit and Chicago. Beyond Sarnia the trains are taken over by other large 4-8-4 express locomotives somewhat similar in design to No. 6400.

https://www.rfblues.com/Omake/Controversies/

So did our favorite bounty hunters meet their ends in Session #11? What was that… thing?!

When Spike tried to identify the monster he found, a healthy bacteria called Bifidobacterium turned up, a near mirror image of the mysterious substance.

According to Alicia, a vigilant fan who studies organic chemistry, most organic substances are arranged asymmetrically. Since the the digestion of food involves complicated chemical reactions between food and asymmetrical substances in the body, there are notable differences in taste, smell and digestibility of mirrored substances most of the time. The Bebop may have encountered the opposite of bifidobacterium, which may be fatal after all. Bifidobacterium controls intestinal pH levels. The opposite of bifidobacterium would probably cause excess acid buildup.

Are Julius from Session #12 and Julius from The Movie the same person?

Though they share certain… eccentricities, whether or not the Julius from the Callisto migrated to Mars is up for debate. Though a similar character makes a brief appearance in another series.

Who sent Faye the beta tape and deck in Session #18?

One theory suggests the tape, a time capsule, became a historical artifact, randomly sent to various people in the Solar System. Yet another theory suggests an ex-boyfriend sent it to repent for past crimes. An old classmate may have sent it as well, hoping to find her after her disappearance.

Flashback sequences in Session #5 and Session #13 briefly show one shot of a Red Eye vile and spray in Julia’s apartment. Who was using it?

The popular vote goes to Vicious. Thanks to Michael Wayne for sending in this one.

Did Bull know Spike’s fate since Session #1?

“You will meet a woman… the woman will hunt you… and then death.” Bull may have been referring to Spike’s final encounter with Julia.

Is Spike really dead?

Even though he managed to survive gunshot wounds and a dramatic fall from a cathedral window, the relentless attacks of a psychopathic killing machine and a highly-trained Titan War veteran with a deathwish among other near-death encounters, Spike believed he was “already dead” since Julia disappeared three years ago. His days on the “Bebop” were his purgatory where he lived aimlessly as if in a dream. In Session #26, when Faye asks him why he chooses to die, he tells her that he intends to find out if he is alive. In the end, he finds out that he was “dead” all along.

https://www.rfblues.com/Omake/Notice/

THE TWO EDWARDS

An early pitch for the show featured two children onboard the ship, a boy and a girl. In the end, the two designs merged. The original male design makes a cameo appearance in Session #5.

THE MAN IN THE PICTURE

A picture in Annie’s shop in Session #5 shows Annie with the two most important men in her life. One of them is Mao Yenrai but who is the other man in the picture? In a recent interview with director Shinichiro Watanabe, the man was revealed to be Annie’s late husband.

PUNCH/ALFRED

Alfred, the familiar man picking up his mother at the spaceport in Session #25 is none other than Punch from Big Shot!

MUSASHI STRIKES AGAIN

In Session #22, Andy traded his old fashioned six-shooter for a samurai sword and changed his name to Musashi before he rode off into the sunset. In The Movie, he makes a cameo appearance.

MOCACHU

This elusive creature is Mocachu. The little critter appears in Session #20 and Session #22 and may have possibly appeared in other sessions. The little monster even makes an appearance in The Movie. Thanks to Big Big Truck for pointing this one out.

BRUCE LEE BILLBOARDS

It seems Bruce Lee is still quite popular in the year 2071.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Product placement in Cowboy Bebop!