Steam Engines

I have been reading recently a biography of George and Robert Stephenson, and was struck by two things.

Firstly, the way in which Northern England in the 1820s was a kind of Silicon Valley for industrialisation.  One has a real sense of a cluster of innovative engineers attached to the coal industry in particular, with all kinds of mechanical invention springing up around the country.

Secondly, as the book was published in 1960, the author assumes familiarity with steam engines in a way that no longer exists.  I don't think I have ever stood on a steam locomotive, or seen one outside a musuem, but the author (LTC Rolt) takes a lot of basic knowledge about them for granted.