Best steampunk book I've seen for kids, friends, your boss, and steam punk / inventors geek love .. Thaddeus the Boss, by Heather Theurer

http://www.heathertheurer.com/index.php

that is the first couple pages after you open it, so you can see how it begins

the story line is that Thadeus (the kid) wants to be a "boss" like his dad, and this tells how he tries and learns how difficult it is to be a boss, and what the things a boss has to do for the people he is a boss of.

one of the great things about Heather's art and design is the TERRIFIC details and inventions she displays throughout the book, like the pacifier with a dB meter

Every day the dad goes to work in a new way, but a Motor Wheel? How Cool!

the above reminds me of the big car in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen... notice the engine horsepower call out on the exhaust?

Steampunk baby buggy!

this is so cool, Heather wrote up a great amount of things that you can get your kids to think about or discuss, even go back through the book and look for

http://www.heathertheurer.com/index.php

http://www.amazon.com/Thaddeus-Boss-Heather-Theurer/dp/0982613784

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/thaddeus-the-boss/id512785971?mt=11

http://www.epbot.com/2012/03/saturday-steam-31712.html

Whoa, steam locomotive lovers are gonna want this!

It's a 4 ton BBQ, from "Tvoryukami" - a group that is based in a small village near Ryazan Deulino and is known for its visionary and creative scope

Original source: http://www.bbqmag.ru/newnum.html?article=497#.UhwBYhtQEXy

I found it on http://www.epbot.com/2013/04/saturday-steam-42013.html

Union Pacific home video 35 mm of the Big Boy trains, the 2nd half of this video is terrific

found on http://oldcountryboys.blogspot.com/

car propulsion methods are compared in this months Automobile magazine, May 2013 issue

in 1900 there were 4192 motor vehicles registered in the US

1681 were Steam powered, 1575 by electricity, 936 Gasoline engines

1905, there were 78,000 registered motor vehicles.

Steam and Electric had double in number, but that means only about 3200 were steam and electric, and 75,000 were gasoline powered

1912, the electric started is developed by Charles Kettering

The starter made the gas engine far simpler to use for a lot more people, and this sounded the end of the difficult to recharge Electric, and the slow to heat up Steam

1915 was about the end of the electric, and 1920 the end of most steam.

1925, Stanley is done

1931, Doble (best steam engine made at the time) is done http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/07/among-few-steam-powered-cars-doble.html

1941, Detroit Electric is through

http://www.automobilemag.com/

the Voisin http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/07/unique-look-at-automotive-design-french.html is the one from the Mullin Museum in Ventura, and is in the article because of the gas engine with the sliding cylinder sleeves. The big car is a White, and like the right side car, the Chrysler Turbine http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/bit-of-this-and-that-in-display-case-at.html, are both owned by Jay Leno. neither the White, the Turbone, nor the Voisin are really in the article, but they make for a hell of a cool photo, and they didn't have an electric car to use. A proper selection would have been a Doble, either a Baker electric or Detroit Electric, and a gas engined car of the same era

Buffalo Springfield steam roller... built to last longer than the roads it made

"Any and all photos taken on the museums property must include the wording: "By permission of the Motor Transport Museum, 31949 Highway 94, Campo, California, web site: http://www.motortransportmuseum.org"

Southern Pacific 2353, restored in the 1990's, was running and used in movies from 1996-2000

from Retrowar.tumblr.com

That is the first time I've seen the front of a steam locomotive open while on the rails... looks like WW2 France by the number of berets. Notice the tanks on the flat bed cars? Panzers?

both from http://retrowar.tumblr.com

I found a train tumblr and it's loaded!

you'll see such a variety of cool old locomotives, your boiler will explode!

just a sample of the cool trains at http://absurdonio.tumblr.com/tagged/locomotive

one of the largest car collections is getting sold off in part, here are a couple of the unique vehicles to hit the block

the oldest surviving Ford sold, a 1903 rear entry tonneau

a 1900 Milwaukee steam runabout

1919 Renault torpedo

1933 Packard 12 convertible sedan, body by Dietrich

found on http://www.bornrich.com/john-oquinns-car-collection-sale-hershey-auction.html

Disneyland has steam locomotives, some built for the park, and an 1894 engine from a Louisianna sugar plantation

The video is narrated by the above experts, and below is the Fred Gurley, the 1894 plantation train

there are 5 in the Disneyland park,

learn more about them in the video at http://disney.go.com/disneyinsider/insider?cmp=EMC|ins|Newsletter|DisneyInsider|FeatureVideos|1|073112|235x135|Trains|bestGuestE|

the Desert Classic, 1908-1914... the Los Angeles to Pheonix race

old US 80 started its life as the course of the wild 1913 Great Desert Race from Los Angeles to Phoenix. In preparation for the race, Locke took Barney Oldfield over the road to show him how to navigate rough desert terrain.

 Front page news, as so many publicity stunt car races were, imagine what passed for news in 1908-1914... not much. Publicity garnered by car companies getting stunts accomplished by the hardy and stamina having tough bastards that could hang in through exposure to all sorts of weather (open cars with no tops) and no roads, well this was nearly hero stuff in that age, and heroes making their way across your country is heady stuff that sold papers... everyone came out a winner. The drivers made a couple thousand per win.

That is why the 1908 New York to San Fran, the Paris to Peking, and the New York to Paris were etched in the cultural knowledge... new things that cars were, plus publicity, added to entertainment and a competition.. it's about as close to amazing as it got in 1908-1914. The times were full of historical firsts, heroes, and miracles. The first human flight in an airplane, the first roads, the first cars, etc etc

The first race was won by a steam powered White. The vehicles White made were so good, one was bought by the White House for President Taft's limo, and Buffalo Bill had one also.

 above on the far right is Barney Oldfield, and he is driving the car he took to 4th place in the Indy 500 just months before. He won the Desert Classic with it.

for more about this, see http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/06/june-21st-6pm-san-diego-auto-museum-is.html