The age of steam
92 wordsWaiting for the bus, late for work, this morning, I thought I heard the loud whistle of a steam train.
I was nearly right — it was a steam narrowboat passing our house. It passed under the bridge amid clouds of filthy smoke and steam. You could smell it halfway down Clemens St.
It’s worth remembering that during the Industrial Revolution, such craft would have been been lined up end-to-end along the canal, and the air would have been thick with fumes far worse than those of petrol or diesel engines, all the time.