Corey Escoto

Position paper

Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Railway Journey (chapters 1 and the first half of chapter 2)

 

 

In the "Mechanization of Motive Power" Schivelbusch recognizes the exhaustion of wood, the major pre-industrial material used for both construction and as combustible fuel, as a transition point signified by a process of "denaturalization," a preference shift toward coal and iron, and the resulting development of steam power. Technological improvements reach a pinnacle with Oliver Evans' high-pressure engine, thus making this improved engine highly efficient and capable of mobile use.  The locomotive, born in the mine fields of Newcastle, England to transport coal from shafts to the river systems, replace horse-driven wagons as coal becomes cheaper than food used to feed the horses.  Schivelbusch describes that it is the English, with their concentration of coal production and their perception of coal as "the endlessly available fuel," who take the locomotion from a tool of work to instrument of traffic.

 

The nineteenth century marked the beginnings of the "railroad movement," characterized by overall increase in speed, thus resulting in an increase in the number of "traveled routes, traffic intensity, and the number of transportation enterprises." Schivelbusch uses a passage by James Adamson to illustrate how the physical "regularity, uniformity, unlimited duration, and acceleration" were interpreted as superior qualities.  This unstoppable "synthetic" technology, however, would not proceed without dissent.

 

Opposition to railway travel pointed to the speedy transportation's "loss of a communicative relationship between man and nature," loss of the perception of spatial distance, and loss of "soul" as an anti-aesthetic that lessened the beauty of the journey. What might this loss of perception look like in paintings of the time?  How might representation of railway imagery differ based on the perspective of a pro mechanization versus anti-mechanization?  What are some contemporary issues of technology and fear and how might they relate?

 

Schivelbusch describes the public's perception of what is "natural," to change to smooth mechanics as the new natural order, while the horse drawn carriage, now considered to be unsafe and unnatural in motion, "would become the amateur sport of the privileged classes."

 

In "Machine Ensemble" Schivelbusch illustrates the public's understanding of the railway system and steam engine as one entity contrasting from that of the a river or road system where the "route" and the "means" by which you travel the route are distinctly separate.  As the railroad's evolution continues and greater innovation and the need of "perfect adjustment" arise, Schivelbusch argues that the railroad "completes detachment from nature." Why has the rail system lasted so long?  What might cause the obsolescence of the railroad? How might the evolution of technologies based on exhaustion of resources inform our current economic and ecological situation?

 

 

Ted Jackson

Position paper

Wolfgang Schivelbusch, The Railway Journey (chapters 2 and 3)

 

Wolfgang Schivelbusch, in the second and third chapters of his book on the history of the railroad, comments on the railroad as a mechanical ensemble as well as how the railroad changed perceptions of space and time.

 

In the second chapter, he points out that at the beginning of the railroad’s history the route and means of transportation existed independently, just as the steam engine and its undercarriage remained separate entities.  This more “liberal” system was superseded once scientific research determined the accuracy with which gauge of the tracks and locomotive wheels must be maintained for safe operation. 

 

Schivelbusch comments on another change in viewpoint that is important for our seminar’s goal, viz., that the history of the wheel underwent a fundamental change.  Before the railroad, the wheel was only considered to move by means of an external force applied to it (generally in the form of livestock).  Once engineers discovered that cogs were not necessary and that steel wheels against steel rails could produce enough traction to propel a train, the wheel could henceforth be thought of as a self-propelling entity. 

 

The locomotive was also successful in overcoming two other forms of “natural” resistance:  the microphysical, or the obstacle of friction from a rough and uneven road, and the macrophysical, or irregularities in the natural terrain such as hills and valleys.  The implementation of smooth rail and various methods of landscape alteration such as excavations and embankments allowed a much closer imitation of Newton’s perfect road that was both frictionless and flat.  As a result, regularity won over natural irregularity, but not without both the traveler’s loss of contact with landscape and her sense of space and motion.

 

The railroad also had a profound effect on perceptions of space and time.  Since the locomotive moved three times faster than the stagecoach, distances between locations appeared shorter.  As Schivelbusch puts it, older technologies, by means of their “mimetic relationship to the space traversed, permitted the traveler to perceive that [traveled distance] as a living entity” (36).   In regards to increases in velocities, distances diminished, yet space was also expanded.  With suburban trains, one could easily commute to Paris, which brought work closer to the suburban dweller while allowing him to live in a distinctively separate locale. 

 

Changes in ability to travel distances more quickly also removed a certain quality from distant spaces—their geographical inaccessibility.  Traditional havens for the aristocracy were soon taken over by the middle classes, for example, with the advent of affordable and rapid transportation there.

 

Questions:  How do changes in the perception of the wheel’s abilities compare to the changes in artistic perspective we discussed in week 2? What might be some possible effects of the fact that major train lines stop in only major cities and leave other, smaller stations behind?  Has transportation been changed into a commodity since the advent of the railroad?