Back in the early 19th century, when simple steam locomotives were a new technology, if one wasn’t running properly, the problem could be pinpointed easily in three minutes (“leaky boiler”). Fixing that problem, however, could take three weeks or more. By the time steam locomotives were phased out in the mid-20th century and replaced by more efficient diesel and electric engines, that ratio was reversed entirely. By then, engines were complicated beasts, and so it could take three weeks to diagnosis the problem, which then could very likely be fixed in three minutes.

A Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotive sitting on a sidetrack along the Wilmington Western Railroad, Hockessin, Delaware.

From the cab

Cab

CabBW

Locomotive

SmokeStack

Tender