Januar 14, 2015, 8:44 am, Prof. Dr. Kunze Rolf-Ulrich,
20th century railroad history,
Failing innovation,
Featured Articles,
Historical analysis of technology acceptance,
Historical assessment of technology,
History of transport,
Mobility,
PRR T1 duplex class,
Sociohistorical analysis,
Topics.
The essay presents the brief history of the last technological development of the steam age on US railroad tracks: the T1 duplex class of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1942–1951. Referring to the methods of today’s technological assessment, the article is questioning a teleological interpretation of the last US passenger tratin steam locomotive as a failing innovation.
This essay is supposed to answer the purpose of examining reflections about the technological development of war machinery between the end of the Franco-Prussian War and the beginning of the First World War. The use of technologically evolved weapons in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 and other wars in the aftermath were observed critically and led to various opinions about the form of war to be. These were expressed in contemporary literature like pamphlets, scientific papers and science fiction novels. These will be analysed for imprints of technophobia, technophilia or fascination with technology. As this paper will point out, all three elements can be found in the corpus of literature consulted for this topic. Besides reflections on already existing and only enhanced weapons like guns or cannons, also technology not yet used in war like ironclads or airplanes and its impacts on future war are covered in the works chosen for this essay.