Southern Unionist
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2017
- Location
- NC
Two of my best ever Christmas gifts were toy train sets, improving in size and sophistication as I grew older. I ran them both until they pretty much wore out.
I do miss hearing real trains regularly, especially on cold winter nights. There's something romantic about it. The town where I live now has very little rail traffic compared to where I grew up.
Also, DC was competing with AC in the early days of home electrification, and there was no way to transform 100 VDC down to a safe voltage for toys. Fortunately, George Westinghouse prevailed over Thomas Edison and now we can have any voltage we want or need.
I do miss hearing real trains regularly, especially on cold winter nights. There's something romantic about it. The town where I live now has very little rail traffic compared to where I grew up.
Souter goes on to explain that batteries were an essential part of 19th- and early 20th-century electric trains because so few homes at the time had electricity.
Also, DC was competing with AC in the early days of home electrification, and there was no way to transform 100 VDC down to a safe voltage for toys. Fortunately, George Westinghouse prevailed over Thomas Edison and now we can have any voltage we want or need.