Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The Great Sea Serpent of the Garden of Acclimatation

From the December 22, 1900 issue of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, reprinted from La Nature.

"Ophion," designed by Walter Stenning and manufactured in Paris, seems more like a ride from a theme park than a true electric railroad, but a full-scale electric garden railroad is OK by me. The train is over a hundred feet in length, and 6.5 feet in diameter. Powered by batteries (or, as they say, "accumulators"). Click the pictures to download larger versions.

The second picture seems to show it floating on a single rail, but this is probably draftsman's error.

Thanks to Steve Davis for the original magazine scan showing these pictures.

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