where were U in 1906
14 years 6 days ago #27626
by
Replied by on topic Re: where were U in 1906
Swish - Great find, thanks for the heads-up. My old man was born in 1906, but he's been dead for 22 years. He often said he lived in the most amazing era. He said when he was a kid, there were practically no cars .. and one day his old man caught him reading a comic about men flying around in the air in aeroplane-type thingys .. so his old man boxed his ears and told him to stop reading such rubbish, it would ruin his mind ... 
There are numerous things about the 1906 film that strike me ..
1. The rough-as-guts cobblestone streets. Thank the Good Lord, oil companies, and paving contractors for good roads!! ..
2. The general disorganised shambles of movement, with no road rules, separation, or attention to other road users. There's no traffic control, and the solitary policeman seen, merely ambles disinterestedly across in front of the cable tram.
3. The general lack of concern for personal safety, as people duck in front of trams and relatively-fast-moving cars .. and stand aimlessly in the middle of the street .. :
There's also a general appearance of unappreciation of speed of vehicles. I guess this is understandable, as anything travelling at speed (over, say 30kmh) would be extremely rare. A galloping horse would be the only main speeding item to be wary of .. and they were rare .. despite what Cowboy & Injun movies show ..
4. The fascination that appears to grab many people in the street, by the sight of the camera mounted on the tram .. and the young males "playing chicken" with their lives in front of the tram. Not much has changed there .. :
5. All the cars are RHD .. despite the road rules insisting that drivers keep right. The Yanks produced practically all vehicles in RHD, from the first vehicle made, up until about 1908 .. when Henry Ford produced the first LHD Model T, and argued strongly for all vehicles to be LHD. Other manufacturers slowly followed suit .. until, by about 1915, there were very few U.S.-built vehicles being produced in RHD.
6. The sheer number of people. We tend to think that in the old days, there were fewer numbers of people. In the city centres, the numbers of people were quite high, on a par with any modern city. The number of people fatally injured by horses, horse-drawn, vehicles and trams was quite high.
The obvious lack of attention to personal safety would have been a factor. Not much has changed there, either .. as witnessed by many pedestrians and bike riders of today .. :
7. There are NO trucks! All the heavy haulage is still being done by huge, relatively crudely-built drays. Note the wheel wobbles on the drays, as the bearings were merely hard wood hubs running on steel axles, lubed with copious amounts of thick grease. Speed wasn't a factor.
The second film, of the same street, 100 years later, is an eye-opener. There is virtually nothing remaining from the original film. I can understand that, I'm a stranger in my own city at present, such is the frantic pace of building, re-building, and demolition .. all part of regular urban renewal.
There are numerous things about the 1906 film that strike me ..
1. The rough-as-guts cobblestone streets. Thank the Good Lord, oil companies, and paving contractors for good roads!! ..
2. The general disorganised shambles of movement, with no road rules, separation, or attention to other road users. There's no traffic control, and the solitary policeman seen, merely ambles disinterestedly across in front of the cable tram.
3. The general lack of concern for personal safety, as people duck in front of trams and relatively-fast-moving cars .. and stand aimlessly in the middle of the street .. :
There's also a general appearance of unappreciation of speed of vehicles. I guess this is understandable, as anything travelling at speed (over, say 30kmh) would be extremely rare. A galloping horse would be the only main speeding item to be wary of .. and they were rare .. despite what Cowboy & Injun movies show ..
4. The fascination that appears to grab many people in the street, by the sight of the camera mounted on the tram .. and the young males "playing chicken" with their lives in front of the tram. Not much has changed there .. :
5. All the cars are RHD .. despite the road rules insisting that drivers keep right. The Yanks produced practically all vehicles in RHD, from the first vehicle made, up until about 1908 .. when Henry Ford produced the first LHD Model T, and argued strongly for all vehicles to be LHD. Other manufacturers slowly followed suit .. until, by about 1915, there were very few U.S.-built vehicles being produced in RHD.
6. The sheer number of people. We tend to think that in the old days, there were fewer numbers of people. In the city centres, the numbers of people were quite high, on a par with any modern city. The number of people fatally injured by horses, horse-drawn, vehicles and trams was quite high.
The obvious lack of attention to personal safety would have been a factor. Not much has changed there, either .. as witnessed by many pedestrians and bike riders of today .. :
7. There are NO trucks! All the heavy haulage is still being done by huge, relatively crudely-built drays. Note the wheel wobbles on the drays, as the bearings were merely hard wood hubs running on steel axles, lubed with copious amounts of thick grease. Speed wasn't a factor.
The second film, of the same street, 100 years later, is an eye-opener. There is virtually nothing remaining from the original film. I can understand that, I'm a stranger in my own city at present, such is the frantic pace of building, re-building, and demolition .. all part of regular urban renewal.
Please Log in to join the conversation.
14 years 6 days ago #27628
by Swishy
FT
GuddayM8
RE: the great San Fran earthquake
Yarh n th@ twaz blamed on the joker with the box infront of tramcar taken all them movin pixtures
New fangled gizzmo will end up ruin n this planet
LOL
Cya
[ch9787]
OF ALL THE THINGS EYE MISS ................. EYE MISS MY MIND THE MOST
There's more WORTH in KENWORTH
Replied by Swishy on topic Re: where were U in 1906
FT
GuddayM8
RE: the great San Fran earthquake
Yarh n th@ twaz blamed on the joker with the box infront of tramcar taken all them movin pixtures
New fangled gizzmo will end up ruin n this planet
LOL
Cya
[ch9787]
OF ALL THE THINGS EYE MISS ................. EYE MISS MY MIND THE MOST
There's more WORTH in KENWORTH
Please Log in to join the conversation.
Time to create page: 0.476 seconds