000 02455cam a2200301 4500500
005 20250121123847.0
041 _afre
042 _adc
100 1 0 _aÉmile, Arthur
_eauthor
245 0 0 _aAn imaginary nuisance? Locomotive smoke in the age of steam through the prism of historical anecdotes
260 _c2022.
500 _a53
520 _aThis article examines the enduring tendency to disregard medical warnings and environmental concerns about steam locomotive smoke, through the study of two anecdotes referring to historical episodes from the 1820–30s: the expression of concerns about the use of tunnels; and certain landowners’ apprehension of local nuisances. These anecdotes, invented by railway promoters and spread by French popularizers between the middle of the nineteenth century and the end of the interwar period, contributed to establishing the idea of an irrational attitude toward the appearance of the train in space and society. A study of the context of their production and use reveals that the purpose of these anecdotes was to glorify the railway engineers by exaggerating the difficulties encountered. As instruments of a moral judgment, they also supported the emergence of a pro-technology rhetoric that supported new inventions by framing them in a progressive paradigm. As these anecdotes entered into the most contemporary debates on technology, they contributed to the denial of certain hazards and nuisances, and then to their partial erasure from the collective memory. In the age of steam, the railway industry, like any other industrial activity, was the source of local conflicts and sometimes serious incidents prompting a response from the authorities: railway tunnels were long considered an unhealthy or even dangerous environment, especially for those working in them; while the smoke emitted by locomotives, contributing to urban air pollution, gradually came to be seen as a public problem.
690 _a1837–1937
690 _aenvironmental risks
690 _arailway
690 _aanecdotes
690 _aFrance
690 _asmoke
690 _aAnecdotes
690 _aEnvironmental Risks
690 _aRailway
690 _aSmoke
690 _aFrance
690 _a1837-1937
786 0 _nRevue historique | o 704 | 4 | 2022-12-22 | p. 915-949 | 0035-3264
856 4 1 _uhttps://shs.cairn.info/journal-revue-historique-2022-4-page-915?lang=en&redirect-ssocas=7080
999 _c561422
_d561422