When in Sydney Australia be sure to visit the technology museum there,
called the Powerhouse Museum. They have a wide array of things on
exhibit, including trains, space equipment, and other wonders.
The museum has a modest but impressive phonograph collection and an
1890's Wurlitzer barrel-operated band organ, which gives daily
performances. They also have a silent movie theater with a Fotoplayer,
restored by Mastertouch Piano Rolls of New South Wales, and a nice pipe
organ. All of these things give a neat show.
Most enjoyable to me, however, would be the collection of working steam
engines on the floor. They all run off steam, not compressed air, and
you can see the steam belch out of the machine and watch its finely
tuned mechanisms spin and pump and drive machinery they have on the
floor. It's really a marvel. I've never seen restored and able steam
engines anywhere in the US except at Jasper Sanfilippo's house, and
they weren't in operation when I saw them.
Damon Atchison
damon66@juno.com
[ Visit the web site of Powerhouse Museum of Science and Design at
[ http://www.phm.gov.au/home3.htm & http://www.phm.gov.au/info/
[ -- Robbie
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