Arthur Emile

PhD dissertation

The “smoke locomotive”. Environmental impacts, conflicts, and management of air pollution by steam train operations in France and Great-Britain, c. 1820s-1960s

Supervisors: Jérôme Baudry (tenure track assistant professor at EPFL, LHST) and François Jarrige (senior lecturer at Université de Bourgogne, LIR3S / CNRS-uB).

Thanks in no small part to the artists of the time who made it a muse of modernity, the steam locomotive is today an icon of the industrialisation in the long 19th century, and an invaluable nostalgic asset for many heritage railways, theme parks and museums. Despite the obvious pollution it creates the enthusiasm and general benevolence towards coal-fired engines fails to remind us that, for a century and a half, railway smoke was a source of nuisance and the subject of many complaints and conflicts. Multiple factors exacerbated this problem throughout the period, and the industry was finally recognised as a major contributor to urban air pollution. 

This PhD project takes on the history of locomotive smoke from a material and cultural perspective to discuss the perception of railways as an environmentally damaging activity in a time of raising concerns about urban air pollution. It compares the environmental impacts and management of this issue between France and Great Britain, the cradle of the railway industry and the coal-fired steam engine. Through archives, newspapers and technical literature, it follows neighbours, authorities, experts and workers dealing with the issue to understand how perceptions are shaped and evolve from a mere inconvenience to a public health problem. Finally, it evaluates the role of smoke in the choice of abandoning coal for other power sources.