I’m really not. I like that website because of the fake history they created, especially the level of detail they went into.
The funny part is that I am into cowboy action shooting and into sci-fi, so I could build up one of those outfits you see people wearing at sci-fi conventions just from the stuff in my house. But frankly, I’m into history, not someone’s badly-distorted version of it. “Alternate history” is normally something that doesn’t interest me. I must admit that the fake robot link is an exception, though, because it’s so darned clever and well-done.

"I’m really not. . .But frankly, I’m into history, not someone’s badly-distorted version of it."--P 51

Don't blame you a bit; I'll admit to being a little intrigued by "alternate history," but there are some things you shouldn't change, or even feel the need to. Our own railway heritage is one, I think. This doesn't mean you can't have fun with it or exaggerate some aspect of it, but at the same time, you don't want to go too far out of line. I think one fellow who managed to do so successfully was Carl Fallberg, in his Fiddletown & Copperopolis series from Railroad so many years back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Fallberg

http://superitch.com/?p=492

http://superitch.com/?p=505

Exaggerated? Yes. Impossible? Pretty much. Yet that F&C is also recognizable--and that's the secret of humor, comedy, satire, everything like that. . .

"Why is any of that surprising? WE INVENTED STEAMPUNK."--Robert MacDowell

"Yep, most of us were Steampunk before it was cool!"--Bob Harbison

I have this weird brain, someone says something, and I think of some other thing.

In this case, two of our "Bobs" reminded me that a Victorian retro-style comes from us, and further back than we think. Specifically, they reminded me of the bombastic, retro-Victorian, often inaccurate, but fun Lucius Beebe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Beebe

http://www.bookpatrol.net/2010/01/lucio ... -book.html

My personal favorite quote from Beebe was his response to a friend who complained that if Thomas E. Dewey was elected to the Presidency it would set the country back 50 years; for younger readers here, this was the famous election of 1948, with Dewey representing the Republicans and Harry S. Truman running for reelection for the Democrats. Beebe's retort was, "And what was wrong with 1898?"

I do think Beebe had a better sense of style than the steam punk crowd; the latter exaggerates TOO much, and has a strong Gothic look besides. Some of the women you can find in steam punk style look more like something from Victoria's Secret than from the time of Queen Victoria. The way it really was looks better--think of Gibson Girls and of Phoebe Snow of the Lackawanna. And as far as I can tell, genuine Victorian machinery normally worked better than those steam punk interpretations, too! There's much to be said for Mr. Ruiz's comments in another thread about classic rail equipment being as functional as it is, and thus having great beauty for that.