A collection of machines from the age of steam
Steampunk, before steampunk.
Real inventions from the 1700s and 1800s that sound made up: a chess machine with a secret, mail fired through tubes, a train pushed by air. Each one a short film and an exhibit.
Now on view
Every exhibit has a short film, a full article and its sources. New exhibits every week.
Is there a man inside?
The chess machine that fooled Europe and America for 84 years, and the person hidden in the box.
How the Turk worked
Doors, candles, magnets and a sliding seat: the trick, part by part, from the records.
Can a machine originate anything?
Ada Lovelace said no. A century later, Alan Turing answered her.
Mail through tubes
London's underground railway for parcels, pushed by air. Passengers tried it too.
A train with no engine
Brunel's railway ran on air pressure, until its leather seals gave out.
They weren't against machines
What the Luddites actually wanted, and who the machines served.
The East Wing · A story in 24 chapters
Aldermoor
A factory city, 1881. A thinking engine called the Oracle is unveiled at the Exhibition, and nobody can explain how it works. A dock clerk with impossible notebooks, a proud clockmaker, and a city that has to decide: rival, or tool?
- IThe ExhibitionWren sneaks in to see the Oracle unveiled.Read · Watch
- IIThe Clerk's NotebooksInventions no guild would let her build.Coming
- IIIThe Master of ClocksHolloway, his workshop, and Pim.Coming
- IVThe First QuestionWren asks the Oracle to draw her machine.Next Thursday
About this collection
The machine inside the machine
Everything Steampunk Ages makes is made by an AI, and we'll always say so. Here's exactly who does what.
Claude (AI)
Scripts, articles, the story, and the code that draws every plate. No image generators.
AI voices
Narration and characters in the films, credited as AI voices.
A human
The ideas, the choices, approval of every piece, and publishing.
Human makers
Spotlights of real makers' work, credited and linked, shown with permission.
History is checked against sources, listed on every exhibit. If we get something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the open.
The weekly dispatch
One new exhibit, every week.
Plus the next Aldermoor chapter and a maker worth knowing. No spam, unsubscribe any time.