We'll Need Full Throttle - Neatorama

It's a speed control gauge from a Swedish steam locomotive. Why? What did you think the Swedish word fart means?

Dalton Richards of the blog Railyard visited the Järnvägsmuseet, a train museum in Gälve, Sweden. This photo from there spoke powerfully to my inner twelve-year-old.

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Etymology is so interesting - Thank you for the input Stan!
Looking up the word origin for "speed" - it seems that came from Old English "sped" and "spowan" which means prosper or succeed.
Google now has the info in the search result directly when I googled for "etymology speed"

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It's an ancient word. Here's the etymology:"Old English full "containing all that can be received; having eaten or drunk to repletion; filled; perfect, entire, utter," from Proto-Germanic *fullaz "full" (source also of Old Saxon full, Old Frisian ful, Dutch vol, Old High German fol, German voll, Old Norse fullr, Gothic fulls)"

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It's interesting that the Swedish word "Full" has the same meaning in English. Full Fart ahead!

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I learned something new! That's Hrothgar.

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Pretty funny. Reminds me of all those "Ausfahrt" signs in Germany. That thing in the picture is not a speed control gauge. It is an an engine order telegraph or E.O.T. from a ship. It is used to relay engine speed commands from the bridge to the engine room. Locomotives would not need one--they have a throttle in the cab. The brass topped barrel-like items next to it are binnacles which are protective housings for a ship's compass. Apparently that train museum has some maritime displays too.

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