Institute for Transportation

Go! Magazine (http://www.go-explore-trans.org/) is a free, not-for-profit, online magazine that produces articles about the unique, interesting, crazy, awesome, and expanding world of transportation.

Each month, Go! produces a three-part article series with either an interview with a transportation expert, a book or movie review, a blog entry from one of our staff writers, or information about transportation careers. The best part? Our articles are interesting for readers of all ages.

For December, we produced a Go! Explore article series about a different kind of transportation…Steampunk transportation! We explored how this subgenre of science fiction borrowed from real-world transportation technology.

Steampunk transportation: The Victorian era & the Steampunk craze
Are you in the loop about Steampunk? Steampunk is “where history and fantasy collide with technology.” More specifically, Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology. Did you know that most Steampunk culture bases its aesthetic on machinery from the 19th century? Come with us as we transverse the ever-changing Steampunk world!

Steampunk transportation: A pirate’s life for me
Next, we’re talking about some of the fiercest souls to brave the seven seas: pirates, of course! But in a Steampunk world, pirates function a little differently than in our classic storybooks; Steampunk pirates brave the skies, not the seas. Steampunk pirates do their pillaging on airships. These machines are power-driven aircraft’s that float in the sky using a lighter-than-air substance like helium or hydrogen.

Steampunk transportation: Dystopian futures
Steampunk and Dystopian are two different subgenres of “speculative fiction,” but the two are certainly not mutually exclusive. Come with us as we look into the difference between them and what kind of transportation comes from their fusion! Could the characters in a dystopian society find a way to live on a steamboat forever if they had to? Or maybe a steam train? In a Steampunk dystopia, would air pirates still reign over the smog-clouded skies?

Wild Wild West review: A Steampunk Western
In a Steampunk world, it’s all about the reign of steam power. And that’s exactly what Warner Bro’s Wild Wild West (1999) is all about: Steampunk! Wild Wild West begins in the year 1869 and supposes that a power-hungry former Confederate soldier (Dr. Arliss Loveless) creates his own Steampunk Empire to prevail over the technology of the time (like the transcontinental railroad).

Dot’s Adventures with Transportation: All about Trains!
“Dot’s Adventures with Transportation: All about Trains” is directly related to the Go! History series posted in August 2016, where readers learn about the past, present, and future of trains and rail transportation. Where did it all start? How fast can we really go? Our heroine Dot takes the journey by reading about trains at her local library.