Between Worlds: Kenneth Cantlie and Locomotive Engineering in Africa, the Americas and Asia

科技博物馆拥有大量与帝国和殖民主义历史相关的复杂藏品。然而，这些问题往往是在国家生产或传播和控制的权力动态背景下探讨的。这个项目关注的是一个介于两者之间的人物--机车工程师肯尼思·坎特利。这位有影响力的工程师曾在非洲、阿根廷、中国、德国和印度工作，他创建了一个大型档案，并设计了KF-7机车，该机车是为中国服务而制造的，现在都收藏在国家铁路博物馆。根据最近的史学转变，该项目将利用这些材料重建跨国社交网络，并评估它们如何传播知识。坎特利活跃于国家之间和国家内部，他不是政党政治、政治中立或被动的。他对工程的推动影响了国际关系，并提供了一种思考技术和工程的替代方式。随着KF-7和英国工程在国外的更广泛的故事，国家铁路博物馆即将到来的2025年愿景重建的关键特征，这是一个及时的干预。它允许熟练的研究，熟悉关键的档案馆和博物馆的背景，以扩大我们对NRM收藏品中具有挑战性的国际故事的理解。

Science and Technology museums have substantial and complex collections relating to the history of Empire and colonialism. Too often, though, these are explored within national contexts of production or the power-dynamics of dissemination and control. This project focuses on an in-between figure - the locomotive engineer Kenneth Cantlie.This influential engineer, who worked in Africa, Argentina, China, Germany and India, created a large archive and designed the KF-7 locomotive, which was built for service in China, both now held at the National Railway Museum. In line with recent historiographical shifts, this project will use these materials to reconstruct transnational social networks and assess how they transmitted knowledge. Active in the spaces between, as well as within, nations, Cantlie was not party-political, politically neutral or passive. His promotion of engineering affected international relations, and provides an alternative way of thinking about technology and engineering.With KF-7 and the wider story of British engineering abroad key features of the upcoming Vision 2025 redevelopment at the National Railway Museum, this is a timely intervention. It allows a skilled research, familiar with the key archive and museum context, to broaden our understanding of the challenging international stories within the NRM's collections.