🌉 They added a STEAM ACHIEVEMENT for me!?!

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Hello Fellow Engineers!

Welcome to Real Civil Newsletter, the only newsletter where elevators get overengineered, boats get lifted by space wheels, and architects get told to keep their mood lighting off our bridges.

This week we’re playing a game about fixing lifts (finally, a game that respects real engineering), celebrating the glorious nonsense that is the Falkirk Wheel, and reviewing a Norwegian bridge Leonardo da Vinci somehow designed 500 years early.

Giveaways, gear shafts, glulam beams, and a dog on a hill, what more could you want?

Let’s dive into it 👇

This week, we’re giving away TWO copies of Countryballs: Power Protocol! 🌍🎩

If you’ve ever wanted to run a slightly unstable international summit where sentient countries yell at each other in broken English, while managing energy grids and possibly declaring war, then this is your moment.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for… 🥁

🏆 WINNER 🏆
🏆 WINNER 🏆

Check your inbox for your game key and get ready to diplomacy harder than an architect trying to justify a curved wall.

Missed out? Don’t worry, more giveaways are coming!
👉 Want in? Vote for your favourite bridge in the poll below! 🌉🔥

👷‍♂️ Truss Me, I’m an Engineer…

The Falkirk Wheel: When Elevators Just Weren’t Complicated Enough

Alright nerds, grab your slide rules and steel-toe boots, because this week we’re looking at a piece of engineering so beautifully over-engineered, it makes escalators feel like a lazy river.

Introducing the Falkirk Wheel, Scotland’s gloriously bizarre rotating boat lift that exists solely because someone, somewhere, looked at a regular canal lock and said it should look more like a fidget spinner.

Here's the deal: Instead of using a staircase of boring old locks to move boats between two canals with a 79-foot height difference, engineers built a rotating mechanical marvel that lifts boats like they're on the world's slowest Ferris wheel.

Yeah, it spins. With boats inside.

And water.

And it balances perfectly using Archimedes’ principle, meaning no matter the boat, it always weighs the same. Try explaining that to an architect. They'll ask where to put the rooftop café.

The Tech Specs (aka: “How to Make Physics Cry Happy Tears”)

• Lifts boats 35 meters in one 5-minute spin

• Uses only 1.5 kWh of energy, the same as boiling a kettle

• Counterbalanced arms rotate with perfect symmetry, like a giant gear ballet

• Built with 15,000 bolts and 1,200 tons of steel, because of course it was

This entire structure is so precisely engineered, it aligns two canals that were built 200 years apart, millimeters apart, no less.

Try getting that level of precision from a guy who thinks "load-bearing walls ruin the vibe."

⚡ Cool Links

🏆️ They added a STEAM ACHIEVEMENT for me!?!
Cozy Crunch is a super cute incremental about a cat that stealthily attacks leaves!

🔬 Tiny Magnetic Spirals Unlock Future Spintronics
Scientists in Korea have engineered nanohelices that can control electron spin at room temperature. If only architects could design curves this precise without breaking the budget.

🎮 Shape of Dreams Defies Overwhelming Odds
Despite massive competition from Silksong and Borderlands 4, indie co-op roguelike Shape of Dreams launched on Steam and sold over 100,000 copies in 24 hours, hitting top-10 best-seller status.

⏳ Hades II Drops Sept 25, Time to Slay Chronos
Supergiant’s next big one, Hades II, storms out on Switch, Switch 2, and PC in just about a week. New protagonist, mythic bosses, and probably some seriously overengineered underworld maps.

🇮🇳 Honoring Engineers’ Day with Sir MV’s Legacy
September 15 was Engineers’ Day in India, celebrating Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya’s contributions. Great reminder: engineering legends don’t just design; they build futures.

This newsletter (and my tea habit) is made possible thanks to our lovely sponsor, 1440, If you want to support the newsletter without spending a penny, just give them a click and check them out below! 🔩

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🐕‍🦺 Paddy’s Corner

Paddy and the fence post

It doesn't look it, but this road was super steep (hence me breathing heavily)…

👾 Indie Game of the Week:

This week’s indie game is called The Lift, and yes, it’s literally a game about fixing an elevator. So obviously, I loved it. You solve puzzles, rewire circuits, and bring a derelict lift back to life - basically everything an architect would mess up if they tried.

👇️ Watch the full chaos unfold below - Video sponsored by TinyBuild!

It’s time for a Bridge Review!

Ever looked at a centuries-old Leonardo da Vinci sketch and thought, “You know what this needs? Norwegian timber, modern load calcs, and no architects getting in the way”?

Well, someone did. Welcome to the Da Vinci Bridge in Ås, Norway, a 109 m pedestrian bridge that brings a 1502 concept sketch to life without needing a single ornamental flying buttress.

This glulam timber boi crosses the E18 motorway using:

• A 40 m main span supported by parabolic arches

• Prefabricated sections craned into place like a proper IKEA bridge

• Zero pointless embellishments (we checked, no LED mood lighting, no garden terraces)

And despite being an architectural tribute, it’s held together by actual engineering, the good kind. You know, the kind that checks bending moments instead of “vibes.”

Final Score: 7.6/10

Impressive span and a rare case of architecture behaving itself. Loses a few points for being inspired by an artist, but earns them back with Scandinavian engineering efficiency and zero structural drama.