Yes, the engine is stationary.

People are often confused by the spelling of “Stationary” or” Stationery”. It’s one of those ones that spell checker can’t help you with because they are both correct but with different meanings.

When I think of the word stationary I remember our days travelling around South Australia and parts of Victoria on steam trains. In those days when OH&S was not such a big deal and public liability insurance was cheaper, we were able to wander around the station yard while the locomotive was being coaled and watered. People would take photos of themselves or their kids standing in front of it.

Of course it is a lot easier to take photographs of stationary exhibits in a museum but for me a steam locomotive is like a living, breathing thing so I much prefer to photograph them in steam.