This reminds me of why I find the Steampunk aesthetic appealing. The old-timey steam engines manage to look both functional and whimsical at the same time... On the one hand, they look like giant boilers with wheels strapped on, because that's largely what they are. But on the other hand, they also look like they rolled straight out of some fairy tale — there's a certain elegance to the raw brutality of their design, a certain whimsy to those differently-sized wheels, exposed spinny-movey-lever-ey bits, giant box-shaped headlights, and all that.

The more modern (relatively speaking) engines all lack that whimsy. And they look functional only in the sense that they're all simple metal boxes. Unlike the case of the steam locomotives, the modern engines' looks reveal nothing of their actual function, or how they work. That poetic balance between beauty and raw functionality is lost, as they don't really posess either.

... Or maybe I'm just over-thinking this. :P Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to cranking this analytical engine so I can load the next page...