Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 31, 1865 In the northeastern section of Australia, the inaugural train run of the world’s first narrow-gauge mainline railway occurred on a Monday morning in the colony (present-day state) of Queensland. A large number of people gathered to witness the record-setting railway’s formal debut, which took place on what the Queensland Times called a... Continue Reading →
July 30, 1978 It was a day of many logistical challenges and a large number of confused motorists in the southernmost section of Japan, as Okinawa Prefecture (one of the nation’s 47 main administrative divisions) officially switched its traffic patterns from driving on the right-hand side of the road back to driving on the left-hand... Continue Reading →
July 29, 1919 One week after the U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train traveled across the Mississippi River via the High Bridge to enter Iowa, this convoy crossed over the Missouri River to leave the Hawkeye State and journey through neighboring Nebraska for several days. The convoy departed the Iowa city of Council Bluffs at... Continue Reading →
July 26, 1997 The U.S. Navy cargo vessel USNS Watson was launched at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company’s shipyard in San Diego. U.S. Secretary of the Army Togo D. West, Jr., was the principal speaker at the ceremony and his wife Gail christened the new ship with a bottle of champagne. (The vessel’s prefix... Continue Reading →
July 25, 2011 In Morocco, a major highway connecting Fes (second only to Casablanca as the nation’s largest city) with the city of Oujda (near the border of Algeria) made its official debut. The Fes-Oujda Expressway – spanning about 190 miles (306 kilometers) -- was officially opened by Karim Ghellab, the Moroccan minister of equipment... Continue Reading →
On July 16, 1969, the three astronauts of Apollo 11 began a momentous journey when a Saturn V rocket launched their spacecraft into the heavens from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida. A half-century later, the Moon-bound trip undertaken by Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins remains one of the greatest... Continue Reading →
July 23, 2004 In the city of Mostar in the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a celebration was held to commemorate the opening of a rebuilt version of a centuries-old bridge crossing the river Neretva. (Mostar is 45 miles, or 72.4 kilometers, southwest of Sarajevo.) The festivities for the rebuilt Mostar Bridge (also known as... Continue Reading →
July 22, 1919 With more than two-thirds of its transcontinental journey remaining, the U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train completed the Illinois portion of the trip. The convoy had arrived in DeKalb the previous afternoon, camping for the night at Annie’s Woods public park and receiving an enthusiastic welcome from the city’s residents. Approximately 3,000... Continue Reading →
July 19, 1843 In southwestern England, the record-setting iron steamship SS Great Britain was launched at Bristol Harbour amid great fanfare. Prince Albert, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom and the husband of Queen Victoria, arrived in Bristol at ten o’clock that morning to participate in the festivities for the new vessel. The Illustrated London... Continue Reading →
July 18, 1914 French pilot Maurice Guillaux achieved a major aviation record by completing the first official airmail flight in Australia. Guillaux began the Sydney-bound flight aboard a Bleriot XI monoplane on July 16 at 9:12 a.m., taking to the skies from the showgrounds in the Melbourne suburb of Flemington. Guillaux made landings at Seymour and... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 